I came across the No S diet last week, and on Saturday (timing is everything!) switched from my low-cal diet. Both low cal and Atkins diets have worked to an extent in the past, but I dislike the nutrient-free, processed foods I eat on low calorie diets (Lite Cheez, Lite Yo-Gurt, Sugar Free Glop) and dislike the enormous amount of animals I eat on the Atkins diet. So the No-S diet fits in - sensible eating for life with treats! I'm really enthusiastic about it as a long-term solution, but unsure if I will lose the weight I need to...
I am 250 lbs and need to lose 100. I've looked at other people's check ins and see them counting half a cup of strawberries and a piece of toast or just a blueberry yogurt with flax seed for a meal, which worries me. That amount of food would last me about an hour. At my weight, I can eat *quite* a bit and still lose weight.
First two days of course were S days, no problem there! Fantastic. Pizza and Ice-cream! Hurray. (I think I'll be able to calm down about the S days soon, but I needed the Motivation before - horrors - confining myself to only three meals.) Then the two No-S days, which actually went fine, due to large yet single* plates of food (*Salad and stew meals involve a good sized bowl and bread/sandwich on the side. This may be a cheat(?), but for now it seems necessary to me. Just a single bowl of soup (350 cals) a meal would mean I couldn't stay on this diet).
However, I AM eating more right now than on the low cal diet and worried that I won't lose the weight. I'm concerned that the No S diet is more of a maintenance plan or a way for normal sized people to lose ten pounds over the course of a year...
Typical "low-cal" day -
Breakfast - Lg bowl of hot-grain cereal w butter
Lunch - Lg salad w feta and two tbsp dressing
Snacks - piece of fruit, 2 wasa w/ cheese and or ham
Dinner - Lg bowl soup or stew and a low-calorie dessert. (Sugar free pudding and cool whip, so healthy!)
Now, first two No-S days I've added nuts and fruit to the oatmeal to make it to lunch. To the lunch salad I've added a half a peanut butter sandwich to make it to dinner. Dinner I've added a bagel and a half, and traded the low-cal dessert for a yogurt. A slice or two of bacon has worked its way into a couple of meals.
So, I've traded in the low-calorie snacks for high-calorie extras at meals. This does prevent me from panicking about getting hungry and also from getting so hungry that I eat a snack, but I doubt I am losing weight. I'm really hoping that in a week or so I'll be less worried and be able to eat less. I have gotten pretty hungry once, and made it through that, so....
So far:
Saturday: S day
Sunday: S day
Monday: No S day - Success
Tuesday: No S day - Success
Planet8's Check In
Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating
Welcome, Planet8!
Read my check-in thread, and I think you'll be reassured. I'm eating real meals with real foods, and I'm losing weight. I started this on Labor Day, so it's been five and a half months now. I weighed 241 pounds when I started, and I have never actually written that down before. This morning I weighed 200.4 pounds.
You will hear this over and over and over again, but it's true: When you begin No S, your first goal should be getting on habit, and that can take a few weeks but it DOES happen. After that you can decide if you want to cut down on your meals. You're off to a great start!
Read my check-in thread, and I think you'll be reassured. I'm eating real meals with real foods, and I'm losing weight. I started this on Labor Day, so it's been five and a half months now. I weighed 241 pounds when I started, and I have never actually written that down before. This morning I weighed 200.4 pounds.
You will hear this over and over and over again, but it's true: When you begin No S, your first goal should be getting on habit, and that can take a few weeks but it DOES happen. After that you can decide if you want to cut down on your meals. You're off to a great start!
8:00 am - Breakfast is Bob's Red Mill 10 grain cereal with toasted walnuts and frozen blueberries AND two slices of bacon.
12 noon - getting hungry. I hour to go. Will have mug of decaf green tea and make it thru!
1:15 pm - Made it. Lunch is large salad with tuna and 1/2 pb sandwich.
2:00 pm - feeling hungry already? - but mostly, I want to chew on something.
