Everyday Systems

Been debating whether or not I want to do daily check in, but I've really enjoyed reading through others' check ins, so why not?

Day 1 - Success
Day 2 - Success

Feels nice going to bed with a calm, settled stomach instead of stuffed with evening snacks. After dinner has been the hardest part so far. It's like my psyche doesn't understand that once the meal is over you're just supposed to STOP eating already. But I made it through, and if I can do it yesterday and today I can do it tomorrow. Last time I ate just three meals a day (not with No S... it was just sort of something that randomly happened) I lost just the right amount of weight and felt so healthy and normal. So this whole thing makes great sense to me. Definitely worth a solid, determined try. Looking forward to tomorrow's success.

You're doing great!

I found the evenings hardest in the beginning as well. I'm happy to report that it becomes completely second nature after a while. Especially, if you manage to establish some kind of ritual. I let myself have some time indulging myself in reading fiction, dancing, hanging out with family and friends, all the things I was previously to "busy" to do (when really I was too busy stuffing my face and pretending to work )

Well done on your first few days!!

Thanks, eschano.

Day 3 - Success

I was very busy today so NoS was easy. Getting ready to send the kids to bed now and take a nice, long hot bath - the perfect non-eating ritual/activity.

Hiya,

I'm curious: how did it go with substituting a bath for food? Was it hard or easy or in between?

Taking a bath made it easy! That was a trick I used when I quit smoking years ago. Hard to eat (or smoke) in a bathtub with a book in your hands!

But yesterday was easy for me overall because I didn't have a lot of spare time for food cravings to show up in. I don't think I've hit that point yet where I have to really fight the strong urge to eat outside of NoS guidelines - but this is only Day 4 and I'm sure it will come!

Generally 5 days is my breaking point. I can do well on a diet or eating plan for 5 days and then I crash and burn on the 6th. It's a pattern I've noted for quite some time. But with NoS, by the time I get to Day 6 it will be an S day - so maybe I can break my 5 day problem with this strategy.

NoS also feels a lot like really normal eating too - which is its biggest selling point, if you ask me.

Day 4 - Success

Things got weird this afternoon when at about 4:30 a giant wave of hunger/nausea came rushing over me. I was standing in Toys 'R Us and all of the sudden felt just awful - unfocused, light headed, and spacey with that empty stomach sick feeling. The really strange thing is that this is the first time I have experienced anything akin to hunger since starting NoS 4 days ago. Perhaps my body is just adjusting in its own strange way.

I didn't feel better until dinner at 6:00. Dinner tasted like heaven and as soon as I had a few bites I felt perfectly fine again. Maybe this was a random drop in blood sugar or something.

But today was a success any which way I look at it! Starbucks was shrieking my name at one point, but I turned a cold shoulder. I found myself face to face with a giant Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer lollipop in Joann's and thought it was the tastiest looking thing I'd seen all week - and that's something that NEVER in a million years would have appealed to my thoroughly adult tastebuds.

I think its just the sugar cravings kicking in! My body getting a little confused ("Hey where's all my sweets?!!?"). Definitely a day of adjustments.

Wow..I think I just made it through the N part of my first NoS week.

Day 5 - Success

This was the hardest day yet. Sugar cravings chased me all day. But it was so wonderful to look at the sugary foods that crossed my path and think, "It's ok - I can have that tomorrow." I would never have made it without chowing down on sweets without the knowledge that tomorrow I can indulge a bit.

It's not that I'm fixated on getting to eat sweet stuff tomorrow (or snacks or what have you), but I definitely find myself mentally planning the perfect treat.

I can't decide between pumpkin pancakes, homemade white chocolate chip oatmeal cookies or a peppermint mocha from McDonalds.

Well done on a lovely green first week, enjoy your s days:)

Thanks Ani33!

I'm having a lightbulb moment after my first official S day. After a nice green week I found myself surprisingly uninterested in sweets yesterday. Considering the sugar cravings I had on Thursday and Friday, this was strange to me. I did have pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and shared a chocolate bar with my daughter, but sweet-wise that was pretty much it.

