Everyday Systems

Hi everyone.

A lot has changed since my last kick at the No-S can. I'm trying again because anything more complex has no room in my life and why did I ever stop doing this, I loved it!? Here's the issue, and I don't really remember it being addressed in the book, nor on here when I was paying attention.

I'm now a stay-at-home mum (yay!), with the worst weight of my entire life (boo!). My husband (yay!) works retail (boo!), which means sometimes three days off a week (yay!), but irregular and irregularly spaced (boo!).

Since we tend to go out and do shopping and fun things on his days off (including eating out), I ask you: should my S-days be the days that he has off work?

That aside, I'm glad to see some familiar names are still floating around in here.

Hi Harpista!

I feel your pain but I want to tell you that I have learned to leave s days to saturday and sunday.

I originally used friday and saturday as my s days because those are days that we (over!)eat at my in-law's and using those days as s days was easier. I could indulge guilt-free. I wouldn't have to say "no thanks" to grandma. But, I wasn't flexing my habit/willpower muscles. I wasn't learning how to handle uncomfortable eating situations.

I've since switched to saturday and sunday and i say "no thanks" at grandma's every friday and i'm actually really happy to do it. Just this week i had 5 get togethers(!) and none of them on friday or saturday. This is NOT normal for me. But I stayed on track and didn't declare any nws days. I used a lot of habit/willpower and i am very pleased. I am learning to behave differently at parties and around food in general.

But if you are brand new and you think you'll quit if you can't enjoy food with your family, tie your s days in with hubby's day off and see how it goes. If you feel good go with it. I just felt funny voting without any explanation.

(Sorry I got so wordy/harpy!)

The French and Italians pretty much live quite similarly to No S all the time. They don't take days off from their routines just because they have a day off work. That's just our confused culture of restrict, then overeat because we have access to food or it's time to celebrate. There is so much pleasure in their routines, there is no reason to think of it as stopping them from enjoying themselves. They believe there is no real pleasure in eating for entertainment/fun instead of a real appetite. They don't feel they are on a diet. They're not!

Practice believing that you can have fun and pleasure on N days. Besides, S days aren't for overdoing it, just for pressure relief while on the way to basically having N days with reasonable, moderate exceptions.

Do the day-off stuff, sans the sweets and snacks besides sipping an adult cup of coffee -or whatever- for you. And you can still eat out- virtual plating if you have to- on N days. Just not all day.

You'll see. It will fit in! Pleasurably, once you get over the hump.

The reason I voted no to changing your days is because most functions, birthday parties you will be attending I assume will normally be on weekends so that will give you a lot of nws days more then what you would normally have if you had your s days on the weekend

I have a very irregular schedule so it's hard for me to say, "these are my S-days and I'm sticking to it!" I usually take each week as it comes. On Sundays, usually, I look at my schedule for the week and pick which 2 days are going to be my S-days. That way I can enjoy my days off (which are very inconsistent) but still have structure.

oolala53 wrote:The French and Italians pretty much live quite similarly to No S all the time. They don't take days off from their routines just because they have a day off work. That's just our confused culture of restrict, then overeat because we have access to food or it's time to celebrate. There is so much pleasure in their routines, there is no reason to think of it as stopping them from enjoying themselves. They believe there is no real pleasure in eating for entertainment/fun instead of a real appetite. They don't feel they are on a diet. They're not!

Outstanding!!!!!!!!!

oolala53 wrote:The French and Italians pretty much live quite similarly to No S all the time. They don't take days off from their routines just because they have a day off work. That's just our confused culture of restrict, then overeat because we have access to food or it's time to celebrate. There is so much pleasure in their routines, there is no reason to think of it as stopping them from enjoying themselves. They believe there is no real pleasure in eating for entertainment/fun instead of a real appetite. They don't feel they are on a diet. They're not!

I agree.

I would vote for keeping it to weekends. For one thing, consistency is much more habit friendly. For another, oolala makes a good point which is basically that enjoyment and food do not necessarily have to go together, and the idea that a day with the hubby is less good if you can't snack or eat sweets or seconds reinforces that reliance on food as entertainment.

One "trick" I have is that on N days I generally eat very healthily -- half a plate of freggies and moderate other stuff. I pack my lunch and eat a sensible dinner. I do this for many good reasons, but a bonus thing about it is that when I eat at a restaurant, even fast food, or a mall court, or if I have something special that is not an "S" -- it feels like an S. I had a sub sandwich and chips the other day because I hadn't had time to make lunch, and it felt very naughty. But it wasn't.

Every time I do try to do roving S Days, and I've tried it quite a few times, it becomes too complicated and I slide away from NoS completely after a while. The reason No S works for me is that it is super uncomplicated - either it is Saturday, Sunday or a holiday or it is not. I need that black and white.