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CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2019 11:40 pm
by cb3g
As someone who struggles with habits and behaviors related to eating, I've decided that I'm ready to give the NoS Diet an earnest go. I'm committing to doing NoS for 21 days, and I started on Tuesday, Oct 22nd. My hope is that the experiment will work and I'll eventually build it into a more unconscious long term habit, but for now...21 days!

Why I am trying NoS:

I just want to find a way of eating that allows me to maintain a healthy weight without having to be obsessed with food. I randomly came across NoS one day and it resonated with me instantly. It targets the aspects of eating that I struggle with - mindfulness, snacking, and emotional eating. For a while now, I've realized that I need to target my habits of snacking and seconds, but putting it into the tidy NoS package has helped me feel focused and motivated.

This diet reminds me of my dad. He is one of the most disciplined people I know - the kind of person who doesn't snack between meals as a matter of principle, who breaks what he's doing and eats his meals at a table, and who has maintained playing racquetball 3 mornings per week for more than 35 years. He's an excellent role model in many ways, and I like to think of him as my role model for NoS. In fact, I joke to my sister that it's the "Dad Diet."

My Goals for the next 21 days:

When I first read the NoS webpage a few months back I started testing it out and, frankly, found it really, really hard. For me, this will be just as difficult as any other diet. So I decided to give it a shot as a 21 day challenge (so much less daunting than a forever challenge) and see if I learn something new about myself. During this 21 days, I commit to

- Use the Habit Bull app to keep track of green days, red days, and yellow days.
- Be observant to see if my body adjusts by sending fewer hunger cues between meals.
- Experiment with meal types and timing to become more aware of what types of meals help me feel less hungry between meal times.
- Avoid the trap of black and white thinking. I sometimes develop a mindset of "well I ate one cookie and lost my green check mark, so I might as well take advantage and eat all the things." I am striving to avoid that mindset. Instead, I'll try to say to myself "don't let one battle distract you from winning the war."
- Use this as a time to learn something about myself, so I can make a conscious decision at the end of 21 days to see if I should continue or change paths.


My mods/clarifications:

I'm trying to do Vanilla NoS for these 21 days, but I do have one clarification and one tiny mod (sprinkle?):

- I am not going to worry about beverages between meals. I didn't see anything about this in the guidance so I'm not sure if that's standard NoS or not, but I plan to continue to drink coffee/tea/etc. The basic rules around food will be challenging enough for me!
- I am going to allow a protein shake before or after workouts. I tend to be famished before or after workouts and having to wait until I can prepare a whole meal is not always feasible.
- I have looked at the calendar and confirmed that there are no "Special" days for me in the next 3 weeks. My only S days will be on weekends.

My starting stats:

These stats are not really the point of these next 21 days, but people might be curious, so I'll include.
Female
5'10"
187 lbs

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2019 1:41 am
by automatedeating
It's totally cool to have beverages between meals. :-)

You really had me smiling when you called it the Dad Diet! That was MY inspiration when I joined, too! Indeed my name "automated eating" was in reference to the way my dad eats. :-)

Welcome aboard to moderating eating habits. I look forward to reading more of your journey.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2019 8:00 am
by Soprano
Welcome I love your attitude and absolutely a fail is an opportunity to start again at the next meal

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 11:42 pm
by cb3g
An update!

Tuesday (N) - Compliant
Wednesday (N) - Compliant
Thursday (N) - Compliant
Friday (N) - Compliant
Saturday (S)
Sunday (S)

Wins

- On paper, this was a perfect week! Woo hoo! It was hard, but I kept focused and I did it. I'm glad to have gotten to a strong start.
- Food habits tend to be my issue, not so much food choices. I batched cooked my breakfasts and lunches in advance and ate quite healthy options all week. Typical day looked like this: Breakfast (butternut squash & chicken soup with one piece of toast with fried egg on top) / Lunch (green smoothie, brown rice/lentil/bean and veggie stew and slices of baguette with cheese) / Dinner (variable, but usually a salad).
- While I've enjoyed the extra freedom on m S days this weekend, I didn't do anything super unusual or feel like I "went crazy" to make up for the restrictions earlier this week.
- I kept up my normal workout routine.
- I went out to dinner one night and resisted the chips & salsa that were put on the table prior to the meal.

Areas for development

- While I managed to be compliant this week...it was really hard and I struggled a lot with hunger. It's not totally clear to me how much this hunger is physiological vs psychological. If I can't figure out how to get that more under control, I'm not going to be able to keep this up long term.
- I had a bit of a breakdown out on Saturday morning. It's a long story, but I had a bit of cake my husband made a remark that some might consider to be innocuous, and I flipped out. I don't really want to get into the details at the moment, but the take away is that I have a lot of complicated feelings tied up with food and weight and I can't expect those to go away overnight. Honestly this kind of thing seems to happen any time I try a "diet." It's really frustrating.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:24 am
by Soprano
Firstly well done on your week

Try not to think of this as a diet. It's a new way of eating that will satisfy your nutritional needs, let you enjoy food and over time will help you lose weight.

The hunger between meals will either disappear over time or you learn to cope with it. In the meantime a drink can help you. I find tea is enough but milk might be more satisfying.

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 3:26 pm
by noSer
Great job! Make sure you are getting enough to drink. Also, I find if I don't eat breakfast, or just have protein, like an egg, I am less hungry. You are doing fantastic!

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:08 pm
by cb3g
Soprano wrote:
Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:24 am

Try not to think of this as a diet. It's a new way of eating that will satisfy your nutritional needs, let you enjoy food and over time will help you lose weight.

Jx
Hi Soprano, thanks for your encouragement.

You know, I actually just had a bit debate with a friend about what exactly we mean when we say "diet." To me, working to comply with a bunch of specific rules around what you eat, especially when tied to an express desire to have an outcome on your body (ex. losing weight or lowering your cholesterol) is a diet. Plain and simple. The friend I was talking to defined a "diet" as something that you do in the short term, but in his mind it ceases to be a diet if you commit to it life long.

For example, this friend is a vegetarian and has been for many years. He's a vegetarian for health reasons (as opposed to environmental or ethical) and he doesn't consider it to be a diet. He doesn't battle cravings for meat and he doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about being vegetarian. It's effortless for him.

