Everyday Systems

OK here goes... Yesterday was my First No S Diet Day and it was a SUCCESS. Had a coffee with milk and sweeteners when I got to the office, then breakfast was a bowl of Fruit n Fibre cereal with Actimel. Lunch was a small bowl of pasta with broccoli and tahini and dinner was a slightly bigger portion of pasta this time with sun-dried tomatoes and marrows. I also did about 20 minutes of cardio exercise and really sweated it out.

However this morning I was 1 lb heavier .. so I've decided not to weigh myself frequently otherwise it will probably demotivate me. Maybe I'll do a once-weekly weigh-in.

Today is Day 2 - N Day - and so far have had my usual coffee with milk and sweeteners...

Question: Should I cut out diet soda?? I know it's not the healthiest thing on the planet, but it only has 1 calorie and might tide me over a sweet craving... any feedback?

Day 2 - N Day - SUCCESS

Started off with the usual coffee with milk and sweetener at work.
Breakfast: Lite yogurt with some cereal mixed into it + really small bread roll with nothing in or on it
Lunch: Small portion of pasta with veg (leftover from yesterday's dinner)
Afternoon: Tea with milk and sweetener + 1 glass Diet Coke
Dinner: Pasta with Broccoli, Soy sauce and Sesame seeds

For exercise I did 14 mins of constant laps in the pool.

Am a bit concerned about Days 3 and 4 though... Day 3 is my partner's and my anniversary so we gonna head on out to dinner and a movie. Will try my best to keep it an N-day by sticking only to one course and by not having anything except water or a diet coke at the cinema. However Day 4 we are invited to friends for a barbecue so will try and keep it an N Day till the evening and then try and keep my portions small, although my hostess is an amazing cook and this will be very difficult! I feel it's too early in my diet to be introducing S-days during the week! Will report tomorrow on how Day 3 went.

Last night I slept over at my mum's and this morning I weighed myself on her scales... which showed that I lost 3lbs!! but being different scales to mine I don't think that result is trustworthy... so will wait to weigh in on mine before I record my weight. I feel it's going well... it might be purely psychological but I do feel lighter!

Disaster. I shall have to make Day 3 an S day. As I posted yesterday, it was our anniversary. I was fine all day. I even made it through a long movie (Dark Knight) just sipping Diet Coke.. but I was soooo hungry!! Then afterwards... we went to a steakhouse and I had a beer, soup with 2 slices of garlic bread, a sideplate of salad, a fillet steak with a jacket potato... and a slice of creamy carrot cake!!! AAaargh.. I couldn't resist!!! Had I not had dessert I wouldn't be feeling quite so bad this morning I am feeling so bad about myself and beating myself up because I ask myself how do I expect to be slim if I have the willpower of a debauched hedonist?? And to top it all, I met my honey straight after work for our date so I didn't get time for any exercise either.

I am a whale. If I went down to the beach today, Greenpeace would try to save me.

And today it continues... my daughter is having a swimming party this afternoon and this evening we're invited to friends for more yummy food.

I will not give up though, and will continue to try and limit the damage. I will try and carry on today as an N-Day and then this evening my diet is going to have to go on hold once again.

Welcome to No S!

Rule #1--you can't beat yourself up everything you don't have success. My goodness, you've only been doing this for three days!? Habits aren't built or restructured that quickly. If you read lots of old postings from all these boards, you'll see that we have all "failed" more than we'd like. But I remember a comment that someone said not long ago. Another person had written a message like yours and the reply was something to the effect. . . "Just mark it and move on." As in mark your Habitcal RED and try again the next day. As Scarlet said, "Tomorrow's another day."

I've been doing No S since June and it's been a slow go. I thought as I read posts from others that would say things like, "I just didn't even want that cookie" or "I couldn't believe I didn't HAVE to have this or that. . ." and I thought to myself, that will never be me. I'm here to tell you--it's happened. I probably played with the concept for at least six weeks before I truly began to "get it."

