Everyday Systems

I'm off on a week of training for work today, so eating and exercise will be... interesting. Planning to try and do some bodyweight exercises in the hotel (I'm still scared of gyms...) and to stick to NoS though. Will be far more difficult as I expect there to be biscuits and snacks at regular intervals in the training that I will need to actively resist! Plus restaurant food is always more calorific than home cooked.

Sounds like you're doing well so far, hurray for you! I like that word "calorific", lol.

Good job on balancing the richer food with salad at lunch. You can always try virtual plating for the three-course dinner. And you don't have to finish all of each course. Not everyone does. It might be an interesting experiment to see if anyone notices and says anything. I just say I'm saving some of my appetite for the entree or whatever and change the subject, but most strangers don't say anything. In fact, I make a concerted effort to be interested in things other than food (although I do savor it!), including setting and the other people, and getting them to be, too. But a lot of time, no one notices.

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's much appreciated

I'm going to log yesterday as 'yellow' - making the best of an unusual situation. I went with the most healthful starter I could find (fresh melon) and didn't eat all of the chips that came with my gammon steak, so think I made some decent choices! I will admit that I ate the entire treacle tart for dessert though, it was delicious!

Tuesday 10th January:
breakfast - toast with honey, low sugar cherry yoghurt
lunch - plate of buffet (half plate of salad, two small chicken legs, a small pastry something-or-other, a small tuna wrap)
dinner - TBD!

I've decided that two courses with dinner is acceptable this week although not strictly vanilla. Any other snacks or sweets will definitely constitute a fail.

So Tuesday was a success - had smoked salmon starter, and then pork, steamed vegetables and chips for the main course. I actually ordered a separate portion of vegetables as the main came without, and ate those and the pork before tucking into the chips - I ended up leaving over half the chips as I was full! Possible unintentional virtual plating

Wednesday 11th January:
breakfast: rice crispies (cereal) with milk
lunch: plate of buffet food (smoked salmon, 2 bbq ribs, 2 vegetable pastries, 1/4 ham sandwich - there was no salad today )
dinner: will be chicken fajitas and some kind of starter, not sure what yet.

I'm actually quite surprised how easy it has been to just not eat the snacks at break times, when I wouldn't have thought twice about eating at every opportunity before NoS!

Hmm I seem to have lost the edit button...

Anyway, just wanted to add that yesterday was also a success for exercise - did bodyweight exercises in lieu of weights. Just some pushups and squats (60! ) but I felt better for it!

Enjoying your posts, millie! Sounds like you're doing great!

Sounds like your making it all work!
Gold star for you.

Thanks for the support you guys are the best! Today I am marking as a success. Another random change I was not in control of today - the normal hotel restaurant menu was not served today, instead we had a buffet style roast dinner etc. I did still have two plates, but focused on filling at least half my plate with veggies (first was salad/fish, second was roast beef and veggies) and minimising the most calorie dense foods. I didn't even have any roast potatoes with my main course!!

I had 2 glasses of wine after dinner, and no exercise today.

You are doing great, considering where you are. Go Millie!

Well, Thursday ended up being a fail! Doh!

Breakfast: grapefruit and low fat yoghurt
Lunch: plate of buffet food (think it was some 1/4 sandwiches, smoked salmon and Caesar salad)
Dinner: tuna and mozzarella fishcake, chicken fajitas, lemon meringue pie.

It was the dessert that was a fail I just couldn't resist lemon meringue pie, it's my favourite! After a hard week's training too, my resolve failed.

Today so far has been ok:

Breakfast: grapefruit and low fat yoghurt
Lunch: hummus and falafel wrap, crisps, banana

Not sure what I'll have for tea but aiming for another green, I liked my lovely green and yellow calendar, I don't want to mar it with too many reds!

So apparently after a week of eating slightly more than usual and two desserts, plus 2 S days I've lost 6 pounds!!

I think my Wii scales are going slightly mad haha Oh well I'll be happy for a week and see if they go back to normal and I magically gain 5 pounds next week I have kept to three workouts a week, and made some very healthy choices this week (probably healthier than usual) so maybe that's it.

I love lemon meringue pie, too

Friday 13th January was a success!

Dinner ended up being swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and gravy. I did start feeling a little hungry after dinner (probably due to being used to two courses all week!) but nothing major.

Exercise: success (weights)

Millie,
Congrats on the green, thanks for stopping by my thread.

Saturday and Sunday were S days.

Although I don't limit myself at all on weekends, I felt like I ate too much. Actually yesterday I had one big meal (lunch out with family, 3 courses) and just some dessert late in the evening but I was very full all day!

