Jen's Daily NoS Thoughts (:

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.

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Jen1974
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Post by Jen1974 » Sat Sep 17, 2016 5:12 pm

So yesterday was a fail but I really should have seen that coming (: I usually will go a little big on a weekend dinner & because we have plans tonight, I made a big pot of chili with melted cheese & saltines on the side, cornbread with homemade honey butter (which is just softened butter mixed with honey), & apples with cream cheese carmel dip. It's good I don't always go big on dinners because I would gain weight quickly if I did (: I did great on everything but wanted seconds on the cornbread with honey butter which was totally worth it!!

I've lost a couple pounds in the last few weeks even with a few fails thown in, but my fails have all been like this, totally worth it & not overboard so I'm really happy with where I'm at!! It's probably helping that I've been riding the exercise bike while I try to keep up with my kids in the Twilight series & Harry Potter. It makes up for some of the "extras" I've been enjoying lately (:

Apprentice1981
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Post by Apprentice1981 » Sat Sep 17, 2016 8:41 pm

Hi Jen! I found your very inspiring blog several days ago. I read every single post. Bookmarked several of them. I saw so many similarities in our eating behaviors. Like you, I want to be a good role model for my children. I've been losing and gaining 10 lb. for a while now. At this moment I am at the upper range of that (I am 5' 5" -124 lb.) My "ideal" goal is 116ish. I think your approach of pre-deciding before a meal is the most sane way to approach eating. I also love your approach of planning bigger meals when willpower runs low. For me "losing my ground" moments come on days when I experience "extreme" hunger. I eat my normal meals that normally satisfy but on those days they don't make a dent...I eventually "give in" and binge.

Apprentice1981
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Post by Apprentice1981 » Sun Sep 18, 2016 3:30 pm

I am going through a particularly hungry phase. My weight this morning was 125.4. :( I will keep focusing on the habit. I think 116 goal is a bit too low.. 118-120 is a more realistic sustainable range that doesn't lead to walking around brain-starved and food focused :D

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Post by kaalii » Sun Sep 18, 2016 5:00 pm

Jen1974 wrote:I made a big pot of chili with melted cheese & saltines on the side, cornbread with homemade honey butter (which is just softened butter mixed with honey), & apples with cream cheese carmel dip.
woow! this sounds so yummy!!
Age:40
BMI: 18.8
Body Fat %: 17.6
in it for maintenance and, more importantly, sanity!!

Jen1974
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Post by Jen1974 » Sun Sep 18, 2016 5:42 pm

Thanks Kaalii (:

Apprentice, I'm glad you like my blog!! With my kids home for summer & than catching up on work once they are back in school I haven't had time to post in a while but am hoping to do it more when I'm caught back up!!

I'm so with you on the give in & binge!! That was always my pattern, I expected too much of myself that when I couldn't live up to it would end up at "what the hell". No S set me up to do better, but still left me feeling a little deprived some weeks so this past week, just accepting that I needed more food was so much nicer. It makes me wonder if by doing that, overall it will be easier to not feel the need to fall off the weight loss wagon & just slowly settle into a lower weight (: It has been really fun to decide how much food I want to eat at each meal as opposed to how much I "should" eat. And the most amazing thing is that this morning my weight dropped on the scale to the lowest it's been in a while. I'm hoping it's like my body didn't need to hold on to the weight if it knew it would get what it needed LOL, but probably more likely water weight coming off!!

I'm with you on accepting a weight that might be a couple of pounds higher than my "ideal" but one that is more realistic with eating normally, but am excited to see what happens if the 5 lb gain & loss cycle ends, if maybe, at the point where my weight normally creeps back up, that by not getting burnt out, instead it could continues to SLOWLY go down that last 1-2 lbs, but I'm happy enough with my eating right now to accept just maintaining at the lower range where I feel perfectly happy with myself anyway. I like hearing how you're doing!! You should start a daily check in thread!! It's so much more fun around here when more people are checking in & talking about what's working/not working for them!!

Apprentice1981
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Post by Apprentice1981 » Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:41 pm

Jen, I am thankful for your reply! By reading your blog and posts on this site I feel like I know you! Love your sense of humour! Now that my children (I have 4) are in school I will establish my No S routine. I was doing 3 meals for a while except I was having a lot of "what the hell" days. Then I restricted to bring the weight down. My weight fluctuated between 114-118. " Maintained" that for about a year. I was not happy with the "routine " that I was in. This past month I started having a lot of hungry days. I started researching online. BIG mistake! There is a "camp" that says that I am probably below my "set point" and my body is fighting me. The recommendation was intuitive eating. I've tried it before and it DID NOT work for me but I fell for it again. For my hungry brain it sounded very tempting. So I've been eating intuitively for about a month and gained 8 pounds. I will call this style of eating a self-permitted gluttony. I got sick of it! I found No S through eatlikeanormalperson blog. Her approach appealed to me but again there was no "line in the sand" when to stop eating. I love your approach! I can live with it for life! Like you, I love normal food...full fat everything. I enjoy baking. The missing key was not having planned S days. Thank you Jen for taking your precious time to create your blog and share your wisdom!

Apprentice1981
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Post by Apprentice1981 » Sun Sep 18, 2016 11:08 pm

Yes, I do agree with you that it's fun to "engineer" meals that are in line with our goals! :D

Jen1974
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Post by Jen1974 » Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:46 pm

Apprentice, I'm with you on the intuitive eating thing!! Bored, tired, stressed, sad, & annoyed can all feel like hunger to me and during meals intuitively I seem to think I need more than I do LOL!! I have found that I'm pretty good before a meal at knowing what is the right amount to have & that without snacking, I don't have to decide if it's hunger or something else, I wait either way & learn to have bigger portions if I end up too hungry between meals. It's like training wheels for intuitive eating &#128522;

I saw a friend of a friend in a Facebook picture & thought it must be her mom or an older sister. She had lost weight & looked so much older. It made me feel even more strongly that I'd rather be happy & healthy!!

Apprentice1981
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Post by Apprentice1981 » Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:17 pm

Definitely! When my weight got too low I was walking around constantly fantasizing about food, felt cold in the summer, had no energy and got comments from loved ones that I looked too too thin. I need to find my "happy" weight and stay there! At this point I am not there. I think now I have the tools to get there. Thanks to you!! Today for lunch I had a baguette with butter and cheese and finished it off with a small latte with a bit of 70% dark &#127851;. A very satisfying "politically incorrect" lunch. What's your take on dark chocolate on N days. Sometimes I like it as a finisher after lunch and/or dinner.

Apprentice1981
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Post by Apprentice1981 » Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:21 pm

I reread my post and wanted to clarify. By a baguette I meant a 4 inch piece of a Panera sized loaf. &#128522;

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Post by lpearlmom » Tue Sep 20, 2016 3:51 am

Jen1974 wrote: I saw a friend of a friend in a Facebook picture & thought it must be her mom or an older sister. She had lost weight & looked so much older. It made me feel even more strongly that I'd rather be happy & healthy!!
So agree! Thinner isn't always better! Even with having lost weight very slowly & in a healthy way, I notice I look older because of the extra skin on my neck area now. Not that I'd want to go back to being heavier but it does make me I don't necessarily want to lose too much more.

With you guys on the intuitive eating although somehow about once a year, I keep getting sucked into thinking I can make it work. I'm a slow learner! &#9786;&#65039;
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

Jen1974
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Post by Jen1974 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 4:30 pm

Apprentice, Dark chocolate does seem a bit taboo around here but it doesn't fall under my "sweet" category. My sweet category is more about things that work better for me being enjoyed only sometimes/special vs. daily. Most desserts are there, like brownies, cakes, cookies, things that are mostly empty calories. Chips & fries are part of that category for me too, but dark chocolate has a lot of health benefits & actually less sugar than the yogurts I eat so I'm fine including it in my meals!! It's funny you asked about it because just in the last couple of weeks I've read a bunch about studies where those that include chocolate in their diet have lower BMI even though they eat more calories overall (: I'm running a little experiment on myself right now & seeing what happens when I include it in my meals.

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Post by Apprentice1981 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:32 pm

Thank you Jen! I was at Target this morning and picked up couple of dark bars. One was 80% and the other one 88%. Sampled some after finishing my sandwich. I think I am more of a 70% to 80% person &#128521;.

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Post by Apprentice1981 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:47 pm

Although there is one 85% bar(Green and Black's) that is very delicious.

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Post by Jen1974 » Fri Sep 23, 2016 2:54 pm

One of my favorite things I've gotten from No S is my reaction to a day when I know I can't succeed. Wednesday this week I was just extra hungry & not in the mood to be strict about what I ate. I tried a bigger lunch, which helped get me through to dinner, but needed a bigger dinner to. For me the day was technically a fail, I had an extra yogurt at lunch, an extra roll with honey butter at dinner, & finished the day with an extra glass of wine, but considering the way I felt, in the past it would have turned into a "what the hell" day & instead I enjoyed my few extras without going overboard & feeling too full, and I didn't graze or snack my way from lunch to dinner. Love being in control of the food instead of the food being in control of me!!!

