modifications that have worked for you?

[MJ7910]

So I have been pretty much maintaining the same weight since April/May and I think maybe it's time to implement some easy to follow mods that kind of address the problems I am having. I think the major issue is overeating during the weekends and then weekdays going to fast food places. So I am going to try and tackle both of these this month and see where it gets me. As far as the fast food during the week, that just has to stop unless it is my only possible choice. I think this is reasonable for me to do, I simply go home and make myself something instead of choosing fast food. Easy enough. The overeating on the weekends I think has amounted to not losing weight. I think it is because I am viewing the Sdays as a time to just do whatever I want. I am not thinking if I really even want to eat it. It is just because it is there. There is no reason I can't enjoy a few treats, but it doesn't have to be overdoing it all the time. Friday nights have started to become part of Sdays . I said I would let myself have some kind of small evening dessert on Fridays. And because of that I think that Fridays are just another Sday now. I need to limit it to one small thing on Fridays. Because then I feel that anxiety all Friday evening in anticipation of Saturday, when I go crazy. Now, for Saturdays... It's fine to enjoy a treat or two, but not all day. And not to the point of overeating. Sundays have been kind of my day to get back to normal and I need to start making them that way. I could have something good in the morning but then maybe lunch and dinner should somewhat resemble Nday meals with maybe 1 special thing thrown in during one of those meals. Not sure if I even consider these mods, but something just has to be done so it isn't undoing all my good work during the week. Thoughts? What have you done that has been really good for you that you can stick with and not feel like you are rebelling?

[gratefuldeb67]

i think a bunch of people on here, including myself include friday evenings as part of the S days... i think keeping moderation in mind throughout the week, including S days is what your main focus should be... S days were never intended to be free-for-all's.. enjoy them, but just be moderate
good luck!

[wosnes]

My opinion is that there are only a few S days when it's okay to go wild; not every weekend. I think the only time to go wild are the major holidays or special occasions. I rarely go wild on the summer holidays or New Year's. So for me, it's Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Weekend S days are a time to relax and indulge a little. I think the trick with weekends is not to have an out of control, over-the-top day at all -- or at least very rarely.

As for meals, I don't restrict what I eat to certain days of the week. That is, if I want a pancakes on Wednesday, I have them. (I don't like a lot of syrup on them, so I don't worry about the sugar.) If I want potato chips with lunch, I have them. They aren't things I'd have every week anyway, so I just don't worry about it. I rarely eat fast food, so if I want it, I have it.

You might consider a couple of quick, default meals to have instead of having fast food. For me it would be soup or eggs of some sort and maybe a salad. As much as I dislike them, a frozen meal of some sort would be better than fast food.

[Healthiermum]

I'm the same on s days especially Saturdays. I think for me it's the fact that I know that this is the last time for a week ill be able to eat these other foods that makes me eat more which makes it feel like a diet cos it's like deprivation all week then binge on weekends. Funny thing is I don't feel deprived on weekdays so I don't know why I feel like that on weekends. What I'm trying to do is eat like I do on n days with a dessert or 2 or eating sweets as a meal( ie muffin/pancakes for breakfast) so I'm still only having my 3 meals rather then eating all day long

[wosnes]

i think a bunch of people on here, including myself include friday evenings as part of the S days... i think keeping moderation in mind throughout the week, including S days is what your main focus should be... S days were never intended to be free-for-all's.. enjoy them, but just be moderate
good luck!

Though it's not the same now, when I first started No-S Friday evening is when we went out to dinner. I started the weekend at dinner on Friday.

[MJ7910]

I really want this plan to work for me. I was miserable in calorie counting hell. It made me become quite obsessive . I don't want to have to go back to that . So I know I have to find a way to make this work. And I think the key is my mindset. I can't view S days as a free for all if I hope to lose weight.

[la_loser]

MJ,
It looks as though you've been doing No S for a while so I'm assuming your habits are pretty well established during non S days. Rather than needing to create an actual modification from the "rules" of No S, perhaps it would help to revisit some of the comments Reinhard makes on the website and in the book regarding S days.

Some of the others have given you some sound feedback as usual (Wosnes and Deb). Here's my two cents which supports what they've said as well.

