Second year

(New!) Read (or post) about people who have stuck with No-S for 10 or more months, lost 10 or more pounds, or 10 or more percent for their starting weight. Periodic updates strongly encouraged -- you can think of it as "Yearly Check In."

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DaveMc
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Second year

Post by DaveMc » Thu Jul 07, 2011 4:30 pm

When last seen, our hero had just completed his first year of NoS eating:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=6595

And now, the saga continues ...

July 2011 marks my two-year anniversary on NoS. (My NoS anniversary is the day after my wedding anniversary, so it's easy enough to remember.) To get the numbers out of the way: I lost 20 pounds in my first year, and after year 2, my weight is exactly the same as it was at the end of year 1. (So says the weigh-in at my annual physical in the doctor's office, a couple weeks ago.) This pleases me. I might like to try to lose another 5 or 10 pounds, eventually, but I'm in no rush: I seem to be at a weight that's reasonably healthy, my waist isn't large, my blood numbers (like cholesterol) are all good, my doctor is content.

NoS is now extremely well established as an entry on the list of eccentricities my family just has to accept about me. I suspect that they sometimes find it odd that I'll refuse to eat a dessert on Thursday evening with the full intention of eating it on Friday, but by now it's so commonplace that they're largely used to it. And they certainly can't deny its effectiveness!

"Wait, did he say *Friday*? That doesn't start with S!" Well, yeah, I'm continuing the mod I discussed in my year 1 update: I take S days on Friday and Sunday, and have Saturday as an N day. It seems to work better for me, for all the reasons I mentioned back then. It gives me one S day that overlaps with the standard work-week, and it breaks up the S days into two pieces rather than one right after the other. Also, I must admit that I enjoy the shorter gap between S days (just four days between Sunday and Friday, rather than five to Saturday). Whatever the reason, this pattern works better for me, and it's been sustainable. Your psychology may vary.

*N days*. I feel mildly hungry, between meals, every day. As I've mentioned in various posts, I now *enjoy* this sensation. We used to call this "having an appetite", rather than "being hungry" or "taking crazy risks with your health by going six hours without noshing on anything". Meals are *so* much more enjoyable when you've built up an appetite for them. And you know, feeling mildly hungry is not painful, distracting, or debilitating in any way. It's just an awareness that you haven't eaten for a while, and an anticipation of the next time you're going to eat. Occasionally we see newcomers posting here about how they are experiencing gnawing hunger, severe hunger pangs, sharp pains, and so on -- all of that sounds like it's in an entirely different category than what I'm talking about, here. There's nothing painful about it, and if there is, you may be having a different level of issue than just having an urge to snack. I sometimes worry that some people have become so unfamiliar with the sensation of hunger that they may be jumping to words like "pangs" and "gnawing" a bit too hastily, just because they've never experienced what it feels like to not eat between meals. (But at the same time, I'm sure for some people it's no-kidding painful, and that's a problem that really needs to be addressed. Well, it's a problem either way: just because an issue is "merely" psychological doesn't mean it isn't a real concern!)

*S days*. I don't have any special rules for S days. I have free rein to go crazy. As I like to say, it's just that my standards of "going crazy" have become so much lower over these past two years. [Example: I was at a Dairy Queen the other day (an S day, naturally), and picked up a Mini-sized Blizzard, and was pleased to learn that this was plenty big enough for me to feel like I'd treated myself to something special. I'd been going for the Small size, and was amazed that I'd ever been able to even *consider* the Medium or Large giganto-tubs, but even the Mini now feels like quite a lot of ice cream. And I'm not a tiny person: 6 foot 1, 200 pounds (down from 220, two years ago).] Most S days, I buy or make one "big ticket" treat (like a Blizzard, or a home-made cobbler, or cookies, or lemon squares, or whatever), and also have some other stray stuff throughout the day (some chocolate-covered almonds here, some chips there). I don't end up eating non-stop all day, but that's not because I sat down and made a rule about it; I was lucky enough to have this just happen naturally. (This was so fantastic that I highly recommend giving yourself a chance to see if it happens for you, too. Try not to panic about early S day excesses! They may fade over time, and if they do, you'll never have to constrain yourself with a bunch of extra rules. Your experience may vary, but if you jump to adding S day rules too soon, you'll never find out if the natural scale-down of S days would have happened for you, too.) There are still days when I go absolutely nuts even by my old standards, but those are few and far between, and the long-term evidence (no net weight gain over the past year) shows me that whatever I'm doing on S days, it's not enough to wipe out the effect of all those N days.

