Everyday Systems

Hi everyone,

This is my first post as well. I am very relieved to have found Reinhard's book. This has been my first taste of diet sanity in...I don't know how long. But it's helping me. I have about 100 pounds to lose.

Here's an account of my first nine days on the plan.

Day 1: SUCCESS.

Day 2: SUCCESS.

Day 3: SUCCESS.

Day 4: SUCCESS.

Day 5: FAILURE. Difficult day emotionally. I got some ice cream at a drive-thru, but then I got right back on plan. On previous diets, one slip-up would have led to me going overboard for the rest of the day. This time, I didn't. So even though it's a red day, I'm rather proud of how I handled it.

Day 6: EXEMPT. Saturday.

Day 7: EXEMPT. Sunday.

Day 8: EXEMPT. Labor Day. This was probably the hardest day for me so far. My first two S days felt somewhat out of control, and I didn't have any big social plans for Labor Day, so part of me thought I should use it as a N day. Another part of me felt that I would feel cheated if I did, so I went ahead and took it as an S. I still felt out of control. I consoled myself by re-reading the part in Reinhard's book that says that S days tend to eventually calm down on their own.

Day 9. SUCCESS. Including lunch out with a friend.

Way to go Portia!

I had the same dilemma on Labour Day, with the same result.

Thanks, animated. It probably made sense to take Labor Day. September doesn't have any other big glaring holidays.

I hope to find that my S days settle themselves out once I get used to N days. I do find that I enjoy the structure of the three meals structure.

Hey Portia, you're doing really well for your first couple of weeks! Don't panic about S days at the moment, keep building those N day habits A lot of people do say that S days calm down on their own - and they may well. If they don't, there are a ton of tweaks and mods that you can make later down the line if you aren't happy with how they are going. I'd suggest reading the post in the general discussion about 'phases' of NoS

Portia93 wrote:I got some ice cream at a drive-thru, but then I got right back on plan. On previous diets, one slip-up would have led to me going overboard for the rest of the day. This time, I didn't. So even though it's a red day, I'm rather proud of how I handled it.

Really well done Portia! I think to go right back on track is the greatest benefit from looking at habit vs. scale.

You're doing really well and like milliem said: don't worry at all about S days yet. You'll most likely lose weight in any case just from focusing on N days within the first couple of weeks.

And lastly: welcome to the board

S days can he crazy at first, but S days are so important. They teach us that we can let ourselves enjoy at times and still get back on track. As time goes on, the N day habits start carrying over to the S days and S days become more moderate.

I also liked the "phases of No S" sticky that miliiem mentioned.

milliem wrote:Hey Portia, you're doing really well for your first couple of weeks! Don't panic about S days at the moment, keep building those N day habits A lot of people do say that S days calm down on their own - and they may well. If they don't, there are a ton of tweaks and mods that you can make later down the line if you aren't happy with how they are going. I'd suggest reading the post in the general discussion about 'phases' of NoS

Thanks milliem!

r.jean wrote:S days can he crazy at first, but S days are so important. They teach us that we can let ourselves enjoy at times and still get back on track. As time goes on, the N day habits start carrying over to the S days and S days become more moderate.

I also liked the "phases of No S" sticky that miliiem mentioned.

Thanks r.jean! I appreciate you stopping in and commenting.

DAY 10: SUCCESS
DAY 11: EXEMPT. I decided to take an S day yesterday. I have a 15-month-old son and last night was one of my rare nights out by myself. I had a successful N day and then around 4:30 in the afternoon, I decided to make it an S day so I could have a few of my favorite things while I was out.

I was astonished and delighted at my ability to enjoy the treats that I did have in a balanced, non-crazed way.

It is so amazing how much more enjoyable food is when you adapt to this lifestyle. Great progress!

Day 12: SUCCESS
Day 13: EXEMPT (Saturday)
Day 14: EXEMPT (Sunday)
Day 15: SUCCESS
Day 16: SUCCESS
Day 17: SUCCESS

Still trucking along very well. The scale has crept up by a few pounds, but I'm reminding myself that it will all work itself out.

Also, I've stopped binging. I used to feel compelled to get ice cream at least once a day, and now I feel free of that! I can't begin to express how awesome that is.

I think I've been eating a little more than I "need to" at meals. I don't know how to approach that yet other than trying to be more mindful of it.

Good work sticking with it Portia!

My wife confiscated my scale - I was becoming obsessive. Now Fridays are my weigh-days. If you weigh yourself at the end of the week, your samples will be more accurate too.

So keep it up Portia!

You know, I think Friday is a great weigh-in day. I'm going to try to just weigh in then, too.

Just wanted to pop in and say that you are still doing brilliantly!

I agree that Friday is a fab weigh in day, you get a weeks benefit of N days Plus if, like me, you eat more salty/fatty/sugary/carby foods on S days, the water weight you might be carrying early in the week is likely to be reduced.

I sometimes allow myself S 'meals' or 'events'. If I have a special or unusual occasion but don't want to deal with the permission to eat crappily all day I set myself a timeframe or just one meal where I can eat without restriction. Just have to be careful not to allow them too often

Thank you for stopping in, milliem and animated. I truly appreciate your support.

DAY 18: SUCCESS

Official Friday weigh-in: 255.

DAY 19: EXEMPT (Saturday)
DAY 20: EXEMPT (Sunday)

This weekend was fairly calm again. I noticed that I drank a lot of Coke. I'd like to minimize that in the future by setting an intention not to bring it into the house, or something like that. But I don't plan to do anything formal about it, at least not for a while.

I hope that everyone else had a good weekend, too.

Day 21: SUCCESS
Day 22: Non-Compliant

My first non-compliant day in a while. I've been having some emotional ups and downs lately. In the future, before this happens again, I'd like to remember that No-S supports me during emotional turmoil much more than going off-track does.