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Post by Merry » Sat Sep 24, 2016 2:10 am

Jen1974 wrote:One of my favorite things I've gotten from No S is my reaction to a day when I know I can't succeed. Wednesday this week I was just extra hungry & not in the mood to be strict about what I ate. I tried a bigger lunch, which helped get me through to dinner, but needed a bigger dinner to. For me the day was technically a fail, I had an extra yogurt at lunch, an extra roll with honey butter at dinner, & finished the day with an extra glass of wine, but considering the way I felt, in the past it would have turned into a "what the hell" day & instead I enjoyed my few extras without going overboard & feeling too full, and I didn't graze or snack my way from lunch to dinner. Love being in control of the food instead of the food being in control of me!!!
YES! Good for you for taking control of how the day went!
Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
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Post by Apprentice1981 » Sat Sep 24, 2016 7:55 pm

I love what you said in regards to being in control of food and not letting it master and control you.Today is one of those hungry days for me too. I will allow myself to have bigger portions a.k.a. Jen's method of preventing "what the hell " :)

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Post by Jen1974 » Wed Sep 28, 2016 4:50 pm

I hope it worked for you Apprentice!!

Things have been going decent enough for me. A few too many days that I consider fails in the month of September, but I'm fine with it because none of the fails have really been all that bad. Small things that didn't lead to anything bigger.

I decided the dark chocolate experiment was a fail. I lost about 3 pounds over the last 6 weeks which is good, & I was having dark chocolate, but really I was losing because I added in biking which when I thought about it was basically canceling out the chocolate. I'm thinking I could have skipped the chocolate & the biking & been in the same place. I wasn't replacing something on my plate with the dark chocolate, I was just adding something that didn't need to be there & if anything it was making me want to eat more, not less.

I'm ready to get rid of the last of the vacation weight in October and would love to see a no fail October happen (:

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Post by Apprentice1981 » Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:43 pm

My dark chocolate experiment was a fail too. Since incorporating it into my daily meals I started having daily headaches/migraines. I didn't put two and two together until two days ago. As soon as I stopped no more headaches. So for now it's off the menu. I will pray for perseverance as you intend to get rid of the vacation weight! You are such an inspiration to me.

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Post by Jen1974 » Fri Sep 30, 2016 2:28 pm

I get migraines from nuts. There's nothing like a migraine to teach you not to eat something (:

This week has felt awesome. Skipping the dark chocolate saves me about 100 calories a day I figure but I've actually been less hungry this week than I was last week, which is really strange. I wonder if it could be a little extra sugar in my diet fires up my appetite? Or if because dark chocolate is something that makes a meal extra good if it makes me hungrier anticipating the treat? It will be interesting to see what the scale does over the next few weeks. I weigh myself everyday & use the average of the 7 days to see what my trend is doing. The highs & lows can be all over the place, but the average is pretty consistant. The best thing is that the low might be the same for 3 weeks in a row, but the average still moves down. I sometimes think people think that they have plateaued when they only look at the lows each week & end up discouraged. I still feel discouraged when the low doesn't go down & I feel like I'm doing everything right, but it helps to see the average moving!!

I'm pretty close to where I'll give this maintenence thing a try again. I was looking at style images to get some ideas for fall clothes & saw pictures of Kelly Ripa. I pulled only pictures of her & noticed how much prettier she looks when her weight goes up a little.

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Post by lpearlmom » Sat Oct 01, 2016 3:40 am

I think it's really smart how you pay attention to averages over time. Much more sane!

I think you're on to something about the chocolate spurring the appetite. I found that too when I was trying to incorporate sweets during the week. I decided it was better to keep them to the weekends.

Have a great S day tomorrow !

Linda
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
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GW:160

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Post by RAWCOOKIE » Sat Oct 01, 2016 7:57 pm

Thanks for your comment on my thread - about the cookie love!

re dark chocolate - I don't allow myself any chocolate, however dark, on N days. I don't binge on dark chocolate, that's for sure. I like Divine dark chocolate (I think it's 70% - not sure) - but I agree with Apprentice, 80%+ is a bit too dark for me. In fact, today I even threw some away: it was 85% and I realized it was quite a struggle to eat it actually. I started wondering whether it was the chocolate I likes, or the sugar, milk, fat in the less-strong brands!!!!

I do, however, use cocoa powder on N days, to make a hot drink, with creamer and nutmeg added to it.
I love Everyday Systems :3

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Post by Apprentice1981 » Sun Oct 02, 2016 4:32 pm

I am thankful to you for introducing me to regular weigh-ins. With the right mindset and well established habits it is a very useful tool. Also, you mentioned whether on your blog or here about dairy and weightloss. I've looked into the research and have been testing it on myself. It is my favorite protein source along with eggs. The more dairy(greek yoghurt, cheese, milk and cottage cheese) I include in my meal the more sated I feel. Thank you for that insight!

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Post by Merry » Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:07 am

Jen1974 wrote: I weigh myself everyday & use the average of the 7 days to see what my trend is doing. The highs & lows can be all over the place, but the average is pretty consistant. The best thing is that the low might be the same for 3 weeks in a row, but the average still moves down. I sometimes think people think that they have plateaued when they only look at the lows each week & end up discouraged. I still feel discouraged when the low doesn't go down & I feel like I'm doing everything right, but it helps to see the average moving!!
I do something somewhat similar but math-less :-). I weigh daily (except Sundays), but usually go by my Monday weight. If my Monday weight is abnormally high and I suspect a spike because of a lot of salt over the weekend or some other similar reason, then I go by Tuesday's weight. Ironically, Monday is not always my highest weight (you would think it would be), but often Saturday is a higher weight for me (my "S" days are Friday and Sunday--Saturday is an "N" day for me). I don't consider the lows achieved during the week to necessarily be "real" weights. They could easily be differences in water weight from eating less. I don't consider any spikes mid-week as real either. But the dips and spikes help me know what my weight is doing overall (if I hit a new low, that usually does represent a downward trend for me, unless it's right before my cycle. Most months I drop 2 pounds a few days before my cycle starts--not sure why that is, but I blame it on hormonal fluctuations!). I go by the Monday or Tuesday weight because that represents to me what I have overall achieved and maintained.

I may have to try averaging sometime, to see what that's like! (right now, I don't record daily weights, so I'd have to start doing that. I only record monthly--the daily weights just help me know how to process the monthly.)
Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation

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Post by Jen1974 » Thu Oct 06, 2016 3:39 pm

I seemed to have had a woosh this week. It happens where I go along slowly losing the little big of weight I have left & then a big drop hits & seems to stay. I've read a lot about the woosh effect & although I KNOW that all it is weeks worth of smart choices all coming together, I can't help but think silly things like "maybe it was because I had less sparkling water", or "it could have been the extra fiber I ate". Like there is some magical combination that I want to figure out how to repeat LOL (:

In any event, I told myself I would go more for maintence than weight loss once I got rid of the vacation weight. I really don't want to get thinner, but I would like to firm up my stomach. It is the one thing that no matter what I weigh, I always think could be more firm/flat. So I'm going to add in blueberries, & work on increasing my protein in hopes of staying the same weight but maybe gaining a little muscle & losing a little belly fat (they say blueberries reduce belly fat in a study done on rats LOL, I figure blueberries are so darn good for you that they're worth having more of, so I bough a big bag of frozen ones at Costco & they taste like dessert eating them frozen (:

I'm hoping that by changing goals, maintenance will work better. I think I always pictured that maintenance would mean not trying, but really losing 1/2 lb per week vs. maintence is a very small difference in calories everyday. If I have the mindset that I can relax, it would be very easy to eat more than that!!

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Post by Apprentice1981 » Sat Oct 08, 2016 9:13 pm

I am delighted for you! It is a great place to be when you can say that you are content with the number on the scale and don't want to lose any more. It is encouraging to know that the hard work of discipline and self-control pays off in the end!

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Post by Jen1974 » Sat Oct 08, 2016 9:14 pm

I've been noticing that for the last few months I have a lot more "fails" than when I started. Nothing major, just little oops', an extra glass of wine, a few chips in soup that I had planned to only have cheese in. Really small fails that I count as fails because if I do these small things EVERY day I start backtracking or spinning my wheels & not making progress, so it's important to be strict but I've realized that it's the fails that are keeping my on track. It's keeping me from burning out because my standards aren't impossible to live up to. I'm okay with these small fails. I no longer beat myself up or turn them into "what the hell" days. I simply figure, that must have been something I needed, mark it & move on. It's probably why now that I'm at a weight I'm happy maintaining I don't really feel like I need to add food to my plate & am not at all burnt out. Normally I start having days when I get to this weight where I overindulge just because I am so sick of telling myself no all the time (:

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Post by lpearlmom » Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:36 am

Glad to hear you're in a good place with the numbers. I'm Hoping to get there...at some point!

I notice I have little fails everyday. I think it's my way of appeasing my inner rebellion without too much damage.

Keep up the good work!

