Ms Daily Check-In

Counting carbs/calories is a drag. Obsessive scale stepping is a recipe for despair. If you want to count something, "days on habit" is a much better metric. Checking off days on a calendar would do just fine, but if you do it here you get accountability and support. Here's how. Start a new topic in this forum called (say) "Your Name Daily Check In." Then every N day post a "reply" to that topic as to whether you stayed on habit. A simple "<font color="green">SUCCESS</font>" or "<font color="red">FAILURE</font>" (or your preferred euphemism if that's too harsh) is sufficient, but obviously you're welcome to write more if you want. On S-days just register that you're taking an S-day. You don't have to do this forever, just until you're confident you've built the habit. Feel free to check in weekly or monthly or sporadically instead of daily. Feel free also to track other habits besides No-s (I'm keeping this forum under No-s because that's what the vast majority are using it for). See also my <a href="/habitcal/">HabitCal</a> tool for another more formal (and perhaps complementary) way to track habits.

Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating

Post Reply
Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Ms Daily Check-In

Post by Ms » Sat Oct 02, 2010 11:08 am

Yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life!!! I will eat only one single-plate meal after dark per day, or, eat only one meal that fits on one plate per day at night. Exceptions are social situations, such as vacations with others, holidays with family, hanging out with others all day and it's appropriate to eat more than once, etc.
Eating once per day will be pretty easy. If I accept an invitation to have a social meal before nightfall, then I'll write it off as an S-day and enjoy! I'll have brunch, a business meeting, lunch with friends every once in a while, etc. but those are social situations that do not happen all of the time. I could just have a smaller dinner and write it off as an S-day. In my childhood home dinner was the main meal, and it was social and fun. Even if my parents had lunch with friends, etc. they still sat down to have dinner as a family. This is so easy to do! I'm pumped up.
It all started with an article from a woman at Parade Magazine. Then I started to see posts on the NoS discussion forum about Eat Stop Eat and intermittent fasting. I signed up for both Eat Stop Eat and IF Life's email lists. I tried Eat Stop Eat, but I hated changing my eating habits all the time, and it did not kill my strong mental attachment to food. If anything, I thought about food MORE. I got serious about changing the frequency of my meals when I received a blog post from IF life describing eating habits of prior generations. I decided to search online for one meal a day articles and found a book online by Bernarr McFadden (I saw this name about a year ago mentioned in one sentence in a woman's magazine, but I shrugged it off. The writer said that he thought eating three meals a day was not necessary and could lead us into trouble, and that's all.) on chestofbooks.com. I found some of the quotes written in the blog post in McFadden's book. Now I am hooked and strongly convinced that this lifestyle is right for me. I printed all of the articles I found most encouraging, and I made up my mind to start.
NoS helped me to realize that if I tried to get rid of the dieting mentality, I will be okay, AND better off in the end! NoS was a relief. I must admit that I was struggling with it for the last 17 months. I just have a strong mental attraction to food. With three meals, I finish one and immediately start planning the next. But with one single-plate meal, I know that I'm eating at the end of the day, after I get home from work and/or at night. Dinner has never been a meal I obsess about because I cook dinner for the week on Sundays, and I know that unless my friends and I plan to hang out, I am going to eat what I prepared at home. Growing up, my mother planned and prepared dinner; I was on my own with breakfast and lunch. I don't know why I obsess over breakfast and especially lunch, even when I carry them with me. Oh well. Obsessions are over. I'm recharged and rejuvenated. I know one single-plate meal per day will be plenty for me. I am ready. Let's do it!!!
Last edited by Ms on Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:12 am, edited 5 times in total.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Sat Oct 02, 2010 11:11 am

10.1.2010: Success!

I ate at 5 pm and I had two plates back-to-back, but I count it as a success. I drank Ensure around 1:15 pm (even though I wasn't hungry), as I tried to follow suggestions I saw online about transitioning into this lifestyle, but it left a nasty aftertaste. I'm happy that I did not purchase them! I poured all 20 cans down the drain and dumped the cans into the recycling bin. Only real food for me.

