Everyday Systems

Weekly report

Mon-Thurs - success
Fri - only 2 meals as not well
Sat, Sun - 3 meals - felt hungry in spite of being sick.

Exercise - 10 km with walking group. Felt more tired than I should have, and started feeling unwell that afternoon. Have spent most of the rest of the week in bed with some sort of viral infection. No doubt I will feel better this week.

No Rec Screen until 2 pm - success Mon - Fri, took Sick days Sat & Sun.

Hope you feel better soon

Jx

Feel better!

Thanks Linda & Soprano. I was able to do some (unpaid) mental work this morning, so obviously recovering.

Oh good! I think I’ve caught whatever’s going around now.

Weekly report:

Mon - Fri - success
Sat 3 meals
Sun 3 meals - didn't eat enough earlier in the day due to poor organisation and lack of planning, and ended up eating too much dinner. Ugh. Not for the first time.

Exercise- no formal exercise as still unwell, and then recovering. Was well enough to do some gentle walking by the end of the week.

NO Rec Screen til 2pm - Mon S for sick day, Tue - Sun success.

Weekly report:

Mon, Tues - success
Wed - technical fail - had seconds for dinner after dishing out something that turned out to be inedible.
Thurs, Fri - success
Sat - 3 meals - decided to have a treat day, so second courses for lunch and dinner. Just went over the limit of comfort at dinner.
Sun - 3 meals - finished off one of my treats, but otherwise ate as normal.

Exercise - 12km with walking group, gardening with some heavy lifting.

No Mindless Screening til 2pm - success except for Sat, when I struggled in the morning and gave in for a while to the desire to distract myself.

edit:

After 18 months of solid 3 meals a day and no bingeing, the memory of how I used to feel about my eating and weight fluctuations is starting to recede into the background, rather than being an everpresent preoccupation.

Great to read you have lost your preoccupation with food and weight.

As I have learned to trust the system and lost some weight I'm not as obsessed with weighing. It's funny but before nos i didn't weigh often but once I was committed to it I had to know it was working

Jx

ladybird30 wrote:
After 18 months of solid 3 meals a day and no bingeing, the memory of how I used to feel about my eating and weight fluctuations is starting to recede into the background, rather than being an everpresent preoccupation.

This is such a cool statement! That is just lovely.

I see you've caught a lot of spam messages. It almost seems there are more of them than newbies! That's what happens to the unflashy stuff.

Yes, its getting worse and worse. I am just about ready to give up on it.

I know! It has gotten much worse!
What will happen to our forum as time goes on? Entropy is upon us!
Should I print out my pages? Will we have to "move" to a new place on the internet? Like in Ralph Breaks the Internet?

Weekly report:

Mon - Wed - success
Thurs -success, but too much volume for dinner (lots of veg), but not enough calories overall for the day
Fri - success
Sat - 3 meals, 2 courses for dinner, which was planned ahead. Ate a smaller first course than usual so I could comfortably fit in the second.
Sun - 3 meals. As often happens, I felt "hungry" after dinner, but ignored it. Occasionally this means I haven't had enough to eat and I end up having supper so that I can sleep. Often it doesn't and it goes away. At least No S takes away the decision as to whether to take notice of the desire or not. Last night was marginal.

Exercises - 1 walk with group 13km, including a few hills. Light gardening and bike riding. Lots of sloth otherwise.

No Rec Screen before 2pm. Success.

Monthly weight check:

Oct 136 - 138
Nov - 134 -137

After last months slight rise, my weight fell to a new low this month.

Great news re your new low, well done

Jx

Sounds like you are doing brilliantly!

Thank you Soprano and Eschano.

Weekly report -
Mon, Tues - success
Wed - success, dinner at a bring a plate Xmas breakup, 2 moderate plates, no overeating, not worth counting as an S event.
Thur, Fri - success
Sat 3 meals + midnight snack - I thought I had had enough to eat during the day, but ended up getting out of bed and having a snack as I was too hungry to sleep.
Sun - 3 meals, another Xmas do at lunch, no overeating. I only get to this group once or twice a year, so it was good to catch up with people.

Exercise - walk with group 10m, small hills, some exercises, light gardening and bike riding

No Rec Screen til 2 pm - success. Have started a version of Reinhard's cards to help me organise my time better and get more done.

Weekly report:

I had 4 social occasions with food this week, so I loosened the reins a bit. So no dishing out all my food at the start of the meal - that wasn't going to work. Instead I had second helpings and second courses where appropriate. However, I avoided the treats, all my eating was meal based and mostly I didn't nibble. That added up to no overeating. The last do I went to, the hosts had set out small plates for the mains, which made it very easy to remain moderate. I am declaring a success for those N days which included social events. If I had eaten sweets, they would have been S events.

In fact, the weekend was harder.

Mon - Fri - success
Sat - 3 meals plus supper
Sun, 3 meals - I wanted to keep eating all I had dished out for dinner, but my stomach said otherwise. By the time I made myself listen to my stomach, the poor thing had been filled a bit too full.

