Everyday Systems

Hello everyone:

Reading everyone's posts has made me realize that my trials and tribulations with dieting, and the resulting frustrations (and weight gain) are experienced by so many other people that I actually feel normal! It's kind of like realizing that every family is dysfunctional in its own way. This is a relief because honestly I thought I was nuts.

My world seems to revolve around trying to "trick" my body into losing weight. Like another poster here, I was constantly trying to come up with different angles to try that just might be the ticket to losing weight. One diet I tried had me doing deep knee bends in the bathroom of a restaurant for 2 minutes right before bingeing on ridiculous amounts of food.

I can't even begin to think of the money I have spent on books, joining weight loss centres, buying bigger clothes, buying different gadgets to monitor whatever (pedometers, Bodybug, heart rate monitor, etc., etc.,).

So, last week I decided to try No S. If this way of eating actually works (and when I say works, I mean that I lose weight AND I lose the crazy mindset of dieting/bingeing, and I can just enjoy my food) then I will be a happy women.

I have to be very careful about weighing myself, because it can trigger a binge faster than a triple chocolate brownie. So I will weight myself once a week, Friday mornings.

I will also make one modification to suit my life better - that is to have the S days on Friday and Saturday.

So far, the week went really well, but last night I had a major failure day due to high stress at work and crazy hormones. That's ok - as has been said on here by a very smart poster (can't remember who - "mark it and move on").

Looks like you are starting with a good mindset. Good luck to you. I have been doing this for over a year and have not only lost a significant amount of weight but have also formed habits that I will continue throughout my life. I also eat and enjoy food now without guilt.

My one piece of advice is to not ever "start over" no matter how badly off track you get. Just get back on track as soon as possible. That means with the next meal not the next day. Using the habitcal is a great tool to keep you honest about your progress.

Some thoughts on this process I want to make sure I note down:

- Past binges for me happened 2-3 x per week, with a resulting weight gain of 1-2 lbs per month. Although in these early stages of the NoS diet, I am having quite wild S days, my mindset is already changing in that it's not a matter of how much I can shove in my moth because I won't be able to have it come Monday morning (my usualy diet mentality), but more of "do I really want that food? Is it really a treat?".
- I seriously considered not having S days back to back but splitting them up instead throughout the week (basically to continue to feed my bingeing cycle). I decided against this though after getting good advice from other Nosers. And what I'm finding is that having the S days back to back actually reduces the need to crazily binge because it gets old quite quickly having a 48 hour period to do so. Also I don't get the urge to binge until Tuesday or Wednesday night at which point I can tell myself I only have one or two days to go until my S days (I have my S days on Friday and Saturday).
- I am really beginning to understand that the whole diet craze is derived from wanting to lose weight quickly, which implodes in on itself time and time again. I certainly was caught up in the "if I lose 2 lbs a week by a certain date, I will be this weight, etc., etc." All of this leads to deprivation, which leads to bingeing, which leads to weight gain, which leads to self-loathing...my whole life has been caught up in this craziness and I am so ready to let it all go.
- Reading about other posters difficulties with intuitive eating was a real eye opener for me and a big relief. I have spent a lot of money and time on books, counselling, journalling, blah, blah, blah with it never really working and in fact there being a big backlash. It just didn't make sense to me but I thought something was wrong with me because I fit all of the criteria for being an emotional eater and so Intuitive Eating "rules" should work but they never did!