Everyday Systems

The eating season has surely begun. Thanksgiving is next week and people at work are already bringing goodies on a daily basis. This is going to continue until New Year's Day. How have you survived this season?

You either ignore the treats or take some to be enjoyed on an S day. Another idea is to stay away from where the treats are. It's not necessarily easy, but it is a simple solution.

Stick to your habits! Also, when I'm having a treat and get tempted to keep eating and eating because "its the holidays", I try to remember how gross I feel when I overeat.

It's starting where I work as well, and will continue through the Super Bowl. I'm not a sweet eater per say (although one day last week I demolished several doughnuts, something I eat maybe once a year...), but I have been known to devour several plates of chicken wings or little smokies in a sitting.

Be mindful of the three meals a day, and possibly one of those meals can be chicken wings, and sourdough with spinach dip?

Over43 wrote:It's starting where I work as well, and will continue through the Super Bowl. I'm not a sweet eater per say (although one day last week I demolished several doughnuts, something I eat maybe once a year...), but I have been known to devour several plates of chicken wings or little smokies in a sitting.

Be mindful of the three meals a day, and possibly one of those meals can be chicken wings, and sourdough with spinach dip?

That's something I hadn't thought about. If the "goodies" are things like wings or dip and so forth, they can be worked into a meal. Cookies, candy and other treats, though, are sweets and need to be saved for an S day.

For starters, I'd try changing the name. Don't tell yourself it's the "eating season". Tell yourself it's the "holiday season". This shouldn't make a difference, but it does.

At the beginning of a month, mark off your S days on a calendar or on your HabitCal (if you haven't done this yet for November, do it now). You can change them later if something like a party gets scheduled or canceled, but you can't declare it an S day just because you feel like having a snack or sweet today.

If you do fail and eat something you shouldn't, it's important to get back up on the horse again right away. Don't wait till tomorrow or Monday or New Year's Day. "Do it now", in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mark it and move on.

Don't spend more time around the treats than you need to. Don't have treats in your office or cubicle, if you can help it. If you can't avoid that, at least don't have them on your desk. Having them a few feet away gives you time to think, "do I really want this" before you eat it. If you're saving a treat for yourself for an S day, keep it out of sight. Keep it in your desk drawer, rather than on your desk. If you see food, you'll want to eat it.

Don't eat the treats where they are set out. Take them back to your desk first, or at least move away from the platter or package before you start eating. That makes it less convenient to get more.

Don't eat treats directly from a serving platter or package. Put them on a single-serving plate first (could be a paper plate). If that's not an option, at least put all the treats you are planning to eat on your desk first. The idea is to see how much you'll be eating before you start eating, and to avoid grazing from a platter or package. It's easy to eat more than you should if you graze.

Here are Reinhard's podcasts:

http://www.everydaysystems.com/podcast/

Here is one specifically about the holidays:

http://www.everydaysystems.com/podcast/ ... .php?id=15

Well, this is my first holiday season on No S, but I've already been trying to think up strategies. I stay home so I'm not tempted at the office, but I am missing the treats that make it feel like the holidays. I am planning meals that use pumpkin and squash, so I can get those flavors in healthy ways. Squash baked with butter, apples and cinnamon inside, pumpkin soup with walnuts sprinkled on top, etc. Second, if I can't bake and fill the house with yummy smells that way, a nice holiday scented candle and lots of fires in the fireplace will do.

Here's the good news about the "eating season" and No-s:

You can legitimately enjoy the holidays to the hilt

Here's the perhaps not so good news / secret to making No-s work:

Even more than usually, you really have to limit your essing to those days.

There really aren't that many of them. I find the habitcal especially helpful this time of year. Think of it as a sort of advent calorie for virtue.

Reinhard

Tips for handling office goodies:

1) Learn to politely say no without feeling guilty. There are plenty of nice ways to turn down a treat. And trust me, declining sweets/treats gets easier every time you do it.

2) Of course there are occasions where you may have to say yes to something in order to spare a person's feelings. For these situations, I have a supply of Ziploc bags and plastic containers in my desk drawer. If I'm stuck in a pickle, I'll just take a piece of whatever, thank the person, and tell them I'm going to save it so I can really enjoy it later on (when I'm not so full, busy, etc.). I pack up the treat, bring it home, and decide what to do with it. If it is something I really like, I'll save it for the weekend. If it can be frozen, I might throw it in the freezer, and if I'm not really into it, I toss it in the bin and don't feel a bit guilty.

3) I think this was in the book - but I have used the "cup of coffee or tea" prop at many an office gathering. When others are mindlessly chowing down on doughnuts, cake, brownies, etc. I can "join in" by holding a mug of coffee or tea. I don't feel "left out" and nobody seems to notice that I'm not partaking in the sweets. I just did this the other day. It was somebody's birthday, and there were treats galore. I ran across the street to the coffee shop, bough myself a fancy latte, and didn't feel like I was missing out on a darn thing!

Lorelei wrote:Tips for handling office goodies:

1) Learn to politely say no without feeling guilty. There are plenty of nice ways to turn down a treat. And trust me, declining sweets/treats gets easier every time you do it.

