Skelton 2014 check in.

Counting carbs/calories is a drag. Obsessive scale stepping is a recipe for despair. If you want to count something, "days on habit" is a much better metric. Checking off days on a calendar would do just fine, but if you do it here you get accountability and support. Here's how. Start a new topic in this forum called (say) "Your Name Daily Check In." Then every N day post a "reply" to that topic as to whether you stayed on habit. A simple "<font color="green">SUCCESS</font>" or "<font color="red">FAILURE</font>" (or your preferred euphemism if that's too harsh) is sufficient, but obviously you're welcome to write more if you want. On S-days just register that you're taking an S-day. You don't have to do this forever, just until you're confident you've built the habit. Feel free to check in weekly or monthly or sporadically instead of daily. Feel free also to track other habits besides No-s (I'm keeping this forum under No-s because that's what the vast majority are using it for). See also my <a href="/habitcal/">HabitCal</a> tool for another more formal (and perhaps complementary) way to track habits.

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Skelton
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Skelton 2014 check in.

Post by Skelton » Tue May 13, 2014 6:29 pm

I've been away from the boards for a while, but during that time nothing much has changed.
I've repeatedly come back to No S because it's sane, but have also found myself slipping back to strict dieting mode which is very detrimental for me.
So back to No S, again trying very hard to stay out of diet head, but I'm going to make a mod because I've identified one specific area where I've been struggling.

I work mostly at home, but I'm in the office 2 days a week and it's an early start. I get up at 5.30am and I get to my desk at about 7.45am.
When I get up, I have no appetite for a decent sized breakfast, but feel that I need to eat something because I've tried not eating anything until I get to the office but that's not working for me.

I've tried to force myself to eat a larger amount before I leave the house in the morning, but that's not working either and I still can't make it through to 1pm or even 1.30pm which is my designated lunch time.

So my mod is that I'm going to make a breakfast, but divide it up. I'll eat half at 5.30am and then eat the rest at about 8am at my desk. If I do this I'll get through to 1pm without eating again. And I can make it through from lunch to dinner without too much discomfort, much to my surprise, as it was always afternoon snacks that I thought I could never give up.

My inability to comply with Vanilla No S on my work days has been a convenient excuse for my brain to convince me that I can't do it, and therefore has been an excuse to overeat ! It's amazing how persuasive my thoughts can be when it comes to finding excuses to binge or even just overeat....

So there's no room for negotiation with this mod, I know thats a slippery slope. It will only be applied on my 2 office days, and my portion sizes will be compliant.
I'll try this way for a month and see what happens.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Tue May 13, 2014 7:27 pm

I just want to add something I've been thinking about a lot lately.

There's something about No S that just frees my mind. I seem to have more space to think, do and be when I'm No S-ing.
When I'm trying the conventional diet route, I think of nothing but food, shopping for it, preparing it, eating it, not eating it etc... and not only do I binge a lot, but I have no energy for anything else.
No S really feels like a big weight is lifted from me.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

eschano
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Post by eschano » Wed May 14, 2014 9:17 am

Thank you for sharing the wonderful insights. Two mini meals and two bigger meals is vanilla NoS in my books. In the NoS books it even says that's ok. And dividing up your breakfast makes sure your portion control is really the same as 3 meals. Doing well!
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Thu May 15, 2014 8:53 am

eschano, thanks for your support. I was afraid to make the mod for some reason, I only gave myself permission to make the change last week, but I tried it again yesterday as it was an office day, and it worked great. I do find that I'm hungrier in general on office days, and I think it's simply because of the earlier start. But anyway, yesterday was a green day.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

joy&balance
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Post by joy&balance » Thu May 15, 2014 6:39 pm

Congrats on a green day!!

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Sat May 17, 2014 9:27 am

Just a quick update. It's apparent that I really do need to hone my time management skills. I want to post here every day if possible so I need to find time for it, preferably in the evening so I can blog about my day.
Anyway, had a :oops: day on Thursday. Not sure why it happened, apart from I allowed it to!
Yesterday was green, and today is an S day.
I have no plans at all today. I've found from previous experience on No S that I do better if I try to avoid snacking on days when I'm at home all day, even on S days. As soon as I start to snack it triggers me into chain eating, ie non stop all day long, so the structure and discipline of 3 meals is better for me. I'll probably have some chocolate this evening after dinner.

I mentioned having no plans today. I've realised that I need to make some big changes in my life as I'm quite lonely, and am bored too. Actually, for one reason or another, I've allowed my life to become pretty empty.
This doesn't help my overeating. It's not a good reason, because ultimately the only person who puts excess food in my mouth is me, but being bored and lonely provide me with an excuse to do so. Also being quite isolated allows lots of opportunity to overeat. I live alone and it's easy to hide away and eat.

