Lisa's daily check-in

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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franxious
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Lisa's daily check-in

Post by franxious » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:25 pm

Hi there,

I'm new. This is Day 5 for me of No-S. I am hoping that I have finally found something I can live with. After the first two days (both N days), I realized that I actually almost never eat meals, only snacks. And thus, I have no idea how much I'm eating all day. That also means it's pretty hard to eat less! I also realized that I rarely eat off of a plate, but only out of bags, or out of my hand, etc. These are bad habits, for sure. To put the fence around the law, I have brought in a plate to work to make sure my meals are a reasonable size.

The funny thing is that I've tried a few websites (such as The Daily Plate) in which you track every bite of food each day, but even when viewing my daily intake, this simple observation (about snacking) never hit me. It seems incredible.

So far, everything's been going quite well! I am so happy that I no longer have to eat bizarre food combos, count or track anything, or be a pain in the butt about which restaurants are OK to go to this week (Over the past year, I have tried MANY diets, but have actually gained about 10 lbs!). I have been enjoying my meals because now I feel entitled to eat them. I actually ate french toast with syrup with my family yesterday (Sunday)! Normally, I might have eaten a slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter...but an hour later I would have eaten something else, etc.

Although Reinhard suggests refraining from optimization until one has the basics down, I have adopted the Optimized Oatmeal because it seems like a great idea. So easy to prepare. A great way to eat nuts and dried fruit, which I love but tend to overindulge on. That was my breakfast this morning.

Happy New Year to all!

Lisa

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Post by franxious » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:34 pm

Today is the 7th day of NoSing. So far, so good, I guess! I have not had any failures. New Year's Eve, I made an S day but only deviated from N-day rules by drinking more than two glasses of champagne. DH and I shared one bottle, so it wasn't particularly excessive.

DH is very unhappy about the idea of shovelglove, which I'd like to try. Unfortunately we don't have a sledgehammer, so I'd have to buy one. He doesn't want me to spend any money on something that he feels is silly. I am going to see if I can borrow one from my neighbor across the street -- she's sure to have one -- but otherwise will probably have to wait.

I know, I know, I'm not supposed to let the scale rule me. I was bummed this morning to find a 1.4-lb increase over yesterday, but I am still 1.6 lbs down from when I started. I'm trying not to think about it too much. I do think that I need to keep an eye on carbs (by which I mean, have smallish portions of carbs, not eradicate them). I blame last night's rice for the increase.

I have been experimenting with ordering what I want (one plate's worth) at restaurants, rather than what seems less fattening or "bad." If I can actually lose weight on this diet, that would be a wonderful additional benefit. Normally, I NEVER order what I want because it's always too fattening.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:13 pm

DH was alarmed that I was going to call my neighbor to borrow a sledgehammer so that I could "pretend to work" for awhile. He found this idea so embarrassing that he told me to just go ahead and buy one...which I did, through the Sledgehammer Store. A 10#-er. I will take "before" photos (and hopefully there will be some "after" ones!).

7 days of success so far with NoS. I tend to get very hungry between breakfast and lunch, while I'm at work and there's a lot of opportunity to cheat, so am increasing the size of breakfast today to see if that helps. Between lunch and dinner, I am hungry but also incredibly busy with my 3-year-old twin boys, so there's not so much of a temptation to eat.

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Post by franxious » Fri Jan 04, 2008 5:58 pm

So far, all success (eight days). Weight loss is not really occurring, though.

Yesterday's meals were:

B: Oatmeal with dried cherries, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds
L: Smoked turkey and cheese on whole wheat, apple
D: Bowl of lentil soup, a few crackers

My sledge will probably arrive Monday.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:44 pm

I have to admit that I'm feeling discouraged. I feel that I've been following the diet, including not being an idiot on S days, but I feel really fat. I can barely squeeze into my jeans and my caliper is now at 12 mm, the highest it's ever been. I don't think I took a measurement before I started NoS, so who knows.