So I guess to me it seems reasonable to stop calling something a diet once it ceases to take conscious effort on your part. I would definitely not say that I'm there with NoS yet, but one of the things that's appealing about it is that I could see getting there one day.

Interested in your perspective or in learning if you define "diet" in a different way.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:23 pm
by automatedeating
I consider my diet the food I consistently eat, week in, week out. But then, I have never been one to "go on a diet". If I do make a short-term change to my "diet", I call it an "experiment". :-)

Like your vegetarian friend, I do not consider myself to be on a diet. I eat an animal-based diet for health reasons (the same reason that your friend has chosen a plant-based diet), although it sounds like unlike him, I do occasionally battle cravings for things I avoid, e.g. bread. But not too much.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 8:22 pm
by ladybird30
I too don't consider No S to be a diet, it is just the way I eat nowadays - even when I am not compliant, I still think of myself as a person
who doesn't eat between meals.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:17 pm
by Soprano
cb3g wrote:
Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:08 pm
Soprano wrote:
Mon Oct 28, 2019 5:24 am

Try not to think of this as a diet. It's a new way of eating that will satisfy your nutritional needs, let you enjoy food and over time will help you lose weight.

Jx
Hi Soprano, thanks for your encouragement.

You know, I actually just had a bit debate with a friend about what exactly we mean when we say "diet." To me, working to comply with a bunch of specific rules around what you eat, especially when tied to an express desire to have an outcome on your body (ex. losing weight or lowering your cholesterol) is a diet. Plain and simple. The friend I was talking to defined a "diet" as something that you do in the short term, but in his mind it ceases to be a diet if you commit to it life long.

For example, this friend is a vegetarian and has been for many years. He's a vegetarian for health reasons (as opposed to environmental or ethical) and he doesn't consider it to be a diet. He doesn't battle cravings for meat and he doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about being vegetarian. It's effortless for him.

So I guess to me it seems reasonable to stop calling something a diet once it ceases to take conscious effort on your part. I would definitely not say that I'm there with NoS yet, but one of the things that's appealing about it is that I could see getting there one day.

Interested in your perspective or in learning if you define "diet" in a different way.
Now you have me wondering. I think for me a diet is something like your friend stated a short term change in eating and with a specific goal in mind. I'm thinking something where I do something unnatural and specific like count calories. It could also be a diet to increase calories to gain weight. The food is prescribed in some way.

A plan like NOs for me is more about a guide to change eating habits to achieve a goal, whether it be weightloss or for health reasons. The food isn't really prescribed except for the small restriction on sweet stuff for 5 days a week. It isn't something I'm on. It's about how I eat not what.

I know if I want to lose weight and maintain a loss I have to eat less than I was when gaining weight. I choose to live by a few eating rules to achieve that goal. I actually think to feel totally free I would eat intuitively but I always found that difficult having to assess hunger and what I wanted to eat but when I did I basically ate 3 times a day. I might be hungry in between meals but I was usually close enough to a meal that eating a snack would spoil my meal so I learned to wait. If I was starving I might have a snack but I do that on NOs too :)

If I change my eating habits I gain weight, has as actually happened. About a year ago I achieved a loss of just over a stone but due to work stress and changing jobs and then moving house my habits lapsed and over a year I gained back 7 lbs.

But I don't feel like I've stopped dieting, I'm in the right state of mind now to change how I eat by following the rules a little closer. Nos doesn't feel restrictive, even in the beginning I could "break the rules" and still not really feel I'd broken anything. I would just carry on at the next meal.

Hope my ramblings helped :)

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:23 pm
by Soprano
cb3g wrote:
Sun Oct 27, 2019 11:42 pm

- I had a bit of a breakdown out on Saturday morning. It's a long story, but I had a bit of cake my husband made a remark that some might consider to be innocuous, and I flipped out. I don't really want to get into the details at the moment, but the take away is that I have a lot of complicated feelings tied up with food and weight and I can't expect those to go away overnight. Honestly this kind of thing seems to happen any time I try a "diet." It's really frustrating.
Re the above, it will probably help you to try and work through this, I think many of us here probably have some issues with weight and food, hence we are overweight though not necessarily everyone.

Feel free to discuss here if it helps. Or look for some self help books that might help you start to work through it :)

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:21 pm
by cb3g
Back to Monday!

Breakfast - poached eggs on English muffins with avocado and tomatoes

Lunch - hit a buffet for lunch and made myself a very protein heavy plate. Included a spinach salad with lots of tuna and peas, a slice of meatloaf, sole, and chicken in pesto, plus some roasted veggies and a little brown rice. A very, very hearty lunch (but still one plate). Hours later I'm still full.

Dinner - tacos! Just a small dinner (three street tacos) was perfect after that huge lunch.

A really positive experience today was that I did not struggle with hunger! In fact, I clearly ate too much at lunch and was overly full. Not that being overly full is a win, but it was positive to prove to myself that three plates a day does not have to mean unsustainable levels of hunger. I'll continue to experiment with quantities and types of food to settle into a good place. I think that my mostly vegetarian menu last week may have been too heavy on carbs and too light on protein/fat for my particular constitution.

I did want to post a few more notes about my S days from the weekend. I don't have detailed notes, but I think I can recall everything that would fit into the "sweets" category.
1) A piece of banana loaf/cake
2) A date dipped in chocolate
3) A gluten free brownie with my latte at a cafe
4) Shared a chocolate bar with my husband, which a friend brought back from Belgium
5) A handful of chocolate chips because i saw the bag sitting in the fridge.

So, theme of the weekend was chocolate. It looks like a lot more sweets than I'd been thinking now that I write it out. The power of journaling I suppose! It's a lot of sweets in two days, but if I'm being honest I don't think it's A-typical of what my "normal" has been. Good to gain awareness.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:10 am
by automatedeating
I love reading your introspective posts. :-)

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:50 pm
by cb3g
First, thanks for the warm welcome from so many of you! Seems like we have a nice little community here!

Tuesday was another compliant day.

Breakfast - veggie & lentil soup and a half an apple

Lunch - kale salad, a persimmon, a green smoothie, and what I like to call a "Mediterranean plate." That included falafel, sliced cucumber and peppers, and slices of bread with pesto.

Dinner - delicious dinner tonight! Made a large amount and portioned it out into lunches for the next few days. A filet of sole, quinoa with laciano kale and raisins, roasted veggies (mostly bussels sprouts), and a few slices of a pork chop.

