Everyday Systems

I've been following the no-S diet since January 28, 2009 (235 lbs), first based on the website and then through reading the book. For the first few weeks, I was moderate-carbing at the same time (protein and vegetables at every meal, nuts as snacks on S days), with a program called diet-to-go, which made it really easy for me. Now I've been on my own for a couple of weeks and I find I am maintaining my weight loss (215 lbs) with no-S. My S days this past weekend involved a slight binge on Saturday night while watching TV and an overboard baby shower on Sunday. And yet, as I read somewhere on this wonderful website, I didn't drive the car into the wall, just because I'd hit a post! In the past, if I was on a diet, and blew it to some degree, I always took advantage of that fact to go whole hog, since the day was blown or was going to be blown in an anticiapted event anyway. Not with no-S, since the restriction is of a different nature.


I like the freedom of no-S, in that I can eat what I really feel like eating at my three meals on N days. Snacking after dinner and until bedtime was a real issue for me, but sugarless gum has become the replacement for that. I am sleeping better and my doctor says she wants me to go for another sleep study to see if I still need to use my C-pap machine.

Reading through some of the daily check-ins can be a little depressing. I've noticed some people have been on no-S for years and have gained weight. I guess they deserve credit for still checking in but still...it's a little demoralizing.

In the past, I've been successful at the weight loss portion of many diets, when I'm in the right frame of mind. But I have never maintained a weight loss in my life. The no-S diet does not seem like a diet to me. It seems like a normal way to eat. Normal-weight people have treats on weekends and special days.

Liz,

A "belated" welcome since you've been on No S for a while but hadn't posted till this week. I'm betting you won't have a problem maintaining on No S and would be surprised if you don't continue to lose pounds, although they will definitely come off slowly.

I first learned about No S about a year ago but didn't start trying to follow it until the summer and after a number of restarts, the habits began to truly take hold in the fall. I've lost about 13 pounds, but that has come off just in the last few months. It took a long time for my body to figure out what I was doing--treating it like a normal person!

Gosh, the thought of dumping the C-Pap sounds great-I feel like I'm addicted to mine. . . although it would be awesome to wake up without funky marks on my face every morning from the straps. . . (yeah, I know--get it fitted right, etc. Believe me, I've been through so many masks & straps, etc. to find one that doesn't leave me branded for a couple of hours every morning. I've tried!) But the good sleep is worth it all. I don't think I'll ever be able to get rid of mine-I needed even when I was at a quite respectable "skinny" weight!

My memory about members who have been on No S for a long time is not that they gained weight while actually staying on habit, but that they strayed away from the principles for whatever reasons. Or maybe I'm just not remembering any who gained while really sticking with the rules.

Good luck with sticking with it and holding on to that loss. Twenty pounds is a lot! And check in often-we're a pretty supportive group!

Friday: Success
Sat: a few too many treats. Friend came for dinner and I had half of two pastries, in addition to cookies I bought when I got the pastries...
Sun: B and L okay and went on a long hike. Chinese for dinner--had seconds and what my daughter didn't eat...

Monday: Success

Getting ready to go to a staff meeting that includes March birthdays celebration. Didn't have cake at the Feb celebration (which called a lot of attention) but today I might have a slice...

Tuesday: Failure

BUT: despite not strictly adhering to the No-S diet on two fronts, sweet and snack, the one slice of cake was it, even though there were two kinds of cake and enough for seconds. I did well with dinner and throughout the evening. So success to some extent, since this is not my usual all-or-nothing self!

guadopt1997 wrote:Tuesday: Failure

BUT: despite not strictly adhering to the No-S diet on two fronts, sweet and snack, the one slice of cake was it, even though there were two kinds of cake and enough for seconds. I did well with dinner and throughout the evening. So success to some extent, since this is not my usual all-or-nothing self!

That's great Liz!
Keep it up and congratulations on your success thus far!
Debs

Wednesday: success

Liz,

I'm new at this so have no idea where this message will wind up, but I can identify with your being able to follow diets for a llimited time then it all goes south!

