Everyday Systems

20050606 : Haven't started yet. Tomorrow will be first day.

Welcome, Crasch!!! No-S is a terrific way to lose weight and get control over food consumption! We'll look forward to reading your daily check-in posts and anything else you want to post as well. Have fun!

The first week is definitely the worst time. It gets easier day by day: really. I'm in my third week now and just don't desire food between meals. Well, I'm hungry before dinner, but that's okay.

Thanks, Kevin and Jan-Tz!

day 1: SUCCESS. I had two meals. For lunch: A giant bowel of delicious lentil soup with a banana and V8 (all foods I like). For dinner, I had a naked chicken burrito from Baja fresh and a chicken taco.

Crasch - There is nothing better than a bowl of lentil soup. And so incredibly easy to make. I like the red kind the best (they turn yellow when cooked).

I love lentils, chickpeas, & all kinds of navy, black, and red beans. They fill you up incredibly. They are hugely nutritious.

And they're so easy to put into dinner and lunch recipes. Maybe I'll put some on the recipe thread later on. - Betsy

Welcome, crasch, and congratulations on your first successful day. Do be careful about skipping meals. Long term, 2 isn't sustainable.

clickbeetle -- Thanks! Lentils are great. I'd love to see your recipe.

reinhard -- Thanks! Yes, I agree, most people don't find two meals/day sustainable. And I don't plan to make a habit of it. In this case, both meals were quite large and filling so I didn't feel particularly hungry.

Day 2: SUCCESS!

Breakfast: Bowel of raisin bran with milk. Banana and orange.
Lunch: Turkey sub on parmesan oregano, 12 inch. Bag of jalapeno chips
Dinner: Wendy's single burger, side salad, 8 oz milk.

Lentils -- My main recipe is sort of in my head:

Lentil soup

Saute over low heat in olive oil until translucent and tender, but not browned:
finely chopped celery
finely chopped onion
finely chopped carrots
minced garlic

Prepare red or green/brown lentils according to package, substituting chicken broth for about half of the water. Add a bay leaf and a teaspoon of dried thyme or oregano. When cooking is done, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls with a few drops of balsamic vinegar, or with a drizzle of yogurt thinned with cream or milk (keffir yogurt is the perfect consistency).

It's nice to butter some French bread and put it in the toaster oven to get hot and crusty along with the lentil soup.

Red lentils are quicker-cooking and, to my mind, much more delicious than the green/brown kind.

Day 3: SUCCESS!

breakfast: banana, peanut butter sandwich, 8 oz of strawberries
lunch: Taco Bell Fiesta bowl, spicy chicken soft taco
dinner: nan, chicken saab, rice, lentil balls

Thanks, ClickBeetle! I'll try it this weekend.

Day 4: Success!

breakfast: banana, peanut butter sandwich, V8, strawberries (about 10 oz)
lunch: banana, peanut butter sandwich, V8, green bell pepper
dinner: Ma Muang (chicken, bell pepper, carrots, onions) on rice, spring roll, breaded fried fish thingies.

Congratulations on your perfect first week! My advice for you first weekend is plan your treats in advance, get something you really want instead of just eating randomly because you can. You'll enjoy more, and you won't feel like such a glutton. But do be aware that first weekends tend to be less than exemplary, so don't be discouraged if that's the case.

Day 5: Success! My first S-day. I had a chocolate chip cookie (store sample) and Ben and Jerry's waffle cone (single scoop vanilla + heath bar, hot fudge and nuts).

Day 6: Success! Second S-day. Two sugar cookies (store sample), plus banana split (1 banana, two scoops non-fat frozen yogurt, 3/4 cup of blackberries).

Thanks reinhard! My goal right now is to simply follow the timing of the No-S diet, I'm not worried about calories per se. (Although, of course, I try to eat healthy.) If, at the end of 3 weeks, I haven't had satisfactory progress, I will focus more attention on the caloric content of my meals.

Clickbeetle -- I tried a slightly modified version of your recipe. Delicious! Thanks.

Day 7: Success! My first full week!

Breakfast: Lentil soup, banana.
Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich, banana, V-8, bag of spinach
Dinner: Orange, Bag of stir-fry vegatables, Quorn nuggest (6-8)

Today was harder than last week -- my boss brought in a bunch of cookies, chips, and candy.

