Cassie's daily check in

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Fri May 08, 2009 11:16 am

OK finally I'm taking the plunge & joining in here. I've started on the NoS diet- which makes SO much sense- in March. It went well... and then I made the 'mistake' (or maybe it wasn't a mistake, not sure yet) of seeing a nutritionist, who gave me a whole list of rules to follow. Result? I failed dismally, it all seemed like a mountain, & I just ditched the whole thing.

I now want to go back to basics, just plain NoS for now- for one month. As Reinhard suggested to me (in another thread). If after one month things are going ok, I'll reevalluate & maybe add another rule. And generally, after 1 month- so, just to be precise- on the 8th of june- things are not going well I'll reevalute & maybe add another rule.

Today I count as the first day of doing this... Hope it works.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sat May 09, 2009 9:01 am

Am going to be brutally honest with my daily check in because otherwise what's the use eh?

So: Friday 8 May: FAILURE.

Exercise (walking more than 15 mins): SUCCESS

Reason: I did ok during the day. I walked a lot with my baby, I had a good normal breakfast, a normal lunch, but then in the evening we went out with a house guest & I had starter plus main course plus a glass of wine.

I weighed myself today- hadn't weighed myself for aaaaaages- & I've lost a couple of kilos in the last 1 month or so, so that's not too bad: I was encouraged.
Anyway, today is another day, hopefully it'll be better.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sun May 10, 2009 8:34 am

Saturday 9 May: S DAY

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Tue May 12, 2009 7:05 pm

Sunday 10 May: S day (but it went very very well actually, didn't overdo it at all...)

Monday 11 May: Success!

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Wed May 13, 2009 11:57 am

Tuesday 12 May: Success.
I think though that my dinner was a bit too much (I ate lentils in a bowl & some bits & pieces on the side, anchovies, olives, a bit of mozzarella cheese). All in all I counted it as a success for 'no seconds' but I think I should probably be a bit more strict in keeping to the 'one plate rule'. To be honest, I was very very hungry by dinner time- had had lunch too early I think- which is why my dinner was bigger than I would want.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Thu May 14, 2009 8:47 am

Wednesday 13 May: SUCCESS! Even better than the previous days because I made sure my meals were all on one 'physical' plate (which helped a lot to keep things clear).

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sat May 16, 2009 3:56 pm

Thursday 15 May: SUCCESS. (I have a question whether decaf latte with skimmed milk counts as a snack or not. I was out on a walk with my partner & baby & I had a coffee to go from Starbucks. 'Officially' I don't want to be having any beverages- unless it's black coffee or black tea or herbal tea- between meals. Which is why I (kind of) broke the 'no snacks' rule on thursday. Still, I count the day as a success because come on, that latte is not really a problem I think (especially just this once). Hope I'm not deluding myself!!

Friday 16 May: SUCCESS.

mimi · Post by **mimi** » Sat May 16, 2009 5:32 pm

I would say no, it isn't a snack, Cassie. After all, you can drink a glass of milk in between to stave off hunger or an eating attack, right? Would a skimmed milk latte be much different? Now if you were trying to pass off chocolate covered raisins as a fruit, that might be different!

Mimi

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Mon May 18, 2009 10:57 am

Saturday 16 May: S day
Sunday 17 May: S day

I'm not very happy with how I did on my S days... I think I wasn't too sensible, I overdid it a bit. Not so much with the 'no sweets' rule (had just one little bowl of trifle sunday morning)... and also I didn't have snacks just because I'm starting to get used to the 'no snacks' rule & it works even on S days. However, I just made kind of crap food choices e.g. pizza (lots of it!) saturday night, eggs benedict sunday morning etc.

In any case. The fact that they were S days makes me feel less guilty. Today (monday) & tomorrow (tuesday) are a bit tricky because tomorrow we've moving & today is packing day. Still I'm hoping to just do the regular N days routine, shouldn't be a problem. I'm avoiding all the biscuits & tea going around for the movers!

