Everyday Systems

A little background: I have had horrible eating habits for a long time, ever since I was a teenager. I have regularly eaten a sweet snack and then gone back for seconds, thirds, fourths, and more. I have eaten whole bags or boxes of sweets in less than an hour. I have eaten spoonfuls and spoonfuls of white, brown, or confectioner's sugar straight from the bag. I have bought cake mix and frosting from the store, thrown out the cake mix (I only bought it so no one would know what I really intended to do with the frosting), and eaten the frosting straight from the container. I could go on and on about the bad things I have eaten and the bad ways I have done it. Sugar has been like a drug to me, and I always hid my unhealthy ways from everyone so no one could have helped me. Back then I stayed effortlessly skinny and ignorant of the importance of health so even I had no idea of what I was getting myself into... but eventually it all caught up to me.

So here I am: I am 28 years old, 5'2", and 175lbs. In the past few years I have slowly become more health conscious and made some important changes in my life as far as what I eat - more fruits/vegetables/whole grains, less meat, lots of water, sometimes green tea or fruit juice, no more overly processed 'food' or 'drinks.' Then just when I needed it I stumbled upon the No S Diet. I love it because it is simple, natural, and effective. It fits right in with the healthy changes I have slowly been making. I believe it's just what I need to get to the healthy me I want to be. I joined in and started working towards the No S lifestyle in March of 2011. I did okay for a couple of months, but then I started to struggle. So in May of 2011 I restarted, implementing the No Ses at a slower pace. I have gotten into the habits of No Seconds and No Snacks, and am currently working on No Sweets. This is very hard for me because of my past indiscretions, but I won't give up.

And here I go: I really want to lose at least 40lbs but I am trying to focus more on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, knowing the weight will eventually come off with it. The accountability and support that I find on this forum keeps me going. However, I don't have the time or patience to write down what I ate or what happened or how I felt every single day. So on this thread I'll create one big post every month to simply keep track of my successes and failures, then create little individual posts whenever I feel the need to record significant happenings or personal thoughts. Thank you fellow No Sers for being here. ♥

JULY 2011:
No Seconds + No Snacks + No Sweets on Mon/Wed/Fri
15 Minutes of Exercise + 3 Sets of 10 Jumping Rope

July 1: S Day (vacation)
July 2: S Day
July 3: S Day
July 4: S Day (holiday)
July 5: Success
July 6: Success
July 7: Success
July 8: Success
July 9: S Day
July 10: S Day
July 11: Success
July 12: No S - Success Exercise - Failure
July 13: Success
July 14: Success
July 15: Success
July 16: S Day
July 17: S Day
July 18: Success
July 19: Success
July 20: Success
July 21: Success
July 22: Success
July 23: S Day
July 24: S Day
July 25: Success
July 26: Success
July 27: Success
July 28: Success
July 29: Success
July 30: S Day
July 31: S Day

Thanks for sharing your story, a sweet tooth is definitely one of the most challenging things to deal with on NoS! Good luck with this month, it sounds like you have a good plan for focusing on habits first, weight loss second

Glad to see you are still around and still working at it. It is good to see you addressing the issue of your habits in your 20s. If I had gotten a grip on my slightly overweight self in my 20s, I may never have reached the weights I got between 35-55.

That said..if you have read any of my posts, you will know that I do not track anything consistently except my habit cal calendars. Do you use habit cal? I think they are a wonderful graphic tool to track your progress over time. And....you do not have to worry about logs or diaries or anything else. I have 3 calendars...for No S diet compliance and for exercise and for alcohol. They can be done daily in a few seconds.

Sounds like a good plan! Sugar is addictive and I am the same - I can't just eat a little. I have found that cutting sweet foods out altogether has really helped. I have been on No S for about a month, and my cravings for sweet things has substantially diminished (but not disappeared).

Thank you for the support everyone! ♥

I do use HabitCal. I have five calendars: Exercise, NoSeconds/NoSnacks, NoSweetsEOD, NoBinges, and StandingDesk. I love it as a quick and easy way to keep track of my habits and look back over how I have been doing. I just need to keep a check-in thread as well because I need more peer accountability and I need to write about special successes/failures to look back upon when I'm struggling.

Wow that's a lot of Habitcals! What's NoSweetsEOD?

I second all that the posters - in particular r.jean - has said.

Welcome back, Beauty - not that you have ever been away from the sounds of it (you've been consistently on the No S plan), although I missed your posts!!
Glad to hear that the No S plan is working for you, hon. Well done for sticking with it too.

