Everyday Systems

I am actually on day #3, I really want to try this for 21 days.

My last 2 days have been successful.

Today I am starting day #3. I will be eating breakfast soon. I am very hungry, which is something I am not used to (a lot of times I would eat so much at night I still would not be hungry the next morning!).

SUCCESS

Yesterday was day #3. I felt a little hungrier between meals, but I drank a lot of water and made it through. Ate at Captain D's last night and ate healthy, shrimp scampi with brown rice and vegetables.

Hi, Shannon. I'm new around here too.

Good job on the winning streak! I think it gets easier and easier the longer you stick with it.

SUCCESS

Friday was day #4, and I was successful with that, though I ate more for supper than I ever would have being on a "diet", I ate fried fish, shrimp, and onion rings, but they were all on the same plate! Saturday and sunday are my first No S days, it is a little scary, letting myself eat what I want, but I feel like I have not went crazy like I thought I would.

I guess weekends can basically only be success, but maybe failure if you totally pig out!! Anyway, I feel like I did okay, even ate a lot of healthy food, allowed myself some of my favorite sweets, like chocolate chip cookies and ice cream.

I made the mistake of weighing myself this morning, I think I am too obsessed with the scales, my weight was actually up a 3-4 pounds since last Monday. But that is not going to discouarge me from keeping on with this program. My weight fluctuates a lot like that, depending on time of month, how much salt I have eaten, etc. This morning I ate a breakfast burrito and small bowl of cereal and glass of OJ. I guess today would be day #7. So Ihave 14 more to go to get to 21.

Hey, Carol, thanks for the encouragement. What day are you on?

"Hey, Carol, I was just wondering about the cereal. I read through the plan, and maybe I just skipped over it but is it okay to have cereal like frosted flakes, etc?

Great job, 28 days, how many days are you going to keep checking in? "

Hi, Shannon! I guess I'll keep checking in until it feels unnecessary. A year? I don't know!


Here's how I make my cereal decisions:

(quote from Reinhard)
"I wouldn't worry too much about borderline foods like yoghurt and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If these are a problem for you, i.e., you eat them every day and lay it on thick, then make them esses. If not, don't. Just by targeting the really egregious offenders you'll be cutting out a lot of calories."

My egregious offenders are candy, cookies, etc. I can have one reasonable sized bowl of frosted mini-wheats and stop with no difficulty. I wouldn't eat something like Cap'n Crunch and call it breakfast--definitely an "S" for me.

I think one of the beauties of this plan is that you don't have to overthink and obsess over every meal. I just make sure I have a lot of veggies on my plate, a small amount of starch and protein, and I avoid the "S's" like the plague on weekdays. For breakfast I shoot for fruit and fiber.

Success

Yesterday was day #7. I was concerned about coming off of my "S" days, how I would do, but I got right back on the program fine. I ate eggs and toast for breakfast, spaghetti, salad and fruit for lunch and last night I ate at Chick-Filet with my kids, I really wanted to eat healthy so I got the grilled chicken sandwich and had them substitute fruit for the fries.

Today may be a challenge. It has gotten suddenly cool and my sinuses are acting up, I tend to overeat when I have a cold and cannot taste much, maybe I am trying to find something I can taste? Plus the sinus drainage makes me a little nauseated feeling and I am always eating crackers to settle my stomach. I wlil try to juts eat my crackers wtih my meals today.

SUCCESSFUL

Yesterday was day #8 and I did great (I made a rhyme!)

Breakfast was oatmeal, toast and banana.

Lunch was nachos at Taco Bell (not the healthiest, but I was at the mall and hungry).

Last night my church had a women's supper, and everyone brought salads. I filled my plates with salad (no jello salads!). I ate a few wheat crackers, too. I resisted the dessert table even though it had one of my favorites, cherry cheesecake on it (I have got to have a piece of that this weekend).

Also, yesterday I got some chocolate in the mail (My mom lives in Germany and sends me chocolate sometimes), so I put that in my cabinet to enjoy this weekend, too.

Walked my dog for 2 miles, too!

What willpower!! Good for you. You are really sticking to the plan and your goals. Keep it up~

Benjumanji wrote:
(quote from Reinhard)
"I wouldn't worry too much about borderline foods like yoghurt and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I just gotta ask - what on earth makes yogurt "borderline" I have it almost every morning it's one of the few things I can eat in the morning.

Steve.

There are quite a few types of yogurt. Plain yogurt (or kefir) would be ok I'd think. The issue is what is added. After mixing in sugar-syrup-glazed fruit, pieces of chocolate, cookies, etc many yogurts are about as NoS friendly as anything made by Godiva.

SUCCESS!!

Yesterday was my 9th day. I am almost half-way through the 21 days!

We have a great bakery in town, it is called Daily Harvest, they make whole grain breads, muffins, cookies, etc. I bought a loaf of the whole grain bread yesterday, it is expensive (5.95 a loaf) but so good it spoils you to not wanting to eat store-bought bread. The cookies and muffins have a sweetener called Sucranat in it, it is supposed to be okay for diabetics to eat. But to play it safe, I will save the cookies and muffins for S-days and say it is a healthier S-food to eat. Oh, also sometimes they make a whole grain pizza for lunch, it is great. They did not have any yesterday but said to check back and they usually have it.

So for breakfast I had:

Breakfast burrito made with eggs, cheese and salsa. Apple.


Lunch:
2 pieces of that whole grain bread I bought with butter, Ceasar salad.



Supper:
1 more piece of that delicious bread with cheese, salad. Blueberries (no sugar).


