Everyday Systems

I had only 4 red days for all of April.
I just issued the May no red challenge. I'm super motivated!
I'll update here at the top for a quick reference for when the challenges go to the depths of the records...


May 1, 2009 (fri) - Green!
May 2 (sat) - down 15. Confirmation tomorrow. Watch out!
May 3 (Sun) - confirmation + company= food!!! S-travaganza!
May 4 (Mon.) - Green even though there was no school!!!
May 5 (Tue.) - Green but tough
May 6 (Wed.) - green green green and happy happy happy!
May 7 (Thu) - green and in a groove!
May 8 (Fri) - tough day so I switched my S days for a try
May 9 (Sat.) - yellow and I kinda behaved myself
May 10 (Sun) - Green even though it was Mother's day!!!
May 11 (Mon.) - It will be green!!!
May 12 (Tue.) - green and not even tempted
May 13 (Wed.) - green. I bought a new scale and it bumped my weight up 3 I took it as a "gain". I WAS down 16...
May 14 (Thu) - green, Yesterday was real close...PMS! I've noticed a definite trend!
May 15 (Fri) - green
May 16 (sat.) yellow S day. Bad choices
May 17 (Sun.) yellow s day, better.
May 18 (Mon.) green
May 19 (Tue.)green. I'm back on track.
May 20 (Wed.) green
May 21 (Thu.) Today is day 21!!!! Woohoo!!!
May 22 (Fri.) still green, though I was tempted to eat as a reward.
May 23 (Sat.) yellow S day
May 24 (Sun.) yellow S day
May 25 (memorial day) S day
May 26 (Tue.) green
May 27 (wed.) green
May 28 (thu) green
May 29 (fri) green even though I'm havin' a bad day! I can't stop now!
May 30 (Sat.) S day
May 31 (Sun.) S day and down 17 total (which really is 20 since I had to adjust due to my new scale difference)


I'm calling it good... NO REDS ALL MONTH...BY FAR MY BEST EVER!

I'm happy that there are 15 people so far doing the challenge. When I feel like snitching food, my sons words echo in my head... " you'll have to tell everyone on the internet!" I feel like I am held more accountable when others all check on eachother easily. I rarely check on other daily checkins and I think others may not either, so this is a great way to quick check on eachother. I'm actually a tad nervous because I issued the challenge... and I didn't even meet the challenge last month. It WAS my best green month ever (4 reds)

let's start May!!! woohoo!

As of today...

1-1-09 highest weight
4-1-09 down 5 total
5-1-09 down 14 total

my goal is to loose 10 during May. Summer will be here (shorts and swimsuits)

I read the daily check-ins! I just don't usually post unless I think I have something useful to say. I bet there are a lot of us reading them, actually.

Congratulations on the best green month ever!

Thank you Thalia and everyone who reads these!

Yah, you never know!! Maybe Oprah's even lurking out there somewhere! I was just curious because you were so kind to welcome me back on mine - so I took a look at yous!
Mimi

tough S-travaganza weekend! We had our son's confirmation and a big gathering complete with a big spread of food. WAY too much food. I need to regroup and get on track. I am real charged for the week. The kids have no school today, which is usually very hard for me, but I'm so pumped to have a green and yellow only month that I WILL NOT go red today.

Boy, I sound confident

Okay, I'm on track ~ I am actually following the plan ~ no red days!!! I'm feeling pretty confident for today too. Jill, I do think the habit is starting to kick in for you, especially if you are down 15 since you started, remember it needs to be a life long program!!

I use my middle name, remember No problem though. Yea, it's getting easier. I even had a good S day Saturday. My Sunday was pitiful! I'm back on track for a new week. Green yesterday.

I've been rambling alot on posts about my exercise and I realized that I never mention it here. I do have a habitcal for it. Yellow for 15 minutes, and green for 30 or more. I have been doing yard work and gardening like CRAZY lately, so I htink I'm doing O.K. there

Still green for the month I really want to get to the 21 day club! This is my month! I have a few pounds to go to get to the before Christmas weight that I had gotten to. That seems to me to be the weight that I always stall out and loose control... then gain it back. That is a great goal/hurdle for me. I think that once I'm past that I'll do good

Sorry Renee, you didn't answer, do you think its becoming a habit~ So, I'm doing really well, 3 greens in a row and I'm feeling it for today too....I have a few mods but all in all I'm following the plan and yes I'm back out walking It was my moms birthday yesterday and I didn't feel the need to eat my sorrow

Emily... sorry ' bout Mom. Great hurdle, not eating your sorrows away. I would have I thought I already commented on it getting easier, sorry. I seem to ramble on and on when I'm on another thread and I forget to write things on here. It definitely is becoming a habit since I started strict at the beginning of April. When I'm on a roll I seem to pick up momentum and I even feel less tempted. Really. When I'm not doing no s and visiting the site, I seem tempted constantly. My bad habits seem to be fading and new ones are just movin on in. It's not even painful I have my moments, but I feel it getting easier. Sometimes I go the whole time between meals with out ANY trouble! Imagine that! Others have mentioned that they actually have forgotten to eat a meal. Ha! That'll be the day that that happens to me! I'm sure that if it did, you'd hear about it.