I find that people really do not care if I eat goodies, at office gatherings -- we had one a few days ago, and I just didn't eat anything, with no comment from anyone about it. (Possibly I have an unusually detached workplace.) On those rare occasions when someone does take notice, a simple "I'm trying not to eat between meals" usually does the trick -- people get it in a way that "I'm on a diet" can't match.

For cryin' out loud, guess who was just made "Champion" of the Holiday Pot Luck Committee today? Me. LOL!

Glad I started this thread. Your comments will be very helpful.

There are many good ideas in this thread. I'd like to add that I think it's especially iimportant to have meals you enjoy during the holiday season. It's easier to turn down treats if you're looking forward to your next meal instead of feeling sorry for yourself because all you have to eat is a stale sandwich.

I'm someone who does a lot of holiday baking. I take two days off work and bake for four days straight. Last year I was able to keep to No S during that period by making all frosted cookies on the weekend. Most baked goods don't have to be tasted during the process, but frosting must be. It was hard, and I overate on the weekend, but I did it and am planning to do it again this year.

I would think that Thanksgiving itself is the ultimate S day. Look forward to it! So as long as you don't cheat before Thanksgiving and try to get rid of the left overs after Thanksgiving,,the day is yours!

As Reinhard says, there are very few actual holidays. Those can be enjoyed!

For other days...

- Remember that "there will be nice food again."

- DO have meals you like, so you don't feel deprived.

- Remember that you can make VERY reasonable N-compliant plates of a lot of holiday foods. (In fact, I plan on that, since I don't want dressing AND mashed potatoes AND rolls AND sweet potatoes all at one meal. I choose what I want the most, then get something else at the next "leftover meal." So, I get to ENJOY all the stuff I like without feeling stuffed myself!)

- Cultivate your inner snob when it comes to treats. I have gotten very choosy over what's "S-worthy" and what's not. It's amazing how much that cuts down on temptation, because frankly, most bought items are just not that good. A focus on quality takes care of a lot of the quantity.

- If you ARE going to eat it, then enjoy it! (After all, what's the point if you don't?) Eat slowly and really taste it.

When I remember to do these things, the holiday eating is MORE enjoyable under No-S than it used to be before... back in the days when every morsel was accompanied by such a crescendo of guilt that the pleasure was lost.

Take advantage of every N day to solidly anchor in the feelings from waiting to eat, being hungry for meals, and not being stuffed. Stop and notice the state as often as possible, reveling in how wonderful it feels. That will make it much easier to keep choosing to eat sanely, probably even on your S days. I've found for the last few Thanksgivings that I was able to make it pretty close to an N day except for dessert. I think in one case, I ended up eating only two meals because I started with a big mocha in the morning, had a brunch-y meal about 11 a.m, and then the turkey meal around 4 p.m. It was plenty.

On the rest of the days, I just keep telling myself, "I don't eat sweets on weekdays." I do take samples and freeze them. Let me tell you, our PTA puts on a dessert spread one day and buffet lunch on another day in the week before Christmas break that is not to be missed. Easy to take advantage with No S.

On another site, the moderators were saying that it's what you eat when you're alone that makes the bigger difference around holiday time. If you eat moderately, and maybe a little lighter than normal, when there's not so much pressure, you can usually relax a little at the social event. Just remember to let comfort be your guide. If you pile so much on your plate that you feel gorged when you're done, you'll likely feel bad physically and mentally. GEt very clear that there's more suffering in overeating than not.

Another idea is one that I read in the Beck diet plan. She says she allows herself about 25% more food at big events than she normally would. It's probably all your stomach can be happy with anyway.

oolala53 wrote:On another site, the moderators were saying ....

Whereas on this site, we are *all* moderators (or at least striving for moderation).

Good one. My icons don't work.

I know this sounds goofy, but I went to a hypnosis group thing for weight loss a few years back and I remember being told to imagine the certain foods as really unappetizing, dripping with animal fat and rotting, etc. So, maybe when I'm faced with like 3 or more dessert choices, I will keep in mind how unappetizing it really is and how it will affect my progress to indulge in everything... but really Thanksgiving is an S day and just do what you can handle. There's no reason to refrain... but you might get really sick if you eat too much, especially desserts you are not used to have regularly.

used2bskinny wrote:I would think that Thanksgiving itself is the ultimate S day. Look forward to it! So as long as you don't cheat before Thanksgiving and try to get rid of the left overs after Thanksgiving,,the day is yours!

Thanksgiving is on a Thursday. You only have to wait till Saturday, and then you can have all the leftovers you want. That's not long to wait.

Nicest of the Damned wrote:

used2bskinny wrote:I would think that Thanksgiving itself is the ultimate S day. Look forward to it! So as long as you don't cheat before Thanksgiving and try to get rid of the left overs after Thanksgiving,,the day is yours!

Thanksgiving is on a Thursday. You only have to wait till Saturday, and then you can have all the leftovers you want. That's not long to wait.

Actually, you don't have to wait for Saturday to eat the leftovers. You just can't have the sweets and limit yourself to one plate. I'm really looking forward to leftover dressing, gravy and sweet potatoes.