What I did do, however, was overeat, particularly in the evening. It came to me that although I've been thinking sugar is/was my big issue, the real elephant in the room is the "perma-snacking" problem.

Just because it's an S day doesn't mean I have to mindlessly munch my way through the day. I can if I want to of course, but....I don't want to! Today I'm going to sit down every time I eat. I can still have my snacks, sweets and seconds, but after yesterday I see how much damage I can curb by consciously adjusting this one behavior.

It's great how the structure of NoS points out the offending behavior clearly enough to be able to address it right away. I'm also loving the daily check in - it's the perfect chance to self reflect and browse for other NoSer's insights.

Today is a Failure. And actually, I'm surprised that it is. I felt sure I would have a nice green day.

At lunch I had a salad with no real protein, and soon as I had left the table I knew this would be a problem. I was hungry shortly afterwards. From there the afternoon got very busy. I went from work to a workout to a doctor's appointment for my daughter and by the time I made it to dinner I was in what I'll refer to as "gobble gobble mode". I had seconds at dinner. And then I had a peppermint mocha. And then I ate (God knows why) a fig newton.

So I'll just mark it and move on! Tomorrow I will eat a heartier lunch and approach the dinner table more consciously with a little more focus on the fact that I am actively trying to build a new habit here - not just randomly dieting or watching what I eat as whim dictates.

Tue - Failure
Wed - Failure

Just checking on to keep myself honest. One of the things I consistently do is cheat myself into giving up by trying to work my away around my failures by making new rules or starting something "new" "tomorrow". Of course I flirted with the idea of abandoning NoS and counting calories (even though I KNOW that calorie counting makes me binge EVERY SINGLE time). But I came to my senses!

Really there's only today. And I'm going to make it a green day. And tomorrow I'll deal with tomorrow and so on and so forth.

I don't want to be dishonest with myself, so I'm just going to square my shoulders, report my crappy week and move on.

I think "moving on" is huge for me. How much success would I have had in the past if I just would have moved on from mistakes instead of throwing everything to the wind?

I keep reminding myself that there is NO downside to committing to this habit changing method. Even if I only lost a pound a month, I'd be able to fit into my old jeans again by this time next year, and let me tell you, if that was the only weight loss related goal I acheived I'd be pleased as punch.

You nailed it right on the head - just dust yourself off and start again. Hang in there!

I really enjoy your check in! It's funny how so many of us have the same quirks:
One of the things I consistently do is cheat myself into giving up by trying to work my away around my failures by making new rules or starting something "new" "tomorrow". Of course I flirted with the idea of abandoning NoS and counting calories (even though I KNOW that calorie counting makes me binge EVERY SINGLE time).

I cant tell you how many times I've done that. But No S makes a way bigger dent in your weight than counting calories (I say that from experience!). Keep trying, the successes DO come.

What a great title! It's so true! There is a great poem that goes something like this, "The moving finger writes and having written moves on ...nor all your tears can wipe out any of it... You can do nothing about your past or your future, only today. I think writing has helped me.
Kathleen

Just wanted to state, for the record, and for myself if no one else - I am still here and I am still trying. I have gone through quite a mental cycle over the past few weeks, wondering if NoS is really something I want to commit to. But every thought leads me back the place where I can't see any real help for myself except to commit to this.

I have also come to an interesting place where I don't really care about weight loss. I just want to stop the habits of daily overeating. This is becoming my primary goal with NoS. If I can break my overeating patterns I know my body weight will do what it wants to do - and I feel totally ok with the knowledge that every day I'm more or less going to wake up the same weight as I was the day before. But maybe one day - (like a year from now) - that weight will be different than it is today.

This week I will begin checking in every day again. I am always drawn back to these boards here - some of the best stuff I've ever read from lots of people walking the same road as me. I figure I might as well contribute.

Yesterday went well - a solid green day (which I really needed). It would be so easy to discredit this week and wait to jump back into NoS after Christmas, but I don't want to wait. I want green days now. I want a jump on habit change this week, not later!

I keeping thinking about the quote "progress is maintenance". Or is it "maintenance is progress"? I don't know - but it makes sense - there's no before and after. It's just during, Holidays notwithstanding.