Exercise - walk with group was 7km - had to cut it short because the weather was lousy. Bike riding, gardening, various exercises.

No Rec Screen til 2 pm - success - very easy because I was out so much.

Sounds like a good week all and all! 💜

Good job ladybird!! Those weeks with so many social activities are very challenging! They require us to fatigue our willpower muscles, so I do hope that you enjoyed your weekend S Days for real so that you are able to tackle this week.

Yep, my willpower muscles are fatigued already....but you are providing inspiration, Ladybird! Well done you.

Thanks Linda - it was a good week.

I'd like to claim lots of credit for resisting temptation, but in fact overdoing social eating wasn't my problem, and hasn't been since childhood. It was resisting the temptation to eat when I was by myself that was so hard. Still, the rules make it easier not to overindulge.

Weekly report:

The mad pre Xmas rush has subsided.

Mon - Fri - success
Sat - 3 meals
Sun - 3 meals + afternoon tea - hungry and didn't feel like waiting for dinner

Exercise - walk with group 10km, no hills, light gardening, cycling, exercises

No Rec Screen til 2 pm - success

Weekly report -

Mon - success. Had to restrain myself from cleaning up the leftovers when making Xmas day desert
Tues - S day. Still stuck to 3 meals and no snacks, but had a very nice Xmas dinner
Wed - success
Thurs & Fri - fail. After a hot walk on Thurs went shopping and to my surprise found myself filling my basket with my favourite fatty treats. I can only assume it was partly a response to the physical stress of walking & cycling in the heat, and perhaps a delayed response to Xmas day. None of it was sweet, not even the dark chocolate, and I stuck to 3 meals and no snacks, but it was definitely not in the spirit of No S.
Sat - 3 meals.
Sun - 3 meals. Ate enough rich food to make me feel distinctly seedy by Sun am and wasn't really hungry for the dinner I ate. Had seconds for lunch & dinner.

Didn't finish the chocolate bar I bought, and gave the rest to a friend this morning. She will enjoy it more than I will at the moment.

Altogether an interesting experience from which I learnt that I really don't have much tolerance for a lot of rich food any more. Even though apart from Sunday dinner I didn't eat too much volume, the after effects and the constant thoughts of food took away from the enjoyment I got.

Next time I go shopping when it is hot, I will be more aware of what is going on, and let those thoughts go rather than acting on them.

Exercise - 3 shorter walks, as too hot for long ones. Usual strength exercises and some stretching. No gardening except for picking fruit and watering.

No rec screen til 2 pm -success.

I'm also finding that I have much less tolerance for rich/fatty/very sweet foods than I did before I started NoS. Interesting.

Weekly report:

Mon - Fri success
Sat, Sun 3 meals

Eating back to normal.

Exercise - several shorter walks this, including a bit of hill climbing, strength exercises

No Rec Screen til 2 - success

Monthly weight report:

Nov 134 - 136
Dec 135 - 138

I've been in the same weight range 135 - 138 for about 6 months. As I still have more belly fat to lose, I have decided to make a big effort this month to stop doing the last of the overeating, which was eating too much at meals sometimes. I will also be cutting back on some of the fattier foods I have been enjoying. Lets hope that that is enough to get things moving again.

On the plus side, I have achieved maintenance, just at a higher weight than I think is really healthy for me.

Maintenance through the festivitie period is great. Good luck with your adjustments

Jx

Good work on your no screening, too. I know you've worked hard at that and I bet it feels good.

Thanks Auto. Just about at the point where I can see myself restricting that particular form of time wasting further.

Weekly report:

Mon - fail - supper
Tues - fail - seconds for dinner
Wed - fail - supper. So much for my attempts to make sure I don't overeat at meal times - all that happened was I didn't eat enough.
I woke up on Thurs with a renewed determination to fix this, and since then I have been recording my meals & times to try & work out just what and how much I need to eat. This is strictly short term. The aim is to then translate that into my weekly shopping.
Sat - 3 meals
Sun - 2 meals & 2 snacks.

Exercise - 2 walks of 7km, one with hills, & several shorter walks. Small amount of strength exercises. Long walks are out until we have some cooler weather. A bit of urban cycling for errands.

No Rec Screens til 2 - success. I have introduced a new screen limitation - no second screening, a bad habit I have slipped into which I want to stop.

Weekly report - I have been away camping in the mountains, so missed last week's report. I sent a photo of me wading in a mountain creek in a bathing suit to my sister and she said I looked in good shape. Thanks No S.

Mon 14 - Fri 18 success
Sat 19 - 26 - camping. I wasn't so strict about the number of meals, or seconds, but I stayed away from the daily supply of treats and I didn't overeat. I am calling it an S week.
Sun - 3 meals

Exercise - at home - short walks only. Walk with group was cancelled due to heat. Camping - one walk 15km, some shorter ones. I didn't do as much walking as usual on these holidays because of the heat. Had some lovely swims tho.

