Everyday Systems

Yesterday (Saturday) turned into an "S" day as we went out to dinner with friends who ordered wine and dessert. The amazing thing was my attitude. I had the wine and the dessert and instead of sagatoging thoughts like "I've blown it -- might as well start again on Monday" I just turned it into an "S day" and got over it! It was such an "aha" moment for me.

I didn't snack all day and felt really good about that. It's such a relief not to "worry" about what to snack on, if I've got snacks with me, etc. It's just not an option and amazingly enough (so far) I haven't died of starvation!

I'm wondering why you said you "turned it into an S day." Wasn't it a Saturday already?

Yes, getting over the "what the hell" effect is huge. In fact, it's cited by many successful maintainers on the National Weight Loss Registry for being the turning point for them. They quit using slips and minor failures as a reason to go back to overeating for days, weeks,.. and years.

Having wine and dessert with friends on a weekend IS living a moderate life. That's all we can ask!

What you learn over time by implementing the rules really is an organic process. It isn't as if there are never tough times, but they are so much more reasonable that what is asked of you by other systems. The longer I do this, and the more I read about the high failure rate (and the reasons for it) of the options, the more grateful I am for No S and its wisdom.

Nice work.

BTW, you have two daily threads going. I don't know if you can delete one of them now, but I think you can change your subject line in the one you won't to delete to read something like " read only thread.' Then, when no one is replying to it or adding to it, it will move down the line in available threads to read. Or you may know an even better way of solving this.

Went to brunch at a very expensive resort ($50 a person) however, only had 2 plates of food -- 1 for breakfast, 1 for lunch and no desserts! It felt great to have a "plan" and I didn't feel like I'd "blown it." And another day of "no snacking" I can't believe how "freeing" it is not to snack -- not to mention how much money I'm saving at the grocery store.

Because I'm working on behavior change, I have vowed to only weigh once a week -- which actually kind of hard because I'm been weighing every day. No weigh in until this Friday.

Current stats: 57, female, 5'3"

SW: 143 (10/5/12)
GW: 120

Went to brunch at a very expensive resort ($50 a person) however, only had 2 plates of food -- 1 for breakfast, 1 for lunch and no desserts! It felt great to have a "plan" and I didn't feel like I'd "blown it." And another day of "no snacking" I can't believe how "freeing" it is not to snack -- not to mention how much money I'm saving at the grocery store.

Because I'm working on behavior change, I have vowed to only weigh once a week -- which actually kind of hard because I'm been weighing every day. No weigh in until this Friday.

Current stats: 57, female, 5'3"

SW: 143 (10/5/12)
GW: 120

Yesterday (Monday) was going just great until dinner. . . .it was the first time I'd fixed dinner while on the Program. Without even thinking I started "snacking" while preparing the meal then realized what I was doing and stopped. WOW! this snacking habit may be harder than I thought. So I turned it into an "S" day which psychologically helps me with the "WTH" attitude and motivates me to stay on the program. Of course, I'm out of "S" days until the weekend but that's OK. . .that's what is should be.

I also started walking yesterday. My goal is 30 minutes 5 times a week. I bought new shoes with the money I've saved by not buying snacks.

Yes, taking bites as one prepares a meal is a habit, and it's not as if it's some terrible, fat-inducing one. It just undermines the principle of not having to be concerned with counting and accounting for our intake. Sticking to plates frees us from that accounting. Plus, dinner will taste better!

Even after all this time, that saying "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels," still doesn't ring true for me. Oh, yes it does! I think. But what does resonate is "Nothing tastes as good as those first bites of a meal when I'm hungry for it!" I'll sacrifice a lot more for that.