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:36 am

OK after a week of disappearing, here I am again. I didn't check in for a week & I have a good excuse (although excuses are never good...) We moved house during this week!! It's been a very busy & unpredictable week, but I'm now back on my diet since thursday, so that's good. So here goes:

Monday 18 MAY: FAILURE (packing day)
Tuesday 19 May: FAILURE (moving day)
Wednesday 20 May: FAILURE (unpacking day, in new home)
Thursday 21 May: SUCCESS
Friday 22 May: SUCCESS
Saturday 23 May: S DAY
Sunday 24 May: S DAY

I suppose one question / worry I have (and maybe I should post on the general NoS discussion thread for this) is how do you keep momentum through difficult / complex periods such as moving house, having a baby etc?

la_loser · Post by **la_loser** » Mon May 25, 2009 3:31 pm

Cassie,

Regarding how you handle the stress of moving/new home/baby, etc., this has come up before, way before you joined us so you wouldn't have seen it! It is a common concern and the general response that most offered, including Reinhard, was that times of stress and crazy schedules, etc. are exactly the times that No S can help you the most. In other words, the sanity of three one-plate meals and not continuing to reach for more and eliminating the snacks and sweets may give you something to hang onto during those times. Sure you may slip up a bit and an S day may be called for on the very day of the move, etc. That is a pretty SPECIAL day, isn't it!?

When you're in the middle of a sea of chaos (as I always am for weeks before and after a move), sticking with even one or two of the rules (like only worrying about the snacks or the sweets, etc.), this can be something to give you a sense of control as in "Everything else is crazy right now, but at least I'm only eating three times a day" for example.

The same can apply for handling the newness of having your baby. Certainly your schedule is probably way different than before and your life doesn't seem like your own! If you are nursing, then you will need to drink plenty of liquids during the day, but considering that drinks are always allowed and are not considered snacks so long as they are not considered "sweets"--so drink plenty of milk, juice, tea (you ARE in London, right!?) and it's ok to sweeten the tea if you wish.

And on those days, it just falls apart, you just "mark it and move on" (Vicki in Montenegro's quote). And that WILL HAPPEN, unless you're superhuman! You just don't use it a chance to chuck the whole thing.

So hang in there and use No S (and us!) as your "balance board", and enjoy your baby and your new home. (Girl or boy? How old?) And keep posting. We're here for you.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Wed May 27, 2009 8:08 pm

Many many thanks LA Loser (you don't sound like too much of a loser to me!

) for your very supportive post. It really really helps.

Right. This week has gone very well so far. Nothing spectacular, just straightforward 'good' days (which is what we want, after all):

Monday 25 May: SUCCESS (There was a bit of a blip on monday, in that I chose a small mushroom pie for breakfast- as a treat, this kind of thing is not my usual breakfast- and halfway through eating it I decided I'd have another, as I was still really hungry. Actually both fit easily onto a small plate, they were not that big, but still, it kind of felt like I was slightly breaking the 'no seconds' rule. However, it's all been good otherwise, so I'm just learning with this diet to live with little backs & forths & to be happy if things are more or less looking good).
Tuesday 26 May: SUCCESS
Wednesday 27 May: SUCCESS

The other thing I wanted advice on: I keep weighing myself, every day, and yes, the weight is already creeping off, but reaaaaaaaaaaally slowly. Unfortunately I have a weighing-myself-obsession, so I can't help weighing myself each morning. But I'm a bit disappointed because the weight is not going off faster...

~reneew · Post by **~reneew** » Thu May 28, 2009 1:18 am

You're doing great!

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sun May 31, 2009 12:55 pm

Thursday 28 May: SUCCESS
Friday 29 May: SUCCESS
Saturday 30 May: S DAY
Sunday 31 May: S DAY

I get slightly worried about S days. Not that I completely overdid it yesterday (saturday), but still I had this feeling that I would be destroying all my hard work during the week. I'm already losing weight- as I've written here before, I have a bad weighing-myself-daily-habit- but I'm losing it very gradually & slowly. It doesn't really help if I lose a bit over the weekdays & then put it all back on (not hard in my case, as I put on weight very easily) over the weekend...