Recently, I've been finding it hard to stick to the plan and I also struggle with sweet stuff. I've tried experimenting the past few weeks with other diet plans but realize that No S is really the way for me to go. The seconds and snacks are not much of a problem, thank goodness, therefore if i can consistently stick to No S for a reasonable period of time (i.e. life preferably! ) and hopefully get a handle on my ott S Days, I am sure i will feel a lot better and at peace with myself. Not feeling quite comfortable nor confident with my food choices lately. However, a few days of compliance will hopefully help. Good luck to you!!

Ok..so what is standingdesk?

Sounds like you are doing great. You are considering eveyone's suggestions, and you are figuring out what works for you.

NoSweetsEOD is No Sweets Every Other Day. It has been very hard for me to give up sweets, so I am phasing them out very slowly. Right now I am down to having only a small portion of sweets with my dinner every other weekday (Tuesday and Thursday).

No, I never left No S and I never will. I did stop posting on my old daily check-in thread since I thought it was more tedious than it was beneficial. I was posting on the monthly challenges though, and I really liked that method of checking in so I made this thread where I can do that and also have my own space to use as a progress journal when I need it.
I was having a lot of trouble last month too, but I did all I could to set myself up for success again and I'm hoping for the best this month. At least you and I have the No Seconds and No Snacks down, so we're 2/3s of the way there with only No Sweets to conquer... I know we can do it. Good luck to you too, Roxy! ((HUGS!))

As for Standing Desk, a bit of explanation: I have to spend a lot of time doing things normally done sitting down in one place (creating art, working on the computer, etc.). However, sitting on my bum most of the day is not the healthiest or most comfortable thing for me to do, and it's certainly not conducive to losing weight. So I started temporarily modifying my desk each day so I can stand up while I'm working at it most of the time. Last month though, I sadly got a bit lazy about doing this, and then I went on a long vacation. So I made the StandingDesk HabitCal to make sure I get back into the habit of standing up at my desk. It's just a temporary thing. I'll probably have a different temporary HabitCal next month for some other small habit I would like to work on.
I feel like I'm doing good now... I know I'm headed in the right direction and I will get there, even if it does take a long time. I am grateful to you and my other fellow No Sers for the suggestions and support that have helped me so much.

It really is all in the mindset. Once that clicks, it is so simple it is almost laughable. I was just thinking this morning (after FINALLY getting it these past few months) that this must be how people who maintain their weight over their lifetime live.

They eat right - having the occasional spurge or treat, drink lots of water, get the right sleep, exercise daily, etc. - the basics.

DUH, who knew?

You are getting there, I can tell it by your posts.

FABULOUS posts, you guys! Berry: thank you for cheering me up with your summing up of the No S Plan!! I am feeling really, really great this past couple of days (since I have "merely" - and I do not use the term lightly hence the quotes - stuck to the No S Plan for the past two days). What a massive relief to be back on the saddle again. I feel like I've come home, do you know what I mean, guys?? Well, of course you do, you're No S-ers' aren't you? LOL!

BTW - Beauty - I think you sweets every other day sounds like a great idea, particularly for those of us i.e. me who are struggling!! At the moment, things are going well (fingers crossed) but as Berry so eloquently put it, it's all in the mind and we know how it can change from time to time. BUT enough of my (potential for) negative talk already - WE CAN AND WE ARE DOING THIS!!!

Strawberry Roan wrote:It really is all in the mindset. Once that clicks, it is so simple it is almost laughable. I was just thinking this morning (after FINALLY getting it these past few months) that this must be how people who maintain their weight over their lifetime live.

They eat right - having the occasional spurge or treat, drink lots of water, get the right sleep, exercise daily, etc. - the basics.

DUH, who knew?

How true! I am looking forward to that 'click'.

Tuesday July 12th:
It was very hot and humid, I was tired and in a bad mood... I thought long and hard about it, then made the decision to skip my usual exercise. It was just one of those days when I needed to take it easy. I'm not worried about it because I have been very good about exercising, and I know I will continue to be so.
Although I took a partial fail, I did not give up on the day entirely. I stayed away from snacks and sweets all day (except for my allowed small portion of sweets with dinner), so I was successful with No S. I am proud of myself for that.

Thursday July 14th:
This morning I was quite upset, and what was the first thing I thought to do to make myself feel better? Not eat a snack, not eat a sweet... but take a walk! So I did; I put on my workout clothes, grabbed my cell phone (mp3 player) and headphones, and went out on a walk through the park. I walked along at a faster pace than normal and I played my music loud. The songs I listened to amplified the emotions I was feeling, and the fresh air moving around me took them all away. It didn't solve my problems, but it felt so good and I felt a lot better afterwards. That is more than I can say for having a snack or a sweet in the same situation. Lesson learned!

As I just said in my daily check in. Exercise is what makes it work...what keeps me going when I am challenged by food. Good job!