Again, hunger was not an issue today. One downside is that my work day got a little crazy so I didn't end up getting to break and eat all at once - instead I was eating in the 5 minutes between meetings which spread my lunch out through the afternoon. I still count it as compliant because I only ate the lunch that I had packed. I do want to continue trying to take a real break and moving away from my desk for lunch because it's clearly a healthier habit.

The last couple of days I've had to avoid a lot of snacks and unplanned food in the office (my biggest challenge!). Bowls of Halloween candy, left over catering, the kitchen full of snacks...anyone else feel like this work "perk" would be nice if it just went away? The challenge is keeping me focused, but I do worry about being able to keep it up long term. Just gotta keep practicing!

These last few days have bolstered my confidence! Feeling like I will be able to get through my 21 days.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:02 pm
by automatedeating
Good luck with the workplace temptations! I totally get annoyed at my workplace for that, and our nutrition instructor (who also is a dear friend of mine) happens to be the worst offender! She is always bringing in what she calls "healthy" treats, but anyway you slice it they are a nice sugar burst. Any of them would give me an ugly glucose spike. Over the years, I have become desensitized to these foods and now I honestly barely register them - if I do, I just feel a flash of annoyance that people think it's good for our metabolisms to eat throughout the day. As I've lamented on my own thread, my own family is also a near constant source of parading sweets. They eat so much sugar! But again, I've just kind of turned "off" that part of my food reception and I no longer consider indulging (on N Days, anyway). It really does make it much easier to have a NEVER policy. You'll never regret passing it up on an N Day, but you will usually regret indulging.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 7:24 am
by Soprano
I love that auto and so true re not regretting passing up something on an n day. :)

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 7:42 pm
by cb3g
@automatedeating - I LOVE hearing that ignoring the snacks and treats eventually became a default for you. One day...one day...for now, I'm just going to look away.

I had another compliant day yesterday, I ate normal food similar to previous days, whatev, I won't bore you with those details.

The thing I want to talk about is emotional eating. Yesterday I was hit HARD with the desire to snack between meals. But it wasn't because I was physically hungry (like last week). No tummy grumbling, no actual physical symptoms of hunger. It was, instead, because I was working on a challenging problem at work and I wanted to go eat something as not just a distraction, but to alleviate the slight feeling of discomfort that comes along with doing hard work. To be clear, this wasn't hard work as in emotionally taxing (I'm not talking about a patient dying on the table here). It was just normal, boring hard work (as in, I need to buckle down and audit into these spreadsheets).

I learned a few years ago that some people use food to ease even mild symptoms of discomfort that come from things like, you know, just doing their normal job. Putting the food in your mouth literally gives you a little dopamine hit that registers as a reward, and over time if you allow yourself do get up and grab a snack every time you get a tricky email, it becomes a deeply ingrained habit. I actually learned about this via a program called "eat right now." Has anyone heard of it? It's pretty cool and gets into a lot of the science of mindful eating. (But it's also$25/month.)

Anyway, I really recognize this in myself and really saw it yesterday. I need to give more thought about what to DO about it when I am having this experience other than just exerting will power. Welcome any thoughts or ideas for others who've been through this.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:05 pm
by Soprano
I've just read this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Habit-Wh ... 1847946240

Very interesting

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:48 pm
by automatedeating
I experienced this "looking for food" phenomenon for many years after starting NoS. It was sometimes quite shocking. I'd have an awkward conversation with someone, and then realize that I had immediately walked over to the counter or the snack drawer and eaten food. Any food that was handy. So strange! But I suppose biologically makes perfect sense - I was seeking emotional regulation.
This pull was just a habit that I eventually broke. However, during times of emotional strain those "pulls" come right back. I particularly struggled (anew) when I quit drinking last April. For a couple of months, I had more fails/red days of eating sweets than I had experienced for a very long time. I went with it for a while (better than drinking, I figured), but eventually had to apply willpower and retrain myself again to ignore food as an option for a pick-me-up.
I love it that you are seeing that same pattern. We humans are all so similar in how we tick!

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:14 pm
by cb3g
Finished the week with another compliant day. So I'm just about 2/3 through the 21 day challenge and it's been going very well!

In my opinion, the No S diet feels (psychologically) actually extremely similar to an "evil foods" diet. I actually ate Paleo for several years very successfully and No S feel very similar. There is a clear set of rules of what you say yes to and what you say no to. It makes it simple (not necessarily easy, but simple) to just say no.

While eating Paleo eventually broke down for me, one thing that I took away that's "stuck" is a focus on eating whole, unprocessed foods. All these years later, I still do that and it doesn't feel like any sort of sacrifice. In fact, it feels like a privilege. It's more delicious, and it makes you feel good. If I can build in a 3 meals & no snacking habit with No S and combine that with whole food I feel like I'll really be set up well for the long term.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:46 pm
by automatedeating
That was also the first big change that (eventually) occurred for me - eating whole foods. That's one that can really stick long-term, and our minds naturally reframe it as self-care. I think when we're eating foods we love to eat and that nourish us and make us feel good, we've found the magic of long-term eating. Maybe I would have gotten there eventually through other paths, but for me, NoS was the "gateway" way of eating. :lol:

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 8:22 pm
by cb3g
It's already day 21 of my personal No S Challenge!

I've continued to have all compliant N days this week. Today is my last day and I plan to get through it compliant as well.

A few reflections after 21 days

Week one was characterized by legit tummy grumbling hunger. Week two the physical hunger went away, but I had several days where I struggled with wanting to eat to distract myself. Week three was much easier. No major issues with either hunger or distraction eating. This could have been my body adjusting, it could have been more satiating food choices, or it could have just been that I've been BUSY AS HELL this week at work. It's been nuts, and it certainly helps me avoid distraction eating.

