Everyday Systems

I know that I have read occasionally that people have found relief from wild S days because, over time, their N day habits have influenced their S days...

For me, I think it might be the opposite.

As some of you know, this is the third time for me on NoS. I know that it works really well (having lost about 20lbs the first time around). What I found when I "fell off" it was that my S days at that stage ended up particularly crazy (for various reasons) and they made it really hard to settle down on N days. N days became excruciating.

(For the record, I guess at the time, the novelty of NoS had worn off after so many months; it was an incredibly stressful time of my life (moving to another country, ill parent, etc); my body might have been wanting to return to its previous set-point weight; it was holidays with lots of tempting food; people were complimenting me on my weight loss which may have set up some self-sabotage...blah de blah....)

Nevertheless, I noticed the same difficulty last week after a crazy weekend. I just found sticking to N days that much harder. I had a more moderate weekend this time around, so I'm interested to see how I will react this week.

I was just wondering what others had noticed in their own journeys, and if anyone had had similar responses to wild S days...
cheers
fun
x

I find that if I keep my s days in check it keeps me in the rythm of the diet so much better. I usually do one s thing and it usually for me something sweet and that is all. I tend to find that even on s days if I stick to my healthy normal breakfast it sets the day up better. Hope this helps.

yes, it does. Thanks Jellybeans01.

I experienced something similar. I started NoS in August of 2008, my last year at college, and was very successful in losing and maintaining the 5-10 pounds (about 1 dress size) I was looking to lose. I always ate whatever I wanted on S days, but it never seemed to be a problem--I'd found a good balance and it was easy to maintain.

Flash forward to June 2009: I finished school, took a stressful job, got married, and moved halfway across the country where I didn't know anyone--all in the span of about 2 months. Despite my best intentions, it was really difficult to keep my eating moderate. I ate too much on S days, and it actually ended up affecting my N days. I guess my thought was I'd already eaten so much, one more treat wouldn't hurt. Soon, my clothes were too tight, despite the fact that I was exercising every day.

It took me until this fall, but I finally re-lost the weight and really got back on track with NoS and moderate eating. What's no coincidence is that it took until this fall for me to really settle into all of the radical changes that were happening in my life. In hindsight, I really believe that the chaos I was experiencing emotionally and psychologically had everything to do with my chaotic eating. Intellectually, I knew what I needed to do. But I was extremely depressed living so far away from everyone I knew, and resentful of my husband, since I saw him as the one who was responsible for the move, I just couldn't seem to do what I knew I had to.

So yes, I think that even after developing good NoS habits, enough stress can definitely throw you off track. The good news is that you can be conscious of this and strive to stay on habit, or even know that if you can't seem to stay on habit in this moment, you'll be able to get back on habit when the rest of your life falls back into place.

I have a few rules for S days, to keep them moderate. Most of them are inspired by Brian Wansink's book, Mindless Eating.

You must sit down to eat. There's nowhere to sit in our kitchen, so this means no eating in the kitchen.

Food has to go on a plate or in a bowl before you can eat it. No eating directly from a package or serving plate/bowl.

Food packages have to be closed up and put away before you can start eating.

Meals are served buffet-style. The food stays in the kitchen, so if you want seconds, you have to get up to get them. Snack food should not be kept outside the kitchen, either. If you want food, you have to go into the kitchen to get it.

No hanging out in the kitchen, except when preparing meals/snacks, or cleaning up after them.

If you are ordering a snack or sweet at a restaurant, and it comes in more than one size, get the smallest size.

These rules don't deprive me of anything, but they do make it harder to "graze" all day.