2.25 pm - I better start planning what I want to eat for dinner on my S days, so I don't end up with the default pizza and ice cream. I'm thinking Saturday breakfast is eggs of some sort, Sunday breakfast is whole wheat pancakes or french toast. Lunch can be a salad on Saturday, so I can feel at least faintly virtuous, well I love salad anyway. On Sunday, I'll be full from the pancakes, so maybe Wasa cracker/cheese lunch, if not salad. Which leaves TWO DINNERS! Maybe a store-roasted chicken with potatoes and veg. A real meal with three things. I rarely eat meals with two or more things. Usually a bowl of just one something. Bowl of pasta - bowl of soup - bowl of stew. It's hard figuring out this plate thing.
5:15 pm - The Countdown to 7 PM dinner begins. I pace. Consider going to the grocery store to get some roast chicken and mashed potatoes but decide its wiser to stick with whats in the house now. Get on the Wii balance board and do 20 mins of Walk It Out to occupy some of the time.
5.40 pm. 1 hour and 20 minutes till 7 pm dinner time.
6.00 pm - 30 minutes till I put the water on the boil to cook some pasta.
6.20 pm - am I slowly driving myself crazy?
Well Dinner - pasta w pesto and some frozen broccoli - came and went and it was mostly a success. I did go back for seconds, but ! but! but! it was only a little broccoli. Not another plate of pasta or a sandwich and it woulda fit on the first plate anyway if I'd squidged some stuff around. I think I will count this as a success.
Stats:
Breakfast - Success!
Lunch - Success!!
Dinner - Success!!!
12 noon - getting hungry. I hour to go. Will have mug of decaf green tea and make it thru!
1:15 pm - Made it. Lunch is large salad with tuna and 1/2 pb sandwich.
2:00 pm - feeling hungry already? - but mostly, I want to chew on something.
2.25 pm - I better start planning what I want to eat for dinner on my S days, so I don't end up with the default pizza and ice cream. I'm thinking Saturday breakfast is eggs of some sort, Sunday breakfast is whole wheat pancakes or french toast. Lunch can be a salad on Saturday, so I can feel at least faintly virtuous, well I love salad anyway. On Sunday, I'll be full from the pancakes, so maybe Wasa cracker/cheese lunch, if not salad. Which leaves TWO DINNERS! Maybe a store-roasted chicken with potatoes and veg. A real meal with three things. I rarely eat meals with two or more things. Usually a bowl of just one something. Bowl of pasta - bowl of soup - bowl of stew. It's hard figuring out this plate thing.
5:15 pm - The Countdown to 7 PM dinner begins. I pace. Consider going to the grocery store to get some roast chicken and mashed potatoes but decide its wiser to stick with whats in the house now. Get on the Wii balance board and do 20 mins of Walk It Out to occupy some of the time.
5.40 pm. 1 hour and 20 minutes till 7 pm dinner time.
6.00 pm - 30 minutes till I put the water on the boil to cook some pasta.
6.20 pm - am I slowly driving myself crazy?
Well Dinner - pasta w pesto and some frozen broccoli - came and went and it was mostly a success. I did go back for seconds, but ! but! but! it was only a little broccoli. Not another plate of pasta or a sandwich and it woulda fit on the first plate anyway if I'd squidged some stuff around. I think I will count this as a success.
Stats:
Breakfast - Success!
Lunch - Success!!
Dinner - Success!!!
Day 4. Similar to yesterday. I think about my next meal all the time (doesn't help that I work at home). The worst is between lunch and dinner ... From about 1.30 to 7... But, I did have an upsetting phone call around 3 pm and while that kind of messed up the rest of the day in terms of getting work done, I did not snack. I paced, I did some wii, I paced some more, I counted the hours till the next meal, I watched some olympics, but: I . did . not . snack ... Yay me.
So, right now, the diet is... next to no sugar except for yogurt, and giant plate of food, 6 or 7 hours, giant plate of food, 6 or 7 hours, giant plate of food, plus a yogurt, sleep. I'm having the large plates of food in order to minimize food stress and keep to the no snacking rule and because I figure if I break the no snacking rule, this will undermine the whole diet for me. I don't know why I'm so fixated on the no snacking rule as the biggest part of the diet, but there you go. There I go.