Psychologically, having clear yes/no rules seems to work for me. It also really helps that this diet really has an extremely moderate level of deprivation. If you are longing to eat something, you always have a next meal coming, or even a weekend. I like have the flexibility of not having any forbidden foods, and I LOVE not doing any calorie accounting. I completely get that this is not some

A check in on my sprinkles.
1) I learned that drinking coffee and tea is not really considered a sprinkle, but I will note that my coffee consumption went up. I always drink a ton of green tea, but coffee (with milk) served as a creamy treat. Eventually I'd like to bring that back down and get back to just green tea unless I need a serious pick me up, but I'm trying not to be too hard on myself right now.
2) I only had to invoke the protein shake sprinkle one time post-workout while I prepared dinner. This was partly because I didn't work out as much as usual these past 3 weeks because I've spent most nights working late, but also party because my body adjusted quickly and stopped being so darn hungry!
3) I realized that I put in one sprinkle that I didn't note at the beginning. Salad can be part of a separate plate. Obviously common sense applies that I'm not talking about a calorie laden salad full of cheese and bacon. Most days I bring a big Tupperware to work with a kale salad that includes some veggies and vinaigrette. I have no desire to drive down my consumption of greens, so I don't count this as a separate plate form my "main." I'm very happy with this practice and will keep it. But if it's a luxury salad (with meat and cheese and all the goodies) it needs to count as the meal in it's own right.

A few metrics checks

I did record my eating in my fitness pal one day out of the last 21, just to see where my calorie consumption was lining up. It was a very typical day for me (I often meal prep on the weekend, so each day is basically the same). As expected, my calorie intake was significantly down from my previous normal. I know from checking in on my calorie intake in the past that snacking is a HUGE source of calories for me, so this is exactly as I'd expected. For me, "maintenance" is about 2000 calories per day, but I would often blow past that at more like 2300 per day. On a typical day on N S I'm consuming around 1700 per day.

I did happen to weigh myself a couple of times during the challenge. My weight is at least staying stable, if not hovering just below the level of when I started. I'm not trying to focus on my weight right now, but this is good feedback. If the scale is to be believed (which I never really do in the short term) I've technically lost 2 lbs. Cool by me. But really trying not to focus on that right now. I want to let it be a symptom of different habits rather than a goal in itself.

Next Steps

Right now I just want to keep focused on practicing the habits of the No S diet. It still feels too daunting to say this is a "forever" thing, so I'm telling myself to just focus on November for now. I'm not going to change or refine anything yet, just going to stick with what I've been doing. I do feel very hopefully that this will become a forever thing for me...but one step at a time.

Looking forward to the month of November, I have two clear S days this month
- Friday, Nov 15th I look forward to celebrating my dad's birthday with him. This will only apply to the evening when I'm actually with him, not all day when I'm at work.
- Thursday, Nov 27th is Thanksgiving. I'm not 100% sure if we'll celebrate on Thursday or Friday this year...but we'll choose one and it will be PUMPKIN PIE DAY!!!!! And Crabsgiving because it's crab season here in California, but then, crab is good on any N day anyway. But I just wanted to brag. :P

I'll also keep using the Habit Bull app for November to keep track of things.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 8:25 pm
by cb3g
automatedeating wrote:
Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:46 pm
That was also the first big change that (eventually) occurred for me - eating whole foods. That's one that can really stick long-term, and our minds naturally reframe it as self-care. I think when we're eating foods we love to eat and that nourish us and make us feel good, we've found the magic of long-term eating. Maybe I would have gotten there eventually through other paths, but for me, NoS was the "gateway" way of eating. :lol:
Yes! Once you get set on eating whole food you kind of can't imagine doing anything else, right? I personally think that there is a lot of debate out there in the world about what is the "healthiest" diet, but you really can't go too far wrong if you are basing your diet on whole, natural foods and staying away from the processed foods.

I'm interested to hear how this change happened for you with No S. I'd imagine that a really easy criticism of the diet is that it doesn't discourage you from getting your lunch at McDonalds every day, or eating microwave meals, or whatever. Basically, it doesn't focus in any clear way on food quality.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2019 1:32 am
by automatedeating
CB! I had to go look back in my thread to find the "switch" in order to figure out how it happened. Ultimately, for me, it was health concerns. It occurred in Dec 2017 after 5 years of NoS eating whatever I wanted and not losing weight (but NoS did always keep me from GAINING weight during high stress/tired years of my life, which isn't insignificant!!!). At that point I thought if I ever weighed 130 again I would absolutely be in amazing shape. I was 142 pounds at the time (I'm only 5'2").

But my BP was elevated, my blood sugars were elevated (which I only found on accident because I'm a nerd and had bought a monitor because I am a physiology teacher and always reading about this stuff), I had gotten a kidney stone, I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. So....

I made the decision to eliminate refined carbohydrates on N Days. There you go. That was move 1. But I ate tons of "whole" and starchy carbs. I lost a couple pounds very slowly until April 2018. I'm just not able to eat a lot of carbs without holding onto fat. So I got stricter and reduced more carbs. I lost weight like crazy for about a month and was down to 134 by the end of August. I found foods I love that are nourishing, my joint pain went away, my "postprandial lethargy" finally went away, my digestion became this thing of beauty(!), and I kept losing gradually until here I am at about 120. Since I got to about 130, I haven't even cared that I'm losing weight. It's this funny surprise that I've had the secret weapon all this years and just not used it. I've had to face that I'm mildly insulin resistant, and genetically not super carb tolerant. Luckily I love the foods I eat, so this is very sustainable for me.
Long answer, but you did get me pondering what "shifted" for me. Health scares!

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2019 5:49 am
by Soprano
That's really interesting auto. Minor health issues are making me look closer at what I eat and drink.

You seem to have achieved what many achieve using fasting. From what I've read many who do fast reduce carb intake.

So I wonder if the benefits are from reduced carbs rather than fasting :)

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:28 pm
by cb3g
I want to talk today about substituting behaviors. I have been snacking less at work, which was an activity I used to procrastinate. But I can see myself now substituting in other equally non-productive behaviors (namely, checking reddit) while I should just be buckling down and working.

Has anyone else dealt with this. Any ideas?

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 2:05 am
by automatedeating
Hmmmm, you are procrastinating hun? Recognizing it is good. I don't know if your job allows for you to regulate your own time, but perhaps sometimes you just need to admit you are not feeling productive and go on a 10 min walk? I put a pull-up bar in my office doorway and I play/swing/pull up on that and then walk around the building when I have to do desk work. If you, in essence, like your job, then this might work. If you really just don't like what you do, maybe have little goals, like finish X and then I get to use reddit for 5 min, or something like that.

