Everyday Systems

hi all.. just started today.. its a bit of a coincidence that it's monday, but i like it, i always have the most resolve on monday so it helped me through the day, i guess.. it was pretty tough though, mostly between breakfast and lunch, and after dinner.. especially after dinner, even now just before bed, i'm starving..

i'd also like to note that this week i have exams, and so my schedule is pretty irregular, but i'm hoping the fact that i'll be out writing exams almost every day will make it easier for me to stay away from food.. anyways..

Day 1 (Monday Dec 11, 2006): SUCCESS

Welcome, elena!

Good luck with the exams (and no-s )

Reinhard

Hi Elena, and welcome!

I have exams this week to and its killing me. I always gain weight over finals because I snack constantly. I'm doing well though on No S and haven't failed in 13 days!!

Keep up the good start!
Jesslyn

Oh wow, thanks for the warm welcome.. actually, i'm gonna post my food log for a while (as long as i can keep it up), and any comments would be appreciated.. here's yesterdays (yes, i am re-itterating the success part):

Day 1 (Monday Dec 11, 2006): SUCCESS

10:00 a.m.: Coffee: cup of 1% milk, 1 tsp instant coffee, 1 tsp cocoa.. no sugar today

11:00 a.m.: Breakfast
- cereal and banana (cut up in the cereal) with balkan yogurt (instead of milk) and a tsp of apricot jam

(very hungry)
2:00 p.m.: green tea

4:00 p.m .: Lunch
- 1 slice of pizza (1/6 of pizza pan), homemade, very thin crust, with pepperoni, mushrooms, cheddar cheese, green pepper, feta cheese, olives
- 1/3 of a calzone, made cuz I had extra dough, filling ony cheese, green pepper, and a few olives
- 1 royal gala apple
(feel stuffed)

(not too hungry, but my sister made a loaf of bread, HARD to resist but i did
7:30 p.m.: linden tea

9:30 p.m.: Dinner
- 1 orange
- salad: curly green lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, pepper, touch of ELOO and apple cider vinegar
- 3 mici (little sausage-like things)
- small slice of bread

(extremely hungry till bed)

i have a question: what's the deal with drinks between meals? i think i saw somewhere that tea is okay.. what about coffee? and as you can see from my food log, i had a green smoothie.. any comments would be awsome..

Day 2 (Tuesday Dec 12, 2006): SUCCESS

9:00 a.m.: Breakfast
- omlette: 2 eggs, onion, green pepper, mushroom, a little feta grated on top at the end
- 1 slice of french toast, mostly with feta, small piece with cinnamon sugar at the end
(stuffed)

10:30 a.m.: Coffee
- cup of 1% milk, 1 tsp amigo instant coffee, 1/2 tsp brown sugar

2:00 p.m.: water resources exam

12:30 p.m .: Lunch
- 1 slice pizza (like yesterday)
- 1 pear

(had an exam from 2-4:30, which is why i had lunch so early.. also, hunger hit me midway through the exam, good thing there was nothing i could do about it)

6:00 p.m.: Green Smoothie: lettuce, carrot tops, pear, cranberry juice
(not sure how this fits in with No S.. i was starving though, and it was gonna take a long time for dinner to be ready.. and it is very healthy)

7:00 p.m.: Coffee, half a cup, black

7:30 p.m.: Dinner
- salad: romaine lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, pepper, touch of ELOO and apple cider vinegar
- oven pork
- steamed brocolli
- fried rice (very little)

(only started to feel hungry at about 11, i'm impressed)
11:15 p.m.: chamomile tea

I guess it's up to you to decide how strict to be about drinks between meals. Personally, I am very strict. I allow water, tea, and coffee, but with no sweeteners or calories added.

So by my reckoning, the green smoothie and the coffee (because of the milk) would be a problem. I only take in calories at the 3 meals, and consider any other calories to be snacks. But other people may do it differently.

