Everyday Systems

This is day 10 for me on the no-S diet, so far I've had one failure which was entirely predictable - my cousin was in town for one night only and we went out to a swanky restaurant. It wasn't terrible though, I had a 2 1/2 course meal but the plates were small.

I'm planning to track my meals and also exercise here - I'm working out a daily exercise schedule involving abs work, push ups, handstands against the wall and bridges.

And wednesdays are going to be slightly modified because I do a gymnastics class at 8pm. I can't do it on a full stomach or on an empty stomach, so I'm going to have a light early dinner and a small healthy snack after I finish.

So - Wednesday (day 9)

Toast with peanut butter, apple
Tomato soup with ham sandwich & carrot sticks
Leftover egg fried rice
2 oatcakes

Success - no S
Success - exercise (gym class)

Thursday, day 11

Breakfast fruit with yogurt, bread and marmite
Lunch - chicken stirfry
Dinner - spinach and feta pie with roasted veg

Success - no s
Failure - exercise. Was very sore from gym Wednesday night though.

I am still getting hungry between meals, but I know it is just because I was in the habit of having so many snacks before. Planning and cooking a nice lunch was a big help yesterday, it seems meals are more psychologically satisfying if I spend a little time assembling them.

Going out for a run now!

Friday - day 12

No S - success
Exercise - 45 minute run, 10 mins abs

Breakfast - yogurt, fruit compote & granola
Lunch - tomato soup with roast veg & chickpeas
Dinner - beef stir fry with noodles

Monday March 8th,

no S - failure. Did not manage to resist the cheese I served to our dinner guests.
exercise - 50 minute swim - 1900 yards, strange number. Try 2000 next time!

Breakfast - fruit with yogurt
Lunch - bean casserole with green beans
Dinner - roast chicken with mashed potatoes and asparagus, followed by yummy but naughty cheese.

Another challenging evening ahead today - book club complete with wine and snacks. I will avoid both, as one tends to lead to the other...

Tuesday

Breakfast - oatmeal
Lunch - bean casserole with rice
Dinner - smoked pork chop with new potatoes, carrots and broccoli

No S - success
Exercise - rest day

I am very pleased with my success yesterday evening. I sat for 3 hours at my book club meeting with a huge plate of brownies and a bowl of peanuts right in front of me. I could smell them. But I did not eat them.

No S - success
Exercise - success, gymnastics class

Breakfast - blueberries with yogurt, slice of toast
Lunch - pea and ham soup, slice of bread and butter
Dinner - tuna & bean salad
Post-gym snack (I allow on gym class nights) - apple, crackers, piece of brie

I did not include enough vegetables today, I do better with this when I plan my meals better so need to pay more attention to that.

This is starting to feel easier now. I am not craving sweet things nearly as much. And I am looking forward to my meals, and feeling no guilt about them. I think there's some cutting down to be done in future but will take my time.

Thursday 11th March

I finished off my son's fruit salad at lunch today. Why did I do that? I think it's because I don't like wasting food, so now that my snack cravings are diminishing my new most challenging time is the children's dinner. I used to eat so much of their leftovers sometimes that I was full before I even started on my own dinner.

Anyway, I have to record a failure. I tried to convince myself that a fruit salad failure was not that bad. But I need to be honest with myself, and nobody else is reading this.

No S - failure
Exercise - nothing in particular, but walked around central park all morning at 3-year-old pace

Breakfast - oatmeal with almonds
Lunch - roast chicken sandwich with green salad, fruit salad
Dinner - pasta with broccoli and sundried tomatoes

Breakfast - oatmeal
Lunch - carrot and beetroot salad, slice of bread
Dinner - turkey chili with rice

No S - success
Exercise - core strength class

Monday

Breakfast - plum, cherries and yogurt
Lunch - turkey chili and rice
Dinner - thai chicken curry

No S - success
Exercise - 45 minute swim

Oh dear. 3 failure days in a row.

Tuesday I was fine all day but went out for dinner with some other moms from my daughter's class and had a guacamole appetizer.
Wednesday I thought I was going to gymnastics class so had a snack at 6pm. Then my husband didn't get home until too late, so I ate with him.
So both of those were minor infringements, I feel okay about them.
Today I went slightly snack-happy between the kids' dinner time and mine. I ate some leftover enchilada and then I had that 'well I've failed now, might as well go crazy' thing. Which hasn't happened to me before.

Okay so tomorrow we are going on vacation and it's going to be hard to stick with this. Tomorrow is a travelling day and I think my plan is going to be fruit before heading to the airport, brunch at the airport, some kind of meal at the next airport, supper at my parents' house when we finally get there. That's technically 4 meals but I think that's the way tomorrow has to be.

I have been backsliding badly.

Tomorrow I'm starting properly again.

I just don't feel optimistic about it though. When I first started I felt so optimistic and for three weeks it really went well. I felt like it was getting easier, and I didn't mind being hungry, I would think about having a snack and just ... not have one. I seem to have just lost my willpower.

Okay. Five days of successful no-S-ing. Go.

Friday 14th May - I'm starting again. I will do no-S today. I will eat birthday cake tomorrow. And I will post here every day.

I have 6 weeks before I go on vacation, I want to get the no-S habit back by then.

Success.

[color=green]Monday[/color]
[color=red]Tuesday[/color]
Wednesday
Thursday

Huh. Okay

Monday - Success
Tuesday - Failure (minor snackage before dinner)
Wednesday - Success
Thursday - Success

Just so you know-someone is indeed reading! Looks like you're back on track, don't be too hard on yourself for minor slippage! Looks like progress to me!

Friday - Failure, accidental ingestion of kids' leftovers before dinner. Negligible in terms of actual calories.

I feel more regret about it now I know someone is reading though. Thank you, shwermert, it is genuinely encouraging to know!

That doesn't sound too bad! As they say, progress not necessarily perfection.....