Everyday Systems

Success: 11/16 - Yesterday was my first day on Vanilla NoS. I can see that this will be tricky, but doable. My main issue is staying up late, watching TV. That's always the time when I want to snack the most. I think that it will be helpful to get my knitting back in gear to keep my hands busy and away from food!

Success! 11/17 - Ya know where else I work while I'm starting this personal training stuff?

A dessert cafe.

I forgot how difficult it would be to resist tasting the gelato. But I did it!

Success! 11/18 I noticed that some of y'all include your foodstuffs. I think that's a good idea. Added accountability and all.

B: Oatmeal, 1/2 yogurt, and a clementine

L: Sliced chicken sandwich w/lettuce, chips, crackers w/brie

D: Small salad w/dressing; chicken and rice casserole w/peas

Also, I exercised today...I'm big on the lifting, so I worked on my back today. Romanian deadlifts, cable rows, bent-over rows, hyperextensions, etc.

Woot!

11/9 and 11/20 - S Days - I don't think I'll post much about my food on S days, seeing as the whole point of this NoS system is to let yourself enjoy without stressing out too much.

I will pat myself on the back for completing my long run this weekend. 6.25 miles in 1:07!! Yay! I should be right as rain for my turkey trot on Thanksgiving.

Feeling good going into my first full week on NoS. Think good thoughts.

11/21 - Success? - Okay, the question mark is there because I know I followed the letter of the law, but not really the spirit. I did no sweets, snacks, or seconds...but I also ate a big plate of chicken wings for dinner and I had three alcoholic beverages.

(The Patriots won the football game tonight. What else was I supposed to do? )

So. I feel okay calling this a success, but I will be more healthy tomorrow in my food choices.

B: Bowl of Cheerios

L: Two hot pockets - garlic chicken pizza, yum!

D: Chicken wings w/carrots and celery. And beer.

11/22 - Success! - Better day today, definitely. I have been pretty hungry since dinner, but my cravings have been completely manageable thanks to spiced tea. And I know, rationally, that I have had plenty of food today.

B: 2 eggs, 2 slices of turkey bacon, 2 pieces of toast w/butter

L: Turkey sandwich w/lettuce, tomato, 1/2 avocado, swiss cheese and some chips.

D: 2 Hot pockets w/side salad, 1/2 avocado

Oh, added bonus of this NoS way of eating? A bag of chips actually lasts more than 1 day now. I am a sucker for salty snacks, but limiting my portions to sides at mealtimes now means I don't eat half the bag at a sitting. Score!

AND, I exercised today. Chest and shoulder and triceps workout at the gym. Grrrr.

You are are real No S powerhouse~ Congratulations and welcome. Keep up the good work. By the way, the chicken wing and drinks thing? Sounds good. Didn't overdo the food and maybe went one drink long on the beers. I admire your ability to serve sides only of chips. I hope one day to be able to do that.

Okaybear...

Welcome! Sounds like a great start...come back often 'cause you won't find a nicer group of supporters than those you'll find here...

Much success to you...janie

Thanks for the support, folks! It really is great to be here.

11/23 - Success! - Boring, not much to report.

B-Bowl of cherrios

L-Grilled cheese and pickles

D - Lobster tail, beans and carrots, and mac and cheese

***
Today, of course (at least for us in the states), it's an NWS-day. So, I've been enjoying all the classic Thanksgiving foodstuff without guilt.

PLUS, I ran a 5K in 27:49, so I'm extra psyched about that! (I'm going to be that annoying gal on the boards who truly loves exercise.)

Back on the NoS train tomorrow. Enjoy your holidays!

Congrats on the 5K success! I admire runners...I have bad knees so I'm not one. I do love my swimming though. I get in the pool three times a week & can't wait until I hit the water.

Well done!
janie

I am right with you on the I love to exercise. I was a runner when I was younger but then raised three children and worked full time and slacked off and gained a lot of weight. I am 55 and I am slowly building up my running again and doing No S and losing weight. I did a 5 mile Thanksgiving day run today at 57:24 (11:29 per mile). I know this is nothing compared to your 5k, but I am very happy to be making progress.

CONGRATS on your 5K!

At five miles, I'm fairly sure I would have been closer to your pace, r.jean! Great job on your run, too! I've been doing the whole Turkey Trot thing for the past four years and I love it. It helps me further justify the holiday eating.