I'm healing from the inside!

Well. I finally got a picture on here. I've been meaning to figure it out. I didn't want to ask my kids... they already think they're smarter than me. Yea right! I'm blonde, but not dumb

Anyway, I thought I'd bring a bit of my flower garden here to brighten things up a bit. Remember, I like color. I didn't want to use red... thinking all green and no red but... oh well

Thanks for the encouragment I am having a perfect May and today feels good too If I ever forget to eat a meal we will [b][i]definately[/i][/b] have to get together and celebrate, cuz SISTER I'm right there with you on that one

still green green green this month and it's the 7th
I used to snitch while eating and not even think twice about it. Now I don't at all unless I really NEED to taste for flavor (I don't like to follow recipes) and then it's just 1 tiny taste. Only 1 spoon in the sink... not lots! We used to run out of spoons.

Doin great Emily! 7 days!! That's really hard to start out doing so well. Keep going because 30 is a habit! You're 7/30ths of the way there!

I'm still green and will stay green...today... I hope. I'm down 16, which is a tad disapointing because I'm doing so well. I do tend to heap a bit on the old plate though. Absolutely no snacks, sweets, or seconds (m-f) all month so far which is incredible for me the ignorant snitcher. I love popcorn and last weekend I didn't have any and it bothered me ALL week. I had better plan it in now. I'm also going out this weekend. I had better not overdue the drinks since I don't count them *disclaimer* and get the take out container when I order and put it in an opaque butter tub with an artichoke-spinach dip label on top. Just a summary of my posts this week.

Well, what a weekend.....So, if I had a failure on Friday and couldn't regroup for Sunday, (like you did), am I officially out the challenge or should I try and start again today?

Em, your Friday and Saturdays were your S days this week , right? Sunday was Mother's day and we all know we deserve an S for that, so I think you're still on the go girl!!!

I'm still Green Green Green!

...and feelin' great! I stayed the same weight after the weekend, which means that I didn't get on my weekly rollercoaster ride up, so I can go down this week.

I keep clicking on preview and then going on and loosing my post! I think I'll just submit and edit from now on... hmmm.

I keep hearing all of these good things about eating breakfast and I thought I'd give it a try. I don't usually like to eat before 11:00...yuck. Besides, the whole "rev up your thyroid" idea doesn't fly with me because I have a bad thyroid and I don't think it will improve if I feed it at breakfast. Anyway... I had oatmeal. It was O.K., but I then wanted more for lunch!!! Hmmm... I should give it a week at least to be fair. We'll see

I agree with you and the breakfast thought, maybe an old diet habit we started years ago..... So, habits can be changed, right? I am green

I hate scales!!!




I had to buy yet another scale and it bumped me up another 3 pounds. (Do they all loose pounds on their own?) So, even though I was feeling great before I got it, I now feel aweful! Should I adjust the weight loss or adjust the starting weight? They both make me feel aweful... help!!

As far as the scale thing goes, I'm not adjusting my beginning weight, so my loss shown will have the scale difference added so it looks like I've lost 3 pounds less than I actually have.

I started my new thyroid meds today... we'll see how they work.

All this talk about pedometers...I had to dust mine off and slip it on today. It needed a new battery, that's how long it sat there. Then, I lost the instructions and can't re-program the stride length etc. Oh well, it still does the steps, and that's all that I need. It's an omiron... does anyone know how to re-program it? Let me know if you do!!

You're on thyroid meds also? Me too -- and actually I just went for a blood test today to see if they need to be adjusted. I've been feeling totally exhausted in the last while (which hasn't helped as far as the willpower is concerned), so I thought I'd get it checked to see if the dosage is o.k.

I should be starting my Daily Check In soon. It's like, I want to but at the same time I'm worried that it's going to be another failure. We'll see ...

Butterfly... I'll send a private message your way to discuss meds
I really think that you should have a daily check in. It's kind of like a journal and people give you personal encouragement!

Quick stop in on saturday to say that I had popcorn for breakfast for goodness sake! Busy May!!! Go go go! Soccer, track, band, another in soccer, another in band, baseball, softball, cheer camp, fund raisers, finding jobs for the kids, yard work, the dog, birthdays, church events, and oh yea, me...ha!

Be careful Renee! Make sure to take time for yourself or sometimes it can backfire and become disastrous! Especially when you're making a concerted effort to eat moderately and monitor your treats. "Poor me!" thinking can get in the way and sabotage everything you've done. I know...been there, done that!
Enjoy your weekend!
Mimi

I'm a SAHM that has all of her kids off to school, so after I get done with the house stuff, I usually make some time for "me". I deserve it after having 4 kids in 8 years, staying home and doing cloth diapers and scratch cooking!