I must listen to myself. I am a reasonable person. I don't need anyone to validate my eating habits.
Last edited by Ms on Sun Oct 03, 2010 11:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Sun Oct 03, 2010 11:59 am

10.2.2010: Exempt

Nakell's baby shower! We had a lot of food and treats. It was fun and all good; tomorrow (today) will be a regular onlyonesingleplatemealafterdark day!
Last edited by Ms on Sun Oct 03, 2010 11:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Sun Oct 03, 2010 11:13 pm

10.3.2010: FAIL

Ugh! I had two meals. I cook in the mornings, and it's hard for me not to want to eat what I cook immediately after I'm finished. So I ate around noon. I don't know why I ate again around 4 pm though. Oh well. It's over. Mark it and move on. Tomorrow will be a successful day.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Tue Oct 05, 2010 1:44 am

FAIL!!

I am so disappointed. Today was my first day at a new job. The department took me out to lunch. That was nice. But then I came home and pigged out. This is so embarrassing. Maybe the shame will put me on the right track! Well, I'll get over it today, and be fabulous tomorrow.

I will not buy lunch. I'll go for a walk, window shop, etc.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Tue Oct 05, 2010 8:35 pm

SUCCESS

That's right; although the day is not finished, I am counting it as a successful day because I know that I won't eat anything else. I was taken out to lunch as a break in training. I ate a huge plate of food with a small carrot muffin as an appetizer and a chocolate brownie as dessert. I am finished. There's no way my stomach can hold any more food. Three hours later I still feel stuffed. Moreover, I have a list of things to do to keep me occupied when I go home. If I am not falling over from fatigue, I will exercise with my Slim Sculpt DVD, take a multivitamin and a long shower. Even if I don't exercise I need to take a shower, take a multivitamin and go to bed.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:24 pm

FAIL

Yesterday was a success, just as I called it! So I will call today a success day, and it will be. I am speaking what is to become.

Earlier this morning I saw an email from my boss saying that she had a project for me. I am ashamed to say, I freaked out and ran to food. I spent $3.55 on a bagel sandwich plus a french toast cinnamon bagel. I am definitely through with eating for today, and it's only 10:10 a.m. Oh well. Tomorrow I have a deposition in the morning and my coworker and I planned to have lunch either at Wegman's or Panera Bread afterward. I choose Panera because I love their soup bowl made of sourdough bread. I look forward to that, so I will be good.

Besides, I want to relax and enjoy my meal without obsessing over whether I have messed up my lipstick (and I dare not be seen with messy lipstick!). When my boss came to my office to give me my project this morning, I tried hard to concentrate on what she said. Thoughts of whether my lipstick looked okay and whether I had food on my face or between my teeth competed for my attention. In addition, I did not enjoy my meal that much. I rushed through eating so that I could get started on my work for today. Rushing turned out to be necessary because she came in just a few seconds after I threw the evidence of my pig-out away and I pulled out my makeup bag to check my lipstick. I quickly put the makeup bag away, but I wonder whether she thinks I'm vain or lazy, especially since she doesn't wear any lipstick or lipgloss (she looks like she wears absolutely no makeup). If I had saved my meal for when I got home, I would have had to reheat it. Microwaved bagels, not to mention cream cheese and fried eggs, would have been disgusting!!! Ugh!

See why eating before you have time to kick back and enjoy isn't so great? I should have saved my $3.55 for something I could enjoy. Lesson learned. Find a way to destress at work that doesn't involve food... like daydreaming while window-shopping online.

--------------------

Oh boy! A partner invited me out to lunch, just one-on-one. I could not say "no" in the absence of an emergent work-related reason. So I had two meals. Oh well. That sub was good. Today is an S-day. Yet another reason why that morning meal today was not a good idea. No more meals in the morning. Mark it and move on.

