Everyday Systems

Hey Katie!

Great to see you are starting your check in again. Keeping up with yours always helps me stay on track

Hope you figure out where that rash is coming from.

How is your weight holding? Do you weigh in at all anymore?

Thanks, Sinnie I actually don't have a scale here in Bulgaria, but if I had to guess, I'd say I'm in the low 120s somewhere. My pants still fit, but rather tightly.

Thursday, January 19:
Breakfast: Nestlé cornflakes, Ð’ÐµÑ€ÐµÑ milk (1.5 % fat), clever orange juice with tap water
Lunch: French bread roll from Billa, butter, same salami, banana
Dinner: clever spirally pasta, кюфте from Billa, an apple

Legs: 3 (=)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: only 20 minutes in the morning
Diary: SUCCESS

It sounds like you are doing awesome! Keep checking in! I was getting so off track for a few weeks and am finally feeling like I am getting back on. My weight is up a few lbs from the usual, so here's hoping we stay successful

Great to hear that I can help

Friday, January 20:
Breakfast: Nestlé cornflakes, Ð’ÐµÑ€ÐµÑ milk (1.5 % fat), clever orange juice with tap water
Lunch: French bread roll from Billa, butter, same salami, banana
Dinner: some mashed potatoes with sirene that my roommate made, кюфте from Billa, an apple

Legs: 2 (<)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: SUCCESS
Diary: SUCCESS

Wow, a whole week of green! Looking good there!

Saturday, January 21:
Breakfast: Nestlé cornflakes, Ð’ÐµÑ€ÐµÑ milk (1.5 % fat), clever orange juice with tap water
In between, I tried all the stuff I bought today. Now I'm very full. Sun Rice, Artur Cookies (some kind of vanilla-jam-chocolate stuff that doesn't even taste good), gummi sharks, Grissini, Своге chocolate, an apple, that same milk, that same orange juice mix
Lunch: Tried something new here: Made a raw-egg-milk-mixture, added some spice mix and salt, and put a slice of white bread in there. Ate it with an apple and some more OJ/water. Used a little too much milk, but it was cool nevertheless.
In between: The same. Also, tortilla chips.
Dinner: same as breakfast

Legs: 2 (=)

No S: S Day
Piano: FAILURE
Diary: S Day

Sunday, January 22:
Breakfast: slept through it
Lunch: cornflakes, milk, OJ, tap water
In between: The same as yesterday. Also, ТрÑна cookies.
Dinner: mini ciabatta roll with a кебапче, apple, OJ, tap water

Legs: 1 (<)

No S: S Day
Piano: SUCCESS
Diary: S Day

Monday, January 23:
Breakfast: cornflakes, milk, apple, OJ, tap water
Lunch: sandwich with that same lukanka, banana, tap water
Dinner: a slice of white bread "marinated" in a beaten egg with two tablespoons of milk, some salt and pepper, an apple, OJ with water

Legs: 1 (=)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: SUCCESS
Diary: SUCCESS

Hi Anoulie,

Congrats on your green days!

Lisa

Thanks, Lisa!

I'm actually kind of worried about my compliance in the next two or three weeks. Tomorrow I'm leaving for a workshop, and I'll either spend the nights at a hotel or at a family's house. The problem is that in Bulgaria, people always have three courses for dinner (and often for lunch, too) with a soup or salad, then the main course, then dessert. Don't ask me how they manage to stay so skinny. And they will offer me this food. With willpower, it might be possible to virtually plate entrée and main course, and decline dessert, but I don't have that willpower yet. Last time I stayed at someone's house for a workshop, I tried, and ended up eating not just the chocolate cake, but also failing the next day. I need some kind of fix rule for these occurances, because they are quite frequent (every other week or so).
How about "eat what Bulgarians eat when you're with them, and it counts as green"? Meaning that when I stay at a hotel or at someone's house, I can have a normal-sized portion of entrée, main course, dessert, and not say "I failed, now I have to stuff chocolate into my face". What do you think?

Tuesday, January 24:
Breakfast: cornflakes, milk, apple, OJ, tap water
Lunch: sandwich with that same lukanka, banana, tap water
Dinner: fruit pancake with an apple and a banana, OJ, tap water

Legs: 1 (=)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: SUCCESS
Diary: SUCCESS

I'm so proud of myself! Some girl at the choir celebrated her 24th birthday, and had wine and juice and cookies. Some of my favorite cookies, actually. But guess what? I just said "no thanks", although pretty much everyone was having some. Usually, that would have been a reason for me to get off track again. But I really want to get those 21 days down (15 so far). I did have some juice that probably had sugar added, but there's no way I'm counting that as a fail.
(P.S. The journey was cancelled due to snow.)