Bless your heart, yes, you do!

I am still green, even had a green weekend this week

Wow Em! You're doing incredible! I was so frustrated this weekend because I've been making bad choices, especially on S days. I feel so relieved on Monday when I "can" gain control. It seems silly, doesn't it? I can control the s days too, I just don't. Hmmm. I just read an old article about 2 women that lost weight on the Weighdown workshop and I still feel that hunger is important and God made our bodies to scense WHEN to eat. I need to be hungry and wait until meal time. The big thing is to stop when I feel full! I'm ready for the week!

Well Renee, With all the great advice you've been giving I think its working!! I just took my three mile walk and today will be green too I feel good Hey, you didn't comment on my picture, it took me about 2 hours to figure it out ~ I'm soooo technically challenged, so I need a little compliment!

I was going to comment on your peaceful, colorful and cheery avatar and forgot! I took longer than you and still didn't get it. I had to ask the nearest teen (El) and she laughed and showed me in about 5 seconds. I retained enough information to do it myself. I hate to ask my kids how to do anything, they already think they know more than me. I really am impressed Em!

Green Green Green ~ Things are going very well I'm heading out for my walk

We have only 2 more days until we're in the 21 day club!!! I can't wait!!!

You can do it Renee Just 2 more days to go!

I got through my first day -- 20 more to go! Can't wait to say that I was able to stick to it for 21 days in a row and join the club.

Yes, you're doing good, Renee. 21 days, wow !! That some serious hard work. It's difficult to stay focused for so long.

Cheers !

Marc

Who says I'm focused? Just kidding. Thanks for all of your encouragement everyone!!!

If I am green today and tomorrow, I'll make the 21 day club!!!!!! I'm so pumped right now! Whenever I feel like eating, I come on here and get inspired! That's why some days I'm on 3 times or more

Fantastic ! 21 days is a long time without any downfalls.

I'm doing very well today, in control ... I feel pretty thin even compared to 2-3 days ago when I had a tough time (sunday and monday were hard) so I expect good things at my next unofficial weigh in tomorrow morning after 2 really green days in a row.

Still some hard work to do of course, long training session inside tonight, 60 minutes of shovelglove, jumping jacks and other exercices while watchin' TV shows I have recorded.

Raining here today so I can't go cycle as I normally do. I don't mind kickin' it old school with the training program
as I was doing all winter long though. Kickin' it.

Cheers !

Marc

~reneew wrote:If I am green today and tomorrow, I'll make the 21 day club!!!!!! I'm so pumped right now! Whenever I feel like eating, I come on here and get inspired! That's why some days I'm on 3 times or more

You can do it!!

I agree with you that coming on the site regularly is an inspiration. I find that I'm coming on more regularly than before.

~reneew wrote:If I am green today and tomorrow, I'll make the 21 day club!!!!!! I'm so pumped right now! Whenever I feel like eating, I come on here and get inspired! That's why some days I'm on 3 times or more

Wow congrats! Great job.

Today is day 21!!!!! Absolutely no reds for 21 days!!!


Can you believe that I almost blew it yesterday! It was day 20 and I had a severe attack of the major munchies!!! It was crazy... I didn't even care if I blew my streak and only had 1 day left to the 21 day club. I freaked... then I remembered my jolly rancher I use for my panic button! It took me so long to finish the 1 that it had all passed by the time it was gone. It really saved the day! I would have binged for a long time! I think that if having only 1 jolly rancher saves you from total destruction, it is a very very good mod!!! Whew! That was a close one!

Now, It's free sailing on to the month of green to meet my May challenge. My habitcal is lookin' good.

So, are you going for another 21, just to really drill in the habit?

Ha! No, I'm concentrating on the entire month on my habit cal being green. I'd like to see it all green like my back yard. I wonder how many months the habitcal can keep it in memory because if this is it, I'd like to save it for a memory Did I just say that? I mean... I'm on a roll now and don't want to stop.

You can use a program to take a picture of your screen. (or just a portion of your screen, you can adjust it in a few seconds) I do that all the time.

I use : '5 clicks screen captures'
Works really fine. I have been using it for years. Simple and effective.

I'll send it to you in a .zip file if you want it.

Cheers !

Marc

Sure, I'll take a look. I'm a visual, yet technically inept person. Make it easy

Congrats! Great job!

Thank you... Thank you...
(Bow...Bow) I feel so proud. Shucks. It's kinda funny how becoming a member of the club makes the day. Ha! Imagine if I got thin... I could wear my thinness as a badge of honor... right Marc?

Edit: I just saw that I'm on page 4 already... wow, how time flies.

Yeah, 21 days ! I'm sure you will get good results on the scale.