Certainly when people are first starting on No S, the sky is the limit. . . eat whatever you darn well please on S days but discipline yourself to stay green on the other days. Some have written on the boards in the past that they consistently have truly wild S days. I recall a few years ago that someone talked about how they set their alarm for midnight Friday night so she could wake and begin eating ice cream in the middle of the night. . . because she could. I got the impression that this poster in pre No S days would have done this on a regular basis no matter the time of day. So although that seemed excessive, if it meant she only did that on weekends, that was an improvement over doing it every day of the week!

Early on, I had to remind myself of the original wording of the diet rules as explained on the website. (The version used in the book lost one word-Reinhard says he thinks it was to make it fit on the page better or to make it catchier, but I think it's a HUGE word to have omitted, particularly for people who have managed to get their weekday habits under control but who feel like their S days are out of control. ) It's a fourteen word diet but the book pares it down to thirteen words, leaving out the word, SOMETIMES.

There are just three rules and one exception:
No Snacks
No Sweets
No Seconds[
Except (sometimes) on days that start with "S"

I've found that every time I've wandered away for what ever reason, it really helps to go back and reread the entire section that Reinhard has written about the diet. Even with the elaboration, it's a quick and easy read as is the book and the little nuances are clarified.

Here's more from the website. .the imbedded links don't show up but you can go back to the original www.nosdiet.com page to see them.

What do you mean by "sometimes"?

I stuck the word "sometimes" in the exception to remind you not to be an idiot on S-days. It's been my experience that the good habits you build on the non-S-days will see you through the S-days without too much excess. My S-days tend to be no worse than my pre-No S Diet ordinary days.

(relatively) New! "Don't be an idiot" insufficiently specific for you? Read this discussion for a little more guidance.

Note: readers of the No S Diet book may have noticed that the word "sometimes" didn't make it to the print version. The reason for this was mostly typographical (the 14 word version with "sometimes" just didn't fit as well on the cover). And while some people can using the extra reminder, "sometimes" isn't really logically necessary -- OF COURSE you shouldn't eat snacks, sweets and seconds ALL THE TIME on S-days. I've kept the "sometimes" on the web site so pre-book No S dieters don't feel like I've changed the system out from under them, and as far as I'm concerned, both the 13 and 14 word formulations of the system are equally valid and "canonical" (more on this issue here).

So perhaps in the spirit of "sometimes," you could decide to have one snack and one sweet and perhaps seconds only one time per S day-if that would satisfy your need to cut back a bit yet not have to "punish" yourself by imposing too many limits. Maybe you CAN have your cake and eat it too!

If you haven't listened to the podcasts lately, it might be worth your time, particularly the "S days gone wild" since you seem to feel like that has become a sticking point for you.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[vmsurbat]

So I know I have to find a way to make this work. And I think the key is my mindset. I can't view S days as a free for all if I hope to lose weight.

I think you have hit the nail on the head here. I found it very, very helpful to visit the Catch Phrase sticky which is just chock-ful of pithy statements and word pictures to combat diet-head:

http://www.everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3883

I picked a few that resonated with me and used them as part of my life; not as "rules", but as tools to remember what I really want my life/eating habits to look like.

Additionally, if you have a habit of eating fast food throughout the week, may I recommend that you menu plan a week or so at a time. It doesn't have to be exact daily menus, but a general list of what sounds good to you/fits your schedule (although daily menus can be good--that is what I do in my busy household to keep my sanity). Then, if you follow your tentative menu while grocery shopping, you'll find it much easier to actually make meals at home.

If you find the idea of menu planning daunting, there are both free and paid websites that post menus in advance that might jump start this for you.

HTH,

[Bssh]

I agree with many of the others above. I rarely go crazy on S days, even though I do indulge. I'm still quite conscious of my food intake (without counting calories!) on S days. Moderation is key for me.

[oolala53]

It took me 2 years to begin to tame my S days, though I lost weight each YEAR. I definitely had months I didn't lose and even gained. But I just couldn't STAND the thought of limiting myself, even when I would overeat and be miserable. Nowadays, 41 months in, it's hard to remember that urgency and I have S days on which I actually eat LESS than I do on N days, or at least less often.