Wednesday, January 25:
Breakfast: cornflakes, milk, OJ, tap water
Lunch: sandwich (this time with a mini french bread roll instead of regular white bread) with that same lukanka, banana, tap water
Dinner: pasta, scrambled egg with some milk, pepper, salt, apple, OJ, tap water

Legs: 3 (<) (also, for some reason, hands)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: SUCCESS
Diary: SUCCESS

Hey Katie, in regards to the way Bulgarians eat...I think when given the opportunity, you'd be perfectly fine to go along with it. I often eat that way with my husband (in courses). I have never found it to affect my weight loss -- it ONLY does when I feel like I screwed up and start binging. You'd be surprised that eating in courses LOOKS like way more food than it actually is. The process of slowing down and enjoying each course on its own is so satisfying and really allows you to enjoy what you're eating, I find. I really don't believe it will be a problem, if you don't let it derail you by thinking you've cheated. Since I typically dont follow the one plate rule, I guess I'm sort of used to it. I would love to eat like Bulgarians! And like you said, they stay skinny

Thanks a lot for your advice, Sinnie! I guess I'll just do that and call it a mod. Same for when I'm at this hotel in Turkey (kinda scared about failing No S there...).

Thursday, January 26:
Breakfast: cornflakes, milk, OJ, tap water
Lunch: sandwich (awesome new bread) with that same lukanka, banana, tap water
Dinner: some of that awesome bread, кебапче, apple, OJ, tap water

Legs: 3 (>)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: couldn't concentrate that late anymore
Diary: SUCCESS

Friday, January 26:
Breakfast: cornflakes, milk, OJ, tap water
Lunch: chicken nuggets, mashed potatos, water
in between: some high quality San Francisco chocolate, almonds
Dinner: some baked potatoes with spices, white bread
Also: dark chocolate, potato chips

Legs: 4 (>)

No S: S Day (decided that because there was a party)
Piano: SUCCESS early in the morning
Diary: FAILURE (just plain forgot about it)

Saturday, January 26:
Breakfast: banana, bread roll
in between: some dark chocolate, Sun Rice, part of a chicken sandwich (the sauce was nasty, so I threw most of it away)
Lunch: кюфте sandwich, apple, bottled water
in between: Своге chocolate, Sun Rice
Dinner: cornflakes, milk

Legs: 6 (>)

No S: S Day
Piano: FAILURE
Diary: S Day

Sunday, January 29, 2012:
Breakfast: slept through it
Lunch: cornflakes and milk
in between: ТрÑвна cookies, two mini Балкан bars
Dinner: slice of bread, fried egg, apple, OJ, tap water
after that: Milka cookies, twice-baked bread rings

Legs: 4 (>)

No S: S Day
Piano: SUCCESS
Diary: S Day

Monday, January 30, 2012:
Breakfast: cornflakes and milk, OJ, tap water
Lunch: bread with a slice of луканка, apple, tap water
Dinner: bread roll, кебапче, apple, OJ, tap water

Legs: 3 (>)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: FAILURE
Diary: SUCCESS

Tuesday, January 31, 2012:
Breakfast: cornflakes and milk, OJ, tap water
Lunch: sandwich with chicken breast, tap water
Dinner (planned): bread roll, fried egg, apple, OJ, tap water

Legs: 2 (>)

No S: SUCCESS so far
Piano: dıdnt fınd the tıme for ıt
Diary: forgot about ıt

(Forgıve the non-exıstant ı-dots and apostrophes -- Im ın Turkey now.)

Its really awesome here and not dıffıcult for No S at all! We can decıde on our own lunch; we can choose some kınd of meat/veggıe dısh, one starch (rıce or pasta or mashed potatoes or somethıng lıke that) and one soup or salad or desert. I usually just take the former two and one or two pıeces of bread along wıth ıt. For drınk, theres bottled water.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012:
Breakfast: none (not hungry)
Lunch: none (no opportunıty and not that hungry anyway)
Dinner: some kınd of chıcken dısh, rıce, two slıces of bread, bottled water, Turkısh tea
later: one hot chocolate

Legs: 2 (=)