That's pretty much to story of my life as well. One of the things I've noticed about this diet that makes it different however is teh absense of GUILT. I think that's so important. There are so many things we find to feel guilty about in life in general, we certainly don't need to life with guilt about food as well! That in itself makes us a prisoner both to the guilt and to food. I'm thinking the freedom to be normal can take us a long way.

Good luck with your journey.

Thursday: success

Skipped water aerobics because of work. Could have rushed but...

Re. skipped water aerobics...we all have heard "Haste makes waste," so sounds like a wise choice to do what you need to do for yourself when time is limited. Feel GOOD about it and continue doing things that are in YOUR FAVOR.

Go for success!!!!

Friday: success

Have to work this weekend but they're feeding us lunch. Then going to friends for dinner. Happy it's an S day!

Saturday and Sunday: had to work and lunch was provided. Went to friends for dinner Saturday night. I am neglecting the "sometimes" in the rules. I fear that I undo the good work of the week with S day excess. I wonder if that will calm down over time...

Based on what others have reported I think that it will. I'm having the same problem. My days off are by far too-o-o far off! I'm going to bear with however, and try to focus on "mostly" one platers with a few exceptions today and see what happens.

I posted about this on the general list and someone suggested listening to the podcast on the subject of S days. It was awesome. I recommend it.

Monday: success though wasn't feeling well. Lunch provided at work. Ate one plate but it had half a sandwich and half a rollup and I wondered if that was excessive.

Tuesday: success

Wednesday: success

Weighed 4/2: 215 same for a while now.

Thursday: success

Though I went back to the kitchen to get the last three pieces of roasted potato, they would have fit on my initial plate so I'm counting it as a success. I chewed so much sugarless gum yesterday, I got gas!

Friday: success, though i had three slices of pizza, I ordered a medium instead of large. had pea pods too. It was a kind of big virtual plate.

Saturday: traveling to Mexico. Overdone S day as usual. need to watch it today (Sunday) because tomorrow is my mother's memorial and it is going to be an s day for sure.

I guess the habits weren't as ingrained as I'd hoped. At least I'm getting more exercise than I get at home. I think I'm eating less than I usually do when I'm here. Our meals and mealtimes are mostly out of whack. I hope to get back into my routine when I get home, starting on Monday. Actually, not "hope to" but "will".

Monday: success

Back from Mexico, lost two pounds from much more movement than I get at the office and very odd meals.

Tuesday: success

Am a little nervous about this but I decided to go back on diet-to-go low-carb starting next Tuesday, combining it with no-s by not having snacks, except on s days. The meal size is controlled by the company. I've maintained my previous round of diet-to-go with no-s for over a month and am pleased with how I've done (including losing two more pounds. Have mixed feelings, because if I'm sold on no-s, why do I have to be so impatient about the weight loss? But I also get tired with preparing meals, so I get a little bit of a break.

Wed, 4/15: success

Read Arjuna's "Learning the art of moderation" check-in. He said: "I think the proper measure of a successful habit is when you don't actually want to go over board any more."

I think this really makes sense. Not that I didn't go overboard, say on the sweetened nuts at my mother's, but all in all, yes, it's true.

Yesterday at work I found two chocolate covered marshmellow eggs I bought to eat during the weekend I had to work. I'd forgotten all about them!

Thursday: don't know about today. Had dinner before water aerobics (done by 6) and, though it was one plate--a large one--I ate a lot of chicken skin plus fried yucca. So it feels like I cheated, I have some kind of negative feeling, not guilt exactly, but let down.

Now I have to make sure I make it to bedtime without crashing the car.

Friday: success
Saturday: S day but no sweets, seconds, or snacks. Even missed breakfast!
Sunday: S day that did not zoom out of control.

Monday: FAILURE

Ordered a cheese pizza, planned to have two slices, fruit and carrots. Had almost five slices, fruit, carrots, AND a klondike bar.

I will not crash the car, I will not crash the car, I will not crash the car!!