Screen capture programs, these might be even more simple if you are not an expert, and they're all free to use.

I save a picture of my HabitCal once in a while.


http://tinyurl.com/pq74us

http://tinyurl.com/pkaupa

http://tinyurl.com/opn3pk


Cheers !

Marc

Oh my Gosh!!! What I thought was going to be a nice long relaxing weekend.... of loosing weight, has turned into plans from __ __ __ __! I have 3-4 cookouts with drinks to go to and WAY too much food and munchies! And I was so proud of my day on Friday. HELP!!!! These 3 day weekends can kill me!

Don't get discouraged Renee -- it's worse when we panic (I know). I often have big family gatherings with lots and lots of good food. What I try to do sometimes, instead of eating everything in sight and feeling so stuffed that I feel sick, is to look at what food there is (it's usually buffet style for the larger gatherings) and see what I'm really in the mood for, and I take that, with lots of salad on the side to fill my plate.

You can also try to be very reasonable in 2 or 3 of the cookouts, and less reasonable on the 4th. Don't expect perfection because you will get discouraged if it doesn't happen. Take one meal at a time, and do the best you can. One week-end won't undo all the good work you've done so far.

Good luck!
Butterfly

Renee, Okay how about a little alone time and figure out a plan, calm down and remember your focus, you can do it. Let one day be a binge if you need, but salvage the others ~ I have faith, you can do this

3 BBQs down and only (hopefully) one left with just "us". Although I have gained, I know that most of it has to be water weight because my rings have gone from spinnin' to very tight! It helps knowing that. Alcohol retaines, and chips have lots of salt. I'm thinking I need to buy the baked kind and reserve them for myself. Chips are the worst part and I love the baked kind... I'll do that. And Brats should be illegal! I bring boneless skinnless chicken to the cookout and eat steak and brat... hmmm.. What's with that. "We'll share" they say. Yea, so why is the skinny one eating the chicken while I eat the other stuff? I'll try to be a good girl today and think of Emily only having one treat a day. I can do that right?

It's the N day eve and I don't even want to weigh until morning. I did not do well this weekend. I'm sure you can tell that I saw it coming. Duh... it's like I admitted defeat before the weekend started. I do have to admit that before no S I would have eaten WAY more. I had half a basket of popcorn tonight when I normally have 2. Better habits are definitely forming... and I actually prefer N days. Honest!


Reinhard said... "At some point, if you keep it up, it will become harder to fail than to succeed!" He said... "be strict and you'll build a psychological ring of fire around the esses." Wow, huh? I want that!

Switching on and off based on the calendar, weekend vs week days would be pretty hard for me. I prefer to be on most of the time and decide by myself when I need a yellow day. It's good that you've been doing so well though, despite a few glitches !

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 05/23/2009 : 216.2 pounds
6 months 23 days / 63.8 pounds

Alright, that's it!!! I went in to weigh... I was honestly up 10 this Monday eve as compared to Saturday morning. That's ridiculous! 2 1/2 days! I know, I know... the .4 shouldn't really be counted...and I'll be at least 2 less in the morning just from breathing moisture... and the salt and alcohol made me retain a ton (my rings are so tight) but I am not exagerating AT ALL! Up 10. That's my horrible rollercoaster I ride every week. I'm mad now! I need to do the Marc thing and go for all green, with some yellow days. I need to ask him... Marc...? How do you do it?

It's a constant struggle ! You have to get used to this being hard, might take a long time .... then when it gets easier, you wonder why you were having trouble in the first place. Now for me it's really normal when I feel hungry, it's the norm, it's pretty rare that I feel like I am completely full, even tonight after my dinner, I thought I could have had twice as much food as I did have, but it was cool, I cut up a celery and a carrot into lil' pieces and had 'em in the evening with plenty of water, it wasn't so terrible.

I was hungry for months in a row or so it seems, I am used to it now. I just have the minimum required to do my exercices and fight the worst cravings and that's it, barely anything extra. I fail sometimes but then I am double-green'ed until I make up for it, that red day ...

Motivation and focus. You are motivated to do something and then you do it. You don't deviate from your chosen path. It's harder when you have lil' kids and a busy social life though. If you went to a few barbecues in a row, it's understandable you gained some weight, that would be worse than X-Mas week for me. The other day I was freaking out when pizzas were supposed to be ordered, I was thinking of making up an excuse to get the hell out of that party, lol ! I didn't of course, but I was goooooooood, I had a lot of water and veggies and by the time the pizza arrived I wasn't so hungry anymore so I had just a piece in the end.

I guess the most difficult part for me is really to get started. Once I have done that (The 2 times I lost weight it was the same process) I don't stop, I just keep going. I make a graph and I do everything I can to remain under the line. After I've picked the date, the results on the scale, in front of the mirror ... that's enough to keep me motivated really.

I have all those tools, graphs, charts to help me as well.
I like to imagine how much I will weigh later too.