Linda
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

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Post by Jen1974 » Tue Oct 18, 2016 3:35 pm

A week & 1/2 ago my family had football tickets & I decided to take a true S day, with no rules, because eating wasn't going to be anything close to normal that day. Boy did that not work for me LOL!! I do so much better with S days where I stick to N rules, but have S events. I don't even have to limit the events, but by thinking of it this way I keep it reasonable, where when I throw caution to the wind I go overboard. It took about a week of N days I figure to undo the overboard S day LOL! It's fine, I'm in the range of my goal weight but still just not something I want to repeat so I brought back my system where I track S days, N days, & fails but catorgize the fails to avoid the "What The Hell" that can come after a small fail. I can fail even an S day which is good for me. My longest running streak has been 64 days when I first started. I'd love to have another streak like that, not for weight loss but more for the sanity of eating in a way I'm proud of (:

Something I noticed from my out of control S day is that high glycemic load meals or snacks really takes aways my control with food. I split a pretzel with my daughter at the game. You would think that having a snack would have made me less hungry when we showed up at the mexican restaurant for dinner, but I was WAY more hungry than I normally am with no snacks. I ate SO MANY chips. It's like a domino effect. It really makes me wonder with all the snack food out there that is high glycemic if that is sometimes what makes it hard for some people with losing weight.

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Post by kaalii » Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:29 pm

Jen1974 wrote: Something I noticed from my out of control S day is that high glycemic load meals or snacks really takes aways my control with food. ...

It really makes me wonder with all the snack food out there that is high glycemic if that is sometimes what makes it hard for some people with losing weight.
i notice the exact same thing with me...
especially if i eat only high glycemic food... if i combine it with protein and/or veggies, it is better... so yeah, pretzels... :D
Age:40
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Body Fat %: 17.6
in it for maintenance and, more importantly, sanity!!

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Post by Jen1974 » Tue Oct 18, 2016 9:43 pm

kaalii wrote:
Jen1974 wrote:
i notice the exact same thing with me...
especially if i eat only high glycemic food... if i combine it with protein and/or veggies, it is better... so yeah, pretzels... :D
This is totally me too Kaalii!! I eat 1/2 bagel with scrambled eggs & cheese or 1/2 bagel with pizza sauce & mozzerella a lot & it fiils me up perfectly. Take that same bagel & put some jelly on it & it won't last at all & in no time I'll be starved.

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Post by RAWCOOKIE » Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:44 am

Yes, me too! On S days, if I eat high glycemic food I feel 'hungry' a couple of hours' later. I've noticed these on N days too if I choose certain kinds of bread. No wonder I used to 'have to' snack every 2-3 hrs before No S.
I love Everyday Systems :3

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Post by Apprentice1981 » Sun Oct 23, 2016 1:58 pm

Fruit eaten by itself makes me ravenous.

I can relate to what you said, " I'd love to have another streak like that, not for weight loss but more for the sanity of eating in a way I'm proud of (: " Eating when it's not my meal time makes me spiral out of control especially if I snack on fruits. I like your positive attitude about your small slip up. You encourage me!

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Post by Jen1974 » Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:45 pm

Thanks Apprentice , I always love hearing from you (:

Things have been going well on my end. I was reading about NEAT which are basically all the active non exercise calories we burn & have really been focusing on that which has made such a difference. I'm jumping on the exercise bike for a leisurely ride when I want to read, post here, check emails. I also have started reminding myself that when I run up to do a load of laundry, make the bed, or clean up, or grocery shop that I'm adding to my NEAT totals for the day & it makes some of those monotonous tasks a little more enjoyable (: I quit stopping to get the mail in my car & take a quick walk up to grab the mail before dinner. It's crazy how many small tweaks I can find to make in my day. I read that the difference in calories burned on a day can be huge for a bunch of small things & can really tell the difference. I'm eating more but still making progress. I'm siting at my lowest weight so far & another pound or so will put me at the lowest weight I'd want to hit, and honestly I wasn't sure if I wanted to be that low. I'm a runner & lift weights so I have a good amount of muscle, too low of numbers on the scale start to make me look old&#128534;

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Post by kaalii » Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:37 pm

Jen1974 wrote:T I also have started reminding myself that when I run up to do a load of laundry, make the bed, or clean up, or grocery shop that I'm adding to my NEAT totals for the day & it makes some of those monotonous tasks a little more enjoyable (: I quit stopping to get the mail in my car & take a quick walk up to grab the mail before dinner. It's crazy how many small tweaks I can find to make in my day.
aaawesome, jen!!

at my work people also like that im the one always ready to do things that require going up and down the stairs, offer gladly the help to elderly colleague (and even youger, lazier ones) who just cant/dont want to handle too much the stairs and we dont have the lift... or to move te chairs, clean the table surfaces and other chores... being physically more present with kids activities... the one that takes them the most to play outdoors no matter the weather and move/play with them when possible...
they appreciate me a lot at work for it and i dont hide that part of the motivation is also to keep myself fit... :wink:
Age:40
BMI: 18.8
Body Fat %: 17.6
in it for maintenance and, more importantly, sanity!!

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Post by Jen1974 » Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:53 pm

Small fail last night & I realized today how much I love that I have learned how to have a small fail. It seems so normal to have a small fail occasionally, what doesn't seem normal is taking an oops & letting it completely derail you. I'm really happy that No S has taught me how to fail small (:

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Post by lpearlmom » Fri Oct 28, 2016 9:09 pm

Jen1974 wrote:Small fail last night & I realized today how much I love that I have learned how to have a small fail. It seems so normal to have a small fail occasionally, what doesn't seem normal is taking an oops & letting it completely derail you. I'm really happy that No S has taught me how to fail small (:
Yay Jen!! I know it really reflects well on NoS principles, doesn't it? Nos is the first time I didn't go crazy every time I "fell off the wagon". Now there's no more falling off the wagon but sometimes I just hit a little bump in road. Nothing to do but keep going!

Have a great weekend!

Linda
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

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Post by Jen1974 » Sat Nov 05, 2016 4:47 pm

Getting to the bottom of my goal range has been interesting. My goal was to weigh 118-121 range when I was "done", I weigh every day & normally it's about 3 lbs that I can fluctuate from day to day so that was the range I wanted to see each morning on the scale. I'm there, but keep seeing other people at my same height whose goal was to be below that & it makes me start to question. Then I see pictures of overly thin people & snap out of it (: My face is built for 118-121. I hate airbrushed pictures in magazines that make you feel never good enough. It's hard not to wonder, would I have a stomach like "that" if I lost 2 more pounds. And it's only girls who do this to each other. Guys LOVE a wide range of bodies, yet girls are constantly judging & comparing themselves. It hate it & have normally steered clear of girls who play that "who can eat less" game when you are with them, but still fighting against being tempted to just keep on losing.

With eating now, I've been letting in these small fails creep into a lot of days. I'm really happy with my meals & S days so I don't feel the need to tweak & add more which I need to do to not keep losing weight, but usually everyday there is some "small fail" that I want & it would seem silly to be at my goal weight & not allow it. I'm tempted to quit marking them as fails, but allow one "small S" per day. It's never snacks, I'm not a snacker, but usually a sweet or second & it feels kind of nice to allow a little "extra". I will have to see how this goes as a way to maintain though, sometimes allowing sweets or seconds becomes a slippery slope. Might instead to decide to go bigger on S days.

But instead of being so happy to be here contemplating these "fun" thoughts, I'm trying to squash the little voice inside my head saying not to tweak anything & get skinnier. Glad there is a more sane part of me that likes my face just as it is & has no desire to look like skeletor. Plus my husband keeps telling me I'm already too skinny. Not sure why I feel the need to live up to what random skinny girls think instead of my awesome husband LOL!!

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Post by Jen1974 » Sat Nov 12, 2016 6:31 pm

I read this article that drive me crazy. I decided to read it because I've been struggling to be happy with where I'm at instead of trying to improve. My face looks better when I don't get too skinny, but I would be happier with my stomach if I got a little thinner. It's a constant battle that drives me crazy. I go for a few days in the maintence mode, just to switch to need to lose mode when I change my mind. I'm getting ready for a beach vacation, so it's pretty tempting to go with lose more LOL (:

So this article is about her accepting herself after having 4 kids, but has pictures of her looking perfect in a bikini. Oh it must be so hard to have to accept THAT body. However does she do it?!?! LOL LOL!! I HATE HATE HATE airbrushed unrealistic pictures. Here's the article:

http://www.shape.com/celebrities/interv ... s-dont-eat

I found an old habit creeping back in. It's called the restrict-binge habit. Here I am working on my habits & didn't even see it coming. I wasn't thinking it would be a bad thing to be strict on N days, a few of them had gotten a little too loosey goosey. I decided after going too big last Sunday on an S day to have a good week (sneaky way of allowing myself to "make up" for mistakes on Sunday). I did pretty good until last night when I went big. I'll give myself credit, the "binge" wasn't out of control or a whole crazy day or anything. Just allowing an extra breadstick at dinner, eating the whole calzone instead of bringing 1/2 home, sharing licorice with my daughter on the way home, having a couple pieces of dark chocolate & deciding as one last bit of fun a small Ben & Jerry's ice cream to end the day LOL! It wasn't a disaster, but wasn't my normal controlled eating that I've learned to do. So after 2 epic fails in the same week, I see what I was doing. I was using the rules to eat not enough on N days after having too big of S day. It was probably why my N days were getting a little loosey goosey too, the extra handful of cereal or the little bit more that were seconds were because I wasn't giving myself enough firsts!! Hello old habit. One of the best things I learned is to not make up for a bad day of eating. You have to just move on. I was sneaky with this by not admiting that was what I was doing, that I was just getting strict with the habits. So I loosened up my N days after last night. It's not that I need to break any rules, but I can't be strict with N days by using the rules to eat less to make up for a crazy weekend. That's why I have never gone full S days for weekends. The binge restrict cycle is too much of a habit for me. Super healthy days that lead to being sick of the rules & overeating. It's the habit I would most like to get rid of for good. I like using No S to be in control of food all of the time, not just on days where I'm being "good"
Last edited by Jen1974 on Sat Nov 12, 2016 11:43 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Post by LifeisaBlessing » Sat Nov 12, 2016 6:43 pm

Hi Jen!