Screen limitations - success. Had a fail this morning - I went online to check out some opening hours, and then availability of a book I want to buy & came to realising that I had wasted over half an hour browsing through the online book site.

The book was Stick With It by Sean Young. It had enough good stuff about how to change habits and behaviours to make me want to have my own copy.
One of the best bits was try to change in small steps, and make what you want to do easy by a bit of preparation and thinking ahead.

I can smell the duck I am cooking for dinner - time to see how it is going.

My goodness - duck?! Lovely - be sure to tell me how it turns out!

And camping? Yay, wonderful, fun, ahhhhhh

The duck turned out well. It was too hot for a roast, so did it on top of the stove in a covered dish with a bit of water added + sliced lemon, turmeric, chili and Chinese 5 spice sprinkled over the top. It turned out pretty well, and as a bonus I got some yummy duck stock.

Weekly report:
Mon-Fri success. Late in the week I was strongly tempted to give in to my old habit of using food as a pain killer, but resisted.
Sat - 3 meals
Sun - 3 meals & a'tea. I thought my afternoon tea was pretty moderate, but it took so long for me to get hungry again I ended up having dinner over 2 hours later than usual, which was much too close to bed time, which made it harder to sleep.... Another reason for keeping to regular habits.

Exercise: short walk with group - 7km, several shorter walks, some bike riding, various strength & stretching exercises.

Screen Limitations:
Mon - fail as above
Tues - Sun: success

Weekly report (and a bit extra)

Mon 4, Tues -success
Wed - fail, not enough during day & had supper
thurs & Fri - success
Sat - 4 meals, ate dinner even tho not really hungry. Went to bed knowing I had eaten too much.
Sun - 3 meals, seconds for dinner
Mon 11 - fail, supper
Tues, Wed - success
Thurs - seconds for lunch, ate too much again

My eating has not been as orderly as usual. I think that the main factor has been a desire to break through the 6 month weight plateau. However, trying to eat less is backfiring - every time I do that, or even get more exercise than usual, I just get really hungry, leading to fails. I have also had some rebound overeating.

As the most important thing is to curb the overeating, I will be concentrating on taking my own advice - keeping relaxed about my eating, eating plenty but not too much at meal times, and trying for weight maintenance rather than weight loss. I also think that until I stop having fails, I will go back to what served me well when I started here - allow seconds at meal times if I genuinely feel that I need more to eat. That will stop the worrying about not dishing myself out enough, and allow me to serve myself moderate portions.

I am very glad I have this space to clarify my thoughts.

Exercise: shorter walks, bike riding, strength exercises, some gardening.

Screen limitations: still doing no mindless screens before 2 pm, no second screening.

I am very glad I have this space to clarify my thoughts.

Me too! Both for my own self and because I like hearing other people's clarifying thoughts!

I will be concentrating on taking my own advice - keeping relaxed about my eating, eating plenty but not too much at meal times, and trying for weight maintenance rather than weight loss.

This sounds very similar to what I was just reading on Sharon's thread!

I hope you greatly enjoy the rest of your meals this week.

Report for last 10 days or so. I have been away, so missed last week.

Fri 15 - success
Sat - getting ready to go away, didn't record, probably nothing unusual
Sun 17 - Th 21 - away with friends, had seconds and snacks, but stayed away from the nibbles and treats as usual. Eating was moderate.
Fr - arrived home. Fail - had supper, and too much at that.
Sat and Sun - ate 3 meals, but meals too big and overall ate more than I needed.

This is unfortunately a familiar pattern for me - it is always easier to eat moderately around other people than at home by myself. In addition, I was pretty tired after hard walking and stressful driving, so was eating as a boost. The good thing was that once home, I found it easier to stick to the 3 meal pattern, and have woken up on Mon morning feeling like myself again. At least when I was shopping on Sat morning, I recognised the pattern and resisted the thoughts about buying energy dense treats. Too much food is still too much food, but nothing puts on weight quickly and damages my well being like too much junk food.

Exercise: Lots of walking, some of it with friends up in the mountains (small ones in our part of the world). Blessed relief from summer, and beautiful unspoiled scenery and plant life. Good company too. Did back exercises, but missed out on strength training. Cycling at home.

No Mindless Screens - none while away. Fail at home on weekend, including during night when I couldn't sleep.

Weekly report to 3rd March
Mon- Wed - success
Thurs - fail - had seconds, which was definitely more than I needed.
Fri - success
Sat, Sun - 3 meals

This looks good, but too many of my meals have been on the large side.

I have started doing something I have been resisting, which is doing more meal planning and making my meals more consistent. By planning ahead, I will take away the meal time decisions about how much to pile on my plate, which is not working so well at the moment.

Exercise - short walks, bike riding, gardening, exercises.

Screen Limitations: Mostly OK, although my record keeping has been spotty.

