Everyday Systems

Wednesday SUCCESS

8stone 6.75lbs

Thursday FAIL

Breakfast was fine.
Lunch was fine.
I spent the day outdoors walking with a friend - got home at 4.30pm - then had some bread and jam with my cup of tea - then finished the loaf off during the evening - call that 'dinner'! It was a gorgeous, multi-seeded, malted cob - I had it mostly with jam, some with hummus. I just couldn't stop eating it. Thankfully it wasn't a HUGE loaf - but even as I was doing it, I knew I was going RED!

8stone 6.75lbs

Sorry about the "red" but it sounds like that was a very nice loaf of bread! I imagine you were hungry extra after that walk.

haha, yes, it was a lovely loaf of bread!

I did something dangerous this afternoon - baked up a batch of 6 choc chip cookies (from the freezer) for TOMORROW to take to work for my S day yums.

Today is GREEN so far - but a bit weird, as I had a late breakfast (after a run) - then went to Tai Chi and didn't get lunch until 3pm. I ate cripsbreads with banana and peanut butter at 6pm before going out for the evening. I drank one bottle of cider during the evening.

Friday SUCCESS

8 stone 7lbs this morning

Saturday - an S day at work - it included chocolate and crisps!

8 stone 7.5lbs

Sounds like things are still going well. Yay you! I'm impressed with all your exercising. I used to run but I'm pretty sure my body would fall apart if I tried it now.

Hopefully you don't have to work tomorrow!

Sunday - S day

yes, I work today: start at 16.30 and sleep-over (22.00-07.00) then finish at 09.30 on Monday

I've made the most of my day so far though - went out for a lovely hike this morning, done some yoga - all-in-all a great day.

8stone 7.75lbs

Monday FAIL

Well, I spent the afternoon with a friend, and had a flapjack with afternoon tea. I stayed for supper - which was one-plate - but a large one! I feel over-full and I don't like that feeling these days!

February had four red days - which is my highest ever! None of them were pig-outs though, which is good. The stats for the month come out at 80% compliant for No S - which is OK. I'm looking forward to 100% in March!

Isn't it just too easy to overeat with friends?!
Well, Feb 29th won't happen for another 4 yrs! Looking forward to March...

RAWCOOKIE wrote:I stayed for supper - which was one-plate - but a large one! I feel over-full and I don't like that feeling these days!

I'm in the exact same boat of eating a loaded one plate for supper, and feeling over-full. I don't like that feeling either.

Thanks for the comments/support

Tuesday SUCCESS

I had a couple of temptation-moments today - the first was mid-morning (which is 4 hours after breakfast) - I had to go to the bank to get petty cash (for work) and on the way back I stopped at the bakery and got a take-out coffee.......... and was SO tempted.... the lady even told me I could have a cake AND drink for the same price..... but I said 'NO! NO!' and she laughed and said "I'll shut up!" Then mid-afternoon my stomach was really rumbling (not something I get very often) - but I waited until I got home and prepared my dinner. Phew! I'm glad I managed to get my today though, because I really wanted to start the month right!

8stone 8.5lbs

Wednesday SUCCESS

8stone 6.25lbs

RAWCOOKIE wrote:
I stopped at the bakery and got a take-out coffee.......... and was SO tempted.... the lady even told me I could have a cake AND drink for the same price..... but I said 'NO! NO!' and she laughed and said "I'll shut up!"

That's great -- both on your side AND on hers!!!

RAWCOOKIE wrote: I'm glad I managed to get my today though, because I really wanted to start the month right!

Excellent motivation -- and excellent accomplishment.

Thursday SUCCESS

My boss asked if I'd lost weight today - I said I'd been running, and I'd also bought some smarter, better-fitting trousers.


8stone 6.25lbs

Nice success.

And nice that your trimness is noticeable.

Yes, it feels good to be getting smaller, and not bigger, without really trying very hard at all!

Friday SUCCESS

It's 23.28h and I'm just back from work - and for the first time EVER I am considering eating something just after mid-night. I think this is NOT a good idea, and I'm aiming to get to bed without eating - but the feeling is there!