Last night a friend and colleague of mine and I attended a huge catered picnic hosted by our dean-think big office party. Our husbands were both otherwise tied up so we just went together. She's doing No S too although she probably needs to lose less than 10 pounds. (If only I'd been that smart when I was her size--I would have never let myself get so big!). Anyway, we walked up to the food line-fried chicken, rich coleslaw, two kinds of potato salad, hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans and more--plus soft "homemade" cookies. I looked at her and said, maybe this is a NWS (non weekend S day!) She agreed, laughing at our pigginess. . .then I helped my ONE plate with ONE (a first) piece of chicken and added some of the other items. Didn't take a cookie right then, thinking I'd go back later. And if I ever eat a cookie, it's never ONE cookie-at least that is the old me.

We sat down with other friends and ate our food, really not that much, and threw our plates in the trash, visited and she dropped me by my house. By the time she got out of the driveway, it hit me. . . I called her quickly and said, "No S Success"--she said "what?"--I said "No S Success--we didn't mess up at all and we didn't even realize it!"

I promise you that in the history of my life, I've NEVER been able, or even been interested in trying, to eat smart at a big gathering like that; I could always rationalize why it was ok and not even think about it. My life was for all purposes was nonstop S! I've had a few other big events like that this summer and was not as successful but realized later how physically miserable it made me. This time, my HABIT kicked in and kept me from, as Reinhard says, "being an idiot!"

So trust me, it does take lots of TIME to build those habits-remember Rome! One thing about this everyday system is that you just can't give up after a couple of "failures."

Another thought--you said it was your anniversary. Reinhard has stated several times that you must take NWS days special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries. That is one of the ways the diet does not become a deprivation diet. Now with a daughter's birthday too, that would be another perhaps. (I remember not long ago, Reinhard mentioned that in his family he had several family birthdays all right around each other--he marked them NWS and moved on from there.) I know it feels like you're rationalizing that as well when you claim those as special days, but it's really OK. . . you'll get on track and continue the quest.

For me, today is our 30th anniversary and if we go where I think we're going for dinner. . . I'll have the works--but hopefully not so much that I'm stuffed. And I'll mark it NWS and move on!

You'll find that your early S days will tend to be feasts as if to save up for the famine. And as much I doubted it could happen, I'm seeing that since I CAN eat more and have sweets on S days, that I finally do not have the urge to eat everything in sight.

All in good time with moderation! Well this little comment is as big as my appetite!

And oh, my goodness--loved your whale line-a little self-deprecating humor is still good for the soul! I can just picture all the protesters surrounding me in my big fat old lady swimsuit! Too funny!!!

I am a whale. If I went down to the beach today, Greenpeace would try to save me.

Good luck.

Thanks LA Loser!! You have no idea how much better your post made me feel!! Especially after another evening of diet drama LOL In fact, I will take heed of your advice and not beat myself up about it. Will move on with goal firmly planted in mind. So I might not get there by next month, but by next summer hopefully.......

Here goes yesterday's report: Day 4 - FAILURE

Morning: Coffee with milk and sweeteners
Late Breakfast: Special K cereal with Actimel

Late Lunch: One packed plate of BBQ food = burger (no bun), veg burger (no bun), sausage, salad, potato salad, bit of pasta salad (but was angelic and refused the icecream and chocolates which were on offer for dessert)

Later: Dr. Pepper Zero (this was a life-saver as it tided me over a sweet craving

Later: Sugar-free lemonade

Evening: invited to friends for dinner... total blow out!! Damage done:
3 glasses of white wine
3 breadsticks with parma ham
1 stuffed olive
Starter: 1 plate of pasta
Main Course: half Burger (no bun), 1 small sausage, half a chicken kebab, salads
Dessert: 1 scoop of icecream which the hostess made especially for me because she knows it's one of my favourite homemade recipes, so would have been rude to refuse
Afterdinner liquer

Back home: 1 coffee with milk and sweetener - felt I needed something warm to sooth my stuffed tum

And that my friends is that! Of course, didn't manage to exercise either.
But today is another day. Will post tomorrow as to how it goes.

Hi...I'm new too (just under 4 weeks)....just wanted to encourage you to not worry about one red day. You had more green days than red days so you're ahead of the game!

Hang in there....janie

Day 5 - SUCCESS

Although Day 5 is technically not over, it's now 10.30pm now and am feeling satisfied so I don't think I'll be having anything else now except perhaps a coffee later..

