Shadowfairy's Daily check in

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:10 am

Day 1

Meeeh. First day starting NoS and I'm sick too. :-/
Like tummy sick. Guess I don't need to worry about eating too much today...

osoniye · Post by **osoniye** » Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:42 am

Hi, Shadowfairy, and welcome.
Hope you get to feeling better soon and can start enjoying those 3 plates a day!

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:46 am

osoniye wrote:Hi, Shadowfairy, and welcome.
Hope you get to feeling better soon and can start enjoying those 3 plates a day!

Hey there thanks a lot! I'm making some early progress I've already lost 4lb just because of the bug. Hehehe

eschano · Post by **eschano** » Wed Sep 03, 2014 11:26 am

Poor you!

It's not progress when it's a bug

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Wed Sep 03, 2014 1:20 pm

Okay Day 1 for real now....

As I said I have a bug so just thinking of eating is a challenge. I didn't have any breakfast.

It's now 15:15pm and I had some black tea, 2 Slices of toasted Brown bread (it should be white but I don't have anything white in the house anymore.) with one aniseed rusk. And like a teaspoon of jam. I can't stomach dry toast Lol.

Later I will have a big ol'bowl of jello, and either oats or gem squash.

inbetween still struggling to drink some water. Meeh.

So besides the bug I actually very much stuck to NoS. (Who wouldn't if you have gastro?)

eschano · Post by **eschano** » Wed Sep 03, 2014 1:53 pm

Hmm, maybe start post-bug? Sick Days are S Days.

Personally when I have a stomach bug I snack on Pretzels in minute portions instead of eating any big meal.

But up to you

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:14 pm

eschano wrote:Hmm, maybe start post-bug? Sick Days are S Days.

Personally when I have a stomach bug I snack on Pretzels in minute portions instead of eating any big meal.

But up to you

...I didn't even think about that Lol. Of sick days being s-days. Makes sense I suppose. I don't have an appetite at all though. Not even for meals nevermind snacks.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 12:51 pm

SUCCESS!

Breakfast - bran muffin with Cheddar cheese and strawberry jam, with a kiwi fruit.

Lunch - kfc grilled twister, with 2 dried
Prunes as "dessert"

Dinner - a sandwich with roasted chicken and salsa.

Also I got myself a smaller plate. It's about 8 inches. I've heard it really helps with portion control. So from now on, if it doesn't fit on the plate, it ain't goin' in my mouth

aspencer27 · Post by **aspencer27** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:32 pm

I hope you're feeling better, Shadowfairy. Nice job yesterday. I definitely think a smaller plate helps - I don't even notice a different when I use smaller plates for food - well, except that I'm not usually overstuffed after!

Keep up the good work!

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 4:45 pm

FAIL : Because my neighbor offered me cake...and one slice turned into 3. I have a terrible time at saying no to old people...and having self control around sweets. :-/

Breakfast : Oats and a tablespoon of peanutbutter

Lunch: Roasted pork chop, carrot mash, and jeweled rice

Snack/sweet: 3 slices of chocolate cake.

Dinner: 1 piece of wholewheat bread, with low fat cottage cheese mixed with some jam. (sounds weird but it's yummy. I love cottage cheese. It's cheap protein.

I will hopefully do better tomorrow.

Although tomorrow is already another S-day. I'll just try and keep it light.

osoniye · Post by **osoniye** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 5:24 pm

Hi Shadowfairy- Glad you're feeling better. It's nice to have somebody else in the same time zone... your day is winding down when mine is.
Good on you, getting a smaller plate.
Sorry about the cake- these things do happen! Hope you enjoy the weekend and have a fresh start on Monday.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 5:27 pm

osoniye wrote:Hi Shadowfairy- Glad you're feeling better. It's nice to have somebody else in the same time zone... your day is winding down when mine is.
Good on you, getting a smaller plate.
Sorry about the cake- these things do happen! Hope you enjoy the weekend and have a fresh start on Monday.

That's so awesome! Welcome Chommie!!

hehehe

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 1:44 pm

Okay I think I'll restart Monday. Because this weekend is a bit of a mess. Actually this whole week was. So monday, will be my new Day 1.

And for those who haven't read it yet, I quit the gym. I think I'll stick to my favourite exercise. Which is walking outside in the sunshine while listening my favourite music and pretending I'm a runway model... hehehe

eschano · Post by **eschano** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:44 am

You can't fail on S days - no matter how your weekend is - you're fine!

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:47 am

eschano wrote:You can't fail on S days - no matter how your weekend is - you're fine!