Thursday there is a party at work to celebrate the end of a project I've been heavily involved in for the past four years. Of course, it should be an S day, but I'm tempted to make it an N day just to give the diet more of a chance to work. I guess I'll see how I'm feeling that morning.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:30 pm

I feel a little more optimistic today. My weight is still lower than it was, and I just have to remind myself that I'm at the beginning of a long journey.

Saturday I got through with perfect non-idiocy. Sunday started out OK. I had to go to a kid birthday party and ate a slice of pizza and a piece of birthday cake. Which is OK...I guess the idiocy started after I took the depressing caliper measurement and then polished off a bag of cookies. I ate a large amount of Wheat Thins, too. But when I look back, it was a fairly circumscribed period, and doesn't compare at all to many other bingey days I've had. This morning, my weight was still a bit down from the starting point. So, I should count myself lucky and forge ahead.

I keep eating bigger and bigger bowls of oatmeal for breakfast and being hungry before lunch. I really like the oatmeal, so maybe I should have it for lunch and have an omelette or something for breakfast. I am hungry now and there are 3 1/2 hours until lunch! I have thought about adding a fourth meal, but this seems like a bad idea.

Sledge will arrive today or tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it.

Officially, I guess every day has been a success.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:23 pm

Counting today as a success even though it's not over yet. I had plans to get together with a friend midmorning, and waited until then to eat anything.

Breakfast: mushroom, spinach and cheese omellette, buttermilk biscuit, potatoes.

Lunch: peanutbutter and raisin sandwich on whole wheat, huge apple

Dinner: (to be eaten): breaded chicken breasts, sauteed spinach, brown rice

The size of my meals is fairly large, but I guess that's OK. Today is Day 13.

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Post by Murphysraven » Tue Jan 08, 2008 9:00 pm

Hey franxious,

Great job on following no S so far. I empathise with you regarding getting discouraged. I've felt discouraged with non instant results before as well. But you've got the right attitude, this isn't something to think about in a get thin quick way. My advice is not to weight or measure yourself very often. Easier said than done I know. I try to only weight myself/measure every 2 weeks to every month.

As for having oatmeal and getting hungry before your next meal, maybe try adding some protein powder to it? I know I feel pretty ravenous when I don't have some sort of protein for breakfast.

Keep going, I'm rooting for ya! :)
When I asked for all things, so that I may enjoy Life, I was given Life, so that I may enjoy all things.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:57 pm

Thanks for the encouragement, Murphysraven! You're right about the scale. It's in too convenient a location; I'm going to have to hide it or something.

I haven't liked the taste of the protein powders I've tried so far, but maybe I'll start having a hard boiled egg with the oatmeal. I always find eggs have great staying power.

I really believe this set of rules is sane, humane, and as easy as possible. I like the fact that there are no days that I wake up dreading because of severe dietary restrictions. There are only neutral days and days I look forward to. I like the fact that I can eat whatever I want (except sweets) at meals. I've been taking full advantage of that, and eating potatoes and pasta and stuff that I usually don't eat very much of. That's probably why I haven't lost much weight. The good news is that I find that some of that stuff really isn't worth eating anyway, so hopefully I'll get it out of my system soon and go back to my very small and occasional "bad" carb portions.

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Post by thtrchic » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:24 am

Lisa -- you might also try adding a handful of almonds or walnuts to your oatmeal. I don't like protein powder either and sometimes add nuts to oatmeal when I need a heartier breakfast.

Julie

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Post by franxious » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:48 pm

Thanks, Julie. I usually do this. I think I just have to adjust to smaller portion sizes if I want to lose weight! But in the mean time, I'll just focus on nailing the habit down.

Two weeks of success. Today is an "extra" S day, because of a work party celebrating the end of a years-long project I've been involved in. I am planning on allowing the S's only during the actual duration of the party, and also trying not to be an idiot during that time.

Though I get hungry between meals, knowing that when mealtime comes I have a lot of freedom to choose helps me deal with the hunger.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:50 am

Success so far (Day 16).

Breakfast: oatmeal with dried cherries and almonds.
Lunch: chicken salad sandwich, apple, handful of cheese curls
Dinner: to be determined.

