Everyday Systems

I don't know why, but I have really wanted to eat more than my three plates of food today. I think I could eat the plates themselves at this point.

I had some hamburger that needed to be cooked before it goes bad, so I made some meatballs for my husband and son to snack on. Boy do they smell delicious. I told them to please not talk about how good they taste. Normally I appreciate complements on my cooking, but not at the moment! lol

Thank you to Renee for starting the 21 day challenge or I think I'd have given in tonight. I am only 5 days away from making the 21 days and day after tomorrow I can snack if I want to. No way I'm going to fail at this point!

Thank you to anyone who took the time to listen to me rattle on. I suddenly feel peace by just having talked about it. Soon it will be bedtime. I would really have kicked myself tomorrow for making a blunder so soon before going to sleep!

it was a good idea to get on here. wish i would have done that on tues. and weds.... but instead i chose to snack because i just did.... can't even come up with a logical reason. but coming on here would have been a better plan! hope your friday is great!

Thank you MJ. Believe me, it was a last ditch effort on my part because I was closer to the verge than I've been since I started No S on February 20th. My hubby and son saved a few for me and I'm going to have them tomorrow. It's nice to know tomorrow is only a day away!

This may help you. Finallyfull posted that when her kids were having banana bread and she was having that feeling sorry for herself feeling that she decided to take a piece of it to have with dinner. What an awesome idea is that?

So, maybe when we're craving something, put a little aside for our next meal. On that note, I think I'll be having meatballs with my breakfast! hehe

We CAN do this!

Well done, Liz46. It can be hard. I have to go elsewhere to get away from the delicious smells when other members of the family are eating and I am hungry.

Too solid flesh, Thank you very much. It wasn't easy. I hope next time I'm so tempted I can remember the elation I felt this morning for having not given in.

way to go liz!

Didn't do so well myself this evening when dinner was running late.

Well done on resisting the temptation! Once you know you can do it, the next time becomes easier

I've found that just having a glass of milk, a cup of tea or even just sipping a soda water with lime can stave off a craving. Also, I throw everything in danger of going off in the freezer so I don't get that 'MUST EAT IT NOW' feeling

It can help to come on the forum when you feel like collapsing. Even if you don't have anything to say, just reading the other posts and testimonials is often enough to encourage.

Thank you GratefulDeb!

Too Solid, I'm sorry you had a bad evening. Don't give up, just hang in there. I completely understand how easy it can be to have a red day. Tomorrow and the next day we will have S days! Hallelujah! Let's enjoy them to the hilt and then rev ourselves up for a good week next week.

Milliem, Thank you. I agree about having something to drink. I've posted about Diet Dr. Peppers on other threads, they have helped get me through some tough times in the past week. Not the best choice, but whatever works! lol I do hope resisting the temptation will get easier. You're right, if we get through one, we can get through another.

Leafy_greens, Thank you for the advice. I will definitely come here in times of trouble, if only to read or try to encourage others. Last night this board was a Godsend!

A little curious why you didn't just plan to serve the meatballs as part of dinner for everyone...

But I agree that coming here to post is better than eating.

Often you won't be able to figure out exactly why you want food when it's not time to eat. I found after years of examining this that it rarely matters why. It's just not time to eat. If I'm cooking, I sip tea or clear broth. Otherwise, I get online or do anything pleasurable or useful.

Oolalah, I didn't think about the hamburger in the fridge needing to be used up until late last night. That's when I decided to make the meatballs.

I agree with staying busy when cooking, being a taster!

Oh, I've done that kind of night cooking as well. Hope the guys enjoyed the meatballs!

oolala53 wrote:Often you won't be able to figure out exactly why you want food when it's not time to eat. I found after years of examining this that it rarely matters why. It's just not time to eat.

Yes, it doesn't really matter "why" you want to eat. I don't like trying to figure that out because it reminds me of IE. Thinking about it and journaling just compounds the obsession, IMO.

I agree with that quote, too. I will never go back to IE and journaling food. With IE I pretty much stayed hungry throughout the day because I never really ate enough to be truly satisfied. And writing down every morsel never helped me in any way, shape or form.

I love this way of eating. I try to eat at approximately the same time each day. If I do feel a little hunger in between meals, I'm learning to welcome it instead of begrudge it, knowing I'll soon be able to eat again. And seriously, I could live off my own body fat for several months as is!

I think it's safe to say that we all have personal issues, without needing to journal to figure it out. Why dwell on that when you could be living your life between meals? Do I want chocolate because of some childhood emotional issue, or because I didn't sleep enough last night? It really doesn't matter why! There are other ways to figure out your problems and keep them separate from food. IE relies too much on that nebulous "feeling" of hunger, without describing what it really is. Hunger can also be emotional, and that's why many IE followers are still in trouble with eating.

