Everyday Systems

what does a sane S day look like?

Two small meals, one moderate one, dessert.

Two small meals, one moderate one, no S.

One medium meal, one big meal.

One big meal, one small one, one S.

One small meal, two or three snacks. ( Super Bowl day)

Three very small meals, dessert.

One big meal.

Etc.

when did this pattern start happening for you?

oolala53 wrote:Two small meals, one moderate one, dessert.

Two small meals, one moderate one, no S.

One medium meal, one big meal.

One big meal, one small one, one S.

One small meal, two or three snacks. ( Super Bowl day)

Three very small meals, dessert.

One big meal.

Etc.

Awesome! I always learn so much from you.

Can you please give us an idea of what is a small, medium and large meal?

Thanks!

I don't know if it's sane, but I eat whatever I want on S days: ice cream, chips, large restaurant meals w/ dessert, Coca Cola. I've noticed that I've been eating less of this stuff since I started doing No S than before I did it. Also, I'm not overweight (or at least not very overweight), so I come at the diet from a healthy eating standpoint more than a weight loss one.

The S days are there for overall sanity in my opinion, and I need these days to eat whatever I want. Without them, I would have dropped the whole thing months ago.

small meal: 1/2 cup yogurt, a plum, a few nuts

medium meal: half a sandwich, crudites

big meal: just about anything eaten at a restaurant! or any meal in which the entree or side dish is deep fried. So, for me, a lot of restaurant appetizers are actually a big meal because they are so fatty. I don't they are bad. I don't get them often because I like a bigger volume of food to chew! And if I eat a big volume of something rich, I will not get hungry again for literally 16 or more hours. I used to eat more, but that wasn't sane.

oolala53 wrote:Two small meals, one moderate one, dessert.
Two small meals, one moderate one, no S.
One medium meal, one big meal.
One big meal, one small one, one S.
One small meal, two or three snacks. ( Super Bowl day)
Three very small meals, dessert.
One big meal.
Etc.

While I absolutely concur with Oolala on what constitutes a sane S day, I was surprised that we had differing versions of small and moderate meals!

So, for another take, here's what works for me:

Small:

Breakfast: toast with jam&butter + small glass of milk&coffee, + small glass of juice or half piece of fruit.

Lunch: half sandwich + light (veggie and broth) soup. Or a quesadilla+ orange. Or fruit and cheese platter with a handful of nuts.

Dinner: same as lunch or maybe even lighter if I've had a big meal at lunch time, like a bowl of popcorn, or my new fav: glass of milk with a bit of Kahlua.

Medium-size meal:

Breakfast: granola or muesli, topped with yogurt, milk, fruit (fresh and dried), nuts. OR an egg served with sauteed veggies and bit of cheese, toast, fruit, coffee OR 2 moderate pancakes served with an egg and sauteed fruit

Lunch: Quesadilla, hearty salad, fruit OR whole sandwich, small side of chips, veggies + homemade dip OR big bowl of hearty, chunky soup, bread, fruit.

Dinner: Like lunch but more likely to have a chicken breast or pork chop (grilled/baked/sauteed with mushrooms, etc) instead of a sandwich/soup. So modest portion of meat, salad, veggie, and bread.

Large/Big Meal:

Breakfast: eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns or other sauteed potatoes, toast, fruit salad

Lunch/Dinner: Steak, baked potato, sauced veggie, salad, rolls, wine, dessert. This amount of food (menu changes!) is pretty typical for our Sunday lunch and that night I don't eat dinner..... just my Kahlua milk.... I rarely, rarely, rarely eat big dinners (evening meal) because I don't like going to bed feeling that full (not achingly full, just not "light" enough)....

Oh, one more thing: my meal sizes fit me as a 50+, hypothyroid, short woman. YMMV

The key to sane S days is to pay attention to what you really want and enjoy, not what you can have. If at first you really want and enjoy dessert at every meal, then do it (I did!). But at some point, that will NOT be what you really want AND enjoy, and you'll need to take the step of just not having dessert--not because of diethead or because you "should" tame it down, but because you WANT to and KNOW that will give you the most enjoyment.

At the heart of NoS is the enjoyment principle: moderation of what you like because that ultimately will give the most pleasure. Brilliant!

I'm happy with no snacking and no seconds, such that I continue those habits on S days. My baseline S day is a normal N day with a nice quality sweet after dinner.

Sometimes I might add seconds if the mood hits me, but by default, I just have a nice sweet after dinner. Lately it's been ice cream. Something really nice to look forward to during N days.

I define a sane S day (had my first one in 7 weeks last weekend) by not getting to the stage where I feel completely stuffed!
I know that in time it will settle to a point where it's pretty much an N day with a couple of treats

vmsurbat wrote:

oolala53 wrote:Two small meals, one moderate one, dessert.
Two small meals, one moderate one, no S.
One medium meal, one big meal.
One big meal, one small one, one S.
One small meal, two or three snacks. ( Super Bowl day)
Three very small meals, dessert.
One big meal.
Etc.

