Everyday Systems

Thought I'd start a thread for those who want to commit to Vanilla No S or anything else specific to December. This can be a tough month, but it is possible to eat moderately and still enjoy the holidays. Let's try not to get derailed. I first came to No S in the fall of 2008 and had three good weeks before Thanksgiving. Then everything went to hell and I was gone until the end of last December. I know I won't do that this year, but I hope this might help someone else prevent that lost time.

You don't have to commit to anything specific, as that can sometimes cause people to shy away if they fail. But you definitely can commit, if you like. I suggest you do check in here each day of December, even if it is only to direct us to your daily check in for more details.

Since the 25th is a Saturday, I will now say I choose the 24th for one of my NWS days. At this time, I don't know of another day I might need, but I reserve judgement. I will not decide ad hoc to take one, though. It might be New Year's Eve. All other days will be Vanilla No S.

I also invite successful No S long-timers to check in here once in awhile to cheer the strugglers on!

I'm in! I'm following my rules, with one pre-selected treat on the weekends and S days 12/24, 25, and 31.

I'm in!

I'm in, too!

I'm fairly new here. I just completed my first 22 days - all successes on my first try!! I have never been able to stick to a diet for more than a week or so (no exaggeration there), so this is pretty big for me! I really want to keep my green streak going through December. I'm sticking to Vanilla No S, and my weekends will consist of my usual one small dessert per day. My only extra S Day will be 12/24.

I am on the Vanilla wagon.

I been back here a few times and have failed and tried other things. Now I am at a new high in weight and ready to get to business. Vanilla No S is the way to go. No monthly fees, no counting, no off limit foods. Why didn't that sink in before.

Starting today!!!

I am so ready to have success. S = success

Count me in for vanilla No S in December.

I'm so glad I saw the email for this thread and all the people on board. I opened a desk drawer and saw a package of trail mix that I had confiscated from a student. My heart leaped at the picture with nuts and chocolate chips on it, and it suddenly seemed like a good idea to have a few. But I looked quickly at my email and saw that there was an update. Seeing that so many want to be in reminded me of my goals. Yay for us! Though it's not December until tomorrow, it will be better going into December for me with an all-green week. I'm safe for the rest of the day, as this is my most dangerous time.

I'm in! I don't think I can commit to full out Vanilla No S at this point, BUT I am going to commit to moderate eating for the rest of this month (except for possbily Christmas Eve and Christmas). I will define moderate eating as 3 meals a day with one dessert per day, most likely with lunch. After having a really bad eating day today and several bad eating days since Thanksgiving, I've GOT to have something to keep me accountable.

I'm in! Here's to a great month!

I'm in. Less concerned about the holidays than the major stress from big changes at work this month. Will do plain vanilla with one additional goal - to know what I'm making/getting for dinner before I leave the house every day. Good luck to everyone!

12/2 - Success yesterday, and a plan for tonight!
12/3 - Success yesterday. But no afternoon snack plus very nice dinner I planned = hard to stick to one plate! I have a plan for tonight but it could use some more details.
12/4 success yesterday-just barely. Dinner plans waylaid but managed one plate of miscellaneous rather than munching the night away.
12/6 S days not bad, and managed to make soup to bring to work through the week. Had dinner planned for tonight, then was reminded I have to go to banquet. Usually at these banquets you go through the line once (or more) for a plate of food, and then again later for a plate of desserts, which I'll have to skip. The good thing is I can transfer today's plan to tomorrow.
12/7 sucess yesterday, did well at the banquet, and have yesterday's dinner planned.
12/8 failure yesterday- missed lunch and snacked through the afternoon. Got back on track for the evening though. Do have a plan for tonight.
12/9 success yesterday. Taking today as an S day because a party we usually have on the weekend has to be in the evening this year.
12/10 very nice S day yesterday, and didn't really eat much. Food in social settings has never been my problem. But I forgot to make a dinner plan before I left the house, so I'm working on that now.
12/11 success yesterday, had the plan in place by mid morning. Have the in-law party to go to today for my S day.
12/13 have a dinner plan. Saturday-party day - not too wil, Sunday worse.
12/14 success yesterday (Monday), but very difficult. Sometimes I think 2 S days in a row aren't right for me. Very busy tonight, have a minimalist plan.
12/21 Mostly failed N days over the last week. But I'm doing better than in the past, and haven't gained any weight. Have a lot to do over the next few days, and have to remind myself that the closer I stick to No S, the more energy I'll have.