Morning: Coffee with milk and sweeteners
Breakfast: Special K cereal with Actimel
Lunch: 1 Burger patty (no bun), 1 sausage, potato salad, 1 tiny slice of pizza

Later... took my daughter to watch a movie.. I was saintly and stuck to 1 large diet cola, while my daughter ate popcorn and a little bit of candy and I didn't have any!! I didn't trust myself to just have one popcorn piece, because I wouldn't have been able to stop at just the one.

Dinner: Took daughter to McDonalds! Success once again as I just had a Caesar salad. OK OK I know the dressing is very high in calories... BUT one plate is one plate right?? And yes, I pinched one french fry!

The only fly in the ointment was no time to exercise once again.. BUT tomorrow my hon and I are going to be very busy doing some home improvements so I anticipate a good workout there... we have to finish emptying out one of the rooms which we then have to paint, so lots of carrying, etc.

One final note before I sign off... a big thank you to all you lovely people out there who are being really supportive! Today I didn't find the diet hard to follow.. I feel that perhaps the habit is forming.. yay me! My only niggling feeling is that while I haven't been snacking, my meals haven't exactly been light and low in calories... am I meant to be aiming at reducing calories? If so, do I do it gradually? Or is it a case of "One plate is one plate" whatever it is??

Question: Can an S-day officially start after midnight of an N-day?

Not sure what Reinhard would say exactly -- except N is N and S is S. . .others have proclaimed their S days to mean Friday at 5 or 6 till Sunday at 5 or 6, meaning your evening meal on Saturday would have to be No S.

I do remember his warning would be to be very careful about muddling the waters; once we start to tinker with the very simple rules, it's easy for one little tweak to lead to another. But I'm guessing that in the big picture, going from "Sunset to Sunset"-ah, it keeps the S theme going, on S days, which is sort of what you're saying would be ok. And remembering that SOMETIMES on days that start with S does not mean to have lots of Snacks, Seconds or Sweets ALL the time!

On the other hand, if you mean you want to get up at 1 am so you can start eating . . .now that's another issue most likely. . .

But I'm guessing that's not what you meant! Your post indicates you posted it at 3 am --but I don't know if that's my time or yours since you're in a different time zone. However in your 3:40 pm post, you said it was 10:30 at night, so I'm guessing you posted this last message at 10 am your time? So I hope you made it through the night and were able to settle into a nice satisfying S day!

Enjoy your first pair of S days, no matter when you begin and end them!

LOL LA Loser, no I did not get up to start eating .. I just stayed up really late and at about 2am whilst watching a movie I indulged in a few potato chips and tried to justify it because technically it was already Saturday!

Since then, my S day so far hasn't been sinful at all. I only had a cup of coffee for breakfast and didn't snack till lunchtime which was one plate of pasta with garlic, olive oil and chillis (no seconds). After lunch I had another coffee with milk.

I find myself being reluctant to snack, even on S days now... but will probably have a bit of icecream after dinner tonight, if I feel like it.

The time difference is a bit muddling isn't it? I reckon I'm approximately 6 hours ahead of the US.

No I didn't REALLY think you had set an alarm in order to eat potato chips! It just presented itself as a mental image to me! And it's 11:35 am Sat. my time, CST, so I think here in the midwest, I'm 7 hours behind you! It's not even time for an S lunch yet!

It sounds like you doing pretty well to me. And I should also add that I admire that you recognize that staying healthy will be to drop a few pounds before it gets way out of control.

I would guess that many of us posting here would be thrilled to say we weighed 138 right now-or the equivalent for our height. I'm 5'4" and was a true skinny mini the first 30 years of my life. Ate everything in sight, and more really, and never gained a bit. Those HABITS, cultivated during my younger years when my metabolism was sky-high and my activity level was over the top as well, are what have led me to the state of fatness that I am in now. Through the next 20+ years, life happened, metabolism changed, activities dropped off, body began to get old (knees, feet, etc.) and I began to put on the pounds then drop some then add more.. . yada yada yada and all of a sudden I am truly that whale Greenpeace might try to save! (I still break into a grin when I think of your metaphor! )

So lots of us have different starting points but cheers to you and the others who are being pro-active and trying to conquer your habits before it's seems like such a distant possibility! I figure that inch for inch you currently weigh 2.26 pounds per inch of height. For me that would mean I would weigh about 145 pounds. . . oh, my. . .that's a number I would give anything to see again! I know that's not a scientific way of measuring it but it demonstrates a little bit how our situations are different.