I remember in february, looking at my graph and thinking in 3 months, I'll weigh 223, wow ! (Back then I weighed around 245) 3 months later, I was right on, not sure if that's another trick but I was doing that for a while, even now, I look at my graph, I see in 2 months, I should be down to 205 ... 205 (!!) ... 5.2 pounds away from seeing a '1' as the first number. This is a good way to make me want to BE GOOD and GREEN long term. The motivation is there, 100%, no turning back or half doing it even if it's tough.

Also just smelling food is another one of my tricks, I have a bottle of chocolate syrup in the cupboard, I rarely eat any of it but I often pop the top and then smell the odor of the syrup, yum ! That helps as well, I didn't have any but it's as if I had really. I do that once in a while, seems to help. Micro-biting, having just a tiny bit of something to get a taste, but not all the calories ... a tea spoon of ice cream for example, you tasted it but it doesn't hurt you at all. I have so many tips and tricks,

The main thing is I am motivated so I don't really care if it's hard, I say if it's hard it means I get better results, like when I push myself while I'm cycling, I could do it half as hard and there would still be benefits but I prefer to push harder and get better results as well.

As I said before living with kids who may want to have junk food, it makes it a lot harder though, plus, do you work out ?? You feel so good after a work out and it helps youout a lot. Your body gets more muscular and you burn more calories even when you are resting.

Don't despair though, a weigh in like that after a bad weekend is really not permanent weight. You have to weigh 48 hours from now after 2 good green days in a row and then you'll see maybe that you haven't gained that many pounds back. If you gained 4 pounds of REAL weight, you may take a while to lose that of course. It might take a whole month of course, at least 3 weeks.

You could try starting over and have your current weight as the starting point too, this way you wouldn't feel too depressed. You start over, with your new scale, and then you get going, may 26 ... you decide how many pounds you have to lose and the time frame, all that ... that's what I do on day 1 personally.

Red days are tough, especially 2 or 3 in a row ... I do everything I can not to have one, I'd be pretty depressed having two, but then even if it happened, what would I do ?? I'd be green for 3-4-5 days in a row and then it's all forgotten and I feel great for having been so strong as well. I could easily have stopped in march where it was really harder for me, end of winter blues ... but I pressed on and then april and may have been relatively easy in comparison (Especially adding the cycling to my routine, it really helped a lot, great exercise and I have notice a big improvement since I've started cycling mid april). If I had stopped and went back to my bad old ways I could weigh 235 right now, maybe more who knows ...

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 05/23/2009 : 216.2 pounds
6 months 23 days / 63.8 pounds

O.K. I have a plan, a chart, and graph, I have strong motivation right now..and I am exercising as much as I am willing to go right now with usually doing a minimum of one hour a week of organized exercise. I put on my pedometer sometimes and I know that during the week, I usually get close to the 10,000 steps in, just doin' my usual thing, not including the formal exercise. When I'm seeing loss on the scale, I'm more motivated to exercise... when I'm not, I'm not. On the weekends, I don't do anything toward my goal. I don't drink my water, I don't get exercise, I have some alcohol just to retain more water and pack on calories, I have sweets, seconds, and snaaaaaaaacks.. and it goes up! Then I eat like a thin Nun for the week and start again.

Marc, **** disclaimer**** do you just go green until you slightly fail and call it a yellow. And when you fail royally, it's a red? How do you draw the line between yellow and red? And how many yellows Vs. Reds in the month? I need to re-read your daily check ins, because that's my new plan! ***Disclaimer***


... I read it. Can we view other people's habitcals? I started in October, so I know it takes time. And I have colored every single day on my colorful calendars. I just need to jump off of this roller coaster I'm on. I'm gaining good habits and certainly in control of N days most of the time now since April fool's day but the weekends kill me.

Oh, here's my HabitCal for your perusal.

http://i43.tinypic.com/1z1rzer.jpg

Oh, another thing I do is I usually plan my HabitCal days 4-5-6 days in advance, I adjust along the way if I have to ... I know in advance when I will have to be good and when I may have an intentional yellow ... never any red intentionally too.

As you said, a lot of this has already been described in my daily check in ... Works for me pretty good in any case.

Exercises helps me a lot, I don't want to make it sound as if I never eat anything, I do eat, a lot even, I just eat good things for me or things that have close to 0 calories like carrots, celery, cucmber, plain pop corn ... plenty of water.

I have to eat or else I couldn't perform during my work outs ... which are numerous. I'm used to training 7 days a week straight as you see on my HabitCal picture, a yellow day, where I only train for 35 minutes, is almost like a day off. What I do is not for everybody obviously.

