Everyday Systems

HI, I'm a 50 year old teacher living in Europe. I joined No-S this time last year, after the school year ended and the "but I need to eat to keep my mental sharpness up" excuse was gone.

Last year I slowly lost about 10 lbs on a modified version of no-S (allowing for a small standardized snack in the afternoon to keep my hypoglycemia in check but having only one S day per week, on Fridays). Somewhere around December when the holidays started, I got off track. My weight held steady until the spring, when I had an injury that prevented me from exercising.... now I'm back to the beginning again.

Sooooo... here goes: No S Part 2


Day 1: Green
Day 2: Green

Have a great start!

Thanks, Eschano! It's such a sane way to eat! I do, however, tend to get sidetracked by little slip ups. Like last night I came back home from a long walk around 10 and felt a little peckish... and gave in.

So Day 3: red

Day 4: Green

well done isn't it a great feeling to stick to the rules!

Thanks, RAWCOOKIE! It's true, it's so much easier to think in terms of ideal behavior rather than ideal weight. On the other hand, I've actually gained weight in the past two weeks since I started No S and am getting pretty frustrated. Am piling the plates fairly high (but nothing really out of the ordinary and I'm certainly not eating more than before I started NoS.


Day 5 Green
Day 6 Friday S Day
Day 6 Independence Day: S occasion at BBQ

Weigh in 66.2 Kilos: Gained a kilo this week. Feeling pretty frustrated.

Saw your comment about possibly having to limit what's on your plate. I gently suggest that if you aren't legitimately hungry 1-2 hours before your meals, it would probably be good to decrease the volume of dense foods and increase the volume of freggies slowly. If you are stomach-empty hungry already, try to be more patient. If you are not already eating slowly, takiing 20-30 minutes minimum for lunch and dinner, try that, too. It may be slight, but slow eating speeds the metabolism.

I started No S at age 56. Despite some problems in the last year, which I think are age and lack of exercise related, I am SO glad I found it!

Thanks Oolala. I think you're right. It's gratifying to know that there are people who started at my age, and even more gratifying to know that there are people who have stuck with No S for years. Last year I was very consistent for about 7 months and ended up losing about 9 pounds. So upwards and onwards, I would say.


Taking a close look at the past two weeks, I think a few things contribute to the weight gain: not working, and therefore not biking to work or being super stressed day and night. And the heat wave (don't need as many calories to stay warm). So even though I'm eating less than usual, I must be burning a lot less too.

What I notice around meal times right now is that I feel allowed to eat a full meal, so I do. Plus, I don't necessarily stop when I'm full. And there's also this nagging fear that I might not eat enough and then get hungry and not make it to dinner. Which is kind of crazy if you think that getting hungry is the whole point-- because that's when weight loss happens. So I guess my goals right now are to

1) stick with the program
2) work on feeling less afraid of being hungry.

Sunday: green[/list]

Yes to #2! I, too, often engage in "preventive eating", which hinders weight loss in the long run. Fear of hunger is just so deeply biological.

Lyra wrote:getting hungry is the whole point-- because that's when weight loss happens.

is this true? I'm not sure we need to feel hungry to lose weight?

RAWCOOKIE wrote:

Lyra wrote:getting hungry is the whole point-- because that's when weight loss happens.

is this true? I'm not sure we need to feel hungry to lose weight?

It's true for me. When following No s and getting my plates about right I'm usually arriving at each meal hungry. Not starving for hours, but an hour before dinner thinking "wow, can't wait for my tea!". It reminds me of when I was a kid - I'd tell my Mum I was hungry and she would tell me to wait and not spoil my dinner.

When my plates are too big / heavy I don't get hungry for the next meal and I don't lose.,I do think it's important to qualify that I don't think posters here are advocating being starving, just being nicely keen for your meals. The upside for me is that even the plainest meals taste great when I'm genuinely hungry. Three years of No S has made me less afraid of food and less afraid of being hungry - I feel like I kind of rediscovered that hunger is the best sauce, which I knew at 10, but forgot by 20.

RAWCOOKIE wrote:I'm not sure we need to feel hungry to lose weight?

When I was younger, I would sometimes lose weight due to stress, being too busy and forgetting to eat, or just losing my appetite from time to time for whatever reason. But after a certain point in time, it really is true for me that hunger goes along with weight loss, and only when I am truly hungry at mealtimes do I find that I'm losing weight. So it may depend on a lot of things, like natural metabolism, response to stress, natural level of appetite, etc., but for me age has proved to be the main factor.

It's not true for me. I have had a plateau for quite some time but now I switched to a mainly vegetable-based diet (meaning 3/4 of my meal are vegetables) I feel satisfied for much longer and don't get hungry as much anymore. I have lost weight. So it depends. You could go to McDonalds three times a day, feel ravenous a few hours later and still consume 3000 calories and gain weight.

So I think it all depends. That said, I am not at ironchef's BMI so it probably depends on where you are and what you want to achieve.

Thanks All, for visiting my check in and giving input. It's so nice to be a part of the NO S community!

To me there are three (maybe four) kinds of being hungry:

1) hungry because you've been eating lightly but well, and it's just about dinner time (this is what several people have been advocating, and what I'm striving for. I'm definitely not one of the (lucky?) people who can go all day without feeling any hunger pangs.

2) Being hungry because you have eaten badly (e.g. Eschano's McDonalds analogy) and you have a blood sugar dip or a lack of nutrition and feel peckish.

3) Emotional hunger, just wanting to chew on something.