Jesslyn

thanks for the reply jesslyn.. i'm not gonna count it as a failure though.. it didn't make me wanna start snacking, so i think that's alright.. also, i like to have green smoothies because they are extrememly healthy.. but they fill me up, so i can't have them with meals.. regarding the coffee before breakfast.. i dont feel like eating when i get up, but i'd kill for a coffee.. when i have the milk coffee, it makes me able to put off breakfast for one or 2 hours longer than usual, so i kind of like that..

i'd also like to make a note of the fact that there are COOKIES everywhere i go.. i guess cuz christmas is coming up, but every office i went into today (at school) there was a box of cookies for pple to take.. EVEN AT THE GYM!! when i got there, one of the pple at the desk had just brought a box of those belgian biscuits and was offerring pple.. however, i've been doing good, actually haven't been that tempted.. i'm surprised at how much willpower i've had these past few days


Day 3 (Wednesday Dec 13, 2006): SUCCESS

9:00 a.m.: Coffee: french press with 1/4 cup milk and 1/2 tsp brown sugar

9:30 a.m.: Breakfast
- cereal with balkan yogurt (instead of milk) and a tsp of apricot jam

1:30 p.m .: Lunch
- mozzarella cheese sandwich (out of lunch meat, cheese was all i had)
- 7 walnuts
- 1 royal gala apple
- 1 clementine

6:00 p.m.: Green Smoothie, 12oz, same as yesterday

7:30 p.m.: Dinner
- pasta, whole wheat spagetti with meat sauce (lean ground beef, green pepper, green beans, onion)
- 2 clementines
- Amstel Light beer

11:20 p.m.: Linden Tea

Day 4 (Thursday Dec 14, 2006): SUCCESS

9:00 a.m.: Breakfast
- 2 eggs
- slice toast, buttered

10:30 a.m.: Coffee
- cup of 1% milk, 1 tsp amigo instant coffee, 1/2 tsp brown sugar

1:30 p.m .: Lunch
- soup
- slice toast with zachusca
- 1 clementine
- 1 apple

7:30 p.m.: Dinner
- mashed potatoes
- schnitzel
- cucumber & tomato
- 1 grapefruit

9:45 p.m.: Chamomile Tea, with lots of lemon

Day 5 (Friday Dec 15, 2006): S-Day

this warrants some explanation.. halfway through the day, i realized i really should make this an S day.. i was almost certain to be in a situation that would mess with me.. it was the last day of my exams, so we went out to a bar after.. lots of beer isn't part my "ideal N day".. so anyways, i decided to swap it with tomorrow.. i think it's important that i decided this before actually messing up my N-day..

now as for how my first S-day went: not too bad.. i had a little bit of sweets, i'd say about 200 calories worth (tree candy) which is not at all bad, i think.. after coming home slightly drunk, i did snack a lot, but it was mostly fruits.. of course, this didn't sit too well with me, either cuz of the beer or cuz my body's not happy about getting food continuously since i've only been eating at meal times.. in any case, my stomach feels funny, bloated i guess.. but its alright.. have a great weekend everyone!

Day 6 (Saturday Dec 16, 2006): SUCCESS

11:00 a.m.: Coffee: milk, amigo, 1/2 tsp brown sugar

12:00 p.m.: Breakfast
- cereal and a banana with yogurt and tsp apricot jam

6:00 p.m.: Dinner
- grapes and an apple (funny: had this a little earlier because i thought i'd be having the cooked food right after but didnt quite happen that way)
- salad
- sausage
- mashed potatoes

9:00 p.m.: started drinking OJ cranberry and coconut rum, went to a club, had another OJ cranberry vodka and 3 beers, i think.. danced a lot though, so burned lots of calories

Day 7 (Sunday Dec 17, 2006): S-Day

12:00 a.m.: 2 pieces of cremshnit (vanilla custard between two thin spongy sheets)
12:30 p.m.: 1 pancake with maple syrup
1:00 p.m.: coffee, black with 1/2 tsp brown sugar
2:30 p.m.: 1 pear and some pishcoturi (bisuit-like little things)
4:00 p.m.: toast
4:30 p.m.: slice of bread with avocado & garlic dip
6:00 p.m.: Dinner: chicago-style pizza, and tomato & cucumber salad
lots of stuff after that... anyways.. s-day

Day 8 (Monday Dec 18, 2006): SUCCESS
funny stuff: woke up really late so had breakfast pretty late (around 1pm), went shopping and didn't get home till about 9, which is when i had my second meal.. i had a third meal around 1am, just some nuts and a pear..

Day 9 (Tuesday Dec 19, 2006): SUCCESS
funny stuff: a fair amount of booze, but went out dancing, so i guess i burned those calories off..

