Finer-grained poll: Which of the S's was your weakness?

[DaveMc]

Following up on the poll started by "Nicest of the Damned" (perhaps the most simultaneously cute and chilling user name I've ever seen!), I wanted to create a poll with all the possible permutations presented. It's quite possible that we'll end up with one vote for each of the 7 possibilities, but let's see where this goes.

My own vote: snacks and sweets.

[sophiasapientia]

I put down seconds and sweets.

Sweets (namely, good quality baked goods, chocolate & ice cream) are my big weakness and what I look forward to most on S Days. But, honestly, seconds -- aka finishing food off my kid's plate -- were probably my primary problem in terms of excess weight gain.

[kccc]

All of 'em.

Really, I used to have a lot of sweets-AS-snacks. So, those would be top. (If I had to pick ONLY one, I'd say sweets.)

However, I ate more seconds in the forms of "finishing up a bit" than I would have recognized as seconds when I was doing it. The same kind of stuff Sophiasapienta identified - cleaning up a bit on my kid's plate, or the leftovers that "aren't enough to save."

On "good" S-days - the ones I enjoy most - I now have desserts-with-meals OR seconds.

I am trying very hard to get rid of snacks completely, even on S-days. Not because of any weight-loss-related zeal on my part - I just feel like they interfere with my enjoyment of meals too much, and I'm happier without them.

[kwidener7]

I still chose just sweets, because even now they are still the hardest for me to avoid entirely. Not to mention, one can cause me to want more and more.

I don't want snacks at all anymore (mostly). I can't even finish what I serve myself at meals. But I want my sweets. I've had to change to 4 floating S events (S for me = sweet) so that I didn't have an all or none, gotta get them in over the weekend mentality and so I wouldn't feel deprived every time my husband enjoys a weekday treat.

It's lead to me being more thoughtful about the sweets I enjoy and I feel better going this route then declaring an entire day and S day for one party or event. But I can't entirely cut out sweets, it would lead to a binge!

[Nicest of the Damned]

Following up on the poll started by "Nicest of the Damned" (perhaps the most simultaneously cute and chilling user name I've ever seen!)

It comes from a They Might Be Giants song, "Road Movie to Berlin", that I like.

[reinhard]

Thanks for this follow up.

"Snacks" has moved up in the rankings (1+6+2+1=10)

But looks like "sweets" is still (narrowly) in the lead (3+6+1+1=11).

"Seconds" is a distant third (2+2+1+1=6)

This is interesting to me, because though I can't quite say whether "snacks" or "seconds" were my biggest problem, I'm pretty sure "sweets" wasn't.

But I've got no horse in this race, I love all my S's equally.

Please keep voting away everyone so we can get a more complete picture -- though I can't quite resist the temptation, we don't really have enough data yet to start drawing conclusions from.

I think ages ago someone posted a similar yahoo group poll... I'll see if I can dig it up so we can compare results.

Reinhard

[DaveMc]

But I've got no horse in this race, I love all my S's equally.

And as they round the turn, it's Snacks and Sweets pulling away from the rest of the field ...

Apparently I'm not alone with "snacking *on* sweets" having been my biggest problem. Though as we keep saying, we need more data ...

[vmsurbat]

I haven't actually voted yet because I can't decide which category best fits. Here's the scenario: I think a major source of my overeating was mindless tasting of food while cooking and then putting away. Not really seconds (as in a second helping while at the table), not really snacking (as in-between meals).

I think because my (former) problem falls into a "mindless eating" category, that is perhaps more akin to snacking than seconds even though it was tied to a meal.... What would you vote?

[DaveMc]

Here's the scenario: I think a major source of my overeating was mindless tasting of food while cooking and then putting away.

I think I'd call that "snacking", but you're right, it could go either way ... You could use a binary random number generating device (a coin).

[oolala53]

Though I indulge in all at times, I know sweets topped the list. I don't think you can call the amounts I ate "snacks." Can you call eating a bag of Hershey's kisses a snack? Or would the second half of it be seconds if you ate it at lunch time? What do you call it when you pretty much graze all day long and none of it is what your mom would have served you for dinner?

[DaveMc]

OK, as of now (23 votes submitted), let's see how each of the S's fare, by summing up all the categories in which they appear:

Snacks: 4+7+2+1 = 14
Sweets: 6+7+1+1 = 15
Seconds: 2+2+1+1 = 6

So, pretty much a statistical tie for first place between snacks and sweets, with seconds a distant, um, second.

[Strawberry Roan]

I voted snacks, never had a problem with sweets or seconds too much.

[clarinetgal]

For me, it's sweets, hands down. I've hated snacking for most of my life, and I was able to easily stop eating seconds, but I have yet to master the no sweets rule. At least I'm consuming less of them (I try to have a small amount on my lunch plate and that's it), so it's a start.

