No Success

fishbike · Post by **fishbike** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:49 am

I have been doing No S since November 2011 and have had no success. I follow the rules to the letter (pun intended), but I have not been exercising. I weighed 192 when I started and I still weigh 192. Help!

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:26 am

Well, you have been successful: 1)you're mastering the habits and, 2) you didn't gain weight. Two big successes!

You need to look at what and how much you're eating. It is possible to consume too many calories while sticking to one plate at each meal.

Exercise is important, but you don't need to go crazy with it, either. You just need to find ways to move more throughout the day. It can be almost anything -- just move. We've eliminated a lot of movement from our lives with convenience.

Post by **reinhard** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:52 pm

As wosnes said, maintenance is success. The status quo for most people these days is gaining.

That being said, losing would be nice.

And I think you're in a great position for that, since there's a really obvious next step: add some moderate, regular exercise. You need it anyway. And if your diet is painlessly keeping weight gain in check, it won't take much from the exercise end to push you into negative territory. Much better to make two moderate efforts from both directions than an extreme effort from just one. It's healthier, easier, and actually enjoyable.

If you need ideas for how to introduce moderate exercise into your daily routine, there have been a ton of discussions here on the boards. As you probably know, my favorite approaches are a combination of purposeful walking whenever possible (urban ranger) and "14 minutes of anything every N-day." In my case, the anything almost always happens to be shovelglove, but that's almost an implementational detail compared to the importance of establishing the "temporal" aspect of the habit -- my wife does yoga, for example.

http://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode.php?id=38

Reinhard

fishbike · Post by **fishbike** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:52 pm

Those are very good successes but I think I'm feeling like an odd duck here since I hear so many success stories regarding weight loss. I do feel like I load my plate pretty heavily, but not sure how to lighten it. I've been adding more fruit and veggies but it doesn't feel like enough of a change. Salty, fatty foods make me happy and full, so I'm afraid to move away from them.

milliem · Post by **milliem** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 3:02 pm

Don't feel like an odd duck! I've lost minimal amounts of weight since starting NoS, but am so much happier with my food choices/habits than I was, and not gaining any is a major success to me.

Salty fatty foods do make us happy, I think our brains and bodies are designed to latch on to calorific food as a throwback to the days when food could be scarce at times. Doesn't mean you have to cut out all of the food you enjoy though! If you started by having say, a third less of the salty,fatty food, and adding a third more vegetables to the plate that's progress! You can slowly alter/reduce/modify as you get used to things and see what makes a difference. You could try limiting the salty, fatty foods to one meal per day or a few meals per week. You could experiment with new healthier foods you haven't tried before, sometimes a fresh, healthy meal feels as satisfying as a huge calorific plateful!

Another thing to try is reducing the size of your plates, or looking to increase the amount of 'white space' on them.

Good luck! Vanilla NoS works for some people when they automatically fill their plates with tasty, healthy and fresh foods, but for those of us with less healthy appetites it can take some trial and error

Blithe Morning · Post by **Blithe Morning** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:59 pm

You made it through the holidays without gaining. Congrats!

No S is the only diet that starts off with maintenance. As you internalize the habits, you can start making mods to start weight loss. Plus, there is always adding exercise.

Take this is a sign that any weight you do take off with No S will STAY off.

fishbike · Post by **fishbike** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 6:51 pm

I guess my problem boils down to dealing with the reality of my food choices. I mean, I choose fatty salty foods because they calm me down but I should be looking for other ways to do this. Exercise is a definite. I'll try air guitar for fourteen minutes and see if I can do it for 21 days straight. I also used to do meditation. Maybe that will help?

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:14 pm

Everyone's right! Your plate can be heavy; just keep slowly changing the ratio of fatty, dense foods (meat, cheese, refined carbs with rich gravies) and light, water-rich foods. Add some movement. Maybe "accidentally" leave out a little bit of food at a meal and see: is it unbearable hours later? I lost ten pounds in a couple of months but then stayed there for a looong time. I do rmember that after awhile I would sometimes not get to finish my lunch and found that I didn't get hungry any sooner, esp, if I ate about the same ratio. Things keep changing. Keep going and keep being willing to look and experiment. And shake it a little bit...