Everyday Systems

I'm back to try again. November objective is to exercise at least 15 min every day and to eliminate binge snacking. The occasional fruit or raw vegetables between meals will be allowed (there won't be any binging with that lol).

So here it goes!

Best of luck, Butterfly!

How wonderful is it that we get 12 times a year to start with a blank slate?

Thank you!

First day didn't start off good. Too many people at work had leftover halloween chocolate on their desk so it was hard to resist. After supper had cereal. Wasn't hungry, it was just out of habit.
Tomorrow's another day.

Saw your post on the March thread. Do your best to think about wanting to avoid marking that red. May I ask what thoughts you're having before you eat after dinner? or do you just feel that sensation that moves you to eat and you just go with it?

Do give yourself credit for what it is going right at other times of the day.

Thank you for taking the time to post here Oolala

With meals, when I put my mind to it, I’m able to eat reasonably (most of the time). It’s the in between meals that kills me. And most of the time it’s not even because I’m hungry otherwise a yogurt or piece of cheese would satisfy me. It’s more like cravings or bad habits I’ve created over the years - I’m also an emotional eater. I feel kind of like an alcoholic or smoker. When I start the binging I can’t seem to stop myself. I think this is why I keep coming back here every once in a while hoping that “this time it’ll workâ€. I think No S is a good system for me because it could help me lose the habit of out of control high calorie snack (because when I talk about binge eating, it’s not apples that I’m eating loll).

I won’t give up ...

I thing that antsy urge or stronger craving feeling is way harder to navigate than plain old hunger. I didn't fight it on S days for a long time. When I described what I used to do to a friend who recently started No S (she has known me the whole time and has gained nearly as much as I have lost; she was NEVER heavy before now), she was really shocked.

Try not let the stigma about addicts get you down to much. Recognition that substance use actually makes a lot of sense in the short run is part of the most successful therapies, unlke the therapies that get the most press. I actually prefer to call them seductions. They take advantage of pleasure and reward circuitry in the brain that's meant for much milder stimuli. It's no wonder we like them! Overeating is the most pervasive one because the brain has hardly any defenses against it. That's why it's either scarcity or cultural habits that have kept most humans slim. The religious forces turned overeating into a an evil personal weakness probably because they didn't know how else to combat it once humans started having a fair amount of food. The seven deadly "sins" are all actually perversions of survival instincts that give us some pleasure or our ancestors wouldn't have lasted long enough to procreate! But in this society of excess, there's less support to manage them. That's why the No
S tribe is so useful!

That’s a brilliant summary of No S, Oolala. Hope things work better for you this time, Butterfly. It seems a pretty common thing, to go through a few false starts before you manage to really get going on No S. And there’s no shame in binge snacking - I think most of us have done it, that’s why we’re here. No S fixes it better than other systems. I’m still doing it on S days. But I’m already reaping rewards! And I’m only 3 months in. Good luck. Ÿ’

Thank you both for your comments.

Butterfly, if it helps, I do agree there is a mental component, but I wouldn't discount the physical habit. If you're used to eating a certain time, your body ramps up a symphony of hormones and responses, and it's not happy when the expectation does not materialize! You really truly can train yourself out of being hungry at certain times. Even if you just start with nothing after dinner and go with that for a while, I think you may find that the physical response can be conditioned in your favor.