Everyday Systems

Hello, all--

I am grateful I came across this concept, this book, and this message board! Convinced that I had developed some deep, incurable, psychological neurosis, about a month ago, I searched for help on "overeating" and landed here!

Three week later, I've pulled through vanilla No-S with just one "red" day, and have already received my first remark--"you've gotten skinny." Of course, I couldn't have lost more than a few pounds, but even I can see and feel a difference in my face. More than that, though, I feel like I'm finally gaining some control. I am a 27 year old male and have developed a terrible habit of eating all the time--to reward myself, to console myself, to amuse myself, etc., etc. In the past two years, I have gone from 180lbs to 210lbs, and it is constantly inching higher. Enough is enough.

Anyway, I do have one question. To most of us, the "weekend" starts on Friday evening. And these past two Friday evenings, at around midnight (Saturday morning), I noticed the time and got something to eat. On neither occasion was I specifically waiting for midnight to come around, but I felt so relieved when I noticed it had! Today, I even bought something I thought I could eat this Friday evening/Saturday morning.

Now, part of me (perhaps a big part) is telling me that even if this is technically correct according to the letter of the book (it *is* Saturday by the clock), it is not right according to the spirit of the book. I feel like I should be regulating this bad practice by counting these as "red' days for Friday since it is not actually a new "day" separated by a sleep cycle.

I've read pages and pages and pages of posts on this forum and have not come across any discussion or mention of this particular matter. I am just curious of everyone else's thoughts.

I go to bed way too early for this to be a regular problem for me; however, it has come up a few times. I would consider it a fail for me, but I suppose technically it is not.

The important thing is to just not do it all the time.

I call this "the Cinderella trick". It's perfectly by the book. I think it's a bad practice, still, but it's a helpful loophole.

Nonetheless, it must NOT become a weekly habit, and pay attention to this. It's not a normal eating behaviour, so not in the spirit of learning to eat normally.

It is my fourth week on the diet (it's not the first time that I do NoS) and I used the trick on last Friday. I intend not to use it tonight.

On my last try last year (where I did 6 months of strict NoS), I used it 3 or 4 times.

ukdanielj wrote:Convinced that I had developed some deep, incurable, psychological neurosis

It's called being human. Welcome! I started when I was 26 (No-S, not being human. I've been at that a while longer.) and am still going at 32. It works if you work at it (much like anything else worth doing).

I tend towards a personal day rather than a calendar one; it may help to consider your weekend as commencing when you get up on Saturday and finishing when you go to bed on Sunday, much as Santa can't come at Christmas unless you go to bed. I recall one poster who said they consider their S-days to run from sundown on Friday to sundown on Sunday, as a more social alternative to the calendar weekend.

It's a bad habit to push against the rules; this is about sensible eating and it's perfectly possible to stick to the rules religiously and still gain weight. Deliberately altering the timings to allow you to eat more may well be within the structure, but it won't help you to lose weight.

Having said that, if I'm still awake at midnight on a Friday it's usually because I've been out drinking or spent the day doing something overtly physical, both of which lead to feeling dreadful the next day unless I eat something. The habit is sufficiently ingrained now that I have to make a concious choice to break it.

Waiting up until midnight to start your S day is not illegal as long as you consistently define your days this way. For example if Sat starts at midnight, then Sunday and Monday also starts at midnight, so there are not extra hours added on to one day. IMHO, you need to be clear on when a day starts.

I think there was a discussion thread on this several years ago, but I can't find it so I might be wrong. However, it is my understanding that People who are Jewish or have some tradition of celebrating Friday for example count Saturday as starting at sundown on Friday. This is fine for No S as long as Monday starts at sundown on Sunday.

If you are working the night shift or are a night owl who normally stays up until 3 am, then this may be OK. But if you are on a normal 8 or 9 to 5 job and only stay up specifically to eat. . . Well once you get your n day habits established, this might be something to look at.

Hi all,

What about fencing around the law and just take Fri and Sat as your S days. Count them until you go to sleep and not worry about the time and then have Sunday (from when you wake up on Sunday) as an N day?

Hi ukdanielj,

It is letter of the law acceptable to start essing at midnight.

It's also letter of the law acceptable to stack 4000 pieces of pizza onto one plate and call it a meal.

But the beauty of the system is, that in both cases, the absurdity of your behavior is manifest, and that exerts a gentle, but sufficient pressure for you to desist.

Sure, like me, you might have to experience this pressure a few times to properly appreciate it. But I'm confident you will. Just the fact that you're posting here is evidence that you're feeling it.

Best of luck -- and get some sleep! (if no-s encourages you to to that, it might be yet another positive side effect of this system)

Reinhard

I agree with BrightAngel. I used the loophole in the beginning and I think I would have been better off not doing it. Unless you want to count by the hours to make it more honest. If you think of S days as encompassing Saturday morning until Sunday night, you're talking about 36 hours, give or take. So if you want to have your last S on Sunday morning, you might consider allowing yourself a midnight S on Friday. But it's really bending the rules and reinforcing the idea that you NEED to start having S's at midnight. It's just not true. A cup of hot cocoa (with some Kahlua?) will do just as well. Then have your S's on the weekend without a qualm.