Monthly weight report:

Jan 136 -138
Feb 136 - 138

Still going sideways with my weight, but my clothes have been a bit looser. I think that is the result of exercise.

I have started doing something I have been resisting, which is doing more meal planning and making my meals more consistent.

I so relate to resisting doing this. But I find it makes all the difference in how I feed myself and my family. good luck! And great (as always) with being a "moving a lot" inspiration to the rest of us.

Thanks Auto. I still sit a lot, and I wouldn't call myself super fit, but at 63 I can still walk 16km (10 miles) in under 5 hours if there aren't too many hills. That is a source of pride for me because of all the effort it represents.

Weekly report Mon 11

Mon - Fri: success, although Mon and Tues dinners were a bit OTT.

Sat - 3 meals, the last being somewhat extended
Sun - aimed for 3 meals, but because dinner was early, had supper as was getting hungry before bed again.

On the whole, I think my appetite has started to settle down again.

Exercise: a bit of bike riding, the odd short walk and one set of strength exercises. Somewhat unwell this week, so the last few days have been lolling around.

Screen limitations: M - F success, Sat & Sun - called them s for sick days as DVDs and laptop patience are great time fillers when I don't even feel like reading.

Kudos on your walking! And a green week.

Thanks Oolala. I walk because I enjoy it and it makes me feel good. Where I live, there are lots of nice places to walk.

Weekly report:

Mon - Wed - success
Thurs - 2 meals
Fri - success
Sat, Sun - 3 meals
Exercise - none as sick most of week. Over the worst of it by Friday.
Screen limitations - lots of mindless screening

I'm sure the "mindless screening" was very linked to you having been sick. Things like that knock us off our newer habits, ya know?

Weekly report:

Mon - Fri - success
Sat, Sun 3 meals. However, I misjudged somehow and the first meal on Sun was not long after midnight Sat. Didn't get much sleep. I think my circadian rhythms have been a bit screwed up from being so much inside for the last 2 weeks, and not being able to sleep properly at night after doing nothing all day.

Exercise: none to speak of, not even moving around the house, except for one short bike ride to do some food shopping and go to the library. it was good to get back on the bike and get outside for a while.

Screen limitations: still doing lots of mindless screening. At least I am not stuffing myself silly anymore like I used to. I will be much happier when I recover my energy and can get back to my usual outdoor activities. On the plus side I have read a couple of interesting books, and have been thinking about what I am going to do next in the garden.

I didn't realised how grumpy I was getting until I wrote all this down.

Weekly report:
Mon 25 Mar - Wed - success
Thurs - fail, supper
Friday - success
Sat - 3 meals
Sun - normally I don't judge weekends as success or failure, but my eating was definitely out of the bounds of normal, moderate eating. After an extended lunch, I had dinner even though I wasn't hungry. I am not going to be hard on myself here, because it is a direct result of being sick and having a period of low energy and not being able to do things. There is only so much of that I can take without succumbing to the short term fix. At least I didn't get into the junk food.
Mon 3 April - fail. Ate too much again.
Tues - success - not so hungry, had 2 meals.

Exercise:did a little on Saturday because I was feeling better, but woke up feeling unwell again on Sun. The exercise probably contributed to Sunday's overeating now I think about it.

On Mon my small group of friends who work at each other places came to my house and helped me tidy up the garden. It was most welcome, and I count myself as very fortunate to be part of it.

Screen limitations: gradually improving as at least I can concentrate again.

Weight: Feb 136 -138
Mar 135 -138
Still maintaining within a weight range.

I had been putting off doing this report, but now I have I am glad I did it. It has helped give me perspective and improved my outlook on the week's events.

Sorry to hear you have been unwell. Hope you fully recover soon.

I'm sure you'll soon get back in the swing of it with Nos. Just be gentle with yourself.

Jx

I am not going to be hard on myself here, because it is a direct result of being sick and having a period of low energy and not being able to do things. There is only so much of that I can take without succumbing to the short term fix.

Yes. This is reality and why moderation over long periods of time is key, rather than perfection for a few weeks followed by months of no boundaries.

Thanks for your kind words Soprano & Auto.

Have I asked about this group of people you know who work at each other’s houses? What kinds of things do you do? I love this idea. I’ve done a little bit of helping a friend who was putting her house on the market. She offered to take me out to dinner, but I said no, I’d rather have us trade helping each other at various times. I’m not even sure what I want her to help me do, but I know that she’s done similar trades with other people. We’re both attending A weekly meeting for decluttering, but she’s been doing it mostly on her own over a long period of time. Her house just sold, so I expect there’s going to be some big time decluttering going on in her garage! House already looks pretty good.

Hi Oolala - what we do varies from week to week, depending on what needs doing, the weather, how we are feeling etc. It's decided by the person whose place we are at. It could be cleaning windows, clearing out a shed, lifting things that are too heavy for one person, being present while the home owner gets up on the roof as a safety precaution, light gardening such as weeding or heavy gardening such as shovelling dirt. I keep a record of where we have been, so we get turn and turn about. Usually our sessions last for about 2 hours. Sometimes we might finish by having morning tea or lunch. Its a great way not only to get things done, but to develop and strengthen friendships.

