Everyday Systems

Guess who's back in town!

This time I'm here to stay. No more dabbling, no more tweaking, no more on and off.

No more over thinking and making 3 simple rules complicated.

My 2009 resolution (ugh...resolutions) is to stay commited to this way of eating. I'll also keep up my HabitCal and daily blog.

Let the fun begin....

I just listed all my diet books for sale on amazon.

All I'm keeping is the No S book.

I'm serious this time!

I think that tea is going to help me on my N days. I'm using it as a substitute for the cookies/ cake/ crap that I eat as my nightly snack.

I like the ritual of tea. Boiling the water, using a special tea cup. Thanks to websites like Tea Forte and The Art Of Tea, I've got a impressive collection of dessert teas. I can have a different one for every N night.

PS...my diet books are selling on amazon! I'll have some extra money for more tea!

I'll be back.
Just marking my spot.

I stepped on the scale. And actually looked at the number.

147.5

Now I know my starting point. I think I'll weigh myself every 10 days. I'm not going to set a goal, as long as the number goes down I'll be a happy camper.

Go!

I officially am a No Ser.

I set up my habitCal and dusted off my sledge hammer. My first goal will be the 21 day challenge.

Although this is an S day, I'm going to blog. I want to get in the habit of checking in on a daily basis.

Besides NoSing, I'm also training for the San Diego marathon in June. I've completed 21 marathons, I used to run them, now I'm mostly walking.

Today I have a 6 mile walk/run that I'm doing this afternoon. My high miles will always be on the weekends. I think I'll do my shovelglove exercises on the weekdays.

Sunday night....

I'm looking forward to my first N day. I'll be working out of town tomorrow but have my plan in place. I'm even staying in a hotel with a treadmill to get my run done. Tomorrow morning I'll be tossing around the shovelglove before I hit the road.

Day 1 was a SUCCESS.

I know that sweets are my achilles heel. My plan to stay on track is to brush (and floss) my teeth after my plate of food. I'm also having a breakfast type of meal for dinner. I don't crave cookies after a bowl of cereal!

Day 2....SUCCESS

I'm back home tonight. Working out of town are my easy days, when I'm out of my routine, I don't feel the urge to slip into old habits.

Tonight I had some tea, that helped me resist the deadly sugary snack I used to have around 7:30 pm.

I'm also reading my No S book again. I'm using it as a motivator to stay on track. The sentence that leapt out at me today was "No food is prohibited, just delayed".

Day 3...SUCCESS

Kumquats saved the day!

I almost caved in at lunch. My inner brat was trying to talk me into putting a cookie on my plate of food.

Here's what happened...I stopped at my local health food store to pick up a sandwich and a cup of soup. I drive around all day and eat lunch in my car. The place I went for lunch has a great salad bar and makes terrific sandwiches. I eat there alot so I already knew what I would eat. I even brought a plate with me!

Anyway, as I turned the corner to get some soup, blammo! I see cookies, lots of them. And I want one! Now!

Beyond the cookies is the produce section. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a big display of my favorite citrus fruit, kumquats.

I quickly grabbed some kumquats with my lunch items and in a flash, I hightailed it outa there.

No sugar was consumed. And I stuck to the No S rules, kumquats are small and fit on my plate!

Hi! I'm new here and new to the NO S diet. . .(I haven't even gotten my book yet, but from what I could tell this is a pretty straight forward, no-nonsense approach and that is what I like about it!) Anyway, reading through your notes, I had to laugh because I see myself in the same situation with sweets. . .more often than not! I'm glad that you didn't cave into you inner brat!
That was an encouraging post to me! Glad you found your way out with the kumquats. Keep it up!

Day 4...SUCCESS

Today was weigh in day....146.6. The numbers are going down and that's a good thing.

I'm not setting a specific goal weight. I'll be happy if I'm moving down the scale when I weigh in.

"My body is none of my business"

That's the title of a chapter from the book "Hungry, lessons learned from fat to thin" by Allen Zadoff.

The author says that he stopped trying to get his body into a certain shape through diet and exercise. He focused on his food strategy and let his body transform to the size it's supposed to be.

I like that idea.