I think it's because I'm doing a few weeks of low-carb starting tomorrow so it's like a blow-out before a diet. Maybe this wasn't a good idea...

Don't know why I decided to mess with success. I've continued to lose weight while just no-essing.

I guess I'll just see how it goes.

I'm just coming off of low-carb. Do you need quick results from low carb for an event or something?

Not really. I did some low-carbing in February and actually kept that fast weight loss off with no-essing, which sold me on the no-essing!

Thinking about my motivation...I've lost 24 pounds since the end of January and no one's noticed. Could that possibly be it? The thing is that in the past, when my weight loss has been noticed, I tend to go off whatever diet I'm on. So I'd be better off not having it be noticed.

There's also the fact that my low-carbing is through diet-to-go, so it gives me a break from having to think about what to prepare, with really good food. I don't enjoy cooking.

The thing is I've been so happy lately with what I've been doing food-wise, except for last night of course...

Does Diet to Go have higher carb plan options? I'm not familiar with it but sounds wonderful to have food delivered!

Well they do have a delivery option but I live near one of the distribution sites. They also have low-calorie (low-fat) but I didn't enjoy it. The low-carb has vegetables at every meal (including breakfast).

You can check their website.

Tuesday: success

Wednesday: success

I've been reading a lot of other people's posts. Pretty interesting...

Thursday: success

Really difficult to go to water aerobics last night. Was very hungry and sleepy. Went anyway!

Brotherjohn recommended the following for visually tracking weight loss:

http://www.weightcommander.com/

I entered my weigh-ins since 1/28/09 and I think it's going to be a great motivator.

Friday: SUCCESS

Interesting realization: I passed up a lunch that looked really good in our restaurant-grade cafeteria, mostly because I'd brought lunch and didn't want to waste it. Then there was cake for April birthdays that I was not interested in. But it occured to me that if I blew it with cake, it would make my lunch "sacrifice" worthless. Then I went to my daughter's middle school evening event: tons of food, some of it free, some of it home-baked cookies. Again, it crossed my mind that that was a truly delicious lunch I'd passed up. Plus S days are around the corner!

Sat and Sun: two reasonable S days!

Monday: success

Tried to sell a friend of mine on No-S last night but she signed up for Weight Watchers instead. She's done it before, is deprived (only 19 points!), gets bored (eats almost same food every day so she doesn't have to figure out points), then stops and gains back (she's not huge though). Not sure what did not appeal to her about no-S (maybe slow weight loss) but she doesn't eat breakfast. Snacks on processed low-point food even though she's read the book by the author of Omnivore's dilemna.

I really want no-S to be my way of life. In the past, other diets have also seemed like they could be doable long-term, especially when I'm losing and it seems easy, like no-S does right now. I just have to adopt the mindset that past failure is not a predicter of future failure. I think, though, that if I avoided emotional eating in February (when my sister got hit by a car and I had to go to NY twice to help her out, and in the middle of it my 88-year-old mother passed away) and March-April (when my landlord said he wanted us to move out in the summer, I had stress at work, and had to travel to Mexico to clear out my mother's house) , it seems like I could avoid it for good.

That darn emotional eating! Developing new habits around emotions seems as important as developing new habits around food to me. Sounds like your head is really in the right place--

Marianna

Not sure what did not appeal to her about no-S (maybe slow weight loss)

I really think that No S is a hard sell in some ways, because it's NOT difficult. I know when I was younger I attacked a diet with a lot of new-project energy -- I will work super-hard! I will be the best! I will lose really fast! I will blow all the other dieters away! And it took me a loooong time to figure out that, although I would in fact lose quickly (at least until my metabolism tanked and I plateaued), I could not keep that level of energy up forever and when I gave up, I would regain with interest.

Something as moderate as No S would never have appealed to me -- lose slowly? Don't buy special foods? No counting and measuring? Don't suffer and arrange your whole life around what and when you can eat? That's for amateurs!

