elocinelleid's Checkin

[DielleNicole]

Just had my first day of no-s. Going for Week 1 - No Sweets, then Week 2 - will add No Snacks, and finally Week 3 will try full No-S.

I found this plan purely out of coincidence on a friend's facebook. He was just being challenged to do try it with another friend. I idly clicked the link and felt my world get turned right-side-up.

Today I did No Sweets, which was much more difficult than I wanted it to be. I've gotten into the TERRIBLE habit of eating whatever I want, whenever I want, which equals PLENTY of candy and soda. And I work at Blockbuster where I have to peddle sweets to customers all day while being surrounded by them.

But I persevered. So one day down, 4 more to go! . If I can make it through this week I will be thrilled.

I'd say a little more about myself, but I think I'll save that for later, don't know if anyone will be reading this anyway and if they do, the basics are in the signature.

UPDATE!!! Will be keeping record of weigh-ins here.
Start Date = 07/12/10 - 334
08/02/10 - 330
08/16/10 - 333
08/30/10 - 327
09/06/10 - 328
09/13/10 - 329

[idontknow]

I like your goals, elocinelleid - very sensible. Good luck with cutting out the sweets - it is hard when you first start, but it will get easier. I look forward to reading your posts

[DielleNicole]

Day 3 of no sweets. It was a little tough. Passed up a Milkshake at lunch and candy all through work. I'm on my 3rd green day though! It's tough, but I think, well actually I KNOW, it's going to be worth it. I've never been more sure that something will work. It's all on me now. I'm tired of making excuses. I've got a friend who wants to do it with me, be my accountability partner. Which will be REALLY helpful when I get back to school in August. I'm not sure if I'm off to a false start, but it certainly doesn't feel like it.

[DielleNicole]

Week 1 down!

I'm so excited! I haven't had a single soda, candy, ice cream or anything else to be considered a "treat" or "sweet" since last Sunday! It's nice to see all that green on my HabitCal!

I know I'll get some sweets tomorrow, but I don't plan to go crazy. I've been drinking so much water this week since I'm staying off the Soda. I accidentally had a sip of Diet Cherry DP at work today. My coworker and I had identical Sonic cups. I get the Route 44 ice water before work so I have plenty to drink while there, plus my local Sonic only charges me a quarter.

Well, since this first week of No Sweets was such a raging success I feel a little more confident going into week two after the weekend. Next week I tack on the No Snacks to the No Sweets. Which means I'll need to plan my days a little better. Especially long nights at work. But for now I'm just glorying in my success.

[DielleNicole]

First S day. I went pretty light. Had the S'mores Sonic Blast I promised myself yesterday. It was pretty good. Had a soda with lunch. And had a cookie at work. Other than that, not so much of anything.

I'm kind of worried though that I might be restricting myself too much on the outset. But I also don't want to have S Days Gone Wild. I guess the only thing I'm worried about is that if I don't explore my S days more I might not be able to stick to the N Days. But I don't think I was missing anything today.

I guess I'm just worried because I have a tendency to jump in with everything I've got and then burn out after about 2 months. I do NOT want to do that this time.

Any advice or feedback for me? I don't know if I should think less on S days or keep doing what I'm doing.

[sophiasapientia]

Congratulations on your first week! It sounds like you're doing great!

Your S Day sounds like it went very well. You treated yourself to some goodies that you really wanted and felt satisfied. For me, those are the best S Days ... not the days when I've eaten everything in sight, just because I could ... (Though, rest assured, at some point S Days Gone Wild happen to pretty much everyone.) I wouldn't worry about eating more on S Days so long as you are treating yourself to something(s) you really want and aren't feeling deprived.

Today is another S Day and a day for another treat(s) ....

[DielleNicole]

Thank you sophiasapientia! That made me feel better.

Today was mostly good. I had PB&J with sweet tea for brunch, I slept late. Then Potato Soup for dinner. And I didn't even have seconds. Go figure. However, I did have a minor freak out at about 9:20. Was thinking of how I'd have no sweets all week and got a major craving for some. So I said, I better take care of this NOW so that I'm not starting off the new week with major cravings.

This led to an ill conceived trip to the grocery store where I purchased not only Edward's Single Slice Key Lime Pie (which comes with 2 btw) and frozen single slice cheesecake (same story)... but a Hot Pockets Calzone and a Steak and Cheddar panini. I, of course, ended up eating all of it. However, this binge wasn't really any worse than most of my pre No S days were wont to be... which is how I ended up being 330+. If anything it was better. Gotta work on that in future though. If I can just stop myself from going to the store it'll be a lot better. But since the store is only 2 miles away... well. Need to work on that. Have barely had 2 soda's all weekend. And have been keeping up with my water consumption. So that's exciting!