Just a heads up--when I clicked on the above link, I got "Page Not Found."

And just a little recommendation from someone who successfully modifies NoS--I found the binge-restrict cycle went away COMPLETELY for me once I permitted myself fewer restrictions on my one plate meals (translation: sweets and snacky-type foods are okay) during the entire week at any of my meals. That way, the weekends didn't become glorified "make up for lost time" events, and the N Days didn't become "punish myself for being bad on the weekend." I'd tried vanilla NoS various times in the past with the same issues you're dealing with, so just wanted to throw in a pitch for my modified form of it. It could possibly help you out! :)
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
~Jimmy Dean

The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet

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Post by Jen1974 » Sat Nov 12, 2016 11:37 pm

Thanks Blessing. I've read your posts & am happy you've found such a good fit for you! We are actually similar in that we both do 3 meals all 7 days a week. I include dark chocolate some weeks in my meals & wouldn't consider it a fail if I had a dessert but "made room" for it on an N day, it's not really a mod because it would be rare for me that I want to do that. I'm not a huge dessert person &#128522; I've actually been successful & haven't seen this cycle at all with No S. I weigh what I weighed in high school & am pretty happy where I'm at. I think it may be part of my problem, I've gone a little bigger on S days thinking I'm happy at this weight, but then get sucked into thinking maybe I should lose more. My success with No S is with bigger N days. Having smaller N days leads to bigger S days for me, the "binge restrict" cycle, I do like having S days on the weekend where I go a little bigger though. It fits well with my life where weekends tend to be the days where we eat out more.

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Post by Jen1974 » Sat Nov 12, 2016 11:45 pm

I can't get the whole link to be clickable &#128533; Cutting & pasting is the only way to open it. It's an annoying article anyway LOL!!

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Post by lpearlmom » Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:00 am

I definitely hope you can accept yourself where you're at right now. Life is too short and all that. It's funny that you are annoyed at that perfect bodied mom (I would be too). I find myself getting annoyed at all the ppl on here that weigh like 125 or less and still trying to lose weight. (I think that includes you, sorry). Really? I'd love to weigh that!

Still I know it's not the weight. It's all a head game but when does it stop? When is it good enough? When do we get to embrace and love and enjoy our beautifully perfectly imperfect bodies just the way they are? I know I don't want to be 85 and still be thinking "just 5 more pounds". What a waste!

Anyway just food for thought and I'm talking to myself here too. I'm not close to 125 lbs but I do need to pick an end point eventually.

Best of luck. It's a tough issue. I know!

Linda
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

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Post by Jen1974 » Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:14 pm

Thanks for stopping by Linda (:

Yes, I'm one of the under 125s. I am 5'6" & was 119 before I left for a trip we took before Thanksgiving & that was my new low. I don't often post my weight because I don't like to compare & contrast.

Do not worry at all about offending me!! I have to admit I roll my eyes a little bit when one of us under 125s talks about skipping the treat that they really wanted or seconds of their favorite dinner. I mean if you can't have the fricken brownie or the extra slice of homemade pizza when you weigh less than 125 then when can you? I sometimes feel like there is just this huge push for us all to look like a Barbie doll, the girls on the front of Shape Magazine or one of the girls in a Victoria's Secret catalog that I just HATE. That's why my No S is pretty loose. I'm good enough (: But I'll read about others that are skipping the treat & think maybe I should aim higher. 125 is actually the weight on my drivers license that was always good enough to me. With No S I have gotten below that, but have stayed me. I'll have the sometimes special treat on a Wednesday just because & eat the extra slice of homemade pizza which is what I love about my No S. But still I don't look like the girls on the cover of Shape, & I have to fight the voices in my head that tell me I should skip those things sometimes & try to be better than good enough ):

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Post by lpearlmom » Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:30 am

Jen-- thanks for taking what I said in stride. It's all relative I think and what's it all for if we can't at least some point enjoy it right?

Besides the girl on the shape cover doesn't really look like the shape cover so what's the point of striving for something that doesn't exist.

Anyway, great discussion!

Linda :)
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

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Post by Jen1974 » Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:56 pm

Things have really clicked into place for me. I used MFP to see what my N days were like & for the amount of moving I do in a day they just weren't big enough since I stared reading on the exercise bike & walking to the mailbox. It was silly of me not to realize that sooner (: I created a don't go below line & it completely fixed the problem along with making no room for justification on S days. I know that no matter what I choose to enjoy on the weekend my Monday will still have the don't go below line. There becomes no excuse for the exrtra handful of chips that aren't needed or the little bit more of anything. I quit worrying about whether or not to lose & decided to let my latest mod decide for me. The pluses to this line are crazy. We had a beach trip over Thanksgiving which usually has me spending the days before having Solid N days knowing I'd be soon enough overdoing it. That didn't happen this time, the don't go below line kept me from doing it & it meant that I enjoyed all the vacation food but did not have a single thing I did that I regretted. I think normally I load my appetite up right before a trip & this time it didn't happen. I didn't gain any weight. Full disclosure I did get a flu bug the last couple of days that probably helped, but still something that has NEVER happened to me before. Coming home there was no feeling like I had to make up for mistakes. It's harder to justify going big on vacation when you can't plan to just make up for it when you are back!! It's the New Years resolution thing where you plan to deprive yourself so you need to live it up while you can that I have done many times but seems just ridiculous when I actually write it down &#128522;

My whole time on the plan has been very calming, but this is the most happy I've ever been with my relationship with food & I'm hoping it stays that way!!

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Post by worth it » Wed Nov 30, 2016 3:34 am

Hi Jen!

LOVE hearing the story about the sanity you've gained with your eating (even on vacation)! No S can be so freeing if we let it, and it looks like you have taken full advantage of that! Congrats!

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Post by Jen1974 » Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:54 pm

I read some of my old posts. It was fun to see just how much good the No S habits did for me in 2016. The trend seems to be though that when I was motivated by weight loss everything went well but when I would shift towards maintenance or during times like Christmas & vacations old habits would sometimes creep back in & set me back.

I read in someone's check in about a week of fails after feeling so good about their progress & could totally relate. You hope bad habits are gone for good, but they tend to show up & throw you off track from time to time making you question what you are doing wrong (:

So far since the middle of January when I quit calorie counting, it has really changed my mindset. I started focusing on habits only & it's been really fun to see how many N days I can get!!

When I was counting calories, it was getting in the way of making the No S habits strong. It would undermine "no snacks" by saying a snack while Le I made dinner was okay if I included it with my dinner calories. It would undermine the "no sweets" by saying a sweet was okay if I didn't go above my calorie goal. It would undermine "no seconds" by saying it was okay to have a little more at lunch as long as I ate less at dinner. I was letting calorie counting allow me to be less strict with the habits I was trying to build which meant that I didn't have solid habits to rely on when I needed them.

My goal for this year is strong habits & no more epic fails (: I figure the strongest habits come from lots of practice & the more time that passes where I practice the habits the better I'll do.

Loving my mostly vanilla version. We pulled the kids out of school for an extra ski day today & have friends coming to stay with us so I'm taking an extra S day this weekend (:

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Post by lpearlmom » Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:08 am

Sounds like you're in a really good place. Calories counting is the pits imo.

Yay for ski days!
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
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Post by Jen1974 » Wed Feb 08, 2017 3:58 pm

You're totally right Linda (: Calorie counting is the pits!!

I've been loving how great it feels to be free of it!!

After a weekend of 3 S days, I failed yesterday ): I made it to an 11 day streak though which is the best I've done since October so at least it's improvement (: It wasn't a huge fail either. I had apples & dip after I finished with my dinner which would have been a small fail but than really wanted an ice cream with my kids while we watched a show so I took a normal fail. Love fails like this!! It was totally worth it, I didn't feel enough guilt to not totally enjoy it but just enough that I don't want to make a habit out of it (: plus I love that I give myself points to stop short of WTH!! For the most part I don't consider passing the point of a normal fail these days which is so much better than how I used to respond to a bad moment!!

