Everyday Systems

My Background

I'm a 40 year old man. I was naturally lean as a youth (but never had that six-pack, grrr...) despite terrible eating habits. I was a snacker and basically lived on fast food in college and my twenties. But after marriage and kids, it caught up to me. I gained about 40 pounds. I lost it all last year with a combination of calorie counting and exercise. But I don't want to count calories for the rest of my life.

My weight has basically been fairly stable for the past six months. But I want to (A) lose those last 10 pounds, and (B) have a healthier relationship with food. Now that I'm exercising regularly again I can probably get away with my sweet tooth and snacking habits, but I really don't want to. I want to have a healthy and ordered relationship with food.

The Plan

The goal is to lose "those last 10 pounds." I hope it works but I'm not going to kill myself for it. I've got a healthy physique right now and if this is as lean as I ever get, I'll be happy. In that sense, my true goal is to reach the Oolala53 stage.

Stage 1: the 21 day challenge on vanilla No-S.

I suspect you'll be pleased with No "S" and integrating it into your life.

Good luck! Looking forward to following your progress.

I'm with you Jib...minus 10 pounds or holding steady. Whichever my healthy lifestyle chooses!
Good luck.
Kat

Thanks everyone!

Day 1 Thursday (a few days ago): Success I'm still a little fuzzy on "no seconds" at dinner time. My wife made Indian food and served the first portion in bowls. Since they were fairly small bowls I had a second portion. It may not be ideal, but I'm still counting the day a success.

This was the first day, perhaps in my whole life, that I'd walk past a bowl of blueberries and scoop up a few.

Day 2 Friday: Success. Again a fuzzy "no seconds dinner" since my wife made pizza. They are each smallish size and she makes four of them, so we all tend to have one piece out of each pizza as they come out of the oven. But I'm still counting the day a success.

I'm still amazed that I can walk past the blueberries without grabbing a few!

Day 3: Saturday - Success!

I'm actually having a pretty good S day. I dabbled in the diet before and really binged, but this has been moderate.

*Waffles for breakfast (our Saturday morning tradition)
*Protein shake for lunch (came back from a long run)
*snack of Greek yogurt and a slice of banana bread with butter
*Date night. I can't wait for the lobster popover at DeWolf!
*Date night movies: popcorn

Right? I think that's fairly reasonable.

Day 4 Sunday - Success! Had three bowls of cereal as an evening snack, but otherwise a pretty good S day.

s days are good to note but dont' ever feel bad about them. even if you've had excesses and you know it. it's really hard to not place value judgements on our days but sdays i've been coming to terms with how to change for the better and not place judgements on myself!

Thanks MJ, that sounds like good advice - part of the "not being obsessive about food" aspect of No S.

Day 5 Monday: Success! I feel that I did a great job but the "no seconds" part remains blurry. Case in point, we some venders bring in pizza for lunch so I had two slices and then waited to make sure there was plenty for everyone to around, and then had two more slices.

Day 6 Tuesday - Success! Subway for dinner since my son was sick all night with a nasty cough and he requested it.

Welcome! Looks like things are going great for you!

Thanks!

I've dabbled in No-S, but sloppily. Keeping the log has been good for my accountability. Case in point, my son offered me a piece of his cookie yesterday and I turned it down. In the past I would have taken it but not counted it since it was just a small amount.