11/25 - Success - Skipped breakfast this morning (not really intentional...my grandmother wanted to run some errands and she needed me to drive), so I had a bigger dinner than I probably needed. But overall, not a terrible day.

L: Leftover Thanksgiving plate - turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, creamed spinach, carrots and mushrooms, stuffing.

D: Japanese hibachi (shrimp, chicken, broccoli, onions, rice) and one beer

I feel like I've had an easy start to this NoS thing, since the week before this one was my first (only a 1/2 week), and this week had Thanksgiving in the middle to break it up. My brain is telling me, "Another S-day tomorrow? Already?" I'm almost looking forward to next week, which will be my first "normal" NoS week.

Of course, that's easy for me to say now....

Thought I'd drop in... And I'm very impressed with your 5K!
Don't get me wrong.. I love going to the gym, but I do metabolic circuit training. Ive never been able to sustain a jog for more than 10minutes, so I'm in awe of your 5K!

You are doing really well, you may have had an few NWS Days, but you've still had a lot of successful No S Days which are building your habits!

Good work... Keep it going!

Thanks, Bobcat!

11/26 and 11/27 - S-days

11/28 - Success! - I made coq au vin tonight for dinner, which was delicious, but I definitely ate too much. I need to learn that it's okay to stop eating when I'm full. On this NoS system, I worry that if I don't eat everything on my plate, I'll be hungry later on. (Which is a lousy reason to overeat to the point of stuffing myself.)

BUT, I consider this ability to reflect on this a success. NoS has already made me a much more MINDFUL eater.

Oooh, and I exercised today - chest/shoulder/triceps lifting, and a 10-min interval on the row machine. Tomorrow will hopefully be some speedwork on the treadmill.

Food today:

B: 2 eggs, bagel, 2 pieces turkey bacon

L: Chicken mac and cheese, 1/2 cup of honey yogurt

D: Salad, coq au vin with egg noodles

11/29 - Success! - Today, I woke up sort of late, so I ended up eating more of a lunch, supper, dinner type deal. It works.

Not much to report. I did some speedwork at a paved, marked trail (8 quarter mile repeats)....which sucked. I haven't done speedwork since I ran track in high school. Now I remember why I gave it up.

My weight has pretty much stayed stable since I began NoS...maybe a pound down? I'm not complaining AT ALL. I realize that I'm in a good place, exercising regularly, at a normal weight. Once the habit becomes more solid, I might tweak it a bit to drop the weight faster, but for now, I'm enjoying the controlled moderation this diet provides without being insane. Yay for sanity!

Foods:

L: Leftover coq au vin and egg noodles

S: 2 Hot pockets

D: Handful of almonds, clementine, chicken mac and cheese

11/30 - Success! - I made chicken wings tonight! They were AWESOME. I've never successfully fried anything in my life, but these things turned out so well, and I was happy to have just a small portion (6 wings).

Did I mention that Vanilla NoS is wonderful for letting me eat whatever I want?

I also exercised - back day at the gym, so lots of rows, hyperextensions, pull-ups (assisted), etc.

Food today:

B: 2 packets of oatmeal

L: Turkey sandwich, 2 stuffed mushrooms, chips

D: chicken wings, green beans, potato salad, carrot and celery sticks

12/1 - Success! - Once again, a pretty boring day all around, in terms of NoS. Not super healthy in my meal choices, but also, not hungry in between meals.

I did exercise - just under 3 mile jog, plus, I work a pretty physical restaurant job (part-time), so I was lifting chairs and sweeping and mopping and on my feet all night. Lots of calories burned.

Also, I'm calling a preemptive FAIL on myself for tomorrow. My boyfriend and I decided we wanted to have Thanksgiving Part Two, since we had Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house (hence, no leftovers), and the best time for us to do that is tomorrow. Not technically an S-day, so, calling it a fail. BUT, my plan is to have a NoS day on Saturday to make up for it.

I don't want this to become a pattern, where I exchange a day here or there. Hence, calling it a fail. Discouraging myself from doing this in the future.

Food today:

B: Bagel w/cream cheese and 1/2 cup of yogurt.

L: Mac and cheese w/carrot sticks and celery sticks

D: Mozzarella sticks...yup.

12/2 - FAIL - as planned. Thanksgiving part two was delicious.