8stone 6.5lbs

Great compliment and glad it feels so effortless most days. Hope you stayed strong tonight but if not I'm sure you kept it minimal.

Happy S days!

Linda

Yup, I DID stay strong! I knew it was 'wrong' to eat at one minute past midnight! I think somewhere Reinhard says something about the one plate - you can pile it up and make it excessive, but you KNOW it's excessive (not hidden like snacking or seconds) - same with the after midnight thing - I'd KNOW what I was doing

Saturday GOING WELL

8stone 7lbs

Sunday - and I've over-eaten somewhat this weekend (but still not as bad as I was pre-NoS!). It was Mothers' Day here in the UK - I had an ice-cream when I went out for a walk this afternoon, I made a cake (albeit fat & sugar-free!), and ate some chocolate.

8stone 9lbs

Happy Mothering Day! My daughter actually told me it was today. My girls are obsessed with all things British. You know with Harry Potter and all. They told me they want to start using British terminology because "it's usually more accurate" like saying lift instead of elevator I guess. Someday I will take them to visit England.

Anyway, glad your weekend went well. How was the cake? I was thinking I'd love to make a sugar-free cake for dh (he has to stay low carb) but not sure how good it'd be.

Btw, in the early days of NoS, I used to tell myself I could have something sweet one minute past midnight when I was feeling desperate. Of course, every time I chose sleep over the snack. Still it helped knowing I could.

Hope you have a great week!

Linda

Wow, the cake sounds healthy! Care to share the recipe?
Hope you have a nice, green week!

Hi Linda! Oh dear, it must be trying at times for your girls to be such Anglophiles!

Monday morning and I'm 8stone 9.75lbs this morning. Now I know that the scale isn't a reliable source of information, and that you can't put on weight overnight etc - but I weigh myself pretty much everyday; this is not because I'm obsessed with the scale (I don't think so anyway) but it's 'research' - I check in every morning, take my weight, and plot it on my imaginary graph. That way, I can see the ups and downs, and the trend over time.

But most Mondays I AM heavier than I was on Saturday morning - and that can only be due to the Snacks, Sweets, Seconds of the weekend. I think it's probably mostly 'water' because it goes again during the week (I post my weight, so you can see if you're interested).

The weekend is the only time I eat SUGAR - and I squeeze extra food into myself! I am horrified to think how quickly I could put weight back on if I went back to having Snacks, Sweets and Seconds every day (which I did, before adopting No S!)

Anyway - breakfast is being eaten as I type; lunch box is packed for work; dinner for this evening is planned - what will the scale say tomorrow?

Monday SUCCESS


8stone 9.75lbs

Tuesday SUCCESS

I really thought I was going to have a 'fail' today - I felt really down all day, think I'm coming down with a cold or something. I woke up too late to have the 'proper' breakfast I'd planned and only grabbed a couple of crispbreads with honey on! I went to a training session at work which ended at 12.30 - and I thought I was going to eat a horse! But I drifted through town, ended up on the bus without having bought anything to eat (bought face cream, foot lotion, body lotion!). When I got off the bus I went and bought some fruit on my way home. I ended up eating lunch at about 2pm - had a nice open sandwich with hummus and salad. No sweat! Funny isn't it - how if you get past the hunger, it just goes away (sometimes!)


8stone 8.5lbs

I think it makes sense. I'm not sure I'm right, but I think the body has energy available from food. Then it goes into stores of glycogen. I bet hunger is some kind of transition. I think it goes in and out of this. I've read that it can take 12 hours or even more of no eating to go through all the glycogen and get the body to go into fat stores. But there must be a way for it to happen even while eating more often if the intake is low enough enough of the time to go through stored glycogen.

I'm just guessing! I do know I once experimented while on a break from work and I went 36 hours without getting hungry, but I ended the experiment and ate. Other days, I'm plenty hungry after 5 hours, sometimes even 4. But it's true, if for some reason the meal is delayed, the hunger can go "underground." Humans would never have survived if the body could not take long periods without food.

Thanks for that OLL - I'm seeing a lot about intermittent fasting at the moment - but I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there - I'm liking the three meals a day thing too much!