I figured the bread is about .30 a slice, so if you look at it that way, it is not so bad, we are just so used to buying "cheap bread". I am trying to cut down on eating fast food, so I probably won't be spending anymore than I did on the fast food, and will be eating healthier. I usually spend about $3 to $5 on a fast food meal, and was eating fast food at least 3-4 times a week. I want to get some of the Smuckers Natural peanut butter to put on the bread. I love that peanut butter, it has no sugar, and it really grows on you when you start eating it.

I'm with you, Shannon--I just can't eat crappy bread anymore. I like the Smucker's Nat. PB too. It's a pain to get mixed in the beginning but then you put in the fridge and you are all set!

--david

hlidskjalf wrote:There are quite a few types of yogurt. Plain yogurt (or kefir) would be ok I'd think. The issue is what is added. After mixing in sugar-syrup-glazed fruit, pieces of chocolate, cookies, etc many yogurts are about as NoS friendly as anything made by Godiva.

I haven't had any of that nasty sweet yogurt in years - I automatically think of plain ol' yogurt. I tried to eat a strawberry yogurt at a hotel a few months ago and could not eat it, tasted like pure sugar. And that was before I started NOS.

SUCCESS

Day #10, almost 1/2 way through to day #21.

Here is what I ate:

Breakfast:
Toast with butter and a little jelly.
Cereal.

Lunch:
Tuna sandwich.
Apple.

Supper:
Annual open house at school with Chick-Filet meal.
1 Chick-Filet sandwich.
1 bag of potato chips.
1 bottle of water.
Oh, and they always sell cookies and brownies, etc. I did buy a turtle brownie, but I came home and put it in my cabinet to eat this weekend.

I do not feel like I ate enough vegetables today (actually I did not eat any unless you count relish in my tuna ). I am trying to eat as balanced as possible every day, but I did stay with the 3 meals and no snacks. Today I will try to eat more vegetables, though.

I also walked 2 miles with my dog.

I forgot to mention yesterday (Day 9) that I walked and went to the gym to do weights. I am on a program at a gym for my back, I have ruptured discs and am trying to strengthen my back. I usually go to gym M-W-F and walk every day. Sometimes, when I have time, I do ellipitcal at gym.

SUCCESS

Breakfast:
French toast with a little jelly
blueberries

Lunch:
Salad
Wendy's cheeseburger

Supper
Chicken enchiladas
salad
apple

Worked out 30 minutes at gym.

SUCCESS

I was sick yesterday and really did not eat much of anything, but I did eat what I could, soup and crackers mostly. Over the weekend I did eat some sweet stuff, but not as much as I did the first weekend, I ate some of the German chocolate my mom sent, I ate some french fries at McDonalds and a coke on Saturday. Sunday I ate one piece of cherry cheese cake.
I am feeling better today, so starting off with a good, healthy breakfast.

My 19-year-old daughter found out yesterday she had gained 20 pounds. I have been trying to convince her to try the No-S diet. She said she was going to "starve herself". I told her that is only going to set her up for failure because she will only be able to do that for awhile, then she will go crazy and eat everything in sight. I printed her off a copy of the diet, told her to read it and think about trying it. It would be so much easier for her to establish the habit as young as she is then someone "old" like me (45)!

I got through day #15 pretty good.

Breakfast: Oatmeal and toast. Orange juice.

Lunch: Sandwich with turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes.
Baked chips.

Supper: Chinese fried rice, chicken and cashews.
Unsweet tea.
Apple.

I even turned down a piece of chocolate cake my husband brought me leftover from a dinner at work (I put it in the freezer for S-day this weekend).

I did not exercise yesterday, but I did today, which I will note tomorrow when I do day #16 check-in.

SUCCESS

Breakfast: Oatmeal, apple, almonds.

Lunch: Nachos, apple.

Supper: 1 piece of fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, salad, 1/2 a banana.


I have terrible indigestion from just that small piece of chicken I ate (or maybe it was the gravy though I did not have much). I do have trouble with fried foods as I have a hiatal hernia.

5 more days to go to day #21!

SUCCESS

Almost there.

Breakfast: Oatmeal, toast. Grapes.

Lunch: Nachos, taco bell.

Supper: Eggplant parmesan and salad. Apple.

Great run so far! Almost there... keep it up!

Actually, yesterday I was sick, so it was an "S" day and I did eat quite a lot of snacks, mostly crakers though. So I guess you could say I have officially finished 21 days.

I did weigh myself though, and was not happy that I weigh 4 pounds more than I did last week. But I ate a lot of salt yesterday, chicken noodle soup and crackers, and I know how much I retain fluid so that is probably most of it. I am not going to let it discourage me from staying on this plan, though. I lose weight very slowly, unfortunately. I am exercising 4-5 times a week, though and have stayed on the program faithfully so I know eventually it will start coming off. If you go with the weight I was last week, I have probably lost 4 pounds in the 3 weeks I was on the program.

Okay, so I made it through 21 days and I don't know what has happened to me other than I have had some huge stress in my life with issues with my teenaged daughter. The last couple of days I have had such a huge sugar craving, I cannot seem to get back on track since being sick on Monday. I have not done terrible, but I did eat some sugar yesterday and today.

I am not going to be too hard on myself, but then again, I do not want to use the excuse of being "stressed out" to gain weight either, since I feel much better physically when I do not overeat. So tomorrow I am starting over again and I am going to try to do the 21 days again. This journaling has helped tremendously, so here we go again...

Shannon

I feel a lot better today, I was worried that I would not be able to go through a day without sugar, but I did. I just have to take it one day at a time.

Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: Raisin bran.

Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwich, apple.

Supper: Stir-fried chicken with rice.

I also walked my dog for 30 minutes.