After three months of No-S I have to admit how devastated I was when starting out. I wasn’t going to fool myself into thinking that this wouldn’t be giving up a lot of food. My lifelong habit of overeating for various reasons such as not wasting food, having to try everything, being nice to others by finishing my plate, or simply indulging in sweets was finally catching up to me judging by the size of my clothes. This wasn’t going to a simple habit, but a serious life change.
When I decided to quit smoking it was the same way. The thought of giving up cigarettes was impossible. Smoking cigarettes was a fun, social, enjoyable way to pass the time, relieve a little anxiety, or to keep the hands active. Whatever the reasons were I was giving up a huge part of my life by minimizing a dependency on external comforts.
I relied on this forum for a lot for strategy. I took baby steps and continued Vanilla No-S. The three plate premise was so simple and easy to do. Removing the snacks and sweets eventually curbed the hunger cravings so I could enjoy my three meals. Before I knew it I lost over 15 pounds. On top of it all I started No-S into an extended backpacking trip around the world! Imagine landing in Turkey or France and having to stick to this plan. Every few days we were in a new country with a million excuses to try more than enough food. It was like a No-S hell!
But, I persisted. If I wanted to try all the street foods of Malaysia I stopped at a few stalls and made it my lunch. It was a “snack†lunch. Whatever I could do in sticking to the three plates a day I did and was rewarded in greater anticipation, especially for those S days when I could take on some sweets. I didn’t know where I would be in the world but sweets are sweets, and just because I was in Germany didn’t mean I had to try a German sweet to live to tell the story. If my stay in Germany fell on the N-Day streak than I wasn’t going to make excuses. This thought process was a huge milestone and highly unusual for my past behavior.
My overeating had been duping me my whole life and now I am going on without, along with those pesky cigarettes, excessive consumerism, excessive work, and any other unhealthy habits I may have formed. These are HUGE problems for our society and I find it strange taking them on, striking a balance, and not succumbing to them. “Cigarette?â€, “Piece of pie?â€, “Facebook? “Work Late?â€, “Drink?â€. Are these not the fabric of our entertain-me-right-this-second generation?
I used to silently laugh inside at a friend who would never accept a drink. “Who doesn’t have an occasional drink?†I thought to myself. Well now here I am, that person, appreciating every opportunity to enjoy something to eat or drink, not wanting to kick one back just because. Maybe I’m not feeling a hundred empty calories on a beer for the sake of it… maybe I have something more enjoyable in mind.
Thank you No-S for helping me appreciate that.
-jarls
Giving Up the Goods
Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating
Wow! What an incredible first post - really inspiring!
Congratulations on keeping to No-S under some very challenging conditions, and congratulations on both your weight loss and your improved relationship with food.
Thank you so much for sharing!
(PS - Might want to double-post on the testimonials page, so that your message will hang around longer to inspire others. It definitely qualifies!)
Congratulations on keeping to No-S under some very challenging conditions, and congratulations on both your weight loss and your improved relationship with food.
Thank you so much for sharing!
(PS - Might want to double-post on the testimonials page, so that your message will hang around longer to inspire others. It definitely qualifies!)
Thank you very much! I will post it there.
Another thing that helped No-S stick for me so far is that I realized up front it took 30 years of overeating to be where I'm at today so I would never expect to lose it all in 4 weeks or even 3 months for that matter. It's not that No-S is slow, it just takes so long for my body to shed all those years of bad habits.
I set my target goal for a year and hope that maybe in 6 or 9 months I will be pleasantly surprised! It really put things in perspective and smacked the "lose weight quick" mentality I was used to. Had I set the goal too short I would have failed already and given up by now.
Same for weighing myself, once every week or two is enough, not much can happen in a day.
Another thing that helped No-S stick for me so far is that I realized up front it took 30 years of overeating to be where I'm at today so I would never expect to lose it all in 4 weeks or even 3 months for that matter. It's not that No-S is slow, it just takes so long for my body to shed all those years of bad habits.
I set my target goal for a year and hope that maybe in 6 or 9 months I will be pleasantly surprised! It really put things in perspective and smacked the "lose weight quick" mentality I was used to. Had I set the goal too short I would have failed already and given up by now.
Same for weighing myself, once every week or two is enough, not much can happen in a day.
Congratulations! What an awesome affirmation of No S. You truly are changing your LIFE, not just your eating habits. I, too, have noticed I feel a sort of repulsion toward other forms of excess now. My entire life is more orderly.
I wish you continued success in 2011; you've done a wonderful job so far!
I wish you continued success in 2011; you've done a wonderful job so far!