Wednesday SUCCESS

I had my cooked breakfast this morning (I'm going to be out from 11am to 10pm - so packed lunch and dinner)

my body has dropped the water (or whatever) from the weekend excesses - back to base-line this morning - phew!

You know I had a lot of opportunities to snack today - I was stuck out in the wilderness with a variety pack of chocolate biscuits, and a bar of Easter chocolate in my rucksack, and a RAW bar. I didn't snack - woo hoo! I felt really down too - I really, really wanted to sooth myself with food - but I didn't! That felt scary - but good.

8stone 7.25lbs

Stopping in to say Hi! Looks like things are going well for you, No-S-wise.

Not suggesting IF. Just reporting. Eat up!

Hi OLL- no, I didn't think you were advocating IF - I was just saying there seems to be a lot about it going around at the moment!

Thursday SUCCESS


8stone 6.25lbs

You're doing great but sorry about your down mood. I guess that's just life sometimes but hoping things start looking up soon.

*hugs* linda

thanks Linda - yes, I'm glad to say, I AM doing great on No S - it's brilliant, isn't it!

I'm doing things to help myself feel better....... and the last couple of days we've had sunshine, co-coinciding with my days off too! so I've been able to sit and relax in the sun a bit.

Friday SUCCESS


8 stone 6.5lbs

Sun in March sounds like a nice pre-spring gift!

Yes, the sun DID feel like a lovely gift

Saturday

long day at work - food packed (and snacks)

because I weigh every day, I am interested in the numbers - and my weight has gone up just a little every morning - I'm pretty sure it's bread that does this for me. Well, whether the numbers reflect the bread or not, I'm still sure that bread causes me to hold onto weight/water/whatever - I have to be moderate around bread (and pastry) on N days.

8 stone 8.75lbs

Do you think the water weight from bread is harmful? I never think much of water weight unless I can't see the bones in my feet. Haven't found a strict correlate yet, though. And I've never been disciplined enough to change my eating for the scale. You are rockin' this eating stuff!

I don't think the water weight from bread is 'harmful' as such, but it makes me swell up and feel fat round the middle - and I don't like that feeling!

Sunday

I ate more than I would on an N day yesterday - in the evening I had four Picnic bars - they were nice! 187 cals each, in a 4-for-a-pound pack. It was the end of late shift, and I wanted to, because I could.

When I do this, it's like I feel like I'm going back to 'old behaviour' - and it's sort of scary to know it's still lurking there......... but it's wearing it's Habit Harness of No S thank goodness, so it can't get away!

Today I have a long shift at work, with a sleep-in overnight duty, then finishing 9.30am tomorrow. It's Sunday and I find I've not really got provisions in to make a healthy lunch, dinner, snack and breakfast pack up. So I've packed dinner, snack, breakfast, but am going to buy a 'meal deal' from the supermarket on my way into work - this will probably be a Mexican Bean wrap and a packet of crisps (I have some grapes too). It occurred to me that I was PLANNING to choose the packet of crisps - and realised that I've not actually had crisps for a while now. Some time ago, the subject of crisps was a big deal .......... and it's gradually faded away! No S hooray!

8 stone 7.75lbs

Gill, what kind of training did you have to do for your work? Have you been doing it a long time? What are typical retirement ages for people in your field?

If you're willing to say.

Hi, I've been doing similar sort of work all my adult life - nursing, therapy, support work - I have some qualifications, but there is no requirement for any particular entry qualification for the support work I do - more to do with values and competencies. I'm on the lowest rung of the ladder as a support worker. I've done some management training, but don't want to be a manager. The age at which we can retire in the UK (and receive State Pension - ie not be classed as unemployed) is changing on a sliding scale - I was born in 1954 and I can retire on my 66th birthday (previously it would have been 60 - that's what I was expecting - but it changed - a whole generation of us were disappointed!). We get in-service mandatory training in the usual stuff: moving & handling, health & safety, fire safety, medication, finance, person-centred support, protection of vulnerable adults, first aid, epilepsy, anything else relevant to the people we are supporting. We get assessed internally - every quarter, and every year.