I couldn't agree more Leafy_Greens. Writing down every morsel for me never helped a thing. Yes, I saw how much I was eating and the next day I was doing the same thing all over again. So what good did that do? lol

I'm the same. For a while earlier in the year I was writing everything I was eating and sometimes calculating calories. I thought that if I saw in writing how much I ate it would make me eat less -- but it didn't. I would still eat that extra chocolate bar knowing full well that I would be adding another 300 calories to my day. I know it works for some people, but for me, as many times as I've tried it, it has never lasted long.

Same here butterfly. I've read so many time that people who journal their food eat less....yeah right! Not always! lol

The stats do show that of those who have kept weight off, 75% of them record their food. However, those are the ones who have made it. I maintain that since so many people often stop trying BECAUSE they don't want to have to keep recording, it should hardly be gospel.

And the low obesity rate of France and Italy is derived from a much bigger sample than any American study! No recording there.

IF ONLY we could get some researcher to get a group here in the States that would agree to use No S, the boards, and Habitcal for a year!

Or maybe I wouldn't want to find out that the success rate (of maintaining the habit, not necessarily reaching a low goal weight) wasn't any better.

Oolala, I would love to see the results of that study, myself.

I'm sorry to say I've had three fail days in a row and I almost talked myself back into the mentality of forgetting about doing any kind of program. But I won't do that to myself anymore. I know this is the most sensible way to eat that I've found and I will stick to it. Back on track today and moving forward!

one thing i love about this program is you can just go back to it anytime. so you mess up a few days in a row, big deal... just do the next day better. that's what i did this week. messed up monday but the last few days were great. hoping for a moderate weekend but i know if i want something i can have it, so no biggie... it's really much easier of a system than anything i've done before . and i agree with you all the counting and tracking makes me think about food more and eat more, which is the whole problem to begin with. sounds like i just need to stay away from counting and tracking and just eat 3 moderate meals a day.

Amen to all you said MJ!

Because I would kill for a piece of chocolate right now. Chocolate which is readily available to me at work - my boss has a jar that is perpetually filled with Dove dark chocolates, and at the front desk, our receptionist has a bowl filled with fun size candy bars. I am avoiding walking by either location right now, and I'm about to make myself a cup of wild berry tea to hopefully soften my current craving for sweets.

I have the same problem, "work boredom" that causes chocolate cravings. We need to have a Monday Club where we all come on here to white knuckle it on Mondays.

Divert, divert, divert. The urge feels real, but the need is an illusion. In fact, just the opposite. Chocolate's the last thing you need.

One thinking tactic I used to use was to tell myself that those chocolates or whatever were not for me. I convinced myself they actually belonged to other people. NO CHOICE.

Enjoy the tea and get involved in something else.

Shortformyweight, (Love your name, btw because I can really relate!)..I hope you made it through the craving. I didn't do so hot today, myself. But coming off a good week last week, so not kicking myself too hard. Let's pray for a better and easier tomorrow!

I'm right there with you all. My Monday was HORRIBLE. I think I need to accept the need for caloric drinks instead. I still feel the thought that it's a "waste" of calories.

I know what you mean. I think, why not have a small bite of something when food is what I'm really craving? But, I guess having a drink of something nutritious (though that's not usually my choice) will help us finally get out of the habit of snacking mindlessly.

I'd say caloric drinks are economical when it comes to mental energy in comparison to chewing. I feel very civilized and reasonable with my cup of milky coffee or whatever. It feels very weird to me now to think I need a few bites of things at a time. "What's going to satisfy me now but not ruin my appetite later? What will I not keep eating?" etc. Expensive dickering!

It's not the calories, unless you drink cup after cup of high calorie coffee concoctions. It's the habit. One tends to lead to more consumption; the other normally doesn't.

Caloric drinks are mostly ok. Is OJ or tea something I would binge on? Absolutely not. But chocolate milk or sodas, would not be ok because it's so easy to drink too much of it, and clearly a sweet (to me).

That's why this process is not over in a few weeks or months. We each have to figure out when it's the food that's the problem or the mental side of it. Do I just want more or do I really need it for satiety? Some people can get away with less thinking about it. I think most of them have a lot more testosterone than I do.

Liz46 wrote:\I think, why not have a small bite of something when food is what I'm really craving?

Yep, the problem is that eating something reinforces the habit of eating at that time of day and sets you up for even stronger and more persistent cravings. That bite will make no difference at all to your health or weightloss, but a consistent day-after-day snacking habit WILL ...

It's sort of amazing how much even actual, physical hunger is based on habit. I get hungry about an hour before dinner time, whenever I'm used to dinner time occurring, just like I get sleepy around my regular bedtime.

I'm having a caloric drink right now and will eat lunch in two hours.

BTW, on my other board, we have one thread just for these kinds of declarations. We can commit to 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, until the next meal- whatever we need. There the goal is not to binge. I've turned several people on to No S, but it's up to each member there to determine her own schedule. However, regular eating times has proved to be very helpful for those with ED's. I'm convinced that for the majority of humans, random eating is not efficient. Of course, they shouldn't be scarfing a lot just because it 's meal time, but randomness has been much worse for me.

oolala, are you able to share what board that is? My goal is also not to binge.