Lol I think I gained instead of lost anything.

gwenkkelly · Post by **gwenkkelly** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:02 pm

A bit of unsolicited advice: make sure you're eating enough. I saw you're using an 8-inch plate, and many of your meals sound so small that they definitely would not tide me over until the next time. Could you be treating this more like a "diet" than like a lifestyle change? Make sure the way you eat is sustainableâ€”as in, you can imagine eating this way five days a week indefinitely, once you get the hang of it.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:16 pm

gwenkkelly wrote:A bit of unsolicited advice: make sure you're eating enough. I saw you're using an 8-inch plate, and many of your meals sound so small that they definitely would not tide me over until the next time. Could you be treating this more like a "diet" than like a lifestyle change? Make sure the way you eat is sustainableâ€”as in, you can imagine eating this way five days a week indefinitely, once you get the hang of it.

I understand. But I'm quite petite so I don't need much.

Also the aim is to lose weight right now, I understand your reasoning. But I'm not looking to maintain yet.

It'll of course be different. I get to eat more. But with my size, I maintain at only 1600 calories when I sit on my butt all day. And on a normal day where I walk around a lot I would maintain on 1700-1800. So to have any significant weight loss I need to eat either 1500, or 1300 on a lazy day.

I'm not planning on losing weight forever so yes this is not the way I plan to eat forever. Just too many temptations this week. I've not got my bearings straight yet.

gwenkkelly · Post by **gwenkkelly** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:21 pm

In my experience, the conventional wisdom regarding calorie restriction does not work. If you restrict calories for a long time, your metabolism adjusts downward, so that when you add them back in, you gain weight. Maintenance after dieting is extremely difficult for that reason, and it's a large part of how people get on the lifelong diet rollercoaster.

Obviously it's up to you what and how much you eat, but I'd encourage you to turn a blind eye to calories (I know, it's hard) and instead focus on putting together whatever plate of food will be the most satisfying to you, both in terms of nutrition and in terms of appeal.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:37 pm

gwenkkelly wrote:In my experience, the conventional wisdom regarding calorie restriction does not work. If you restrict calories for a long time, your metabolism adjusts downward, so that when you add them back in, you gain weight. Maintenance after dieting is extremely difficult for that reason, and it's a large part of how people get on the lifelong diet rollercoaster.

Obviously it's up to you what and how much you eat, but I'd encourage you to turn a blind eye to calories (I know, it's hard) and instead focus on putting together whatever plate of food will be the most satisfying to you, both in terms of nutrition and in terms of appeal.

Okay, but what if I gain weight then? I know it's weird, but I've lost 40lb counting calories. So I've been doing it for 2 years. What if I gain it all back again? I want to let it go, but the only way I know how to lose weight is to eat less (calorie wise) and move more? I'm just scared all my hard work will be for nothing.

gwenkkelly · Post by **gwenkkelly** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:20 pm

Look at your signature block: Forget everything you learned.

Were you happy counting calories? If so, what drew you to No-S?

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:25 pm

gwenkkelly wrote:Look at your signature block: Forget everything you learned.

Were you happy counting calories? If so, what drew you to No-S?

I was for a while. I don't want to worry about what to eat anymore. And I also don't want to weigh my food anymore because it looks weird to other people.

I'm just scared that, if my metabolism is lowered as you say (and after two years it most probably is), I will gain everything back I've worked hard to lose. How do I make sure that doesn't happen?

I know it's childish I suppose to worry so much about it. But I've never been this slim since I was a kid. I was always overweight. So my body's fullness/hunger cues are pretty screwed up.

I just really don't want to start from the beginning again.

gwenkkelly · Post by **gwenkkelly** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:33 pm

Why not try for a week of all green N-days, while eating whatever you want that fits within the regular old No-S rules? If you crave a burger and fries, have it. If you crave a pork chop and peas, have that.

One thing about cutting out sweets is that, if you still want to have sweet-tasting foods, it forces you to take up some room on your plate with fairly low-calorie fruits and vegetables. For example, the other night I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner, but I also really wanted to eat a ripe peach and some berries that were in my fridge. So I had my sandwich, but had it alongside a bowl of cut-up peaches, strawberries, and blackberries, which had the effect of limiting the calories in my meal. If I'd chosen to have the sandwich with a side of chips or fries, that would have increased the calories in that meal, but it wouldn't have satisfied my sweet craving, so I'd likely have modified the next meal to make room for some sweet fruit.

One week of eating whatever fits on a plate, with no snacks, no sweets, and no seconds, is unlikely to undo two years of dieting. And it might give you some good insights into your food psychology.

The answers to "what if I gain weight?" are basically (a) "then I will do something differently" (e.g., limit certain foods, eat more of other foods, get more exercise) or (b) "then I will give it some time and see if I lose the weight again."

