Everyday Systems

Today will be the 7th day following the No S way of eating. I am learning to tolerate the hunger with the knowledge that I will enjoy the meal much more if I am hungry for it. Eating without hunger is not what I want.

Good luck on your No S journey! Hope you continue to enjoy a sane way of eating.

Sounds like a great start!

I obviously am NOT doing a daily check-in, but after completing the second week, I am still on track. I haven't gotten used to all the food I could eat on the weekends - it doesn't seem right. I actually am preferring to curb myself a bit - no free-for-all on both days. In the end, it doesn't feel all that good to eat and eat and eat.

Back on a normal day tomorrow!

I had 4 days where I followed the plan and one day where I didn't. There was a party at work and I could not contain myself both during the party and afterwards. I am disappointed that I didn't come up with a plan to deal with this.

I also gained 2.2 lbs this week. There are lots of reasons:

• Didn't drink as much water as I usually do.
  Was very achy and did a partial massage with the foam roller.
  Felt sluggish all day
  Didn't get the usual exercise due to rain.
  Maybe I am eating too much at my meals.

What I am not going to do is let this derail what I have started.

Good! It's all a learning experience!

After 4 weeks of following this way of eating, I can say that I know how to maintain my weight. I lost only 2 lbs.

I had 28 success days and 2 failures - not bad! I can be in charge of what I am eating!

I really want to lose about 5 more pounds, so for October (am probably long term), I am combining No S with intermittent fasting. What this means is on two days a week, I will eat only a plateful of food for dinner. For the remaining three days of the week, I will follow vanilla No S. The weekends and special days will be according the No S as well.

Hopefully, this will kick my body into losing the weight. I think it will be a couple thousand fewer calories each week.

I really don't want to count calories any more.

I've tried a bit of intermittent fasting. I always enjoyed having Monday as on of my fast days--it feels good to have a rest from food after the weekend's indulgences. I think that's why I like Monday N days better than all the rest.

I stopped fasting because I found myself feeling a bit unbalanced about food. I went a bit overboard and was fasting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. After a couple of weeks, it left me feeling unsettled and ravenous--like I'd never be able to feel full again. (Obviously not true). And then the guilt/shame kicked in. I don't consider this to be a fault of fasting, but of the way I handled fasting.

I hope it's successful for you, and gives you the added kick you're looking for.

Swuddly wrote:I've tried a bit of intermittent fasting. I always enjoyed having Monday as on of my fast days--it feels good to have a rest from food after the weekend's indulgences. I think that's why I like Monday N days better than all the rest.

I stopped fasting because I found myself feeling a bit unbalanced about food. I went a bit overboard and was fasting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. After a couple of weeks, it left me feeling unsettled and ravenous--like I'd never be able to feel full again. (Obviously not true). And then the guilt/shame kicked in. I don't consider this to be a fault of fasting, but of the way I handled fasting.

I hope it's successful for you, and gives you the added kick you're looking for.

Good points. I gave up on intermittent fasting because I couldn't control the non fast days. Success with No S showed me that I can control what I eat on the non fast days.

It's nice to feel in control, isn't it? I really love that about NoS. Best wishes on your IF addition!

Swuddly wrote:It's nice to feel in control, isn't it? I really love that about NoS. Best wishes on your IF addition!

Oops - I meant to say "in charge." I decide what and when I eat. Minor distinction which makes a difference to me.

That is a rule of mindful eating - focusing on being in charge of eating. Being in control implies that you can also be out of control, but either way you are still in charge of what you eat. I really like that distinction, too!

I think I need to re-read my mindful eating book. I found it really insightful, but there are no real rules on how to implement, it's more of a concept. I am trying to combine NoS and mindful eating, but right now I'm focusing on NoS first.

I am looking forward to reading about your fasting results combined with NoS - good luck!

Good luck with your October experiment. And seems like you have a good handle on vanilla No S, so you can always fall back on it if you need to.

Just wanted to say that 2 pounds in a month (1/2 a pound a week) is fine for a moderate weight loss approach when you don't have much to lose. So, don't forget to pat yourself on the back for a really great effort so far (only two red days!).

Most of the 15 pounds I've lost on No S came off at a rate of somewhere between 2 pounds and 1/2 pound per month (i.e. super slow). In fact the only way I knew I was losing was because I calculated a trend line - my daily weights looked static to a casual eye.