Everyday Systems

I'm 26 and I've been steadily gaining about 1.5 kg a year the last 6 years. If I don't stop I'll be overweight in no time. I won't be monitoring my weight though; if I'll measure something, it will be my waistline. My goal is to get 5 cm off my waist. So my favourite jeans will fit me again.

About NoS rules:

* No Snacks - I tend to drink lots of tea during the winter and I've a habit of fixing a sandwich to go with it. Trying to learn to just enjoy the flavour of the tea as it is. I'm getting there. I also tend to eat one extra snack at night when I stay up too late. If I went to bed when I should I'd eliminate 7 extra snacks from my week.

* No Sweets - My biggest problem. I don't crave sweets, but I've a habit of accepting if someone offers me some. The biggest problem is coffee. I don't like the taste so I like to have something to eat with it. Why do I drink it when I don't like coffee? Every place I go, people ask if I would like some coffee. Some people get offended if I ask for tea or water instead. And I've been drinking it since I was a toddler. I've been without coffee for long periods, but I always slip back to it. I also have two other reasons why I should not have any coffee: it keeps me awake past 2 am and gives me horrible leg cramps if I drink more than 2 cups a day.

* No Seconds - no problems with this. I never have any seconds.

Obviously I'll be following the NoS-diet, but there are some extra things I'd like to do eventually. I won't be trying to do everything at once. I'm thinking maybe I should add one habit per month.

1. No Coffee. I'll say no to people who offer me coffee. There are two exceptions: I can drink one cup when visiting either of my grannies-in-law. Otherwise I'll ask for tea or water instead.

2. Go to bed before 23.00.

3. Wake up at 8.00 and first do my back exercises.

4. Exercise 14 minutes every N-day with stability ball and/or handweights. Can be combined with my morning exercise.

5. Do some stretching every hour when working on the computer.

6. Go for a walk after lunch.

7. Drink water.

8. Eat a salad for lunch.

9. Buy a swimsuit and go swimming once a week.

There. My need to plan is satisfied for the moment.

Day 1. Failed. Found a stash of candy in the morning and ate almost all. Had coffee with ice cream while visiting.

S-day - small at-home memorial service for a relative. Had three cups coffee and only one slice of sweetbread.

Measured my waist (with yarn since my measuring tape has a tendency to vanish): 80 cm (31.5 inches)

Day 3 - Failed. Had 10 candies. (And tea with honey, but that doesn't count since I've got the flu. Hmm... weren't sick days S-days too)

Day 4 - Success My first one this far . Did a little stretching before sauna too.

A lot of those sound like S days, sort of. Give yourself a fresh start starting with your first success day. It's unreasonable to start with memorial services, head colds, etc.

Omena wrote:Day 4 - Success My first one this far :)

Thanks Kevin for your comment. I'm actually quite happy with the way I started. Before NoS I would have had at least 2 slices of sweetbread after the service and probably something else too. Not because I really wanted to eat them, but because they were there right in front of me.

Day 5 - S-day. Had rye bread with tea for breakfast.
Ate sauteed chicken, cooked rice and barley and some vegetables. Made fruit salad for dessert.
Went for a walk twice today. The weather was beautiful and it was only -10 C. Had one mug of hot cocoa with whiskey after my second walk.

Honeybush tea and rye bread for evening meal.

Day 6 - S-day. Baking for the funeral. Had one cup of coffee, a christmas tart, a piece of chocolate cake and a small marzipan potato (you can find weird things from Lidl..).

Got a workout playing with my niece and nephews .

Day 7 - Success. Had one cup of coffee but didn't eat anything with it.

Day 8 - Success. Had one cup of coffee. Did a 14-minute workout before sauna.

Day 9 - Failed. Had one christmas tart. Having sweet things around the house is bad for you.

Day 10 -Success.
Day 11 - Failed. There was free raspberry cake at the grocery store. Couldn't resist a piece.

I seem to have 50 % success rate at the moment. I'm eating better than I used to but I need to get a higher percentage of successful days.

Day 12 - S-day. Baked christmas tarts and ate one.

Day 13 - S-day. The funeral was today.

Day 14 - Success. No candy, even though there's a bag of them on my desk . Had just tea while visiting.

Day 15 - Success . Visited granny and didn't eat any cookies, gingerbread, christmas tarts or candy. Had just coffee.

Day 16 - Success. Woke up early and did a 14 minute workout.

Hey, you're doing great; especially given that it sounds like an emotionally fraught period.

Thank you Flnu. It's been a sad month but things are starting to look a little brighter.

Day 17 - Success. Had one cup of coffee. MIL commented on me not eating anything with it and told me there's no need to watch what I eat since I'm such a slim person..

I'm planning my S-days already There are some birthday parties and then I'm going to try a new Christmas candy recipe.

Day 18 - Success. I got through the whole 5 N-days and it wasn't even hard . I'm happy. Woke up early and did a 14 min workout and later got an extra workout for my arms from felting. My arms will probably be sore tomorrow. Ran some errands so got some walking done too.

