Everyday Systems

Hi - I am beginning my 6th SUCCESSFUL day on No S. (Today and yesterday being S days.) For the first 4 No S days, I was absolutely Stellar...without even having to heap my plates. For my first S day yesterday, I adhered mostly to the N plan, except for one peanut/cereal bar after lunch and 6 Chips Ahoy in the evening. I walked for 30 min. on the N days.
I feel great - noticable difference in how my stomach feels when I go to bed and get up in the morning. I am SOLD on this program -
Now for the problem....I weighed in for the first time this am since starting....I am UP 2.5 lbs!!!! HELP! MJ

Hey Schmitty..
Don't sweat the 2.5 lbs... If I have a salty meal or weigh in at a slightly different time of day, I can see my weight vary this much, without being "bad" on the diet..

You know what kind of week you have had and I just suggest that you look a little bit at whether you were drinking enough water...
If you eat salty foods and don't really drench your body in water, then there is often a tendency for the body to retain whatever water you take in... If you drink a lot of water during the day, like around a gallon.. You will probably be able to flush yourself out..
If you haven't exercised much before, you also may need additional water for your muscles and your body may be holding on to what it's got...
Just don't worry or get psyched out.... You wll drop weight, not gain...


Oh... I weighed my socks and my tee shirt the other day and just those two items added a pound of weight on the scale.. So make sure you always wear the same things... Or just weigh naked! LOL...
Oh,,,, one more, thing.. Home scales *SUCK*!!!
Don't expect consistent readouts on those.....

Keep the faith!
Excellent first week!!!!
Peace and Love,
Deb

ps... Chips ahoy rock!!!

Thanks Deb,
My brain was already telling me those things, and oddly, I don't feel any desire to sway from NO S. Like I said I think it's the most sensible plan I have seen or tried in a long time. Thanks for your input, and I will continue to log in with updates. MJ

Hi there and welcome to the Gang!

Salt is a killer when you're diligently watching the scale. We bought a Heavenly Ham for New Years Eve dinner and the very NEXT morning I was up over 2 lbs. It took a couple of days for the scale to find its way down again, but it did!!!

BTW, the ham really was good.

Best wishes to you!
Lane

Thanks Lane! I have been trying to drink more water too, to try to flush that salt out!! MJ

Day 9 on No S....no fudging - literally and figuratively!! I am down the 2 I gained since I started, plus another 1! Yesterday was my first hard day. I was hungry for dinner and assumed I would buckle. The simplicity of this program helped me through the "seconds" hurdle there, and my new fave, a cup of decaf after dinner saw me through my dessert issues. Carry on!! MJ

Carry on indeed!!!!
Rock on witcha bad self!!!

Good for you MJ !!!
Peace and Love,
Deb

So here's my question. I have just successfully completed Day 10 of No S. I am down 1 pound since I started. I understand the weight loss is not supposed to be fast, but is this typical? I am not overloading plates, I do get very hungry between meals, I have been walking 30 min. a day, I feel much more in control of my eating. I did, however, hope to lose weight a bit more quickly. What is the experience of the group on this? Thanks. MJ

If you have a moderate amount of weight that your body needs to lose, then a weight loss rate of approx 1 pound per week is sustainable, healthy and normal. Unless you have lots and lots of weight to lose (Like, 100 lb to lose or so!), you're unlikely to lose it faster than that by doing NoS.

Lets assume you want to lose FAT. 1 pound of human fat has about 3500 calories in it. That's 3500 calories of deficit you have to have before you will lose the fat.... Really, if you add it all up properly most people who lose weight faster than 1 pound a week are either on a severely, dangerously, restricted intake, or they spend literally 8 hours a day exercising or they're not losing more than 1 pound of FAT. They might very well be losing muscle (which is denser than fat and therefore weighs more anyway) or water or both.

If you've not actually got that much fat to lose, it's possible to do NoS perfectly, take on some extra exercise and GAIN weight whilst losing fat because you're building healthy muscle tissue and muscle weighs more than fat.

I'd say your 1lb loss in 10 days is good and healthy. It's not quick, but you're unlikely to put it back on. I realise this is probably not the answer you were hoping for, but I think you should concentrate on building good, sustainable eating habits and let your body sort out what weight it will be once everything gets to be in balance.

For what it's worth, I think you're doing really well.
C.

Hey MJ...
Most diets set you up to believe that it's healthy and normal to lose 30 lbs in thirty days...
So you probably thought you'd be down like 10 lbs...
This is a falsehood..
Only on plans which are totally restrictive and full of stimulants and meal replacement shakes could this possibly happen..
I've been there and done that..
It comes back and more...

Be patient...
Let's see....
One pound in ten days sounds about right... Sometimes people lose more sometimes less... but that is a healthy rate of *Maintainable* weight loss which won't come back to haunt you one, two or three years later when you go off a "diet" and eat normally...
Be patient... Even, if you average in a couple of months where you don't lose anything, imagine where you will be in a year if you stick with it..
Probably you will have lost between 25 and 30 lbs...

This is considered normal and healthy...
And it will be virtually painless!!!
So it's worth the wait...