Are these the same people you walk with?
Ladybird, your social connections are AMAZING. You inspire me in so many ways to not give up on the time investment needed to foster friendships. When my kids move out, I don't want to have nobody to hang with.....

Hi Auto - sometimes my working bee friends are on a walk with me - we belong to the same social circle of people who like doing outdoor things. As I live alone, and have no close family nearby, belonging to various clubs is a necessity for me. I find it quite ironic that I am regarded as having a wide social circle, as I spend a lot of time by myself and there was a time in my life I was very lonely. It helps that I have lived in the same small city for over 30 years. I really enjoy bumping into people I know when I am down the street. When my partner died (not recently), I did make a conscious decision to cultivate friendships with a particular group of women that I liked and had things in common with. I also make a habit of going on committees, which has been really good for building up relationships with people. I became good friends with one women from helping her with a long term project she was working on. One of the good things about getting older is that people react much more positively towards me than when I was younger. I still don't enjoy large social gatherings.

ladybird30 wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 06, 2019 1:14 am

Hi Auto - sometimes my working bee friends are on a walk with me - we belong to the same social circle of people who like doing outdoor things. As I live alone, and have no close family nearby, belonging to various clubs is a necessity for me. I find it quite ironic that I am regarded as having a wide social circle, as I spend a lot of time by myself and there was a time in my life I was very lonely. It helps that I have lived in the same small city for over 30 years. I really enjoy bumping into people I know when I am down the street. When my partner died (not recently), I did make a conscious decision to cultivate friendships with a particular group of women that I liked and had things in common with. I also make a habit of going on committees, which has been really good for building up relationships with people. I became good friends with one women from helping her with a long term project she was working on. One of the good things about getting older is that people react much more positively towards me than when I was younger. I still don't enjoy large social gatherings.

It's admirable that you've taken the steps to build up your social circle. I feel that women are better at this than men.

I'm in awe, too. Not sure when I'll get going on my social circle efforts. but I'll be thinking of you.

automatedeating wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 05, 2019 5:35 pm

Are these the same people you walk with?
Ladybird, your social connections are AMAZING. You inspire me in so many ways to not give up on the time investment needed to foster friendships. When my kids move out, I don't want to have nobody to hang with.....

Just jumping in to say - my kid moved out this past year. Even still having my husband, it's been kinda lonely at times.

After having a third bout of eating for the sake of eating rather than because I needed food, I decided to take a break while I thought about things.
My eating has settled down again, but my weight has gone up a couple of pounds since January. I don't want to let that influence my eating decisions, but that is harder than I realised. I have decided that for the moment I won't be weighing regularly or reporting my weight. Instead I will report my progress in eating more in tune with my bodies signals. I don't want to go off the rails again next time I am under an unusual amount of physical stress - it looks like my foundation of good eating habits was not quite as secure as I thought.

So far I have come to one conclusion - that eating 3 meals a day is the right thing for me & it is something that I want to continue. However, if I start to eat less at meal times because I wan't to get a bit more off my waist (apple shape here), all that happens is I make it up some other way - unscheduled snacks, low energy or overeating at subsequent meals. I won't be counting seconds as failures - that will take the pressure off that I still feel to get it right at the beginning of the meal and make it easier to eat the right amount.

If you have got this far, thanks for listening.

Hi Ladybird! So glad to see you here today!

Tell me if I am understanding this situation correctly - you got sick, and have been overeating more since then. So then you started restricting your amounts at your regular meals to sort of "make up" for the general overeating bouts. So to try to stop doing that, you are going to eat until you are full at meals and not worry about tracking your weight for awhile. The idea - focus on habits, not metrics.

I like it.

Hi Auto - some restriction, but also feeling blah sometimes meant lack of shopping & not wanting to cook, so - not always enough at meal times.
Also, a slight weight gain & a few bouts of overeating was triggering a certain amount of anxiety about the whole thing, which is highly counter productive. So I am just trying to get out of that pattern and into a happier, more relaxed space.

Hi Ladybird,
Very much relating to these topics. That anxiety when the good habits don’t seem as well-established as we thought. Hope you find the way to that happier space.

I love that we talk about mental health and the importance of not obsessing over the numbers here. A lot of extreme talk in the fasting groups so I really appreciate the moderate and common sense approach of this group at the moment.

Im definitely learning that it’s not worth comprising my mental health in pursuit of having a thin body. I find it helpful to have role models who are similar in size to me. If they can be happy, successful and attractive, so can I.

I agree that trying to over restrict at meals tend to backfire. Our bodies are smart and will eventually get what they need one way or another. I figure if i just eat 3 satisfying, relatively healthy meals a day, my body will land where it’s supposed to and then my job is just to learn to accept and respect my body at that point.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. You’ve got this!

