Liverpool's daily check in

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:12 am

I could write a book about how much I want to be done with binging/emotional eating/dieting/food obsession/whatever. Mostly, I think I substitute or blame food for a lot of the problems in my life. Anyways, I am giving No S another go, because I think it's a really sane, sensible, sustainable program, and it isn't a flipping time sink.

I'm tweaking it a little. I'm allowing four meals per day.
Breakfast (smaller)
Lunch (larger, with more vegetables and whatnot)
Tea (very small and simple)
Dinner

I'm doing no sweets, no snacks, no seconds cold, though. I used to try and allow one small sweet per day. But I want to stop that. I feel it just extends the dependency. I want to go 45 days like this, because I read somewhere that will make a new habit pretty solid. And I'm going to try to be really firm and consistent. Gotta convince myself that this is what I really want to do, for life.

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:31 am

I just want to jot down some dietary defaults. I tend to eat the same thing waaaay too often.
Cottage cheese or yogurt with berries
Toast-with butter, honey, jam, or peanut butter
cereal and milk
salad with hardboiled eggs, garbanzos, cheese, grilled vegetables, and/or avocado
egg white omelets
fruit
chili
pea soup
eggs poached in tomato sauce with a little crusty bread and sauteed veggies
scrambled eggs and beans in a tortilla
egg salad, or bean salad

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:32 am

yesterday went great. Four small meals. All pretty healthy. No sweets, snacks, or seconds. My last meal/snack was kinda late, but no biggie.

Today, so far, so good. Three meals, and thus far, no sweets or seconds. Breakfast was small-cottage cheese and toast with peanut butter.
Lunch was medium-egg white omelet with lots of feta and vegetables, berries, and toast.
Dinner was medium and pretty healthy. Salad with hardboiled eggs and avocado, and a little split pea soup. I will have a snack/small meal later, and since it is an S day, I think I will have something sweet. Not sure what yet, though. Maybe just a cookie.

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:24 am

Well, another successful day.
It was a little tough at moments. Totally has some false hunger/stress/binging urges. But I ignored them. I had four small, pretty balanced and healthy meals. Boring, though :) I eat the same stuff all the time.
Breakfast- toast, peanut butter, cottage cheese and jam.
Lunch- a cup of split pea soup, salad, cottage cheese and berries
Tea-an egg scrambled with more egg whites, sliced tomato, a slice of buttered toast, strawberries.
Dinner-a cup of split pea soup, yogurt with berries and nuts.

And I feel really good.

Over43 · Post by **Over43** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:00 am

eggs poached in tomato sauce with a little crusty bread and sauteed veggies

That sounds quite spectacular.

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:03 am

I still need to try the poached eggs. I am such a lazy cook. It's ridiculous.
Anyways, I have been keeping it up pretty well. I have maintained the rules I have set for myself. 4 small(ish) meals per day. No sweets except on the weekend.
I want to make it better, of course, down the line. Like, I come home late and hungry, and end up eating that last meal right before bed, which I don't like. I get stomachaches, and I still eat too fast sometimes And I might be drinking too much milk/juice/whatever.
But I haven't binged at all. And I haven't really stress-eated. And that's enough to make me feel really, really good :)

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:31 pm

I am battling a case of the blues the past several days.
But I haven't let it screw up my diet. Two successful weeks down! I have had worrisome moments with binge urges, but I haven't acted on them.

Amy3010 · Post by **Amy3010** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:24 am

I'm sorry you've been down - but looking over your thread it looks like you've been doing really well in habit building and avoiding the emotional eating...hang in there!

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:04 am

Thanks Amy :)
This week was a rough one. Vacations, and family time (I have a hard time with my family and food, sometimes.) Overall, yeah, I feel pretty good. I mean, today I ate extra strawberries. But that is about as bad as I've been. No binging, no crazy eating. I have been keeping a vague but accurate log. It's been good. I want to do better, but it's been good :)

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:33 pm

this is sooooo not a daily check in.
Things have been good. I've been drinking too much. But food, by and large, hasn't been a problem. Which is awesome! Gives me so much more physical and mental energy for the rest of my life. And I can really use that energy. I haven't been weighing in, but I've been feeling much less bloated. I may or may not have actually lost weight, but my waist/stomach is a bit smaller, and my clothes fit more reliably. So yeah, overall, things are good.

snapdragon · Post by **snapdragon** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:53 pm

Sounds good LP just stop trying to be perfect, I am not saying don't try hard just don't beat yourself up if you don't check in enough ECT. You look like a pretty healthy eater.