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 4:28 pm

Success

Breakfast - 1 slice of wholewheat toast with cottage cheese

Lunch - Roasted lamb chuck, with potato wedges and potato salad (yeah I didn't notice I had double potatoes until after I bought the salad Lol) and one dried prune for "dessert" (on the same plate)

Dinner - A pumpkin and poppyseed bun, one half with roasted leftover chicken and tomato sauce and the other half with cheddar cheese and strawberry jam.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 4:39 pm

Success

Breakfast - 1 protein shake, 1 slice of toast and an egg.

Lunch - beef stew and rice.

Dinner - Tuna and veggie salad wrapped in lettuce leaves.

aspencer27 · Post by **aspencer27** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:09 pm

Nice job, keep up the good work!

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:08 pm

I've been thinking of replacing two of my meals with sweet meals to help out my sweet tooth. Now this can be in the form of veggies (sweet potato, corn, peas ect), or fruit or whatever else sounds sweet and nutritious.

But I'm having trouble coming up with ideas. Breakfast is really easy, I can make some overnight oatmeal, some granola and yogurt perhaps, or some cottage cheese mixed with yoghurt and fruit for a nice bit of protein, but I'm really having trouble figuring out lunch. :-/

Any ideas for sweet lunches? Ideally they should have some form of protein otherwise I'd be feeling like I hadn't eaten for weeks 20minutes later!

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:34 pm

Success! - as far as snacking and seconds go anyway...

Breakfast - overnight oats made with fat free milk, strawberry yoghurt, honey and fresh strawberries.

Lunch - cookies and milk

Dinner - cookies and milk

gwenkkelly · Post by **gwenkkelly** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:51 pm

So you're not avoiding or limiting sweets anymore? That's an interesting mod. Call it "chocolate" No S, maybe.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 4:23 am

gwenkkelly wrote:So you're not avoiding or limiting sweets anymore? That's an interesting mod. Call it "chocolate" No S, maybe.

I am still limiting it, I don't do this often

Makes me sick of I do it too much. I'm going to replace two meals with sweeter ones though (not desserts the cookies and milk was an exception) I think it will really help out my sweet tooth.

osoniye · Post by **osoniye** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 4:53 pm

Hi Shadowfairy... hmm, a sweet lunch... a friend of mine used to make a really good lettuce based salad with goat cheese, walnuts and strawberries with some kind of a creamy dressing. It was really delicious and I imagine you could improvise something off the "dairy/salad vegetables/complimentary fruit" theme to good advantage. I love tinned mandarin oranges or pears in a salad. This salad would pair well with some whole grain crackers or bread.
There is also the idea of a "cream tea" theme with scones and jam and some kind of creamy substance or cheese. It could be as sweet or not as you wish. In fact cheese and fruit is a good combination, with the addition of something starchy or proteinesque to round it out. It will be interesting to hear what ideas you come up with.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:01 pm

osoniye wrote:Hi Shadowfairy... hmm, a sweet lunch... a friend of mine used to make a really good lettuce based salad with goat cheese, walnuts and strawberries with some kind of a creamy dressing. It was really delicious and I imagine you could improvise something off the "dairy/salad vegetables/complimentary fruit" theme to good advantage. I love tinned mandarin oranges or pears in a salad. This salad would pair well with some whole grain crackers or bread.
There is also the idea of a "cream tea" theme with scones and jam and some kind of creamy substance or cheese. It could be as sweet or not as you wish. In fact cheese and fruit is a good combination, with the addition of something starchy or proteinesque to round it out. It will be interesting to hear what ideas you come up with.

Hello! Here's what I've come up with, some are better for you than others Lol --

Sweet veggies (beets, sweet potato, peas, corn, squash) and a protein
Cottage cheese and fruit/granola/yoghurt
Overnight oats with fruit
Fruit and yoghurt
Yoghurt (or milk) and bran cereal
Protein shake
1 slice bread with deli meat, cheese and jam/applejelly
2 Rusks and milk
Granola and yoghurt
1 slice bread with peanutbutter and jam/honey/banana
Sweet bun/bread (chelsea/banana/date) with jam/butter and cheese
2 slices bread with butter and honey
2 slices bread with butter and cinnamon sugar.
Chicken and pineapple with melted cheese on top, pair with a sweet veggie
Add applejelly/applesauce to meats
Sandwich with ham (or other deli meat), cheese and crushed pineapple and then grilled

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:09 pm

FAILED

But only because I tasted the sauces I bought for my sandwiches with their meat pairings. I had a small taste of every sauce on a small piece of chicken.

Breakfast - wimpy breakfast > egg, bacon, toast, and coffee

Lunch - A meal I cooked. Veggies rice and chicken breast with a savoury gravy.