I had to keep myself from weighing this morning. I wanted to. Used to be in the habit of weighing once a week when I diet. I promised myself that this time I wasn't going to weigh at all for the first 3 weeks. Want to keep more of an eye on a downward trend as they say on the boards.

Over all though, I feel great. Little disappointed with today. But I know I'll get a handle on things. Thanks again idon'tknow and sophiasapientia. It's nice to be welcomed so quickly into the No S fold.

[July2010]

Enjoyed reading your check in. I am new to this as well. Just started my second week. I was worried about my s days as well, but was worried what would happen come monday. Then I realized that I am in control and I was going to start fresh an do another week! The hunger doesn't bother me as much as it did the first week. If you ever wanna chat, feel free to message me anytime.

[DielleNicole]

I can't believe how much better I've gotten at telling myself "No" in the last week or so. On N days it's almost easy. I know I can't have certain things. So I say "no" and I move on. It's like these little rules have opened up a whole new world.

I'm trying to figure out how to plan my meals better. And I keep on going to the psychology of things as Reinhold talks about. I didn't beat myself up over Sunday night. And this week I've added No Snacks. It's been tough. But I'm trying to drink water instead of snack. Which is helping.

Yesterday I planned poorly and ended up VERY hungry by the time I finished work. But I didn't give in. And I didn't go crazy on dinner. I know that what's important is getting rid of the habit of snacking, not trying to find something healthier to snack on if I must snack. So I didn't. It was a learning experience and today I planned a little better.

I don't know about any of you guys but I currently eat a lot of fast food. Which I'm eventually going to treat like an S even though it doesn't technically start with S. I'll work that in a little later though. If I tried to do it now I think I'd probably crash. I'd much rather start eating lovely flavorful meals. And I will. I just don't currently cook a great deal. So I'm gonna continue with my current strategy. Which includes always getting Ice water when I go to a fast food place. And maybe in a week or 2 I'll decide that FF = an S food. And quit that right there.

It's funny. Knowing I can't have sweets or snacks during the week, so far, almost makes me not want them. I think I am going to find that I don't even enjoy eating as much of all those things as I was doing.

I read a lot of posts on the boards about people finding freedom from food. Freedom from that driving almost-madness that causes you to think about it all the time. It was about a year ago that I realized that I was using food to fill all sorts of gaps in my life. I was choosing it over almost everything else. It was the first thing I thought of in the morning, and often the one thing I continued to think of all day. "What shall I have for dinner?" "What shall I have for lunch" etc. It was like a lover, or a friend. But one that wasn't scary because I didn't have to worry about the food judging me or leaving me. I came to that realization, that I was in such a scary place, but I wasn't ready to find my way out yet, and I didn't know how. I would make myself something to eat and eat and eat and eat until I was full to bursting, and uncomfortable with it, and I'd still be eating. It was like I didn't know how to stop. And reading about so many people who sound like they've faced the same demons and that this system has helped them conquer it... well that just gives me more hope than I've had, maybe ever, for myself overcoming this issue.

I remember a while ago. I was talking with a very good friend about how I didn't know how to diet without still being obsessed with food. I knew that food was consuming me. And I knew that my weight had been consuming me too for as long as I could remember almost. I put myself on my first diet when I was 8 years old. I used to lie in my bed every night and pray to God that He would help me lose weight. I've done everything. I've tried everything. I know, as most lifelong overweight people know (which few non-lifelong overweight people seem to understand), pretty much everything there is to know about how to lose weight and do it healthily. It's just been a matter of being able to do it for myself that was the issue.

I told this same friend that I needed to find a disconnect somehow. That I was obsessed with my weight. And that when it came to diets I would become obsessed with losing weight. So that this was always foremost in my mind. It was always the most important thing in my life. So that when an attempt failed, I would fall into a catastrophically bad depression. The worst of which meant that I stopped caring about EVERYTHING. In a period of a little over a year, I gained 40lbs. On an already 250+ frame. Since then I've been struggling to get myself motivated to do something about it again.

I guess what I'm saying is that now Everything inside of me is saying that This is it. This is my answer. Maybe not this attempt, this time. Because as much as I don't want to, I am realistic that maybe I could fail. But if anything is going to work for me, this will. And I have a lovely little glowing ball of serenity resting somewhere in the vicinity of my chest, because of that.

*sorry this got super lengthy. I just feel that I need to be completely honest on here.

