Everyday Systems

Day 1. OK! Tea has helped a lot. Hardest between lunch and dinner. A little adjustment required for dinner-to-bedtime. Looking forward to Day 2 - but will need a bit more lunch, maybe?

Day 2 went well. Better than the first day. Easier. I didn't find myself dying to eat this afternoon, but still that evening herbal tea is a big help. And thank you to the wonderful distraction of the Winter Olympics. I did have a double-take moment when I reached for the M&Ms on the counter when I got home and popped two into my mouth without even noticing I'd done it. Fortunately the act of chewing woke me up and I put the rest of the handful back. It was like sleepwalking, but with food. Is that what I've been doing? So hats off to No-S for awaking a sleep-eater.

I've decided those two small candies don't mean that I failed today - but that I succeeded!

I noticed! And I corrected! Hooray, me!

Day 3. Still keeping it together. Man. That stretch between lunch and dinner was harder on Day 3 than on Day 2. But still easier than Day 1. I get through it with decaf coffee and water and saving my busiest work for that time, or set myself on errands at work. Trying to distract my focus elsewhere. I really like the "autopilot" nature of this program.

I happened to just start the No-S program on Wednesday, following Mardi Gras on Tuesday. So it's nice to have my first No-S week be a short one.

And what's really good about today? Tomorrow is my first S-day.

All I can say is: awesome. It was a fun food day, once I got used to the fact that I could do what I want with my meals and snacks. So I lived it up - I had regular meals, but as much as I wanted. For snacks, I enjoyed couple of small cookies, a few bites of ice cream. L and I made cherry cheesecake for dessert and we enjoyed it. I am happy to be on this diet. It's the "un-diet."

Day 5: A sweet S-day, Sunday. The strange thing about how Day 5 happened is that looking forward to it, I was really excited about how I could eat whatever I wanted. And simply KNOWING that I could made it really not that big of a deal.

Day 6: Monday. Three meals. No sweets. No seconds. No snacks. It was also a busy day. I went the whole day without even thinking about food except to think, "huh." This can't be working this easily. But before I get all suspicious, I'll enjoy it.

I'll post my weight after 7 days (on Day to see if there was any change.

But once I got past 4 pm and 9 pm - no problem. Funny how the grueling hungry sensation goes away on its own...only needing to wait for it to pass after about 20 minutes. Hot tea in the evening is my best friend so far. I wish I had a great tool for late afternoon. Instead, I just try to keep busy.
No sweets!
No seconds!
No snacks!

Tomorrow I'll weigh in to see if there has been any effect.

Weight is down 2.0 pounds since the diet started seven days ago. That's pretty awesome for having done what feels like not much.

Oh - and a cold is hitting hard. I didn't really eat supper tonight - just tea and cookies. So this will have to be an exempt S-day where S is short for sick. But the rest of the day's meals fit in with a No-S day.

These two days I was really busy at work and hosting coworkers from out-of-town for a series of interviews. So that meant that I was eating out for each meal those two days. No-S days are so easy when I'm busy, and even easier when somebody else does the cooking. I was finding myself unable to finish my meals. That's a new sensation!

It helps to be (a) busy and (b) not have to think too much about eating with this diet. I'm still enjoying hot tea for a help through the evening. I like Celestial Seasonings' "Candy Cane Lane" which is a mint green tea that reminds me of after dinner mints, although not sweet.

Saturdays are nice. (Sundays, too.) And I'm finding that although I can enjoy whatever I like to eat, I never felt frenzied about it. I was busy with Saturday stuff: laundry, home repair, ironing patches onto the girls' Scouts vests, cleaning.
The habits from the No-S days are carrying over, even though I'm conscious that I can eat what I like when I want to. I feel released from earlier bad habits. Maybe it's still a honeymoon phase, so we will see how this persists over time.

Today there were temptations. And one snarl. And yet, it was a green-light day: I met the the three No-S requirements.

Temptations: At work we have a monthly birthday party the first day of the month. I did not even wander in to the lounge. Instead, I did my work, got some good news to enjoy, and then off for home at 6 pm.

Snarl: Dinner was perhaps too light: tomato soup and bread/butter. Now I'm a bit hungry, but am staving it off with my mint-green tea. Next time it's soup night, I think that some meat or cheese with the bread might be in order.