Anyway, will keep myself busy today. I've just seen an article about some research comparing eating 6 x daily to eating 2 x daily, so I'll read that and post it on the main board.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

automatedeating
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Post by automatedeating » Sat May 17, 2014 4:56 pm

Hi there! Hope you can find some fun things to get interested in. What are your passions?
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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Dandelion
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Post by Dandelion » Mon May 19, 2014 2:30 am

My schedule is similar to yours - up about 5-5.30 and at my desk between 7 and 7.30. I have a cup of tea while I get ready and don't eat proper breakfast until about 8.30. That works well for me. We have 'snack time' at 10, but even though there is usually food everywhere, I am not too bothered because of how recent breakfast was. And like you, once I start, it's too easy for it to turn into a snackathon the rest of the day.
'I do think the way to a full and healthy life is to adopt the sensible system of small helpings, no seconds, no snacking, and a little bit of everything. Above all, have a good time.' Julia Child

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Thu May 22, 2014 9:22 am

Hi automated and dandelion! :D

Automated, my passions are enhancing my knowledge of the French language and I used to love walking.I'm lucky to live in a beautiful rural area with lots of places to walk. However, I injured my leg almost two years ago and have been unable to walk much further than about a mile since then. Doctors and physiotherapists are working on this with me, hopefully there will be some improvement to enable me to start walking properly again. There are some walking groups locally and if I joined one of them I'm sure I'd make some friends. I also enjoy reading. I travel quite a bit, some of it for work, so I like planning my trips and learning about the places I'm going to visit.

No S is going well, even if my planned Daily Check In isnt'! I've been quite busy with my work this week, and working on a computer all day I like a break from it when I'm not at work so I haven't posted much.

My office day mod is going well, although I do seem to be more hungry on those days. I was at the office yesterday, and last night I realised I didn't eat enough for supper. I was still hungry when I finished, and still hungry an hour later at 7.30pm. It's interesting to observe which foods are the most filling for me, and which ones tend to leave me feeling still hungry. I decided to eat a little more because I knew that if I was too hungry going to bed I wouldn't sleep and it would give me a convenient excuse to binge. So yesterday was a red day on that basis, even though I probably still only had one plateful of food last night in total, I consider it a red day because I went back for more, but otherwise it's going very well.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Thu May 29, 2014 6:22 pm

Hmm. The wheels have fallen off and I'm not sure why. I've been bingeing since Monday. Not bingeing in the amounts I used to, but still bingeing. I've stopped eating now for today, and will get back on track tomorrow.
3 plates. Could it be any simpler?
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

automatedeating
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Post by automatedeating » Fri May 30, 2014 2:07 am

On the nights that I realize I am still hungry, I do a couple of things: have a milky drink, have a glass of wine, or have a diet soda. These do the trick every time. The second thing I do is leave the kitchen, go upstairs, get ready for bed, brush my teeth, and make that mental transition to bedtime. Both of these things are surefire for me.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

eschano
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Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:20 pm

Post by eschano » Fri May 30, 2014 8:47 am

I do what auto does. And if I have an incredible urge for sweets the whole day, I incorporate fruit for every meal. I love red grapes for example - they give me sugar while being delicious and all green. I don't count a little bowl of fruit as seconds as long as I eat it after my main plate.
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Thu Jun 12, 2014 9:42 am

Thanks automated and eschano! I've realised that I don't eat enough fruit (or veggies) and am trying to incorporate more.
automated, I've found that by giving the kitchen a final tidy up after dinner, getting the dishwasher on etc is a psychological 'closing down' of the kitchen, that helps me to stay out of it most nights.

I've not posted for a couple of weeks as I've been away in France on business. I lost 3 pounds whilst I was away, and that was eating 3 meals a day, and drinkinng wine daily too. I passed on dessert unless it was a pre-designated S day, and enjoyed a small plate of cheese. I'm going back again in a month and very much looking forward to it, as that trip will be more leisure than business.
Speaking of weight loss, I'm reverting to weighing once a month only. The scale still holds too much power for me if I let it. Once a month works fine for me. but I couldn't help but hop on after my France trip as I was curious to know what had happened to my weight after eating quite rich food and eating out a lot.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

middleager
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Post by middleager » Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:24 am

Hi Skelton, thanks for your encouragement. I hope I'm back for good too.
Longest run so far: 22 days

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:03 pm

I got misled once again by "Diet Head".
I have a couple of saboteurs. Panicking about weight loss leads to diet head, that's the biggie for me. I was never really able to stick to a traditional type diet for long before I binged. Now, after 35 years of the diet/binge cycle, I find that even thinking about a diet or restricting food groups etc sets off a binge and food obsessions and that's what was going on for several weeks.

Ok so that's where I've been.
I'm back to No S, with my two day a week 'work mod' although I am working towards making my No S into vanilla No S.

Away from food, Oolala made a comment on another of my threads, about living life in between (eating). This really struck home with me. There are a lot of changes that I need to make to my lifestyle. I'm rather isolated, and away from my job, I'm bored and understimulated.
I do need to work on improving my social life and finding something to engage my brain.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

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lpearlmom
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Post by lpearlmom » Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:20 pm

Hey skeleton

Sounds like a welcome back is in order for you too! Boy can I relate to the even thinking about traditional dieting leading to binging. When I was young, I could stick to diets for a few weeks at a time but as I got older the length got shorter & shorter. It got down to a couple days to a couple of hours to just thinking about it would lead me straight to the frig.