4) PMS hunger and the like, those times when your body is just telling you to eat. (I do have those days and I'm not entirely convinced it's emotional hunger)

So what I want is to avoid the junk (taken care of by No S for the most part) so that I don't find myself feeling #2, and experimenting with how much I actually really need to get to the next meal with a nice 'n hungry feeling. I've been a grazer for so long that I start to panic at the first sign of hunger. It's really weird.

Monday: Green (and I did eat a bit lighter and did get hungry but didn't die between meals )

Tuesday: Green

Side note: it's 10:00 in the morning and I feel like a snack. I'm not really hungry, just looking for comfort. Last year when I did no-s relatively successfully, I kept telling myself on days like today not to think about it but to to just do it anyway, even if it's hard. But darn, I really do feel like giving in right now and having, like, a big plate of S. I almost think I should award myself an extra green day just for surviving days like today. Like, one green tick if I succeed in doing no-s and two if I succeed when it's hard. Extra habit-building points, or something.

That's a lovely idea, Lyra. It's hard to make it through those stretches - they're hard on the mind! I really like what no-s says about how it teaches you to develop willpower. Having the mental fortitude to make it through those really hard days -should- be an extra little pat on the back! You can do it!

Thanks for the support, Holypotato. It turns out I caved anyway...

Tuesday: Red

I should have just eaten more at breakfast rather than thought about "diet". Though it wasn't a full-on binge: grapes and square of chocolate mid morning.

Wednesday: green
Thursday: green
Friday: S day!


Weigh in: 65.3 kg

And now, on to vacation! I will keep it up! I will keep it up! I will keep it up!

Woo hoo! Great streak!!!

Lyra, if it helps to think of this, it is likely you get even more habit-busting when you hold out when it IS hard. That's what teaches your body that THAT particular stimulus to eat is not going to get rewarded anymore. It can't learn it when the stimulus isn't there!

A strategy that helps seal that is when you DO succeed in not giving in, check in with how you feel later. Usually, you feel good, or the next meal is very good, or there's SOME kind of physical payoff, not just the moral one. It really works on the brain to take a few seconds and acknowledge that. In the end, we adopt new habits because on some level, we feel they make our life better for more hours of the day than not doing them.

I also think it is a great idea to have some way to record when you do succeed when it's hard. I know it's much more complicated than No S and habitcal, but perhaps you could make a colored check on a paper calendar or use a sticker or something. Judith Beck recommended just writing a quick line on an index card and putting the cards in a little box that you read through periodically.

I really like that idea, Oolala! There have been a few times in the past couple of weeks when I have wanted to give in for one reason or another, and, after a valient battle of 20 minutes to 8 hours, have finally given in.

I like the idea of pausing to check in to see how I feel about not giving in, to give it a positive spin, and maybe also a sticker or special symbol on my habitcal to reward myself too.

This has been a kind of "bad" week. I've been on vacation and have had slip ups almost every day. Starting again today with day 1.

To remind myself:
1) I feel better when I go longer without eating-- I feel like I have more energy
2) My meals are over-all healthier when I only have three of them
3) I do need to lose weight. I am now in the almost obese zone and would like to be lighter for health reasons.
4) I like the confidence I have in myself when I set goals for myself and follow through on them (Ideal behavior)
5) I would like to fit into my clothes better. Vain but true.


So: back on the wagon.

Day 1: S Day

Back from vacation. I had many good days and quite a few days where I fell off the wagon. Now I'm committed to nailing the habit.

Day 1 Success
Day 2 Success

Weigh-in: 64.5 kg
Goal: 60 kg

Week 1 of starting again:

Saturday S
Sunday S
Monday S
Tuesday S
Wednesday S
Thursday FAIL
Friday Idiotic S day

Weigh-in 64.7 kg (up .2kg)

"Welcome back" from vacation! Vacation time and work travel are often difficult for me, but I have a good routine at home. I trust you'll be able to settle in to NoS at home and enjoy good, moderate habits.

After more than five years, I had an idiot S day yesterday, too! Actually just a big fail day.

That confirms it for me - there's definitely some planetary influences going on here - we're all at it - having wild S days and feeling unsettled.

This too will pass!

Back to No S after a year off. Heavier than ever and with a knee injury that makes it hard to get enough exercise and lose any kind of weight.

Still, the No S way of eating is very good for me. So even if I don't lose those 4 Kg I gained this year (grrr), I like the freedom of having "ideal behavior" rather than "ideal weight"-- (though, ugh, for the first time I can feel my belly when I'm sitting and am still obsessed with somehow getting rid of the spare tire).


So here is this weeks' stats:

Started: 65.5 kg
Ended: 65.3 kg (though my scale is pretty old and not very accurate)

Had one or two slip ups while I relearned the habit. Like, even though my friend's home-made bonbons are not made with sugar, they sure are an "s"; and that cookie I took a bite of to see if they were done was also an "s" and I did slip up and have a piece of chocolate yesterday (pure emotional eating).

My NO-S is more NO-S inspired (this is the plan that's worked best for me each time I have been successful here) Here is my plan/ mods:

1) Friday is my S day; Saturday is normal eating except I can have my favorite 85% chocolate in whatever quantities I want

2) No Empty Calories except on Fridays (no sugar, no salty snacks, etc)

3) Three meals, 1 snack (and always the same snack so it's just for fuel and not for pleasure)

4) Social drinking only-- 1 glass limit

Welcome back! Sorry about the knee injury, and hope you are on the mend.