I am trying to be mostly green, with a few yellow days peppered here and there ... as few reds as possible. Those are the ones that hurt you ... if you read my daily check in I have written about all this recently, my percentage of compliance to my habits, I have a way of calculating it to make sure I am 'good enough' to keep on losing weight ...
I'd say something like 18 greens -10 yellows -2 reds would be excellent in a month. That would be worth 80% compliance. 18 X 1 point for the green days, 10 X 0.6 point for the yellow days and 2 X 0 point for the red days ...
24 points out of 30, 80% ... I try to have 80% on my diet and my exercise ...

As for the colors, Don't be too harsh ... A green day, I am not 100% perfect all the time, I don't give myself a yellow for just a tiny thing, either ... same with the yellow ... for the green day to turn into a yellow I may have eaten a whole bagel extra I wasn't supposed to have ... same with the red vs the yellow, I just try to be fair and reasonable, this is not an exact science either.

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 05/23/2009 : 216.2 pounds
6 months 23 days / 63.8 pounds

Oh, here's my HabitCal for your perusal.

http://i43.tinypic.com/1z1rzer.jpg


I changed the image and the link so you only have the 2 main habits, nutrition and training.

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 05/23/2009 : 216.2 pounds
6 months 23 days / 63.8 pounds

Very green Marc, very green! Thanks for your help!!! I really appreciate it! I'm on track, just not a roller coaster track any more.

I'm going to try for green every day and when I slip, call them yellows and reds. I think that if I plan ahead for the S days, I give myself permission for an S-travaganza. This trick may help me. As long as the flood gates don't open. I have weak hinges.

My official plan (at least for now...I'm very indecisive):

Go for every day green and when you have an S... no more than 3 servings of Ses (snack, second, or sweet) and you can count it as a yellow. Any more than 3 and it's a red.


We'll see how it goes.


By the way... have I mentioned today that I still have no reds this month?

I'm going to make it to the end of the month with no red!! (I think!)

I have found that I am able to drink more water when it's hot out. When we had a little cold spell I couldn't get my self to drink. Then I retain fluids. Drink chuga-luga... drink chuga-luga...

You can do it Renee! ... only 3 days left ... think of how good you'll feel!

Yeah, it's practically June! And there's only one more N Day before the finish line!

I'm havin' a really crappy day... late start... kids fighting... wild goose chase for my daughter... speeding ticket ... still up in weight from Memorial day weekend. Normally I'd just go grab a bag of chips (and maybe even beer if it was later) to wallow in self pitty, but I am stronger now (right?) and I am going to instead, because it's my last n day of the month and it'll be all green... I'm entering the convent of No s... It will be so green today that It will glow!!! Watch me!

Boy did I sound confident!

Take a deep breath and...

TIE A KNOT...a big one

Mimi

Thanks guys!!! I'm charged now! It's amazing how typing on here changed my mood from depressed and wanting to eat... to go go go go!!!!

Saturday morning and an S day... although as you may recall, I am still trying for a green day. But, if I have more than 3 Ses... it goes to red. It took me all blessed week to undo the damage that I did last weekend. I'm back to where I was and on the fast track down! I really think that this may be my solution. The "sometimes" on the rules needs to finally enter my thick skull.

But...let's look at this on a more positive note my dear Renee...
sometimes is by far better than never, right?

You'll be fine this weekend with your new mods - you'll see!!!
Talk to ya later
Mimi

Alright... what a plan I had. I had a cookie, 3 handfulls of peanuts, a bite of rhubarb crisp that my hubby made since I refused on an N day, milk, a slice of pizza and another cookie before lunch... I was trying to evaluate my thoughts in action, and my conclusion is that I "make it" to Saturday and think that I deprived myself all week and all I want is a taste... I deserve it after my long week, right? So, I tasted and tasted and tasted. That's my subconscous opinion at the time. I will try to recover since I got that over with and be as good as a nun today. Although I have no confidence in myself at the moment... Before no S it would have been much bigger tastes!!!
I have made a calendar of goals to meet along the way like Marc does and it does give me more incentive to meet my goal for the bi-month check-in. Thanks Marc. But, I fear that if I get too far behind my goal, I'll give up.


Edit: My plan for June: after listening to Reinhard's new mods and tweaks trilogy #2, I really feel that I need to go back to the vanilla no S and just work on the mental state of my S days, trusting that if I do the N days, that the S days will eventually take care of themselves. I will still allow an occasional jolly rancher as my panic button and the occasional beer or wine. Neither of these tend to be a problem. The 2 meals a day are no S compliant. Reinhard suggested some ideas, and I plan on trying to "bank" an S day for things that come up during the week. If I bank one, I can save it for an emergency later in the month if needed. I am defining my "best" as no reds, with better S days. No S-travaganzas. Whew! For summer that will be tough!!!! What am I doing issuing this challenge? I then am trying to get better and better. I guess I do still have room for improvement, like being a good girl on S days!!! duh. I guess I'm feling the pressure, but it is easier than it used to be to stay green and yellow.


The challenges are really helping me!
I was green and yellow all month!!! Woo hooo!

