Everyday Systems

Hi, everyone!

I'm very new here. I'm 19-year-old college student. I am not overweight. So...why, do you ask, do I wish to go on a diet??

Well, I don't, actually. I've never gone on a diet before. My parents raised me to be happy with the way I am. I'm a healthy weight. But lately I've had a fear. I know that I eat way too much of all kinds of junk, mostly for stress relief with the pressures of school. That may not seem to hurt me much now, but what about in 10 years? Or 20? I began to realize that my entire lack of willpower when it comes to food is going to really hurt me as I get older and my metabolism slows down. My bad eating habits will probably be even harder to break once I start really feeling the need to break them.

I wanted to be prepared. I wanted to start eating healthy! The problem? ...I'm a broke college student. I didn't feel like I could afford to eat fresh produce constantly, or cover everything I eat in wheat germ, or whatever else people say is healthy. And besides, I love food. I love what I eat. Why give up my favorite kinds of food while I'm still young?

There had to be some kind of solution. But nothing seemed to hold the answer. Finally, my sister told me about No-S, which is working fabulously for her (2 kids and she's slim as ever, not to mention she's going to run a marathon later this year). So today I googled it, and here I am. And I love what I see! Because I'm not looking for a short-term diet to lose weight; I'm looking for a simple, healthy eating plan that I can follow for the rest of my life--so I can PREVENT being unhealthy and overweight before it happens. And No-S is it!

So here I am, ready to jump in. More than likely, I'll have a few failures as I'm getting started--or maybe more than a few. Like I said, I've become used to using food as a stress reliever. But I'm going to just keep trying.

I'm going to start by just checking in with eating habits and maybe my water-drinking (I've actually been trying to drink more water for the past couple weeks, before I even came here). Once I get going, I hope to add exercise habits as well, but I don't want to start with too much and then get discouraged and quit. So No-S is the first order of the day.

No-S, here I come!

Like was suggested on the main page, I decided to treat my first try as simply a mission to test the waters and see how difficult No S would be. Well, it was hard! What a shock. Even though yesterday was my first failure, I consider my "mission" a success. (Hence, the smiley in the subject line. )

I did really well at all three S's for most of the day...it was around 10:30pm that I cracked. It was Friday night and all I was doing was watching Say Yes To the Dress and waiting for midnight so I could eat every edible thing in my apartment. Yes, as silly as it seems, I was technically following the letter of the law but not the spirit! Then a friend invited me and roommate to go out for ice cream. Well, I realized that honestly, it didn't make much difference if I ate sweets at 12:00 or 10:30, and at least I would be having fun and not just wasting my time feeling sorry for myself. So I went.

BUT I made a discovery. I got ice cream and even as I was eating it, I realized that I didn't really want it! Even if I hadn't gotten ice cream and had just sat and talked with my friends, I would have enjoyed myself the same amount. It just wasn't satisfying.

I think that experience will help me as I'm resisting sweets and snacks next week (after today and tomorrow, 2 S days). I'll remember that I don't need to EAT in order to have fun!

Good for you that you are starting young and are getting your eating habits under control. My first trip into overweight was in college. I lost my college weight and then gained with my pregnancies. I lost my baby weight (for the first 2) a few years after that. However, with child number 3 and my 30s I did not do so well. After my 30s, I just kept growing! I wish No S had been around then.

SUCCESS! My very first green day! It was easier than I expected. There was one point where I was out with friends and offered a treat--but I remembered that I didn't need to eat in order to have fun with them. I didn't even really want it. I didn't feel any need to have any more food than my three meals. It was great!

And thank you, r.jean, for your encouragement!

Good job! Every journey starts with a first step. You don't seem to be overweight, so probably you won't see any significant result to your change of habits. (If you do, I'd be happy if you shared) So don't get discouraged or try to do too much at once. It's not a lose-weight-before-summer race, it's lifetime maintenance, you have time to get it right.

I's good that you think about this at you age. I wish I did

Another SUCCESS! It's so great to be able to think about things other than food. Once I have eaten everything on my plate, I'm done. I can move on to more important things.

Thanks, TUK! The change probably won't be as significant as the results others are seeing, but I will definitely post about that as I see it.

Hi there, and welcome!

I'm in the same boat you are as far as wanting to really cement some healthy habits. I'm 26 and not overweight, but I finally (finally!) just started my first "real" job post-degree (it only took almost five years to land a job that wasn't in a restaurant!! sigh). Since I spent five years running around as a server/bartender or stocking shelves in the early AM at Costco (talk about a workout!), I'm not used to being sedentary and having to watch what I eat. I also had some generally unhealthy habits, like eating all kinds of sweets foods at night after dinner just because I was craving them. NoS has definitely helped with that!!

Anyway, sorry for the book—just wanted to show some solidarity for those of us who recognize that we need to establish healthy habits for the future! I wish I would have known about NoS in college...it would have made trying to be healthy so much easier.

Best of luck to you!

SUCCESS! No S is wonderful. I have tried other ways of "eating healthy" and they never work for me because I don't want to give up my favorite foods. I've been reading all about chocolate, which would normally make me practically buy out the store, but even though it sounds delicious, I know I'm not going to crack. I'm just going to eat it on Saturday and enjoy it even more!

Thanks, Jennifer24747! I'm glad to know that there are others out there! Ha, ha. Congratulations on your job!

SUCCESS! Only one more day, and I'll have had an entire week S-free!

Another SUCCESS! And now I'm thoroughly enjoying my S day

Congratulations! Two weeks to go!