Everyday Systems

Hi,

I have been No-S -ing for a few months now, and I was doing pretty good until I went on a two plus week vacation. Since then I have had a hard time doing this as well I as I did before. SO - I am going to start to log in here in an effort to freshen things up and provide better motivation to keep things on track.

My big weaknesses are snacks as soon as I get home and cookies at meetings. I have also had a hard time getting my daily walks back on the calendar - partly because things were so backed up when I returned from vacation.

Thanks for reading

Much better day on Monday - two stray cookies were my only problem, I also managed to get in lunch time walk which helped me mentally more than anything.

Birthday dinner - special day

Yesterday was Peter's birthday and we went out for a (late) dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

Good for you on getting in your walk! I find that walks help me mentally, too. I'm always more relaxed and mentally sharper after a walk. Also, good job on the eating!

You're making a good start! We're rooting for you!

Hi, thanks for the feedback. I can't wait until next week and things return to regular schedule - this week has been kind of hectic.

Habitcal is great for a number of reasons - one of which I can clearly see that after a few non-weekend S days, I have a hard time getting back on track. Need to work on that.

I'm really excited about getting back to No-S and the rest of the routine. Kids are back at school today, and all of the (happy) turmoil of the summer is now a thing of the past.

On track for a Tuesday - including a nice walk to the local garden center - wonderful day to be outside.

Good week for No-S , shed a few pounds. Long weekend, so I am trying to keep on No-S for one of the three days.

Good job on the weightloss, and for staying on track with No S. Enjoy your weekend!

Not exactly a daily check in - but here is the latest . Doing well, really well. It is amazing how habit forming snacking can be, may be especailly so for folks (like me) with an addictive nature/history. The good news is that the opposite is also true - give it a couple of weeks and I have lost the craving for an afternoon snack that used to set things off on a down hill run.

Anyway doing well this week ! Thanks for asking

That's great! Keep up the good work!

Pretty good weekend, even for exempt days (S). By that I mean not to off the usual track for no reason - however I did eat a ton at a party yesterday afternoon - but that was OK ! ! So nice not to beat myself up over that.

That's important to not beat yourself up over things like parties.

Back, ready to go again !

After a couple of months of off the program ( really since the Halloween candy started showing up in the office ), and now carrying 15 pounds more, I am back ready to focus on the no-S program. This is not a panicky new-years thing - I have been planning to do this since right after Thanksgiving. I know myself well enough by now to know not to try No-S over the holiday season.

Good to be back!

Good for you! It sounds like you have a good frame of mind, so I'm sure you'll drop the extra pounds in no time.

Well I have found getting back to No-S to be more of a struggle than I thought. I found myself kidding myself on the one-plate issue ( those two egg rolls were not on any plate were they !!). Plus late night snacking as I make my family's lunches is a problem.

Result, pounds on, not pounds off. At least it is still January, plenty time to correct things.

( And also need to find more exercise motivation at the right time)

Uh oh! You're right that it's still early in the year, so you definitely have time to get the pounds back off. I have found for exercising that sometimes, I have to make myself just do it. I exercise M-F regardless, and that way, I can take weekends off from exercising guilt free.

Still no progress on the exercise front

But better on the food front. Main outcome of this week is a decision to simply reduce my expectations. No-S was such a spectacular success when I first tried it - but there were other things going on at that time. Need to just take it as it comes.

That makes sense, to reduce the expectations. Maybe once you do that, you can work on adding some of the other steps of No S (and exercising) back in.

Thanks Clarinetgal for all of your support.

Thanks to some outstanding weather today, I did get out for a good solid lunch time walk, so that is a start.

Good for you!

Saturday - exempt, but avoiding doing to much stupid stuff. It has been a good week overall and I am thrilled to be back on a steady track -don't want to blow it ALL over the weekend.

I hear you! I'm getting back on track with No S myself, so I'm trying to make sure not to blow it this weekend.

