Everyday Systems

Hello.
Newbie here.. so expect things that are pretty much the norm around here (if any long term no S'ers read this) to seem like small miracles/eureka moments to me! I say this because I started no S last Monday (12 days ago) and have already experienced a few. I'm happy with habitcal but I've decided to document for a while, mainly so I can track my realisations and lightbulb moments. Plus I've never really kept a journal so it's another new thing to play with (and I'm just finding I have a little more time in my life now that I'm not adhering to (pretty extreme) diet protocols.

Freeeeeeeeeedom!!!!

My first week:
Mon: N day - Success
Tues: N day - Success (with cravings)
Weds: N day - Success (more cravings, esp mid afternoon)
Thurs: N day - Success (hungry though and seemed to be losing weight a bit too quick. My meals were enormous compared to pre no S but I think I snacked a lot more than I ever realised)
Fri: N day - Success (really hungry inbetween meals even though they were substantial. very much looking forward to relaxing the rules over the weekend but also a little trepiditious in case I turn rabid!)
Saturday: S day - not hungry😂!!!! Out all day dropping my son at uni, buying his first food shop and last minute things, offloading alllll his stuff into his flat etc. Normal brekkie, normal lunch. Drove home dreaming of haagen dazs vanilla icecream with piles of chopped dark chocolate. After driving 3 hours back and nearing home in the evening I dropped into the shops for icecream. And the icecream freezers were broken! So I went home and ate chocolate
Sunday: S day - went okay but quite heavy on chocolate in the evening. Oh and I made baked apples for everyone for pud. They were amazing.
Mon: N day - Success but so, so, so haaaaaard. Especially as I felt extra tired. Looking forward to an S day tomorrow (my son's 5th birthday but going to try to go steady.
Tues: Special day - yikes, started early tasting the cake mix (obvs to make sure it was right!) And chocolate buttercream icing (it tasted so right!). Did quite well as I was rushed but skipped lunch and dinner as I didn't have time to stop. I just ate a couple slices of cake in the evening
Weds: N day - Failure. Yikes, I think the lack of proper meals yesterday plus the addition of sugar completely threw me off. Oh and tiredness. I started off good. But then added sweet snacks. I made soup for dinner but by the time it was ready I couldn't be bothered so I ate lots of chocolate.
Thurs: N day - Success. Back with it and pretty stubbornly trying to get back on track. Not trying to be extra good, just normal good. Very cravey mid arvo but a black decaff coffee sorted me out (massive success)
Fri: N day - Success. And only a small mid afternoon craving, quenched by a black decaff and thinking 'not long to wait' - and then stringing it out!
Sat (today): S day - not overly hungry. Ate just like an N day until prepping evening meal when I ate some tortilla chips (on reflection it was pretty mindless eating too). I made a gluten free (and sugar free - I'm thinking I have a sugar thing which makes me go awol so I'm going to ditch refined sugar for a while) berry crumble and had a serving after my evening meal.
That's it!

Welcome, Gillian! Gotta celebrate all those successes and mini-miracles . Great start!

Nice to meet you. I hope your week goes well.

Ah thank you so much for the warm welcomes Merry and gingerpie!

Today was an S day. I've not really been feeling hungry the past couple of days. Cravings - yes (and even they were somewhat subdued), but hunger - not really. And bizarrely, I've come to realise that I like feeling hungry (not all the time!) so I may need to play with portion sizes a bit. Normal brekkie and lunch without all the S's. Mid afternoon I had a small amount of the sugar free berry crumble I made yesterday which made my evening meal intake even smaller (beef stew cooked in the instant pot). This evening though I had chocolate (obvs it doesn't matter since it's an S day). But the weird thing is I didn't really enjoy it. I enjoyed the associations that my mind and body have built up with much training😂. But other than that it was a bit disappointing. I really wasnt expecting that so I might need some time to get my head around it!