I have also started shovelgloving. I ordered a sledgehammer, 10 lbs, and it really felt heavy. I was afraid I would hurt my back, so I went to Lowes and got an 8-lb one. When I got home, I weighed the first one, and it's actually 12 lbs. It has a sticker on it that says "10 lbs," so either the handle is 2 lbs or they mislabeled it. I am just going to stick it in the garage in hopes that some day it will be the right weight for me. I am a suburbanite, so who knows? Maybe I'll actually find a use for it.

I am trying to talk myself out of thinking about weight at all, and just thinking about the other things in my life. It's not an easy thing to do.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:17 pm

I have lost about 4 lbs, which is great, since today is day 18.

Today is an S-day and I'm very tired (one of my kids woke me up at 6 am and then didn't want to take an afternoon nap, which meant I didn't get one either). I am not doing so well in the idiot department today. I am hoping that by posting about it, I can stop it before I do too much damage. So far, I've eaten:

1 slice of bread
Part of a cheese, mushroom, and spinach omelette
Some potatoes

(started out the day OK)

Then

about 4 dates
rest of a small package of dragon fruit
bran muffin
five "fun size" pieces of chocolate
about an ounce of cheese
small bowl of cheese puffs

in other words, all useless non-meal nibbling, all done consecutively, mostly standing up, not paying attention...the bad habits reasserting themselves.

Still, it's not a disaster unless I allow it to be, both in actual amount (if I stop now, I may not do much damage), and in psychological effect (if I castigate myself, the effects will be worse than if I just say "OK, I screwed up" and move on).

OK, I screwed up. I would like to have another cup of coffee today, and then dinner, and that's about it.

In general I've been feeling very pleased with the diet and with how easy it's been to stick with the N days. I've told a few people about it even though it's a bit embarrassing to be on yet another diet. I never used to be this diet fiend, but about a year and a half ago, my weight started creeping up a bit too quickly, and I started to panic.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:25 pm

I got through yesterday with no further mishaps. I'm looking forward to five straight N days.

As an experiment, I'm tracking my intake on The Daily Plate again. I am at the moment not trying to cut calories at all, but just to observe. It's much easier with no snacks to track!

Today:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with dried cherries, almonds, sunflower seeds
Lunch: Salad with dried cranberries, apricots, apple, walnut, gorgonzola, and greens, coffee*
Dinner (to be eaten): veggie burger with cheese on a bun, brocolli

*I really wanted to have the coffee in the same time frame as the rest of my lunch, but I had promised a co-worker that we'd go for a walk, and so far I haven't been able to find her. So when we eventually go, I'll get the coffee. But I'm not counting this as a failure, since it was planned in advance. It's more "virtual plating."

When I first started the diet, "Club 21" seemed like a faraway goal, but at this point, I am only 3 days away from that. However, it's been relatively easy, so my real goal is to stick with No S for all of January, and forever.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:11 pm

Yesterday:

Breakfast: oatmeal with dried cherries, walnuts, sunflower seeds
Lunch: 1/2 spinach ricotta calzone, apple, handful of cheese curls
Dinner: pork tenderloin, pasta with pesto, broccoli

Trying a heartier breakfast (eggs, cottage cheese, avocado) to see if that will tide me over better until lunch.

I have gotten into the habit of checking last week's weight every time I record my weight on my daily punch cards. For the past few days, each daily weight has been lower than last week's weight. This is better than comparing a weight with the previous day's weight. When I lose a few more lbs, I will input all the data in physicsdiet.com, where there's a graph that computes a weighted average that gives a more accurate picture of whether you're really losing weight or not.

After today, I am in "Club 21!"

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Post by MerryKat » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:42 am

I hope the rest of the 16th January went well and as such

CONGRATULATIONS On 21 Days of NO S

I hope the next 21 go by speedily and easily now that your habits are becoming entrenched.
Hugs from Sunny South Africa
Vanilla No S with no Sugar due to Health issues - 11 yrs No S - September 2016 (some good, some bad (my own doing) but always the right thing for me!)

franxious
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Post by franxious » Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:58 pm

MerryKat,

Thanks so much for the congrats! Yes, I made it.