Oh, and Monday was a FAIL because I ate a whole packet of Garibaldi biscuits in the afternoon whilst trying to consider whether or not I could handle being a temporary assistant manger again - for a few weeks.......... I'm thinking I don't want to put myself through it again!

But think of those nice weekends off!
I'm sure you'll make the right decision for you for now.

Tuesday SUCCESS

After the Garibaldi biscuits yesterday afternoon, I didn't have dinner - it completely took my appetite away. Today I have a meal plan (and Wednesday) - and must plan for Thursday and Friday as I have early/late work days to prepare for. To fail to plan is to plan to fail!

On Sunday I had the crisps as a snack during the afternoon - one packet - they were really disappointing............ might I even get to the place where I don't even like crisps (potato chips) any more?!?!?!?!?

Work decision - I'm not going to do it - I've had too much change recently - too knocked about mentally/emotionally - and I don't trust my employers not to change the goal-posts. I'm feeling down at the moment, and I don't have the emotional resilience to take on the challenge. I am choose continuity, and staying where I am. A bit more money for a few weeks would be 'nice' but not worth it over-all. Not for me, not right now.

8stone 8.5lbs

That sounds like good self care to turn down the manager job. Good for you. Do something lovely for yourself . Sorry to hear you are feeling down. I am sending comfort vibes across the Internet.

I go through down times and can't always find a really good reason why. Then it will lift. Grace!

I do NOT like managing other workers!

Yes, you MIGHT lose your taste for crisps.

I imagine you cook a fair amount of grains. Do you freeze them? I tend to have some frozen grains and beans hanging around. Sometimes I'd like to be someone who could run out. Food is on my mind too much for that to happen.

Wednesday SUCCESS

I don't cook many grains actuallly - rice, quinoa, pasta. I will freeze single-portions of rice. My preferred carbs are bread and potatoes (I freeze bread in slices). Beans - I buy cans, and often freeze half-a-can. Like you, I still think about food a lot. My stock does get very low - but I never run out!

The past two days I've noticed the value of the 9" plate. I bought myself a 9" plate last year - and use it every day now. Yesterday I cut up my pizza into wedges and piled them onto my plate - I couldn't quite get them all on - so I left them (had them at lunch today). This evening I had cooked a savoury crumble, one potato, some cabbage - and again I couldn't get it all on the plate, so I left some of it. It's plenty enough for me. I know that if I didn't have the 9" plate, I'd have eaten more. I also know that if I wasn't sticking to No S rules, I'd have gone back to finish off the bit I couldn't fit on my plate. I recommend the 9" plate!


8 stone 7lbs

Thursday SUCCESS

long day at work - leaving home 9am - back 11pm - food packed - hot chocolate for that long evening stretch!

8stone 7lbs

Friday SUCCESS

When I finished work today, I really wanted to eat something to mark the end - knowing that I have two days' off now, it felt like a 'release' thing. I chewed some gum on the way home, prepared a meal for my 9" plate, ended the day with a hot chocolate with a small tot of rum in! now off to bed

8 stone 6.25lbs

Saturday

A very welcome rest from work after a busy few days! Tired, haven't got much of a plan today - but have already eaten chocolate for breakfast - because I can!



8stone 7lbs

Happy Saturday Off!!! Wheee! Enjoy that breakfast chocolate!

Thanks!

Sunday - a good S day

8 stone 8lbs

I have done only one 24-hour fast since I read Pilon's book. I'm experimenting now with two 16-hour fasts on non-consecutive days. I'll consider extending it when it feels routine and easy. On non-work days, the easiest is dinner to late breakfast or early lunch. I'm often not very hungry in the morning. It's not even that hard on a weekday to go from dinner to lunch the next day. If it were easier for me to fill my time, 24 hours would be easy. Pilon says people who have a hard time staying busy struggle with fasting. Even before trying this, I had times when I wasn't very hungry, but then I wanted to be and I worried that it was a bad thing! Now, I'm just grateful it's as easy as it is, though I wouldn't say it's a piece of cake yet. But less problematic than even starting No S, since to me there is less wiggle room. But that's perfectly okay. I don't feel I'm missing out on much. I might if I had a social life that conflicted but that's not in the offing now. I'll face that bridge when I come to it. (I might post a similar message on my thread about the social stuff.)

