It's time for me to face the truth. I'm not doing well with No S. Yes, I've been "successful" the vast majority of days, and yes I've eliminated sweets, snack and seconds during the week. However, as they say "the proof is in the pudding" and I honestly need to say:
I am GAINING weight
I am rather upset about this. I weighed my self this morning and I'm up to 161.5. That's up 4 lbs from my lowest weight of 157.5 at the beginning of July. So I've gained 4 lbs in 3 months which means I'm eating 150 extra calories a day. This needs to stop. At this rate I will be back to my starting weight in 10 months, next July--what a terrible birthday present!
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
I'm not sure what I've so radically changed since January but something is going very, very wrong.
Fortunately, it's almost the beginning of October which is a natural time to reflect and change. 4 lbs is quite a bit of weight, but I've caught this before it seems impossible to change. I know that most people say you shouldn't add additional restrictions to vanilla No S but I've somehow gotten around it's restrictions to the point where I can believe I'm doing fine and gain weight, that is unacceptable.
Here are my goals:
Short term:
1. Over the next few days I will weigh my self to get an average and confirm my starting point.
2. I will figure out some new habits to establish for N days AND S days
3. I will start my new habits Friday, October 1, 12:01 am.
New habits:
1. Resume using the habitcal instead of just posting here in the daily check in thread.
Reasoning: I think that the daily thread is good but you don't get the "big picture" of the month that is so plainly visible on the calendar.
2. Increase strictness of 3 plates
2a. No more virtual plating--use plates even during work or "preplate" at home and only pack what can be fit on a plate
2b. Stick to 3 plates NO EXCEPTIONs--this means no fruit, salad, etc on the side, it MUST all fit on the plate at the beginning of the meal.
2c. Begin using the small plates at home--no exceptions.
3. Make S days into "sweet days"
3a. No seconds or snacks on S days--no exceptions.
3b. S days will consist of 3 plates of food--exactly like N days--except the plate can contain sweets. That will be the ONLY difference, no exceptions allowed.
Other things I'm considering:
No caloric drinks ever.
Calorie counting (ugh)
Low carb (double ugh)
Journaling all of my food here
Weekly weigh ins--graph the results or at least report them here
When I've finalized my list I will write a final form (perhaps even print it out to post on my fridge at home) and sign it. I am committing to my new habits until December 31, 2010. However, I will reevaluate at the end of October--just in case more habits need to be added or if something is way too hard.
Overall, I want to keep my goal to be down to 155 on January 1. That means I need to lose 6.5 lbs in the next 3 months. That is a pretty large number AND I'm going to try to do it over the holiday season--that will be tough. I made this goal last January though and I'm going to go for it. Even if I end up a little short I'll feel good about myself. I feel like my new habits should be do able. Let's face it, for me, going without sweets all the time is cruel and unusual punishment and I know I couldn't keep it up for the long run. I have faced this fact and I accept it. I think these rules allow for enough sweets to keep me happy.
The other side of the equation: exercise. I have been doing urban ranger but I know this is not a huge amount of exercise--perhaps I burn 100 calories walking per day. Right now I think I'm not going to mess with it--for two reasons.
1. I want to focus on incorporating the new habits outlined above. I don't want to make myself more hungry by upping the exercise. I think reducing eating will get me further towards my goals than increasing exercise.
2. I have a new exercise program that I ordered to start next month. It will be fun and I'll actually want to do it. I think I should just wait until then to increase exercise.
I'm sorry this is so long but this is really important to me. If anyone has had the fortitude and time to make it to the end, I would appreciate any suggestions that you may have.