That said, we're still in this HABIT BUILDING BOAT together and once you reach your goal, hopefully you'll be able stick with it and never get to the point that many of us have.

Yea, us!!!

Day 6 - S Day - Not too sinful

As I posted before, I found myself eating potato chips at 2am and consequently felt too guilty to eat much else all morning. So breakfast was just a coffee with milk and sweeteners.

Lunch: 1 bowl of spaghetti with garlic, olive oil and chillis

Dinner: Bread roll with some cheese, rocket, red peppers, tomatoes and half a large homemade burger patty.

Dessert: 1 ice cream float (glass with vanilla icecream topped with diet sprite)

Later: another ice cream float (smaller one this time) .. not too happy about this.

Several diet sodas featured along the way today too. Plus resisted the urge to have a sugary soda, so that's one positive I guess.

Day 7 - S Day

Was somewhat naughtier today..

Breakfast: Coffee with Milk and sweeteners
Lunch: Baked macaroni (1 plate)
Assorted snacks throughout the afternoon: 3 scoops icecream, 1 small slice cake
Dinner: Ham and cheese omelette, baked beans & 2 tiny sausages, 1/2 a buttered bread roll
Dessert: 1 Twix finger
Coffee with milk & sweetener

Gosh what a blowout!

Day 8 - SUCCESS

Usual coffee with milk and sweeteners when I got to the office
Late Breakfast - Special K cereal with Actimel
Late Lunch - Plate of leftover baked macaroni
Afternoon - Cup of tea with milk and sweeteners
Dinner - Plate of Pasta salad with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Couple of glasses of diet Dr. Pepper - 0 cals

However due to a very stiff neck I could barely move let alone exercise today...

It's Day 9 now and so far so good... only thing is haven't lost any weight yet... must be due to weekend naughtiness.

Looks like I've dropped a pound.. I know it's not a whole lot but it's only been about a week.. I don't even want to celebrate the loss, just in case the pound creeps back LOL

Day 9 - SUCCESS

Arrival at office: usual coffee with milk and sweeteners
Breakfast: Fruit n' Fibre cereal with Actimel
Another coffee with milk and sweeteners at my desk
Lunch: 1 bowl of leftover pasta with tomatoes and basil
Dinner: 1 bowl of pasta with marrows, tomatoes and olives
A couple of glasses of diet soda in the evening

I really really hope I manage to keep that pound off!!

Day 10 - SUCCESS

From now on I'm not going to bother writing what coffees, drinks and other beverages I've had. If it's a success day, it's taken for granted that I didn't consume sugars.

Breakfast: Fruit n Fibre cereal with Actimel
Lunch: 1 bowl leftover pasta with marrows, tomatoes and olives
Dinner: 1 bowl pasta with oven-roasted peppers and tomatoes

Methinks I need new weighing scales by the way... every morning it's like I do a step-aerobics class getting on and off them.. and they register a different reading everytime. This morning it was 9st11, 9st12, 9st10, 9st9 (almost fainted with joy), 9st11, etc.... They're digital scales and I replaced the battery not too long ago... bah!

Day 11 - Thursday - SUCCESS

Doing really well so far! Haven't weighed myself the last couple of days though, but I think I do feel a bit lighter! Even if it's purely psychological, it's still good!

Breakfast: Lite Yoghurt with some cereal stirred in
Lunch: 1 bowl leftover pasta with ovenroasted red peppers and tomatoes
Dinner: 1 bowl of salad made with shredded cabbage, spring onions, toasted sesame seeds, a few noodles, and a dressing of sesame oil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and chopped ginger.