Day 5...FAILURE

Dang it...I almost made it until Saturday!

The good news is that I stuck to my exercise schedule. I was also tempted to make Friday and S day and Sunday an N day. I decided not to do that, fiddling with the rules is a slippery slope.

I accept my failure day and move on.

Week in review
- I officially started No S
- I kept up with my blog and habitcal
- exercise 100%
- 1 failure day
- lost .9 lbs

I'm enjoying my S days!

Today was a SUCCESS.

I like that February has 28 days in it, that's a solid 4 weeks. My goal is to stick to No S for the entire month, no red days. I'm also going for some sort of exercise everyday. That will be challenging since I'm working out of town quite a bit in February.

I love a good challenge!

SUCCESS

I'm working out of town all week. My car is loaded with lots of food but no sweets. And paper plates so I don't have to guess. I'm staying at hotels that have exercise rooms, so I can get my workouts in.

I also brought my sledgehammer!

I snuck it into the hotel, can you imagine if the front desk saw me bringing a sledgehammer in my room!

HA! I'd have some explaining to do!

SUCCESS

Different hotel.

Same sledgehammer.

SUCCESS

Around noon, I stopped into a Starbucks to get a coffee. I was getting hungry and had a yogurt and some fruit in my cooler for lunch. As I was waiting in line, my eyes drifed to the pastry case. Muffins! Pound cake! C'mon, there's not that much sugar in a scone! And it would fit on a single plate!

I almost caved in. But at the last minute, I ordered a multi grain roll with almond butter. I had it with a yogurt and some blueberries. Another crisis averted!

And despite being dog tired, I hit the treadmill after I checked into the hotel.

Today was a good day!

2nd post tonight, I love having high speed internet at a hotel....

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.â€

I really like this quote by Michael Pollan. No S are the only rules I "have a fence" around. I am trying to add fruit and/or vegetables to my 3 daily plates of food.

I was also happy to realize that I didn't think about having an evening snack tonight. Usually around 7:30 I want a snack. Tonight the time came and went without a second thought.

And one more thing...my triceps are coming back!

OK, time to go to bed.

SUCCESS

No time to blog...I'm heading to Las Vegas in the morning. Good thing the next 2 days are S's!

FAILURE

I had a crappy day (the *&$# economy!).

I almost made today an S day because I was on vacation today. I decided on making it a failure day. It's Monday and it's not my birthday or a federal holiday.

I marked it and am moving on.

FAILURE

Ugh.
I'm going to bed.

FAILURE

OK, I'm done feeling sorry for myself.
I'm back on track starting now....

Friday....FAILURE

I'm ready for some successful days.

The good news is that I'm sticking to my exercise schedule. Today my husband and I ran 6 miles. Tomorrow it's 8 miles. The marathon I'm training for is on June 1, about 15 weeks away. I sure hope some of this weight will be off by then.

I just read a post about a no-ser who is in a weight loss challenge with someone doing a fruit and vegetable diet.

I tried an all raw diet for about 5 months. I lost weight but was totally consumed with food. Everywhere I went, I had to take my food with me. When I traveled, I took my blender and filled my suitcase with raw crackers and snacks.

I bought lots of raw food cookbooks and a big honking dehydator. I would make flaxseed cookies that took 2 days to dehydrate! The dehydrator took up most of the dining room table. It made this whirling sound, the cats were scared to death of it.

I told my husband that I was planing on turning our oven into a plant stand. I don't know how he's been married to me for 24 years.

I began scheduling regular colonics to get rid of "toxins".

The kicker was Thanksgiving. I ordered a dinner for my husband, then
spent the entire day chopping and mixing up my meal. He was digging in to mashed potatoes and stuffing and pumpkin pie. I was eating these god awful dehydrated squash patties and pineapple chunks.

I shoved my dehydrator into the garage and sold all my raw food books.

When eating 1 plate of food seems hard, I need to remember what it was like to drink shots of wheatgrass juice for breakfast. Now that's hard!

Wow, I'm being very chatty today!

I've been thinking about all the red days I had last week. Although they're discouraging, I'm determined to learn from my mistakes.