B: hot grain cereal with pb and banana.
L: soup with bagel AND a half-pb sandwich.
D: pasta w penne and frozen broccoli and a yogurt - about the pasta and broccoli - I made a pretty big bowl/plate of it, but I didn't finish the entire thing, a stopping point occurred... Hmm. (I could have even gotten away without the yogurt, but it didn't happen.)
So, right now, the diet is... next to no sugar except for yogurt, and giant plate of food, 6 or 7 hours, giant plate of food, 6 or 7 hours, giant plate of food, plus a yogurt, sleep. I'm having the large plates of food in order to minimize food stress and keep to the no snacking rule and because I figure if I break the no snacking rule, this will undermine the whole diet for me. I don't know why I'm so fixated on the no snacking rule as the biggest part of the diet, but there you go. There I go.
B: hot grain cereal with pb and banana.
L: soup with bagel AND a half-pb sandwich.
D: pasta w penne and frozen broccoli and a yogurt - about the pasta and broccoli - I made a pretty big bowl/plate of it, but I didn't finish the entire thing, a stopping point occurred... Hmm. (I could have even gotten away without the yogurt, but it didn't happen.)
Friday
7.00 am. Weighed myself. I wasn't going to, because the last thing I need is to see that I've gained weight. I'm trying to focus on just getting into the habit first, as people seem to recommend. I was planning on not weighing myself for a couple weeks. Well I did, and I haven't lost -- but I haven't gained! Given the giant plates of food, this is quite a relief. At least I'm maintaining while trying to get into the No S habit. The no-weight gain even included the two "pre-diet" S-days-gone-wild I had, with a pizza and pint of Ben n Jerry's. Phew.
7.30 am. Waiting for 8 am so I can have breakfast--holding off because I want to last as long as possible before lunch, thereby lessening the time between lunch and dinner. Breakfast at 8 am, Lunch as long after 1 pm as I can manage. Like 1:05, or 1:06 or even 1:09. (No kidding, it's minute-by-minute management.) Dinner at 7 or 7.15 pm.
8.27 am. Ate breakfast - giant bowl of hot grain + pb and banana (and a little wheat germ). And ... I didn't finish the whole thing! I'm wondering if this is because I made the bowl a tiny bit more giant or if there is something to this diet that rewires the hungry brain? Only time will tell I suppose...
8.45 am. I find I get a lot of finger-exercise during the day by counting off the hours between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner. 9, 10, 11, 12, 1 - LUNCH! 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 - DINNER! I'll be able to pry off the top of a no-twist beer bottle this time next month.
11.00 am. Getting hungry after my half-hour of Wii exercise. Will have a cup o coffee and then maybe some green tea and some water. I'm reading others' daily-check-in entries and considering having a fourth meal so I can tone down on the giant-ness of the plates. I think I'll give it a couple weeks with the three giant meals and if they are still giant, then switch to four meals, bfast, early lunch, tea!, dinner.
11.42 am. I hour and 18 minutes to go till Lunch. I am really surprising myself by writing all this! about my dieting travails (I'm writing in Notepad and posting it the next day.) Have I really nothing more important to do other than endlessly jot notes about my fleeting thoughts about being hungry and waiting for a meal? No! At least right now, I'm finding it curiously absorbing. But this too, I'm sure, will pass, as hopefully the giant plates of food will morph into more sensible portions and I get a hold of myself.
12.00 noon. 1 hour to go to lunch. I go grocery shopping. I realize I can have fish fingers and peas and baked fries tonight, if its all on one plate. I can have salad with not just celery and turkey but also gorgonzola and toasted pecans and dried cranberries. (Am I beginning a very clever sabotage, adding more and more calories to that one large plate, or will I recover from this new freedom and start getting full and less obsessed?)
1.47 pm. So lunch was the delicious turkey salad, I'm sure high in calories, but I didn't have the half pb sandwich that has accompanied the lunch salad on M, T, and W. I'm full. I know I will be hungry in about 3 hours, maybe 2, but I'll do the same as yesterday - pace, watch the Olympics, do some mild Wii exercise... and wait.