No S: technıcally a FAILURE because of the hot chocolate, but I dont worry about ıt (ıt was defınıtely an 'outsıde' FAIL)
Piano: theres no pıano here
Diary: forgot about ıt

Thursday, February 2, 2012:
Breakfast: none (overslept), but had a freshly squeezed orange juıce
Lunch: some kınd of meat -- forgot what ıt was exactly -- and rıce and two slıces of bread, bottled water
Dinner: lıke lunch, but only one slıce of bread
later: one Turkısh tea wıth a cube of sugar

Legs: 2 (=)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: theres no pıano here
Diary: forgot about ıt

Frıday, February 3, 2012:
Breakfast: two tomato quarters, two small slıces of bread, lunch meat, bottled water
Lunch: chıcken, mashed potatoes, one slıce of bread
Dinner: we;ll see

Legs: 1 (>)

No S: SUCCESS
Piano: theres no pıano here
Diary: not yet

Too lazy for S days... they were average.

Monday, February 2, 2012:
Breakfast: four of those cute lıttle breadstıcks, a boıled egg, a small cup of mılk, bottled water
coffee break: one Turkısh tea wıth a cube of sugar
Lunch: chıcken, rıce, one slıce of bread, bottled water
Dinner: we wıll see

Legs: 0 (=)

No S: SUCCESS so far
Piano: theres no pıano here
Diary: not yet

Tuesday, February 7:

No Breakfast
Some kınd of meat and rıce and two slıces of bread and a water for lunch

I'm trying out something different, at least until I go back to Germany (at which point I'll likely return to Vanilla No S). It's basically

1. no seconds, ever
2. I will not buy sweets or snack foods for myself
3. when there is food around at work or choir or I get some as a present, I am, however, permitted to eat some of it

The idea here is basically to adapt my diet more to my lifestyle. When I'm home alone on weekends, it's perfect for having a regular S day -- instead, I stuff myself with sweets because I'm bored. During the week, however, there are often events where it's difficult to do No S -- cake at work, cookies at choir, dessert after going out to eat... Also, this seems more like what a "naturally" skinny person would do. They don't refuse some apple slices in between meals, or even a piece of chocolate, but they don't go out buying a pound of sweets for themselves every Saturday (not that I've ever done that).
I hope this will be sustainable. I won't post on a day-to-day basis, but I might give you regular updates if you're interested.

Hi Katie,
That sounds like a very good plan. In fact, I've been thinking about doing something similar. One day my boss brought me a sweet roll to work. How could I say no? But I get enough sweets being out and about. There's no need to buy them for myself. And they are SO tempting, sitting up in the cupboards.

Please do post updates, if you have time.

Kathy

So far, it's going well, but I can't say it's sustainable yet until I've experienced some kind of emotional low... these are always my downfall.

If not otherwise indicated, breakfast consists of a bowl of cornflakes with 1.5 % fat milk and a glass of watered-down orange juice, lunch consists of two slices of bread with butter and lunch meat, an apple and tap water, and dinner is something warm. It usually contains bread or pasta and a meatball or a fried egg, an apple and one or two glasses of watered-down OJ.

Wednesday (when I started this): breakfast - lunch - dinner (fried potatoes, different kinds of grilled meat and water) - some dessert (yogurt with honey and walnuts) - some chocolate my aunt sent me
Thursday: breakfast - lunch - dinner - two sticks of helvas (a Turkish sweet, one stick weighs about an ounce), milk
Friday: half a stick of helvas, milk - breakfast - lunch - dinner - half a stick of helvas, milk
Saturday: lunch (slice of bread, scrambled egg, apple, watered-down orange juice) - hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookie with a friend at Starbucks - dinner
Sunday: lunch (same as usual breakfast) - dinner
Monday: breakfast - hot chocolate at a café with a friend - lunch - four cubes of chocolate-covered Turkish delight at choir practice - dinner

Tuesday: breakfast - lunch - dinner - one stick of helvas, milk
Wednesday: breakfast - small piece of plum pie - lunch - small piece of plum pie - dinner (at some kind of reception; three chicken strips, a mouthful of spinach/egg biscuit and an orange slice, bottled water) - six cute little dessert pralinés (very fancy) - two pieces of the cake my room-mate made, milk (Wednesdays seem to be my eat-a-lot days O.o)
Thursday: breakfast - lunch (sandwich with meatballs, lettuce, tomatoe, cucumber) - one piece of cake from my room-mate, milk - dinner
Friday: breakfast - lunch - hot chocolate and donut with a friend at Starbucks - dinner
Saturday: breakfast - chocolate bar (1.5 oz), milk - lunch - two more of these chocolate sticks, milk, chocolate bar (3.5 oz) - dinner (Indian lentil soup, bread, yogurt) - some chocolates and waffles at a friend's house, another of thos 3.5 oz bars, milk
Sunday: breakfast - two small chocolates - lunch - three Helvas sticks, milk - dinner