Monday 16th January: success

Lunch: cheese sandwich, salad
Afternoon: muesli w/yoghurt and tsp of honey
Dinner: chicken curry and rice

I'm tracking my calories on and off at the moment out of interest - I think I am still eating 'too much' during the week to balance out for free-reign S days. Need to be careful of portion sizes and food choices, but I'm not being militant about anything at the moment, just tracking for curiosity and to see patterns. Hopefully I'll start to figure out what are good choices to go for most of the time, and what things to have on occasion

Monday was also a success for exercise (weights and wii dancing )

Tuesday 17th January: success

lunch: tomato soup, slice of bread, cucumber
dinner: vegetable pizza and salad

My boyfriend bought me a milkshake for when I got home - sweet although not exactly in the spirit of NoS! It was low fat although not low sugar, decided to drink it in the afternoon in lieu of an afternoon meal. I filled half my dinner plate with salad and then squeezed pizza around it Ended up with 4 small slices of pizza, which was actually plenty.

Interestingly, tracking my calories yesterday suggested that I was eating too few calories (less than 1200). Not intentional by any means, I guess I can stand to add something to lunch when I have soup, it's very low calorie as it is - no wonder I was very hungry when I got home!

Wednesday 18th January: success

lunch: tomato soup, bread roll, 2 mandarins
afternoon: 2 slices vegetable pizza, bowl of muesli and yoghurt
dinner: salted popcorn

Eating was a bit funky yesterday as I was going out to the cinema and didn't have time/food in the house to make a proper meal before I went. I didn't want to eat too little, so had to make do with what I could find!!

Thursday 19th January: success

lunch: chicken burger, 2 clementines, 2 crackers with cheese
afternoon: muesli with yoghurt and honey
dinner: chips and gravy, half a battered sausage, mushy peas

A technical success today although not a very healthy one! I've been tracking my calories for the week and am averaging about 1400, which isn't too bad. I'm not actually making much effort to limit calorie intake right now, after all I'm still working on the N day habits!

Exercise: success (weights)

Millie,
Congrats on all the green this week!
Good for you!

Thank you! It is actually a massive motivator to look at my habitcal and see all the green - I don't want to mess it up!! I already have one unsightly red this month, and I really don't want any more...

WiiFit says I have gained 2lb.

Not unexpected given a) I seriously doubt I actually lost 6lb last week, and b) I think I am still digesting that huge portion of chips from last night

The trend is still downwards though, woop!

It is so hard to remember that the daily fluctuations mean much less than the overall trend. With chips (unless they were unsalted) there's water retention. I also find that a large dose of carbs artificially inflates my weight. After a meal of pasta or pizza, even if it wasn't too much food, it's like I gained 3 lbs. But then it dissipates, especially if I go back to more balance meals right away.

Sounds like you're doing great on the whole!

It was the UK version of chips, which I suppose you would know as fries (although big fat ones, not skinny ones) They were heavily salted and covered in salty gravy, with a nice dose of salty sausage on the side. Yum! I have no regrets

Friday 20th January:

So far so good...

Lunch: sweet potato, leeks and chorizo
Afternoon: My usual muesli/yoghurt/honey
Dinner: (planned) spanish chicken stew

Exercise: 20 mins Just Dance on the Wii

Friday was a success.

Today and tomorrow are S days, started off nicely with pancakes, bacon and syrup for breakfast inspired by the pancake thread on general discussion Man alive there was a lot of syrup though, definitely not an N day food for me haha!

Still eating quite a lot on S days - more than I need to be eating for sure, but I suppose I balance my love for food and sweet tooth with only indulging it 2 out of every 7 days!

Monday 23rd January: success

lunch: mexican chicken wrap, carrot sticks and hummus
afternoon: muesli w/yoghurt and honey
dinner: coconut chicken curry

Exercise: 30 mins wii dancing

I've discovered by tracking calories that I tend to eat the majority of my daily calories at my evening meal - my lunches tend to be calorie light. If I didn't have my afternoon snack I could be approaching the minimum recommended limit of calories per day (but I'd imagine would be very hungry!) Sometimes I feel like eating breakfast would be more beneficial than an afternoon snack, but I've never managed to get into a breakfast routine, or found a healthy and inexpensive breakfast that I can eat and run or eat simply at my desk.

milliem wrote:Still eating quite a lot on S days - more than I need to be eating for sure, but I suppose I balance my love for food and sweet tooth with only indulging it 2 out of every 7 days!

Love how you always look at the bright side of things. You always have a good attitude about the ups and downs of dieting. It's always encouraging to read your posts.