StrawberryRoan · Post by **StrawberryRoan** » Sun May 31, 2009 1:50 pm

You are doing great cassie. I felt the same way the first couple of weekends. But, now it has moderated (after a month). I might eat a little more because I am more liking to be out and about with friends, the hubby, etc. at a restaurant but I am careful to not undo all my hard work. That would be senseless.

I weight every morning and every night. Always have - just a personal decision. It keeps me honest and accountable. I just don't obsess if the scale says I have gained two pounds if I know I haven't eaten 7000 excess calories since I know it takes that many calories with no exercise to add two pounds. Just allow for fluctuations due to sodium intake, etc.

Keep on keepin' on. You can't go wrong if you are doing right,

SR

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:03 pm

Monday 1 June: SUCCESS
Tuesday 2 June: SUCCESS
Wednesday 3 June: SUCCESS
Thursday 4 June: FAILURE

OK, I'm disappointed that I had a failure yesterday evening... And I'm also disappointed about other stuff regarding NoS (I mean, regarding how I'm doing on NoS, not NoS itself, obviously!)

As to yesterday's failure: it was a simple (and very common) trap I fell into. We had a friend who came over for dinner. I didn't prepare dessert (knowing that if I did, I would have some of it!) So I kept to the no sugar rule (which was good). However, I offered a starter: stuffed vine leaves with rice, served with yoghurt. We ate this in the garden, with a glass of white wine, chatting. It would be perfect if only it were on an S day... What I should have done (and it's something important to keep in mind, because we often have friends over for dinner) is to just prepare the one main meal, with all 'starters' or side dishes or whatever on the table at the same time. That way I can just load whatever I want onto my plate, and not have a starter in one plate, plus another huge plate of food later.

In reality, I know my failure yesterday wasn't that terrible, and in any case we don't have friends over that often during the week. But it made me feel disappointed for one further reason. It's now beginning of June & I have looked back at my food diary- in which I record my weight every day. After one month of more or less good NoS (with very few failures) what has happened is that I've just maintained my weight. No weight loss to speak of! My weight has gone down a few times, but has creeped up again on weekends (and sometimes, unexplainedly, on weekdays too). I wonder what I'm doing wrong? I think I'll post on the main bulletin board for advice on this...

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:09 pm

Friday 5 June: SUCCESS
Saturday 6 June & Sunday 7 June: S-DAYS
Monday 8 June: SUCCESS
Tuesday 9 June: SUCCESSWednesday 10 June: SUCCESS
Thursday 11 June: SUCCESS

I have to say I'm feeling quite proud of myself today... After one failure day (a week ago) & after realizing I'm on NoS for a month now & there has been no weight loss (only maintenance) I'm happy that I haven't given up or slipped. Rather, I've made the decision to go on with 'vanilla NoS' until July 1 & then reevaluate. I listened to Reinhard's podcasts on tweaks, & decided that I need to give it more time & see how it goes. In any case, I'm so happy that NoS is starting to become second nature to me... that already is an achievement, I feel.

I'm also proud that today was a success day, even though we woke at 4.00 am in order to travel (and I'm now at my mum's house in another country). Even though all day today was airport / trains / taxis / mum's house etc (i.e. general confusion & chaos) still, I ate my 3 meals, no more, no less, and no desserts.

Anyway. Thought I'd write a positive post even though things have not been great. But perhaps great is not the issue, they've been good, so that's something! I remember what Reinhard said on one podcast (not sure which one) that it's important, at least for the initial period, to focus on behaviours & habits & not on results. So that's what I'm trying to concentrate on...

mimi · Post by **mimi** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:11 pm

That's my goal for now too...focus on behavior, not results.