In a similar topic of using substitutes, many times activities (snacking, reddit) help us to avoid facing our feelings. It's so common for all of us. Taking the moments to check in with our body, sense, name, and validate what we are feeling in our body - it's what we need to do in order to stop stuffing the feelings with snacks, reddit, or the million other substitutes (I used alcohol). But easier said than done, and I think it's a very long process that doesn't happen without concentrated focus. And just acknowledging that we are antsy and looking for ways to avoid our feelings (or our work) is a good start.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2019 6:14 pm
by cb3g
Auto, you've totally got my number. The process of checking in whit my body, actually trying to consciously notice what I'm feeling, and then try to name the feeling is such a powerful exercise. I was first exposed to this recently through this program called "eat right now" that is supposed to help with emotional eating. Through that process I actually became aware of how incredible anxious and tense I felt while at work (even though I like my job) and how different it was from my behavior on the weekends. It made me aware that my natural state had seemed to be extremely detached from my body - trying to consciously notice and name what I was feeling felt so strange!

I should maybe start that program again. I stopped b/c I found it hard to remember to do it daily and b/c it cost $25 per month, but it really gave me some lasting insights. And I still use the body scan from that app to fall asleep most nights.

I am lucky that I do really like my job, but you know, it's still work. Sometimes it's boring, and sometimes it's difficult, and sometimes it's just easier to give yourself the brain candy of answering questions on redit instead of answering your emails (WHY DO I DO THIS!?!?). Often once I'm in the middle of it I can get into flow and I do get a lot of satisfaction from it, so I'm a very lucky person. I also do mostly control my own time so I could put in some sort of a routine to help me get re-focused when I'm wasting time (like right now...). Just gotta figure out the right thing to do that will actually bring me back. The best thing that works for me right now is playing music. Maybe b/c music is calming and pleasurable? Hmm, I wonder...

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 10:15 pm
by cb3g
About 6 weeks in and still doing well. I did have one non-compliant day last week. My husband was cracking crab while I was making dinner and I snacked on a few delectable pieces while cooking. Clearly not a big deal at all, but outside of No S so I recorded it honestly. My real goal here is to work on re-aligning my habits, so the fact that fresh crab meat is a healthy food isn't really the point (she says to remind herself).

I'm really working on allowing myself to see my behavior objectively and without judgement. At first I internally debated whether I really "had" to record a couple of pieces of crab as a non compliant day. From a calorie POV, what's the harm in a few pieces of of fresh crab? It's not about whether this was a "good" or "bad" thing to eat, and it's not about whether I had a "good" or "bad" day. It's just about being able to accurately record whether I did or did not stick to the new habits I'm trying to establish. It took conscious effort to not fall into black and white thinking - "I've already lost the check mark so might as well eat all the things!" I didn't do that, I just ate my delicious plate of diner and moved on like a normal day. So ultimately, it was a positive, affirming day even thought it didn't get a green check.

Last night I also had a bit of a struggle with emotional eating. I was feeling bad about a particular personal interaction and also just generally stressed out by work, and I really really wanted to eat all the cracker. Just take 3 bags of Wheat Thins from the snack drawer at work, and eat them by the handful. I was able to check in with my body and know that it wasn't hunger talking. At one point I said screw it and started walking down the hall to get them. While walking down the hall, I was already feeling bad about it, and I diverted course and just took a lap around the floor instead. I'm not sure how many times that will work...but it worked last night.

Honestly, I often feel like such a weirdo that I put this much conscious effort into eating (or not eating). It's a little embarrassing.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 11:14 pm
by ladybird30
I think of it as practice which is establishing new brain circuits and weakening old ones. Like any new skill, it takes time and effort. I still use distraction a lot, including diverting myself into activity instead of food, sometimes at the last minute. Worth the effort.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 12:14 am
by automatedeating
It is NOT weird that you have to do this. This is the state of eating in industrialized nations. You end up with two groups of people: those that have the genetics/metabolism to be able to eat the foods that are around us and either not get their "reward" centers triggered; and the rest of us, that have to make a concerted effort to look for satiating and non-triggering foods. You are NORMAL. Indeed, you are MORE normal than the naturally slim, carb-tolerant, and genetically moderate humans.

Just remember that there is no need to have shame that you have to make it a goal to moderate. It's NORMAL.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 11:13 pm
by cb3g
Thanks for this Auto, it's affirming to hear. I do unfortunately have a lot of shame around it. I don't like to admit it, but it's true. It's something for me to work through.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 6:54 am
by cb3g
Back with another update! Things have been going very well. Not perfect, but even non-compliant days have been very minor. I've been continuing to track through Habit Bull.

This week looked like this:

M - Compliant
T - Compliant
W - Compliant
T - Non-compliant...I ate one dolma outside of meals.

I'm in the midst of my most stressful time period at work at the moment, and have been working out very little and working very late every night. I've been able to stick with the No S Diet throughout, which is great! I'm actually feeling like I'm getting pretty good at it. No longer especially hungry between meals and feel more in control of the whole no snacking thing. I could probably bring down the portion sizes at some point, but I'm still just trying to get hte hang of this thing without worrying too much about making it perfect.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:56 pm
by cb3g
Well...my last post has that ring of "famous last words." Just as I felt that I was getting good at this thing, I all of a sudden got very bad at it. Starting on Monday December 9th I have 3.5 weeks of pretty much uninterrupted non-compliant days. Whoops. I did continue to track compliant/non compliant days, so I do have a good set of data to work with.

Well, back on the horse. No better day than Jan 2nd to get back at it, right? In order to try to learn from this "relapse" and improve, I'm asking myself three questions:
1) What led to me to stop doing No S for the past 3.5 weeks?

Hard to say. It wasn't (just) the holidays. I think it was most likely a combination of the following:
- A general sense of exhaustion. I had been really successful with No S through to the tail end of a very busy, very stressful work period. I'm very proud of that. Ironically, as soon as that period ended (marked by a big deadline on Dec 6th) I feel right off the wagon. I think I was partially just tired.
- Success and self sabotage. No S was working really well for me. I can see from looking at my data that I lost 5 lbs in a month, with no specific focus on weight loss. It also (mostly) felt pretty empowering to take control of my snacking habits. However, whenever I start to see a little bit of success with a diet I tend to lose motivation and slip back into "eat whatever whenever" mode. This is a repeat pattern for me. It drives home the lesson that changing behavior can't be all about motivation because motivation comes and goes.
- A lack of journaling. While I've been good about tracking compliant/non compliant days in Habit Bull, I have not been good about journaling here. Partially, I think, this is because i feel like I have to have something of substance to say. Journaling creates a sense of accountability and serves as a reminder, so I think it's helpful.
- The jarring transition from S day to No S day. I always found the transition from S days on the weekend to No S days on Monday difficult to make. It feels like the S days keep knocking me off track.