12/3 - Success! - Though this was a technical S-day, I wanted to make up for my failure/non-scheduled S-day yesterday.

Food today:

B: Bowl of cereal

L: Thanksgiving#2 leftovers

D: Ramen noodles

12/4 - S-day

12/5 - Success! - Today I woke up pretty late and unfortunately had to cut my workout short (a potential personal training client was in the gym today, so I needed to introduce myself), but I did get a little bit of lifting done (chest and shoulders today).

Food stuff is fine. Find myself a bit hungry right now, but I think I'll just have myself a glass of water and go to bed soon anyway.

Food today:

B: Bagel w/cream cheese and two eggs

L: Slice of pizza and small portion of pasta.

D: Six chicken wings, guacamole and handful of chips.

Hooray for Success!!!!

janie

Thanks, Janie! Speaking of success...

12/6 - Success! - Today was a big one, as it has officially been 21 days on the NoS train! I'm glad for that, but I'm also a bit grumbly since I'm still hungry and still awake. But I'm not going to ruin a perfectly good Day 21 by eating now.

I went on a lovely bike ride today...I rode past a path of Christmas trees that were decorated by local non-profits, and one of the trees was for a sustainable energy group. It had a stationary bike attached to it which lit up the tree when ridden! So of course, I hopped off my own bike and hopped on that one to see the lights turn on. Yay!

I'm thinking about adding some mods onto my Vanilla NoS, now that I've proven to myself that I am able to start a habit and stick to it. I haven't really lost any weight so far, but I also haven't gained. I will meditate further on this. I know I only have a bit of weight to lose, so hopefully only a few tweaks will get me where I want to be.

Food today:

B: Two packets of oatmeal

L: Shrimp lo mein, chicken teriyaki

D: See lunch.

Yeah!!!! 21 days is wonderful. I can't believe how much better I feel when I'm eating on this plan. Weight is one thing, but the habits of healthy eating are amazing.

Congrats on getting 21 days in a row accomplished!

janie

Thanks! Yes, 21 days is nice...still new, but long enough that this way of eating isn't foreign anymore.

12/7 - Success!

Today, I worked out my back - Romanian deadlifts, T-bar rows, assisted pull-ups, cable rows, etc. Yay for lifting! Tomorrow will be more cardio.

Food today:

B: 2 eggs, toast, bacon

L: Leftover fried rice, corndog

D: Shrimp scampi, 1/2 baked sweet potato, salad

looks like your off to a great start.
hooray for lifting!!! I ,Ike to lift too;-)

Thanks snapdragon - I definitely think that lifting is underrated for weight loss. Especially since building muscle raises your metabolism, AND, circuit training can provide cardiovascular benefits while still focusing on resistance-type exercises. I try to focus on cardio 3 days a week, resistance training 3 days, and rest one day. (Not always that successful!)

12/8 and 12/9 - Success! - Not necessarily happy with the amount of food I ate, but I did technically follow the NoS plan. Oddly enough, I don't remember what all I had yesterday, but today was...

B: Bagel w/cream cheese and scrambled eggs

L: quiche w/salad

D: Frozen buffalo chicken snackers

I also worked out my legs today...squats, deadlifts, hang cleans, calf raises, etc.

Circuit training is my favorite!!!!

Okaybear,
You are doing great!! Thanks for your kind words on my thread. Have a great green week!

12/10 and 12/11 - s days

12/12 - Fail. - Ugh. Didn't expect to fail today, but I went to a birthday party for a friend and definitely ate some cake. I know, you could argue a "special" day, but I wasn't calling it one.

The positive news - I really had a great workout today. Bench press, shoulder press, triceps work...and a great 5K run on the treadmill. And my first two meals were completely reasonable and within the rules.

Will do better tomorrow. It will be easier, since my boyfriend will be at work for dinner. (I always do better on my own...he tempts.) Ah, well.

This month, there are so many special days. I'm calling them "S events" and give myself a green if the rest of the day went good. Like today I was helping my mother-in-law make christmas cookies. I ate 2 cookies and the rest of the day was No S. This way I'm not blowing a whole day. So you were Successful today!

Sweetness, thanks for the kind words. Yes, I know it wasn't the biggest fail in the world. I'll be my own harshest critic as long as you all are here to be my cheerleaders.

Today (12/13) was a success. I was particularly mopey today (feeling sort of blah in general), so exercise-wise it was a bust, but my food was on track. I'll get back to the gym tomorrow.

