Everyday Systems

I was doing so great on No S...first time in my food-obsessed and eating-disordered life that I cultivated and sustained habits which freed me from the tyranny of one diet after another and one self-recrimination after another. This past month, November, was my 10th month, and I was all psyched to give a positive report on the "10-month board". Then my mother died the first week of November. My family is Jewish, and the initial 7-day mourning period is called "shivah"...and I thought "S days : Saturdays, Sundays, special days,
shivah"...and now on the first day of December, doing my once-a- month weight-check, I see that the five pounds I lost one month at a time have all come back and I can only think it's from that one week. <<sigh, heavy sigh >>

Still, it goes to show how true and great No S is. For ten months I lost one pound a month while feeling more sane and free than ever before in my life...and just one week of snacks/sweets/seconds every day brought back the "bad before" times.

I am so very sorry for your loss.

Be gentle with yourself right now. Yes, get back on track (because it will make you feel better, and because maintaining health is important in difficult times), but don't make it any harder than it naturally is.

Best wishes.

KCCC....thank you for your words of sympathy and encouragement. I actually was about to "skip" dinner just now, but after reading your post, I'm offline and to the kitchen to have a proper No S plate for dinner.

I am so sorry. I know how difficult this can be; I was in the middle of a what seemed to be a successful diet (not No S) when my father died, and my eating habits completely fell apart. I regained everything I lost and more.

I hope you don't have this experience, and I don't think you have to, because you experience No S as taking care of yourself, not deprivation. Think about the peace you feel eating in such a sensible and rewarding system.

The five pounds you've gained should come off much more quickly than they did originally; I doubt you gained five pounds of fat in one week.

I wish you all the best in this very difficult time.

{{{{{AimingForVegan}}}}}

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss.

Get back on track, and don't try to punish yourself for slipping. That's done, and there's nothing you can do about it now. Mark it and move on.

Some people find routine very comforting in difficult times. The routine of eating in No S might help, if you are like this. It might also help you feel like you have some control over something in your life, when everything has changed because of an event you didn't control.

Starla & Nicest of the Damned : Thank you for reading my post and offering words of comfort and encouragement. It's a great help to hear from others who have the "No S mindset" and who have carried it through times of loss and difficulty.

I am sorry for your loss.

When I suffered a bereavement, a friend sent a message saying that "All things pass given time", which was comforting.

Look after yourself.

Too Solid Flesh, thank you for sympathy and encouragement...and for the excellent Gandhi quote.