Today, I'm trying for a green, just to make a recovery from yesteray's S-ing. As the day went, I didn't blow it too very bad, but I certainly enjoyed it. I've been thinking about this "banking" idea. I really like it! It seems better to try for less S days since I really seem to take advantage of them, but if I don't make a green, it's still a better S than before. If I can keep one day a green to "bank" it, then I'll have a bit of a safety net. I'm likein' it! And it's "approved"

I had an S day yesterday even though I tried to bank one. It was a better than average S day though. I think that there are around 25 people who accepted my challenge for the month so far and I'm a tad embarrassed that I may fail to have a better month, but It's one incredible incentive, that's for sure!!!

I just took a look at my habitcal for last month and I am so proud of my greens!!!! I am definitely learning to stop snacking, having sweets and seconds!!!

You learn something new every day !!

Glad you are motivated too, that's important.

I'll be good and green today. I won't freak out over my lukewarm scale result this morning either, 215.6. I was hoping it would have been closer to 214.8.

From now on it'll be a slow and steady approach in any case.
It's just like starting over really except I have to think about this as if I only have 20 pounds to lose in the next 5 months.
Ok, time to FREAK OUT.

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 06/01/2009 : 215.6 pounds
7 months 1 day / 64.4 pounds

I just made a new graph to record and plan my weight loss. I plugged in the dates for every other Friday and it looks way better!

I found it on my kid's site and it's easy!!! If I did it right, here's the site:

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/index.asp


This should be called the Sane S diet!

Also, I noticed that corncobs take up precious space on your plate...! That's good and bad.

I'm tempted to munch today. I think that what I really want is salt. I had a couple drinks last night and I probably am a bit dehydrated. Hmmm... that throws me way off. And here I thought that drinks weren't making much of a difference. I am not going to ignore drinks andymore. I'll have to wait until an S day if not at dinner time. So, I guess, the only mod I do is a jolly rancher at panic moments (usually 1-2 a week only) and trying to bank an S day, which I may not even be able to do.

Pretty vanilla no S... just 1 jollyrancher on top

No munching Renee! You really don't want to do that! Remember you're trying to match your personal best - which was last month, and no reds. You can do it again! You're my role model!

Mimi

Ha! Don't follow me... I ride a roller coaster around in circles ya know!

I survived the green day! I'm not tempted near as much as I was back in March even. Woohoo! I want to build that psychological ring of fire around the Ses. That's my goal!

Since school is out and I do better with new habits with a change of schedule...I've just decided to set an exercise goal for everyday. I plan on using my habitcal and coloring it yellow if I do over 7,000 steps on my pedometer and green if I do do over 9,000 steps. My pedometer counts Aerobic steps too, so that will help. The yellow will ensure non-lazy summer days, and greens will be what I make sure I do. The lazy days will remain white because I hate reds

You have to be careful not to get over confident of course,
sometimes it happens, you think everything's alright and that
makes you happy ... leading to easing up and then you fall down.

At least it happens to me sometimes, being happy or sad
can lead to emotional eating, so being careful @ all times
is usually a good policy. Probably easier said than done !

It's amazing to be able to have such great success though,
Renee, especially with lil' kids around, making it harder to
train and/or eat well.

Pedometers are nice. A good exercise of course. That seems like a lot of steps,

Been doing very well 2 days in a row ... another double green
planned for tomorrow of course, then it'll be my 2nd weight in of the month on 6-4 am and a double yellow for that day.



Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 06/01/2009 : 215.6 pounds
7 months 1 day / 64.4 pounds

I like your pedometer habitcal idea, Renee. I bought a pedometer months ago and have yet to use it...I think I'll try it on a regular day just to get an idea of how many steps I take in a regular day and then figure out goals from there.

Thanks for "suggesting" it!

My pedometer keeps track of my steps for a week and it's nice to see and average what you normally do. You could do that and try to work your way up. They say we should all get 10,000 a day. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't, but the pedometer REALLY motivates me! I just slip it in my pocket and forget it. Be sure to grab it before you start your day! You wouldn't want to miss any!

On Vigilant's check in everyone is talking about getting sparkly green emeralds for rewards or reminders. I want one now! I think that if I get to a certain point I could get myself one (or hint to my hubby) and that would be a reminder for the last half!!! Hmmm... necklace or earings...a ring would be seen more by me... that's it! An emerald ring! Even more incentive!!!

You got it now girl! Just stick that little ol' hand out there and imagine that sparkling emerald sitting on one of your fingers!

Mimi

I am! I am! I am a visual person and that is a great idea!!!

First day of no school... kos (kids over shoulder) and very glad of no shcool for the summer! I'm however worried about my healthy eating. I'm not too worried about exercise... if I don't get in my minimums, I know I'm exausted anyway.

My youngest wants to say "after a sport he gets really exausted and wants to barf".

