Good Morning

[lemonzest]

Hello No S group.

I'm officially joining weight loss land. I was thinking about Weight Watchers (J Hudson makes it look so appealing, doesn't she?)
Then I saw the cost and immediately I remembered reading about this plan. I think I'll give the inexpensive plan a try first. I remembered this plan because I've always known that my problem is sweets and eating in between meals out of boredom and not hunger. I make fairly decent choices with my meals. If I can just get a grip on the sweets and snacking I think I can drop these extra pounds. (I'll tackle exercise later ).

Just a few questions for you all:

Does anyone do intermittent fasting (planned or unplanned)?
Who has used this plan to lose and maintain weight loss?
How do you explain this plan to other people, esp when they see you eating sweets on your S days?
I need to lose 45 pounds. Is it reasonable to accomplish this by the end of the year?

[r.jean]

I lost 45 lbs in my first year, but I still have more to lose. I did it with plain vanilla No S and daily exercise. I did Weight Watcher's years ago after my first 2 children were born, and I was successful. However, WW is not a plan I could follow for life. No S is. I am confident I will lose the rest gradually. I have kind of been at a standstill the first couple months of year two, but that happens off and on.

So it all depends on your metabolism and your exercise and your food choices. My first year loss was 20% of my starting weight. How would that figure for you?

PS. I do not fast, but there are others on the site that do.

[Blithe Morning]

Does anyone do intermittent fasting (planned or unplanned)?
Any fasting is for spiritual reasons rather than health.

Who has used this plan to lose and maintain weight loss?
I've maintained about a 10lb weight loss since I started seriously following No S last May. This includes exercise. I was at the top of my BMI and now I'm in the middle. It was closer to a 13 lb weight loss.

From late December to late January I got derailed and gained 3lbs back. But since I mostly maintained the habits and exercise (just being sloppy with seconds; bites, licks and tastes; and over the top S days) I am back on track now and much happier for it. I don't mind the 3 lbs. I'm not as hungry.

How do you explain this plan to other people, esp when they see you eating sweets on your S days?
I generally don't talk about the plan at all. I tried explaining it to the family and they got that glazed over look.

I need to lose 45 pounds. Is it reasonable to accomplish this by the end of the year?
It depends. Really.

[lemonzest]

Oh, one more question

Does this plan get rid of stretch marks? A girl can hope can't she?


r.jean, I weigh 180, so 20% would be 36 lbs. That would be like 3.6 lbs per month until the end of Dec. putting me at 144 lbs. I could be happy with that. It is certainly better than gaining 3 lbs per month or staying at 180.

[Blithe Morning]

Does this plan get rid of stretch marks? A girl can hope can't she?
You bet there's hope. The "baby" is 18 and I'm still waiting...

[oolala53]

We have a testimonial thread where you can read of more who have lost and kept it off. I've lost about 25 lbs. and I'm still dropping bit by bit, but I had kept 20 off for quite awhile.

I've thought of intermittant fasting but every time I think I might do it, I get so jittery about it, I start thinking about ruining my N days. However, on weekends or sometimes on Mondays, if I feel that I'm not very hungry, I will sometimes go quite a long time without eating. Once I almost went 36 hours, but that doesn't often happen. I guess if I thought it was necessary, I'd consider it, but I don't.

There is no real need to explain the program to people. I recommend against it, at least until you've lost enough weight that people comment. It's not a diet. You're just feeding yourself three times a day. That's just eating in a reasonably orderly way. Even when people ask, it's usually disappointing because they criticize and pooh pooh. Or make it out to be harder than it is. Fine, that's how I feel about most other plans. Just eat your meals. If people try to get you to eat in between, say, "I'd rather not. I'm saving my appetite for _____ (insert next meal). If it's about dessert on an N day, say something like, "You know, I really think I wouldn't enjoy it. I'm perfectly full now."

More ideas on request.

[r.jean]

So it sounds like you have the right idea. Any loss is better than continuing to gain.

This plan has worked beautifully for me with no modifications; I hope it works for you.

[milliem]

Hi lemonzest

In answer to your questions:

I do unintentional intermittent fasting! I rarely eat breakfast and generally have dinner by around 8pm at the latest, so will not eat between 8pm and 12pm or so. It just works for me, I find myself getting hungry in the afternoon whether I've eaten breakfast or not, and I don't have time for a huge meal at lunch. So, I tend to do lunch/afternoon mini-meal/supper. This also works well as I often do my workout when I get home from work, so I can have a small meal post-workout.

I have used this plan to lose some weight (not much) and maintain. I was starting to get worried when my weight was creeping up over the 13 stone mark, and since starting NoS and losing half a stone or so, I haven't been up that high again. It has crept up, but refocusing on the plan and having successful green days always brings it back to a downward trend again.

I have explained to some people that I don't eat sweet things or snack during the week. Mainly if I'm offered something that would break the NoS plan, I just smile and say 'No Thanks'. I do have a slight mod that if a GOOD friend brings me something they have made themselves I will eat it in company. If a colleague is offering around the chocolate biscuits though, that's a no!

In terms of losing weight, it depends on so many things. Firstly, how much you weigh now and what your eating habits are like - the heavier you are and the more 'different' NoS is to your current eating, the more you will lose at first. It will likely slow down. It also depends how compliant you actually are with NoS, what you are putting on your plate (e.g. 3 plates of veggies, lean meats etc. vs 3 plates of high fat, calorie dense foods), how much you eat on S days....

Anyway, good luck!!