Mimi

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:10 pm

OK I feel very disappointed & discouraged. All in all, I've been doing fine. However (as I've written before) I'm not losing weight. It didn't help at all that we had a holiday for 5 days during which I didn't do that well. Especially the airport-travel days were not good (very hard to keep on track when having to deal with a 10 month old on an airplane & when feeling knackered in general). Without further ado, here's what has been happening since I last wrote:

Friday 12 June: S-DAY (I set this up specially because it was a family celebration, planned ages ago. For just this once, I exchanged my Sunday S-day for friday & it went OK).
Saturday 13 June: S-DAY
Sunday 14 June: SUCCESS
Monday 15 June: FAILURE
Tuesday 16 June: FAILURE
Wednesday 17 June: SUCCESS
Thursday 18 June: SUCCESS
Friday 19 June: SUCCESS
Saturday 20 June: S-DAY

la_loser · Post by **la_loser** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 3:56 pm

Whether or not I'm trying to be smart about food choices or be on "a diet" or whatever. . . if I manage to be on a "holiday" as you Queen's English folks put it. . . and manage to not gain anything, it's a huge success!

Be kind, be patient and hang in there!

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:09 am

Here I am again. So... things haven't been that bad at all. One thing that's changed is that I haven't been weighing myself. This happened in a kind of 'natural' way, without me planning it! So I am very happy about it & hope to keep it up (I had a bad weighing-myself-everyday habit).

The other good news is that I've biten the bullet & started walking / building-up-to-jogging every morning before breakfast. I'm planning to do this everyday, gradually- VERY gradually since I'm completely out of shape- building up to 20 mins jogging. All days minus S days.

So here's how things have gone lately:

Sunday 21 June: S day
Monday 22 June: success
Tuesday 23 June: success
Wednesday 24 June: success
Thursday 25 June: success
Friday 26 June: success
Saturday & Sunday 27, 28 June: s days
Monday 29 June: s day (my birthday!)

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:44 am

Hi again,

Things have continued to go ok habit wise. But NOT ok weight-wise. I.e. I still haven't lost even half a kilo & it's now more than 2 months following NoS

. I do have the occasional slip-up, but basically my HabitCal is green/yellow. So, for example, in June I had 3 red days (and all 3 of those were not huge slip-ups). In July unfortunately I already have 1 red day, but again not a huge slip-up at all.

Here's how things have gone recently.

Tuesday 30 June: SUCCESS
Wednesday 1 July: SUCCESS
Thursday 2 July: FAILURE (had a starter with dinner, was out at a meal with a friend)
Friday 3 July: S DAY (swapped it for saturday)
Saturday 4 July: SUCCESS

I've been doing walking/jogging every morning before breakfast, slowly building up my jogging time & decreasing my walking time. That's been going fantastically, I really am enjoying it, especially because early in the morning it's so nice to be out!

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:55 pm

OK just thought I'd update this & bump it up. Things have slightly changed. Since last friday (17 July) I've gone on Neris & India's 'idiot-proof' diet which is essentially a very low carb diet (with loads of veggies though) inspired by Atkins but made a bit more normal & palatable.

I've done this because since May 1 that I seriously started vanilla NoS I've seen no weight loss at all, even though I also have taken up jogging. I've got some excellent advice from everyone on the forum here, and the main thing I'm realizing is that the habits I've acquired from NoS could be with me (hopefully) for life... while the low-carb thing is a bit like an experiment, something to help me start losing weight. I hope to maintain my NoS habits throughout my diet, that's very important to me, because if not, then I run the danger of not only my new diet failing (if it fails) but my precious NoS habits being lost too.

So I thought I'd start tracking how my days go here, too (I'm still updating HabitCal regularly).

Tuesday 21 July: Failure (this is because lunch was not enough for me, it was a very small low-carb lunch, and I had to have something else- again a tiny low-carb meal) mid-afternoon. Even though technically this wasn't much food, I still felt disappointed because I haven't had any failure days for a while...

masher · Post by **masher** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:51 am

Cassie,

Good for you to try and find a way that works for you specifically. With regard to NoS failures, as many wise people on this board say "Mark it and move on".

The India and Neris book made me laugh, as India has a wicked sense of humour. I too am combining No S with a lower carb approach which works for my age, metabolism and lifestyle. I am meticulous in recording daily updates so I can see what works.

Learning is rarely linear, as I continually say to myself.

Good luck!

Masher

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:38 am

OK I haven't updated this for ages but here I am again.