Oh, wow. Last Saturday felt rather like an S day... I got a package from home with chocolate (lots of it), and found myself unable to resist longer than a day (interestingly, this does not appeal to all sweets... but Milka? Come on!). But I really love this lifestyle. The mental barrier to not buy any sweets for myself is much bigger compared to just reaching into the bag of gummy worms my co-singer at choir is handing out... and even if I do not lose weight this way, I'll continue it. If I gain, however, I'll have to re-evaluate. But this doesn't seem to be happening so far. We'll see how it goes from here on out...
EDIT: It's also good for my bank account

It sounds like you are doing great! Keep it up and let us know how things are turning out.

Monday: breakfast - lunch - a gummy worm, two crackers and a cashew nut at choir - dinner
Tuesday: breakfast - a chocolate waffle stick and some pretzel sticks the guy on the bus gave me - lunch - dinner (two potato dumplings, chicken breast fillet)
Wednesday: breakfast (sandwich with lunch meat, tea) - a couple of pretzel sticks - lunch (chicken nuggets, fries, water) - hot chocolate - no dinner
Thurday (can you tell I'm travelling yet?): ~ two squares of milk chocolate - breakfast (bread roll with a little cheese sprinkled on top and a sausage inside) - some more of the chocolate squares - some chocolate with raisins and hazelnuts (so awesome!) - some fruit juice that probably had a lot of sugar in it - lunch/dinner (fries, meatball, banana) - some more fruit juice - some more raisin chocolate - chocolate cookies
Friday: a piece of some salty baked good - a chocolate waffle - breakfast (a salty sesame bread roll, water) - some oatmeal cookies - lunch (schnitzel with fries, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage) - a few crackers, pretzel sticks - a strawberry milkshake - dinner (sandwich with ham) - a milk chocolate bar (like 1.5 oz)
Saturday: no breakfast - lunch (same as usual breakfast) - dinner - a couple of cookies, milk
Sunday: no breakfast - lunch (same as usual breakfast) - dinner

Well, I was travelling, so a lot of people were offering me food and stuff, but it was always just a little bit and it even seems like I'm slowly losing weight!

Monday: breakfast - lunch - glass of orange juice - dinner (tortellini, apple, watered-down OJ)
Tuesday: breakfast - lunch - some Mexican sweets - dinner
Wednesday: breakfast - lunch - dinner

Yesterday was my 21st day doing this. What better way to celebrate than with a regular N day? I didn't even feel deprived or anything. (Okay, my stomach hurt a little before and after dinner, so this might have also helped in not giving me cravings.) Granted, I'm not losing weight very quickly, but that's fine with me. Today, I'll be making some cake in coffee mugs for my colleagues (we've just decided we'll have lunch together once every week to talk about things; each of us brings a little something, and I'm bringing dessert). I'll even be able to have a little taste with no guilt

Thursday: breakfast - lunch - two drops of cake batter to taste - dinner - some chocolate while melting it for the cakes - some left-over cake that I cut off because it was sticking over the top
Friday: breakfast - some tortilla chips - lunch (noodles with some chopped veggies and meat, tortilla chips) - more tortilla chips, a piece of cake, some chocolate bars - dinner
Saturday: slightly smaller version of usual breakfast - lunch (fried egg on white bread, apple, watered down OJ) - dinner half a "small" bucket of popcorn at the movie's
Saturday: breakfast - lunch (pancake, banana, apple, watered down OJ) - dinner two mini waffle sticks, two butter biscuits, milk

Ugh, this is getting harder, especially after that Friday where I was able to eat a lot (where we had lunch together at work and everyone brought lots of stuff I like). Maybe I should actually try going back to Vanilla No S... maybe if I stay green this week I can have two S days on the weekend?