An analogy I keep meaning to make is with dental care. When you start NoS, it can feel like you're going through a root canal. (I never had it quite this bad, but certainly the first month or so was not easy!) But that passes, and it becomes more like a standard dental exam: something you can put up with, but it's uncomfortable and takes patience. Then it drops to the level of brushing your kids' teeth (much harder, at least around here, than brushing your own!), then to the level of remembering to floss, and finally it gets down to taking about as much concentration as remembering to brush your own teeth every day: it's not completely without effort, but that effort is automatic, and it's built right in to what you think of as a normal day.

Thanks again, Reinhard, for coming up with and distributing this elegantly simple and startlingly effective idea! It's become my new norm, and I intend to keep it that way. I look forward to giving you all another update, next year.

Clarica
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Post by Clarica » Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:45 pm

yay! well put.

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NoSRocks
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Post by NoSRocks » Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:55 pm

FABULOUS ! Dave - well done for maintaining your weight throughout the year and sticking consistently with the No S Plan. That in itself is a HUGE accomplishment. I wouldn't get too concerned over the dr's scales - they are notorious for adding 10 lbs to one's real weight (at the very least, from my own experience!)

You are indeed an inspiration, sir.
No S-er since December 2009
Streamlined S Days: 6/25/12
SW: 170 /CW: 127
Weight loss to date: 43 lbs

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DaveMc
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Post by DaveMc » Fri Jul 08, 2011 7:25 pm

NoSRocks wrote:I wouldn't get too concerned over the dr's scales - they are notorious for adding 10 lbs to one's real weight (at the very least, from my own experience!)
Alas, in this case I think this has not happened. In honour of my up-coming anniversary, I'd weighed in a few times over the previous week (normally I go weeks or months without stepping on a scale), and the numbers were very similar to what the doctor's scale said.

Sienna
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Post by Sienna » Sat Jul 09, 2011 1:47 am

Congrats on the 1 year maintenance! It's incredibly inspiring to see people keeping off the weight with NoS. So often I watch people yo-yo on different diets - so hearing once more that it is possible to avoid that on NoS is very encouraging.
Finally a diet that I can make a lifestyle!

Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)

r.jean
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Post by r.jean » Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:08 pm

This was very inspiring! Thanks for the post!

I especially like the analogy you used to describe the gradual decrease in effort as time goes on. I have felt that as well but did not know how to put it in words. Your description is great.
The journey is the reward.
Maintenance is progress.

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sophiasapientia
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Post by sophiasapientia » Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:53 am

Excellent! Congratulations on your No S anniversary and continued success on this journey. :D
Restarted No S (3rd times a charm!) January 2010 at 145 lbs

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:43 pm

Dave,

Congratulations on another year of heroic moderation! And thank you for sharing your saga here.

I don't think the hero-terminology is overblown.

Remember how Odysseus had to sail between the twin, opposite evils of Scylla and Charibdis, a kind of "golden mean." The greatest hero of antiquity was also (at least in this) a striking model of moderation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Sc ... _Charybdis

While we're on the subject of Greeks and moderation, I'm reading Aristotle right now for the first time and am just floored by how "everyday systems" he is. I think I'm going to come up with a cheesy title for the Nicomachean Ethics, dumb it down a bit, and re-release it as a self-help bestseller. :-)

Reinhard

Too solid flesh
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Post by Too solid flesh » Wed Jul 20, 2011 6:25 pm

Congratulations, Dave! It's really good to hear about your successful maintenance, and thank you for all your lively contributions to the board.
Be kind, for everybody you meet is fighting a hard battle.

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NoSRocks
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Post by NoSRocks » Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:56 pm

Alas, in this case I think this has not happened. In honour of my up-coming anniversary, I'd weighed in a few times over the previous week (normally I go weeks or months without stepping on a scale), and the numbers were very similar to what the doctor's scale said.
Nevertheless, still a fantastic achievement! Well done!!!
No S-er since December 2009
Streamlined S Days: 6/25/12
SW: 170 /CW: 127
Weight loss to date: 43 lbs

Sweetness
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Post by Sweetness » Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:39 pm

I wish there was a "like" button for these postings! You would have hundreds of them I'm sure. Thanks for your posting and congrats!
Patty

Anxiety in a person's heart weighs him down, but an encouraging word brings him joy. (Proverbs 12:25 NET)
I'm a glutton for encouragement.

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