I haven't had much trouble following the rules, but have eaten quite large meals for fear of being hungry. I think I am starting to relax a bit in that area and am trusting that either I won't get hungry or, if I do, it won't really be so horrible. It's only for a few hours and I can then eat a large meal if I really want to.

I have only had one S day that seemed really excessive, although it's much to early to start patting myself on the back about that. However, even more important than getting through an S day with no "idiot" behavior is that last Sunday (I think it was), I started in on some idiot behavior and stopped myself before it got really ugly. It's very, very hard for me to stop binging once I start. Usually, even when the more idea enters my mind, it almost feels like I am under the control of outside forces that I cannot fight. Of course, that's not true at all. I am under control, and I must take responsibility for my actions. However, sometimes the way to get into the right "head" to truly believe it is really elusive. For whatever reason, No S seems to have corrected my thinking.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:21 pm

I haven't mentioned my shugging experience yet, but since everything NoS is still just fine, I thought I'd switch gears today.

Actually, one more NoS thing:

Sans sweets, seconds, snacks, save Saturdays, Sundays, special....

(can anyone think of a word meaning "day" that begins with S in any language?)

I've been shugging for a week and a half now. So far, I haven't had any problems. I am using an 8-lb sledge. I have to admit, I haven't been feeling sore afterwards. Am I doing the moves so incorrectly that I'm not getting a workout, or was I just fairly strong to begin with? I do find it tiring while I'm actually doing it, particularly for my biceps, forearms, and shoulder muscles.

I'll keep it up for a few more weeks to see if any results become apparent.

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Post by franxious » Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:33 pm

Friday was an N day for diet but an S day for exercise. Some horrible gastrointestinal malady developed, so I decided to skip the elliptical and SG. Today, no time to do the elliptical, but managed to squeeze in the SG. Malady is improved, but not totally gone.

Tonight is my office "winter gala," so there may be more eating than on a regular S day. But, no matter. I was down 5 lbs this morning, by the way!

I feel that the SG has subtly improved my appearance, but it's only something that someone who scrutinized me, such as myself, would notice at this point! However, I my arms, shoulders, back, and chest all seem more muscular and shapely.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:32 pm

The food at my office party was surprisingly unexciting, particularly the desserts. It seemed like they were trying to put us all on a diet or something! I did drink a lot of wine, but all in all, Saturday was a fine S day. Sunday, I did do some "permasnacking" for awhile. However, not too much damage was done. I hope that one day, I will take the S days more in stride and not view them as an opportunity to pig out.

For the party, I had been hoping to fit into my one and only really dressy dress, but when I tried it on, it was just not right. I could zip it up, but it didn't fit the way it was supposed to, and I didn't feel happy about wearing it. So I went out and bought something. Maybe I'll have some other event to go to at some point. There are several ways to view the dress purchase, both negative and positive. I'm glad I bought it, though, because I went to the party confident that I looked okay, instead of being self-conscious.

Today I am off, but it's an N day. No problems so far.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, sunflower seeds. All mushed together. Strange habit from long ago.

Lunch (to be eaten): Leftover chicken if it's still OK, grapefruit. If chicken is expired, peanut butter sandwich.

Dinner: pot roast, garlic mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts.

franxious
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Post by franxious » Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:13 pm

Have lost 5.5 lbs so far! I am very happy about that. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks on no-s. The diet is starting to feel more generous and permissive than it did initially. I don't mean that I'm eating more, but just that I'm adjusting more and more to the framework and it feels more and more comfortable. I can't express how nice it is to have lunch plans with a friend and to be able to say, sincerely, that we can go to any restaurant. Previously, I'd either reject restaurants because they wouldn't have food that would fit into my diet, or I'd agree to go to something and then when I got there, I'd be miserable with the choices. It's a shame to go to a restaurant and not enjoy it. It's a great gift of this diet that I can actually enjoy my food again. And, it's ironic that someone who ate too much enjoyed so little of what she ate. Or, it might seem so at first glance.