The S's I had last weekend were with friends who are very obserative about what & how much everyone is eating so it wasn't really that enjoyable to eat LOL!! I do not like the game that mostly women play with constant talk of how much they don't eat or when they do eat how full they are. It has gotten so much better for me around those types of people becuase when I refuse to play the game, the conversation doesn't have far to go, but sadly I'm still pretty affected from times in my life where it would be a trigger to feel like I needed to start some new diet. It tends to make me feel a little less good about myself & my food choices.

At the halftime show there were comments as we watched about Lady Gaga's "belly". When you can fat shame a person that is in that great of shape, our culture has something wrong with it!! I couldn't believe social media was fat shaming her too. I hate the world my daugher has to grow up in. How does anyone make it through without developing some sort of disordered eating!!

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Post by Jen1974 » Sun Feb 19, 2017 4:19 pm

Life without calorie counting is a lot better!! I've been a little frustrated seeing the numbers on the scale refuse to budge, but this time of year there's usually a lot more S events to manage. We have a cabin where friends come to stay & when people bring food there's a lot more pressure to eat!! Especially when they do it as a "thanks for having us" gesture. One of the places we take friends has the best donuts & hot wings so that doesn't help either &#129315; I work out a lot & am not someone that needs to lose weight but my clothes fit better when I stay at the low end of my goal range. But being someone who doesn't "need" to lose weight makes it hard to turn down food without annoying people I'm around. I eat a lot, never eat like I'm on a diet, but snacking & grazing just aren't enjoyable anymore & so I hate feeling pressure to eat so that I'm not ruining it for those I'm with.

The next three weeks return to normal though with no visitors so I'm hoping to see more :mrgreen: for the rest of Feb!!

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Post by heliz » Sun Feb 19, 2017 6:18 pm

I still somewhat count calories, only because I'm trying to get a handle on what a good portion size looks like. But yeah, there is no way it's going to be a long-term sustainable thing.
No-S does seem great for long-term. That's interesting that you feel pressure not to ruin it for others by not eating. As someone who used to always eat everything without thought, I've never had to deal with that as much. Well, I hope your friends wouldn't really get annoyed. I know I never felt bad or thought bad of someone who passed on food, and just had a water or something. And if I did, that's kinda on me. I work with some food pushers though... and that is FAR more annoying. :)

But I'm glad you have a more pressure free time the rest of the month! :D
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Post by lpearlmom » Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:22 am

Oooh cabin sounds fun! Amazing how women always come back to the diet talk. Try not to give into that pressure. A simple "no thank you, I'm not hungry" usually works for me.

Not sure how you can eat healthy at a place called donuts & wings though! ;)
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
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Post by Jen1974 » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:42 pm

Heliz I know what you mean about calorie counting for portion size. I think for quite a while I felt like I needed it to know what to eat (:

I don't notice what others eat either, but holy cow am I a target for "aren't you eating breakfast yet", "don't you want one of _____", "don't you like the _______ that I brought, how come you aren't having any?"

I say that I had a big lunch, or I'm not hungry yet & it usually makes it okay, but it's also folowed with a bunch of explaining about why the girl is eating & how she feels guilty & will have to start eating better Monday. I think we're all a bit broken with food & there's just so much food shaming out there. I read an article about how women do a lot of justifying & shaming our eating with comments like "it's not that healthy, theres a lot of carbs or sugar, or not enough protein, or too much fat". It seems to me girls usually feel like they are being judged for eating & they need to justify any "bad" choices because the world has turned food "bad". There's so much body shaming & food shaming, boy do I hate it for my daughter!!!

Linda, the cabin is fun (: I feel lucky we get to go there!! I love wings & donuts, some of my favorite S events (: (:

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Post by lpearlmom » Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:57 am

Oh I couldn't agree with you more. There's a blog called "every woman has an eating disorder"--truth!

It's hard I know but try not to eat just to make someone feel better. You gotta put your needs first. They'll be okay. ;)

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:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
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Post by Bluebell » Fri Feb 24, 2017 8:58 am

Jen I grew up with food being 'good' or 'bad' and my dear mum still uses this language, she also says it about herself 'I've been really bad with my eating this weekend' 'I'm going to be good this week'. Its so sad because it seems so ingrained in her. I have tried to gently point her in the direction of NoS and even printed out some of the information on the website for her but I don't really know if she'll take it in.
I'm truly conscious of not talking about food in these terms in front of my boys, I do talk about 'treats' and 'sensible choices' which I hope will show them that some foods should be for everyday and some for special occasions. Its such a minefield though!

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Post by Jen1974 » Sat Feb 25, 2017 12:46 am

Love the name of that blog, total truth!! People talk about the naturally thin & I know hardly any of those people. The thinnest girls I know go to crazy extremes to get there. Thin just isn't worth it enough to me. I love food!!! And it feels great to see a low number on the scale but after the short lived happiness from that wears off I'm not any more happy deep down than when that number is higher!!

It is really hard to teach kids wisdom around food. I don't call food bad or good (anymore) but do want them to learn the value of some things being special & sometimes. No S principles are great for that, but I don't even tell my daughter that I "can't" have something, I always say I want to save it for when I'm hungrier.

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Post by lpearlmom » Sun Feb 26, 2017 7:01 am

Jen1974 wrote: Thin just isn't worth it enough to me. I love food!!! And it feels great to see a low number on the scale but after the short lived happiness from that wears off I'm not any more happy deep down than when that number is higher!!
So true Jen!

I love that you are helping your kids have a good relationship with food. Sometimes I think that even if it's too late for us (hopefully not) at least we've done our best to stop the cycle.
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

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Post by Jen1974 » Sun Feb 26, 2017 7:53 pm

I sure hope so Linda!! My mom was great, but my dad called women fat a lot & would make comments about girls on the beach that shouldn't be in bikinis. Holy cow hearing comments from you dad when you are a teenage girl is the quickest way to an eating disorder &#128580; But I think another big factor for me was when friends started talking constantly about good & bad foods & body shamed themselves all the time. It's my daughters friend's I worry about the most & our girls listen. The mom's I know that struggle & talk the most about weight have the little girls that come over & then talk about it, at 10 & 11 years old &#128556;

On that note&#128540;

My new focus is going to be to stop grazing. I actuallly hate grazing, it never fills me up. I think the area of the brain that lets me know I'm satisfied needs to see the serving of food all together to function proplerly. But when we're socializing the norm is grazing. Last night we had friends over for dinner & we all sat around the table grazing on appetizers & chatting. When they left I kept grazing on chips because I didn't feel done yet. I woke up today & didn't feel hungry for breakfast & have just felt blah. My body feels so much better with meals so I need to have a better plan to navigate these things. I need to put out appetizer plates I'm thinking. Then I can at least fill the appetizer plate & see the portion size. I'm sure if I had to pile all the chips I ate last night on one or two plates there is no way I would have wanted that many. Plus there is no way the number of chips I ate would fit on a small app plate LOL!!!

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Post by Jen1974 » Mon Feb 27, 2017 5:39 pm

I have been trying to come up with what to give up for Lent this year. Last year I gave up snacks & sweets which is how I ended up finding No S &#128522;

This year I've decided to really focus on seconds. I think the concept of seconds is the hardest for me, not in that I go grab a second plate of food, but in that I'm always wanting a little more. Grazing chips or other S day treats on S days is my least favorite & is basically a form of seconds, or grabbing that just one more "_____" & it's the same with the glass ceiling where occasionally I'll have just one more.

So for Lent, done is done, all food, even on S days must be portioned out on a plate & when it's gone, no more. Going past the glass ceiling will also be considered seconds. I feel like lately I've felt a lot of day after regrets for bigger S events than necessary so I'm hoping this will make the no seconds habit more solid (:

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Post by Imogen Morley » Mon Feb 27, 2017 6:37 pm

During my most successful period of NoS I introduced a similar mod: no seconds of dessert. It forced me to eat slowly and mindfully. That's a great way to introduce some "speed bumps" on S-days!

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Post by Jen1974 » Tue Feb 28, 2017 4:34 pm

No seconds on dessert is a huge No S victory!! I'm pretty good most of the time, but it's definitely a hard one to say no to sometimes & when I give in I'm never that happy about it later :wink:

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Post by Jen1974 » Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:58 pm

So Vanilla didn't end up working for me. My weight was going up even though I felt like I was having to try a lot harder. I tracked my N day meals for a couple days & realized I was lower in calories than when I counted calories. I was skipping the dark chocolate I had been including with my meals without adding something & I was naturally eating less at dinner.

I wasn't hungrier during the week from this, but I started to notice that by Thursday night I'd be feeling ready for a "break". I was trying to keep Friday's N days when normally S events were fine on Friday nights for me but things come up for me a lot on Fridays where I didn't want to skip the S. When I felt like I "should" be skipping the S it made me feel too restricted & when I called Friday a NWS day I was going bigger than I normally would have.

I was craving more carbs on weekends & had a few moments of weakness where I was eating cereal out of the box after dinner on S days or having too many cookies or having yogurt & grapenuts before bed. Things I just wasn't doing on a normal basis before.