Here's what has happened in the meantime: After a few months on a very low carb diet- which worked very well & I lost a substantial amount of weight- things went downhill again. Once I was 'off' the low carb diet (in November 2009) things just went completely haywire.

So I've made a promise to myself: NO MORE CRAZY FAD DIETS. And yes I consider what I did a 'fad diet' in that, as well as it worked, it wasn't sustainable in the long run.

I'm now aiming for plain NoS for at least a few months & then we'll see. But I've decided to-

1) update HabitCal religiously every day (that really helps)

2) start using my daily check diary to record what I eat & see what works, what patterns emerge in time.

3) not weigh myself more than once a month. Every 1st of each month it'll be weigh-in day. This is a biggie for me as I've always been a weighing-myself addict!

Wish me luck...

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:32 pm

...SO as I said from now on I'll try to keep a food diary because it'll help me have an idea (gradually) of what kind of food choices to make on N days & S days. S days are important, I feel, because I tend to go overboard on them.

Thursday 11 March Green

Breakfast: 2 slices white bread with 2 poached eggs, 1 small glass orange juice & 2 cups black tea

Lunch: a plain chicken & mayo sandwich on brown bread at a nearby cafe, with just water to drink

In between: a medium skinny Starbucks latte

Dinner: fish & potato gratin, served with buttered petits pois, just with water.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:41 am

Friday 12 March green

Good day in general. I've found that having oats for breakfast and/or something with protein in it (and the same for lunch) tides me over well to the other meal. Haven't had hunger problems.

Breakfast: a bowl of porridge made with water & milk, with 1 chopped up medjool date, some sultanas & some linseed. 2 cups black earl grey tea

Lunch: a moderate portion of yesterday's fish gratin (no potatoes) with a side order of buttered peas.

In between: A medium decaf skinny latte (Starbucks). A cup of roiboos tea with milk

Dinner: a moderate portion of baked cheesy pasta, a portion of caesar salad (homemade), a spoonful of haddock pate with 2 crackers, 2 small anchovies in oil. Half a glass of red wine.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 3:35 pm

Saturday 13 march 2010
(S day)

I'm interested in keeping track on how/what I eat, particularly to see what's happening on S days during which I feel I lose the plot!

Breakfast: a plain bagel with some cheddar cheese, 1 medium skinny latte (Starbucks)
Lunch: (at restaurant) grilled salmon with pesto & green beans & new potatoes. Several fries (from my partnerâ€™s plate). Also a little bit of lettuce & corn salad. Served with water. After lunch a cup of earl grey tea with milk.
Snacks: one medjool date. Some (quite many) white chocolate buttons. A few crackers.
Dinner: Spaghetti bolognaise. Green salad with vinaigrette & a piece of feta cheese. A few anchovies in oil. Â½ glass red wine. Dessert- a slice of flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream.

The whole day felt a bit out of control...

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:51 am

Sunday 14 March 2010
S day

Breakfast: 2 slices white bread with butter & orange marmalade. 2 cups of black tea
Lunch: some baked cheese pasta (leftovers) with a bit of green salad, a piece of feta cheese. Served with water
In between: a skinny medium latte (Starbucks). A spoonful of yesterdayâ€™s chocolate dessert & then later a whole slice of it. A mouthful of challah bread.
Dinner: grilled plain cod (with olive oil & lemon). Cucumber salad. Potato salad. Homemade mayo (a large spoonful). A piece of challah bread. A piece & then a small second helping of homemade galette with nectarines & blueberries with whipped cream. A small glass of red wine.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:07 pm

Monday 15 March
Green

Breakfast: 2 slices wholemeal bread with butter & orange marmalade. 2 cups black tea.
Lunch (Starbucks): a bean, boiled egg & potato small salad. A steak & red pepper Panini. A medium skinny latte
In between: 2 cups tea with a bit of milk
Dinner: Some cucumber salad. 2 slices of mushroom, olive & gruyere galette (homemade). Water

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:47 pm

Another green day. Its a relief; the more green days I have, the more reassured I am that this is going well. Today I also made a small effort to look at my food choices e.g. tried to include veg with my main meals.

