Starting 21 Day challenge

[LuxJones]

Hi, I've been doing No S for two weeks, and I really like it, though I haven't lost any weight. (I am in my late thirties and have 20-30 pounds to lose.)

So, I'm going to do a 21 challenge to see if that helps me maybe keep my portions down or something, and really establish the habit so I can add mods later.

As a lifelong vegetarian (nearly vegan) I eat from bowls more than plates: salads, soup, curry, etc. So, I'm thinking I need to maybe switch from a big salad bowl to a small salad bowl because it is really hard for me to not put too much salad dressing on when I'm hungry. I think that might be part of the problem. So, while the extra bulk of greens is ok, maybe cutting down to a smaller bowl and thus less dressing overall will be easier than mustering up the willpower to measure just a tiny amount of dressing over a big bowl of greens.

I'm also going for the glass ceiling--I find that it is much easier to keep to two drinks when not snacking at night!

I'd love tips from anyone who maybe didn't lose weight at first or are vegetarians eating out of bowls (sounds like a puppy!). I understand why mods should be added later, but man I want to lose weight, you know? I lost a bit of weight breastfeeding my daughter, back down to a weight I hadn't seen in 12 years, but then it slowly came back (even while still breastfeeding)--it's like I'll be 'good' and my weight stays the same, then if I indulge *at all* it goes up, then when I reel my eating back in, it stops going up but stays put at the higher number, dig? I'd love to get my weight going down again.

[Holocene]

Hey

I haven't got any tips because I'm quite new to this but I have my experience so far.

I've done vanilla NoS and really tried to stick to it. I've been going solidly/officially for about 2 weeks (and about a month of acclimatisation) with only a couple of slip ups and I'm starting to get used to it and dare I say it ENJOY it.

I've lost 1.5 inches around my waste. Gone from 35 inch waste to 33.5. I haven't weighed myself and go more by what I see in the mirror and my waist measurements.

From my limited experience I'd say stick to Vanilla NoS and try not to be hard or too strict on yourself. I made the mistake of skipping breakfast if I had a snack or seconds the day before to "make up for it"... bad idea, as it would just lead to me feeling ravenous that night and gorging leading to another punishment and guilty feeling the next day and so on and so forth leading to a spiral of famine and feasting (with the feasting taking a front seat).

Exercise. It doesn't have to be intense self flagelation that seems to be all the rage these days. Just get moving. A half hour walk, some body weight exercises, run up the stairs every time you go upstairs or just any kind of physical activity you enjoy.

However, the most important factor in me sticking to NoS is to make sure I am satisfied after a meal; this means serving yourself enough food. Calories don't exist to me any more, I don't see "good" or "bad" food. I fill my plate to what I think I need. At the start I had mountains and went a bit overkill and I knew it, over time my portions are getting naturally smaller without me even thinking about it. I sometimes have mcdonalds, KFC, Chinese or Indian takeaway... I follow the NoS principles and everything's fine.

Sorry about the essay, good luck! (Not that you need it)

[LuxJones]

Thanks for the tips! Nice to hear it's going well for you.

[osoniye]

Hi and welcome!
You might try keeping your big salads, but do more with lemon juice or vinegar as far as dressing, with a bit of olive oil. That way you would be full of good ra veggies without the worry of too much heavy dressing!

[LuxJones]

Thanks--I think you are right. We've been putting Drew's salad dressing and sesame oil and they are pretty wholesome and so so so tasty that it's been hard to resist, but I'm thinking maybe I can just use a little and then kind of dilute with ACV...

[LuxJones]

Ok, this is day eight, and I'm doing well. I haven't lost any weight, but that's ok. I have PMS, so I'm just happy that I'm sticking with it! (Sorry if that is TMI--I've never participated in this kind of board before, and dieting seems pretty personal already.)


I hope anyone who sees this note is doing well, too.

[Triana Gen]

Gonna give it a go too!