Being able to go from a fast to being happy with a moderate meal seems key to me. That's where No S has been so fab! Pilon and other people have claimed that bingers get good at this, but I'd be cautious about recommending this to my binge free team on Spark. I'm wondering if I should mention my loss on NO S on Spark since it's so much a result of rather dramatic changes. I think I'll let it be for awhile.

Thanks for sharing your experience - I'm still a bit 'conflicted' about fasting as I don't want to 'restrict' my food and tip myself into deprivation/rebellion. I am thinking I might experiment on a day off from work (I 'need' my food at work - emotionally more than anything - that's where I am at the moment and No S works for me with this). I think my best trial time would be when I get home from work at about 7pm - to not eat before bed would be a first step. I'll let you know! I certainly dropped 3-4lbs when I did that juice thing back in January - and it's stayed off.

Monday SUCCESS

Tuesday SUCCESS

8 stone 8.25lbs

You're doing so well, I don't know that I'd want to mess with things either. That's just me though, the whole fasting thing just does not appeal to me. Why would I want to eat less often than I already do? How is that moderation? I guess I'm just confused but maybe I don't understand all the benefits.

Anyway I'll be curious to see what you decide.

Linda

Didn't mean to start any intermittent fasting debates. I opposed it for most of my life!

Popping in to say Hello!

Hello!

Wednesday SUCCESS

I think I'll leave intermittent fasting until I've been doing NoS for a whole year. You're right Linda - having three meals a day and no snacks is already enough of a habit to be working on - and it's going well. I don't want to upset it!

8stone 5.5lbs

Sounds like a plan!

Oolala--not upset about the fasting discussion just confused why people would want to torture themselves in this way. I've kind of avoided all discussions so am really in the dark as to if its for faster weightloss or improved health. I think I'll go google it and satisfy my curiosity!

Thursday FAILURE

Mid-morning I chose to have a Saffron Chelsea Bun with coffee at my friend's house.... it was a conscious choice, not a mistake. I had a green smoothie for lunch. As the bun was definitely a Sweet, and eaten as a Snack - it's made me a red day. I did toy with the idea of making it an S day and trading it for my Saturday - then I remembered listening to something on the podcasts about the perils of starting that kind of 'accounting' system with S days. It'd be like sort of punishing myself by taking away my S day. Better to just call it a Red day and move on.

I had a really successful No S moment yesterday evening. I went to someone else's home for a meeting, and someone brought a cake she'd made. After the meeting, the cake was cut up in the kitchen, and we weren't even asked if we wanted a piece, it was just handed round to everyone. My plate went on the table next to where I was sitting. I was talking to a young man who ate his cake......... and after a while I said "would you like my cake?" and he said "don't mind if I do! thanks" and he ate my cake. I don't even know if anyone noticed that I didn't eat the cake - but it was a neat way of handling the unwanted cake!


8stone 5.5lbs

Saffron Chelsea Bun doesn't sound like a sweet, but Ill take your word for it. Something with coffee sounds darn good, but I'll wait.

I've noticed thin people leave served food before or eat only a bite of two. Getting someone else to take it is another method. Have to admit I haven't done it much.

A 'bun' in England is maybe not the same as a 'bun in America - a Chelsea bun is a very sweet bread dough filled with sultanas and spices, and baked with more sugar sprinkled on top - it's a 'cake'

Friday - Good Friday FAILURE

I had a complete day off today, did some baking and making - and ended up nibbling... I didn't think Easter was a big deal for me - but obviously it is!


8stone 5.5lbs

Saturday

I was moderate all day - then deliberately over-ate this evening (chocolate and Twiglets) for some reason (I ate my 'proper' meal first!)

8stone 8lbs

Sunday

I've been following the No S diet for about 10 months now: this has regulated my weight (reducing it very slowly) and my appetite.