My red days began with wanting to tweak the rules. Monday sucked and I wanted to feel better with food. My plan was to have one "treat" and move on. Of course it didn't work and I ended up with a week of red days.

Going forward, no more tweaking. Monday through Friday are N days with N rules. And that's that.

Hi Lori!

Going forward, no more tweaking. Monday through Friday are N days with N rules. And that's that.

It's good when you can learn from your mistakes and move on, as opposed to just giving up all together. I'm going on vacation next week. . .so we'll see how it goes. I'll learn from you and try not to tweak.


Overall, you are doing great especially keeping up with your exercise. I haven't even begun to incorporate an exercise routine but that is about to change.

Anyway, take care!

5 days of N days start today. I'm determined to make then successes.

I know what I like to eat at mealtime. This week, I'm going to eat the same thing, more or less for each meal. Fruit, yogurt and granola for breakfast, a big salad for lunch and some kind of soup with maybe a roll and some cheese for dinner. I think that if I limit my choices, it will be easier, especially in the beginning. Plus, these are foods I look forward to eating so I'll enjoy my meals.

I'll see how it goes....

SUCCESS

I'm going to try and spend some time on the No S site everyday after dinner. That's one of my vulnerable times, reading other people's blogs and posting myself will keep me focused.

Tomorrow I work out of town, those nights are always easy.

Hmm..let's see what other people are up to tonight...

Getting on the site after dinner has helped me wait out the lagtime between mouth, brain, and stomach. After I have checked out the new posts then it is easier to clean up the kitchen without the temptation to nibble. I really love not having the option to eat after supper. I have tried to give myself that rule before and always failed, but because it is part of NoS it has been so simple to follow. The not snacking has helped me most of all. I used to be able to come up with all sorts of healthy snacks and would spend most of the evening eating or thinking about eating!

I enjoy your posts, but I am most envious of your avatar!

SUCCESS

It's always easier for me to stay on track when I'm working out of town. I think that it's because I'm out of routine, making it easier to resist my former habits.

It's all about dumping old habits and creating new ones!

I'm focusing on habits, the scale will take care of itself.

STOP IT!!!!

I had to yell that at myself this afternoon. My old bad habits were trying to negotiate with my brand new good habits. I actually pulled a cookie out of the freezer (usually only defrosted on S days).

I'm happy to report that the cookie is back in the deep freeze and today was a SUCCESS.

I can't underestimate the power of maintaining this blog and my habitcal. I wanted to report today as successful more than I wanted to bite into a cookie.

Progress!

SUCCESS

Whew...today was a close call. I'm finding that my most vulnerable days are Thursdays and Fridays. Throw in a hefty dose of stress and you've got trouble brewing.

It's 7pm on Friday, I'm tempted to go to bed to guarantee I remain green.

I think I'll brew some tea and read some No S blogs.

I'm in a quandry about the scale.

Part of me says stepping on it regularly is a good thing. The longer I go without knowing the number, the scarier the scale becomes. I want my weigh ins to just be another tool to record my progress, like keeping a blog and the habitcal.

That sounds reasonable.

Except, today, after completing my 9 mile training run ( I'm doing the San Diego marathon in June), before I took my shower, I impulsively stepped on the scale. I expected that it would be a false low number, which would be nice to see, even it wouldn't last.

I was up 3 pounds! %#^&*!

Now, the rational part of my brain knows not to freak out, it must be a flukey hormonal thing. I read Reinhards chapter on how the scale can go nutty for no reason.

I know all this. But still.....

%^)$#!!!!!!!!

Maybe I should weigh in every 10 days, like my original plan calls for. Or maybe I should step on every morning to de-sensitize myself to flucuating numbers. I'll have to think about it.

It makes me angry that stupid numbers on a stupid scale affects me so much. But it does and I need to think of a solution.

failure

It's been a topsy turvey month for me and my eating is reflecting the stress.

I did get my exercise in, that's a good thing.

2 more failures

I'm still juggling alot of stress but I'm getting control of all this emotional eating.

The rest of the week will be successful.

I'm not going to be hard on myself, I did get up at 0' dark thirty to get my run in.

success

with some modifications.