I can't figure out why I was gaining weight though because even with that I felt that overall I was eating less food. I felt more like I was on a diet where so far No S hasn't felt diety to me.

I really think that having a piece of dark chocolate with my meals takes away carb cravings & changes S days for me so I'm back to that. 3 meals a day all 7 days works best for me & even though I was still sort of following that plan doing vanilla I was craving after dinner snacks which doesn't happen normally & giving in because it was an S day & it was technically allowed.

So back to my 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. ONE (any more is a fail) piece of dark chocolate with each meal. I'm not full on calorie counting, but am checking to make sure I'm not having too many light dinners on N days. One day is fine, but a couple in a row leads to me wanting bigger S days. I count S events on S days but there is no limit to how many I can have, S events can be included Friday night though Sunday night but aren't required, especially if there is nothing S worthy so some S days are technically N days. I like seeing how many N days I have each month but S days can ALWAYS be S days and I can NEVER say no S's on one, even if I ate though the entire kitchen the day before (:

My other allowed thing is I can exchange my glass ceiling for a small Ben & Jerry's ice cream & still call it an N day. This is something I had always done before No S & it was never a problem. I'd like to start having a few days a week where I skip having any drinks & having an ice cream with my kids while we watch TV is a nice alternative (:

I do have a hard time with high glycemic foods so that is why the only sweets I allow on N days are ice cream (as long as its on an alcohol free day) & dark chocolate, both low glycemic & don't trigger cravings for me.

I thought that vanilla No S would make the habits second nature so that on a day where I was hormonal or in a bad mood that the habits would be able to control me, but trying vanilla made me realize that having strict do not pass rules is the important part.

Creating rules for things that aren't problems makes it harder to follow the rules for the things that are problems. Like for me, dark chocolate isn't the problem, it's the concept of seconds where I can sometimes eat too much & regret it. But when I make a rule & skip the dark chocolate I'm using some of the will power I need to avoid seconds to keep me away from something that isn't causing problems.

In my first couple of weeks back to my Jen Version of No S, I dropped the weight I gained. I've read that people who eat dark chocolate weigh less even though they consume more calories. It's so weird, because it does seem like the dark chocolate calories almost don't count for me but it's probably more that I'm not overdoing carb foods on S days by including the dark chocolate (:

Jen1974
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Post by Jen1974 » Mon Mar 06, 2017 6:54 pm

In between giving up seconds for lent & reverting back to more my old style of No S both N & S days have been going great (: S days were pretty mild this weekend with only bigger dinners & dark chocolate as the S's. Last week my husband was out of town & so most of the nights I traded my glass ceiling for ice cream so this weekend I didn't really care to add desserts as the S's.

I think that Vanilla No S shouldn't be so hard, but seeing how tweaking the plan slightly made it so much better for me is really interesting. I think the foundation is so perfect with No S, sometimes I see people leave & wish they could tweak it until it worked for them instead of abandoing it all together. Over the past year I have tried all sorts of different things & I'm sure in the future I'll continue to make tweaks, testing what makes me the happiest.

Making smart choices in how you eat isn't ever easy, no matter how simple the plan, but I think that when you make it too hard you won't succeed. And what is too hard for one person might not be too hard for another. It's too hard for me to eat light enough on N days to make up for S days. I do better only limiting foods that cause me problems instead of blanket rules that limit things that I don't have problems with. Giving up snacks is pretty easy for me though, not that I never want one, just that even when I do I'm not tempted to give in.

When I built the plan around my strengths it made it easier to overcome my weaknesses! But there is no magic. Just because I have a piece of dark chocolate with my meals doesn't mean I'll never overdo it on cookie dough. I think I was looking for magic. Something that would make me behave, but for me the closest I can get is setting myself up to be happy enough with how I eat to not feel the need to rebel.

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Post by LifeisaBlessing » Mon Mar 06, 2017 10:24 pm

Jen, you have such wonderful insights! :) I agree 100% with your most recent post above; thank you for sharing. I'll be keeping your wise words in mind whenever I'm tempted to go off plan. :)
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
~Jimmy Dean

The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet

Jen1974
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Post by Jen1974 » Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:38 pm

Thanks Life (: You have really mastered your mod!! I think No S is the perfect foundation & love reading how different people use it to work for them!!

I just was telling Kaali in her thread how show absolutely crushes Vanilla. She is my Vanilla hero (:

I'm addicted to reading daily check in threads & seeing what works & what doesn't work for everyone. After being here over a year now I think that when Vanilla works that it's the perfect plan with no gray areas, but hate when people leave because I think that No S is a perfect foundation & building what works for you around it would be so much better than jumping ship. I also think adding in mods too soon isn't a good idea either. Vanilla habits need time to develop, but mods don't mean you are doing it wrong.

When people struggle with no snacks I wonder why they don't just add in a 4th meal. Even in the No S book it says that there is no set number of meals.

When people struggle with overdoing S days & end up on a treadmill of being just good enough during the week to make up for out control S days I think it's best to hope that S days calm down on their own, but before you give up all together because you aren't losing weight, why not try leveling the plan out with N days that are maybe a little less restrictive so that you don't feel like you need to go so big on S days.

I have never done well with cheat days or days off so full blown S days would never work for me. That doesn't mean that No S isn't for me though!!

Chips, fries, & other empty calorie foods that aren't desserts need to be included on my sometimes & special list, but there are a few things that would be considered desserts that don't need to be on that list for me.

For me snacks & grazing my life is better without so I never need to include that.

For others the thought of never having a snack again would be something they couldn't possibly give up. If they thought they could never have a full blown day off, that wouldn't work for them.

I like having a couple of drinks at night, for others, they don't have that. Some people instead have a snack while they watch TV. I wouldn't be happy giving up my nightly drinks & would probably eventually give up if I thought I had to & I think for some giving up the nightly snack is too much to give up. That one seems to be something I feel a lot of people leave over. I'm not saying that it's not way better to give up the habit of late night snack, but if that is something you can't give up, why not pick something you can give up instead & try No S with 4 eating events a day.

If weight loss is your goal you have to give up something, but you will be more successful long term if you choose to give up realistic things instead of things impossible for you to give up. I don't mind having more structure on my S days but other things don't work for me to give up. I realized after trying Vanilla that it has to be a trade, if you want to include something than something else needs to go or you'll never make progress.

So there are my random No S thoughts of the day (: I've been thinking more about mods since trying Vanilla. Vanilla wasn't working for me & it made me wonder how many people give up because they think if they can't do vanilla than they are doing it wrong.

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Post by LifeisaBlessing » Wed Mar 08, 2017 1:21 pm

Jen1974 wrote: I think that No S is a perfect foundation & building what works for you around it would be so much better than jumping ship.

If weight loss is your goal you have to give up something, but you will be more successful long term if you choose to give up realistic things instead of things impossible for you to give up.
Again, Jen, you hit the nail on the proverbial head lol! Last year, when I had my pivotal moment experience and finally made the decision once and for all to lose fat/weight and never look back, I decided on NoS with mods for the very reasons you stated. I knew logically that weight loss entails giving up something as you cut calories, but I wanted to make sure that it all fit into daily life and was as painless as possible. The NoS approach works! :)
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
~Jimmy Dean

The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet

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Post by Jen1974 » Sun Mar 12, 2017 3:43 pm

So PMS brought on my first fail in a long time :roll:

It had been 29 S or N days, so I'm happy with that. It wasn't an Epic Fail either, but too many cookies & an extra drink that just shouldn't have happened last night. I know most people don't fail S days, but my problem coming in was the S days so I needed a do not cross line on those. The line is always slightly smudged though where it's an S day & I don't limit S events, although I always know the day after when it's been crossed LOL! It's things like deciding to have cookies & not setting a definite boundry of how many is one serving & things like that. So from now on I'm putting all food, on a fricken plate. I was trying to do that for Lent & feel that I failed my "no seconds for lent" by not having clear boundries so I'm a little frustrated. It's hard to know what line not to cross though if you don't make it clear where the heck the line is (:

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Post by TexArk » Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:40 pm

Putting food on a plate. What a revolutionary idea.

Yep, that would solve many of my issues. My default setting is to not only not use a plate, but not use silverware, and not sit down! So on S Days I need to put up those boundaries. If I am going to have a nice dessert, I should put it on a pretty plate and enjoy.

Oolala has talked about other cultures and their approach to food. They are changing of course as they become more like us in the U.S. But I taught overseas for a semester in Italy and another semester in Greece. It is different now and their children are getting fat, but at that time they did not eat between meals and they would never walk down the street eating their pastry. If they bought one, it would be wrapped up and boxed as a gift and taken home to enjoy on a proper plate. We have probably all read why French Women Don't Get Fat. Maybe, I need to imagine that I am breaking cultural taboos if I bypass plates, silverware, and a table!

