What's your challenging situation?

Nell1223 · Post by **Nell1223** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:12 am

What's your challenge to keeping to your no s diet?
For me it's doing things that are out of my usual routine (what a sad person I am?) I find if I'm out of my normal routine my eating can go a bit (or a lot) haywire. One of my worst challenges is when we visit my sister in law and brother in law, or they come to us. They're with us this weekend and both of them have this funny attitude to food and eating: SIL thinks you're on the road to anorexia if you don't eat cake after every cup of tea or coffee and sweets after every meal and tries to force it on you. BIL watches you eating with an expression that says Weird if I eat anything slightly different to him like muesli. He once accused me of going "all anorexic" when I was eating salad - I was at least 2 stone overweight at the time!! If I have one glass of wine, he's trying to force more onto me.

They both have some sort of issue with food and eating and I have found it really hard in the past to keep to an eating plan or diet when I've been with them.

My challenge this weekend is to keep to my No S diet - today and Sunday are S days so I'll just take it easy and not let them push me into eating anything I don't want.

kaalii · Post by **kaalii** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:54 am

oh, must be hard to be around them eating and talking to you like that...

i think i would tell them - "i dont think any anorexic person is eating 3 decent meals a day. maybe you wish well but that is an unkind thing to say to someone trying to implement healthy eating habits."

my challenges are also connected to going off the routine... routine and habits are interlinked... but the stronger the habit the routine can vary more and more, i feel... i work mon-thursday... so fridays can be challenging, but it is becoming easier... and let's see about upcoming 6 weeks of travel/vacations...

another inevitable challenge is availability of snacks, sweets, seconds... the more they are available/around/in front of my face/home/cupboards/fridge/table/adds/food stands - the harder it is to resist... but here also habit strenghtening seems to be helping... somehow the Ss go "off the radar" as the habit is becoming stronger... a type of "mental filter" is formed and i dont even notice them so much nor think about them as much... at work we offer 4 o'clock snack to the kids... i never had that habit before starting working here... i didn't even like what we are offering them but i just ate with them... now im not anymore... a cup of tea or just plain water is enough... cooking can be challenging in that respect, too... but i have insisted not to taste/nibble while cooking unless absolutely necessary... and i have to say i'm somehow much more "present" while cooking nowadays... oh, and seconds - when the food is in front of me... and other people still eating... that can be hard... but also getting better at it... protein rich meals and big but light salad on the side also help there as i just cant (nor really want to) eat super slowly... it is yucky to me... slow down a bit, yes, talk, have a sip of water... but not too much chewing, not for me...

MaggieMae · Post by **MaggieMae** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 2:07 pm

My biggest challenge is not snacking before dinner when I'm truly hungry. I have been doing pretty good this week by using gum or a carbonated beverage to hold me over. Fighting physical hunger is proving to be easier than fighting that desire to snack out of emotion. Those are days where I have been white knuckling through to dinner. It's seems like if I can make it to dinner I'm ok.

LifeisaBlessing · Post by **LifeisaBlessing** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 2:48 pm

Like Nell12 and kaalii, my biggest challenge to staying on plan is whenever my usual routine goes out of whack, or if I'm arriving home after a long day of work and/or errands, and I'm hungry and wanting to just wind down. Like MaggieMae, I usually white-knuckle my way through, or have a sip of water or (if there's any left) heat up my flavored coffee and have a sip of that. Part of the reason I incorporated my various mods was I noticed that they generally work better for me whenever I encounter the above difficulties than vanilla NoS did (when I tried NoS in the past).

osoniye · Post by **osoniye** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 4:18 pm

I find it a challenge not to eat something socially when someone brings a snack to a meeting or serves me one in their home.
But by far my biggest challenge is getting off routine when I travel. That is generally a disaster.

Jen1974 · Post by **Jen1974** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 4:50 pm

osoniye wrote: But by far my biggest challenge is getting off routine when I travel. That is generally a disaster.

This is totally me!! I'm best off eating 3 meals a day. Snacking seems to confuse my hunger signals & on vacation I tend to eat meals outside of my normal times & sometimes fewer meals which means snacsk sometimes get thrown in. My last trip I felt good about because I was more selective about what I would eat & therefore ate less, but looking back I let myself get to too hungry a few times & would eat way more than I would have if I had eaten 3 meals that were a little bigger than normal but left me satisfied until my next meal & never way too hungry. When I'm at home I eat 3 meals a day 7 days a week & no snacks. It's a good line in the sand for me!!

ironchef · Post by **ironchef** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:14 pm

Biggest challenge at the moment is preparing and feeding my kids meals that are outside my own schedule. So, for example my daughter now has one sleep basically through lunchtime. So she has lunch split into a morning tea and an afternoon tea. On Kindy days my son is hungry after school, so I make him a light after school meal. My kids go to bed around 6:30, so their dinner is often 5/5:30. Too early for me if I'm going to get through bath, bedtimes, dog walking and evening chores without being ravenous.

Having all these meals that I attend (sit at the table, help feed the little one, etc) but don't eat is really hard. Especially because kids always leave left overs. It gets easy to justify a leftover strawberry here, slice of apple there, etc.

Also, at the times that work for my own meals, especially lunch, I usually have a lot to do and kind of eat on the run. This makes for unsatisfying meals even though they're large enough.

Also sleep deprivation. The more times I'm up overnight, the harder it is to stick with a plan. For anything.