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:31 am

I really, really like this forum, and the super sane, supportive people who tend to post in it. Thanks for the help :)
I have nearly reached my goal of 45 days of solid compliance (with the four meal mod.) Overall, I'm feeling way saner and more normal around food. I'm going to tweak things just a little, gradually, I think. Hopefully less milk, fewer caloric beverages in general, I think. But mostly, I'm happy with how things are at the moment

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 4:55 am

I totally stress too much about the nuances of my diet. I'm pretty good about avoiding the blatantly unhealthy things. I don't eat much sugar, or white flour, and hardly any highly processed food. I worry about stuff like whether or not I eat too much dairy, or eggs, or whole wheat toast, or fruit. I worry about ratios. And today, I started stressing about a new dietary philosophy. Soaking grains, legumes, and nuts, to be precise. Kinda bummed. Because stress is not productive. I think I might try to switch to sprouted grain bread. Because I do eat a fair amount of bread (well, maybe three slices a day.) And that might be healthier and more digestible. I might also try to make more soaked bean soups. But I want to keep all my changes modest, sustainable, and manageable. I want them to fit comfortably into my life. And I still want to be able to eat what I want and enjoy my food.

TUK · Post by **TUK** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:16 am

Good job on resisting. I find that you're doing extremely well, so keep up!

Don't want to be the details' advocate, but 4 meals a day is not a mod on the diet. The diet only recommends to stick to your cultural number of meals. If you like to have tea in the afternoon (and, according to your screen name, I tend to believe it is cultural anyway), go for it! Decide on four meals and stick to them. It's 100% NoS compliant.

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:28 am

Thanks for helping me feel good about the four meal choice, TUK :)
It works really well for me, 'cause I do get mad hungry and cranky on just three meals.

I realized I want to stress less and worry less about nutrition, and just have faith that a modest, balanced diet is plenty healthy enough. And overall, I think I'm on the right path. It takes forever! Actually, not really. I am nearly done with my 45 day jumpstart challenge. And it is starting to feel like a real, solid, happy habit. I just need to continue building and cementing that habit. And get comfortable and confident with my body when my weight stabilizes at a comfortable point. I also want to start exercising a bit. Maybe that will be my second 45 day challenge.

TUK · Post by **TUK** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:25 am

Exercising is a good second choice. It goes hand in hand with the diet. I think that eating moderately (not necessarily canonically healthy) and exercising are the bare minimum to have any benefit (significant weight control AND health benefits) Good luck

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:28 am

So, the 45 day challenge is up!
I've been really pleased with the results so far. I haven't binged or "failed" once in the 45 days.
I'm applying the device my counselor suggested for dealing with thoughts, habits, and decisions. Stop, Ask, Choose. And therefore I'm doing three 45 day challenges. The first one, I simply stopped my destructive binging habits. I'm going to build on this in my second challenge. For the next 45 days, I'm going to take a moment to check in with my emotions and hunger levels before or during every meal, and just question what I'm eating and why.
I'm also going to stop reading about diets, nutrition, calories, and all that for a bit, and just listen to my body really hard. I want to get out of the diet mindset. We'll see how it goes. I have faith. I can be really, really stubborn when I need to be.

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:12 am

It's been kinda hard for me to avoid wanting to read about calories, nutrition, and dietary tricks. But so far, I've succeeded. And I've been diligent about checking in with my emotions before and/or during every meal.
And I've had over 45 days of unbroken NoS. Damn, that's a really good stretch.

TUK · Post by **TUK** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:44 am

Congrats!

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 5:27 am

Well, it's continued to be successful mostly. I had my first non weekend S event--a highly anticipated first date where I totally had ice cream. It was delightful.
I still have problems with wanting to eat when stressed and bored. But I have avoided actually eating. Which is pretty cool.
And nutrition wise, I think I have been eating a balanced diet without too much weirdness. I do drink a lot of calories. I'm not going to worry about that for a month or two, but I believe it is worth keeping in mind, and looking at more carefully in the future.

liverpool · Post by **liverpool** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:55 pm

Well, yesterday was my first real red day. I was super tired and kinda frustrated and bored. Bad combo. I had seconds, and an ice cream after dinner, and I was extremely unhappy and guilty about it. Which is a bummer. But now, the challenge is to see if I can get right back into the swing of things. I think I can. So I'm feeling optimistic.

eschano · Post by **eschano** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:17 am

Hi Liverpool,

Of course you can

If it's hard I recommend the podcasts on the "What the Hell" effect and on strictness.

Amy3010 · Post by **Amy3010** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:17 am

The best thing to do with a red day is mark it and move on... Hang in there!