Everyday Systems

So...after a very long time just reading through how it is going for everyone else, I thought it was time I committed to No S.

Like so many others, I am useless at dieting actually to the point where I don’t even start because I know I won’t be able to commit to it long term. My decision to start No S has come about because I saw a photo of myself over Christmas from the back and thought...hmmm....I’m a little bit wide! Lol I have never fooled myself about why I am overweight...I know it is because I eat too much!

I am a busy person and I don’t have any more hours of spare time for exercise. I swim for an hour twice per week and I try to walk as much as possible. Some weeks that can be a few miles, other times, much less. So, it’s even more important that I try to change my eating habits.

I am a UK size 16 and would like to get back to a 12 but I’m just aiming for 14 at the moment. I am hoping that I can cope with the slow weight loss as I didn’t put it on overnight so it’s not coming off that quickly (sadly).

So to start the check in, I weighed myself on Tuesday and started No S yesterday - a green day so a good start. So far so good today! But it’s only lunchtime so I’ll see how it goes!

Welcome! I humbly suggest, since you say you know you’ve been over eating, that you think of yourself as losing that rather than losing weight. Try not to watch the pot right away, though. Best to delight in your moderate meals and keep your attention on the rest of your life between them. “Hovering†over our eating is a habit, too. But it sounds like you may have been busy enough that that’s not your issue.

I certainly am busy but in the past but obviously not enough to not snack! That is definitely my problem and thinking of losing what I have overeaten (ie. my snacks) might be a better way to think of it, as you say.

I always snicker on the inside when I hear people say they were too busy to eat. For me, it would mean I'd have to also not have access to food as it takes me just about no time to snack or beyond (and thus fail.) In fact, pairing rushing and eating was such a common thing that to this day, when I'm in a big rush, I can feel the urges to gulp something down. It was part of the excitement! But it's not the default anymore.

Welcome manfa.

manfa wrote:I have never fooled myself about why I am overweight...I know it is because I eat too much!

Me too. I What I didn't know was how not to eat too much. NO S has given me the tools to eat moderately. I hope it does for you too.

Here’s hoping No S can moderate it for me too!

Thursday - green day!

Feeling pretty pleased with myself as well because I had lunch at 12.30 and didn’t have dinner until 9pm because of husband working late....ate nothing in between!! Not quite sure how I managed that TBH....

Wow! that is amazing! Pretty impressive for a newbie.

Welcome to the boards and to reasonable and sane moderation. Just like ladybird said, NoS provides tools (and structure) to help us moderate in a way we can feel confident, happy, and proud of ourselves.

Nice!

I find some days I can go for much longer than usual without much of a problem and other days, I'm on pins and needles.

Thanks!

Pleased to report another green day for Friday. First S day is going ok so far...not too overboard. Still got the evening to go but I’m quite full from dinner so I think (hope) that will see me through to breakfast.

So...my S days were not as heavy as I expected them to be, so that’s a positive. Now into my first whole week of N days. So far so good:

Monday SUCCESS
Tuesday SUCCESS

I must admit that I didn’t think posting on a forum would make any difference but the thought of posting a red day (which I know is inevitable) is keeping me going a bit!

Even though it’s only been a few days, I am already feeling less cross at myself because I am not snacking which though I enjoyed it at the time, would make me feel angry at myself afterwards for not having any self control!

Thanks to everyone for your support and all the other posts not even related to me! It helps me to stay focused!

Well done, sounds like you are doing well

Jx

Hi manfa, I’m in the UK too, also a size 16. I’ve had many struggles with my eating over the years and am currently back here because NoS is the only sane way I have ever found of gaining control around food. I’m glad you’ve found it and wish you every success, sounds like you’re off to a great start.

Hi Bluebell! I haven’t done No S before now although I have tried to cut out snacks before. It’s going (surprisingly) well at the moment.

Wednesday success

Weighed myself this morning and have lost 2.9lb since I started last Wednesday.

Thursday SUCCESS

Great job. Seeing all the green must put a smile on ur face! !