Hi RocketGal! You are SO good! If I make a meal that is too small then I am immediately entitled, I believe by Federal Statute I8-IT and the no-snacking bylaws therein, to whatever additional food and sustenance that makes it into an adequate meal. I am very impressed! You deserve double-green days, as far as I am concerned.

First, I need to update my Monday evening. Around 11 am I was trembling blood-sugar crashing, headache impending, clammy-browed starving. So hungry I couldn't sleep. So I had a 4th meal at 11:00 pm: leftover pizza and milk with protein powder. I learned that I can't do a light dinner after doing a complete No-S day, but that it has to be a substantive meal. Or have four meals. After I thought about it, I realized that I might have tried just the glass of milk to see how that went. I hope I don't starve myself again in the future, but if I do, I will try to remember the milk-only trick. If I'm possessed of rational thought. Shoot, I thought, now I have to change my Monday status. Maybe it's a rationalization, but I'm not going to change it. I learned a lesson, and that's a success. I learned to take better care of myself with this program, and that's a success. I have learned that no-S works if you do it right, and that's a success.

Tuesday went well, even though I was starving by the time I got dinner served at 7 pm (at a banquet). I did manage one [huge] plate. By the time I got home at 9:30 pm, it was directly to bed.

Wednesday: I took an exception day (I will plan for two a month). It was a daylong conference and to keep us going all day long they feed us. I was on the go from 7 am until I got home again at 6:30 pm. Thinking ahead, there are a bunch of these events scattered all through the spring. I won't be able to use an exception day for each of them or I will run out of them! So I will have to be choosy about that.

Weekly weigh-in: - 1 lb. Total: -3 lb.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. You may see that by the time Monday was over, things changed for me. But it's still OK. I have to learn how to do this diet such that it works correctly for me. Otherwise I'm going to associate it with deprivation rather than a disciplined and appropriate way of eating.

I think you deserve many kudos for even attempting to make it through on a small meal. That's the only way to figure out what the limits and minimums are. I am not ready for that step yet. Still on the fairly maximum plates here! But I take hope...

Three square meals, no sweets, no snacks, no seconds: a successful N-Day. I see many people post what they have eaten that day. Here's mine. (Warning: I lack the ability to stick with this kind of reporting.)

am: oatmeal squares cereal poured over with milk shaken with a scoop of sf whey protein powder. coffee with 1/2-n-1/2 and stevia.
noon: 2/3 of a plate with jambalaya and ham. diet pepsi. (cafeteria)
pm: large plate of corn chips with beans, cheese, salsa, jalapenos. water.
between meals: black coffee and water
evening: green tea w. peppermint

Breakfast and lunch were very filling and kept me going all day.

No sweets.
No snacks.
No seconds.

I did have a big take-out lunch today with the office staff around 12:45, but found I couldn't eat the whole lunch. Even so, supper came right on time as I was getting hungry again at 6 pm. (Thanks to DH who made supper again.)
We all went out to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. It was fun to watch - lots of great scenes and the extra-vivid imagery, plus Johnny Depp, of course, who stole the show. So the evening movie kept me off thoughts of S-violations. Now we're home and the green tea/peppermint awaits.
Happy S-days this weekend, everybody! Methinks some chips?!

S-days are wonderful. I find that I don't overdo them on Saturday, but tend toward a bit of entropy on Sunday. This Sunday, I was also starting in on a cold which always seems to make me want sweets and tea.

Blah and blah, sniffle, snork, ah-choo. I'm posting this on Wednesday because I can actually think and see today. Monday and Tuesday were the last two days of the (first) 21-day adventure. I took those as exempt days (sick days). I somehow managed to be at work Monday and Tuesday (not claiming those days were productive). I was miserable with a whopper of a head cold. On Monday I didn't eat much; on Tuesday I had mostly sweet foods or breads with lots of tea and decaf coffee. Today I'm still medicated and neti-potting, but without much appetite. I haven't yet decided if today will be exempt or not - I'm at work, but still not feeling well. Just well enough.

So my 21-day experiment ended in a fizzle. But that doesn't mean that I can't do another 21 days!

On to the next 21 days.