And good point about only indulging your sweet tooth and love for food 2 out of 7 days. Even if S days do become out of hand now and then, it could be much worse, say if it was 6 or 7 days out of the week!

Great job - keep it up!!

Thanks for the comments gk, I'm glad if I can help anyone even a little bit! I do really love food, I'll never be one of those people who just eats to live. I just have to find a way to be moderate about it. Oh wait, that's why I'm doing NoS I'm hoping that now I finally seem to be on track with my N days (crosses all fingers, toes and limbs....) my S days will settle or I can consider some mods. Going for a couple of months of almost solid green before I try and tweak though!

Tuesday 24th January: success

lunch: mushroom, leek and cheddar potato bake, 2 clementines
afternoon: muesli w/yoghurt and honey
dinner: tomato and onion pasta, 1/2 garlic bread

Exercise: weights

Wednesday 25th January: success

lunch: cottage pie
dinner: sushi (7 Yo Sushi plates - mostly sashimi/vege maki/edamame)

dinner was a little on the large side and difficult to virtual plate, but probably ok

No exercise today.

congrats on the green!

Thanks sweetness!

Thursday 27th January: success

lunch: triple sandwich, clementine
afternoon: crisps
dinner: sausage and bacon casserole

Not done my exercise for the past couple of days, need to make sure I don't slip out of the habit!!

Oh and the WiiFit scale today says I have lost about half a pound this week. Hooray! Least it ain't a gain

Ok going to try and keep track of what I've eaten this weekend, given that I invariably seem to put on almost all weight I might lose during the week with my S day eating!

Saturday:
breakfast - 2 pancakes, bacon, maple syrup
toffee honeycomb and 3 reeses peanut butter cups
leftover pizza and garlic bread from Friday
2 glasses of wine and a pint of alcoholic ginger beer (yum!)
cheeseburger and fries, vanilla milkshake (post-pub food...)

Sunday:
breakfast - marmalade sandwich
lunch (planned) - sweet potato, chicken, broccoli
had a few bites of honeycomb and some birthday cake from yesterday
dinner - meal in hotel restaurant

I'm away a lot over the next 2 weeks so eating patterns might be slightly funky from eating in hotels etc., but I'm planning to stick to the NoS structure as much as possible except maybe on Friday, when I go to visit a friend. I imagine I will take Friday evening as an 'S event'.

Monday 30th - success

breakfast - sausage and eggs, fruit
lunch - plate of 'buffet' food
dinner - pork burrito bowl

Tuesday 31st - fail

breakfast - yoghurt and fruit
lunch - plate of buffet food, almond tart
afternoon - flapjack, crisps, caramel slice....
dinner - ravioli and garlic bread

Oof, epic fail yesterday!! I blame hormones, once I'd eaten that dessert with lunch I just couldn't stop! Well back to normality for the next couple of days, hoping I can keep strong next week when I'm away on training again.

Good luck while you're out of your normal routine. That's always the hardest time, isn't it?

Just remember - even if you have a fail here and there, you're still doing TONS better than if you would throw No S out the window completely for the whole time you're gone.

You're doing great!!!

You did so well last time, I'm sure you're up to the challenge.

Well last week wasn't so great - 2 reds, 2 greens and 1 NWS day....

Going away today for another week of training, I'm confident I can stay away from snacks and sweets during the day, just need to work out how the evening meal is going to go!

I did really badly on exercise last week too, got right out of the habit. I am determined to start afresh when I get back though, and depending how the evenings are this week, I may even do some bodyweight exercises while I'm away.

Not giving up on this!! Technically I've only had one red this month, I want to keep it as green as possible!

Ugh this is a tough week of training, lots of thinking involved! I'm following a loose version of no s while I'm away - no snacks, 3 meals per day, allowing one dessert per day (max). So far so good, haven't given in to the biscuits with my tea at the breaks!

What a good idea for a mod while you are away with all the temptation of food that you didn't have to cook! Add to that the stress of being away from home and working. Allowing one dessert is a good idea. You can do it!

Well the week was moderately successful!

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday were all successes. In the context of my week away that meant no snacking during the day, one plate for breakfast/lunch and one 'meal' at dinner that included dessert. I've got to be honest I do NOT regret adding that mod, those desserts were delicious!!

Wednesday and Friday were failures. Wednesday not catastrophically so, but had dessert at lunch as well as dinner - could not resist bread and butter pudding! Friday we were travelling back (and receiving our results from the weeks training!) so it became a picky, eating-while-travelling, comfort eating kinda day.

I'm actually really looking forward to getting back to the normal routine this week, eating all that rich food has just left me feeling sluggish and urgh.