Tuesday 16 March 2010
Green

Breakfast: 2 slices wholemeal bread with butter & orange marmalade. 1 cup black tea

Lunch: a tuna sandwich (2 slices wholemeal bread / 1 can tuna in water / 3 gherkins / some black olives / some capers / quite a bit of good quality mayo). Steamed broccoli with olive oil & balsamico.

In between: a cup of black tea. A medium skinny latte (Starbucks). A medium decaf skinny latte (Starbucks again, later!) {Should I have just stuck to 1 latte?}

Dinner: Chicken, potato, tomato & green bean casserole. Steamed broccoli with olive oil & lemon. A spoonful of plain rice.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:45 am

Wednesday 17 March 2010
S day (exempt)

OK this was a bit of a judgment call. I had a celebratory meal to go to yesterday (Wednesday) which was planned ages ago for my PHD submission. I decided that, rather than not enjoying my meal as much as I could, I would simply go with wednesday as a S day & saturday as a normal N day. Hope that works & hope its not just disguised self-delusion! If anyone's reading this (although I realize not everyone reads through the daily checks) & has any ideas about these sorts of situations & how to deal with them, let me know!

Breakfast: 2 slices wholemeal toasted bread with butter & orange marmalade. A cup of black tea.

In between: a skinny latte (starbucks)

Lunch: risotto with prawns, lemon, basil, spring onions (a moderate portion, not huge)

Dinner (celebration meal at restaurant with friends): Some olives to nibble on. A glass of prosecco. A glass of white wine. A slice of bread with butter. A starter: pork terrine with cornichons & green salad & toast. A main course: Roast chicken with mustard mash & grilled mushrooms. Dessert: A cup of tea with milk & a lemon posset with berries.

sophiasapientia · Post by **sophiasapientia** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:36 am

Congratulations on turning in your PHD! ... That's definitely a cause for celebration & S-worthy.

According to Reinhard, it is perfectly fine to take up to 2 NWS days a month and he advises, in most cases, not to skip your weekend S days after the fact ... I've done it both ways (switching S days and not) and I don't think you're delusional.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:19 am

Thanks Shannon for your supportive post

.

OK 2 green days to write about (always a good thing).

Thurday 18 March
Green

Breakfast: 2 slices wholemeal bread with butter & 2 poached eggs. Black tea.

Lunch (at Costa): A tuna melt pannini. A skinny medium latte.

Dinner: chicken sausages with a spoonful of a low-fat creme fraiche, mayo & mustard sauce. A portion of plain rice. Some tomato & veg sauce.

Friday 19 March
Green

Breakfast: a plain bagel with butter & some sliced cheddar (not too much). A cup of black tea. A small handful blackberries.

Lunch: Rice with natural yoghurt. Some mixed steamed veg just with salt. Some sauteed mushrooms (with oil & white wine).

In between: A skinny latte (Starbucks)

Dinner: Pasta with chicken, veg & tomato sauce. A piece of feta cheese (smallish size). A glass of white wine.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 10:43 am

Saturday 20 March

Another green day (this was because wed was an S day). I'm on a bit of a roll, I'm finding sticking to the rules a lot easier (for the moment). Losing weight is another issue though. I don't really feel I'm losing. I'll weigh myself on April 1 & will see what's what. I plan to continue this at least until beginning of June before making any significant changes. It's improtant to establish the habits well, I feel I've been quite impatient so far in my use of NoS...

So here's how saturday went:

Breakfast: 2 & a half slices wholemeal toast with butter, marmalade & jam. Black tea

Lunch (at local cafe): A green salad with smoked salmon, 1 boiled egg & some mayo (not much). 2 pieces ciabbata. A skinny latte.

Dinner: penne with tomato, veg & chicken sauce, with parmesan. Fresh spinach, rocket & watercress salad with olive oil & lemon.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:59 pm

Sunday & Monday were both S days. I didn't record what I ate on those days but it was pretty much normal. The reason Monday was 'S day' was because I was out with a friend. I think it makes sense for the way my life is planned to have the 2 S days on days during the week that I have an outing (which is not usually on weekends)...