OK, I know I said I would do vanilla no s, but I'm re-considering. Here's why.....

I've been having lots of failures this month. Instead of focusing on my red days, I started thinking about ways I'm successful, in other aspects of my life.

I've completed over 20 marathons. I may be slow but I always cross the finish line. I've used the same training plan for all my races, the first week always begins with a 3 mile run. Every week the mileage slowly increases, one mile at a time.

If I had to run 10 miles the first week, I'd never be able to complete 26.2 miles. I'd quit after week 1.

One big goal, broken into manageable chunks.

That's going to be my revised No S plan.

For the first 2 weeks of March, a successful week will be completing at least 1 N day. Every 2 weeks after that, I'll add another day per week. After 10 weeks, I'll have 5 days in compliance.

If I stick to this schedule, I'll be back to 5 N days by summer. Slow and steady is the way to go for me, for marathons and weight loss.

Hi Lori!
Three pounds could easily be some kind of water retention.
Maybe your body just needed to hold onto fluid while you are pushing yourself to exercise so much?
Or perhaps your muscle is starting to build more and your fat is going down.
That could throw the numbers too.
Anyway, good luck with baby stepping yourself into compliance on N days.
I'm not sure if that will make it easier or harder to be honest, but it's worth a try!
I'm having a very hard time making myself stick to anything these last few months and especially am finding that my emotions are totally wreaking havoc on my resolve.
Keep trying!!
Debs

Thanks for the encouraging words Debs,

Even though I've started and stopped no s in the past, I'm determined to make it stick this time. I don't know if baby stepping will be a good idea, I may go back to the vanilla way in a few weeks. I'm giving myself some wiggle room right now. Times are a bit challenging for me, I don't think I can handle being a no s failure too!

I think I will only write success when I complete my N day.
The rest of my blog will be devoted to WIDRT (what i did right today).
Without further adeiu...
WIDRT
-I'm working out of town and brought my sledgehammer and weights. This morning, before my 7am conference call, I squeezed in my weight workout.

WIDRT
Drove 300 miles home this morning. As soon as I arrived at my house, I changed into my workout clothes and went on a hilly hike with my husband for 80 minutes.

WIDRT
6 mile run....done!

OK, it's back to vanilla no s.
I blame my stubborn streak on my astrological sign. I'm a taurus, so sometimes I need to learn some lessons before I play by the rules.
Lessons learned...back to the 3 rules with one exception for me.

PS...I'm working out of town and plan to use the hotel treadmill in the morning. Unfortunately, I forgot my socks. I guess I'll have some sweaty sneakers!

You know what really bugs me?
I'm realizing how dependant (I don't want to say addicted) to sugar.
Sure, I always looked forward to having a dessert after lunch...and dinner..and as an evening snack.
Now that I'm going 5 days in a row without a sugary item, I see how tough it is.
I'm struggling so much with sugar, I may decide to cut it out entirely for 21 days. I may need to step back from sugar consumption to get a handle on it.

I like this quote...

"I must learn to love the fool in me--the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool." -- Theodore I. Rubin, MD

2 days of SUCCESS.
I'm doing the 21 day challenge.
This time it's going to stick.

SUCCESS

I have to give a shout out and a big thank you to all my fellow No S bloggers. When I feel as if I'm going to falter, I spend some time reading other people's daily check ins. It's a good feeling to know that we're all in the same No S boat.

Thanks again.

SUCCESS
I'm working out of town tonight. My favorite thing about staying in a hotel is watching tv in bed. I wasn't a total slug tonight, as soon as I checked in, I hit the treadmill for 48 minutes.
Now I can be a slug for the rest of the evening.

I love being a slug in a hotel I feel like a queen.

SUCCESS

I was reading about L-Glutamine today. Taking 1000 mg a day is supposed to help with sugar cravings. I'm going to buy some tomorrow and will report back on it's effectiveness. I'll use it for 2 weeks and see if it makes a difference. Heck, even if it works like a placebo, that's ok with me!

1 failure(dang it) and 2 S days.
I was tempted to make up for Friday's failure and use Sunday as a N day. I didn't do it because I don't want to think that there is "wiggle room" on N days.