Saturday and Sunday were S days - both involving far more food than I actually needed! Oh well, I'll worry about those when I have a 21 day NoS success under my belt

I'm at home today so trying to stay away from the temptations, doing ok so far. Had an omelette as a late breakfast/lunch, I'll have something at around 4pm then cook tea for me and the OH later this evening. I do feel like I'm coming down with something though Typical I'd get ill just in time to go back to work tomorrow and feel like crap!!

Thanks for the encouragement on my thread, milliem. It made a big difference to my day
Good luck for a green week and hope you're soon feeling better

Thanks for stopping by my thread and for the birthday wishes. Hope you feel better soon.

Monday 13th Feb was a success!

(Despite having a terrible cold, hooray!)

Breakfast: 3 egg omelette with spring onion and cheese
Lunch: large bowl of muesli w/yoghurt and honey
Dinner: gnocchi and garlic bread

I feel horrible today, but am more in the mood for tomato soup than any sweet treats... we'll see! I actually managed to turn down ice cream yesterday, hopefully I can be as strong willed on no sleep!

I love gnocchi! We have the best Italian restaurant within walking distance and their gnocchi is fabulous. Hope you are better soon!

Thanks iknit, gnocchi is delicious!

I'm taking today as a sick day, feel terrible

Well Wednesday 15th Feb was a success!

Despite the fact that I was still ill, I had a bit of a sore stomach all day so didn't really feel like self-medicating with food.

Lunch: moroccan lamb tagine
Afternoon: 2 leftover slices of pizza
Dinner: white fish with lemon/butter sauce, broccoli, root mash

Am feeling tons better this morning after a proper nights sleep too!

Glad you're better!

Thanks sweetness I sound terrible today, but feel ok - just got the end-of-cold croaky voice going on haha

Thursday was a (borderline) fail....

Lunch: french onion soup, 2 small rolls, clementine
afternoon: muesli w/yoghurt and honey
dinner: burgers and sweet potato fries

I had a mug of hot chocolate after dinner - not always a fail in my book but it was the PROPER actual chocolate dissolved in milk kind, so I'm going to be perfectly honest with myself and count it as a fail. If I'd just eaten the chocolate it would certainly have been a fail, just because I drank it instead doesn't make it ok!! Otherwise I'd constantly be melting chocolate and drinking it like tea

Friday 18th Feb: success

lunch: french onion soup, bread roll, small vegetable sushi pack
dinner: meatballs, gravy and mash

Exercise: weights

A success on a Friday, and only 2 meals! Who knew

Well, that was a weekend that can only be described as EXCESSIVE! Jeez I ate a lot I'm going to put it down to still recovering from illness, I still don't feel quite right, hate these viruses that just linger around for weeks! I did manage to get in my third weights workout of the week on Sunday so that's a bonus

Monday 20th February: success

breakfast: pb+j bar (peanuts, dates and dried cherries)
lunch: tuna and salsa salad, crisps
dinner: turkey burgers, sweet potato fries, cucumber

Tuesday 21st Feb: S day

Breakfast: PB+J bar
Lunch: tomato soup and bread roll
Afternoon: PB+J bar, 2 hard boiled eggs
Dinner: pancakes (savoury and sweet)

Took a NWS day for pancake day yesterday Delicious! I don't think I ate enough for lunch though because I was STARVING when I got home from work, normally if I'm hungry I can manage to see an hour or two until dinner and I'm fine, yesterday I just could not wait. The breakfast/afternoon meal probably works out to less than a plate overall though, usually I have either/or, but they are always small meals.

Today skipped the breakfast and had my PB+J bar and a glass of milk post workout.

Woah it's Saturday already!

Wednesday 22nd Feb: success

breakfast - pb+j bar
lunch - tomato soup, apple, crisps
dinner - pasta and garlic bread

Exercise: weights

Thursday 23rd Feb: success

lunch - chicken sizzler meal, banana
afternoon - pb+j bar, crisps
dinner - steak sandwich and chips

Split the afternoon food into two as I was travelling for work, so had half before I left and the crisps on the train journey.

Friday 24th Feb: success

lunch - buffet plate
afternoon - ham and egg roll
dinner - fish pie

Was tempted to go for a chinese takeaway after I got back from training v. late, but I've started to realise that when I already feel quite heavy and full, it's not a good idea to fill up on calorie dense foods!! I'm starting to think I may have an intolerance to some foods, I often feel uncomfortable, have a sore stomach etc. after eating. Going to try and increase the amount of fish, lean meats and veggies in my diet and see if that helps

You are doing well!

Having that heavy, overfull feeling is something I don't miss. Still get it sometimes on weekends, but before it was a normal occurrence. I'm proud of you that you could avoid that temptation.