Tuesday 23 March 2010
GREEN

Breakfast: 2 slices wholemeal bread with peanut butter, a small glass orange juice & black tea

Lunch: a tuna melt pannini plus a bean, tuna & potato salad at Starbucks. A skinny medium latte.

Dinner: pasta with tomato sauce & veggies, a piece of feta cheese.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 2:11 pm

I've made a promise to myself that it's important to be accountable for what's happening, both in good & bad times, so here I am again. I was doing pretty well in March (my first month back on NoS after quite a while). But then I got sick with gastroenteritis & all hell broke lose. For about 5 days, which was how long the whole thing lasted, I ate very very little given that I had constant diarrhea & vomiting

. I suspect I might have lost some weight at that point- the kind of weight that immediately we put back on again. My problem was that, once I was well again, I started eating really chaotically. That, coupled with easter holiday right after, has meant that for the last 2 weeks things have been pretty bad...

Anyway. Hoping that I'll be back on track soon again. Already today I've been NoSing normally (so far)...doesn't help that my parents are here, visiting, which means constant huge meals, desserts etc.

I've also made the decision to weigh myself once a month ONLY, which will be on the 1st of each month. So on the 1st of April I did indeed weigh myself & I was 80.5 kilos. Just noting this down so that I can have a record & check how things go this month. I'll be very happy with 1 kilo weight loss per month.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:36 am

In general April went very badly. After the illness I had which completely de-organized my eating, we then travelled to Greece & stayed for about 2 weeks with family. I've learnt by now that whenever I go to Greece there is a big danger that my eating habits will derail, and they did! My mum also eats in an extremely disorganized way & it's as if we influence each other badly. In any case, I'm now back (since last week) & slowly but surely I'm trying to get back on track! I'm actually feeling fairly optimistic, despite all the difficulties. Here are some lessons I've learnt (the hard way):

1. Not to weigh myself more than once a month. I last weighed myself april 1 (& recorded it here) & will do so again this saturday (May 1). This has helped hugely, it has lifted a weight off of me!

2. Not to believe & go on strict 'crash' diets. My painful experience last year with 7 (successful) months of strict low-carbing only meant that I then went on to put on half that weight and maybe more. So no strict diets for me, just NoS as a goal.

3. I've also learnt that this is a lifelong journey, not a quick fix.

That's about it for now

Feeling optimistic on this lovely spring morning.

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:45 pm

Here I am again, a bit more than a month after my last post

.

Glad to say that the goals / thoughts I outlined in my last post still hold true. I haven't weighed myself more than once a month and- happily- on June 1 I found that not only did I maintain (a big thing for me) but also lost a little. Big change from May 1 when I had put on almost 2 kilos.

Generally, since last November/December (of 2009) NoS has been a roller-coaster ride for me. A roller-coaster, to be more precise, which I enter & exit randomly. There are many reasons that have contributed to my failure to keep up even with basic N Days...but I won't go into these reasons now/here since I've written about them before. Just to say that I'm feeling optimistic at the moment since in the last couple of months something- finally- seems to be shifting.

At the moment I'm challenging myself to establish my N days. No other goals, that's it. I have in mind KCCC's very helpful post about the phases of NoS. I gave that post to my partner to read to, he found it very helpful as well in order to understand what I'm trying to do. My first step is to get to June 20 (which will be the 21st day) with no reds at all on my HabitCal. Then after that I'll see what's happened & move on. Probably I'll just challenge myself to one more round of 21 days & so on, again with no other changes, until I feel more certain that I've got N days down pat. Then & only then will I move on to a bit of work on S days (which I think are a problem with me). If anyone's reading this & thinks this is a good plan / bad plan / something in between / has ideas, please let me know, any encouragement & feedback is great.

The only thing I can say I'm doing, in conjunction to working on N days, is to make sure that my meals are healthy & nutritious without overloading on huge plates of pastas, risottos etc (unless I really feel like them which I haven't this last week). But that's not that different to what we generally eat at home, its just that my partner & I are keeping a bit more of an eye on the quality of our meals, just that bit more than usual.