Day 19 - S-day. Birthday parties. Too many sweet things and not enough real food. Walked a little.

Day 20 - S-day. I ate some sweet things and tested a recipe for Turkish Pepper Toffee. Now I think I've met my weekly salty liquorice quota. The toffee turned out yummy and I'll make another batch for gifts near Christmas.

I saved some cookies and a Christmas tart for this weekend. I ate them but I'm not sure I really wanted to. It's actually a relief that tomorrow is an N-day and I don't get to eat sweet things. And I just realized I almost wrote have to instead of get to in that sentence. Lesson to self: S-day doesn't mean it's compulsory to eat sweet things.

Day 21 - A spectacular failure. It started with just one candy and escalated into tea with pastries..

Day 22 - Failed. Visited granny and had 2 cups of coffee with a mazarin tart. This week is not starting well.

Day 23 - Success.

Day 24 - Success. Though officially it's an S-day since it's Independence Day in Finland. Haven't eaten any cookies, sweet bread, christmas tarts or candy. And didn't even want to.

Day 25 - Success. I even did a 14 minute workout today.

I've been thinking about the stay of the scale discussion. And I've come to the conclusion that the reason staying of the sweets was so hard for me earlier this week is because I didn't see any change happening. I didn't magically shrink noticeably with just one week of no-s. And was it reasonable to expect a drastic change since I've only done one succesful week? No, it wasn't.

But it was discouraging to try on a certain skirt last weekend and notice that it was still too tight around the waist. I think I should now go and hide the skirt and try it on again sometime next year.

Day 26- S-Day. Had a small party with friends. Ate four cookies, dried fruit, dark chocolate, 2 candies and drank 2 cups of coffee and a bottle of red wine.

Day 27 - S-day. Too many sweets.

Day 28 - S-day. Had a wisdom tooth extracted this morning. I've eaten porridge, ice cream and baby food.

And during the time it took me to write that one short sentence I managed to read three articles on Wikipedia... One concerning wisdom teeth, one about porridge and one about voyageurs (fur traders who ate porridge called rubaboo). Now I have to stop or I'll spend the rest of the evening surfing from one article to the next. Next in line would be an article about Métis people and who knows where I would end up. Wikipedia is addicting.

Day 29 - S-day.

Day 30 - S-day.

Day 31 - S-day.

I've been eating mostly porridge, baby food and other smooth stuff. Not much appetite though since the disinfecting mouthwash I've to use wreaks havoc on my sense of taste.

Rest of December Failures and S-days. I'm still the same size though. Probably.

I think I'll name 1st of January as day 1.

Day 1. S-day
Day 2. Failure
Day 3. Failure
Day 4. Failure
Day 5 S-day
Day 6 S-day

This year is starting great, isn't it.

Hi there. I haven't been around for a while..

I've made some progress. The spring is coming and I'm always more determined and active when the sun starts shining again.

I've given up buying soft bread and as a result I've lost 1 kg (yes, I told I wasn't going to monitor my weight... bad me).

But starting again I am. Today is Day 1 and it was a Success. Exercise = Success.

Go me

Day 2 = Failure (1 creme muffin, 2 cookies), exercise = Success

Day 3 = Failure (1 cookie), exercise = Success

Omena
Stay strong, your days are getting better and you have continued with your exercise, so you are building a great habit.

Next time you are offered a cookie take it and put it in a plastic baggie and collect yourself a loot bag for Saturday.

You can do this.

Thanks MerryKat At the moment I'm mostly concentrating getting my exercise everyday. I'll get rid of the cookies later

Day 4 = Success, exercise = Success

Day 5 = Failure (apple pie and a gingerbread cookie while visiting granny), exercise = Success

Day 6 = S-day

Day 7 = S-day

I exercised every day this week .

Week two:

Day 8 = Failure (1 cookie, popcorn), Exercise = Success

Day 9 = Failure (cake), Exercise = Success

Day 10 = Success, Exercise = Success

Day 11 = Failure (visited granny), Exercise = Success

Day 12 = Success, Exercise = Failure

Day 13 = S-day

Day 14 = S-day

Week 3

Day 15 = Failure (a slice of iced cake, cocoa with whiskey), Exercise = Failure

Day 16 = Success, Exercise = Failure

I'm going to add one more habit to track. Eating breakfast in the kitchen instead of at the computer.

Day 17 = Success, Exercise = Success, Breakfast = Success

Day 18 = Success, Exercise = Success, Breakfast = Success

Day 19 = Failure (popcorn with movie), Exercise = Success, Breakfast = Failure

Day 20 = S-day
Day 21 = S-day

Week 4

Days 21-27: 2 S-days, 2 Successes, rest failures

Week 5:

Day 28 = Success, Exercise = Success, Breakfast = Failure

Day 29 = Success, Exercise = Failure, Breakfast = Failure

Day 30 = Success, Exercise = Success (I have developed a tiny deltoid muscle . And I'm not even doing this 5 days a week. So 14 minutes even 3 times a week has some effect), Breakfast = Failure (I'm not even trying)