Crystal in Singapore--Weekly Check In

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 2:16 pm

Wow! It has been YEARS since I posted or even looked at this board. I was mainly a lurker anyway. So nice to see many of the same members are still around and posting. This has always been such a friendly place.

In the 4 or 5 years since I posted so much has changed for me. I am married now, and I have a 5 month old baby girl. I will be attempting to do No S while breastfeeding. I gained about 40 pounds while pregnant and had gained some even before pregnancy so have quite a bit to lose. Not too concerned about numbers right now, just mainly want to fit into my pre-preggo clothes! As a larger-sized person, I find it VERY difficult to find decent looking clothes here in Singapore that fit! I am so sick of looking frumpy!!!

I have been back on No S for about a month now, but I think its time I get a bit more serious about it, so I will do the daily check in thing again because that really seems to help me stay with it. Today was a SUCCESS but from here on out, I will post once a week. Just wanted to introduce myself and say hello.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:14 am

Well, its Monday morning here in sunny Singapore. Last week went something like this: (I am counting Monday, March 12 as Day 1 even though I have been toying with No S-this time around-since the beginning of the year.)

Day 1: SUCCESS
Day 2: SUCCESS
Day 3: SUCCESS
Day 4: SUCCESS
Day 5: SUCCESS
Day 6: S DAY
Day 7: S DAY

I am doing Vanilla No S. I have tried in the past to add mods and tweaks but it never worked out and I think caused me to fall off the wagon altogether. So this time, I am doing No S as it is written.

I bought a pedometer yesterday so I am going to start counting my steps. We use public transport and so we end up walking a lot, and I would like to get an idea of how much I am walking everyday. I have lost large amounts of weight (like 70 pounds) three times in the past 15 years, and I always did so by walking about an hour each day (along with very strict dieting which I could not maintain in the end, but that is another story.) However, now that I have a baby, I cannot just walk out of my house and walk for an hour (she refuses to sit in a stroller for any length of time and I don't want to carry her in our Ergo baby carrier while I do fast-paced walking due to the tropical heat here.) But I do walk A LOT just going from here to there without a car, and I am thinking of doing shovelglove if I can find a sledgehammer locally.

lbb (Liz) · Post by **lbb (Liz)** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:29 am

Welcome back! I understand the draw to come back to No S after awhile.y sister lives in Singapore too! She walks a ton and actually lost weight when she first moved there because her body was just not familiar with all the walking. Congrats on the new baby!
I at first tried to tweak NoS but am realizing the benefit of doing vanilla no-s. more strictness leaves me less wiggle room, less grey, but more peace of mind. And that's why it works for me. I'm still having nutty s days and really am quite new to this, but feel a million times better than before-hand. I feel secure.
Good luck. Trudge on and enjoy the sun!

KL · Post by KL » Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:24 am

Glad your back and aiming for Vanilla No S. I'm a newbie to No S - but really ate this way for more than 20 yrs with no special days - so every day was an N day for me. I like the freedom with boundaries this method provides.

I used to live in Bangkok. Love Southeast Asia

.

Keep up the honest work.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:23 pm

Day 8 SUCCESS
Day 9 SUCCESS
Day 10 SUCCESS
Day 11 SUCCESS
Day 12 SUCCESS
Day 13 S DAY
Day 14 S DAY
Day 15 SUCCESS

I thought again about taking my baby out for walks in the stroller. I was thinking that as she gets older, she keeps changing, and what she hates one day, she may tolerate and even like the next. Sure enough, it worked! We went for a 45 minute walk the other day, and I plan on doing this a few times a week, building up to five times a week if it works out. I gave her a cloth book to chew on and she was content the whole time with not so much as a whimper of complaint. Love her!!!

