sarahkay, I have been NoEssing since April of 2007 and during that time I have been derailed by vacations and other obstacles...but I made it through some of the toughest times of my life: a severe dog attack, a badly broken ankle, the death of my beloved mother-in-law and then losing my dear 13-year-old cat Cindy. I have learned much during this time and the only time I strayed for long was in the third year when I let my failures overpower my green days and then I just gave up for almost 6 months. As a result, I gained back the 20+ pounds I had lost - just as Oolala mentioned. For the most part during all this time, I was learning to maintain and establish habit...phase one of NoS. I truly believe that. I guess I'm a slow learner!
I returned last July with a new resolve to make this work for me and finally loose the excess weight and enter a healthy BMI range. I bought the Judith Beck book
The Beck Diet Solution and have been working on my thought process along with using NoS.
At this point I am able to accept and acknowledge my shortcomings and slip-ups, but no longer succumb to them by overeating, overreacting, or completely chucking my eating endeavors overall. This is monumental for me and a total breakthrough. I have never been able to handle my failures. I also had to look again at the meaning of S days and how they were intended to be used. There was a lot of soul-searching to be done on my part.
I am now at a 22 pound loss. It has been quite a journey. It has been quite a learning experience. It hasn't been easy. It hasn't happened overnight. So, you, too, can do it, but you really have to make up your mind that it is what you want to do and then commit to the work it will take. You must also embrace the fact that you will "fall off the wagon" by having red days. That's just part of it.
Best wishes in your NoS journey!
Mimi
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