I also relate to needing more of a social life & needing to find some interesting hobbies. Sometimes it just feels like too much effort but I'm sure it's worth it.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas! Good luck.

Linda
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:34 am

lpearlmom wrote:Hey skeleton

Sounds like a welcome back is in order for you too! Boy can I relate to the even thinking about traditional dieting leading to binging. When I was young, I could stick to diets for a few weeks at a time but as I got older the length got shorter & shorter. It got down to a couple days to a couple of hours to just thinking about it would lead me straight to the frig.

I also relate to needing more of a social life & needing to find some interesting hobbies. Sometimes it just feels like too much effort but I'm sure it's worth it.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas! Good luck.

Linda
Thanks for coming by, Linda.
I'm glad I'm not the only one having that experience with the inability to stick to diets now. Last week I spent about 15 minutes at work reading about a particular diet and thought I'd give it a try. That led to a binge when I got home.
I know that my compulsive eating and obesity are strongly connected to my past experiences with dieting. In the past 35 years, since I started my first diet (one that I didn't even need to be on) I've gone from weighing 112-115 pounds up to where I am now at 215. I've dieted my way up 100 pounds! And here I am, obese, with a compulsive eating/binge habit and a very damaging 'diet head'.

Ok so it's Monday. I find Mondays tough on No S, my body wants more of the sugar I gave it yesterday. I know many other No S'ers have been through this and got past it. So even though I'm white knuckling through today I'll hang onto that thought.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:27 pm

Before bed quick update.
I was white knuckling this morning but then around 11am I started to feel ok and the day has actually been easy.
I've eaten
B - hummus 2 slices toast
L - chicken lettuce and mustard wrap with some radish
D- roast pork, new potatoes, home made cauli cheese.

Today was a
:mrgreen:

I'm working at the office tomorrow. I find office days tough. I've planned my food for the whole day, and will divide my breakfast (my "office day mod"), eating a little of it when I get up at 5.30am, and the rest of it at my desk, at around 8am.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

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Dandelion
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Post by Dandelion » Tue Aug 12, 2014 12:36 am

I can relate to your mantra. It's certainly true for me. Like Linda, I remember the days when I could stick to a 'diet' to the letter, no matter how hard it was, or what it involved. Now, even thinking about it is damaging.
'I do think the way to a full and healthy life is to adopt the sensible system of small helpings, no seconds, no snacking, and a little bit of everything. Above all, have a good time.' Julia Child

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:58 pm

I should say that I actually picked up my mantra from a post here, but I can't remember who quoted it :oops:

Just a very quick check in as I've been working hard on a computer all day long and have no desire to spend any more time on one today :D

Today was a
:mrgreen:
day.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:39 pm

Today was a
:mrgreen: day.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:21 pm

Today has been a
:oops: day.

Had a small binge.
I think a lot of my binge eating is done out of habit rather than it being "emotional eating" or some physiological thing.

Anyway, have marked it and am back on plan and moving forward.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

eschano
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Post by eschano » Fri Aug 15, 2014 2:54 pm

Skelton wrote: Anyway, have marked it and am back on plan and moving forward.
Yay - perfect attitude!
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Fri Aug 15, 2014 6:02 pm

eschano wrote:
Skelton wrote: Anyway, have marked it and am back on plan and moving forward.
Yay - perfect attitude!
aww thanks so much, eschano! I was so pleased with how yesterday turned out. I try not to keep binge foods in the house, so I'd gone out to the local shop to buy the stuff for this binge. I ate some of it, then managed to stop myself from going any further. I still have the rest of the chocolate here in the house and it will keep now for my S days, whereas normally I'd have eaten all of it yesterday because I've never really been able to stop myself mid-binge. But I stopped and got right back on track yesterday.
So I'm very happy how I handled it. Thank you again!
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

Skelton
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Post by Skelton » Fri Aug 15, 2014 7:46 pm

Today was a
:mrgreen:
day.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue

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lpearlmom
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Post by lpearlmom » Sat Aug 16, 2014 3:29 am

Great job stopping the binge in its track. That's a really powerful feeling I bet!

Just wanted to say I know how tough it is to have dieted your way up to such a high weight. I used to be a good 70-80 lbs less and I thought I was so fat then. I was absolutely obsessed with losing weight. I so wish I could have just loved and accepted myself.

But just because I'm different looking than I used to be doesn't necessarily mean it's worse. It's just different. I try to have plus-sized role models. I love Ina Garten (barefoot contessa). She's about my size and is adorable. She certainly doesn't seem to let her weight get in the way of enjoying her life.

So not sure where I'm going with this but guess I'm just encouraging to love yourself & try to focus on the habits not the number on the scale.

Have a great weekend!

Linda :)
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

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