HI Octavia and Linda - so nice to have your positive responses

Mon check in:

Eating - mostly OK except for supper one evening which I am not sure I needed. Next time I start feeling a bit empty after dinner, I will wait to see if the feeling develops into sleep stopping hunger or not.

Exercise - a good week. Have regained my strength after being sick. 13km walk on the flat with group, some shorter walks, one short bike ride, and two lots of body weight exercises. Today I am feeling rather weary, but spent a couple of hours working at a friends place.

Screens - not a problem in the mornings at the moment as I am able to spend mornings doing productive things again, and the weather is nice enough to spend lots of time outdoors.

Yay that you are feeling better, and as always, reading your thread makes my heart fill with how women can support each other in their endeavors - from physical productivity at each other's homes, to chatting on exercise walks.

I know you've shared before, but do you have a suggestion for how I might start forming some friendships like that? Walking clubs, home-helping clubs? Maybe that's a silly question.

Anyway, great week!

Not a silly question. The clubs I walk with were already established. The working bee was the initiative of other women friends of mine, and evolved out of our existing friendship group. Not much help, I know. Membership of the working bee has changed over the years. I can only suggest try out your existing friends, relatives and acquaintances and see who is interested in the activity you want to get going. You may get bites from women you don't know well. I keep a record of whose place we have been to and attendance. If we remember, we organise the next one on the day we meet, other wise it is day before texting. So no great organisation, but we do have a regular weekly morning which we keep unless otherwise occupied. There is one rule during the working bee - what the person whose place it is at wants is what happens.

Sometimes I wonder if a hypnotist could wipe out the memory of every having been concerned with my eating and weight. Of course, I'm at an age where that could happen within a few years- but I could lose a lot of other memories, too. Hmm.

Anyway, happy eating this May.

ladybird30 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 29, 2019 7:23 am

Hi Auto - some restriction, but also feeling blah sometimes meant lack of shopping & not wanting to cook, so - not always enough at meal times.
Also, a slight weight gain & a few bouts of overeating was triggering a certain amount of anxiety about the whole thing, which is highly counter productive. So I am just trying to get out of that pattern and into a happier, more relaxed space.

I feel like I am in a similar place.

Fortnightly check-in:

Tues 7 - 3 meals
Wed 8 - 3 meals, seconds
Thurs 9 - bought a bar of dark chocolate as our walking group visited a chocolatier during our walk. This turned out to be an unwise thing to do on my part. Since I was sick in March, I have lost a lot of the willpower I had wrt food, and the thought of rationing food like chocolate is just too much. So I ate it in immoderate amounts over the next two days. I know it was immoderate, because it stopped me sleeping.
Friday - woke up thinking about chocolate
Sat - had food cravings, and ended up bingeing on foods I bought at the supermarket when I was doing the weekly shop. This is probably the first over the top bout of food I have had since I joined the forum.

So my experiment with chocolate has taught me something. While I am not quite ready to say that chocolate is going on my short list of foods I would like to eat, but will never eat again, it will be a long time before I have another bar. However, raw cocoa pods don't have the same effect. They taste vaguely chocolatey and bitter, so it is the processing that makes chocolate so hard to resist.

I have also realised that I was relying too much on willpower to keep me going between meals. Somehow, I can't do that at the moment. I am thinking about how to live without relying on willpower around food - obviously this is not a long term proposition for me. Part of it will be recognising, with all due respect to Reinhard's emphasis on moderation, that I am basically an abstainer, not a moderator. I am OK with this.

Sun 10 - Fri 17 - still recovering from my food hangover, & couldn't be bothered recording. However, my eating, although erratic, wasn't over the top.

Sat 18, Sun 19 - 3 meals, no snacks, some seconds which is OK by me.

Exercise: have had two enjoyable walk with the group through forests in our district. Both had hills, so very good for my fitness. Also bike riding, but not much other exercise.

Have start tracking a few other habits, mainly for the sake of my health. I will see how I go. As far as No S goes, the two most important to me are 3 meals and no snacks. I will continue to allow myself seconds occasionally as long as I don't end up overloading my stomach.

While I am not quite ready to say that chocolate is going on my short list of foods I would like to eat, but will never eat again, it will be a long time before I have another bar.

I totally understand. This is the approach I have taken with alcohol. I have tried moderation so many times and end up slipping back into a place I didn't want to be.

I have also realised that I was relying too much on willpower to keep me going between meals. Somehow, I can't do that at the moment. I am thinking about how to live without relying on willpower around food - obviously this is not a long term proposition for me. Part of it will be recognising, with all due respect to Reinhard's emphasis on moderation, that I am basically an abstainer, not a moderator. I am OK with this.

I am happy for you that you have peace with this. I think that whatever path forward, we have to feel that the choice we are making is actually the choice that makes us happier. If we feel deprived, the change will only be short-term.

Well done, ladybird. I love getting the chance to hear your wise musings.