After some frankly disappointing weeks on a sloppy version of no-S, I made some better progress in the last week. What I changed was

1) Corrected the main weekday issue I had - late night snacking when I was making the lunches for all of us in the evening.
2) Getting to bed earlier - which helps with the snacking
3) Added more exercise - helps that spring is kind of here.

and most important

3) Not being STUPID over the weekend/ exempt days. One donut, not four, after church. No quart of ice cream late on Saturday night. Basic stuff. Still enjoyed a large plate of pork barbecue, fries, etc on Sunday.. But before I was simply binging on weekends and ended up on Monday morning right back where I had started seven days ago.

Good for you on making the changes you need to help make No S more successful for you! I hear you on not being stupid on the weekends! I really overdid it on Saturday, but I"ve been back on track ever since.

So a new year, and time to get back on No-S, which, although I didn't stick with it long term, has been the only diet concept that has ever worked for me.

I am NOT going to figure out why I stopped - instead I plan to celebrate that I am starting again!

Good for you! It's definitely good to move on ahead, and not dwell on the past. Even though I don't follow No S perfectly, I still follow most of the plan, and that is the only plan I've been able to stick with long term.

Clarinetgal, did I read elsewhere that congratulations are in order ?

Yes!

Yes, you did!

MDScot wrote:So a new year, and time to get back on No-S, which, although I didn't stick with it long term, has been the only diet concept that has ever worked for me.

I am NOT going to figure out why I stopped - instead I plan to celebrate that I am starting again!

That's the ticket!

And, I totally agree - no S has been the only diet concept that really worked for me too! Hope your day went well!

Third day - doing just fine - but looking forward to the weekend just a bit too much!

Keep it up! Only a few more days until the weekend.

My first S weekend was, for me, an example of how to abuse the idea of S's. Especially on Saturday. I had a party to go to in the evening so to avoid stuffing myself at the party I had a normal dinner with the kids - and then went to the party, which was REALLY boring and since I don't drink ( anymore) all I ended up doing was eating, and eating, and eating - mostly desserts.

Still the nice thing about no-S is that this is kind of OK, although treating every S day as Thanksgiving probably will reduce the effectiveness of the program, and this week things have been good.

I have also been trying to reduce the amount of meat that I eat in general, making it more of a five-eight meals a week type of thing rather than a 14 meals a week event, and that been working well.

Well, live and learn. That is the nice thing about No S, that you are free to choose how many/how few desserts you want to eat. That sounds like a good idea to reduce your meat intake.

This past weekend of S days was a better example of what I want. A few treats, the odd snack - but no full on gluttony: quarts of ice cream consumed at midnight, full family size bags of chips eaten on the way home from the store, you know the thing.

And then this week, back to pure no-S. Not getting all the exercise I would like, but hey it is January.

Good for you! If you keep your next few S days like that, I'm sure it will become a habit in no time.

Things are going well - I have lost a reasonable amount of weight in the past few weeks, and really feel better. I have been able to crank up the exercise days - partly by (correctly) counting days where I am doing serious physical work. Today it was shoveling wet snow!

My S days are more reasonable - I am happy to have treats like ice cream after dinner, but really don't want to do the flop on the couch with a bag of chips kind of thing. Key (for me) to be reasonable on S days is to eat proper meals, especially breakfast.

WTG on the weight loss! Good job on increasing the exercise, too. You are so right about eating proper meals on S days. It really does help!

Going well! I am happy to report that I am doing well with my No-S plan. I have been exercising fairly frequently and have been losing a reasonable amount of weight.

Hey, that's great!

I'm at the really tricky part of any attempt to change behavior. A couple of months in, and something goes wrong - in this case a few days of failure ( so called special circumstances), a horrendous binging weekend - I no longer drink so put me in a situation with food AND drink , and I eat everything in sight - and the precious pounds so carefully lost are back.

So that happens. It happened. Now what? Well the good news is that I am right back on no-S, maybe not quite as perfect as I was in January and early Feb, but actually pretty good. I am happy.

Hey, the fact that you got right back on track with it is great! I'm sure you'll be fully back to your normal eating behaviors in no time!