9.00 pm. I made it through fine to dinner! Store breaded fish cutlets with home made tartar sauce, a not outrageous portion of baked fries, some frozen peas. It was a giant plate, but I didn't finish it, and didn't have a we'll-pretend-its-not-dessert yogurt.
7.30 am. Waiting for 8 am so I can have breakfast--holding off because I want to last as long as possible before lunch, thereby lessening the time between lunch and dinner. Breakfast at 8 am, Lunch as long after 1 pm as I can manage. Like 1:05, or 1:06 or even 1:09. (No kidding, it's minute-by-minute management.) Dinner at 7 or 7.15 pm.
8.27 am. Ate breakfast - giant bowl of hot grain + pb and banana (and a little wheat germ). And ... I didn't finish the whole thing! I'm wondering if this is because I made the bowl a tiny bit more giant or if there is something to this diet that rewires the hungry brain? Only time will tell I suppose...
8.45 am. I find I get a lot of finger-exercise during the day by counting off the hours between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner. 9, 10, 11, 12, 1 - LUNCH! 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 - DINNER! I'll be able to pry off the top of a no-twist beer bottle this time next month.
11.00 am. Getting hungry after my half-hour of Wii exercise. Will have a cup o coffee and then maybe some green tea and some water. I'm reading others' daily-check-in entries and considering having a fourth meal so I can tone down on the giant-ness of the plates. I think I'll give it a couple weeks with the three giant meals and if they are still giant, then switch to four meals, bfast, early lunch, tea!, dinner.
11.42 am. I hour and 18 minutes to go till Lunch. I am really surprising myself by writing all this! about my dieting travails (I'm writing in Notepad and posting it the next day.) Have I really nothing more important to do other than endlessly jot notes about my fleeting thoughts about being hungry and waiting for a meal? No! At least right now, I'm finding it curiously absorbing. But this too, I'm sure, will pass, as hopefully the giant plates of food will morph into more sensible portions and I get a hold of myself.
12.00 noon. 1 hour to go to lunch. I go grocery shopping. I realize I can have fish fingers and peas and baked fries tonight, if its all on one plate. I can have salad with not just celery and turkey but also gorgonzola and toasted pecans and dried cranberries. (Am I beginning a very clever sabotage, adding more and more calories to that one large plate, or will I recover from this new freedom and start getting full and less obsessed?)
1.47 pm. So lunch was the delicious turkey salad, I'm sure high in calories, but I didn't have the half pb sandwich that has accompanied the lunch salad on M, T, and W. I'm full. I know I will be hungry in about 3 hours, maybe 2, but I'll do the same as yesterday - pace, watch the Olympics, do some mild Wii exercise... and wait.
9.00 pm. I made it through fine to dinner! Store breaded fish cutlets with home made tartar sauce, a not outrageous portion of baked fries, some frozen peas. It was a giant plate, but I didn't finish it, and didn't have a we'll-pretend-its-not-dessert yogurt.
Saturday - S day!
8.00 am breakfast - 3 scrambled eggs with green pepper and onion, two slices toast, four links breakfast sausage. Big ol' plate. I almost added a slice of Swiss cheese to the eggs, then decided I wasn't all that hungry!
10.00 am - Still doing fine a couple hours later.
12.00 noon - Finished a half hour plus of Wii exercise. Not going crazy with the hunger. For some reason, I'm having difficulty NOT thinking I need to wait to mealtime to eat. If I eat at another time than mealtime its wrong, just wrong. 8 am, 1 pm, 7 pm! But its an S day! Eat! Eat! Eat! But I think I'm a-gonna wait till lunch time. 1pm. Don't know why, I think the structure of waiting till mealtime is somehow comforting for me right now.
1.00 pm - Salad w turkey, pecan, cranberries.
3.00 pm - S day chocolate - a pretty decent amount unfortunately.