Dinner - Banana bread with cheese, roast beef and applejelly. With a glass of 2% milk. (hehehe it sounds sick I know, but it's nice and sweet.)

Snack - 1/4 rotisserie chicken breast, divided, with applesauce, applejelly, and dijon mustard.

gwenkkelly · Post by **gwenkkelly** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:12 pm

I don't personally count tasting as a fail, as long as it is actual tasting for a necessary reason and not snacking in disguise. Although it sounds to me like it was actually a snack for you this time.

Your mention of banana bread reminds me that I am overdue to make some banana nut muffins... whoops! I have three very overripe bananas waiting for me to get my act together.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:14 pm

gwenkkelly wrote:I don't personally count tasting as a fail, as long as it is actual tasting for a necessary reason and not snacking in disguise. Although it sounds to me like it was actually a snack for you this time.

Your mention of banana bread reminds me that I am overdue to make some banana nut muffins... whoops! I have three very overripe bananas waiting for me to get my act together.

Yeah was more of a snack for me. But I was really curious about the sauces. Because believe it or not I've never tasted them. I love tomato sauce so most of the time that's what I'd use.

At least I was aware of it though. It wasn't really an unintended snack.

Edited to add - Those muffins sound yummy! I just bought my banana bread Lol... It's easier. cooking for one sucks a little, the rest of the ingredients that are left over go bad before I can use them. Like my flour that got bugs in it by the time my bread was done and I had to bake another. :-/ that's when I decided, ahhh screw it. Lol

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Fri Sep 12, 2014 7:06 pm

SUCCESS

Breakfast - overnight oats

Lunch - 2 oven baked crumbed fish fillets, with baked potato wedges

Dinner - Yoghurt and bran cereal, and a slice of bread with butter, cinnamon and sugar.

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:43 pm

SUCCESS:

Breakfast - 1 slice toast with peanutbutter and strawberries

Lunch - kfc grilled burger and a salad

Dinner - cottage cheese, yoghurt and fruit.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 7:19 am

I"m glad you're having some relief, but with all due respect, you can't tell in one week if you've been cured of bingeing. People follow diets for months very happily, saying how satisfied they are, and how much it is now their lifestyle, and end up returning to their old habits. I know IF has some success with people losing weight, but I don't believe it has any better success RATE over dieting for having people eating less two, three, five, etc. years later. We can't even claim overwhelming success for NO S here in the United States. (I blanm the emphasis on quick weight loss and diets for that.) All I know is there are tens of millions of people in the world, whole cultures, eating similarly to No S where the "normal" BMI rate is actually the norm.

I have to tell you that in my experience on these boards, I have rarely seen a person who succeeded by trying to eat less at first to lose weight and then eat more when they felt they had lost the weight. (BTW, if you look at diet statistics, that is a failure strategy 95% of the time.) A few here succeeded, but only a few. The majority have succeeded because the habit of feeding themselves regularly and limiting that amount at a sitting eventually led them to be very content with less and less food over time. Their weight dropped and then stabilized as they found the right amount of food for their overall satisfaction. This could take from months to years. IMHO, you really have to look at people here who have been at it for a few years. There are many stages to this and someone who seems very stable can have a crisis in a few months and someone who is wobbling can have things shake out and get very habitual. This really is for the long run.

I know there have been threads on the main board about No S plus IF. Maybe you could bump it up and write privately to posters so that you'd be in touch with others who have been interested and are possibly still using it. I don't recommend starting it as a new topic at this point because there is no way members here get notice of new topics, so you might miss out on people who don't keep up with the general discussion board.

Good luck!

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 9:21 am

Hi all who's still reading!

I must say that uhm...I found something new that's working better FOR ME than NoS.

And that's intermittent fasting believe it or not.

I eat ONE meal a day, and a dessert and that's it. Weekends I enjoy a little I'll have 2 meals which helps make up any deficiencies.

This method has, within a matter of a week, turned me from a binger into a moderator. As in I can now eat just ONE cookie and leave it at that.

This is obviously not for everyone, but I'm already adapted to it and I must say that I don't feel hungry when I'm fasting, and if I do, it's much less so than when I eat regularly. It's like eating more frequently makes me MORE hungry.

This is also why I kind of stopped "reporting in" for a while. =)

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:44 pm

How did your week go?

Shadowfairy · Post by **Shadowfairy** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:57 pm

Past 2 weeks have gone great!

I've lost 2.2kg so far =P super excited!

Everyday Systems

Shadowfairy's Daily check in

Shadowfairy's Daily check in

DAY 2

Day 3

DAY 1 (Again)

DAY 2

Sweet meals?

DAY 3

DAY 4

DAY 5

DAY 6