I have been tracking my steps with the pedometer, just to gather information at this point. It seems my steps range from 2,000-8,000 each day, and that is without any purposeful walking for exercise, just running errands. I am surprised by how low that number can be (2,000) as I read somewhere that most people get about 5,000 everyday just going about thier daily activities. I was a bit surprised my number was less than that a couple days last week as I don't own a car. Of course, with a baby, there are days I don't venture out as much as I normally would. I would like to top-up my number to 10,000 per day with a daily walk, and plan on working up to that in the days ahead.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:15 am

DAY 16 SUCCESS
DAY 17 SUCCESS
DAY 18 SUCCESS
DAY 19 SUCCESS
DAY 20 S DAY
DAY 21 S DAY

This was a great week. Got in a lot more walking. Because of the pedometer, I have been more conscious of walking as much as I can. Made some amazing chocolate chip cookies on Saturday. I only baked 6 of them and froze the rest of the unbaked dough into little balls. I ate 4 and my husband ate 2. My husband is having an afternoon tea break in front of me right now, munching away at some cake. He cannot stop offering me whatever he is eating!

(Its Monday afternoon on this side of the world, so definitely NOT an S day!) He is not trying to sabotage me...he just says he feels bad eating in front of me. But the great thing is, I am finding it very easy to decline the treats he offers me.

Here's to another great GREEN week ahead!

BertinHouston · Post by **BertinHouston** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:50 pm

I admire the fact that you are able to withstand the well-intentioned offer of sweets on no s days... Not easy especially when it comes from your husband/wife or SO.

KL · Post by KL » Tue Apr 03, 2012 1:06 am

Great job Crystal - yes, here's to future GREEN days/weeks/months - oh, am I getting ahead of myself.

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:35 am

DAY 22 SUCCESS
DAY 23 SUCCESS
DAY 24 SUCCESS
DAY 25 SUCCESS
DAY 26 NWS DAY
DAY 27 S DAY
DAY 28 S DAY
DAY 29 SUCCESS -Monday, April 9

Thanks for stopping by BertinHouston and KL! Thanks for the kind words! Do y'all get bluebonnets in Houston BertinHouston? I am originally from central Texas and have family in Fredericksburg, and I sure miss those fields of bluebonnets!!! I sure miss Texas in general!

This was a good week, although 3 S Days in a row is too much!! I did enjoy them though!

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Thu May 03, 2012 3:31 am

DAY 30 Tuesday, April 10: SUCCESS
DAY 31: SUCCESS
DAY 32: SUCCESS
DAY 33: SUCCESS
DAY 34: S DAY
DAY 35: S DAY
DAY 36: SUCCESS
DAY 37: SUCCESS
DAY 38: SUCCESS
DAY 39: SUCCESS
DAY 40: NWS DAY
DAY 41: S DAY
DAY 42: S DAY
DAY 43: SUCCESS
DAY 44: SUCCESS
DAY 45: SUCCESS
DAY 46: SUCCESS
DAY 47: SUCCESS
DAY 48: S DAY
DAY 49: S DAY
DAY 50: SUCCESS
DAY 51: SUCCESS
DAY 52: SUCCESS Wednesday, May 2, 2012

No time to post! I do not want to wait more than a week to post again, though, because posting too many weeks in a row is confusing and time consuming.

I have not had a failure so far this time around with No S and I really think that is because I am sticking very faithfully to Vanilla No S. I am strict with it and I think because of that, its just starting to become a habit. I know that 52 days in is way too soon to start thinking that this is the way I will eat for life without it being too much effort, but so far, it really has become almost effortless.

I think the real problem for me will be when I stop seeing weight loss results. Right now, I am losing about 1 pound per week. That is slow, but I don't mind-its wonderful to be losing anything at all, especially consistently! I have lost 9 pounds so far. I have lost large amounts of weight in the past, but it was so all-consuming and joyless. No S is the complete opposite of that. I am enjoying food so much, and I don't think about food all the time like I do with other diets. And I really enjoy S Days!!

One more note: I had to step away from dieting completely for about 3 years before I started No S again. (When I lost weight before it was on very strict diets.) I think it has really helped me approach this with a different mindset. I don't hate my fat self anymore, and I really believe people CAN be healthy and fat at the same time. I think it has way more to do with exercise and eating healthfully than a number on the scale, and I think BMI is very limited in telling someone what their weight should be. At my lowest, I was still in the overweight category (I looked and felt great!!!), and I think that trying to get into the normal category is ultimately what did me in when it came to my last weight loss attempt. (I lost about 70 pounds but after that, the scale would not budge no matter how insanely I dieted.) Lots more to say on this subject, but gotta go for now...