While I absolutely concur with Oolala on what constitutes a sane S day, I was surprised that we had differing versions of small and moderate meals!

So, for another take, here's what works for me:

Small:

Breakfast: toast with jam&butter + small glass of milk&coffee, + small glass of juice or half piece of fruit.

Lunch: half sandwich + light (veggie and broth) soup. Or a quesadilla+ orange. Or fruit and cheese platter with a handful of nuts.

Dinner: same as lunch or maybe even lighter if I've had a big meal at lunch time, like a bowl of popcorn, or my new fav: glass of milk with a bit of Kahlua.

Medium-size meal:

Breakfast: granola or muesli, topped with yogurt, milk, fruit (fresh and dried), nuts. OR an egg served with sauteed veggies and bit of cheese, toast, fruit, coffee OR 2 moderate pancakes served with an egg and sauteed fruit

Lunch: Quesadilla, hearty salad, fruit OR whole sandwich, small side of chips, veggies + homemade dip OR big bowl of hearty, chunky soup, bread, fruit.

Dinner: Like lunch but more likely to have a chicken breast or pork chop (grilled/baked/sauteed with mushrooms, etc) instead of a sandwich/soup. So modest portion of meat, salad, veggie, and bread.

Large/Big Meal:

Breakfast: eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns or other sauteed potatoes, toast, fruit salad

Lunch/Dinner: Steak, baked potato, sauced veggie, salad, rolls, wine, dessert. This amount of food (menu changes!) is pretty typical for our Sunday lunch and that night I don't eat dinner..... just my Kahlua milk.... I rarely, rarely, rarely eat big dinners (evening meal) because I don't like going to bed feeling that full (not achingly full, just not "light" enough)....

Oh, one more thing: my meal sizes fit me as a 50+, hypothyroid, short woman. YMMV

The key to sane S days is to pay attention to what you really want and enjoy, not what you can have. If at first you really want and enjoy dessert at every meal, then do it (I did!). But at some point, that will NOT be what you really want AND enjoy, and you'll need to take the step of just not having dessert--not because of diethead or because you "should" tame it down, but because you WANT to and KNOW that will give you the most enjoyment.

At the heart of NoS is the enjoyment principle: moderation of what you like because that ultimately will give the most pleasure. Brilliant!

Wow, my meals tend to be the same on most S days as they are on N days. The difference is the addition of an S or two. The only time my meals change much is for the major holidays.

vmsurbat: I love Kahlua. Try it in hot chocolate sometime. Delicious!

wosnes wrote:
Wow, my meals tend to be the same on most S days as they are on N days. The difference is the addition of an S or two. The only time my meals change much is for the major holidays.

vmsurbat: I love Kahlua. Try it in hot chocolate sometime. Delicious!

Wosnes: That sounds delicious, especially with the cooler weather coming up. My S days and N days tend to be the same as well, except that generally there is dessert on Sundays and the meal is a "company" worthy meal because we always have guests after church.

But the small/medium meals I wrote out are pretty much the way we eat most days, whether S or N, because we like them so much! Holidays and birthdays are usually brunch and one other meal accompanied by dessert an hour or two later. One nice thing about preferring fruit/cheese for "dessert" is that we don't have to wait for S days for that little finishing "something."

Earl7z wrote: My baseline S day is a normal N day with a nice quality sweet after dinner.

Not that it started out that way. Starting out my S days were insane. It was like a free ticket to just go nuts. And I always felt lousy, stuffing down that much food. So I reread the book a few times and focused on quality, not quantity. And the no solitary snacking podcast helped me a lot too.

I was typing fast and loose on those S-day meal combinations and meal sizes. Just trying to emphasize that I can't eat three big meals or even two big meals comfortably = sanely any day of the week now. But not every S day is sane for me...

oolala53 wrote:Two small meals, one moderate one, dessert.

Two small meals, one moderate one, no S.

One medium meal, one big meal.

One big meal, one small one, one S.

One small meal, two or three snacks. ( Super Bowl day)

Three very small meals, dessert.

One big meal.

Etc.

you did not say how long it took you to get this way, assuming you were not this way when you started No S?

I hesitate to tell you... it was more than two years. N days made it worth the wait.

thanks for telling me oolala. I'm thinking it's gonna take me longer than 2 months to get it down better!! At least I'm not going back for seconds except veggies. The sweets will be the hardest to tone down I think. It has already but not to where I'd like it to be.

I appreciate yours and other's honesty here. It encourages the rest of us.

I know this sounds counterintuitive, but try not to watch the pot, meaning hovering, waiting to see the desires go away. Like an itch, if you turn your attention away for awhile, you end up noticing later that you don't know when it went away.

If you can. I'm going to work on alternatives more this year, after I turn 60 in four days. Got four days to do some soul-searching and planning.

A sane S-day is a day i don't think about food, overeating, diet etc. and still my habits form the N-Day transfer (eating smaller amounts, eating slow, enjoy every bite etc.)

Hi Germanherman,

I like your post, I don't overeat or think about food either. At least I'm not eating sweets 7 days a week!