Monday: breakfast - lunch - dinner

I've decided to suck it up for now. I can't go changing my eating plan whenever I feel like it. I know I will be getting a lot of foods around my birthday, which is in just over two weeks, so I guess I'll survive till then

Tuesday: breakfast - four small chocolate bars (like half an ounce) - lunch - four more of those - two biscuits - dinner
Wednesday: breakfast - lunch (croissant roll with strawberry jam, apple, bottled water) - a couple of chocolates at choir - dinner
Thursday: breakfast - lunch - a little chocolate/brownie batter while baking - dinner - one brownie
Friday: breakfast - lunch (pasta) - a brownie - dinner

Had a failure after that dinner on Friday, then failed on Saturday and Sunday again, but now I'm back on track.

Monday: breakfast - lunch (two pieces of chicken breast and fries from KFC, water) - chocolates at choir - dinner
Tuesday: breakfast - lunch - dinner
Wednesday: breakfast - lunch - dinner
Thursday: breakfast - lunch - some pretzel sticks at work - dinner - a little too much nibbling while cooking
Friday: breakfast - lunch - black and white cookies as dessert - some cake at a bazaar - a banana and cookies with friends - dinner
Satiurday: breakfast - chocolate bar - lunch (some baked good) - a bite of my friend's croissant - dinner
Sunday: breakfast - hot chocolate - Subway sandwich - orange juice - dinner - tortilla chips - two bowls of cornflakes

Ugh, so much for being back on track. Oh well, I decided to chill a little now, being in Bulgaria and all, and it's normal to be gaining weight when abroad.

Monday: no breakfast - two chocolate bars - cookies - chocolate croissant - lunch (meat ball sandwich) - two more chocolate bars - more tortilla chips - caramel cookie bars - dinner

But I think starting next week I'll be trying Vanilla No S again (with S days from lunch on Friday until midnight on Saturday).

Tuesday: breakfast - lunch - dinner

Hey Katie,

I needed some motivation so I re-read your blog here, because it used to inspire me! I loved the simplicity of your meals and how easy you made No S sound Well, I have been re-inspired! Tell me though, how do you not eat after dinner? What are your strategies that you use when you feel stressed/bored/etc and don't want dinner to end? Any thoughts or advice!? Thanks girl

I'm back to Vanilla No S now, actually, and it feels so good.

About dinner, I can't really tell you, as I don't really get hunger pangs after that, more like after lunch. When I do feel like I want some more in the evening, I just remind myself of the awesome breakfast I'll have the next day, and then try to largely forget about it until I go to sleep.

Do you eat enough for your dinner, though?

Ha, my room-mate has a salad for dinner and I have noodles and some meat and a kiwi -- looks like she's got the upper hand there in terms of weight loss, right? Wrong. She then proceeds to eat some chips with ranch dressing

Hey Katie,

So true what you say about your friend and the salad. That used to be me

Anyways, thanks for your comment about eating in the evening. I definitely eat enough at dinner. I think my problem is I have a psychological attachment to food so I always want to eat if I am bored or stressed. I need to address that or just learn to white knuckle through it.

You are doing great - good for you!!! Very happy to read that.

Is it weird that I eat the same meals every day?

Nah, it's not weird. It's what works for you, so why not? I think it would only be a problem if the monotony made you eat other things when you shouldn't.

It's actually not monotony for me... it provides a kind of calmness... and I don't seem to be suffering from too little vitamin or anything yet.

Anyway, remember reading about how we only had one source of willpower and if that was gone -- too bad? Mine was drained today, and at 1 am (yeah, I'm usually up that late), I had some of the cake I was making, and then, as I'd messed up anyway, some more chocolate. However, I know that I cannot NOT fail all my life, so I'll have to live with these failures -- and I will. I just marked it, now I'll go brush my teeth, go to bed, and then move on. Thursday, while already a red day in my HabitCal, will not be an overboard stuff-my-face day

I love this plan. Yesterday, I went to McDonald's with a friend before going to a bar, and I had fries and chicken nuggets and Sprite, but didn't drink the Sprite, so it was green. And at the bar, I had 100 % orange juice, and it was still green. And on the way home, I had a piece of gum and it was still okay.

Okay, kinda fell off the wagon the week before last (April 23 - 27), but it was okay, I guess. The next week, I was on a seminar, which I considered yellow. There wasn't that much food, so I guess I pretty much stayed the same weight. This week was kinda hard because we were also on a trip, but I made it! So awesome.

Hey Katie, I was thinking about you the other day and was actually going to ask for an update! Glad to hear things are going well Have you pretty much been sticking to 3 meals? Sounds like it with some S's thrown in I suppose (the trips and whatnot). Good job my friend!

Hey girl! Just checking up on ya Miss your check-in! Come back! hehehe Hope you are well.