What I am finding now is that when, at the weekend, I introduce baked goods, sweets, chocolate, cookies into my day - then my system gets clogged up, I don't have an appetite for my 'proper' meals, and I begin to crave more junk (sugar, salt, baked carbs). I also find my weight can go up 3-4lbs over the weekend, that I then lose again by about Wednesday back on the normal eating plan.

I am starting to feel that I don't want to feel so out of kilter at the weekend.

8stone 9.5lbs

Monday FAILURE

Thank heavens Easter is over - seems worse than Xmas somehow - I guess because it ALL chocolate!

No weigh this morning as I was at work. I ate really moderately on Sunday - only one small bit of cake. This afternoon I ate the last of the chocolate, then the last of the cookies - which gives me FOUR red days for March (had four in February as well).

I just ran my HabitCal stats for the 9 complete months I've done of No S - and my FAILURE days are just over 6% - so that's 6 days in every 100 days are FAILURES. That's not too awful actually - I have hardly any non-weekend S days. I'd like it to be 5% max.

I think it's time to read the book again.......

edit: 20 August 2016 - I now know that the statistics on the HabitCal are not quite as straightforward as 6% = 6 in 100, but never mind, it's still a useful number to look at.

Not too awful!? It's fantastic!

I think you are doing marvelously well and coming to some great insights rather early. A lot of people struggle with worse stuff for longer. Others gave up a long time ago, never to return. Others are off dieting and failing, maybe to return.

Aren't we lucky?

In the interest of honesty, I had a rather cruddy No S morning. Hope you have a sane evening and good sleep.

Thanks! Yes, we are lucky. I love this system - it appeals to my brain. I think Reinhard says it somewhere - if you have the kind of mind that likes systems, it works really well.

Tuesday SUCCSS

A friend brought a HUGE peanut butter and salted caramel flapjack to my house 'for breakfast'. I'd already had breakfast, so I let her nibble at hers, and after she'd gone, I cut mine in half and put it in the freezer for the weekend. The darned thing was 170g of flapjack!!!! So glad I didn't eat it to be polite! I'm now off to prepare a very generous dinner (home-made oven chips, baked beans, vegan sausages, spicy ketchup!) to satisfy the slight, irrational, feeling of deprivation I have! I'll be fine after dinner - and a nice decaff coffee to relax with.

Later - I almost forgot I'd had dinner this evening! Had to make a hot chocolate to satisfy my misplaced hunger!

8 stones 8.5lbs

RAWCOOKIE wrote:Thanks! Yes, we are lucky. I love this system - it appeals to my brain. I think Reinhard says it somewhere - if you have the kind of mind that likes systems, it works really well.

Oh, that makes sense. I love systems and structure.

RAWCOOKIE wrote:I'm now off to prepare a very generous dinner (home-made oven chips, baked beans, vegan sausages, spicy ketchup!) to satisfy the slight, irrational, feeling of deprivation I have! I'll be fine after dinner - and a nice decaff coffee to relax with.

Later - I almost forgot I'd had dinner this evening! Had to make a hot chocolate to satisfy my misplaced hunger!

Are you saying that you didn't make as generous of a dinner as you had expected to make, and you ended up hungry?

RAWCOOKIE wrote:...home-made oven chips, baked beans, vegan sausages, spicy ketchup!...

Sounds so yummy! I know even a good filling meal can leave me hungry sometimes... usually a sign the scales is about to make a jump down!

How do you get your oven chips crispy?

I think I ate my dinner quite early, then stayed up quite late - but it could have been for other reasons - who knows?

My oven-baked chips/fries are not often really crisp - they get a bit crunchy round the edges - but not like deep-fried chips/fries. I know they are crisper if you cook the potatoes first but I can't usually be bothered to do that! Of course, cutting them thinner will help as well.

Wednesday SUCCESS

Today I didn't get to eat my lunch until about 2pm - then I was interrupted and had to come back to it half-an-hour later....... the first time this has happened to me and I wondered whether it 'broke the rules'...... but it really wasn't my fault - so it was more like 'virtual plating' or something, not 'seconds'. I'm allowing it.

This evening I didn't feel hungry for dinner - I just had an apple and a bit of cheddar cheese - I felt too chicken to risk going to bed without eating anything. Guess it was because lunch was late - maybe.