Saturday and Sunday were S days - slightly better than last weekend food wise although still ate a lot more than on N days!

Monday 27th Feb: success

Brunch: smoked salmon on english muffin, 3 rashers turkey bacon, blueberries
Afternoon: chicken sizzler
Supper: river cobbler, sweet potato and mixed veg

Exercise: weights

I'm going to have to buy some more dumbbell plates soon, I've worked up to the max 6kg on a lot of my exercises and I know I could do more!

Tuesday 28th Feb: success

Lunch: butternut squash lasagne
Dinner: turkey burgers and sweet potato fries

Exercise: weights

Eating was actually a little light today, especially for a weights day. I've been having a Frijj milkshake some days if I don't have an afternoon mini-meal, and particularly after my workout if I don't have any food handy. Not strictly NoS but I've always been lax about drinks, it's eating habits I worry about (although I do try and steer clear of calorific drinks most days). I think I need to make another batch of PB+J bars for my afternoon mini-meal - those plus a glass of milk are a good post workout meal.

I have been tracking calories lately out of interest - I tend to track at the end of the day and see how it adds up rather than tracking in advance and worrying about how to fit in what I want to eat! Generally, unless I load up on a takeaway, my 3 meals/day float somewhere between 1200 and 1600 calories, even on days with the milkshake. Unfortunately my weekends are a lot higher on the days I bother to track anything!!

I'm also feeling quite bitter at my OH who is actually trying to GAIN wait and can literally eat twice as much as me daily It's not very motivating watching him wolf down a sharing size bag of chocolates and know it won't make any difference to him! Bah!

Wednesday 29th Feb: success

Lunch - butternut squash lasagne, crisps
Dinner - chicken and chorizo stew

Another slightly light eating day, I had a glass of milk after dinner to stave off any evening hunger pangs, although I felt fine.

Happy St. David's Day everyone!

Thursday 1st March: success

Lunch: squash, red onion and goats cheese sandwich, apple/grapes, crisps
Supper: chicken curry, rice and chappati

Exercise: weights

Another 2 meal day - had a glass of milk when I got home to stave off the hunger but it was too close to supper to reasonably eat an actual meal! Eating two meals is ok when I'm busy, out and about and don't get a chance to focus on hunger.

I've been reviewing my 'stats' for NoS so far this year:

Compliance for January was 90.5%
Compliance for February was 74.5%

Not as good but not terrible, definitely not as bad as some months last year! Anyway my goal for March is to increase my compliance from February, and hopefully to reach 21 green/yellow days! This evening is an S-event, a belated valentine's dinner with the OH.

I have been contemplating my (slow) weight loss and noting that my weight goes slowly down during the week, and then back up to where I began after the weekend. I may need to start adding some mods into S days or possibly reducing S days to see any real difference. I'm eating ok during the week, so it is definitely my weekends that are preventing any real progress. I am cautious however as weight training 3 x per week is probably impacting on any weight loss by building muscle even if I am losing fat. I don't feel any slimmer/smaller though, so will track for another month I think before I do any mods and see where I am.

Friday 2nd March was a success/S event. The S event was a meal out with my OH, a very belated valentines meal Stuck to NoS the rest of the day though!

Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th: S days

After reading some of the podcast transcriptions and a few posts over the weekend, I'm going to try something different. I'm going to log whether my days are success/failure/S day but only log details when it's a failure or something unusual. The idea is that the uncomfortable nature of only logging failures in detail while rewarding the good days with 'less work' will motivate me!

My S days were slightly less food-filled than usual this weekend, partially due to staying with my sister who rarely snacks or eats sweets, and partially due to feeling a bit ill last night and not wanting a full dinner.

Monday 5th March: success
Tuesday 6th March: success

I'm struggling this week, yesterday I just wanted to eat ALL THE FOOD, and today I am craving something sweet. Managing to resist the cravings but it is tougher than usual for some reason!

Wednesday 7th March: success/S day

Yesterday started out ok but in the evening I was miserable with a tootache so had some ice cream to try and numb/soothe it a little. I didn't eat much in the evening due to the pain in any case.

I'm off on a mini holiday for the next few days, planning to try and keep the N day structure with one or two treats

Thursday 8th - Sunday 11th were S days (holiday and regular S days). I ate something sweet each day, but didn't permasnack so that's something!

Monday 12th March: Failure.

Unsurprising given 4 days of S days! The fail was 3 and a half small chocolate boys after dinner... stopped at that though, no more for me.