Bullisaba · Post by **Bullisaba** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:58 pm

My most challenging times (and I hope this is not tmi) is during ovulation (about 3 days) and when I am premenstrual (about 4 days). I have not found a strategy that will get me through. I am not sure if the cravings are physical or emotional (I am also cry in the corner sad during that time).

e-lyn · Post by **e-lyn** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 4:34 am

My biggest challenge is when I'm watching TV with family at night. During the school year we watch mostly on Friday and Saturday nights. Which is why sticking to No S on Friday nights has been so difficult for me. In the summer, all bets are off and we watch TV randomly...any night we feel like it. It's just so much fun to watch a good movie and snack, especially after a post dinner walk. I'm having to change so many of my food habits.

My other challenge revolves around social occasions. I often eat to relieve my social anxiety. It gives me something to do and alleviates some of the stress of the situation. I'm not much of a drinker...prefer noshing.

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 4:42 am

Bullisaba wrote:My most challenging times (and I hope this is not tmi) is during ovulation (about 3 days) and when I am premenstrual (about 4 days). I have not found a strategy that will get me through. I am not sure if the cravings are physical or emotional (I am also cry in the corner sad during that time).

Have you ever tried homeopathy? I find the remedy Pulsatilla is hugely helpful with female issues like this.

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 4:43 am

I'd say variances to routine too (vacations, extra meetings where treats/snacks are served, although the latter has been getting easier for me). Also, Thursday nights I really start anticipating my next S day, LOL!

RAWCOOKIE · Post by **RAWCOOKIE** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:28 am

I think my biggest challenge is the emotionally-linked eating - especially the feeling of needing some kind of food reward after either a long shift at work, or on a day out somewhere.

Part of my work is to support people to cook their meals which implants ideas of food in my head - and I then have to wait until I get home before I can cook & eat! I often find that other people's junk food will lodge in my brain and manifest several days later in a craving! Colleagues who eat chocolate all day - or have pizzas for lunch - or munch a big bag of savoury snacks are a challenge too!

librarylady · Post by **librarylady** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 1:57 pm

Put me into the vacation/variances camp. When I am on my regular schedule, I can fit into No S like a glove. When I have a day off, it is a bit more tricky, but I control that by not having any junk in the house - if I want something I must go out and get it, which makes mindless snacking unlikely.

Vacation is another kettle of fish. I eat larger meals because I am at restaurants; I face different and delicious food that I usually don't see at home (I almost always go to another country for my vacation). And I want to drink at every dinner. On the plus side I usually walk and walk and walk - up and down hills chasing after castles!

Coming at the end of July -- I'll see how I do!

noni · Post by **noni** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 2:45 pm

Making lunch for my sons and husband for school/work. I need to be very diligent not to plop peanut butter or a slice of cheese into my mouth to ease the drudgery of the task.

The Christmas holiday throws me off every time. I bake a lot and a lot is baked for my family for gifts. I make various types of fudge for giving as gifts. Lots of getting together for parties, too, not just the holiday, but also family birthdays fall at that time. The weight regain is discouraging, and to make it all worse, I throw up my hands and give up on every thing for a few months until I get my head on straight.

Over43 · Post by **Over43** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 3:03 pm

RAWCOOKIE · Post by **RAWCOOKIE** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 6:22 pm

MaggieMae · Post by **MaggieMae** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 8:13 pm

Over43 wrote:Food

Ha! Yes!

bunsofaluminum · Post by **bunsofaluminum** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 4:40 am

being bored at home, and snacking is the biggie, much more than sweets, and seconds can be a bit tempting, but that's mostly because I feel like I need to stuff my stomach tight to avoid mid meal appetite.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 4:01 pm

A. 3-6 pm, which I still call the witching hour.

B. During unstructured time (mostly weekends), esp. when
1) I'm avoiding things I don't want to do, even though I'd be glad when they're done;
2) when I get a vague sense that there's something important (not the things in #1) I'm supposed to be doing and I don't know what it is.

Surprisingly, I've gotten to the point during school breaks that B is not a big problem on weekdays, but the weekend issues can still come up. (It's a personal thang.)

e-lyn · Post by **e-lyn** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 4:49 pm

Summer evenings. Often, we watch movies at home and my skinny sons snack on crunchy things during that time. If it's hot they eat ice cream and I'm tempted by that.

Eating in restaurants, especially those I'm not familiar with. Too many choices and the food is often too rich and/or too much. If I order lightly, I have to sit and watch my fellow diners eat huge portions of delicious food.

My own home cooking. If I make something really special I'm tempted to go back for seconds. Also, taste-testing the food beforehand is an issue. And munching on leftovers as I clear up.

HappyHiker · Post by **HappyHiker** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 2:44 pm

It's not really a diet challenge, but the summer heat is a problem for my Urban Rangering, which is absolutely necessary for me to be at my healthy weight. Last night I actually borrowed my boyfriend's dog and went on a walk at midnight.

I know the simple solution is to get up early in the morning and do it, but ugh. I like the routine of shovel gloving in the morning because it's quick, and then taking a nice, long walk later in the day. I can take the heat, but, while in winter my walks feel like leisure, in summer they feel like a workout, because I have to do the change-into-workout-clothes-and-shower-after stuff.

moonbat69 · Post by **moonbat69** » Fri Jul 15, 2016 3:09 pm

My biggest challenge has and always will be eating in the evenings between dinner and bedtime.

tobiasmom · Post by **tobiasmom** » Sun Jul 17, 2016 1:37 am

Mine is most definitely afternoons (2:00-5:00). My littlest takes a nap and I get tempted to relax a bit with food 😝

YeagerMeister · Post by **YeagerMeister** » Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:32 pm

Mine is snacking before bedtime. I'll be watching tv and next thing I know it, I'm standing in front of the fridge without even thinking!

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