2) What are the consequences of my current behavior?

In 3 weeks I've gained back those 5 lbs, and I've damaged the habit and momentum that I started to build. If I continue on this path, I'll likely continue to gain weight, which is unhealthy and unnecessary.

3) What am I going to do differently this time?

- Commit to a concrete goal. My goal right now is to complete a full month on No S in January. Looking ahead at the calendar, I don't have any special S days in the remainder of Jan.
- Journal with regularity. Even if it's just to log on to say "compliant or non" I want to journal on every day in Jan, with the exception of days when I'm traveling (most weekends)


I'm not quite sure what to do about the jarring difference between S days and No s days. I don't want to put a bunch of restriction on S days as I think that might just make things worse. Maybe I need to implement some sort of Monday morning ritual to get back into the swing? Have others experienced the same thing and gotten through it?

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:23 pm
by Teammoney
Thank for sharing. Journaling has the added benefit that new people like me can learn from it :)

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 2:24 am
by automatedeating
Happy New Year!

Yes, I absolutely remember the jarring discomfort of Mondays. I no longer experience that, but that's because my S Days are very tame now, so the difference isn't as noticeable. However, in my experience, I don't think further restricting of your S Days more in the hopes of making Mondays easier is a good long-term solution - it would probably just bring out my inner rebel and backfire.

Perhaps a nice strategy would be to plan/prepare a very large, healthy, and delicious breakfast, solid lunch and dinner for Monday.... ? So you make absolutely sure you are NOT hungry, make sure you are eating food you really like, and then you can ride out the temptation waves a little more easily.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:12 pm
by cb3g
Really great ideas Auto! I like the idea of thinking of Monday as a special return to N days with three really great meals.

And a check in for Thursday - thumbs up! Got back on track and it felt powerful. I was feeling those snacking cravings about about 5 pm while at work and eventually I executed on the solution....GO HOME!!! It was nice to get home and eat dinner with my husband and our guests rather than snack on crackers (that aren't even very good) and work late.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 12:28 am
by automatedeating
That sounds like a win-win! Go home from work + eat a nice dinner with family! Great coping strategy!

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:14 pm
by cb3g
Monday was a thumbs up. Many temptations in the office today, it was good to have a solid reason to steer clear.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 6:23 pm
by iflytoohigh
Good job on resisting those temptations! Our team lounge area is always teeming with baked goods and candies. I have to just stay out of there, haha.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:27 am
by Teammoney
My “office” is our home where two growing toddlers ask me for snacks and chocolate every five minutes so I feel your pain! (They obviously don’t get chocolate every five minutes).

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:50 pm
by cb3g
Tuesday and Wednesday were both thumbs up. I've been feeling more hunger lately, so I've been enacting my rule of allowing for a protein shake before/after crossfit if it's not practical to eat right at that moment. It's helped a lot. Plus, from a crossfit pov I need more protein anyway, so you know, hopefully helps with the gainz (ha ha). I expect that as I get through the first two weeks I'll no longer feel the need for that, based on my experience from the fall.

This morning there is panettone in the kitchen...oh man. That would sure be good with my tea. Hopefully others finish it quickly.

ifly - oh man, i hear you! ON the one hand I'm lucky to work for a company that's so generous about feeding us...but on the other hand sometimes the "perk" feels like more of a hazard.

Teamoney - that would be tough! I can imagine that if I had kids I'd have a hard time not eating whatever they leave behind. I know that I do this whenever my niece and nephews are around.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:59 pm
by cb3g
Thursday was another thumbs up and Friday is shaping up well too.

As I go into the weekend, I'm thinking about how I should rethink my weekend mentality. Previously, I've just said to myself that there are no "rules" on the weekend, but have also told myself to not get lost in black and white thinking (oh my god eat all the things NOW!) and to just eat "normally." That's what I've done....but it tended to feel like a lot of mental whiplash being "allowed" to eat whatever on the weekend and then having to transition back to the rules on Monday.

So I'm trying to give that some thought. Maybe I should strive for of the structure of 3 meals on most weekends?

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 12:31 am
by automatedeating
I noticed that on the weekends early on I really enjoyed grazing, because not snacking was the hardest rule for me initially. Over the years, however, my weekends began to look more and more like the other days and I only would have 3 meals. Even now, however, my favorite part about an S Day is having a slice of apple or a piece of cheese "just because". :-)
I think just be careful how much you restrict your weekends. Find that sweet spot of structure without being too strict. LOL, it doesn't take too long to realize when we were too strict. A string of red days often follows! But that's just data, no biggie in the longer path of our journey.

Re: protein. I'm convinced. Finally. I've gone back and forth and reading the literature on it makes my head spin. However, my personal experience at this point shows me that aiming for about 60 - 75g protein a day: fills me up/reduces hunger/eliminates cravings/makes my GI system feel good/steadies my blood glucose/maintains my weight and (more importantly) muscle mass. At this point I'm a believer in making protein the centerpiece of my meals.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 4:05 am
by cb3g
Saturday - S day. Made the most bomb massive brunch then spent the afternoon/evening at a friends' house for a girls day. Was lovely to be able to eat apps and things that were laid out, and some chocolate after dinner. Don't feel that I went crazy, which is great.
Sunday - kept it a pretty normal day, but with more snacking while I batch cooked. Ok, probably at a few more crackers than were strictly necessary. Whatever, it's fine.
Monday - back at it! I thought of Auto's idea and grabbed a dinner from a local take out place that I was really excited about as part of my "make mondays great again" strategy.

As I do from time to time, I popped all my food for the day into my fitness pal (was actually mainly interested in figuring out if I'm getting sufficient fiber...answer is no). Was surprised by how low calorie the day was. Nothing crazy, but man oh man when I cut snacking my calories just plummet. It's a really great life hack.

I will say that eating 3 meals a day most definitely makes each meal more special for me. It also makes me motivated to make sure I get plenty of the things i need at each meal (greens mostly). I'm sure for some people's psychology they may end up tempted to eat fast food every meal, but it hasn't been like that for me.