Miyabi wrote:I'm in. Less concerned about the holidays than the major stress from big changes at work this month. Will do plain vanilla with one additional goal - to know what I'm making/getting for dinner before I leave the house every day. Good luck to everyone!

Like your mod! I may borrow that!!

I'm in too! I've been lurking on this website and message board long enough (i just noticed that i joined the board in 2006...yikes).

Snacks and seconds are not a problem for me but I'm going to have trouble giving up the sweets...

Here's to a great day for everybody!

Hope you've all had a good start to your December.

Good luck everyone!

Day 1: Success! My goal is to have a breakfast of cereal or oatmeal (I have nuts with the cereal and butter with the oatmeal for extra fat), and to eat my lunch and dinner on an 8 inch plate.

Ok, I'm in! (A day or two late, but nonetheless...)

I am committing to plain vanilla No S. And to help me do that, I am also committing to not weighing myself in December. I am new to No S with 2 (successful!) days under my belt. I already made a personal committment to experience plain Vanilla No S for at least three months, so this December challenge is right on time!

See, for me, if I weigh myself and find that I am not losing weight quite quickly enough, I know I will be tempted to modify and tweak (plain vanilla withchocolate sauce and nuts) just to get the scale to move. So for this month, my goal is to focus on forming my No S habits, scale be damned!

My starting weight as of this morning (I know..I am a couple days late for this December challenge) was 201.5. I will make non-weight related updates daily as oohlala53 suggested; when January 2 rolls around, I will come back and post my weight-loss results.

Thanks Oohlala53 for the post!

Day 1 Success!

It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. I'm off to eat breakfast.

I'm in! I just finished 21 successful days and want to stick to an all-green month for December. I'm taking the 24th & 31st as S days. I'm also probably going to switch Friday the 17th for Sunday the 19th since we have a holiday event that evening and nothing on the 19th. I will try to check-in daily for extra motivation!

Good luck to everyone!
Lisa

First two days of December are successes. Lots of x-mas goodies lurking out there, but resisting.

I'm in and off to a good start so far. I'm going to do vanilla for this month, I think Christmas falls on a weekend anyway. I am going to do lunch and dinner on my smaller plate.

Success!
Due to a really long workday, I had to wait 9 hours between lunch and dinner. I started getting hungry around hour 7, but I made it through without snacking. Yay!

Clothes are feeling loose already (after 3 days!) but I also resisted the urge to weigh myself today. I want to really concentrate on No S habit-building this month.

Day 2: Success! I ended up eating two meals today, because of how my day went, but it was okay!

Dec 1&2: Success!

I hope everyone enjoys their S days this weekend!
Lisa

Dec. 3rd - success

YIKES, this was a close one. Don't know what came over me, but all I wanted to do today was EAT. I barely made it. Glad tomorrow is an S Day, so I can have my treat!

Dec 3: Success!

Today was another good day. So far, all my N days this week have gone really well. Will all the N days be this good? I can only hope so!

@gk, glad you made it! what's your treat going to be?

Day 3 Failure. Tomorrow WILL be a better day! I'm so glad I have this check in to help keep me accountable.

Day 2 & 3 (thurs and fri) success!

And today I'm enjoying my S day.

Dec. 5th - S DAY GONE WILD

Ooops. I'm slippin. Hoping to get back on track tomorrow.