[July2010]

I love your idea of using fast food as S day! I am going to do the same because although I know we aren't supposed to be counting fat, I know fastfood is loaded. Most of it anyhow. The only thing I may allow myself on N days would be Wendy's Chili or some salad. We were all a big fast food eatters. At least 3 times a week! It's just so easy for me with a son with Autism to be so worn out that I don't have the energy to cook and put something together. I find it hard to believe I've gone a week and a half already with no fast food and I barely miss it! The fast that I went 1 day at all without sweets is a big deal! I'm excited that I'm doing this. The book really helps me stay focused and I'm almost studying the book. I underline things I want to remember or that make sense to me.

The hardest part for me in the beginning was I hated feeling hungry! And now I can go a few hours and make it though to my next meal. It is getting easier as time goes by.

And Yes I also LOVE the freedom from food! Since I no longer have to count calories and fat and I'm not planning my next snack, I am not thinking about food 24/7. I can have my mind on other things and not think about food 24/7 as I have! It's a relief!!!! The only thing I have to deal with is the feeling of being hungry a bit, but I know my next meal will come and so I don't worry and I wait it out and try to keep myself busy with other things until then so I'm not thinking about it.


Lets help each other lose the weight! We can write to each other back and forth if you'd like a buddy.

[DielleNicole]

TWO SUCCESSFUL WEEKS!!!!

Well not quite but the coming weekend doesn't count. I'm so proud! I've managed to integrate the no snacks with almost as little fuss as the no sweets went! Next week is my first week of full No S. And since, most of the time I don't eat seconds. I'm almost there already!

I feel a lot better. I've noticed I'm not as tired all the time. I have more energy. Probably from not having a constant sugar IV in my system. I've gotten hungry between meals but I've powered through and I'm learning what I need to do to not feel so hungry.

I can't believe how almost anticlimactic this whole thing is. I feel like I'm barely doing anything. But having the rules in place, and knowing I CANT break them has been so freeing. I don't worry about if I'm gonna eat my weight in potato chips because I can't have them except with my meal. I'm not worried that I'm gonna OD on sugar because I'm not getting anything sugary.

I'm eating more fruits and veggies. Because I know that if I'm going to make it from one meal to the next I need to eat something filling.

I just cant believe how simple it is. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop and at the same time praying that it never does. And I only have one more week to go to get to the 21 day club. Though technically it wont be the official one. Just 21 days since I started and was successful with all of my personal goals. Not so much 21 days of full on No S.

But I'm still excited and proud!

And Michelle, that sounds great! I'm hoping you're week has gone as great as mine!

[July2010]

Dielle, I feel the same way you do! This almost seems too easy and I'm losing weight just by having the rules in place. I too am hungry between meals, but I power through it and know my next meal isn't far away. Congrats on your two weeks! I am going to make 2 weeks as well on Monday. So excited! Looking forward to my first month!

[DielleNicole]

Today was a close call! But still a success. I didn't bring anything to eat with me to work. Therefore about 7pm I felt like my stomach was eating itself. lol. I tried to figure out how I could make a meal out of the stuff we have at work. I ended up eating a pack of chips and some beef jerkey. I'm choosing to think of this as a meal and not a snack because I had only had one meal prior to this in the day. And then after work I went to mcdonalds. Another bad habit. But that was my 3 meals. I've GOT to get a handle on my meals. 2 a day is not cutting it. Maybe I can buy some canned shake type meals to have a work. hmmm.

Anyway. Other than that it was another successful day following a very good weekend!

Saturday I bought myself a cinnamon roll in the morning because I'd been craving one all week. And then we had a family bbq in the afternoon. I actually only got seconds on the steamed veggies and some mac and cheese.
And then we all had some ice cream.

Sunday I had a normal day and then a little more ice cream after work.

2 sodas all weekend.

I'm doing good I think!

Hope everyone continues to do well.

[DielleNicole]

So. Last night I had a nightmare that I totally and completely blew my green streak. It was horrible! I was eating ice cream and candy and baked goods, and snacks. I woke up feeling like a failure. Then I realized it was a dream. haha.

I guess it just goes to show how important this thing is to me.

That's all. Just sharing.

[July2010]

Thank goodness it was just a dream LOL I came close today for the first time to losing it. I worked out alot this morning and then I was soooo hungry before it was time for lunch. I ate an apple thinking it would be my first "snack". But then realized I'd only be an hour early and so made it part of my meal and ate an hour earlier. So, it worked out. Just gonna have to plan to either eat dinner earlier or see if I can hold out and just go to bed earlier.

[DielleNicole]

Ok. I have never in my life had food dreams. EVER until now. Last night I dreamed that I had dreamed I was eating cookie dough and then woke up to realize that I actually WAS eating cookie dough. But ALL of that was a dream. I don't know what's going on! lol. My mind is just ganging up on me for some reason.