Tuesday 13th March: success
Wednesday 14th March: success
(funny stuff: implemented my 'home baked gifts' mod when I was given some homebaked cookies at the cinema by a good friend. Ate (some of) those, didn't binge or use it as an excuse to eat anything else I shouldn't)
Thursday 15th March: success

Today was interesting, had a day of training on 'mindfulness', the table was groaning with cakes and snacks! I managed to avoid all temptation, just helped myself to a couple of cups of tea

Friday 16th March: success

Saturday 17th March: S day
- no breakfast
- lunch: bbq rib sandwich and a toffee sundae (small)
- afternoon snacks: green lace sweets, 2 reeses peanut butter cups (little ones), a blondie, packet of poppets.
- dinner: 2 hot dogs w/onions

Also had 2 beers celebrating Wales' rugby Grand Slam

Sunday 18th March: S day

Breakfast: 2 pancakes
Lunch: pulled pork, coleslaw, devilled eggs and pickles
Dessert: one blondie, 2 pieces of lemon polenta cake

In the evening I just permasnacked so decided not to cook a proper meal. Munched on tortilla chips and salsa, some mini peanut butter cups and ice cream.

Monday 19th March: success
Tuesday 20th March: success
Wednesday 21st March: success

Struggling today, really craving something sweet (or just a binge) must be the depression of watching the Budget ugh Managed to resist the temptation so far though, and resisted ordering pizza too. After today there's only 2 days til the weekend, I can hold out that long!

I'm back from my mini-break from No S, and just wanted to pop in and say hello. I also wanted to mention how impressed I am with your consistency with No S. You are doing so well, and never fail to have a cheery disposition. Such a good influence for us fellow No Ser's!

I second that gk!! Welcome back, btw!

Thanks guys! It does feel nice to have some solid N days behind me, even if S days are still a little crazy

I finally got a set of scales and have been weighing semi-regularly, fortunately I am not too worried about what the scales say, I've been approaching it with curiosity to see how my weight fluctuates from day to day/week to week. I finally saw the scale go below 80kg this week after a good few weeks of pretty successful NoS-ing! I was tending to go up and down the same kilo between Mondays - probably the effect of heavy S days. I don't think I'm doing much different now than a few weeks ago, but it's nice to see the trend go down Perseverance is definitely key to this way of eating!

Well so much for holding out for 2 days!

Thursday 22nd March: fail

Did fine most of the day, ate lunch and dinner, then ate a bowl of ice cream and about 5 mini reeses cups. I'd struggled through Wednesday craving sweet things and then impulsively bought my fave ice cream which was on offer in the supermarket yesterday. Definitely a case of the 'What the hells' yesterday!!

I wonder whether it's because I didn't have a 3rd meal yesterday - when I eat 3 meals they are usually fairly close together (lunch at 12, afternoon meal at 4 ish, dinner at 7-8 ish) and it means a) I'm not hungry after dinner and b) I know I've eaten 3 meals and that really is enough. I'll have to keep a check on this I think.

Friday 23rd March: success

Calling it slightly early but I have no desire to eat anything else this evening!

I'm pondering on intermittent fasting - I actually follow this loosely at the moment anyway as I don't eat breakfast and NoS means I don't snack after the evening meal. I'm wondering whether expanding this to S days would work to manage them a bit better. That would mean having an 'eating window' of around 12-8 and no evening snacking.... not sure how that part would work but it might be worth an experiment!

I suggest you let your body tell you if IF is an option after you have 90% or better N day compliance for a few months. At that point, it may be moot. If not, see if you don't sometimes lose your appetite for a couple of meals in a row periodically. It's happened to me spontaneous a few times in the last few months.

You're probably right, I do need to maintain my N days before I really focus on those S days So far January was 90% compliance, Feb was 74% (ouch!) and March is looking at 83% so far (with a week to go). Overall compliance is 84.2%. Room for N day improvement for sure!

Saturday 24th March: S day

breakfast: pancakes, 3 mini reeses peanut butter cups
lunch: squash, falafel and couscous salad, bowl of ice cream
afternoon: toffees, cinnamon biscuits
dinner: 4 small slices pizza, 1 small slice garlic bread, piece of cake

Walked 6 miles yesterday as it was a beautiful day. I think starting the day with a bunch of sweet breakfast foods set off my sweet tooth though! Planning on a savoury breakfast today

I started yesterday with brownies. Had some shrimp later in the morning and snacky foods in the afternoon at a get-together. Was thinking of getting a burrito on the way home, but never got hungry again. Yes, I want savory today, too.

Monday 26th March: success
Tuesday 27th March: success
Wednesday 28th March: success

Hi there..thanks for stopping by my thread...ya, for sure snacking got me to where I am today...it just opens the door for me to binge.