BTW, it looks like lunchtime at this firm is a big deal. Everyone drops what they're doing to have lunch. So the one plate after dark thing may be reserved for weekends and off-days. Oh well. That's the beauty of this program. I prefer to have my one meal at the end of the day. But if I'm invited out to lunch then that'll be my one meal. So I'm good.

The author of the IF blog is writing an e-book called the 2-meal per day solution, or something like that. I think he's just going to polish up and condense what he's said before in his previous books, plus add some old wisdom to it. I'm still curious as to what he has to say in the new book. It better be free like the others. I will not purchase it.

----------------------------------------------

I failed. I had a snack (eeew!) of pretzels and candy at work. Then I came home and had dinner. Tomorrow will definitely be good. I have lunch at Panera Bread, and that's IT!
Last edited by Ms on Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Fri Oct 08, 2010 8:53 am

S-Day

I had my lunch at Panera Bread! The soup bowl was yummy, the broccoli cheddar soup was delicious, and the side order of bread was good. I forgot that I had a choice of fruit. Why would they give someone with a bread bowl another piece of bread? Anyway, it was good. I should have got seltzer rather than Pepsi. Better choice next time.

When I got home I ate a small dinner.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:11 pm

FAIL

This is THE BEST reasoning against the morning meal that I have seen: http://chestofbooks.com/health/natural- ... -Meal.html

Even in societies where they ate in the morning, it wasn't nearly as much as what we eat for breakfast. In addition, they did not eat again until evening and the evening meal was their main meal of the day. It's still one meal a day, or one significant meal per day.

Oh my goodness! I ate snacks from the vending machine. I purchased FOUR!! I lost two - one was stale, and the other I spilled while trying to open the package. Moreover, I ate significantly heavy lunch with a coworker who invited me out with her. Ugh! Oh well no more food today. I have to clean my apartment and get it spruced up for my mom's visit :-) When I go out to eat, I should slow down and eat only half!! As the woman from Parade magazine says, do not be afraid to throw away good food. I don't want the leftovers for dinner. When eating out, throw away half!

So my mom is going to want to eat breakfast, I think. Maybe lunch too. I'll play it by ear. If she wants food we'll shop and I'll bring home what she likes and make it for her. That's what I did when my sister visited. I think that's the best plan.

I ate dinner. So be it.
Last edited by Ms on Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Sun Oct 10, 2010 1:20 pm

FAIL

Yesterday I cleaned house, then I ate two bananas, two kiwi and a bowl of red beans and rice. In addition, I ate a small lunch and dinner with my mom. So that's another fail day. A new week starts tomorrow. I need one month of successful eating so that I'll feel really good about myself when I move my things out of my ex-boyfriend's parents' garage.

tobiasmom
Posts: 1391
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 1:08 pm
Location: Texas

hey

Post by tobiasmom » Sun Oct 10, 2010 1:33 pm

You can do it!!! One day at a time. This is my first week, and it's such a breath of fresh air!

Just wanted to give you a bit of encouragement!

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:14 pm

SUCCESS

Thank you Tobia's Mom!!!

Yesterday was a success. I didn't even think about food. I was with my mom. She ate and I occupied myself with something else while socializing with her. I must admit that I was not sitting at a table watching her eat. I did not even think about the fact that she was eating until AFTER she left!! I was so busy. I cooked, and I was not hungry or anxious to taste what I'd prepared immediately afterwards as I usually am. Wow! This is progress. I ate a full single-plate of food at night, then had a banana, and I was done. Even though I stayed up late and watched t.v. I did not even think of food or go into the kitchen. I want more days like this one.
Last edited by Ms on Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:19 pm