Well done, you’re off to a great start. Enjoy your weekend

manfa wrote:So...my S days were not as heavy as I expected them to be, so that’s a positive. Now into my first whole week of N days. So far so good:

Monday SUCCESS
Tuesday SUCCESS

I must admit that I didn’t think posting on a forum would make any difference but the thought of posting a red day (which I know is inevitable) is keeping me going a bit!

Even though it’s only been a few days, I am already feeling less cross at myself because I am not snacking which though I enjoyed it at the time, would make me feel angry at myself afterwards for not having any self control!

Thanks to everyone for your support and all the other posts not even related to me! It helps me to stay focused!

Belated welcome. I believe that quote above is key to success for the most of us.

Week two of N days done. Delight in ALL your food this weekend!

I’m a bit behind on checking in after a busy weekend. It was my birthday this weekend and at work on Friday there were chocolate brownies in my honour so I knew I would have to either fail or declare an S day. I didn’t have any snacks on Saturday so I feel happier to declare Friday as an S day rather than to say I’ve failed. Annoying have a birthday so soon after starting!

Friday: S day
Monday success

Yesterday, I didn’t even think about eating outside of my three meal times, even after going swimming in the evening!

Great start. don't worry about your birthday being an S.

That's great that your body is adapting to regular and discrete mealtimes.

And Happy Birthday! Definitely an S Day.

It's part of the protocol to call your birthday one of your 2-per month permitted extra S days (called NWS) days rather than a fail or trading for an weekend day. You can still NOT have an S on any S day.

I've gotten more picky about brownies but many fit the bill. Hope yours were really good.

Thanks for the birthday wishes auto!

I know what you mean about being picky oolala. Quite a while ago, I made the decision to stop eating shop bought cakes/brownies, etc. I found that sponge cakes taste more like sponge and less like cake. I love baking so I only eat homemade cakes now, although hopefully less than usual!

It’s definitely getting easier! Thank you all for the support.

Tuesday: SUCCESS

Wednesday success 😊

I never did master baking without eating too much on the way. And my results were not nearly as good as what I can buy. But I know some people are really good at it. You're one of them, I'm sure. Baking anything this weekend?

No time for baking at the weekend, sadly!

Friday: success
S days: Maybe a bit too extravagant on Saturday but not too bad on Sunday
Monday: success

It was quite nice to be back in the routine on Monday to be honest. I think that once I’m truly in the habit of no.s I will apply a few rules to the weekends as well but I’m going to wait for a few more weeks before I do that.

I weighed myself on Friday and I had stayed the same as last week which is remarkable considering the amount I ate on my birthday weekend! 😂

Oh dear, oh dear!

Not such a successful week this week ðŸ™

Wednesday: fail
Thursday: success
Friday: fail

I know why these failures happened....Wednesday was a stressful day (the third day in a row of stressful days at work and a pain in the neck MIL). I only failed a little by having two biscuits but it was still a fail. I usually swim on Wednesdays too but I missed it because I finished work late. It was a miserable day!

Yesterday. I had my lunch a lot later than normal but we also had dinner early because my son had a club in the evening and my husband had to leave to away for the weekend. I really like us to have dinner as a family so I had to eat with them. I ended up leaving half of it and then eating the other half later in the evening. I also had two biscuits.

It also didn’t help that I weighed myself yesterday morning and found I had stayed the same again. In my head, I know that the weight will come off eventually, but I also know I am someone that needs to see the scales move!

I’m not giving up...I will try to not go mad this weekend with my S days and get back on track on Monday.

Do your best to let it all go. Have some delicious meals this weekend and try to be a little nonchalant about S's. How much more can you ask of yourself? You'll get back to it Monday.

Hi manfa, Just wanted to say hi and let you know I'm reading you! I have been in and out of NoS for about 6 years but I ALWAYS come back. Whatever happens, you always know this is where you belong!
Belated Happy Birthday!!

I will try to let it go oolala; it definitely helps to post on here, good or bad. I know I need to mark it and move on!

Hi Allisonmeg...thank you for the birthday wishes. Although it’s not been a great week, I am determined to carry on so that No S becomes my default even if things do go wrong sometimes.

Enjoy your S Days!

Weekend wasn’t too bad...just some chocolate buttons yesterday evening whilst watching Doctor Who!!