Still going on my green streak! 3 more days to go until I'm on my weekend and then officially in the 21 day club!

Tonight is gonna be a little hard. I'm going to hang out with some girlfriends and watch a movie. We usually get all snacked up for this. Candy and queso and pizza. I'm just gonna have to figure out a way to get through it. I thought about making it NSW but, I figure I'm gonna face the challenges and have to figure out ways to overcome them.

Wish me luck!

[DielleNicole]

Well Wednesday went all right. I ended up having seconds though. because the plates they were using were tiny little cake type party plates. So I don't feel too bad about that. I guess technically it was a failure, but I did my best and don't feel that I didn't eat more than I would have had I had one normal size plate.

and Today is FRIDAY! Or it was friday! And I'm done for the weekend. My first 3 weeks are OVER with only 1 minor and 1 major hiccup! I'm gonna weigh on monday just to see if there's been a change. ANd if there hasn't then we'll just keep going to see what happens.

i'm looking forward to many successful weeks. i'm still not sure whether to call this week a success or not. But even if that one day wasn't the week as a whole was!

[DielleNicole]

Goodness. It's been much longer than I thought since I checked in.

I have had nothing but green days since that one hiccup at the movie night. I love it. I weighed in the following Monday and had lost 4 lbs since beginning NoS 3 weeks previous!!! . And that was with easing my way into it one week at a time. Since then it's become almost second nature to have no snacks, 3 meals a day with no seconds, and no sweets. Even on the weekends I find myself surprised that I don't have to be so stringent with the structure of it.

I quite love this system. I have noticed that I make sure to eat much more fruits and veggies with my meals now, because I know they will help me to stay full longer. I drink a LOT more water. So that stuff is basically down pat. I do need to work on portion control, though. Since I know I can't have seconds, I think I sometimes overcompensate with the portions I DO allow myself. I'd like to get to where those portions are smaller so that I don't eat as much. I know that it is mostly in my head that I need to eat more. I must find a way to battle that so that I can make the most of this program. But if I keep losing at this rate, I know I'll be down about 50 lbs in a year. Maybe more. That would be INCREDIBLE! It would be about 1/3 of my total excess poundage!

Just this week I started Zumba! OH MY GOSH!!!! It was bar-none, THE most fun I have EVER had working out! Period! I was hot; I was hurting; I was drenched in sweat; and I was grinning like an IDIOT! I only wish I had listened to my own advice and started it much earlier in the summer. I'm going again tomorrow with my sister and will try to go 2 more times before I head back to school next Friday. And then once back at school, I actually have a friend who wants to "teach" a Zumba class for fellow students for free. I think that would be so great if we could all get it together.

I am going to start weighing bi-weekly so that I can keep an eye on the (hopefully) downward trend and know that results are happening. Because on someone My size, 4 lbs doesn't look like much. But I feel good. I KNOW I can do this! I'm already doing it!

So, Monday morning will be a weigh-in to see what the last 2 weeks have gotten me. I need to know if I'm doing too much on my s-days or not.

God Bless,

Dielle

[DielleNicole]

My first week back at school went great! I stuck with it all the way, but this week is a bit harder.

I'm in training for a new Work-Study every night this week and we have catered dinner and my boss keeps bringing home-baked cookies and I just don't know how to turn her down when I'm offered one.

Monday was a total failure. I went back for seconds on pizza AND had 2 cookies (of course the 3 slices and 2 cookies total is still WAY better than I ever would have been before NoS).

Tuesday was much better. I did my one Subway sandwich with chips and veggies and grapes and just had a cookie. But I need to learn how to deal with these situations. I don't think I can consider these "special" events so Monday is just a failure. Tuesday I'm calling a success because I was perfect all day until then and I only had the one cookie so as not to be rude.

Today I had a piece of chocolate in class because my Psych professor was demonstrating something. UGH! If I can just get through this week, I'll feel a lot better about things.

Other than that I've been doing really well. I haven't snacked between meals. I still almost NEVER have soda. I carry a Nalgene water bottle with me all day and refill it as needed. I make sure to plan my meals a little more carefully in the cafeteria. I've been going to Zumba and got a membership at a gym here at school so I can continue it. I'm taking the stairs EVERY TIME I go anywhere, unless I'm carrying a lot of stuff, like groceries. This includes the several times a day I go up to and down from my 4th floor room, PLUS trekking across campus.

I've lost 7 lbs since the 16th!! So, all in all I guess it's not so bad that I'm having a bit of a rough week food-wise.