Day 10 (Tuesday Dec 20, 2006): FAILURE
sweets did me in today.. and then that became snaking on sweets, which is terrible, two s's...

this failure is most likely due me starting to slack on the rules a lot.. almost every day i've been out the whole day so i started snacking on fruit during the day (not at meal time).. anyways today, it started with me having a taste of the gingerbread house my sister was making.. then i just happened to have lots of other cookies around (cuz its christmas) and i kept having a taste of this, a taste of that, until i pretty much said "well i've eaten sweets already, may as well keep going"

Hey Elena,

Sounds like you're doing pretty well so far. Congratulations on finishing up those exams and sticking to the No S plan during them. Back when I took exams in college, I think I subsisted primarily off of coffee and the occasional cigarette...

One thing that many of us struggle with is the all-or-nothing mentality; if you can chill out on that, it will probably help a lot (especially during the holidays when there's little yummy things to taste everywhere). I try to think about the math of overeating or snacking--one cookie (say, 200 cal) is not the same as ten cookies (2000 cal!). It helps put things in perspective.

Best wishes,

H

well.. i've been absent from the forum for most of the holidays.. which have been pretty horrible in terms of food (great in terms of other things).. i'm almost certain that i've gained some weight

anyways, i'm getting back to noS tomorrow, just wanted to post today to make it harder for me to back out of this again..

You wouldn't happen to be from Eastern Europe or Germany would you? I am Polish, and some of your menu seems from those parts =)

wow you're good.. yea i am from Easter Europe, from Romania, but i've been in Canada for 10 years, so i wouldn't think anyone would be able to tell where i'm from by what i eat anymore..

anyways, last time i said i'd start again i didnt .. or i did for a day and then didnt last.. but things have been going pretty bad for me in terms of eating (and the scale agrees), so i'm starting again today (which is strange cuz its friday, fridays aren't generally good to me)..

Day 1 (Friday Jan 19, 2007): Successful FAILURE

11:30 a.m.: Breakfast
- 12 oz green smoothie (kale and pear)
- 1 tangerine
- cereal w/ milk
- coffee, black with 1/2 tsp brown sugar

2:00 p.m.: Lunch
- rice with stir-fried veggies (brocolli, zuchini, mushrooms, onion) and fish
- glass of half orange half grapefruit juice

6:00 p.m. or so
- green smoothie
- some grapes

7:30 p.m.: Dinner
- nachos: tostitos with cheese, hot sauce, black olives, and guacamole (which i tasted a couple of time while i was making it)
- chocolate pudding (homemade, tasted like melted bittersweet chocolate, amazing)

9:30 p.m. and onwards
- 3 glasses of OJ/grapefruit with coconut rum
- pint of beer

Day 2 (Saturday Jan 20, 2007): Successful S-Day

11:00 a.m.: Breakfast
- fruits: apple, grapes, clementine
- coffee with whipping cream and sugar and little marshmellows (guimauves)

12:00 p.m.
- chocolate pudding

1:30 p.m.
- candy cane
- some peanuts (not too many)

5:00 p.m.: Dinner
- pasta: shells, sauce had ground beef, turkey, onion, zuchini, brocoli and mushrooms
- grapes and brie
- a few olives

9:00 p.m. and onwards
- pint of beer
- 3 or so glasses of white wine

1:00 a.m.
- 2 slices of small pizza

Day 3 (Sunday Jan 21, 2007): Bad S-Day

12:30 p.m.: Breakfast
- milk coffee with whipped cream and marshmellows
- mango
- 3 small chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup

4:00 p.m.: Lunch
- stew/chili-like food (sausage, peas, mushrooms, onion, garlic, tomato sauce)
- grapes (lots)
- a few peanuts
- half a chocolate pudding

5:00 p.m. and onwards
- chips (not too many)
- bread, about 2 slices, one with butter
- 2 after-eight chocolate mints
- candy cane
- 2 pancakes with honey
- apricot jam & strawberry jam
- mini marshmellows

Day 4 (Monday Jan 22, 2007): FAILURE

7:30 a.m.: Breakfast
- tomato and feta
- slice toast
- egg over easy
- 2 slices of hungarian salami

12:00 p.m.: Lunch
- pear
- apple
- pasta

6:00 p.m.: 10 oz Green Smoothie (spinach, kale, pear, orange juice)

6:45 p.m.: Dinner
- a few grapes
- nachos (tostitos, hot sauce, black olives, cheese, guacamole)
- buttermilk
- pea stew: green peas, mushrooms, onion, tomato paste

8:00 p.m. onwards
- a few tablespoons of strawberry jam
- 2 strawberry muffins (homemade ones, not gigantic costco style)
- chamomile tea
- a few after-eight chocolate mints
- little bit of brie