I find it hard to believe when he's swinging on the soccer goal post when he should be playing the game.

I decided to have today be an S day for my son's birthday. He can drive now too.

Hey Renee, Tell T happy birthday from all of us Did he have a themed party

Okay, remember to plan each day, we can do this! I think it is good and okay to take the S days when we need them and not worry about it ~ as long as they don't get out of control.........I think this does two things, it helps take the craziness/binging away from the weekend s days and helps make this a regular lifelong way of eating And, secondly, keeps you in control (Kinda like the first point, but a little diffferent)...............

No party for T... though little bro thought that a tournament of games was appropriate since the girls were gone and it's fun to skunk Mom. We play air hockey, pool, darts, and checkers. I try to loose, of course, but those boys of mine are competetive!!! Even the big one, Dad! Anyway, T's too busy and I kind of go all out until they are over 10, then they're on their own. A tent in the back yard is good. I figure 40 birthdays, confirmations and graduations are enough hoopla. We have the big ones coming every other spring until 2019! Then I'll be sad and cry for years with my empty nest. Mom says that I'll be doing weddings and baptisms by then.

Anyway, I do have a plan... and I'm going to stick to it. No S, but try to bank one for emergencies. I read in the book last night that alcohol is O.K. on N days, so I guess I was alright all along. I guess I need to re-read the book, or I invent my own rules. I haven't needed the jolly rancher panic-button lately.

Yesterday, Thu. the 4th, I turned into an S day because of T's birthday and the first day out of school. The first piece of cake did it for me. Besides, I needed a special day. I'll try to recover. I'll have to try hard because today is Friday... usually my hardest day. Though they are all tough in the summer.

Hey, happy birthday ! Hopefully everyone was rejoicing !

Yes, fridays are tougher but for me weekend days are even worse ... of course that's when I am most likely to go out, see people, or have people come over, babysit my nephew, that sort of thing ... I was just checking out my habitcal the other night ...

I had 17 red nutrition days in the past 4 months and 9 of those reds were either on sat. or sun. ... only 8 red days during week days, mon. to fri. .... so it's pretty clear I have to be vigilant on the weekend in the future. The habitcal is good to see trends like that.

Updated disclaimer signature.

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 06/05/2009 : 214.0 pounds
7 months 5 days / 66.0 pounds

Marc, since you said that, I had to go back and check on mine. I wish all of the habitcal months showed up automatically. I need to take a look at them more often!! They used to be so red. I had 19 reds in December alone! I gained 20 during my wishy-washy period between Thanksgiving weekend and the aweful incident on March 31st when I "inocently" snitched over 2000 calories. Duh. I've only had 4 reds since that eye-opening day. I'm much better than I was!

I've been reading the rewards thread and I want to make kind of a ceremony of tossing (or burning) fat clothes after a successful week. Even if I don't have clothes that don't fit anymaore yet, I'll toss ones that make me feel fat when I wear them. We should all wear clothes that we feel good in. Maybe I will after a successful weekend...if I ever have one.

Alright, I found an ugly shirt that I occasionally wear... I don't know why, it makes me look even bigger! I'm going to toss it in my "donate" box. That feels good! Still green today and trying to stay green to make up for my Thursday switch to yellow. It was a special day, but I hate to have 3 yellows in a week, because 1 yellow seems to equal 4 greens.

Good idea to DONATE it, someone might appreciate that in the future. When I bought a new couch the other day I was trying to find a place that would pick up my old one (it was 12 years old but still in pretty good shape)
A truck came over and they picked up the old couch, it was donated to someone who would need it.

Doing great today, I have been solid as a rock since the beginning of june, it hasn't even been that hard, really.
I like this when I get all focused, I don't have to worry about the next weigh in, that sort of thing. I know I'll do well since I am following my master plan (diet & exercise) closely. I'm definitely not going back over 215.
When I follow my diet closely it puts less pressure on me since I don't have to work out like crazy to make up for the red nutrition days.

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 06/05/2009 : 214.0 pounds
7 months 5 days / 66.0 pounds

Carved in stone, Marc! I'm stuck in mud.

If I wear shorts with no pocket, it's hard to carry my pedometer, so If I don't, I'll give myself a yellow for over 15 min. of exercise and a green for 30 or over of exercise. That way I can keep the habitcal forever and stop erasing it to start a new plan. I like to see long term what goes on...
I did a green yesterday, and an S day today, so I'm back on track with my 2 Ses a week although I'm still up a bit... Hmm... I need a burst of enthusiasm.

Still plugging along, although I'm frustrated at the weight. I know it's because I make bad choices. At least I'm not all red since the kids are home.

Yep, still green and yellow for the month.

~reneew wrote:Still plugging along, although I'm frustrated at the weight. I know it's because I make bad choices. At least I'm not all red since the kids are home.

I know what you mean about being frustrated at the weight -- but yes, we do have to keep plugging along. We can do it!