DAY 12 - Friday - FAILURE

OK decided to be hard on myself and mark today as a Failure because although I was angelic until the evening, then at dinner I had a portion of french fries as well as 3 large slices of pizza. I was sooo hungry it was unreal but next time I should have omitted the fries to be honest.

Breakfast was a small bowl of Fruit n Fibre cereal with milk (am cutting out the Actimel because I found out it has sugar in it)
Lunch: Left over cabbage salad from yesterday
Dinner: see above.

Day 13 - S Day - not too heinous

Yesterday went pretty well and I didn't go too crazy I think...

Breakfast (brunch) however, was unhealthy - 2 leftover pizza slices!
Lunch - Fillet steak with small portion of fries and little bit of veg
Afternoon - my last remaining slice of pizza
Evening - 1 bowl of pasta
Dessert - 1 and a half chocolate cookies

Today I aim to have an N day because I feel a bit bloated and want to make up for yesterday's peccadillos. Also to be perfectly honest my sinuses are giving me hell and I just don't feel like eating much...let's just see how this day pans out!

DAY 14 - Sunday - SUCCESS

Today I made my S day an N day.. it wasn't too hard as I'm getting more and more used to not snacking in between meals! Plus I felt more motivated to do this because I weighed myself in the morning and noted another pound lost. That's 2lbs in as many weeks. Am most satisfied!

Breakfast was only a coffee with milk
Lunch: Bread roll stuffed with ham, tomatoes, and mozzarella with a side serving of potato chips
Dinner: Pasta with garlic, olive oil, cabbage and creammmmmm

After dinner I drove over to my folks' house and while there weighed myself on their scales... and they showed a 3lb not 2lb loss.. sigh.. if only I knew which to believe.. but for accuracy's sake I'll just stick to one scales' reading..

Day 15 - Monday - SUCCESS

Breakfast: Switched to a natural muesli with no added sugar or salt
Lunch: Bread roll same as yesterday lunch
Dinner: Rice Noodles with a Tomato & Green Chilli Salsa - v. low fat and v. small portion.. my trick with this was to make it pretty spicy so I wouldn't even be tempted to eat too much of it hehehe

I am entertaining my girlfriends tomorrow afternoon, so I did spend a lot of time preparing food and hence tasting.. but am not counting that as a slip up. It was justified and necessary.

However I am marking tomorrow as a non-weekend S day. It's not everyday all us girls get together and am making cocktails, fruit salad, and lots of other yummy stuff!

Day 16 - Tuesday - S-Day

As I said yesterday, on Tuesday I had my girlfriends over for a pool party, so as the hostess I think I was exempt from dieting no? thought as much!

Breakfast: Natural muesli with milk

Lunch: Tiny portion of rice noodles with tomatoes and green chilli salsa

Afternoon/Evening: let's not go there... suffice to say that the wine and cocktails flowed all afternoon and well into the night!! We ate dips; fresh Maltese bread (we Maltese are renowned for our bread!!) with a mixture of tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil and mint; a lovely fruit salad which apart from the chopped fruit obviously, was laced with orange juice and Malibu' liquer... mmm was all rather lovely if I may so myself

Day 17 - Wednesday - SUCCESS

Breakfast: Bowl of Fruit Salad
Lunch: 1 very small (saucer-sized) pie filled with ricotta cheese
Dinner: 1 plate of pasta with tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers, and olive oil

What is remarkable about today is that it marks another victory in this my quest for weight loss. After dinner, I watched some TV and nodded off to sleep... BUT woke up again about an hour and a half later and for some reason or other I felt soooo hungry!! I also knew that in the kitchen I had so many leftover goodies from yesterday's party - unopened packets of Pringles, crackers, nuts, etc. Old me would have yielded immediately. But new me got up, went to the fridge, and took out a bottle of water!!! Yessssss... Decided to keep sipping at it everytime the urge to eat felt insurmountable. Eventually I did go back to sleep and this morning I felt so good for having been strong.

BUT unfortunately, I weighed myself in the morning, expecting to be rewarded for my angelic behaviour... no loss at all.. but at least no gain either.

I really really hope that all this effort is not going to waste.... I wish I could speed up the loss. I lead quite an active life, but right now the weather here is sooooo hot and humid that it makes me feel drained and awfully tired all the time...

