Let's play, "The Price is High"!

Waterlilly · Post by **Waterlilly** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 8:35 pm

All nifty wordplay aside, I must say that I went off track. WAAAAYYYY off track. A one weekend (S day) splurge spiraled out of control and so did I. So I'm back.

But here's the thing... This is my first day back and I am HUNGRY!! But, that's what I get. I think I am going to limit my "S" days in some way. Does anyone have any suggestions for some guidelines I can implement for the "S" days? I would love to not count calories (or carbs or sugar or protein) any more but I'm going to need some guidelines for the "S days so I don't go gonzo and mess everything up with a wild Saturday (or Sunday or the week thereafter).

Ideas are much appreciated.....

jellybeans01 · Post by **jellybeans01** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 8:58 pm

Well, i had a very naughty extended weekend also. What I usually do that keeps things on track is give myself s events instead of days. For instance i may give myself 2-3 s events for the week and thats all. This personally helps keep things in control and I dont feel like total crap on Sunday night. Also if I mess up one day or 1week, I just get right back on track.

emmay · Post by **emmay** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 10:15 pm

I have some good weekends and some crazy ones. For me, the problem is sugar. If I keep sweets minimal and preferably with meals then I can keep in control. My best weekends have involved non-sugar snacks like cheese, crackers and fruit, and small sweets following my meals. It I have a high sugar snack, it increases my appetite and cravings.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 10:33 pm

Waterlilly wrote:All nifty wordplay aside, I must say that I went off track. WAAAAYYYY off track. A one weekend (S day) splurge spiraled out of control and so did I. So I'm back.

But here's the thing... This is my first day back and I am HUNGRY!! But, that's what I get. I think I am going to limit my "S" days in some way. Does anyone have any suggestions for some guidelines I can implement for the "S" days? I would love to not count calories (or carbs or sugar or protein) any more but I'm going to need some guidelines for the "S days so I don't go gonzo and mess everything up with a wild Saturday (or Sunday or the week thereafter).

Ideas are much appreciated.....

My best advice is to actually do what the "rules" for No-S say.

Reinhard wrote:There are just three rules and one exception:

No Snacks
No Sweets
No Seconds

Except (sometimes) on days that start with "S"

Don't look at the weekend S days as a time to go wild. They're a time to relax and enjoy yourself a little -- not to go wild. You might want to plan one S for each day -- a snack, sweet, or second (or a sweet snack) for each day. Make it the best quality food you can. High quality food, even sweets, are far more satisfying than poor quality food.

I think there are just a few days annually when it's okay to go wild. Thanksgiving is one of them, maybe Christmas and/or New Years. Maybe Super Bowl Sunday.

Nicest of the Damned · Post by **Nicest of the Damned** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:27 pm

A couple of things I do to keep S days under some control, without feeling deprived:

The Sitting mod. You can't eat in any position other than sitting. In other words, no eating standing up.

The NEP mod. It can stand for No Eating from Packages or No Eating without a Plate. If you're going to eat something from a package, and it is not a single-serving package, you have to put the food on a plate or in a bowl and put away the package before you can eat. The goal here is to prevent doing something like eating a whole bag of chips in one sitting.

I never really did eat while driving, but I encourage anyone who does to try the No Eating in the Car Mod. Most of the food you eat in the car probably leaves something to be desired from a nutritional standpoint. Worse, eating while driving is distracting. Distracted driving is illegal in a lot of places and is generally a bad idea everywhere. I got rear-ended earlier this year by a guy who was distracted when a bag of pretzels he was eating spilled onto the floor of his car (fortunately, everybody was fine, but my car took about $2800 in damage). Talk about a high-priced snack.

I generally follow a rule of not eating between 6 pm and dinner (usually between 7 and 9 at our house) on S days- the "you'll spoil your dinner" rule.

Don't buy snack foods or sweets at Costco or Sam's Club. You don't need large quantities of those foods unless you are having a party or have a huge family. If you're buying snack foods or sweets for yourself or to have around at home, buy the smallest package of them you can find. There's research showing that people tend to eat more when the food comes from a larger package (really). A single-serving package would be ideal. Lots of snack foods or sweets for less money is not a good deal for you if it makes you more likely to eat too much.

Plan treats for your S days. Plan a special meal that you particularly like. Plan for a special snack or sweet. Do this in advance, so you can look forward to having whatever it is. That will make it seem more special when it does happen.

Don't hang out in the kitchen, and don't keep stashes of food where you are hanging out. The kitchen should be a place for preparing meals (and snacks on S days), eating meals, and cleaning up after meals. You should have to get up and go somewhere to get food if you want a snack.

ironchef · Post by **ironchef** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:31 am

I've gone for another S - social. So, eating on S days (if it is snacks and sweets) needs to be with others, not standing alone in the kitchen. However, I'm not going to say I've "failed" if I don't keep this up. Also, I've done almost 5 months vanilla before deciding to try this goal. I'm not sure how long you've been no-sing, but if you are still very new, perhaps give your S days some time to calm down on their own?