Auto - I'm also thinking about my overall protein intake. Trying not to make too many changes at once, but once I get things feeling really automatic I'll probably start getting more intentional about protein. I think that my ideal diet would would probably combine No S with elements of the 800 Gram Challenge (basically, eat a min of 800 grams of fruits and veggies each day) and Lazy Macros (basically: if you don't want to do full macros, just track hitting the protein goal). These two ideas are promoted by a Nutritionist called EC Synkowski. I really like her. She's no nonsense and science based, yet she gets that psychologically a lot of us need a little hook to help stay on track. Have you heard of her? I'll bet you would like her.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 2:50 pm
by automatedeating
Was lovely to be able to eat apps
I think the sleep deprivation of raising this puppy is getting to me because I read that sentence and yep - thought of phone apps. :-)

I have not heard of that nutritionist! I might look her up. It reminds me a little bit of a book I read somewhat recently - P:E formula by Ted Naiman. He's all about just focusing on protein at each meal.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:59 pm
by cb3g
I am going to check that out! Looks like he's got a really well organized website.
If you want to see what EC Synkowski is all about, just check out @optimizemenutrition on instagram.

I love how when it comes down to it, for body composition you can read all about it...but basically eat a lot of chicken breast and greens.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:50 pm
by automatedeating
LOL that is a really good point - so many books but a fairly plain solution! Focusing on protein is a first in my entire life. I've never given poor protein much thought. But I do notice that by focusing on protein I seem to invariably lean toward whole foods, which is always a priority in my diet these days. Real foods that we consider "filling" tend to contain protein - whether it's meat, eggs, or dairy. Legumes and nuts for the vegetarians.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:38 am
by cb3g
Well darn, broke the streak. At I type right now, I am eating a 4th meal on Wednesday night. I think I got started this morning with a breakfast that was too small (bowl of soup) and it just set me on a bad path. I caved and had luhc before 11, then dinner right at 5:30...and now it's 7:40 and I'm still at my desk eating hard boiled eggs on toast.

Oh well, onward! Tomorrow is a new day.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:08 am
by Soprano
Just draw a line under it and learn what triggers you :)

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 9:04 pm
by cb3g
Thursday was a thumbs up again, so I'm back on track!

Today is what I affectionately call "Friday Chai Day." Our office gets Masala Chai delivered every Friday and I friggin love it. (ALL THE CHAI BELONGS TO ME!) Makes me very happy that I'm not stressing about beverages between meals. I've learned that i have to moderate my chai intake by making it just a Friday thing or it messes with my stomach (I got into a habit of making it at home every day and it was a bad call). It's nice to have it as a special thing to look forward to.

I am going to be camping and backcountry skiing for the long weekend, so I'm going to call Monday an S day. Not sure if that is going a little too easy on myself because a day of camping is really not all that unusual for me, but I'm just going to go with it and take the pressure off.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 7:24 am
by Teammoney
Enjoy your trip! And the chai sounds lovely. Mmmh

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 3:17 pm
by automatedeating
Where do you live that you are going backpacking this weekend? :-) It's yucky weather where I live for that sort of thing.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:42 pm
by cb3g
@auto - I'm in the SF Bay Area in California. You can camp all year round here, but that was definitely a winter camping trip up at Lassen National Park. It was super fun - storm had just blown through on Thursday and we had two gorgeous mild/sunny days on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday we took off just as another storm was blowing in for the evening. Got in a few fun days of cross country and back country skiing and met lots of cool people thanks to my husband's genius idea to bring a gas fire ring to keep warm/hang out around during the long evenings. Weekends like that make me love all things winter! (But it's also nice to drive down the mountain and find yourself back in temperate northern California :D)

Haven't checked in for a week, but I've been keeping it up! I did have a big slip on Thursday Jan 23rd - not sure what was up with me but I went pretty overboard. But, onward. Got back on the horse on Friday. I had family in town this weekend, which was lovely, but it resulted in a lot of sedentary behavior and a lot of eating and snacking all day. Served to remind me that days like that leave me feeling bloated and crappy.

While I'm trying not to go too hard on any dietary behavior changes other than sticking with No S...I keep thinking about protein. I have figured out that a "normal" day for me is only about 60 grams of protein. This is plenty based on "food guide" type recommendations, but is an order of magnitude low in comparison to the 150 grams that other (more athletic/aesthetically inclined) sources would recommend. I'm going to put more focus on protein for now, and see if I can start working up my average gradually and get used to a new normal.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 11:44 pm
by Teammoney
Sounds like a great trip!

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:27 pm
by cb3g
Checking in for January in review!

Overall, this was a positive month! I had one designated "special" day (MLK day) and I had three slip ups - Jan 1st, 15th, and 23rd. Or maybe I should phrase this all in the positive - in January, I ate no snacks, seconds, or sweets on 20 days in January. I'd say I'm pretty happy with that effort. Certainly not perfect, but who likes perfect anyway?

I find that while doing No S I've experienced a few things which seem to align with the experiences of many others:
1) I'm tending to be quite quality conscious at each meal. Since I'm not snacking between meals, it's felt natural to focus on ensuring I get lots of veggies during my meal.
2) I'm treating meals as though they are more special. While not nearly perfect by any means, i'm more likely to break and eat like a civilized human instead of eating at my computer or similar.
3) While I do feel hungry between meals, it has gotten better as my body has adjusted to eating less food. As I am losing a little weight, some hunger does make sense and is healthy and fine.
4) I've significantly reduced my total caloric intake without making an explicit effort to do so. In line with that, I've slowly but steadily lost a few pounds.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 1:02 am
by cb3g
And a check in as we're two weeks into Feb.
Week of Feb 3 was all "check mark" all the time! Yay!
Week of Feb 10 started strong then faltered on Thurs and Fri.
Monday Feb 17 faltered again. Was great during the day, but then at the end of the day when my husband cracked out the girl scout cookies...it went a little downhill.
But today, Tuesday, I'm getting back in the groove. Packed myself a great lunch and have been sticking with the plan.

I got a DXA scan today. I do this about 1x per year, just to keep an eye on things. For anyone who doesn't know, a DXA is a body scan technology that tells you your body fat percentage, as well as some interesting details about how both your lean and fat tissue are distributed. At least where I live (SF area) it's pretty cheap and easy to do these scans, and they are considered to be one of the more accurate ways of assessing your body fat percentage. I was pretty excited to do it as I've lost 15 lbs over the last year (actually, I really lost it in the last 6 months), so there would actually be some change!