Saturday wasn't quite wild, but it wasn't tame, either. I had two meals and some picking today, but I quit eating solid food around 1 because I just haven't been hungry and I'm going to be doing some hiking in about two weeks that I'd like to be a breeze. More incentive to stick to the plan and possibly feel lighter.

I've had 2 wonderful S Days! Lots of good food, yummy treats and fun with the kids. Tomorrow it's back to business...

Is it too late to join? I really need accountability. I haven't posted for a while because I've been a BAD girl!!! Anyway,

1 Dec. Yellow. I take an S day on Wed. and Sun.
2 Dec. Green
3 Dec. RED! ate cake
4 Dec. Green
5 Dec. Yellow. YAY!
6 Dec. Green, but in a bad way. I've been too busy to eat all day. Just had dinner, and couldn't eat very much. NOT GOOD!
7 Dec. Green. Just brush my teeth and used Listerine mouthwash. No way am I going to eat more today!

The holidays are actually the easiest time for me to stay vanilla. It must be because there's so much energy/activity and things to look forward to, that it's just easier not to eat. There's also so many sweets and goodies around, that I find it easier to say "no" to everything but the really good stuff. And if there are Christmas cookies laying around, I can wrap them in a napkin and save for later! Summer is hard for me because everything is so hot and gross, and then there's so much delicious ice cream. Kind of weird.

Dec 6th - SUCCESS

Easily followed diet today. Probably because I ate so much yesterday, I'm still full.

December 6: Success!

Another long day at work today (12.5 hours) but luckily for me I had a meal with me to eat.

All in all, a nice way to come back from the S Day weekend.

Success.

Dec 3,4,5,6 - two S days and two Successes!

Lisa

Dec. 7th: Success!

dec. 6 and 7 success

oolala53 wrote:I also invite successful No S long-timers to check in here once in awhile to cheer the strugglers on!

Have a cheer!
*waves flag*

Dec. 8th: SUCCESS

Success.

Dec. 9th: SUCCESS...with some help from a stomach bug - UGH

same here

Can I join this? I haven't been doing No S for very long, but I am determined to change my eating habits and become healthier. I am trying to establish habit with this! Today is officially my first day back after being gone for. . .about three months. . .? lol

April

Dec. 10th: SUCCESS

Success.

Day One:
Success! I'm really excited I'm finally succeeding at something healthy. :)Meals were small, spaced exactly four hours apart and I cut out nighttime eating. Wish me luck for the rest of the times!

April

I've lost count already but
all my N days have been green and
my S days have been yummy!

The scale has gone up a bit but since my habits are getting back on track I'm not worrying about my meal contents yet. I have already identified a few things I will begin to change when I'm ready. Yipee!

Dec. 11th and 12: S DAYS

Weekend on track....only 2 very small treats. Getting easier....

TWo parties on the weekend. Too much picking, but I got it out of my system. Cookies on open plate at work today. No desire.

Dec 13th: SUCCESS

I'm estimating a total of 3-4 days (I actually lost track of when I last posted here) of SUCCESS on the No S Diet!! I actually forget I'm doing it, it's just no big deal. I got on the scale this morning, and it gave me three different readings. I hate that broken down thing. I'm not going to let that discourage me, though. I really feel good. I hope everyone else is doing this good.

Good luck!

@poetgirl,

If it makes you feel any better, most home scales, even the new ones, will give you at least a couple of different readings when weighing yourself multiple times. Not sure why they do that, but that has been my experience.

Dec 14th: Success!

Awesome day! Fit into pants that have been too small for quite some time and actually needed to wear a BELT with them!!!! YES!!! Will try to remember this moment when the upcoming x-mas parties surround me with chocolate.

Greta, That is just fantastic! What an accomplishment. Fitting into smaller clothes is really the acid test of how much this program is working for you. You should be very proud of yourself. Well done!

Dec. 16th: Struggled, but success