I think it goes against the whole cultural mindset right now, where everything has to be X-TREME, dude! It's not enough to ride your bike, you have to RIDE IT DOWN THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN WITH A HANG-GLIDER ATTACHED TO YOUR HANDLEBARS. It's not enough to lose weight, you have to BE THE BIGGEST LOSER and beat the competition on national TV. It's not enough to be healthy, you have to be a SIZE DOUBLE-ZERO and have thighs smaller than the diameter of your knees. Even walking and yoga -- you're supposed to do POWER walking and POWER yoga.

Well, count me in the amateur, unextreme club, because I have no interest in suffering for a few months, and then gaining it all back immediately after.

Thalia, you should write an essay about this for a newspaper or magazine! That was a very good post and you're probably right. I did explain that it is slow. She wants to get thinner for this summer.

When I was on Weight Watcher in 2007, I ate so much processed food, mostly in the form of snacks. I didn't want to do the core program (healthier) because I don't much like to cook. Healthier eating is one of the many things I like about no-S.

Liz

Tuesday: SUCCESS This was day 8 in the 21-club challenge (includes two weekend S days)

Plus went for a walk since I had to skip water aerobics. Foot still hurts...

I can almost see people rolling their eyes in their mind because I am on yet another diet. Yes, I've been on many over the years, though less so lately. The last semi-successful one (40 lb, WW) was in 2007. Quit that in June of that year and have not really made any kind of effort since. As a result, gained it all back and then some. So then really, it wasn't much of a success.

I read on other people's posts about how with no-S, we're really starting with maintenance. I like that idea. I've never maintained in my life, 'til now!

I was reading apomerantz check-in (cannot concentrate on work, it's beginning to be a problem!) and it reminded me of an S-day success I had a couple of weeks ago:

I was visiting my sister in NY. We'd had a really nice lunch at a "Mozarella bar" (cheese--duh, a little bread, roasted veggies, and raw spinach--delicious and filling). On our way home from Manhattan, she bought a pint of ice cream for dinner. I had pasta and pesto, an apple and some broccoli. And it was an s-day!

Day 9 (Wed): SUCCESS

Day 10 (Thurs): success

Day 11 (FRI): SUCCESS
Days 12-13 not-an-idiot S days.

Day 15 (Mon): SUCCESS

Day 16 (Tue): SUCCESS

Yesterday was the last day of my two-week diet-to-go. The food is pretty good, sometimes delicious in fact. But I want a little more freedom, especially on weekends.

When I read other people's C/I, sometimes full of angst, and then it turns out they have three pounds to lose, I feel so irked.

At this point, I don't even have a goal weight. I just want to see where I bottom out with no-S as maintenance. I went on the calorie counter website yesterday, recommended by someone here, filled out the requested info and was told what my goal weight is. I'm not interested.

Day 17 (Wed): Success

Lunch from the cafeteria was huge. Took half of it home for another meal. That's a first!

Day 18 (Thurs): success

Had awful fish for lunch so didn't finish. Very hungry before water aerobics. Had some V8 but dinner wasn't 'til 8 and I was dizzy with hunger.

Day 19 (FRI) SUCCESS

Day 20: Pretty out of control S day. It seems if I'm not avoiding sweets and refined carbs, I'm overdoing it.

Started out okay, with cereal and milk. Had a late Thai lunch, whole order of spring rolls (usually I got half) and yum woon sen.
Came home already starting not to feel well. Had nothing for hours (except grape jolly ranchers) then hummus and yogurt/cucumber with pita chips for dinner and a yogurt. Then some popcorn and 1/3 mango, then klondike bar. Just tooooooooo much!

Tomorrow is Day 21 and Mother's day. Luckily we'll be with a friend and her daughter. This friend has seen me through a couple of diets so she's expecting me to fail. In 2007 when I lost 40 pounds, she claimed she didn't see any difference in the way I looked. This time, I've lost over 30 and it's the same.

I feel sick.

Well, I made it through the 21-day challenge. Luckily the last two days were S days. I went somewhat overboard on Saturday, less so on Sunday. On real diets, this would have derailed me for sure and who knows how long it would be before I got back on the stick, if ever.