Weekly report:

M success
T seconds lunch & dinner
Th, Fr success
Sat& Sun-grazing

Exercise- had a couple of weeks off except for weekly walks with group

Current weight: 138 - 140 lbs.

Here's to a green and refreshing week!

Thanks Auto

Weekly doings:
mon failed afternoon tea
Tue failed seconds dinner
Wed - fri success
Sat, Sun 3 meals

Exercise: still giving strength training a miss, tho hoping to start again this week as my body is settling down again after feeling like I had been overdoing things . Bike needs repair, so back in the car which I don't enjoy. 3 walks - 10 km with group, two 7 or 8km walks around town instead of cycling. Housework (often neglected) & gardening which is better than sitting around.

Last week

Mon, Tue - success
Wed - success, but both breakfast & lunch were a bit too large
Thurs - success. Divided a bit too small first meal into two while out walking
Fri success
Sat 3 meals
Sun 3 meals big breakfast, not really hungry for lunch, but ate it anyway

Exercise - walking, cycling, heavy gardening, a few exercises

I haven't lost any of the weight I put on during my relapse earlier this year. It wasn't a lot, but at my age I notice even
a few pounds when it comes to walking up hills.

Weekly report:
Had a good week with No S
Mon -Fri success
Sat, Sun 3 meals

Exercise - walking, cycling, heavy gardening - no need for shovelglove when I am wielding an actual axe.

The axe wielding sounds badass. My husband and I did that earlier this year and it was a blast. We cut down a big hardwood tree on our property. He did most of the work, but I swung the axe a bunch, made it some small way through the tree by my own efforts, and definitely earned my blisters.

Do you sharpen your axe yourself or take it somewhere? Ours is quite dull now. I was thinking of just getting a leather strop and doing it myself, but if the local Ace Hardware can do it I might go that route instead. What do you think?

Sounds like No-S is going really well for you! How do you feel about it?

Hi, ladybird! Keep up the good work.

Fortnight's report - going pretty well as far as eating goes:
wk 1 M-F success, sat & sun 3 meals
wk 2 repeat

Still need to exercise some self discipline to ignore between meal cravings.

Exercise: usual walking, cycling

Hi Ladybird! Your check-in looks nice, glad things are going well. Keep up the great habits!

Thanks Auto. I seem to have a lot to do at the moment, so less inclination to spend time on the forum. But as I discovered earlier this year, I still need it to keep on track.

Fortnight's report:

Mon 26 Aug: M, Tu success, Wed only 2 meals, not so hungry, Thur, Fri success
Sat, Sun - 3 meals
Mon 2 Sep - M-Fr success, Sat, Sun 3 meals
Not much trouble sticking to No S this fortnight.

Exercise: Good walk with group 1st week, missed second week due to sickness. looking forward to this week.
Gardening with friends today.

Weight: Still holding weight range between 138 and 140 at the end of the month. There was a blip up at the
beginning of the month, but it may have been a scale problem - saw a sudden drop
back when I moved the scales on to a more even surface. I will see what happens next month.
I have started to make small lifestyle tweaks wrt sleep, sitting, and other well-being related things to see if I
can coax my set point down to a lower level for the sake of my health.

Reporting in again:
Since the last time, my weight has been fluctuating between 138 and 143 lbs.
I finally decided I had to ditch the energy dense weekend treats, and I am now back
down to 138 as of yesterday and feeling less bloated.
My compliance with NoS has been somewhat spotty, exceptions being mainly afternoon tea or supper, or seconds.
I am still staying away from sweets as usual, except for the occasional packet of dates which I have now
stopped buying.

In the interests of simplifying my life, I have decided to take Reinhard's advice and minimize my habit tracking
to y/n for No S.

Hi Ladybird! Thanks for the update and congrats on ditching the heavy weekend treats. Sounds like it has helped you feel better/healthier in addition to helping you lose a few pounds.

Take care!

Reporting in

Sun 20 Oct
S day, 3 meals & afternoon tea
Mon - Wed - success
Thurs: fail - had supper as too hungry to sleep. Perhaps I should declare Thurs & Fri S days, as I still have
trouble fitting in enough food in 3 meals on days I walk for several hours.
Fri - success
Sat - S day, 2 meals & 1 rather stretched out meal. No overeating
Sun S day, 3 meals
Mon - success

You can't get enough calories in during your 3 meals when you walk a lot? I have been walking like a fiend lately
(on the order of 2-3 hours a day) and I surprisingly don't feel hungrier. Maybe you could add something nutrient dense to your meals - like more protein and fat - guacamole, nuts, fatty meat (if you eat that)...? Or you could do the high fat/good protein yogurt. Or have a nice milky coffee/tea in between..
I'll be interested to hear how this shakes out for your eventual solution.

Some good suggestions from auto. Alternatively if they don't work for you I'd just have an extra mini meal (snack )on walking days as long as it isn't affecting you reaching your goals.