Would love to hear from anybody out there who "only" has about 20 lbs to lose, like me... Incidentally, how's it going Veronica?? By the way, I am 37 years old and have noticed how much harder it's been trying to lose weight as I age....

Day 18 - Thursday - FAILURE

Yes indeed.. sad to say I have to mark it as a Failure, because although I was doing fine till the evening, I had a handful of nuts about an hour before dinner and then about 2 hours after dinner I had about 5 teaspoons of icecream .. Otherwise the day went as follows:

Breakfast: Natural muesli with milk
Lunch: 1 bowl leftover pasta from yesterday's dinner
Dinner: 1 bowl of pasta again with just some garlic, olive oil, parsley, cayenne pepper, salt and a squeeze of lime

And voila'.. my 2lbs lost have crept back on again.. back to where I started!!!

Day 19 - Friday - SUCCESS

Breakfast - Natural Muesli with milk
Lunch - bowl of leftover pasta from yesterday's dinner
Pre-dinner - 2 glasses of a cocktail I mixed - Campari, white wine and soda
Dinner - 1 bowl of pasta carbonara

Although technically I didn't break the diet, I still felt fat and bloated all day. My clothes are still tight. I still look blubbery. I am spending the weekend away but not looking forward to wobbling around by the pool. Tomorrow (Saturday) is my partner's birthday. Gonna try not to go too crazy... but I always say that don't I?

DAY 20 - S Day

Also my partner's birthday and we're off to spend a weekend away!

Breakfast: Coffee + bite of muffin
Lunch: Bit of piggery at Hard Rock Cafe - nachos, assorted starters, then burger and a few fries
Dinner: no dinner as such because we were still stuffed from lunch. I had a pina colada later and some nibbles like a few peanuts and potato chips.

Quite a damaging day calorifically... but not gonna hassle about it.. it's Saturday and I'm also on vacation yay!

Day 21 - Sunday - S-day

Not really going to bother listing what I ate today.

Had a good breakfast with all the trimmings, felt too full to have lunch, nibbled on a few potato chips mid afternoon, and then in the evening had the BEST dinner in the world at one of Malta's top restaurants, in honour of my partner's birthday. It was a gourmet's dream... sigh...

Mmmm was lovely day, but slenderness has never seemed so remote!!

Day 22 - Monday - FAILURE

Wasn't sure whether today qualified as being an S day or not as was still in vacation mode and was National holiday in my country .. but still marking it as a Failure as I could have stuck to it being an N day if I truly wanted to.

Breakfast: Full and plentiful
Lunch: nothing
Afternoon: nibbles by the pool + 1 soda which I thought was diet but turned out to be the real McCoy.. genuine mistake
Evening: Plate of pasta and another sugary soda.. booo!
Later... half a chocolate bar.. groan

Day 23 - Tuesday - SUCCESS

Success.. to a certain extent.. this morning the scales read 140lbs!! That's 2 lbs heavier than when I started.. oh nooooo!! This is highly demoralising.

Breakfast: Bowl of cereal with milk
Lunch: Crackers and some dip made with peas and artichoke hearts
Dinner: Salad with avocado, blue cheese, pine nuts, grapes and parmesan

Days 23 and 24 - FAILURES

Went diet off-roading and snacked like it was going out of fashion! Not going into details.. don't feel like re-living the shame

Sorry the above post should have read Days 24 and 25 - Wednesday and Thursday

Wow Daahling, the last time I was 136 lbs, I was 15 years old.
Good luck getting to your desired size.
Peace and Love
Debs

Day 26 - Friday - FAILURE again

Breakfast - Coffee
Lunch - 1 pkt instant noodles
Afternoon - a pint of beer after work
Snack - slice of ham and tiny piece of mozzarella
Dinner - Fillet steak, grilled veg and fries
After dinner - 1 finger of Twirl chocolate boooo didn't even enjoy it!!!!

Not a hideous failure but a failure nonetheless!

Thanks a million for your support Deb!!! It's good to know that we all support each other in this venture and that there are people who really care!

Days 27 and 28 - S Days

Eating fairly normally with the odd bit of chocolate thrown in for good measure!