Congratulations on resisting all the junk food!

Keep it up... you're doing great!

Thanks, Jan-Tz and Kevin!

However, I'm sad to report...

Day 8: Failure! Argh!

Breakfast: Quorn nuggets (~6/7).
Lunch: Lentil soup, green pepper, orange, two bananas
Dinner: Chicken sandwich, strawberries, root beer, two oatmeal cookies.

This evening I went to the beach with some friends. We went swiming, barbecued etc. I was drinking a root beer before I realized that it was in fact, a sweet, and therefore, a violation of the diet. So I ate two oatmeal cookies, since I figured I had already failed for the day.

Hi Crasch! I live in Raleigh, also. What beach did you go to?

Just think, yesterday may have been a technical failure from the No-S standpoint, but what you ate, when you consider the whole day, is very healthy compared to the "normal" modern way of eating. If you weren't doing No-S, one might even consider it a good day!

So, keep on truckin'!

Thanks for the encouragement, ClickBeetle. I don't plan to give up! It will just extend my first strict three weeks by another week. We went to Jordan Lake. It was a blast!

Day 9: Success!

breakfast: potato salad
lunch: ?
dinner: burger and fries

Day 10: Succes!

breakfast; potato salad
lunch: peanut butter sandwich, orange, salad, bag of Doritos
dinner: grilled salmon on rye, salad, fries

I'm going to start recording my exercise as well, I've been doing Shovelglove religiously since I started the diet, so this is day 10 of Shovelglove as well.

Shovelglove: 14 min., 16 lb
Urban Ranger: Walked to and from work, about 45 min. each way.

Crasch - Congrats on your quick recovery from temptation!

Jordan Lake?! That's not "the beach!" That's "a" beach! You've been eating too much potato salad at breakfast! :)

Thanks Clickbeetle! When I said "the beach" I meant "the beach" at Jordan Lake.

Day 11:

No-S: Success!

Breakfast: potato salad
Lunch: Chicken sandwich, salad, fries, bread
Dinner: Fries, salad, bread

Shovelglove: Success!
Urban Ranger: Walked home from work, (~45 min.)

Sounds like things have been going great till last check-in. Hope that things are still going strong and that you've just been too busy to check in this week.

Thanks for the checkup, Reinhard! Yes, I was out of town over the weekend.

(Sat) Day 12: S-day!
(Sun) Day 13: S-day!
(Mon) Day 14:

No-S: Success!
Shovelglove: Success!
UrbanRanger: Walked 1.5 hours

Good Job, Crasch! You're 2/3 there!

Day 15: Success!

breakfast: mixed vegetables and rice
lunch: peanut butter sandwich, cucumber, green pepper
dinner: 12 inch turkey sub, bag of salt and vinegar chips

Shovelglove: Success!
Urban Ranger: walked 20 min.

Thanks Jan-Tz

Crasch, honest to goodness, you have the weirdest breakfasts! Peanut butter sandwiches ... potato salad ... mixed veggies w/rice ???? Well, it's all good and healthy-sounding, so, whatever works, right?

(Wed) Day 16:
No-S: Success!
Shovelglove: Success!
(Thur) Day 17: S-day. Went to the premiere of Serenity in Charlotte (3 hours away) with friends.
(Fri) Day 17:
No-S: Success!
Shovelglove: Success!

Clickbeetle, I eat whatever I have left over from the night before.

Looking forward to seeing you in the 21 club this week. Hang in there, just a few more days.

(Sat) Day 18 - S-day
(Sun) Day 19 - S-day
(Mon) Day 20 - Failure!
(Tues) Day 21 - Success!
(Wed.) Day 22 - Success!
(Thur.) Day 23 - Failure!

Thanks, Reinhard! I'm going to keep logging until I get three weeks of consecutive successes!

(Fri.) Day 24 - Failure!
(Sat) Day 25 S-day
(Sun) Day 26 S-day
(Mon) Day 27 S-day
(Tues) Day 28 Success!
(Wed) Day 29 Failure!

Today, I'm going to reset my count.

2007-01-07 SUCCESS

2007-01-08 SUCCESS