Last weekend I had my 3 squares and one snack/sweet...I made up my mind this time around 3 squares on the weekend, with some added benefits..

Last time I lived the "S Gone Wild" scenario...being a binge eater....the weekends were an all out feast..

No more...crazy as it was..I hope to never allow that to creap back in...if I can just hang on to moderation...

Overall how are you doing on No S..I see you started last March, like 3 months before I did.

deb

Just wanted to say it wasn't snacking all day that got me fat. It was bingeing on cake, frosting, and chocolate, a lot of it and often. But I also ate prepared snacks. If I had stuck to my eating plans, I would have been fine. In the end, both the snacking and the bingeing are just about gone and life is better!

Yep I think that if you accept snacking and eating between meals as part of your life, you are definitely opening the door to binge behaviour! Having the outline of 3 plates/day just makes things so much easier

Overall I am doing ok - I tend to have 2 or 3 failure days per month, but these days that generally means I had a dessert, or one snack rather than binging all evening like my early failures might have been. I find it quite easy to get back 'on plan' after a failure, I don't 'crash the car' or spend weeks getting the habits down again. The rules are pretty second nature, and one definite difference is not snacking all day in work like I used to!

I have lost about 3kg since I started NoS a year ago, it's gone up and down a bit over the year but I have never been up at my highest weight of 82kg since I started. My main goal was to maintain my weight below the 'obese' BMI, which I have done so I'm happy with that I could definitely do with reducing it further, but I'm hoping that increased compliance and consistent exercise will help

So anyway, not a good couple of days for me...

Thursday 29th March: Fail
- had 2 scoops of ice cream after dinner
Friday 30th March: Fail
- had apple pie and custard after dinner

Saturday 31st March: S day

No breakfast
Tapas for lunch (hummus, pork meatballs, crushed peas with feta and some ciabatta)
Afternoon tea in a swanky hotel - mini sandwiches, scones and cream cakes, yum!
Planning on a light supper

Overall not too bad of an S day, hoping it can stay that way!

yesterday - had nachos (just tortilla chips with cheese and sour cream) for dinner, although rather too much chocolate afterwards!

Sunday 1st April: S day

Breakfast - 2 toffee pancakes
lunch: chicken burger, fries, 2 sugared doughnuts
afternoon: chocolate bar
dinner: bowl of chili with sweet potato wedges

Overall not too bad of a day for an S day No mindless eating!

I like your attitude....

Millie, just stopping by to say I miss you. Hope all is well with you! (((hugs)))

Hello NoS-ers!

I've been on hols - a road trip around Sweden - for the past couple of weeks which is why I've been AWOL, don't worry I haven't (completely) fallen off the wagon!

I took every holiday day as an S day, although the days varied as to how much eating was involved. Some days there was a lot of eating. Oof. I'm now struggling to get back into the N day habits, not helped by the amount of Easter and holiday chocolates/sweets that are still floating around the house! I never deal well with temptation when it's right here in front of me, which is why I tend not to buy in large packs of sweets. I'm aiming to try and reintroduce the habits this week, mainly sticking to 3 meals, and get back into it properly next week.

Hope everyone has had a successful few weeks

Hide the leftover candy! Mine is in the freezer at the back.

Oof well last week consisted mainly of eating all the food I didn't do very well at hiding all my leftover goodies (and got given more at the weekend!) I did do ok at not snacking at work though.... but my sweet tooth got free reign on holiday and I'm having trouble winding it back in!!

I think I might have to go a bit slower getting back into the habits. My focus this week will be on NO SWEETS! If I have to resort to a savoury snack to meet this, so be it, but I want to have no sweet foods Monday-Friday, try and cold-turkey my way out of all this chocolate that's around!

p.s. I never thought of freezing sweets!! Can you freeze chocolate?!

You can do it, once you get out of the sweet eating habit, its a breeze. Think of how much better you'll feel!

Thanks sweetness

Yesterday I was successful at no sweets! I had a small lunch (a bagel and tuna), 3 slices of malt loaf when I got home, and steak/veg/sweet potato fries for dinner. After dinner I had a few tortilla chips but avoided the easter egg sitting right next to me...

I think I need to make sure I have a decently sized lunch, I was really hungry by the time I got home - just a bagel isn't going to cut it!

Hi Millie,
Wanted to thank you for stopping by and giving me some encouragement! I am trying my best! Hope things are going well for you as well Looks like you have been posting for quite a while. Has it helped you getting more of a normal eating habit?

Hope you are having a good day/week!