7.00 pm - Fish, and leftover pasta with peas. For S-Day dessert - large slice of blueberry pie with some vanilla ice cream. Could not finish the pie. Still don't know whether the not finishing meals is a good sign of improving habit or a bad sign of overloading my plate.
10.00 am - Still doing fine a couple hours later.
12.00 noon - Finished a half hour plus of Wii exercise. Not going crazy with the hunger. For some reason, I'm having difficulty NOT thinking I need to wait to mealtime to eat. If I eat at another time than mealtime its wrong, just wrong. 8 am, 1 pm, 7 pm! But its an S day! Eat! Eat! Eat! But I think I'm a-gonna wait till lunch time. 1pm. Don't know why, I think the structure of waiting till mealtime is somehow comforting for me right now.
1.00 pm - Salad w turkey, pecan, cranberries.
3.00 pm - S day chocolate - a pretty decent amount unfortunately.
7.00 pm - Fish, and leftover pasta with peas. For S-Day dessert - large slice of blueberry pie with some vanilla ice cream. Could not finish the pie. Still don't know whether the not finishing meals is a good sign of improving habit or a bad sign of overloading my plate.
Sunday S-day
8.00 am Breakfast - Two whole wheat pancakes, 3 breakfast sausage, maple syrup.
11.00 am Snack - left over whole wheat pancake
4.00 pm Lunch - I got involved in work and missed any regular time for food. Had a salad and ham/1-slice-swiss/whole wheat sandwich. Very full.
8.00 pm Dessert Dinner - Dinner was dessert. I'd bought a treat for the weekend, pie, and the pie woulda gone bad if I'd left it. So to make sure I had room for the pie so it wouldn't go bad - horrors! - I ate the pie for dinner.
9.00 pm Late snack - apparently the Pie Wasn't Enough. I had a small plate of whole wheat pasta with peas and some grated romano.
11.00 am Snack - left over whole wheat pancake
4.00 pm Lunch - I got involved in work and missed any regular time for food. Had a salad and ham/1-slice-swiss/whole wheat sandwich. Very full.
8.00 pm Dessert Dinner - Dinner was dessert. I'd bought a treat for the weekend, pie, and the pie woulda gone bad if I'd left it. So to make sure I had room for the pie so it wouldn't go bad - horrors! - I ate the pie for dinner.
9.00 pm Late snack - apparently the Pie Wasn't Enough. I had a small plate of whole wheat pasta with peas and some grated romano.
Hi Planet8!
I was just reading your last post about the pie dinner and it made me laugh. Not at you, of course, I mean it reminded me of something. Every Sunday night, I freeze all of the tasty sweets that I bought for the weekend. This last Sunday, to my fiancee's dismay, that meant the rest of the cheesecake that we hadn't eaten. I find when something is frozen it's alot less tempting and I tend to forget about it (especially when I put it in the back of the freezer). I don't know if that would help you or not but that's how I handle this situation.
Keep NoSing. You're doing great!
I was just reading your last post about the pie dinner and it made me laugh. Not at you, of course, I mean it reminded me of something. Every Sunday night, I freeze all of the tasty sweets that I bought for the weekend. This last Sunday, to my fiancee's dismay, that meant the rest of the cheesecake that we hadn't eaten. I find when something is frozen it's alot less tempting and I tend to forget about it (especially when I put it in the back of the freezer). I don't know if that would help you or not but that's how I handle this situation.
Keep NoSing. You're doing great!
This version of myself is not permanent, tomorrow I will be different. --BEP
Re: Friday
I'm enjoying your posts, Planet8. I'm a newbie, too. I really love your "we'll-pretend-its-not-dessert yogurt" idea. I will have to try that on soup days.Planet8 wrote:It was a giant plate, but I didn't finish it, and didn't have a we'll-pretend-its-not-dessert yogurt.
Thanks RocketGal! I see we both have outer space monikers. Yay us! Oh, unless your rocket is an inside-the-atmosphere rocket, like a bomb-the-enemy rocket or a jetpack-to-work rocket. Didn't think of that.... lol. I will assume for now its a David Bowie Rocket-Man Rocket. Yes, the no-its-not-dessert! yogurt is my segue from the end-of-the-day treat to something more sensible. I'm hoping to transition to a piece of fruit in a month or two ...
