Everyday Systems

Hello!

I have discovered the No S Diet many years ago, and even though it made sense back then, I wasn't ready to commit myself to it. I've read several times through the message board, but I was sure that I was someone who could lose weight with another diet and keep it off (and that it would be a lot faster).

About 2 weeks ago, I decided to finally leave all the diets behind and commit to this one. I'm now 30 years old and I've been dieting on/off for about 14 years, which is almost half of my life. I'm so stuck in the diet head mentality that it is even frightening to me. When I started dieting I was at a perfectly normal weight (even in the low weight range for my height). Over the past years all I got from the diets: more weight. Now I weigh 97kg, being 1.70m tall (this would be about 214 pounds at 5.7). I'm clearly obese and I would be more than happy if one day I could be "only" overweight with this way of eating. But if I stay at this weight gaining more sanity I'd also be more than happy.

Here is a quick overview of my diet history:

• * eat less: lasted about 3 weeks; quit because of cravings, 3 kg down, 4 kg up
  * made myself a weird diet plan: lasted about 2 weeks; quit because it was um... weird, 2 kg down, 3 kg up
  * several times of eating less sweets/ less in general/ not after a certain time / extremely healthy: quit because of several reasons, lost a few kgs every time, gained more afterwards
  * forever young diet: 4 weeks, quit because it was too expensive, don't remember lost/gained weight
  * weight watchers (1st time, about 4 months): quit when I made 6-week long trip to the US; lost 4 kg, gained about 5
  * weight watchers (2nd time, about 9 months): quit when I went through a difficult emotional time and was sick of counting points, lost about 9 kg, gained back 10
  * south beach: lasted about 3 months, quit when I discovered I was lactose intolerant (probably got that because I ate so much dairy while on this plan); lost about 8 kg, gained 9
  * weight watchers (3rd time, about 14 months): quit when I got sick of counting points and when I GAINED with their new program, lost about 7 kg, got sick of counting points; gained all back plus more.
  * tried several other diets: Paul McKenna's intuitive eating, different low carb versions, calorie counting, different diet plans; they all didn't last long and I gained back all the weight I lost, plus more
  * New York Diet: lasted about 4 months, lost 8 kg, gained 4 (this is a first! gaining less than I lost!!) quit because it was too time consuming

I guess that's most of the diets I went on. From my first diet until now I gained about 40 kg (some by yo-yo-dieting, others by simply eating too much). Well the good thing I got from all these diets (especially the New York Diet, which I personally liked best): I learned to drink enough water during the day, I learned to love fruits and veggies, I learned to cook from scratch (and I now have lots of yummy and healthy recipes), I know in general what kinds of foods are more/less calorie-dense, and I found a couple of workout classes that I really like. Oh, and I discovered that I need some protein with each meal to not be ravenous 2 hours after finishing eating. So I hope that I got at least some positive results out of all these diets.
Oh, and did I mention that the way of eating I did before going on all these crazy diets was pretty similar to No S? Oh well, we all go through a learning phase in life - some learn faster, others not so fast .

I officially started No S on Wednesday, so today is my 4th day of No S - and my first S-day. Yesterday I was really anticipating the weekend. I don't even want to know how much I'll wait for the weekend next week .

I guess that's all for now.

Pumpkin

My September-record

19: SUCCESS
20: SUCCESS
21: SUCCESS
22: S-DAY
23: S-DAY
24: SUCCESS
25: SUCCESS
26: SUCCESS
27: SUCCESS
28: SUCCESS
29: S-DAY
30: S-DAY

Here's hoping you find success with No S and an end to yo yo dieting!

r.jean wrote:Here's hoping you find success with No S and an end to yo yo dieting!

Thank you r.jean!

My first S-Day is over. It was weird when I thought in the morning, that this is the first day since I remember, that I was actually "allowed" to eat sweets. Since I was almost always either dieting, or having a phase in between where I "shouldn't" eat sweets. I way overdid it with candy yesterday, but I guess that's okay. I'm glad that I'm reading again and again that the S-days will take care of themselves as long as you watch your N-day habits. So I guess that's what I will focus on. Off to my second S-day today !

Well, I'm already on day 6 of this diet, which didn't feel much like a diet until now - especially since 2 out of the 5 days were S-days. This will be my first full week of No S and here's hoping I will make it until Saturday.

This past weekend I was arguing with myself if my S-day starts at midnight, or when I get up on Saturday. I decided for "getting up" because midnight might be a slippery slope for me. And I'm writing this here to hold myself accountable, even though I might change it some time in the future.

I made some pumpkin cake yesterday and I was glad that we had a theater rehearsal last night because I took the remaining cake there in order to reduce temptations for me. Since I come off a quite healthy low carb diet I don't have any sweets at home - unless I eat the sugar straight out of the jar. And I almost don't have any snack-food at home, which also helps reducing temptation. I'm just trying to set myself up for as few red days as possible.

I'm through more than half of the week already being green. Woohoo!

But I can tell you that the smell of a fresh loaf of bread really tests my willpower Glad that dinner isn't too far away!

So far I realize what really helps me, is not having temptation-food hanging around in my apartment. I don't have sweets or snack-type food here, and whenever I feel like eating something I would have to fix a real meal first. I guess snacks and sweets are the two "S"s that are my weakness. I don't care about seconds at all. I simply put enough food on my plate for the meal and until now I didn't leave the table hungry. Today was even the first time that I couldn't finish my lunch because it was simply too much.
But sweets and snacks - that's a whole other story.
Just these past two days I could have eaten:
- chips that my tutoring student offered me
- as well as some peanuts
- a sweet (that also would have been a snack) offered by my babysitting kid
- some cookies that a neighbor made
- and finally something from the bakery (snack and maybe also sweet) when I went there with a friend

The hardest time for me is in the evening after dinner. I would really like to eat sweets and snacks all the time then. These past days I went for lots of tea when I wanted to snack. That's a solution that is not the best option for my sleep (because I have to get up in the middle of the night at least once), but right now it's better than having lots of red days.