Hey Karen, yep it has definitely helped me with my eating habits! I used to think nothing of buying chocolate every day after work, or snacking all day on supposedly 'healthy' things (and then eating three regular meals as well), or buying large packs of cake/cookies that I would inevitably eat all of. Now I never snack in work, and eat far fewer sweets. My compliance isn't perfect, I still struggle some days particularly in the evenings, but generally I find I can stick to the NoS structure quite well during the week.

Yesterday was a bona fide green day, hooray! I think making sure I had a decent sized meal at lunch helped with the evening hunger.

Thursday was also green and not too stressful!

I'm out this evening at the cinema, so going to try hard to resist those cinema snacks Scales say I'm on a downward trend since my holiday which is a bonus too!

Good to see you still going strong! We joined about the same time. Looks like you are having some real success.
Yes you can freeze chocolate.

Although I have a bit of a desire to weigh less, I have an even more important (to me) desire to have consistently moderate weekends. I just still have too many instances of scarfing a lot of cookies fast or events like that. Times when I know I just don't need the excess, but I do it anyway. I'm not giving up yet, but I do sometimes get tired of hearing myself say it. I don't know whether it's a matter of time and I should keep just going with it or get tough on myself. I wish it were more obvious, but time WILL tell that, I think.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the support guys, it is much appreciated I am having some success snapdragon thank you! I met my initial goal of staying below a BMI of 30, and not gaining weight.

Like oolala, I only have some desire to weigh less - which I am starting to think is part of my problem, as I am still overweight. I have been around about this weight for most of my adult life, and I feel... comfortable. I don't look in the mirror and cry, I don't spend hours wishing I was skinny. However I am starting to wonder what I could look like if I made a concerted effort to get more healthy.

And I am looking forward to moderate weekends, whenever they should appear This morning I haven't eaten anything yet and I'm not feeling that hungry, so I may well wait for lunch.

Yesterday (Friday) was another green day - went out for a meal before the cinema so I was full enough to resist the urge to buy sweets there.

I also am rather complacent about my current weight. I am below 30 BMI as well but still want to get below 25.

I am still following the No S plan but I am not very strict about what is on my plates.

Your post woke me up to my laziness. I like healthy stuff too, but it takes more time to plan and prepare. Thanks for the wake up!

I guess for some of us just following the rules isn't quite enough to be truly healthy - I know I'll have to think a lot more about what is on my plates and what I'm eating on S days to make a significant difference.

Yesterday was an S day - not too gluttonous....

Breakfast: rice pudding and strawberry jam
Lunch: sausage and onion bap
Afternoon: easter egg chocolate
Dinner: 3 course Indian meal at a lovely restaurant for little sister's birthday

Managed to avoid permasnacking all day which is a bonus

Sunday was an S day of course

Monday was a success.

Tuesday 1st May was a success for NoS and exercise.

Ended up having only 2 meals rather than 3 - I think that will be the same tonight, it's a bit late to eat an afternoon meal at 6.30pm when I'll be eating dinner in about an hour!

Wednesday 2nd May another success day - and another 2 meal day.

Although one meal was a plateful of chinese takeaway, so not the healthiest choice! And not even healthy choices relative to getting a takeaway... I think I'm going to have to keep a watchful eye on how much takeaway food I eat over the next few months, I have a period of intense, long days at work coming up and I know that leads to laziness when it comes to food. It's not good for my bank balance or waistline! There are plenty of better and just as quick options that are somewhere in the middle of super-healthy-freshly-prepared-meal and salty-fatty-calorie-dense-takeaway-meal.

There are good middle ground options. A few weeks ago, I happened into a supermarket when they had just cut fried fish and a turkey mealoaf deli items 50%. I got the entrees of about ten meals for ten bucks. I went home, cut the loaf into slices, and froze everything. I also look for high fiber breads on sale and freeze those. I have either frozen green or fresh veggies and fresh carrots and yellow or red peppers on hand all the time, too. I can assemble lunch in a container in 5 minutes. (Throw in fruit, too.) I give myself the option of using these items for dinner, too.

I keep a panini grill at work because I don't like microwave ovens. I heat up any items I want hot and chomp away.

Half a plate of freggies and half a plate of pizza or half a burrito is a fast go-to, meal, too.

Half a plate of anything dense with half a plate of freggies is a decent meal and can be repeated a lot without too much damage.

Thanks for the tips oolala - yes I often keep frozen mixed veggie packs in the freezer, otherwise I find fresh veg languishes in the bottom of the fridge for weeks!! One pack of that, plus a small sweet potato and some portion of meat/fibre/carbs would make a fine meal, I must figure out what else I can grab to add to that plate

I often have filled pasta (tortellini) with a veg-filled sauce and a small amount of cheese as a quick go-to meal, it takes less than 10 minutes usually.