Here, it's built in. Then Monday, thank goodness, back to normalcy.

Monday and TuesdaY : SUCCESS

Not sure about today: had breakfast burrito, and chicken, spinach, and most of a baked potato with butter for lunch. So far, so good.

Went to the dentist for a new filling and now I can't bite down. So I decided to have yogurt for dinner . Had two of them, thinking one would never tide me over 'til bedtime. 170 cals each. Don't know if that's a red day now. If so, that takes care of the May challenge.

I thought the same thing on Monday when I created my first red day by eating cheesecake...but, not the case! We're just cheering each other on and encouraging one another to have as many green days as we can in May! So, you're good...and just think - if you spread both of those containers of yogurt onto a dinner plate, they would barely fill it!
Keep up the good work! Hope your tooth feels better tomorrow! And a huge congratulations on becoming a member of the 21 day club! That's quite an accomplishment!
Mimi

Thanks, Mimi. I decided to call yesterday a success after all. Mostly because I thought of having a popsicle since I thought I'd blown it, but I didn't. And also, people have S days when they're sick...going back to the dentist today. Had to have oatmeal for breakfast and got tomato basil cream soup for lunch, but I want to chew!

I hope your trip to the dentist went well. My dentist and I have become very good friends in the last couple of years - seems like my teeth decided to have all kinds of problems --- one after another! The only problem is - he's an expensive friend to have!!!
Hopefully you can chew something tonight!
Mimi

Sat: idiotic S day
Sun: saner S day

Can you call two similar weekends in a row a pattern?

No, just that it seems to take some people longer to adjust to the NoS way of eating and handling S days. I have read over and over in different check ins that eventually something clicks and the S days become *less wild* and they can experience saner eating.
I'm going to keep working at it and I'm determined not to stop and give up this time. If I have a red day, I'll try harder the next day to keep it green.
Mimi

Monday, May 18: Success

and didn't even have sugarless gum after dinner!

The funniest thing: I participated in an outdoor event sponsored by the Washington Post this Sunday with some friends and ended up in one of the videos on the website. It's just a back view of me. So I told a friend of mine, who never notices my weight loss. She watched the video and did not believe it was me! I'd been telling her about no-S and she was skeptical (I lost 40 lbs on WW in 2007--she didn't notice--and then eventually gained it all back, as usual UNTIL NOW). Finally she was able to see that my backside has shrunk!

Tuesday: success

Surprisingly difficult day. Wanted to eat within about an hour of lunch. I didn't. But dinner was a pretty large "plate". Instead of serving out a measure of hummus, I finished the container. I'd almost count it as seconds because that was a little out of control, and then I ate a whole mango rather than share. It was better for me to convince myself I hadn't blown it, to forestall going whole hog.

Woo hoo for you!!

Mimi

Thanks, Mimi!

Wednesday: success
Thursday: success

Friday: Success
Sat-Mon: Exempt
Tuesday: Failure

Was on vacation but came home today. Should have made an effort to have a green day after a little over the top behavior on Sunday and Monday. But noooooooooo.

Back to basics tomorrow.

Glad you're back - and let's face it...vacation time is a very difficult time to stay green with NoS - but it's just that, a vacation.
So now your vacation's over and like you said, back to basics! I'm rooting for you - GREEN today!

Mimi

Thanks, Mimi. Unfortunately,

Wednesday: failure

Fine for bfast and lunch, but after dinner, I didn't stop.

Need to commit to the 21-day club again.

Good idea! Just don't give up - keep going! That's my mantra. I keep trying to go one day at a time, one meal at a time. Works better like that for me, otherwise I begin to think too much - and then I get into trouble!

Mimi

Thursday: failure
Friday: failure and it's only 8:35. Have to try not to drive the car into a wall.