I'm happy to report that the 15lbs I lost was all fat. I wish i could be reporting that I'd gained some muscle, but my lean body mass has stayed exactly the same. So I guess I can say that I managed to maintain all of my lean body mass while losing 15 lbs. Woo hoo! I'm not sure if that's hard, but I'm going to count it as a win.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 4:01 am
by automatedeating
Losing fat and keeping muscle is absolutely a huge. huge. huge. victory! Congrats and big hugs for this wonderful news!

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 6:53 am
by Soprano
Great news re the scan, well done :)

Jx

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 3:42 pm
by cb3g
Experienced a bit of a lapse. Was doing ok, then the pandemic hit and I've been in wfh/shut down mode Since March 9th and haven't tracked/worried about No S since March 11th. At first, it was all just a bit too stressful to add in dietary restrictions.

But now, enough is enough. Things stopped changing day by day, and it now looks clear that this is my new normal for the next several months. I established a good movement routine right off the bat, which I'm quite happy with, and now it's time to get back to the No S plan. In particular...snacking! My biggest challenge. Apart from the health benefits of not over eating, it will help to make the week days and weekends feel distinct from one another.

So onward! If I can get through today without snacking, that will feel like a big win.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 4:56 pm
by oolala53
Hi! I kind of browsed around your thread. Hope it's okay that I didn't read everything.

I have gotten a lot more prissy about my nutrition over ten years here. Is it part of the obsession or is it being practical because thin or not, we had problems with some degenerative disease even before the average BMI went way up. Not to mention issues with dementias we have time to develop when we live longer... Ok, enough of that!

When people talk about protein, I sometimes start to get nervous, though I'm no expert. But the one I like (because his specialty is longevity, not weight loss or body building) says .36 grams per pound is the upper limit of protein needed. More than that and he claims the ODDS that it starts to trigger aging processes that precede degenerative disease go way up. 'Course, it's all about odds. Plenty of people who eat more than that won't develop one, even body builders. I think he probably shudders sometimes thinking about what they eat. (BTW, as if we might not suspect it, sugar stimulates those aging pathways, too.) He is a big unrefined starch fan, per the Blue Zones. Anyway, I'm fond of saying it's all a big experiment and I won't live long enough to see if one side comes out on the other. My bias is for longer healthspan, not just lifespan propped with meds and interventions, IF I can avoid them with reasonable habits and maybe sometimes slightly unreasonable ones. But it sounds to me like you've hit about the "right" protein intuitively. And just for accuracy, I tracked for the first two months of 2020, and also cut wheat flour items, and I had to sometimes really juggle to get enough calories without going OVER my protein limit. I eat a fair amount of grain and veggies and they can add up, though beans are my more concentrated source most days. Some animal stuff but nothing like my early days when I had some kind of concentrated source at every meal- and snack before No S.) Not that you asked... Just it seems as long as you aren't living on white bread or crackers, I doubt you wouldn't get enough protein.

Oh, my goodness, isn't it amazing the options we have in the land of plenty! Hope I didn't go too far into the details. My first years on No S, I could hardly stand any discussion of nutrition, though I had already made many changes to my meals before No S. Wish I could say I'm someone who is completely carefree about it all now, but I'm not and almost can't imagine being that way. Maybe I'm not the best representative!

I think being absolutely convinced that something is of value is what helps keep it from seeming like a "diet." But I also believe there is a place for "diets," and promoting health is one of those places.

Here's to a great spring on No S!

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:19 pm
by automatedeating
I think this quarantine is exceedingly challenging on the food front..... we are all seeking some dopamine hits other than our usual outlets....

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 5:41 pm
by cb3g
Still struggling with no-s during shelter in place and it's starting to show a little with an upward creep on the scale.
So far in April I've had little success, but at least I did start tracking again. So I can see that so far in April I've only had 3 "green" days. Oops.

Back when I was in my office it seemed daunting at first, but I eventually figured out how to re-jig my habits to make not snacking a daily habit. I know I can do it from home too. In the past, if I could get through a few days, I would get on a roll and start doing pretty good.

So I'm going to focus on making today a green, day on continuing to track in my app, and I'm going to come here and check in each day this week.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 5:43 pm
by cb3g
automatedeating wrote:
Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:19 pm
I think this quarantine is exceedingly challenging on the food front..... we are all seeking some dopamine hits other than our usual outlets....
This is SO true. And it's why I decided to just let it go for the first few weeks. I believe that not being too hard on yourself in times of stress is an important part of finding a long term balance that's healthy both physically and mentally.

But now that the initial stress has passed, it times to get back into a good habit!

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 5:55 pm
by cb3g
oolala53 wrote:
Thu Apr 09, 2020 4:56 pm
But the one I like (because his specialty is longevity, not weight loss or body building) says .36 grams per pound is the upper limit of protein needed. More than that and he claims the ODDS that it starts to trigger aging processes that precede degenerative disease go way up. 'Course, it's all about odds. Plenty of people who eat more than that won't develop one, even body builders.
Man oh man, I agree that this is a confusing topic.

I've actually been "into" nutrition for a long time (ended up getting an accidental minor in nutrition during my under grad since I took so many electives in the area), but I feel like having that sort of background (a good taste of the science, but no real expertise) just made me more mixed up than ever. The thing I feel like I eventually learned about nutrition was that ultimately, the science is evolving and the experts do not all agree. And even on that...maybe I'm wrong and they do all agree!

You know who I think really got it right? Michael Pollan: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I mean...who can argue with that?

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 3:05 am
by cb3g
Muah ha ha, guys, I've been doing it!

Monday through Thursday (well Thursday isn't over, but I'm gonna make it) I've cleaned things up and stopped the snacking.

My fav thing about No S (besides losing weight, hate to say it, but that is the best part) is that each meal really does feel more special when you know you aren't going to just snack before and after. Makes me focus more on making a balanced plate.

I've been finding that I have been inputting my check mark for the day after lunch. Something about assuming that the rest of the day will be a success helps. I can always change it, but it's a mini trick that seems to be working.

Also, can we talk about how the TP shortage STILL hasn't let up? What the actual hell? I thought that for sure by now we'd be back to normal on that front. So annoying.

Re: CB's daily Check In

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 7:02 pm
by automatedeating
You are hanging in there! :-)