Wednesday July 20th:
This day, I came the closest I have ever been to a failure without actually failing. I was stressing out about something, and I went through the usual dialogue of 'Oh, I really want a cookie right now' and '... but a cookie won't help me and I don't need it' back and forth in my head until I got tired of it and thought 'Whatever, I'm just going to go get a cookie.' So I went downstairs, grabbed two homemade cookies from the freezer, and headed back up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs though, I stopped and sat down, feeling sad and defeated. As I stared at the cookies in my hand, I thought 'Really? Is this worth it? I make really good cookies, but they don't seem that good right now all frozen and wrapped up in plastic. They might taste good, but that's all they'll do. They won't help, they'll hurt. It's just not worth it.' Finally, I felt a burst of determination and went downstairs, put the cookies back, and went back upstairs to go about my business. It seems that my good No S side is finally starting to get stronger than my bad sugar addict side.

Success! Fantastic! You have really worked hard at this plan.

Great job!

Thanks, guys!

Way to go. As I said, Once you "get it" in your brain, it really gets easy. When you do eat something, it will seem outside the norm as opposed to in the past (I am speaking of me, of course ) it was just habitual snacking.

Again, let me say,
Way to go

Thanks, Strawberry! You are absolutely right.

Wow...I just read your cookie story too. What a victory! You did wonderfully!!!

janie

Thanks, Janie!

End of July:
I am very happy with how I did this month! I had some difficult times, but I stuck to my plan and pulled through with zero NoS failures and only one Exercise failure. I learned that walking when I am really upset is way more helpful than eating sweets (07/14), and I realized that I do have it in me to overcome my addiction to sweets and make No S my lifestyle (07/20). I am getting better at controlling my wants of sweets, and I have noticed that I'm not having much trouble transitioning from S Days into N Days. My S Days are a little wild, but not as bad as when I first started... I'm not worrying about my S Days yet though. My weight has stayed pretty much the same this month, but I shouldn't be worrying about my weight yet either. The most important thing is that this plan is finally starting to make its place in my stubborn brain!

AUGUST 2011:
No Seconds + No Snacks + No Sweets (except a small portion with dinner on Wednesdays)
30 Minutes of Exercise + 3 Sets of 15 Jumping Rope

August 1: S Day (vacation)
August 2: S Day (vacation)
August 3: S Day (vacation)
August 4: S Day (vacation)
August 5: S Day (vacation)
August 6: S Day
August 7: S Day
August 8: Success
August 9: Success
August 10: Success
August 11: Success
August 12: Success
August 13: S Day
August 14: S Day
August 15: Success
August 16: Success
August 17: Success
August 18: Success
August 19: Success
August 20: S Day
August 21: S Day
August 22: No S - Failure Exercise- Success
August 23:
August 24:
August 25:
August 26:
August 27: S Day
August 28: S Day
August 29:
August 30:
August 31:

Monday August 22nd:
Well, this day was an epic fail! It seems that lately my life has been just stressful thing after stressful thing after stressful thing, leading me to my emotional breaking point... so I just mentally shut down and ended up mindlessly picking at sweets all day. I truly felt comforted by doing that at the time, though I know that this type of behavior does more harm than good. I'll just chalk it up as one of those terrible horrible no good very bad days, move on, and do my best to get right back on track. It is a shame though... last week when I checked the scale I had lost a couple pounds, but now I probably just gained them all back. Oh well, I've waited long enough to see some pounds start to fall off, what's another couple of weeks? I have been doing great aside from this incident. I have noticed that my cravings have become much easier to handle. Last week, I decided to start eating my main meal (formerly dinner) midday and having a salad (formerly lunch) each evening. I thought that having a more satisfying meal midday would make it easier to get through the afternoon (my time of more cravings and preoccupation with food), and I thought maybe it would be better to consume the meal with more calories while I still had time to work them off. So far, I really like this new way of eating.

Hey ImprisonedBeauty! I'm back and thought I'd stop by and see how you're doing. I was very impressed with how GREEN your July and August looked. Congrats on a job well done!! Sounds like you're really making progress with your sweet habit. I battle a major sweet tooth as well (have been a major closet eater when it comes to that), so I know the struggle you're going through.

You are such an inspiration!! Keep up the great work!!

What I found that helps me as after lunch and dinner I always in the past felt like I could keep eating or look for something sweet to end my meal.

What I do now is eat more at my meals and for 2 of them, lunch and dinner I end with a piece of fruit..or I have seen one poster say she puts 2-3 pieces of chocolate on her plate with dinner and eats the chocolate for medicinal purposes and it seems to be working for her.

I also have herbal tea with honey, or OJ spritzer with splenda...both help as well.

deb