Liz - what about backing up a little to be easier on yourself and maybe just try for tracking only one S until you feel comfortable with it. Like maybe, if after dinner snacking is a problem for you (whoa, it is for me too!) just track that. Maybe make a mod for yourself to help? Save a piece of fruit to eat then or maybe just a Jolly Rancher and a hot cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of milk or juice. Any one of those mods are certainly less habit destructive than an all-nite-eating-fest...right? Don't worry about seconds or sweets until you feel comfortable with your evenings. Maybe keep your hands busy in the evenings or leave the house for awhile? These are all things I have used to help me with evening eating. After a month back with NoS, my evenings have certainly gotten much easier for me...days on habit certainly help!
Mimi

It's scary because it feels like every other time I've lost weight.

But it's not - that's the best part!

You've lost 35 pounds - wow! What a fantastic result of getting your habits under control! Try not to compare NoS to *other diets* and become scared because there is no comparison. NoS is a way of managing your eating habits that is sustainable over the long haul. Someone (BrightAngel, I believe) recently said not to think of NoS as having a beginning and an end because there isn't. Vacation has thrown me off once before too, but you can get your momentum back.
I've been rereading the NoS book this morning and just took a look at the *Recovering From Failure* section...

Don't feel stupid for trying and failing. Success is the sum of many failures.

What's that other great line? Mark it and move on!
Brush yourself off and keep on going! The next time you eat is a new meal! You can do it!
Mimi

Marking the whole darn weekend and moving on to June. Nice new month, nice new week. May have two non-weekend S days related to my daughter's birthday celebrations.

June challenge helped me stay on track yesterday. Feeling re-energized!

Keep going!!!

My new goal:

To be able to say, like Hunter Gatherer did: "I have mostly gotten past the "No! I failed! Now I must fail the rest of the day too!"

Related quote: "If I back into a pole, I'm not gonna say,'Oh well, the car is wrecked' and drive into a brick wall!"

There you are... I forgot you were Liz! You really helped me get past the 21 days... I kept telling myself to keep going and not think "I'm done, I made it". Thanks for that reminder! I did the whole month no reds for the first time... you can do it!!!

Great goal! Great philosophy! I remind my myself often because I was very famous for *driving my car into the brick wall* all the time!
Keep up the great work!

Mimi

I just realized that last night I implemented my new goal!

My daughter and I went out to dinner with an old friend who was in town briefly from Vienna. At the end of the No-S dinner (we didn't order dessert), he pulled out a small box of chocolates and handed it to my 11-year-old daughter. She opened the box (she's never really liked chocolate until recently, and only likes Hershey's milk chocolate at this point--clearly does not take after me!). He showed her how to display it for full effect. It is very pretty, looks like a flower with the chocolates wrapped in orange paper. Anyway, of course we each had one, and I was definitely planning to have no more than one at that point. And it was awful!!!! Filled with "champagne creme" (I don't like the taste of liquor of any kind). It was all we could do not to grimace!

And that was it. No driving the car into the wall after I got home. I didn't even think about food for the rest of the evening.

With all or nothing being such an issue for me, this was definitely a success.

Wednesday: success

Thursday: failure
Definitely had seconds on pizza tonight, having eaten 3.5 slices of a large...but I seem to have marked it and moved on. No sweets, no snacks. It's kind of heartening!

guadopt1997 wrote:Thursday: failure
Definitely had seconds on pizza tonight, having eaten 3.5 slices of a large...but I seem to have marked it and moved on. No sweets, no snacks. It's kind of heartening!

Good for you! That's real progress, when you can do it on the SAME DAY!

Go, Liz!

guadopt1997 wrote:Thursday: failure
Definitely had seconds on pizza tonight, having eaten 3.5 slices of a large...but I seem to have marked it and moved on. No sweets, no snacks. It's kind of heartening!

I agree with KCCC, to be able to mark a deviation and move on without making it worse is quite an accomplishment. Way to go!

Yup! Before NoS I could never do that (the old story of driving the wrecked car into the wall), but now I'm finding that I can.
Way to go!

Mimi

Keep thinking that you've commited to doing your best month yet... Don't think "failure" at all, since you aren't doing the 21 straight anymore. Recover and make up for it. I know you can do it!!!

Thanks, everyone, for your support!

