Back to Vanilla/21 days

Counting carbs/calories is a drag. Obsessive scale stepping is a recipe for despair. If you want to count something, "days on habit" is a much better metric. Checking off days on a calendar would do just fine, but if you do it here you get accountability and support. Here's how. Start a new topic in this forum called (say) "Your Name Daily Check In." Then every N day post a "reply" to that topic as to whether you stayed on habit. A simple "<font color="green">SUCCESS</font>" or "<font color="red">FAILURE</font>" (or your preferred euphemism if that's too harsh) is sufficient, but obviously you're welcome to write more if you want. On S-days just register that you're taking an S-day. You don't have to do this forever, just until you're confident you've built the habit. Feel free to check in weekly or monthly or sporadically instead of daily. Feel free also to track other habits besides No-s (I'm keeping this forum under No-s because that's what the vast majority are using it for). See also my <a href="/habitcal/">HabitCal</a> tool for another more formal (and perhaps complementary) way to track habits.

Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating

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moderatemeals
Posts: 318
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:51 pm

Back to Vanilla/21 days

Post by moderatemeals » Fri Feb 27, 2015 12:10 pm

Hi - I'm no stranger to No S. I think it's a brilliant way to live and I've had success on it. I've been slipping lately and finding myself focusing more on dieting and food and so I'm hoping to reset again. I find my best success is when I log so I'm going to start that again. I've also gotten rid of my scale which is a huge accomplishment for me! I'm aiming for 21 days of logging and trying to stay Vanilla.

Day 1: SUCCESS!
Breakfast: Starbuck's Oatmeal
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Pizza & Pop Chips
Dinner: Cajun chicken sandwich and french fries

Today was a great day. 3rd day off refined sugar and the scale. I absolutely love not weighing in and it is so much healthier for my overall mindset. At lunch today, I was craving a Lean Cuisine pizza which I don't think of as a healthy option because it's so processed. So, I started to make myself my usual chicken and salad but then I thought, "No, it's this darn pizza that I really want" and I then stopped making the salad and went with the pizza. It was so liberating to do this and not be thinking about 'clean eating' or processed vs whole foods, etc. I just ate what I wanted and tried not to categorize it. That is THE BEST part of No S. I just ate what I wanted not what I thought I should be eating and as a result, I was satisfied!!! I have not had any snacks or sweets. Same thing happened at dinner and while today was not considered the healthiest in terms of nutritional values, it was incredibly healthy in terms of my relationships and thinking toward my meals.

DAY 1 = SUCCESS!!!
Last edited by moderatemeals on Sat Feb 28, 2015 1:19 am, edited 2 times in total.

gingerpie
Posts: 1031
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:16 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, US

Post by gingerpie » Fri Feb 27, 2015 12:29 pm

Glad to meet you. :)

I hope you find what you need here on the boards. I look forward too learning about you.

moderatemeals
Posts: 318
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:51 pm

Post by moderatemeals » Sat Feb 28, 2015 1:12 am

Thanks so much for the encouragement Gingerpie! It really helps!

freegirl
Posts: 160
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:21 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by freegirl » Sat Feb 28, 2015 1:19 am

Welcome, Lisa! All the best in your journey. Posting and being accountable definitely helps.

moderatemeals
Posts: 318
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:51 pm

Post by moderatemeals » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:10 pm

DAY 2: S-DAY

Breakfast: pancakes with butter, bacon and fruit
Lunch: BLT and chips
Dinner: Chicken, pop chips, broccoli & raspberries
Snacks: skinny pop, part of a low sugar protein bar, a few pretzels

4pm : Today is going well so far though it's taking every ounce of willpower I have not to cave into the afternoon snack cravings!! I feel bored at the moment and the house is a mess. So usually I would resort to snacking to put off cleaning and distract/relax me. This time I decided to journal a bit on my thread. If I were to cave into the munchies, I'd still have a messy house at the end of it and I'd probably feel badly about eating when I'm not really hungry. So I've preheated the oven and started to plan dinner but resisted eating/bingeing.

I snacked more after dinner than I would have liked to but avoided all sugar which was a huge success for me.

moderatemeals
Posts: 318
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:51 pm

Post by moderatemeals » Mon Mar 02, 2015 12:32 pm

DAY 3: S-DAY

Great day overall. Resisted sugar at a dinner out despite some stressful conditions at the dinner. No nighttime bingeing.

Breakfast: Vitatop
Lunch: Chicken & Fruit
Dinner: fish, sweet potato,veggie stir fry
Snacks: popcorn, greek yogurt & slice of homemade pumpkin bread

Lovedby2
Posts: 171
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2014 4:24 am
Location: North Carolina

Lovedby2

Post by Lovedby2 » Tue Mar 03, 2015 4:17 am

Hi moderatemeals! I am in my 2nd month of posting and my 3rd month of No S. I totally get what you said about the freedom and ease that you feel doing No S. A huge struggle for me with food is not just the dieting aspect but also the whole healthy vs unhealthy, processed vs whole foods, yada yada. Moderation is a beautiful thing. :lol: Good luck on your journey.
Always learning.

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