Although my eating has it's ups and downs, I've been steady with exercise. Today my husband and I completed a 12 mile training walk/run, in preparation for the San Diego marathon in June.

I also began taking 1000 mg of L-Glutamine every morning. I'll be curious to see if it helps curb sugar cravings. If I string 5 successes in a row, I guess it's working!

And now a few words about the pants 'o' meter...

I've been thinking about the tools I want to use to measure my progress. I'm keeping up with my HabitCal, which is a terrific way to see how many compliant days I have per month. My goal is to reduce the number of red days I have each month. I want my red days in April to be less than the count in March, etc.

I'm keeping the HabitCal but ditching the scale. I'm finding that right now, for better or worse, too many emotions are tied to a number. I know the scale is a useful tool for many people, my husband weighs himself every morning. His day isn't affected by his number. He records it and moves on.

I don't want to use the scale to measure my progress. Instead, I went into the deep recesses of my closet for the answer.

I pulled a pair of pants that when they fit, I felt trim and healthy. When I wore these pants, I knew I looked fantastic.

Unfortunately, they've lanquished on a hanger for about 2 years.

I attempted to put them on, I'm surprised they didn't rip apart at the seams. I couldn't even come close to zipping them up. I can't believe that I used to tuck shirts into the waistband!

The plan will be to try these pants on once a month. The pants 'o' meter won't lie. Either I'm making progress or not. I know that the more green days on my HabitCal, the closer I'll be to zipping up my pants again.

My barometers for success will be my habitcal and the pants 'o' meter.

I love your "pants 'o'meter" concept. I've been doing the same thing--that's how I found yesterday I could get into some jeans that I haven't been able to wear in several years. . . but they were still elastic waist ones. So I've actually got several "stages" of pants 'o' meter stashed away. Of course, they may actually be out of style by the time I can wear them again, but hey, I won't complain if I have to buy new ones in a smaller size! Now to someday fit into those size 3 Gap shorts from about ten years ago!

Good luck-sounds like you've got a great thing going.

STRESS!!!!!!

OK, I'm back and I'm calling a DO OVER!

Reinhard says it can sometimes take 12 times to fall off the wagon and commit to No S.

I think I may be on number 12. Or maybe 13.

Sometimes I'm tempted to delete this blog, change my username and erase my failures. I know that it's the perfectionist side of me talking, so I ignore it. Being a perfectionist never works in the long run.

I've dusted my non-perfefectionist self off and am back on track.

I'm going to join an April Challenge.
I think the extra layer of accountablility will be the kick in the pants I need to get going.

SUCCESS

I'm determined to make April a month of successes. I'm working out of town all week, when I got to my hotel, I jumped on the treadmill for 30 minutes.

It's going to be a good month!

So what are you challenging yourself to do for April? I had to chuckle when I read your post about not wanting to be perfectionistic. Sometimes when it comes to exercise and dieting, a lot of my energy has gone toward staying on the right track. It almost feels like I'm in still in high school trying to make the honor roll . . . and shooting for the perfectly healthy attendance record. These are worthy goals. . .great for building confidence and character. . . that is until I fall short of the mark. . .at which point I have to decide to either chuck the goal or dig deeper to achieve it. Continually striving for something that you desperately desire to achieve is a journey towards persistance, not perfection.

I said all this to say this. . .you're doing great! Keep your eye on your goal!

Just marking my place...I've been traveling alot so I haven't been maintaining my check in.

Life is good. I've lost about 5 pounds and have been exercising regularly.

I'll be back soon.

Back again.....to stay.

Although I've lost some weight, I wasn't doing vanilla No S. When I stray from the 3 rules (and 1 exception), my mind goes alittle squirrely.

I'll create my own rules! I'll eat only from 9 inch plates! No wait, I'll only eat 20 bites of food per meal! Hey, I'll only eat 2 big meals!

You get the idea. I've lost 5 pounds but it's been a mental free for all in my head.

I'm back to the vanilla No S rules for good.

Except...maybe I'll have a snack in the afternoon every other Tuesday. JUST A JOKE!!!!

It's good to be back.