Starting Fresh!

[Lorelei]

After a hectic summer and an antidepressant-induced (okay, Cheez-It & chocolate induced too) weight gain, I am starting fresh on No-S. I first became acquainted with No-S in the summer of 2010 and loved everything about it. I lost (and have mostly maintained) a significant amount of weight several years ago by counting points/calories. That method definitely works, but it sucked the joy right out of my life. I constantly worried about events, parties, holidays, and even just the basic task of cooking dinner. Food became something to be feared, which is just plain wrong! For quite some time, I floundered - knowing that I could not count calories for the rest of my life - but searching for some way to feel in control. No-S is the answer to my prayers - FREEDOM from all of that obsessiveness and the ability to enjoy food and friends and holidays again. I am officially starting my brand new No-S journey tomorrow, and I am pretty darn happy about it!

[oolala53]

Welcome back? I don't know if people can maintain big weight losses on No S. I am on another board where maintainers seem to have to monitor like crazy to stay really thin, but I do think this is the way to freedom and moderate weight maintenance. And sanity. and joy in eating.

[Lorelei]

I am on another board where maintainers seem to have to monitor like crazy to stay really thin

This was my experience with counting the "monitoring like crazy" for several years took a mental toll. I stopped all counting/monitoring for several years after losing, and realized that all of the numbers didn't really matter - they just helped me feel "safe." I ditched the counting, and maintained for a year or so by sticking to healthy habits. Unfortunately, my snacking/sweets habits got the better of me and started gaining slowly. I also know "really thin" people who do monitor like crazy - and I think it's kind of sad. I am not (nor do I desire to be) "really thin." I would rather establish a healthy (not obsessive) relationship with food and let my body do what it's going to do as far as weight.

[oolala53]

Just curious. Do you think that if you had continued tracking you would not have upped your sweets habits? Trackers claim it keeps them from eating. I always found eating kept me from tracking...

[Lorelei]

I think that the tracking did not really help my sweets habit. I often "saved" calories/points so that I could have my sweets. I always made sure to cover my nutritional bases - but I would definitely choose to use any leftover calories/points for sweets rather than, say, and apple and a piece of cheese. Also, to be perfectly honest, there were many times while tracking that I'd eat a cookie or two (tracked) that would turn into an all-out sugar binge (not tracked). Sometimes the sugar binges would last all day, a few days, or a whole week before I'd get back on track. I guess you could say it was a vicious cycle of binge and restrict. Not healthy. No-S is so much more sane. And it is really helping me undo the damage that diets have done to my way of thinking.

[Nicest of the Damned]

After a hectic summer and an antidepressant-induced (okay, Cheez-It & chocolate induced too) weight gain

We don't judge here. That's one of the really nice things about this board. You can't do anything now about whatever made you gain weight in the past (unless you have a time machine- if you do, I want to borrow it). What you can do is change what you're doing now.

You don't have to try to figure out what you were doing that made you gain weight to do No S. Presumably, it included eating too much food. No S is a simple set of rules to keep you from eating too much food. No soul-searching or food journaling to find out why you overate is required. Just following the rules to stop overeating is enough.

[vmsurbat]

Welcome back? I don't know if people can maintain big weight losses on No S. I am on another board where maintainers seem to have to monitor like crazy to stay really thin, but I do think this is the way to freedom and moderate weight maintenance. And sanity. and joy in eating.

I'm not sure what you mean by "big weight losses" but I thought I'd throw my stats out there: 48lbs. down (over three years) all by NoS with no derails, no yo-yo weights, no counting anything. I'm in my normal bmi range, buy ordinary clothes, receive compliments. I'm not super thin (but I never was, even as a teen). And, I'm still losing albeit quite slowly (@ .5 lbs a month on avg). All via vanilla NoS.

So, I think people CAN maintain weight losses on NoS as long as the continue to follow the three sensible rules and incorporate some daily activity. In fact, I think NoS is an excellent foundation for weight maintenance as it is a life-style way of eating. If someone needs help on the nutrition end of things, I recommend portioning the plate with 1/4 grains/starch, 1/4 protein, 1/2 fruit and veggies and limiting processed foods. Just like NoS, that is the diet that "Grandma" ate....

And Lorelei, good to see you back--I remember you from before.

[reinhard]

Welcome back, Lorelei!

I don't know if people can maintain big weight losses on No S.

I certainly hope so! Maintenance the main selling point of no-s. And the fact that it doesn't require so much tracking as to "suck the joy out of your life" is precisely the reason it's so good for maintenance.

I'm -40 pounds for 10 years now, I guess maybe that doesn't qualify as a "big" loss compared to some, but it's something, and it has been a while.

Reinhard

[oolala53]

Didn't mean to ruffle feathers. I guess I was thinking more about GETTING to the fantastic hundred pound losses with just No S. It seems most big losers here, including Reinhard, I believe, added in exercise along the way, some of them adding in quite a lot. I still haven't been as compliant as I would like, and have gained back a bit, but I'm very grateful for the loss I have maintained and don't believe anything else would have helped me do a better job. I plan to keep working it and tweaking it here. I'll certainly never go back to snacking and seconds.

[NoelFigart]

I can say that I don't lose without significant exercise. I just consider that a feature rather than a bug because it forces me to be active enough to keep my body healthy.