Glass ceiling for sweets

Imogen Morley · Post by **Imogen Morley** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:22 pm

Anybody using glass ceiling to prevent idiotic S-days?

After almost a year of following vanilla No S (11 pounds lost), I've decided to combine the two systems in order to stop being an idiot on the weekends... which happens a lot, even now. I just like clear-cut rules. 5 S-es over the course of the whole weekend sounds reasonable, and it has the potential of making me stop and THINK about my choices ("Do I really want to waste my weekend allotment for this or that?").

I'm curious if anybody uses a similar system. Thoughts, ideas, warnings for me?

mrslenna · Post by **mrslenna** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:55 pm

That sounds like a reasonable "mod" to me.
I'm 5 months in, and while I love No S because I feel it's adjusted my relationship to food, I haven't lost enough weight to even mention. Most of this is due to a lack of restriction on S-days. I'm going to try your glass ceiling approach this weekend, and see what happens.
One person posted on here that her mom couldn't do "No Sweets," so she took the # of sweets she would consume over the weekend and spread it out through the week. She ended up eating a 1/2 portion of sweets Mon/Wed/Fri, or something like that, and her rule was that she couldn't do two sweet days in a row. That sounds good in that it would take the pressure off S-days, but bad in that it might slide into sweets every day.
Good luck! I'd love to hear how the glass ceiling worked for you.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:56 pm

Basically, you have to come up with the modification that sounds reasonable to you. For more than a year, NO modification sounded reasonable to me, yet I was caught in the weight-loss riptide. I wasn't losing more and even gained some back, but I couldn't stand the idea of not being able to overeat on S days. Finally, I got tired of it and started noticing that it became easier just to wait until I was hungry the next time to eat on weekends. Lastly, I determined that three weekends in a row, I would eat anything, but only when I was hungry. I still overate at eating "events," as I call them, but I had only two a day. It broke the spell. I don't know if I could have done it earlier, but you sound ready. As Reinhard recommends on podcasts, try a change for a month and then reassess. Let us know!

NoSRocks · Post by **NoSRocks** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:22 am

Hey oolala! Just read your great post! Your mod for regulating S Days sounds excellent. You know, I might just give it a try. I am very "guilty" of over eating on S Days just for the sake of it; manys a time I am not in the least bit hungry. I think I am afraid of hunger and also have been using my S Days as an excuse to eat as much as possible before the clampers come down ! lol - a little ott, but you know what I mean. I guess I could try this out this weekend - even for one day - and see how I get on. I can identify with the stage you mentioned i.e. of being ready to conquer the S Days and fed up of not much progress in the weight loss department. I think that's where I am now. Granted, my S Days are somewhat better than at the start but it can still vary from weekend to weekend. Not sure how I will get on with this but will definitely give it a try. At least I have N Days to look forward to if I feel this is too much pressure. My N Days are almost as good as I would want them to be. Occasionally, I've been having cravings for sweet stuff on N Days but so far, since beg. January, I haven't given in.

Thanks again, oolala and sorry if I hijacked this thread!

jellybeans01 · Post by **jellybeans01** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:13 am

I agree because basically the diet for me all matters on those two days. If I go overboard I don't lose weight that is that.

Imogen Morley · Post by **Imogen Morley** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:13 am

mrslenna wrote: One person posted on here that her mom couldn't do "No Sweets," so she took the # of sweets she would consume over the weekend and spread it out through the week. She ended up eating a 1/2 portion of sweets Mon/Wed/Fri, or something like that, and her rule was that she couldn't do two sweet days in a row. That sounds good in that it would take the pressure off S-days, but bad in that it might slide into sweets every day.

That was me

That mod works great for my mom, who can stop at one piece of brownie, but I'm different. I think that one day break from sugar is not sufficient.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:26 pm

Just wanted to mention that I know 'waiting until you're hungry" is not usually touted on this site, but 23 months of many green N days have helped me appreciate hunger. I actually knew what it was like before No S but agree that it can be confusing to use it as the only criterion most days of the week. Limiting it to S days takes the pressure off getting it perfect. But I perfectly understanding wanting to use more concrete mods.

milliem · Post by **milliem** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:38 pm

I can totally see how eating when I am hungry would moderate my weekends - at the moment I eat when I WANT to, which is a totally different thing! I know full well I reach for snacks or sweets because I can, not because I'm actually hungry. If I could step back and think 'hmm I'm not actually hungry, but I can totally eat that cake/chocolate bar/ice cream/whatever later when I am hungry' I would probably eat less overall.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:20 am

Yeah, the longer I wait to eat, the less I want to overdo sweets. When I'm really hungry, I want savory! But I still look forward to cookies and a great slice of cake on weekends.

Imogen Morley · Post by **Imogen Morley** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:19 am

My first weekend with this mod felt strange. Constricting, to be honest. In the end, I rebelled against my own rules and became a human vacuum. I guess it was diet mentality kicking in: "oh well, since I've already blown it, I may as well eat everything in sight!". This is exactly what Reinhard calls "red on yellow day conundrum". Yuck.
I'll give it one more shot, maybe two, but adding rules to S days definitely makes me panicky. Can't see any other way to make weekends saner... besides being more mindful about my choices and the process of eating itself.

mbell · Post by **mbell** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:44 pm

Something which has really helped me to modify my Sday behaviour has been the addition of the no SECRET sweets, snacks or seconds rule which was suggested by someone else on this forum. So now I have my cake or peanuts or whatever at weekends but always eat in front of others so it's not a guilty activity and I have to temper the amount I'm eating to avoid looks of disgust from others!! try it

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:44 pm

People look at you with disgust for eating? Or are you just thinking they do?

However, I think the not eating in secret is a good idea. However, I live alone and don't socialize much. I'd hardly ever get a sweet if I didn't eat some alone. Unfortunately, I know I sometimes eat them to replace having others around. I don't consider it the problem it used to be, but it is a continuing dilemma, and will probably stay that way this school year. But I'm working on it!

Imogen Morley · Post by **Imogen Morley** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:06 pm

I hear you. Living in three-generation household I hardly understand peace and quiet

I wake up on ungodly hours on Saturdays and Sundays, before the family is up, to read books or surf the net undisturbed, and I like to have something yummy on hand when I do it. The good news is, I'm much less likely to stuff myself with food when I'm, for example, editing photos (not enough hands, I suppose

) - the whole process takes so long that I can easily register when I've had enough. As the day progresses, though, I don't bother with savoring or mindfulness, and often end up eating sweets I don't even like. Ugh.