Reading KCCC's post one depressing thought occurred to me. I'm certain that I'm in that category of people that will reach phase 4 of NoS & will STILL at that stage have to adjust things in order to lose weight. I have lots of factors against me:
--history of yo yo dieting (weight loss / weight gain of about 10-15 kilos has been going on with alarming regularity since my early twenties: I'm now 37).
--polycystic ovaries (PCOS): a proven factor that slows weight loss
--I'm a woman which is also supposed to be a minus somehow
--sedentary lifestyle (need to work on that too, have done some things during the last year which were big steps for me, need to work on them again).
--have gone through a pregnancy 2 years ago which left its toll too.

Anyway. That's about it for now. I'm willing to take my chances & take the long way to weight loss (following- SLOWLY- KCCC's phases) because I simply hate the idea of yo-yo dieting again. I'm so so so so SO tired of thinking of my weight issues, I need to once & for all work on them consistently & calmly, & put them behind me.

My goal- because it's helpful to have a goal- is to lose 10% of my weight in 1 year. Not sure if that's doable. I think that's about 8 kilos. Lets see...

idontknow · Post by **idontknow** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:17 pm

Probably I'll just challenge myself to one more round of 21 days & so on, again with no other changes, until I feel more certain that I've got N days down pat. Then & only then will I move on to a bit of work on S days (which I think are a problem with me).

Hi Cassie,

I think you're right. I haven't been doing this for very long (since end of April), but I had a bit of a lightbulb moment this weekend. I'm struggling a bit with 5pm hunger on N days, but otherwise am doing ok- ish. Saturday started ok, but I found myself eating things just because I knew that I wouldn't be able to eat them after Sunday. Then I realised that I need to establish the N day habits so that on S days I follow them instinctively. It's as if KCCC's post on the 5 phases suddenly made perfect sense. This plan is about re-educating ourselves on how to eat sensibly - that's what N days are for and S days will follow. Does that make sense? So I think your plan is a good one - it's what I intend to do, too. I'll be interested to read your thread to see how it goes. Good luck

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 1:29 pm

I'm proud of myself: I completed the 21 days challenge of pure green N days (& of course yellow S days). The only doubt I have is one N evening when I went to the movies & instead of a 'sitting down' dinner I had a hot dog & nachos with cheese. It felt too much & then my stomach was upset, but I still think it would officially count as one plate of food...it's just in reality, it was too much. But anyway, other than that all my meals on N days have been nutritious & healthy for the last 3 weeks, & I'm feeling well. I'm not weighing myself yet, I'll do that on the 1st of July (I have this deal with myself to only weigh myself once a month, as I've written here before, which has been going well). But I'm curious to see if I've lost any weight, even a little.

Not sure what to do now. Obviously I'll continue, but I wonder whether I should continue with one more 21 days challenge of green N days before tackling S days which tend to be a bit wild? What do others think? (if anyone is reading...)

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:53 pm

Today in the morning I weighed myself (even if it's not yet 1st July) & I was disappointed: after 1 month perfect compliance on vanilla NoS, I still managed to put on 1 kilo (which is about 2 pounds)...

But what feels good is that I have a very clear idea of how this last month went, where my strengths are & where my weaknesses are.

The next obvious step for me, at this point, is to add exercise back into my schedule. Its actually an excellent time to do this:
-weather is great in London these days, no dreary dark winter days to drag me down
-I've just handed in my PhD & have much more free time until I figure out my next steps

So that's what I'm doing next. I've committed to Reinhard's brilliant idea of '14 minutes of anything' each day & have added that to my HabitCal, starting today. My first day on my new exercise routine went well: I walked 50 mins all in all (in 2 sets of 25 mins) at a relatively brisk pace. I've started a list of exercise ideas that I love & that I can easily do at home or in the neighbourhood without committing to an expensive gym membership which I feel is a bit tricky as I ALWAYS tend to get gym memberships & give up after a few months due to time constraints. Better to find exercise routines that fit into my real life, as it exists.

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