I'm already through 12 days with No-S. So far it feels really good. Right now I have to be really conscious around food because even though the No-S rules make lots of sense I know that I have a loooong way ahead of me until the rules are habits. But I really really want to be a member of the 21-day-club

My second weekend with No-S was already a lot better than the first one. Even though I had lots of sweets and snacks and seconds, it was less than the first weekend. But I didn't decide to have less of them, it just happened.

I have a relatively easy week ahead of me: Wednesday is our national holiday and even though we don't celebrate as intensely as everyone in the US, I'll still take a S-day. I have plans to meet with friends for a brunch and watching movies and it will be insanely easier if I just call it an S-day. Maybe I'll manage to have a separate breakfast and lunch, then I'll just keep it green, but I want to have all of the options available

There is also something that I stumbled upon in TunaFishKid's check-in:

TunaFishKid wrote: That really hit home, but for me, dieting has been the coverup for my life-skills problem. When things get tough, I get online and start reading about how perfect "fill-in-the-blank" diet will make my life.

THIS! That is also exactly my problem. Whenever there is a problem in my life that I don't want to solve: I go search for another diet, and spend all of my free time researching, etc. so I "don't have time" to solve the problem. I didn't realize this until I read what TFK wrote, it was really eye-opening and gives me a lot to think about.

Pumpkin

That is really profound - I'll have to go look at TFKs thread...

You've been doing really well so far! I'm back on No-s after an unintentionally long time away... I can relate to your first post, and I think No-s truly offers the long term permanent solution we are all looking for.

By the way, I'm in Belgium - where in Europe are you?

My October-record

1: SUCCESS
2: SUCCESS
3: S-DAY
4: SUCCESS
5: SUCCESS
6: S-DAY
7: S-DAY
8: SUCCESS
9: SUCCESS
10: SUCCESS
11: RED

Amy3010 wrote:That is really profound - I'll have to go look at TFKs thread...

You've been doing really well so far! I'm back on No-s after an unintentionally long time away... I can relate to your first post, and I think No-s truly offers the long term permanent solution we are all looking for.

By the way, I'm in Belgium - where in Europe are you?

Thanks a lot! I'm actually surprised myself about how well I'm doing with No-S. It might help, that this is very similar to the way I ate when I was little - before I started all of the diets.

I am from Germany. Since you're from Belgium: I looooove belgian waffles .
I wish you just the best with No-S! I hope to read you again!

LOL! Yes, one of those waffles got to me last night...
Getting back on track has not been easy... Thanks for the encouragement and good luck to you, too!

Hi Pumpkin! It's nice to know there are other people out there facing the same struggles, isn't it? I'm glad something I said resonated with you. Best of luck to you.

Amy3010 wrote:LOL! Yes, one of those waffles got to me last night...
Getting back on track has not been easy... Thanks for the encouragement and good luck to you, too!

Amy! I hope things are going better for you now!

TunaFishKid wrote:Hi Pumpkin! It's nice to know there are other people out there facing the same struggles, isn't it? I'm glad something I said resonated with you. Best of luck to you.

Thank you! And I'm really glad that you wrote that in your check-in. It not only opened my eyes to my problem, but - as you said - it really is nice to know other people who face the same things as I do.


On another note: Today is day 21 for me!!! And since it is already late in the evening here, I can proudly say that I am a member of the 21-day-club!!! Woohoo! When I started I never thought that I'd make it through 21 days on my first try.
What I've learned during those 21 days:
- I will not starve without snacks.
- My meals are still too big.
- I don't have to buy sweets for S-days just because I can have them, when I don't really want them.
- When I get a craving after dinner, a cup of tea helps a lot.
- A "treat" for me involves chocolate 90% of the time.

Next goal: make it through the next 21 days with only green and yellow!
The challenge: I'll be visiting my sister next week from Wednesday until the following Monday Well, I'll see how that goes. I've read about many people that allow themselves one S-event per day during vacations, don't know yet whether I want to do that or not. But I have enough time left to decide.

In order to reduce the size of my meals I decided to go back to some tracking of my meals. Since I still have most of the WW-points in my head, I decided to track those. But instead of writing down exactly what and how much I ate, and tracking veggies/fruits, healthy fats, etc. I made myself a chart where I simply cross off how many points I already used. Right now it seems easy enough for me to keep doing it. When I feel too restricted by doing it, I'll go and find another solution.

So far for today,
Pumpkin

I had my first red day yesterday. It was all due to my lack of planning. I went to my favorite workout-class in the evening (7-8), then came home and wanted to start dinner immediately, but I got sucked into internet, and when I started to make dinner it was already about 8:30. Then I quickly showered and before I realized it, it was 8:50. Since my theater rehearsal started at 9 pm I had to eat something else in order to make it through rehearsal... so I had a bowl of cornflakes and a banana. And then after rehearsal I was still pretty hungry so I finally made the dinner I had originally planned. Oh well, that's life. I learned from it to plan a faster dinner and start it immediately when I know I have little time to cook and eat a meal.
Unfortunately it was an unplanned mini-meal. I sometimes plan a mini-meal somewhere during my day when I know that going from one meal to another will be too long of a time-stretch. But yesterday's bowl of cornflakes was completely unplanned... On a good note though: I still stayed within my WW-points.