Friday: success

Saturday: went to farmer's market and got some great fresh produce. Had a great treat in the form of some delicious baked goods. Have a potluck this afternoon.

" That's real progress, when you can do it on the SAME DAY! " That's too true, and just what I'm aiming for.

June 6: Not a total idiot S day
June 7: Not a total idiot S day

June 8-10: success (effortless!)

June 11: success
June 12: S event in the evening--daughter's 12th birthday party. Stayed no-S 'til evening as planned. Did not go nuts Friday evening BUT
June 13-14: OMG, GMO as my daughter would say! Yes it was the weekend but I feel like coloring the days RED. Went way overboard on Saturday with party leftovers, then felt sick most of Sunday morning and didn't eat 'til noon (reasonable amount), left the house, then came back at 4:40, had a snack. Horrible gross dinner, then some more grazing after that. Not quite as bad as Saturday but my stomach was so distended! Have to listen to the S days gone wild podcast again...

June 15: success

The thing about this program that sneaks up on me is that sometimes I'm eating to live instead of living to eat.

June 16: failure/success. Finished the food off my daughter's plate after eating what was on mine /didn't snack or have sweet later in the evening

June 17-18: SUCCESS (even though I worked from 7:30 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. yesterday and it's 10:45 p.m. and I'm still at work today!) I was pleased because when I got home, I could have really gone for an ice cream treat to comfort/reward myself for having to work so late. But I didn't.

I used to sometimes eat food off of my kids' plates until one evening I was chewing a piece of steak from my son's plate and I laughingly said "Mmm... really tender...you didn't already chew this did you?" He said "yea". That was it for me, I remember it over and over. I don't even steal dry looking chips because I've seen them lick off the salt! My dog enjoys it now.

Sat and Sun: nonidiot S days! Whew!

Mon, June 22: success

Someone brought in home-made chocolate cake with caramel sauce and it is calling to me. Must remain strong. It is not an option!!!

Did you remain strong? After my cookie fiasco, I recommend freezing every temptation.

I did remain strong, thanks for asking. Then was almost undone by watermelon at home. I really wanted seconds but stayed out of the kitchen since I thought it could be a slippery slope.

So, Tuesday, 23 June: Success

guadopt1997 wrote:Day 18 (Thurs): success

Had awful fish for lunch so didn't finish. Very hungry before water aerobics. Had some V8 but dinner wasn't 'til 8 and I was dizzy with hunger.

I know everybody will disagree with me, but if you are so hungry that you're dizzy, you should have had a small snack... Dizzy isn't good! Keep up the good work, though.

June 22: slight FAILURE Went out to dinner and did fine. But then two hours after finishing, got home and had some watermelon. It would not have fit on my earlier plate but I could tell that I would stop with the watermelon so I decided to have it. And that was it!

Nichole, you're right! But I've noticed lately that I'm extremely hungry for meals and it's not like any of them have shrunk that I should be any hungrier than I used to be. Odd...

June 22-23: SUCCESS
June 24: slight Failure. Went out to dinner and that was successful. But two hours after finishing, when I got home, I decided to have some watermelon. It was delicious but not part of the meal. On the bright side, that was it!
June 25: daughter's birthday. S event: 1 slice of pizza, order of chicken wings, salad with greek cheese, cherries, and two jolly ranchers.
June 26: lunch had bread pudding, which was my incentive to not be an idiot on my S days last weekend. It was delicious. I will count this as a GREEN day if I go 'til the end of the day with no S. That is, after all, my stated goal for June: not to go crazy after a transgression.
June 26, stayed green for the rest of the day.
June 27-28: terrible S days.

29-30: Success

July 1-2: SUCCESS
July 3-5: extremely excessive S days

It happens - and it's okay. Maybe listen to the *S Days Gone Wild* podcast again for motivation? Then just *mark it and move on* We won't have any more looong holiday weekends until Labor Day! You have quite a few days in between there for damage control!

Mimi

But also a vacation trip in August...2 weeks with my 12-year-old and her friend, one of them with one of my sisters and another with the other.