I think of S days as actually a 36-hour window, from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. (BTW, I don't think I set an alarm, but in the beginning, I did stay up until midnight and start on 20-oz milk chocolate bars or other binge food. I think now that it should be stipulated that S days start at the regular time of getting up on a Saturday.) So first of all, if you include Friday night (and I do NOT), you might think of your S days ending on Sunday morning. It sounds like you might be close to that anyway. I do think there should be some compensation for starting on Friday. It

In the book, Reinhard says eventually S days will look like N days with MAYBE a few really well-chosen S's . (You know, like a "normal" person!) Some people started referring to S events, and allowing themselves so many S events per weekends. But that can get into counting.

Some people have had a lot of success imposing those kinds of limitations on themselves. I think a lot of people who don't have success just slink away. I will never know if I could have changed things sooner: I just know it filled me with dread to think about it. Perhaps I should have challenged that. Too late. However, I'm here to tell you that changes can happen later, if you hang in there. I'm 97% sure (see the stats on dieting) nothing else would have been better for me. I'd bet others who give up would have decent results by staying around. But to me, weight loss is not the measure of decent results, since the likelihood of substantial weight loss under ANY circumstances is very low. When obesity researchers are actually pleased with an obese person keeping 7-10 pounds off in a year, it can help you see the odds. I think NO S can do way better than that. Im saying all that to emphasize that you're really just getting going.

I always did and still do eat fast food. I just usually eat only about half the portion and supplement with about two cups of what I call solid veggies or more, if it was mostly lettuce, when I bring the food home. Even out, I often wrap up about half the food, and eat the rest even more slowly than I normally eat, which is already slow (on purpose). I get full enough on that. (I had to practice to get to this point. A lot) But this is not the norm. I cook a lot for myself and eat way more than the recommended freggies per day and a lot less refined food than the average bear for sure.

My only official weekend mod, which I started about a year ago, I think, is that I eat sweets on weekends only in the company of others. That hasn't led to a lot more weight loss but it has made me feel saner. For other S's, I was more organic about it, meaning instead of choosing a certain number of S events, I just started to be more willing to cooperate with my hunger or lack of it. I've had some S days of one meal, or one meal and salad or vegetable soup only just because I just wasn't hungry for more. (In the first two years, I wasn't hungry, either, but I WANTED to eat! I sometimes still want to eat, but I basically just got tired of eating too much. The desire to eat hasn't gone away, but giving in never made me feel any better later. Perhaps that's a mod as well, but it's not hard and fast like the other one. )

But I made NONE of these change in order to lose more weight. I just wanted to feel more "vital" more of the time. That is still my touchstone. In my own case, I'm pretty sure anything I do just to please the scale will backfire. Low scale weights start me on a path of crazy thinking that inspires unsustainable undereating. But just eating less when I'm less hungry doesn't inspire undereating for me.

Not everyone reacts the way I do to the scale, but I'd wager many do, even with the stats from the NWLR. They don't count the ones who never got there because the scale upset the developing natural order.

So, I say eat less because you recognize that you feel a lot better when you do that. And see if weight loss follows.

[emmay]

Great post Oolala. I agree with focusing on vitalty and tuning in to your hunger rather than focusng on weight loss.
I've been contemplating possible weekend mods. Not for weight loss necessarily, but to feel better about my eating habits. Overeating and frequent sweets is not behavour I can feel proud of. I aim to eat mostly healthy foods in amounts appropriate for my hunger level and I can usually achieve that on N days.
After 8 months on No S, my N day habits haven't carried over to S days and I think they might need a helping hand in the form of some S day guidelines. I was thinking along the lines of a 'sweets ceiling', referencing Reinhards 'glass ceiling', of two sweets per day on S days. I think 'eat sweets only in the company of others' is something that would be good for me to implement too.

[oolala53]

If you don't get the eebie jeebies thinking about curtailing your sweets, go for it! A 2-S ceiling sounds like an appropriate goal.

[Imogen Morley]

I have three pre-scheduled desserts a week - after dinner on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. I do my best not to overdo it, so I stick to 300-400 kcal limit. I've made it a non-negotiable habit - floating S days or small desserts daily were just asking for trouble.
Apart from no snacking and having three meals a day (what a blessing it is!), I also count my calories/keep a food journal. It is a bit burdensome, but keeps me honest. If I do binge - which of course happens from time to time - I also write it down. Oh, and I almost never eat anything sugary on empty stomach. It makes me feel yucky, and my cravings get SO MUCH worse.