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Post by Elizabeth50 » Mon Mar 13, 2017 11:55 am

Hi Jen! I understand about the grey boundaries on S days. I would almost always go overboard on S days. That's one reason I decided this time to treat all days the same by allowing myself a small sweet at any given meal if I'm having a craving. (Got the idea from another NoS'er.) Though I recently had three bad days in a row, I'm back on track and it seems to be working. But, I do think it's doable for most people to have limits on their S days. I think once you decide on what your boundaries will be, you'll have an easier time on S days.

I look forward to seeing your progress! :)
No S Restart 05/22/19

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Post by Izzy » Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:37 pm

LifeisaBlessing wrote:
Jen1974 wrote: I think that No S is a perfect foundation & building what works for you around it would be so much better than jumping ship.

If weight loss is your goal you have to give up something, but you will be more successful long term if you choose to give up realistic things instead of things impossible for you to give up.
Again, Jen, you hit the nail on the proverbial head lol! Last year, when I had my pivotal moment experience and finally made the decision once and for all to lose fat/weight and never look back, I decided on NoS with mods for the very reasons you stated. I knew logically that weight loss entails giving up something as you cut calories, but I wanted to make sure that it all fit into daily life and was as painless as possible. The NoS approach works! :)
Sorry for chiming in late on this, have been away for a while.....

Jen and Life - very well said and I couldn't agree more! As you may already know I have a mod that works for me (that is when I am not ill which has been most of the last 6 weeks!) which is so in line with what you two have done, making No S work for YOU without completely bailing altogether. It is SO encouraging to find a few of you here who have had success with mods. Thank you both for sharing! This is the kind of thing that encourages me to to KEEP GOING, so keep sharing!
Izzy

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Post by Jen1974 » Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:59 pm

Thanks for stopping by Izzy (:

I love No S with mods!! It has made it so I can focus on the things that I need the most focus on!!

I don't think food & dieting is a one size fits all sort of thing. We all need to find what motivates us to best selves!!

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Post by oolala53 » Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:14 pm

I haven't read your whole thread but did see the beginning and some updates and boy am I impressed!

I have a nephew by marriage who is naturally thin. I've watched him a lot over the years. He will take food but then get involved in conversation and pick at his food. He seems impervious to pressure to eat. He'll say to save it for him so he can eat it later. It doesn't always get eaten, but often the observers don't know that. I don't know if you could make that work when you have guests that bring food.

But you are really working on the fine points, no? Just managing our food-rich culture. It's likely this or weigh and measure, no sugar no flour, etc. I'll take these battles. :twisted:
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
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Post by Izzy » Tue Mar 28, 2017 11:25 am

I looked around on your "funt2eatagain" site, laughed so hard at some of your memes! It reminds me we need to not take life so seriously all the time and you have some GREAT messages in those blog posts.

What a great site, you have a gift for writing.
Izzy

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Post by Jen1974 » Tue Mar 28, 2017 8:53 pm

Thanks Oolala!! I like the suggestion about your nephew. That would be much less obvious than skipping!!

The funny thing about when guys eat very little or skip something vs when girls do is how differently i feel like it's viewed. When it's a girl, everyone seems to assume they are trying to lose weight but when it's a guy most don't notice & those that do seem to assume it's because they aren't hungry. Maybe I'm wrong, but that always seems to be how it looks to me (:

I guess it could be too though that you almost never hear a guy talking diet talk or saying things like "I really shouldn't" or maybe it's just the people I'm around &#129315; I don't do that either anymore. I use the "would I want my daughter to hear this nonsense" filter LOL!!

Thanks for the nice compliment Izzy!! I had fun with that site & miss writing but kind of ran out of things to say about how great No S is &#128522;

I have been playing with this happiness challenge I started & thinking I may start to write a little about that. It's something I've done to move focus to all the other areas outside of what the scale says or how I'm eating that make me happy.

As for me, I am at a really good, relaxed, happy place with food. Maybe my happiness challenge is working LOL!! I got back to my "good enough" weight & decided to quit trying to lose those last couple of pounds from there to get to my "ideal" probably too skinny for me weight. I never like photos of me when I weigh less than where I'm at anyway. It doesn't mean that I get to no longer try though, which I always thought would happen with maintenance!!

Oolala's story of her naturally thin nephew made me think how few naturally skinny people I know. If you saw me you might think I was one, but I have to choose everyday to make the right choices with food & exercise. I think that they are more rare than people realize. For the most part the thin people I know all have to work at it & the thinner ones REALLY work at it. Some of the things I hear the thinner women I know do to stay that thin I realized I had 0 interest in ever doing!! I love being a girl that chooses to eat cinnamon breadsticks my daughter makes on Monday of Spring Break but chooses to say no to the potato chips my son puts out before dinner!! No S taught me how to pick the S's that were worth it instead of the old "eat everything diet starts Monday" routine that was my normal.

It doesn't mean that I don't have a bad day or two, but I've noticed over time the off days continue to get more mild & never feel out of control, but more like me choosing to fail. It's not something that happened to me though. I had to decide to do it. Most choices with food are either strengthening the positive or the negative habit!!

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Post by oolala53 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 6:59 am

My theory is that skinny people are in the minority because when humans were evolving, most of the ones with fast metabolisms that couldn't store fat died before they had offspring. Only war, famine, or culture keeps the majority thin. The others are exceptions.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
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1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
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Post by kaalii » Wed Mar 29, 2017 11:34 am

wow, jen! so great to hear that you are in such a good place regarding food and body image!!

hey, do write about the happiness challenge... (or maybe you already have but i can't seem to find it)
Age:40
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Body Fat %: 17.6
in it for maintenance and, more importantly, sanity!!

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Post by noni » Wed Mar 29, 2017 12:36 pm

Jen1974 wrote: I've been thinking more about mods since trying Vanilla. Vanilla wasn't working for me & it made me wonder how many people give up because they think if they can't do vanilla than they are doing it wrong.
Jen, I was one of those people you talked about, repeatedly trying Vanilla, eventually gaining weight back because of out-of-control S days, then leaving No S. I've tried sweet mods before, but I was adding in sweets I've always lost control over.

This time around, I reintroduced the sweet mod, but was careful at first what the sweets were. It's working so well for me so far, so that last month I added the trigger-sweet that was previously a problem. I only eat a small amount on N-days, and it's been going well so far.

How true! No S is the foundation diet. Stay at Vanilla for as long as you can, but before giving up No S, tweak it this way and that way, until you're comfortable with it, and it brings satisfaction. I also went to smaller plates and most N-days I don't eat breakfast, and yet this is the most relaxed I have been with No S.
"Never go back for seconds. Get it all the first time." - Garfield

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Post by oolala53 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:41 pm

I guess I'm wrong, but I've never thought of permanent unbridled S days as Vanilla. I doubt anyone can eat S after S on weekends and experience much satisfacion with the program. That's just inherent in the experience of repeated excess. If having to exert any control on S days means it's not Vanilla any more, I'd guess that Vanilla isn't the longterm norm. Or maybe it is, but people who have it go that easy don't feel any reason to stay and keep posting.

But I think of non-Vanilla as things like switching S days or adding consistent designated S's on a weekday. Those obviously work for some, but I swear I've seen many more try them early on and end up switching back because the mods often led to either gradual increasing again or out-and-out backlash.That's fair. I chalk that up to the 2-5 year adjustment period that even successful dieters go through. Most don't go straight to goal and stay there. The unsuccessful ones interpret the difficulties as signs of permanent impossibility and give up rather than as times to either rest and tread water for a bit before renewed energy or to adjust the program. But I do think the No S ethic of starting with more leeway and then adjusting downward appeals to our sense of achievement more than getting humbled on a strict diet plan and possibly feeling we're too weak to make it, so we have to add stuff in.

Hoo, boy, the price we pay for living with access to excess (and a thin ideal). So much reflection! What would it be like to live in a culture in which almost no one worries about eating too much, where there is never a magazine cover with a thin woman and a diet?
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
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Post by Jen1974 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 5:54 pm

Thanks Kaali (: It's only in rough draft form so far, but if I end up publishing the site I'll post the link!!

Noni, that was me before No S. Out of control weekend days. My brain didn't handle a day off well, always wanting to take advantage of the "off limits" things while it had that chance.

Oolala, as for vanilla vs. mod I think that it really depends on the person as to which is best.

I was someone already pretty good at the N type of day, it was the S type of day my brain couldn't handle. Maybe it was the years spent depriving myself in different ways, but a day without rules in my mind was freedom to eat all the things I didn't allow during the week. Plus I actually enjoyed the feeling of eating whatever I wanted. I just didn't enjoy the yo-yo effect that had on the scale. For me the pull to quit dealing with the weight increase & decrease was bigger than the pull to enjoy a day off so I keep to N Day rules with S events on S days. I don't even have to limit the number of S day events, I choose what I most want to do, but never is an S event eat the entire row of Oreos. My natural style of eating was always very similar to No S so I don't think I would have gotten there on my own, at least not to the point where I would have felt good about my weight all of the time. I would have continued to gain weight, feel presure to take it off, lose weight.