Day one starts tomorrow (monday)

[chilipepper130]

I'm fairly new here too.

Good luck everyone!

[oolala53]

I am not new and I humbly suggest that you reverse your order of priority, which is rather diet-headish, i. e., let me lose weight first and I'll adjust to maintain. Have you seen how often that works out there? Almost never. In fact, it has led to decades of misery for countless people, mostly women.

It is much better for long term habit maintenance to establish a working baseline and then adjust from there.

What if you aren't going to be able to "indulge" at all and maintain the weight you hadn't seen in 12 years? Would that be worth it? It actually might, but it will be unlikely to be able to tell that from here. Your body in some way likes whatever way it's been fed that got it up in weight. Just getting it to accept the meal structure is fair for awhile. Yes, we can regard our appetite like an animal to train, but there's no need to make it unnecessarily unpleasant. What the lion would feel was way too little meat at one feeding after it's been used to much more might be just fine three months later.

Please try to learn what you need to eat to support your life now. Get through a few cycles of 21 days just having what seem like reasonable meals. Enjoy every bite. It may happen naturally that you have less dense food in those bowls soon or you may after a month or two decide to be purposeful about it. But you need a new baseline different from the one you set for yourself with liberal S's before No S.

There is nothing in No S that says you can't use a tablespoon to apportion yourself the dressing for your food. I recommend putting a couple of tablespoons on, looking at what that looks like, and then again noticing what the food looks like with that spread out after the items are tossed. You will likely find that that much is plenty. After a month or so, you may experiment with less. No S is not about getting it all figured out in a few weeks and then coasting along in thin land forever, which is what we all secretly wanted from diets. It's about letting your body learn that it is going to be well fed reliably in rather specific windows of time and does not need to demand a lot every time it gets a chance or to pester constantly for more. Then the extra props (dense food at the meals) can be reduced without the "animal" freaking out.

And you can take time to experiment with what foods really satisfy during those limited eating windows later. That is much more likely to lead to a routine that a year from now will feel like a breeze. I know that doesn't sound cool now, but if you could look back on this site and see all the people who were in a hurry, failed, gave up, and came back later sorry they pushed it too hard too soon, it might help.

Or maybe not! Just know I am on your side.

[LuxJones]

Thanks so much for your thoughts oolala53--I appreciate wisdom from someone who has been doing NoS for so long. I'm sure you're right. I find that I often want to get fiery and frantic to lose weight, when really the best thing is to try to cool and relax the nervous system and try to become more aware. I was so disheartened that I'd finally lost weight and then it just came back, but I'm working on accepting myself as I am now and just doing vanilla no S. I do feel more peace of mind, despite not losing weight.

[oolala53]

My pleasure. BTW, the weight probably didn't just come back. Habits came back. Whatever got the weight off wasn't sustainable at that time.

I have lost more weight recently and have had people ask me what I did, but I have a hard time telling them not because I don't know but because it's so hard to say why I was able to make these recent changes. I feel as if I can't separate them from the foundation I had already laid with multiple adjustments over the years.

In looking back, I can't believe how many times I got frantic and consumed with different problems, only to have the urgency fizzle out with few changes. I don't fault myself for it but just recognize that it's rare for ANY problem to be one that we HAVE to figure out in the next few days or weeks. Big changes on those fronts do sometimes follow big epiphanies, but we rarely know until later if it really was an epiphany. I feel I've had two, one at the beginning, and one recently. Neither one was one I could have created at will.

Eat your delicious meals and see what else in your big beautiful life is worthy of attention between them!

[LuxJones]

Thanks for your wise words that are just what I need to hear today!

[LuxJones]

OK, I finished the 21 day challenge! I didn't lose any weight, but I feel better having a sustainable system. I'm going to jump right into another 21 day challenge.

[chilipepper130]

Congrats on reaching 21 days!!

[oolala53]

Yahoo!

[Kittson]

Great job!!!