Do people find it more helpful to post what they are eating? I’ve read through lots of daily check ins and some people are amazing at keeping an up to date diary of what they are eating and others seem happy to just post success or otherwise.

As one of those people that always posts my meals (even on S days!), I would say that at this point I use it as much as a planning tool than anything else. I can't TELL you how many times I've listed my meal plans for the day, only to realize something will make a particular meal tricky to stick to NoS. Then I'm able to anticipate and plan (often by looking up the restaurant menu online, or packing more food to take with me, or changing what I'm going to make for dinner due to time constraints).

Anyway, it all comes down to your own goals and priorities and how much fun it is for you to keep an online journal.

I think I am going to give it a go and see if that helps me to keep on track a bit better this week.

Breakfast: 2 oatibix with milk and banana, cup of tea
Lunch: Tuna salad, apple, satsuma, small yoghurt pot
Dinner: Pork, vegetable and rice stir fry

Swimming: 42 lengths x 25m = 1050m
Working my way up to 50 lengths by increasing by two lengths every couple of weeks, hence the random number of lengths.

Lunch sounds like a lot but the tuna salad was not that big. And my biggest problem really is snacking so I'm working on that more than anything.

Monday: success!

Great job with the swimming! I always admire swimmers - I think those are the hardest workouts!

I find swimming so much easier than most exercise, like running. I’m not a particularly fast swimmer, but even so, my running is so awful that I could probably swim 1km quicker than running it!!

I would like to go swiming too, in the future. What I find cumbersome is to have to dry my hair etc. As a child I used to do agonistic swimming and I remember going out of my training, late afternoon, still kind of humid allover, and step into the dark cold winter, possibly foggy, with red eyes for the chlorine. Weirdly, I liked all of the above.

Can’t say I enjoy the after-swimming bits...being cold when I get out the pool, hair being all knotty because of the chlorine, trying to pull on jeans when you can never dry your legs properly, feeling super cold when you walk outside!

I used to swim in my late teens but stopped when I moved towns and my life changed. I got back into it about six months ago and managed to teach myself to swim underwater which probably doesn’t sound too difficult but it took a lot of practice!

Anyway, more important, today has been success!

Breakfast: 2 slices peanut butter on toast, orange juice
Lunch: Cous cous salad, apple, satsuma, small yoghurt pot
Dinner: chicken curry with rice

No swimming today but managed to clock up 3.5 miles walking.

manfa wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 05, 2019 10:05 pm

trying to pull on jeans when you can never dry your legs properly

horrible, ha ha!

Wednesday: success

B: oatibix and banana
L: tuna sandwich, apple, satsuma, small yoghurt pot
D: chicken casserole, mashed potato and veg

Also lost 1lb this week. Not much but put a smile on my face as have stayed the same for a couple of weeks.

The little drops can definitely put a smile on one's face! I know you put a smile on mine while describing your post-swim-workout acrobatics to get dressed and deal with the cold!

Glad to have made you smile auto

Checking in slightly earlier to ensure I am done with eating today!

Thursday: success

B: 2 slices peanut butter on toast
L: couscous salad, banana, satsuma, small yoghurt
D: pork casserole with veg

I know that I could eat a bit less for lunch as time goes on, but at the moment it is keeping me going until dinner, so I’m not worrying about it.

Clocked up 3.07 miles of walking today.

So I'm back again after two years of not getting any slimmer or sorting out my snacking problem.

I actually started again on 1st December but rather than jumping into all the rules straight away, I am working on them bit by bit in the hope that with each new month, a new little habit will have been formed...we will see!

In December, I was working on no snacks between breakfast and lunch. Not something I tend to do too much so I thought it would be the easiest to start with to gain a feeling of success. With the exception of a couple of days at Christmas, I have managed to do this so at the beginning of January, I started on step 2 - adding in no snacks between lunch and dinner. So far so good. If I am successful, I intend to move onto step 3 - adding in no snacks after dinner. I don't normally have seconds and I tend to eat pudding only at weekends anyway.

I wasn't going to post on here again, but I keep reading others' posts and it really helps so I thought I'd give it another go.

Week 1 of January complete
7 days of no morning snacks and no afternoon snacks.