8 stone 9lbs

Thursday SUCCESS

8stone 7.75lbs

Friday SUCCESS

8stone 7.5lbs

RAWCOOKIE wrote: This evening I didn't feel hungry for dinner - I just had an apple and a bit of cheddar cheese - I felt too chicken to risk going to bed without eating anything.

I did that yesterday. Wasn't hungry after the big lunch at the Indian buffet so I had a couple of hard pretzels with cheese for "supper."

I have experimented with not eating dinner when not hungry in the evening. At first, I would cave and have a big salad with just veggies or some vegetable soup, but now it goes fine if I can keep my mind off the fact that I'm doing it! I think my body has been asking for this.

My S weekend has been a bit crazy! On Saturday, I hardly ate any proper food at all! I went for a 5k run, in the rain, and afterwards had a coffee and an ice-cream (well, I was hot!) - then ate a humungous flapjack on the bus journey home (it was wonderful!). I then bought a single-serving bag of crisps - slight victory here in (a) buying a single serving and (b) buying 'lightly salted' ones and not ones with tantalizing synthetic flavourings! Later in the afternoon I really, really wanted some sweets. I even bought a packet of fruit gums - which I decided after the first one, were not what I wanted - and I threw them away!!! (I'm sure I'd have just eaten them anyway in the past!). So I went off out to the local sweet shop and got myself a fun bag of pick-and-mix sweets which I took home and enjoyed (in the past I'd have eaten them before I got home!). In the evening I had a ready-made pizza - and topped it with extra mushrooms and tomato, garlic and olives - with a green salad.

Sunday - I'm juicing! Green juices with a balance of fruit & veg, plus a bit of avocado. This evening I'm having rice with stir-fried veggies to use them up: sugar snap peas, baby corn, mushrooms etc.

I'm going to be doing mainly juice for the next four days; probably doing three juices and a salad or soup meal. It's a Spring thing! I did it in January and felt wonderful. I want to feel like that again!

Monday JUICING

I'm juicing today, and having supper with a friend this evening (she cooks healthy stuff)

Ginger Shot - apple and ginger - awesome hit for the system first thing - love it!
Super Juice - lime, pineapple, apple, cucumber, avocado, wheatgrass, spirulina
h2o Red Body Tonic - beetroot, cucumber, carrot, apple, lime, basil
Green Smoothie - banana, orange, mint, superfood smoothie mix
pasta, broccoli, walnuts, parmesan, olive oil, garlic (meal my friend served)


8stone 7.25lbs

Tuesday JUICING

8stone 5.5lbs

Wednesday JUICING

8stone 6lbs

How's the juicing going missy? )

Thursday JUICING

Juicing is going well - not as easy as the one I did in January which was juice plus soup or salad - but it's been a good 5 days. Last day today.

8 stone 4lbs

Friday SUCCESSS

8stone 4.25lbs

Saturday - looking forward to an S day!

8stone 5.25lbs

Pretty cool about the juicing! Make me one, because there's no way I'd remember to buy all those ingredients! And I'd probably never get the juicer cleaned our properly!

I do enjoy smoothies--but I keep them simple--frozen bananas, strawberries, plain yogurt, and a handful of salad leaves of some kind.

Sunday

I had a very yummy S day on Saturday - enjoyed a slice of very gooey, chocolate Guiness cake which was divine! Off to work today with a Gooseberry Mousse to have after my sandwich dinner this evening, a shortbread biscuit for mid-afternoon, and a packet of crisps for an additional weekend snack. I really enjoy a little bit of excess at the weekends now, because I know that on Monday the HABIT is robust.

8stone 7.25lbs

Damn! I knew I shouldn't brag about how robust my N days were!

Monday FAILURE

never mind - onward!


no weigh because I was at work last night/this morning

Tuesday SUCCESS

Tai Chi this morning.
Shopping.
Laundry.
Evening Class this evening.

Kept myself occupied and away from food. I had a lunch in a cafe after Tai Chi this morning - one plate (sandwich, a handful of salad, a handful of crisps).