Food:

B: Bagel w/cream-cheese and smoked salmon

L: Pizza

D: Mac and cheese

Where are the veggies, Karen? :shakes head: Tomorrow will be a better day.

12/14 - Success! - Yesterday I was feeling more like myself, and I had a lovely day at the gym working on my back and doing some on the row machine. Can't remember exactly what I ate, but I know it was within the NoS rubric.

Today, it is lovely out, so I'm hoping to go on a run before work.

12/15 - Success! - I also did end up going on a lovely, long (for me) run...just under 4 miles. Perfect weather for it, where I am.

I'm being a bit lazy today. Skipping the gym altogether, and I went out for lunch rather than make it myself. BUT, it was tacos from my absolute favorite taco place, full of fresh veggies and SMOKED DUCK (commence drooling). Tonight I'm doing wings again w/veggies and perhaps some rice. Since both of these meals is rich in itself, and since I woke up rather late today, I'll be sticking to two meals. Boo-yah.

Yesterday's food:

B: eggs and bacon

L: pasta and turkey sausage

D: leftover pasta and turkey sausage w/small side of chips

Need to catch up a bit. 12/16 was a success and 17 and 18 were S-days, so here we are on another week.

Today was very good, both in terms of exercise and food. I got an early stocking stuffer from my roommate - a small, non-electric juicer - so I juiced a whole bunch of tangerines this morning to have w/breakfast. (I don't like to eat tangerines...too many seeds.) Refreshing!

As far as the exercise goes, it was my normal chest, shoulder, and triceps routine, plus 10 minutes on the stationary bike and 5 minute warm up on the row machine. Tomorrow I'll try to go for a run.

Food today (12/19 - Success!):

B: Bagel w/cream cheese and salmon, carrot, and tangerine juice

L: Chicken w/mushrooms and garlic, salad

D: One hot pocket w/large handful of almonds

Ugh, 12/20 - FAIL - No excuses, just a failure. Seconds on pizza and a cookie.

I have a theory - with all the weight lifting I'm doing, I need to be eating more protein to keep my hunger in check. Too many carbs just leads to binging.

BUT, I did have a nice run today, and I'm planning on being very productive this evening to try to curb my appetite. (Laundry and tidying and knitting, oh my!)

Better day tomorrow!

You will do better tomorrow! Go for the green!

12/21 - Success! - Boy, was it hard to make this a green day. I did NOT eat enough for my first two meals, so I REALLY wanted seconds for dinner. I held off, however.

Tomorrow will be a more reasonable day. I'll make sure to eat sensibly for my first two meals. Also, I need to work out, since I missed exercise today.

Here we go, food for today; changing it to 1,2,3 rather than B,L,D (I rarely wake up early enough for "breakfast"...I work nights, typically.)

1 - Grilled cheese and turkey

2 - Cliff bar and a glass of milk

3 - Roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans

12/22 - Success! - Yesterday was a good food day. I was good about eating enough for my first two meals to make sure that I was not too hungry later on. Tonight...we'll see. I've been on track so far.

No official exercise today, but I did deadlift my bodyweight yesterday!! Two reps! First time I've done that! Today I worked on painting a room in the house, so that was exercise enough.

Food yesterday:

1) eggs, bacon, toast

2) leftover chicken and mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans

3) McDonalds...I know, not super healthy, but one plate!

Today's food has been less substantial, so I'm hoping to keep it to this...I'll let ya know tomorrow if it was a success.

1) Grapefruit (I know, not enough)

2) leftover chicken and mashed potatoes, salad

3) Individual pizza w/chicken

You did it!

Merry Christmas and/or a festive solstice to everyone!

Obviously, 12/24 and 12/25 were s-days. My boyfriend and I created our own "feast of the seven fishes" with oodles and oodles of seafood for the holidays. A few cookies and a couple chocolates here and there. Excessive? A bit. But it is a major holiday.

Oh. One correction...my boyfriend is now MY FIANCE!! He proposed Christmas morning and we're engaged!

SUPER excited and happy! Can't concentrate on foodstuffs right now, BUT today was a SUCCESS.



I'm traveling for the next couple of days, so I may not post, but I will try my best to keep the NoS up. Later.

Exciting news! Congratulations!

Woo Hoo!! Congratulations!