One Year Of Automated Eating

(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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automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

One Year Of Automated Eating

Post by automatedeating » Mon Aug 25, 2014 7:17 pm

About Me: I am married, and have 2 boys (8 and 5) that we (sort of!) homeschool. My husband and I both teach full-time at our local community college. We do not have family nearby and finding decompression time is hard. I have used food to feel better at very tired and overwhelmed times. Generally, I have an upbeat personality, but parenting young children while working full-time has maxed me out. Although I had been active when younger, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, high stress, and overeating had led to a 25-pound weight gain since having children.

I love NoS, it has changed my life in so many ways. I take more time for myself now, and parent better than I did a year ago. My finances have been revolutionized by the NoS approach.

I believe that NoS is the keystone habit that gave me the power to change my life. The success I found with building the NoS habit cascaded into other disordered areas of my life.

Stats: 5'2'' female, 37 years old
Starting Weight: 142
Current Weight: 134
Current BMI 24.5
Pounds Lost in One Year: 8

Notable Red Day History: First Red Day was June 17th, 2014 (after 10 months of NoSing), but this was followed relatively quickly by 3 additional red days. So a total of 4 red days in 2 months after 10 months of no red days! Obviously I've been struggling the last few months. I almost didn't want to post my testimonial because I feel like I've really gone backwards. That said, I have been NoSing for a year. So this testimonial is here for others to see one person's bumpy journey.

NWS Days: In my first 10 months, I only took ~2 NWS days/month and had no fails. On the other hand, I do recommend an impromptu S Day if you are feeling about to crack. Better choose an S Day than have to claim a fail.

Style: Vanilla NoS with lazy fast-food way too often.

Weaknesses: Eating too big of a plate at restaurants; don't enjoy veggies; hate cooking

Special Struggles: Coming to terms with not needing to eat as much as I want to eat; dealing with emotional fall-out/rebelliousness from being an over-zealous health-nut in my 20's; joints hurt with intense exercise so walking and other mild exercises are important. I want to be exercising when I'm old, so I'm pacing my joints!

Frequently thrive with: just creamy coffee for breakfast and 2 main meals on N Days; always keep track of red green and S days on my pantry calendar.

Weight Maintenance appears to hinge on: Daily Walking. I gained 2 or 3 pounds this summer (from 131.5 to 134), probably from a combination of not walking as much and eating out too much.

And About That Walking: For much of this past school year I didn't give much credit to my 90 minutes of walking (4 days/week). However, as soon as I stopped (in June), I gained weight! So......don't discount gentle exercise.

Weight Maintenance appears to also hinge on: keeping red or NWS days to 2 or less/month.

Current Issue: I am having a hard time coming to terms with the .... deprivation..... that may be necessary for me to be svelte. I struggle with feeling jealousy toward the many women that achieve a much lower BMI than I just using Vanilla NoS. I resent that I need to eat food that I don't love (e.g. steamed veggies and giant salads) in order to be thin. And, I may just be deciding that I am OK with not being thin, then. Stay tuned, I guess, for next year's update.

A shout-out to this awesome forum:
*The wise friends I have made on the check-in thread have supported me for the past year. Thanks jw, eschano, Linda, ironchef, worthit, NoSnacker, Tessytwinkle, clarinetgal, Oolala, Dandelion, StrawberryRoan--and all the other great encouragers on the Daily Check-Ins.

Thanks to NoS (i.e. Reinhard), my creative thinking about how to manage my life blossomed this year. Introducing:
JustMoveIt: walk to work 4 days/week
StrategicSpending: Don't spend money Monday-Thursday. This led to me purchasing YNAB software, which I LOVE and highly recommend. It also has led to us saving enough to be able to go to Disneyland with our boys this Christmas!
KidsUnplugged: The current version of this consists of morning and afternoon chores that my boys must complete (I use index cards on the fridge that they move from the To Do to Done column) before using electronics.
RaisingReaders: I try to read 30 minutes or more 6 days/week to my boys.
Index Cards: Based on Reinhard's Foot Soldier and Officer cards, I use one card/week to keep track of my to-do list; and on the back keep a growing shopping list that I complete on Saturday morning.
Last edited by automatedeating on Sat Aug 04, 2018 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

eschano
Posts: 2642
Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:20 pm

Post by eschano » Tue Aug 26, 2014 2:07 pm

As I said on your thread - that sounds pretty inspirational to me! Well done!
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

ironchef
Posts: 1630
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:12 am
Location: Australia

Post by ironchef » Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:22 am

What a wonderful testimonial. I love all your categories - makes for a very interesting and comprehensive review of your year. Well done!

r.jean
Posts: 1653
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: Midwest

Post by r.jean » Thu Aug 28, 2014 2:29 am

Great post!
I like how you highlight the other changes in your life using the "No S Approach." I think many of us have done the same.
The journey is the reward.
Maintenance is progress.

aspencer27
Posts: 298
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:26 pm

Post by aspencer27 » Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:26 pm

Definitely inspirational! I know what you mean about eating less... I'm just focusing on enjoying my meals, which is primarily not eating until I'm stuffed and having the structure of the rules for N Days.

I also love all of the other impacts NoS has had in your life! Keep up the great work!

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reinhard
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Location: Cambridge, MA
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Post by reinhard » Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:37 pm

Congratulations on your no-s and other new habits! And apologies it took me so long to pop in here -- was on vacation last week with minimal connectivity (a blessing!).

I love the detailed analysis of special difficulties you're facing and tips and tricks you've been using, along with other habit systems you've put in place.

I also like the term "keystone habit." Eating habits are important, but it can be important even beyond just food. Regular meals (and regular sleep!) provide the scaffolding for so many of our other activities. Get them in order and it becomes that much much easier to get other things in order.

Reinhard

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Blithe Morning
Posts: 1220
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:56 pm
Location: South Dakota

Post by Blithe Morning » Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:39 pm

Yes, congrats!

And don't fixate on being svelte. My guess is that eventually you will end up there as your appetite comes around increasingly towards moderation.

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