An observation about those cheese puffs (similar to cheese doodles) that I ate a few days ago: I was really hungry at lunchtime, and when I started eating them, I noticed that it didn't feel like anything was going into my stomach at all. So I switched to the other items on my plate. It occurred to me that, if I tried to quell my hunger with cheese puffs alone, I'd have to eat an obscene amount of them to do it. They are actually designed to be eaten when you're not hungry! You can eat a huge, huge amount of them (and a huge number of calories at the same time) without your stomach signalling to you that you've had enough. Imagine trying to eat a turkey sandwich when you weren't hungry. You'd probably stop before you finished it. But you can eat plenty of potato chips and pretzels, etc., even when you are already full, because they're NOT FOOD. Food makes you feel like you've eaten it. (I used to count pretzels as "better" than other snack foods. However, last Sunday, I was doing some recreational eating (i.e., snacking), and I noticed the same phenomenon with pretzels: that I ate quite a large number of them without affecting my hunger level in the slightest.

That doesn't mean, by the way, that I won't eat any more of these foods. Now, however, I will treat them like what they are: purely recreational items that are specifically manufactured to be eaten to excess without warning the eater. Being aware of that fact, hopefully, will keep me from falling into the trap!

franxious
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Post by franxious » Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:02 pm

I think I'm going to change this to a weekly checkin (can I change the name?), because I don't have that much to say each day! I feel so comfortable with this diet. I am hungry right now, and I usually get hungry about two hours before each meal. Then I drink some unsweetened hot tea or water, and I feel OK, and I just wait until my scheduled mealtime (8 AM, 2 PM, 8 PM)...that's the only N day "difficulty," but it's not really so bad. The S days are more challenging, but I am still pleased at how well they've gone in general. Anyway, I'll keep checking in, but more sporadically.

L

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Post by thtrchic » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:30 pm

Congratulations on such great success, Lisa. Keep it up!

Julie

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Post by franxious » Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:28 am

Unfortunately, I was a huge idiot today. I know why: I just didn't deal with emotional issues in a responsible way. My husband woke up on Saturday really, reallysick, which meant I had to take care of our three-year-old boys by myself pretty much all weekend. They ran me ragged. When there's just one adult, there's no time to breathe. They were peeing on books, clogging up the toilet, terrorizing the cats, throwing food, jumping on the furniture...I managed to keep myself fairly sane on Saturday, but Sunday, I started stuffing my face with junk as an (ineffective) way to cope with the stress. I'm happy that tomorrow is an N day and I can undo whatever damage I did today. For most people, the weekend is relaxing, but for me, it's like a marathon. When my husband is up and around, it's OK, but for one person, it's tough! Anyway, I did manage to get my exercise in.

Saturday morning, I woke up almost 7 lbs lighter than when I started no-s. There's no way I gained all that back, so I'm just going to have very low expectations for Monday morning. S days are a learning experience...

franxious
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Post by franxious » Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:11 pm

On N days, I find it very satisfying how easy it is to remember what I ate, and how brief the descriptions are. This is in stark contrast to some S days, like yesterday, when I ate seven? or perhaps nine? cookies and some undefined amount of cheese popcorn, and some undefined amount of goldfish, and some undefined amount of other things that I can't remember...not that I want to start tracking obsessively, but I think it would be good for me to aim to have S days be a bit more trackable than they sometimes are. Limiting the input events is a great idea. Maybe I can just have three meals on S days, or maybe even five, and they can include sweets and seconds, but must be defined events. I think the "permasnacking" is my personal worst enemy.

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Post by franxious » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:53 pm

My excESSive Sunday was truly damaging, I'm afraid. Had lost almost 7 lbs, now after 2 good N days, still only down 5. Still, better than nothing...

I read with interest the thread about out-of-control S days, and I think I do need to implement some kind of strategy, if not actual "rules." The trick is to find something that doesn't feel restrictive.

I have been thinking about pecan turtles (pecans, caramel, and chocolate). Maybe I will get some for the weekend instead of "grabbing whatever trash is lying around" or however Reinhard put it.