Who knows? Once I weighed my socks and I weighed my t shirt..
They were each half a pound... Then I took them off, and I was down a pound.. But it was my clothes!!! LOL...

Just focus on eating well and exercising and maybe do what Reinhard did...
He only had to lose 40 lbs overall... He stayed off the scale for about two months at the beginning...

Congrats on your great work so far!!!
Be proud and keep the faith!
Peace and Love,
Deb

Again, thank you. Makes perfect sense. I find myself really looking forward to S days! MJ

You're welcome and don't feel weird about having questions or concerns..
I too had plenty for Reinhard and even had a few moments of doubt and worry when things got real slow... I also never in my life, tried to lose weight in any other way, besides "crash and burn" methods, of which I'll even go so far to include Weight Watchers... So it's really easy to mentally stay in this semi "seduced" state and question "Why am I not down 2 sizes in six weeks???" like many ads purport is possible on their diet...
Anyway these slow periods are there for your body to adapt to the changes "naturally" and I suggest taking advantage of them as places to look at yourself in terms of where you are in your life... Where you were, where you are, where you want to be... It's a resting spot to take it all in... Last time I had a very long plateau, it was around February last year...eventually, I shook myself off my plateau and stopped overloading my plates, and increased my exercise, but it was a long haul... So, naturally, I had times when I felt bad that I wasn't losing that much weight... But Reinhard really encouraged me..
What a guy!!!!

Hey sometimes, especially during Winter, the cards are just stacked against us.. We get "Inert".. LOL... And, fact is.. I'm pushing forty now, and I'm taking longer to lose weight... So for me, it's probably going to take more time and more effort...
And keep in mind...
This is free!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm one of those "slow losers" here, but I know I'm changing and looking and feeling so much better... I've gained muscle tone through my Yoga practice, and previously through SG... And that weighs more..
When I started NoS, I could barely slip on a pair of size 24 pants... and now I'm size 18.... I'm not going back to those big ones ever again, and if I take longer to get to my goal of a size 12 or something like that, okay.. I can wait....

You'll all know when I get there!!! LOL!!!

Hee hee hee!!!!!

Have a great S weekend!!!
Enjoy it
Peace and Love,
Deb

I'm another example of the "slow loser". I've been doing this over 2 years, and I've lost about 1 lb a month (so even slower than you! Maybe chocolate for breakfast on Saturdays has something to do with that, but I digress...) While it doesn't sound like much, do the math and discover it adds up over time, as I'm down about 26 lbs.

The fast loss of other diets is fool's gold. Sticking with it is the bane of any diet, I'm sure all of us know more people who have lost big, and then gained it right back, than who have lost and kept it off for any length of time.

That being said another good thing you can do to hedge your bets, so to speak, is exercise in some form.

Unless you are morbidly obese, a slow, steady, maintainable loss is a good thing. Your body will thank you later.

Oh, and I'm looking forward to this weekend's S days as well.

Day 12 and down another pound to a total of 3. Enjoying NO S thoroughly. Here it is an S day and I am almost afraid to let loose for fear I won't be able to get back on. Also debating whether or not to count MLK as an S day. Anyway, Happy Weekend to all! MJ

2 Hostess cupcakes and 8 Twinkies later and I am about done with my S days for this weekend....whew. MJ

Oh man!!! You sure do love them twinkies! LOL...

Have a nice week
Peace and Love,
Deb

Watch for me in the 21 club come Monday. I have two S days ahead of me, so if I can make it through today and all day Monday, I will have made it!! Oddly, yesterday -Day 17 - was torture. I decided to beef up my breakfast today with a spoonful of Peanut Butter which did the trick of tiding me over till lunch. I had a nice big lunch, so should be fine till dinner. After dinner coffee does the trick for evening snacks. Looks like I'll be hitting 21!! MJ

I think you are doing fantastic! Congrats!
Becky

Oh the irony of it all!!!! Here it is, my 21st day, and I am STRUGGLING!!!!! Hard day at work, and all I want to do is EAT!!! I do plan to join the 21 Club later this evening though, so I am determined to make it!!

Another irony, despite 20 flawless days, and an extremely reasonable S weekend, my 3lb. weight loss has disintigrated to 0. I am sure it is water weight, but a bit disappointing. I am not in the least bit tempted, however, to go back to my old ways. I feel so much better and more in control of my eating. I am sure it will drop eventually.

I will post tonight to the 21 club!!! MJ[/code]

Another irony, despite 20 flawless days, and an extremely reasonable S weekend, my 3lb. weight loss has disintigrated to 0. I am sure it is water weight, but a bit disappointing.

It took me a whole year of attempts to make the 21 day club MJ, and so no matter what, you should be thrilled with your flawless 20 days..

Sorry about the change of numbers on the scale... I have to suggest strongly that you only weigh once a week tops.. I would even go so far as to suggest weighing bi-monthly...

You are probably right about it being water, but it still is screwing up your head.. Try to keep from weighing so frequently..

Congrats on your great 21 days!!!
You should be really proud!

Peace and Love,
Deb

Hi!

It took me awhile to find you, but I wanted to stop by and say thank you for welcoming me to NoS (albeit a week later! ~ sorry).

Sounds like you're doing just GREAT!

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