Jx

Updating -
Tues 29 Oct -Tues 19 Nov

success on N days for no seconds, sweets, snacks, except for 2 nibbles on a friends garden produce which I don't count. Two days where I ate too much of a particular food, so as far as moderate eating goes, a failure. I think that this food has to go on my list of foods that tempt me to eat more than I should of it. Generally I avoid these foods, as it makes life easier.

3 meals on S days, mostly the same as N day except for seconds a couple of times.

Exercise spotty as having a bit of a low energy patch. Doing a lot of gardening - cleaning up for the bushfire season, watering fruit and veg, and netting fruit trees among other things.

Weight is doing what it is supposed to, maintaining 138 -140 lbs and has gravitated towards the lower end.

I

Hope the end of November has gone well.

Pretty well Oolala, except for a bout of gastritis which lead to a sudden impulse meal to catch up a couple of days later after some light eating. I'll call it S for sick days.

Hope your eating is settling down again, sounds like Txgiving went well for you. We don't have a holiday like that here in Oz at this time of year, but we are all gearing up for the Xmas social round come December.

Reflections on 2019

I have maintained a loss of about 10 lbs on No S for the last year. This time last year I was several lbs lighter, having had a bit of a relapse after having the flu earlier this year. Actually, on looking back on my records, my low on NoS was in Nov 2018, so obviously I started loosening up after then. But maintenance is a great improvement on rocketing back up to my high weight and beyond. So I am satisfied that I have changed my habits to quite an extant.

That said, I have been doing more excessive eating than I should this year, enough to prevent any further weight loss. I feel the need to get rid of more of the fat that has settled around my middle.

This morning I went around the supermarket saying to myself, no, I can't buy that, that or that, not if I want to get my weight down.

However, for lunch I had apricots off my own tree. Now that's luxury.

Weight range for 2019
135 - 143lbs

Weight this am
139 lbs.

Mmh homegrown apricots!

Weight maintenance would be a great improvement on my last four years so well done .

Ladybird, that is SO impressive that you've maintained a stable weight for so long. It's always nice to be at our lowest, ideal weight... but there's something to be said for not allowing yourself to spiral back up to a more dreaded number! Kudos to you.

Thank you for you kind words.

Apricots yum!

Last week -
Mon - Fri: success, but some rather irregular meal times.
Sat - 3 meals + supper
Sun- 3 meals by the skin of my teeth & clock watching. We have had very hot weather,
which disrupted my sleep and reduced my appetite. Tiredness and rebound cravings
made not diving into food yesterday when it finally cooled down quite difficult, but I
resisted with a lot of clock watching.

Oh, good job ladybird. Sometimes getting off our schedules makes it teeth-gritting back into the saddle. Hope tomorrow goes better.

Good on you for resisting! Hoping the following days are a bit less taxing for you.

Well done Ladybird, hope this week is easier for you

Jx

Well done ladybird. I’m still in the honeymoon phase but dreading those craving days.

Thanks for your encouragement. I am finding it easier this week, probably thanks to some cooler weather.

Can't believe it has been so long. I hope everyone is keeping well, and coping with these strange times without excess food.

Since Jan I haven't been weighing every day like I used to - I lost my enthusiasm for that.
Occasionally I get on the scales. My weight has been reasonably stable from Jan to May,
fluctuating between 138 and 142 lbs. This is good. Compare this with my original high at the start of Nos, 151 lbs. My weight this morning was
140 lbs.

However, I would really like to get rid of more of the excess I carry around my middle, for both my health's sake & vanity.
I have just completed 18 days of pretty strict NoS - no eating between meals & seconds only twice, neither excessive. My meal sizes have
been reasonable as well.

Have I lost any weight - hard to tell, I have always been a slow loser, and water weight fluctuations can easily mask what is happening over 2 or 3 weeks.

On looking back at my records, I noticed a blip up after my last visit to the supermarket a month ago, which I put down to too much fatty food combined with giving in to the impulse to graze occasionally. As I am planning another big shop this coming week, it is time to put in some strategies to deal with this. Otherwise I will be trying to control my weight and eating by living indefinitely on an extremely limited and boring diet, and who wants to do that.

Here is what I will be doing over the next fortnight -

Continue strict No S - not giving in next time the food cravings hit in the middle of the afternoon. I have found that consciously practicing relaxation & letting those thoughts and feelings go, not getting caught up in them, helps a lot here.

Putting in some mild restrictions on portion sizes of fatty foods - I have already started this. It is important to me to find that happy middle between not having enough and having way too much. If I ate a lot of refined carbs or appetite stimulating fat/sugar combos I would reduce them too, but I don't.

Continue to slowly increase the number of steps I do - I am not quite where I want to be as far as my fitness goes at the moment. I really miss my weekly hiking group. I am also being more consistent with body weight exercises and am gradually getting stronger. I find it very satisfying. I use Mark Laurens Body by You book which has a graded program of exercises to follow which I can do at home with no special equipment.