8 stone 7lbs

Wednesday SUCCESS

8stone 4.25lbs

Raw, would you care to share about Tai Chi? your practice, what it feels like, effects...
And then, there was an 'evening class'.
If I may, was this exercise, too?

Thursday SUCCESS

8stone 5.5lbs

Friday SICKDAY I only had three meals, but sucked half a roll of cough sweets during the afternoon. Heading to bed for an early night..........

8stone 6lbs

Tai Chi - I am very much a beginner. I started going to classes in November last year. The classes are 90 mins long and include 'Wu Chi' Qi Kung exercises which are preparation for Tai Chi, then Tai Chi 24-step Yang Form, then some 'health exercises' which are also Qi Kung.

It's definitely exercises - not cadio though. It works every muscle in your body, help with balance and co-ordination, with concentration and patience. It works to move the energetic body (Chi) and stretch all the meridians (as in Chinese medicine- acupuncture, shiatsu etc).

That's about as much as I can tell you at the moment. It can develop into a powerful martial art form too.

I see.
Good for you.

You say it's definitely exercise, which I didn't know.

Puts me in mind of common stereotypes of yoga, though, actually, it can be really vigorous.

Good luck to you and to us all.

Saturday

have a cold and am enjoying some Golden Milk (tumeric, cinnamon, black pepper, honey, milk)

8stone 6.5lbs

About thinking about what other people do...
When I catch myself doing that, I think that I'm really thinking of myself, that I'm really rejecting the me that does the same at times, that wants to do likewise...

Raw, as to your reaction to the parsley salad thread - thanx a bunch.
I'm responding here, as it seems to be a more appropriate thread.
Your name, and some of the things you mention suggest some raw or vegan motif.
So, do you care to share? Do you adhere to some eating style?

Sunday

I'm coughing well!

The user-name RAWCOOKIE is one I've had for quite a while, and just stuck to it. However, yes, it started a few years' back when I was following a raw vegan life-style. I managed to stick to it for about a year - felt great and was slim at 110lbs. I drifted away from it again after getting hi-jacked by Xmas sweets one year...... and never quite managed to return. It was a bit limiting socially - always having to be different, and also quite expensive to do it 'properly'. However, I do eat 'mainly vegan' with a bit of dairy from time to time (cheese mostly - butter occasionally) and I do try to create raw meals regularly. I'm no-where near being raw vegan all the time though.

I see.
Thanx for sharing, Raw.

Was vegetarian for twenty years, the last two-three of which a vegan.

For several years now, eating meat daily.
Other than greedy compromises, only organic, local animal food, though.

Good luck.

Monday SUCCESS

It was a SUCCESS because I had three meals. BUT it was a 'sick day' because I have an awful cough, and sucked cough sweets throughout the day. The difference between this and my pre-NoS days, is that I still have cough sweets in my bag! In the past, I'd just have eaten all the sweets - whereas now I really did use them as I needed them - to sooth my cough whilst at work and on the bus to/from work.

Had a very pleasant S weekend food-wise, with some nice, moderate, home-made foods.
Still interesting to see that Monday weight is always up 2-3lbs on Friday.

8stone 8lbs

Sounds like a positive S weekend.

Good for you.

Tuesday an N day with some cough sweets thrown in - I'd call it a SUCCESS personally - but I've marked in my HabitCal as an S day


8stone 7.25lbs

Wednesday will be an S day as I've been invited to a neighbours' get-together at lunch-time and I don't want to be picky in a small group - I'll join in (with moderation! - no seconds for example!)


8 stone 5.25lbs

I'd do likewise.
Have fun.

To me, people and the social bond come first.
I'll have industrial meat, for example, something I usually shun, when it is served in company.

Breaking bread together goes way back and means a great deal.

Not to mention that the pleasure of being with others and sharing fulfills, and, thereby, can help in developing a sane relationship with food.

RAWCOOKIE wrote:The difference between this and my pre-NoS days, is that I still have cough sweets in my bag! In the past, I'd just have eaten all the sweets - whereas now I really did use them as I needed them - to soothe my cough whilst at work and on the bus to/from work.

Great observation and nice evidence of the change in your habits.

Hope you're feeling better.