Monday
B - hot 7 grain with pb and bananer
L - soup, bagel, yogurt
D - Couscous with Moroccan chicken. I did kind of have seconds. But I blame the dish itself. It is the first time I made it, so I had no idea how much I needed to be satisfied. A cup of couscous and two chicken thighs was not enough. Bad, bad, bad Moroccan Chicken With Couscous. You were tasty though! But I will not be making you again until I figure this Adequate Portion Recognition and Control (Ad-PRAC!) problem out. And I will pat myself on the back and consider today a success anyway despite you.
L - soup, bagel, yogurt
D - Couscous with Moroccan chicken. I did kind of have seconds. But I blame the dish itself. It is the first time I made it, so I had no idea how much I needed to be satisfied. A cup of couscous and two chicken thighs was not enough. Bad, bad, bad Moroccan Chicken With Couscous. You were tasty though! But I will not be making you again until I figure this Adequate Portion Recognition and Control (Ad-PRAC!) problem out. And I will pat myself on the back and consider today a success anyway despite you.
Tuesday
Busy busy busy w work, 12 hour days etc. ... this makes no snacking much easier for me.
B - Hot grain cereal with pb only, no banana, therefore much inferior. The no banana was caused by some animal that is getting into my kitchen. She/he has droppings larger than a mouse and pried open the banana at the ripe spot and gnawed away some. Concerned about minuscule particles of hanta virus ending up on the knife, then the banana, and then me, I threw the whole banana away.
L - soup, sandwich, yogurt
D - The leftover Moroccan Chicken w CousCous and some frozen spinach. Well, not frozen by the time I ate it of course! I had no yogurt, and wasn't as full as normal, but I didn't eat "seconds." (Ie. more than the amount I deem as my "giant plate". Some foods just don't go well on even on a giant plate together. They must be separated.)
B - Hot grain cereal with pb only, no banana, therefore much inferior. The no banana was caused by some animal that is getting into my kitchen. She/he has droppings larger than a mouse and pried open the banana at the ripe spot and gnawed away some. Concerned about minuscule particles of hanta virus ending up on the knife, then the banana, and then me, I threw the whole banana away.
L - soup, sandwich, yogurt
D - The leftover Moroccan Chicken w CousCous and some frozen spinach. Well, not frozen by the time I ate it of course! I had no yogurt, and wasn't as full as normal, but I didn't eat "seconds." (Ie. more than the amount I deem as my "giant plate". Some foods just don't go well on even on a giant plate together. They must be separated.)
This RocketGal is intergalactic.
Definitely NOT a surface-to-air missle, this RocketGal is intergalactic. Maybe I will discover a galaxy where diets and eating plans do not exist because we don't need them to correct our poor habits?! 
Wednesday
8 am - Hot grain cereal w blueberries n walnuts
1 pm - Salad and half a fish filet w tartar sauce and half a pb sandwich
7 pm - Frozen salisbury steak (it was tiny!) and mac-n-cheese (such small portions!) dinner and frozen spinach and a half pb sandwich and a yogurt
A GRAND SUCCESS! rofl. Still I am doing great at the no snacking and at the no sweets. On N days I only have yogurt as a dessert-sub and not all the time, either. Still having the giant plates of food. But the plates are a crumb or two smaller, and I'm experiencing some mild hunger without dropping dead or fainting or going insane so that is all just plain positive good stuffs.
1 pm - Salad and half a fish filet w tartar sauce and half a pb sandwich
7 pm - Frozen salisbury steak (it was tiny!) and mac-n-cheese (such small portions!) dinner and frozen spinach and a half pb sandwich and a yogurt
A GRAND SUCCESS! rofl. Still I am doing great at the no snacking and at the no sweets. On N days I only have yogurt as a dessert-sub and not all the time, either. Still having the giant plates of food. But the plates are a crumb or two smaller, and I'm experiencing some mild hunger without dropping dead or fainting or going insane so that is all just plain positive good stuffs.