However, my body seemed did seem to appreciate the sugar... When I went past the chin-up bar over my kitchen door frame my few chin-ups were A LOT easier than they have been recently. And because I'm currently trying to work through chronic fatigue I really notice subtle energy changes. But I know that sugar is not the answer. Well I think I do.

Hmmmm..

On another note I finally bought a battery for my scales today. I will tiptoe on with trepidation tomorrow morning!!

Am I about to become one of those rikocheting types?!
I was quite enjoying my first go at no-S but seemed to fall out once I'd made a couple of indiscretions. So I went back to the land of ketogenic eating. And was doing quite well (although I've never felt fantastic on keto - more slow and steady). But then menstruation occurred and I went carb mad (mostly in the form of chocolate). But the carbs did give me energy and my workouts felt so, so, so much better. So this past week I've upped the carbs again, but.... I just keep diving in for more of the sweet stuff. And more. And more! It's a bit like being an addict... The carb hits make me feel 'normal', and then the lows make me feel a bit crap. So I seek out carbs just to feel normal again.
Today I've bitten the bullet and have gone practically sugar free. I've decided to retry no-S but also try to stay away from sugar, even at weekends and S days for a while... just so I can get a hold of this addictive thing... This bingeing mentality is new, and kinda scary. I'm not going to go back to keto and am not going to go low on healthy carbs - just sugar/fructose.
I'm glad I've written it down. It seems more solid a 'plan' now.
Fingers crossed for a bit of stability.

Second day back on no-S and it's going okay (yes I know yesterday was an S day but I didn't eat sugar so am also counting it as a good start! ). I did my morning hiit after the school run (which was long and convoluted - I was meant to take my son's bike into school for cycling proficiency but forgot, so had to make 2 journeys). I eventually had a very late brekkie, post workout, of porridge with raspberries, a chopped pear and pumkpin seeds. I then worked pretty much until school pick up so kinda missed lunch. Was verrrry hangry on the way back from school and somehow managed to stay sane whilst cooking a potato in the microwave to finish off in the oven and then threw it together with some tinned salmon, homemade mayo and a massive salad. I am still very much missing sugar and each and every cell of my body is currently crAAAAving just 'a tiny bit of chocolate'!!!!!!!

I just stole (and modified) this calendar from Jen, who 'acquired' it from another no-S er. Thanks Jen and original person!..

NOVEMBER

. . . . . 😞 😞😞😞😞
😞 😞 😞 😞😞😞 💣
14 15 16 17 💣💣
20 21 22 23 24 💣💣
28 29 30

😞 I hadn't started no-S on these days
I was good on this N day
💩 I wasn't as good as I'd hoped on this N day
💣S day

gillian wrote:Second day back on no-S and it's going okay (yes I know yesterday was an S day but I didn't eat sugar so am also counting it as a good start! ). I did my morning hiit after the school run (which was long and convoluted - I was meant to take my son's bike into school for cycling proficiency but forgot, so had to make 2 journeys). I eventually had a very late brekkie, post workout, of porridge with raspberries, a chopped pear and pumkpin seeds. I then worked pretty much until school pick up so kinda missed lunch. Was verrrry hangry on the way back from school and somehow managed to stay sane whilst cooking a potato in the microwave to finish off in the oven and then threw it together with some tinned salmon, homemade mayo and a massive salad. I am still very much missing sugar and each and every cell of my body is currently crAAAAving just 'a tiny bit of chocolate'!!!!!!!

I just stole (and modified) this calendar from Jen, who 'acquired' it from another no-S er. Thanks Jen and original person!..

NOVEMBER

. . . . . 😞 😞😞😞😞
😞 😞 😞 😞😞😞 💣
14 15 16 17 💣💣
20 21 22 23 24 💣💣
28 29 30

😞 I hadn't started no-S on these days
I was good on this N day
💩 I wasn't as good as I'd hoped on this N day
💣S day

You are welcome! Cute emojis! Weekends are the bomb.