I don't think that Reinhard ever thought of S days as any sort of binge or cheat day, I've heard his podcast on it & love it, but think that no rules can be pretty hard to navigate. I need do not cross lines or I push the limits. I wasn't always like that, but then again I wasn't like that when my mom was telling me no snacks, dinner will be served soon, or you can only have one cookie (: I'm the type that always wants just a little bit more (:

As for the sweets mod, I just have less cravings & milder S days when I include dark chocolate on my N days. Do I think that is true for everyone? Nope, but for me that is true.

If you are a grazer & need that to be happy than probably No S won't work for you LOL, but for everyone else I think it should work for, but that certain personality types will do better with mods.

There's such a right vs. wrong way to do most diets, the beauty of No S is that the principles are so good that you can make it your own!!

I do think that mods can be a slippery slope.

Adding a sweet to meals for some could mean more hunger & cravings. I think for certain people some sweets this is more true for than others, that's why I only include dark chocolate (or the occasional ice cream instead of cocktails) other sweets tend to cause problems if I include them often.

Adding in a 4th meal or snack could mean that you quit losing weight because your getting too many calories overall.

Trying to set limits you aren't ready for on your S days could make it so you burn out & quit all together.

And any mod that creates unclear bounderies can cause a huge problem. There should be no "should I or shouldn't I" with No S on N days. Otherwise you will convince yourself all sorts of things are okay LOL!!

I love Oolalas North Star quote about Vanilla No S being a great guiding point you can always find your way back to.

One thing that I think is that the majority of us think it's easier for others than it really is. This is not easy & if you're looking for a methoud to either lose weight or maintain that is always easy I'm not sure you will ever find it. Yesterday after talking about how great it was going for me I spent the afternoon craving a snack. And snacking isn't even my thing LOL!! I had to keep myself busy until dinner to keep myself from thinking non stop about what I wanted to eat & even busy didn't keep me from still wanting something. Sometimes I win & make it to dinner & sometimes I fail in moments like these, but we all have days & sometimes even weeks lik that.

Just my thoughts from watching people come & go around here.

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Post by Larkspur » Wed Mar 29, 2017 6:12 pm

I added a little dark chocolate after dinner as well. I think it helps me stop when I know I have that to finish off.

My hardest time is around 4 pm when I start to get ready to eat but dinner isn't until 6 or 6:30. I do have a coffee with milk and sugar or a juice and seltzer, which helps.

I agree it isn't always easy but it's easier than other diets, at least for me.

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Post by oolala53 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 6:12 pm

To me, an S day with one S event IS Vanilla. An S day on which I happen to have no S events is Vanilla, too. I guess I just cling to the term. I don't know why. I guess it's because S days were never meant to be gorge days. That was meant to be a temporary release valve. I really think most people do have to temper their S days at least a bit consciously.

I instituted extra limits after more than two years of wild s days that never calmed down on their own. I think of them more as intelligent dietary defaults, but I guess it's all semantics.

Whatever we call it, it's moderation for us and so much better than how life used to be!
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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Post by noni » Wed Mar 29, 2017 8:25 pm

oolala53 wrote:Whatever we call it, it's moderation for us and so much better than how life used to be!
I concur!
"Never go back for seconds. Get it all the first time." - Garfield

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Post by Jen1974 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:16 pm

oolala53 wrote:
Whatever we call it, it's moderation for us and so much better than how life used to be!
Completely agree (:

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Post by Jen1974 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:28 pm

Larkspur wrote:I added a little dark chocolate after dinner as well. I think it helps me stop when I know I have that to finish off.

I agree it isn't always easy but it's easier than other diets, at least for me.
I think that about dark chocolate too!! And it always leaves me feeling finished!!

Yes definitely easier!! And much more enjoyable (:

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Post by lpearlmom » Sat Apr 01, 2017 2:31 pm

It's a very French thing to do and makes it okay in my book!
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

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Post by Jen1974 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:24 pm

A few weeks ago I ate cake that I didn't really even want but felt pressure to eat when we had dinner with friends. It made me full & tired & they stayed for a while after & I just kept grazing on the cake as something to do to keep me awake. I used the excuse "it's an S day, so there's no rules" & later realized that it was basically the same thing I used to do when I'd say "What The Hell". I really don't think that S days were ever meant to be that way but sometimes I'll read people say how important No Rules are on an S day & use that as an excuse to go to big on an S day which always left me with regrets. I've realized for me the rare urge to eat as much as I can, will probably always be there. There’s been years of “what the hell” moments that have created that habit. It's so rare anymore that this happens that really it's not necessarily something I HAVE to fix, but my goal was a healthy relationship with food & using an S day as an excuse to allow something that doesn't align with that goal never feels right. It was a great a-ha moment for me. My eating is still very No S but I'm bending more towards what is normal. No S is the best way of eating & the basis of it really has made me a normal eater which is awesome!! I like to think of what I'm doing as No S with advise I would give my kids thrown in like NEVER too much low value food, if your starving have some fruit or veggies between meals but you don't want to ruin your appetite, and special things like homemade banana bread we rarely make should always be enjoyed warm no matter what day of the week it is (:

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Post by oolala53 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:35 pm

Gorging on S days is just supposed to allow the rebellion to get out of the system. It's certainly not sanctioned to go on and on . The book says eventually in essence whole weekends might go by without eating an S because your needs are met delightfully without them. But that might take awhile.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

noni
Posts: 613
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:01 pm

Post by noni » Sat Apr 22, 2017 11:47 pm

Oolala, that is the ideal, and I suppose there are those who eventually ease up on S days, but unfortunately, that wasn't me. I started to wonder what is wrong with my brain. It wasn't until I added a small sweet mod after meals that I was able to do the three meal on S-days without a ton of sweets to follow. I've tried the mod earlier a few times, but I wasn't ready for it. It seemed to work better for me in conjunction with a small plate. I guess if Vanilla isn't catching on, then keep working one's personal No S out until it (whether Vanilla or a mod) takes hold. It's been since Jan. and I'm finally satisfied even though I'm eating less than ever. I don't believe in "crossed fingers", but that is what I'm doing, so to speak.
"Never go back for seconds. Get it all the first time." - Garfield

Jen1974
Posts: 648
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:49 pm
Location: Colorado

Post by Jen1974 » Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:38 pm

noni wrote:Oolala, that is the ideal, and I suppose there are those who eventually ease up on S days, but unfortunately, that wasn't me. I started to wonder what is wrong with my brain. It wasn't until I added a small sweet mod after meals that I was able to do the three meal on S-days without a ton of sweets to follow. I've tried the mod earlier a few times, but I wasn't ready for it. It seemed to work better for me in conjunction with a small plate. I guess if Vanilla isn't catching on, then keep working one's personal No S out until it (whether Vanilla or a mod) takes hold. It's been since Jan. and I'm finally satisfied even though I'm eating less than ever. I don't believe in "crossed fingers", but that is what I'm doing, so to speak.
Yes, I think it's the ideal too!! I think maybe for most people, they just start making better choices. It's not that they never WANT to make bad choices though. I keep thinking at some point I will have no desire but for me in the rare moment of weakness, I do better with guidelines (:

I too feel my desire to have a bigger "S day" is less now that I'm not as strict about sweets on "N days" (mostly dark chocolate).

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Sun Apr 23, 2017 8:30 pm

There's only before and during... 8)
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Jen1974
Posts: 648
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:49 pm
Location: Colorado

Post by Jen1974 » Sun Sep 03, 2017 8:58 pm

I come around to check in but haven't posted much over the last few months. I always wondered what happened when people quit posting though when they would just disappear & I still like coming & lurking & seeing how people are doing. What I got from No S was a great springboard for me to end up at Intuitive Eating. I liked the 3 meals & my normal days consist of 3 meals but it's by choice & some days when my schedule is off it becomes 4 slightly smaller ones. No snacks usually worked for me except when I would be really hungry & white knuckling was never my thing so honoring my hunger, usually choosing fruit or veggies because I like being hungry for meals works better for me. No sweets taught me how much better I feel enjoyng empty calorie foods less often, but I'm better off indulging in these treats when I'm really craving them which got rid of my get it while I can attitude I would have trying to limit when that could happen. I quit weighing myself & completely quit counting calories, my life shifted away from a focus on controling food & my weight. I eat way more fruits & vegetables which has come from not counting calories, where I hated to "spend" too many calories on those, especially fruits but I haven't been tempted to overeat since I started around April 1st which I think comes from the fact that by doing that my body is better nourished. I actually get full, not want to eat another brownie, or more cookie dough full which I never thought would EVER happen to me. My habits still resemble those of No S but it's by choice, not because I am going to break a rule & that seems to have made all the difference (: I still think No S is a great foundation & really helped me learn to eat more intuitively. I actually get full, not want to eat another brownie, or more cookie dough full and without weighing myself I'm not sure where I fall weight wise, but my clothes are all lose & I feel a lot more confident without a scale telling me I'm succeeding or failing.

Anyway, that's my story over the last 5 months or so (:

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Merry
Posts: 1658
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:14 am

Post by Merry » Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:48 am

Thanks for checking in--sounds like you're doing well!
Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Tue Sep 05, 2017 2:14 am

So glad to hear from you and that No S was a great jump off point for freedom the obsession.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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