S-Day

I was sick!! I got a temporary virus, I guess. I felt dizzy and feverish, broke out in a cold sweat, and my stomach hurt like crazy. Eventually I threw up in my office. I was embarrassed. I drank 3 cans of ginger ale, 2 rows of saltine crackers, 2 bananas, and dinner. After I ate dinner I felt a little nauseous again. I can't be sure whether the food is making me sick or it was just a brief return of my nausea. I hope to feel better today!! So, because of my sickness, I did not and could not accept any invitations to lunch. Today the firm is giving free flu shots and I wish I were going to the office so I could get one.
Last edited by Ms on Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:02 am, edited 2 times in total.

tobiasmom
Posts: 1391
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 1:08 pm
Location: Texas

hey

Post by tobiasmom » Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:11 am

Thanks for the encouragement!!!

Social lunches are soooo much easier on this plan, don't ya think? I mean, you just pick something. Watch the portions....a regular plate full....and that's it. No counting points or calories or no cheese or dressing on the side! It's actually super fun! Of course eating out costs money....and that's a whole different story!!!

Have a great evening!

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:46 am

S-day

I agree Tobia's Mom!!! Even if I eat everything on the plate (that I've noticed have grown in size and the portions are piled on even higher) I am not breaking the rule! But I will try not to "go stupid" and moderate what I eat when going out by limiting myself to half of those portions. But the freedom of not counting calories or worrying about what I'm eating is priceless. This is what life should be.

I am feeling sick! I have a headache, I feel a little nauseous (sp) and a slight earache! What is wrong with me? It's 6:44 a.m. I just took some Tylenol because I had a headache and my neighbor's smoking is not helping. I took the rest of my meds, ate about 5 saltines and drank a half-can of ginger ale. Ugh! I still have the headache. It's early I should take a nap and decide whether I should call in today.

I did not call in. I pigged out on spinach!! LOL!!! I wanted to see whether eating spinach and drinking ginger tea would make my stomach feel better. It did not work. In the last two days, I've learned that bananas, spinach and ginger tea doesn't really help make my stomach feel better. The pharmacist thinks I have caught a bug of some sort; but what could it be? I NEED it to go away. My work is piling up.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:24 am

FAIL

I ate lunch by myself at a local bar. Not a social meal. Then I ate a small dinner at home. The only good thing is that I did not finish the heaping portion of food on my plate. I ate a little more than half, but not by much. I'm happy with that. But so I'm clear, a social meal involves eating with other folks, NOT by myself.

Yesterday my co-worker and I worked through lunch. She invited me to Starbucks so she could grab a snack. She grabbed cookies and the largest chai whatever they serve, while I grabbed a roast peppers, etc. (no meat) panini. I didn't need to do that; I wasn't invited to a meal. Lesson learned. Pay attention; eat at social meals, not social snacks.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:36 am

10.14.10 FAIL

I ate lunch by myself (the owner overcharged me!! I won't eat there again), then Inari sushi by myself after work, then a huge dinner at home with seconds that were really seconds and thirds.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:38 am

Success

I call it a success day! I want to do better, and I KNOW that I can!

Eat only one single-plate meal at night, unless invited to a social meal. If I accept invitation to a social meal and it's appropriate to eat, then eat only half of that meal and toss the rest.

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:56 pm

Success
success
success


oooh I've been bad! Not checking in!

Saturday and Sunday were great. I did laundry and a little grocery shopping and a little nursing of myself... I felt like a I was catching a cold.


Today I'm doing fine. I will workout, shower, and watch the (fake) Housewives of Atlanta (which will be nothing but NeNe screaming beligerent (sp) nonsense as usual! LOL! Obviously there's a spell check on this thing. How do I use it!?!

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

Post by Ms » Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:49 am

Today I will start checking in again.

One single-plate meal at night, except in social situations.

I'm gonna have a great day :D

Ms
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:19 pm

No BS Diet

Post by Ms » Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:14 pm

Wow I haven't posted in so long!

Why did I leave NoS?

Well I'm back.

I'll use this as a food journal, of sorts.

Post Reply