[Lms526]

For me, it's definitely snacking. I'm going to retry the No S method again. I tried it briefly a while ago. But gave it up. Not exactly sure why. But I've come back to the No S way. For me the biggest challenge is the no snacking. Pretty much if I'm awake, I'm snacking. And then I pig out at meals too. So it's really no surprise that I've packed on the weight over the last couple of months. I also have emotional eating issues, which definitely doesn't help matters any. But if I put my mind to it, I know I can be successful on this plan.

Lms526

[oolala53]

Whatever effort you put in will be repaid with good vibrations! The gaps between meals I believe really make the magic happen.

[Samantha]

I voted Seconds. I've been eating them since I was 6 years old so it's definitely been a change. I'm in a second week and not being overly stuffed is weird. Sweets is the one that doesn't bother me at all.

[DaveMc]

Update, now with 34 votes:

Snacks: 6+9+4+1 = 20
Sweets: 8+9+1+1 = 19
Seconds: 5+4+1+1 = 11

So, basically no change in the standings.

It did occur to me the other day to wonder if I really know whether I had a problem with "seconds", back before NoS ... I had so little idea how much I was eating, back then, that it might have been one of my problems, and I just didn't know it. I feel like snacking on sweets was the real root of my weight gain, but maybe it was all three S's, and I was blissfully unaware of it.

[DaveMc]

Posting a comment to bump this up, in case any of our newcomers want to vote in this unscientific poll ...

[MerryKat]

My biggest S was snacking and about 80% of that was snacking on sweets (the cheaper and junkier kids sweets the better!)

I feel so much better without all that sugar and horrible preservatives and colorants in those sweets.

Now my N day treats are good chocolate after dinner. most snacking has stopped even on N days.

[mailgirl]

I chose snacks. I USED to come home from work and snackity, snack, snack before dinner! Now, I wait... or maybe have a beer!

[reinhard]

Apparently I'm not alone with "snacking *on* sweets" having been my biggest problem.

Yeah... that is interesting.

What used to be eaten as dessert, as a finishing touch after a special meal is now perpetually dripped into us.

Anyway, don't let all this commentary influence you and keep voting away so we can have more fodder for fanciful extrapolations .

Reinhard

[DaveMc]

The votes do seem to be converging to a consistent result: snacks and sweets show up about equally often in people's replies, with seconds much less popular.

With 53 total votes:

Snacks - 10+15+4+3 = 32
Sweets - 13+15+2+3 = 33
Seconds - 6+4+2+3 = 15

[jojo2010]

Sweets! Still trying to recover from all of the Halloween "Fun Size"; Kit Kats,Butterfinger,and Whoppers!

[DaveMc]

Bumping this up for our newcomers ...

[wosnes]

Sweets! Still trying to recover from all of the Halloween "Fun Size"; Kit Kats,Butterfinger,and Whoppers!

There's something to be said for not having small children and no trick-or-treaters! On the other hand...there's a candy that only comes out at Easter that I very much like. That's the bad news. The good news is that it's been getting more difficult to find it. I guess that's good news!

[Sharpie]

I am glad this got revived, very interesting! I am definitely a 'sweets' person. I thought snacks were my biggest problem, and in terms of eating too much, they definitely were. I was a hardcore permasnacker, and not even on any one food, more salty things than anything else in fact. Now though... I have to have my 1 small sweet a day mod (A chocolate square!) or I get really frustrated and binge, so that's more my problem of difficult mental habits to untrain/retrain. I am getting better, slowly, and feeling more and more okay with not having sweets daily... I'm not quite to all three NO S, but maybe with time. Vanilla was HARD

[coffee]

mine was snacks and seconds. I'm not a big sweets eater, but I was a permasnacker, and usually had extra at the last meal of the day.

[Kevin]

I think you missed "sometimes", although it looks like perhaps it's being de-emphasized in No S.

To me, it's the critical S.

[DaveMc]

Well, I don't see "sometimes" as something you could have a problem with *before* NoS, and that's what I was asking about, here: "except (sometimes) on days that start with S" in inherently a NoS position. People not on NoS don't have S days and N days, so sometimes-ness (or the wildness of their S days) doesn't really come up for them, I would have thought.

[kccc]

It's so fun when old posts are revived, and I see stuff I'd forgotten I wrote.

Still applies.

I do think "sometimes" is being generally forgotten... alas. The wonderfully witty post about that would be a good one to revisit. (Though I remind myself of "sometimes" whenever there's an S-day when I'm not that interested in having S's... yes, it happens. Sometimes.)

[leafy_greens]

Looks like I fit within the majority 63% of people who have problems with sweets or snacking on sweets.

[oolala53]

I think it's 53% for both, no? I'm still surprised that's all, but I'm projecting my weakness on all. I sure overate lots of things but I think I never polished off a bag of potato chips unless I had chocolate something before or after.

[DaveMc]

Well, if we're reviving older polls, let me bump this one up ...

[cjgoodson2]

SWEETS!

[snapdragon]

I would of thought sweets, that is hard for me.....but seconds is harder because once I start eating it's hard to stop