I really recommend the "S days gone wild" podcast.

jellybeans01 · Post by **jellybeans01** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:48 pm

I also forgot to mention that I do try to keep sweets with meals. There have been times when at a party for example I just had my one plate, it was desserts but it was my one plate and it makes me feel incredibly in control which keeps the binges out.

Waterlilly · Post by **Waterlilly** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 10:40 pm

Wow. Amazing information from everyone. I will definitely be trying these ideas. My guess is that by listening to what you are saying, this is a trial and error type thing and it's individualized.

Eating in the car is a BAAADDD habit for me. I think I need to stop that one right away.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:52 am

Wait a darn minute. Didn't you just join a couple of weeks ago? The common advice is not to mess with S day mods until you've had 3-6 MONTHS of N day compliance.

Are you actually hungry or do you just have urges to eat? In either case, the remedy is the same : steely resolve to have regular N day meals, beverages in between.

Waterlilly · Post by **Waterlilly** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:00 pm

Well, yes I did, but I'm not tweaking; I'm doing serious damage control. I realize you can just let em rip as long as you adhere to the N days, but my S days were flat out out of control. I needed to do SOMETHING.

I do best with structure. Everyone gave some good advice. While I'm not going to do all of these things, they certainly gave me some ideas. And yes, I AM really hungry, but when you eat junk all weekend and you go back to an "N" day, my body goes "hey, why did the twinkies stop? More more more!" and it's an ugly, hungry day.

ironchef · Post by **ironchef** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:33 pm

Reinhard's "S days gone wild" podcast is great on this subject.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:58 pm

For those of you offering mods, how long compliant in your No S-ing before you implemented them?

ironchef · Post by **ironchef** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:02 am

As I said in my first post, I was compliant for 5 months (less than 1 red per month). I have only introduced the "social" goal as an experiment for December. I did suggest in my post that if someone is very new, allow some time for S days to calm down on their own.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:59 am

Actually, I knew that, ironchef. I was just trying to draw attention to it.

I am keenly aware of the fear that S days are way out of control and ruining everything. In three years, I've just seen many more people regret modifying too soon than waiting too long to do it. We very likely lose people to the fear, but the odds are against their having better success somewhere else. There is an underlying process to habit change that is hard to circumvent and sometimes seems illogical. Eating too much, having urges, being hungry, etc., all without panicking is just about equally as valuable as having no hitches at all.

Okay, I'm getting off the soapbox. Continued success to us all.

Nicest of the Damned · Post by **Nicest of the Damned** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:18 am

About five months. I agree, loading on lots of mods too soon is not a great idea.

Waterlilly · Post by **Waterlilly** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:46 am

It's just as physiological as it is psychological.

But you're going to have to be GENTLE with me. Otherwise you WILL lose me. Don't evangelize...just guide. I heard enough of the evangelizing (and some giant egos) when I did the low carb crap. Besides, I'm the one who has to learn if tweaking so early will or will not work. Telling me I MUST follow the rules OR ELSE will certainly make me go away really fast.

ironchef · Post by **ironchef** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:39 am

oolala, gotcha, sometimes posts move fast (especially for me reading on my phone during night feeds).

Waterlilly wrote:Telling me I MUST follow the rules OR ELSE will certainly make me go away really fast.

I totally understand, that's what put me off most every other eating plan. That's the great thing about No-S - within Reinhard's simple rules there is a huge range for your own interpretation / common sense to play with. Sure, it's no sweets, but you decide what is a "sweet". Sure, it says "except sometimes on S days", but you decide what "sometimes" means - for some, it means once or twice, for others (like me) it means S days are free for all.

Waterlilly · Post by **Waterlilly** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 7:26 am

Makes sense.

Nicest of the Damned · Post by **Nicest of the Damned** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:44 pm

The reason why you don't want to do lots of mods early on is that you've only got so much willpower. If you try to make too many changes at once, the usual result is that you can't stick to any of them. This is one reason why so few people manage to stick to New Year's resolutions, and why so many other diets are so hard to stick to. You don't want to try to fix everything you don't like about your eating habits right now. It's tempting to try to do that, but you need to resist that temptation, because changing everything at once almost never works.

That said, there's a difference between mods because you feel like you could do more, or you feel like you aren't losing weight fast enough, and mods because you are having real trouble sticking to No S as written.

KHousley · Post by **KHousley** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 4:45 pm

Can you just treat S Days the same as No S Days but....treat yourself to a really good dessert....for me this works better than going completely crazy and then trying to get back on track on Monday.

Everyday Systems

Let's play, "The Price is High"!

Let's play, "The Price is High"!

Re: Let's play, "The Price is High"!

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