Also, last week I made a batch of oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies AND I bought a pan of brownies. That was not a good idea.

I am planning on taking a "during" photo next week. I know that month to month, I shouldn't expect to see too many changes. Yet I think that it's possible that there will be some perceptible, if not obvious, change. If there is any difference, I'll think about posting the pix...

franxious
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Post by franxious » Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:00 pm

Every day, I write down my weight on my 3X5 punch card.

After last Sunday, an "S day gone wild," it appeared that I gained 3 lbs. This apparent weight gain has continued to manifest itself. Even today, Friday morning, I am still 1 lb higher than pre-Sunday. So, the weight gain was real.

I've read that it takes an excess of 3500 PROTEIN calories to gain a lb, but a mere 2400 extra CARB calories to gain a lb. In other words, you gain more weight with extra carbs than with extra protein. It's entirely possible that I ate at least 4800 extra calories last Sunday. 7200 extra seems a little hard to swallow, so to speak, but I wasn't counting, so who knows?

Looking back through the punch cards, I am at this point the same weight I was NINE days ago. The one S day set me back nine entire days. Not that this is a race, but nine days is a long time!

I hope that this realization will help me keep it sane during future S days. There are only 5 days between each set of S days, so I really would eventually gain all the weight back and then some if I kept having crazy S days. That's a sobering thought!

franxious
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Post by franxious » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:22 pm

The many-day setback persists. I was not a total idiot these past two S days, but not completely sane either. I am still 4.2 lbs down from when I started, but up 3 from the total lbs lost...

I just have to accept that this may be a *very* slow process. I'd say that my N day "habits" have not carried over to the S days at all. I don't even know if they're really habits. I mean, I don't feel I have any trouble following the rules, but it's not like it doesn't occur to me to break them. It does occur to me, but I don't follow the impulse.

I've been having some trouble with exercising. Before I started shovelglove, I worked out on my elliptical for 35 minutes about 5 days a week. Now, I find that the extra 14 minutes, though schedulistically insignificant, when combined with 35 minutes makes a schedulistically difficult 49 minutes. The 35 minutes was already hard enough to squeeze in. So I've been experimenting wiht the following:

Doing both, but SG after dinner.
Doing only 20 minutes of the elliptical
Alternating days

None of these feels really perfect. The best solution, of course, would be to win the lottery so that I didn't have to work and would have plenty of time to do both SG and 45 minutes on the elliptical. Plus Urban Ranger. Don't know how to arrange that, though!

franxious
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Post by franxious » Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:07 pm

I've realized that it's not helpful, day after day, to see how much damage a bad S day caused. It might be OK to check once, but that's it. After that, it's self-flagellation and doesn't help anything.

My weight has been fluttering around 162 for quite some time now. I hope to get down to 135.

Another lapse in judgment was to try to take a "during" picture yesterday. It's been about a month of SG and six weeks of NoS. The during picture appeared worse than the "before" picture. I don't know if that could possibly be true. I tried to stay in the same spot at the same time, with the same lighting conditions, etc. However, when I actually compared the pictures they weren't taken in exactly the same place. Another factor might be whether or not I worked out just before the before picture was taken. If so, and I can't remember, it might have made my abs appear more defined. I'll wait at least another two months before trying that again. At some point, if there are significant differences, they should be evident despite artifacts from the photo shoot itself.

I'm feeling a little blah right now, to be honest.

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Post by Charis » Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:27 pm

I am sorry that you are feeling discouraged. Believe me I know the feeling well. Keep going faithfully and in two months hopefully you will see some of the changes you are looking for. In the meantime, make sure you are measuring other signs of success - whatever they may be like: not eating after dinner, more easily by passing the office treat table, less obsession with food and cravings etc. Good luck!

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Post by franxious » Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:02 pm

Charis,

Thanks so much for stopping by to offer encouragement. You're right -- I was overlooking some of the good things. I have hardly had anything like one of my former binge days since I started nos. Maybe one day in six weeks. Before that, it was escalating to several times a week. And I've been able to resist temptation, whereas before, sweets didn't feel like temptation so much as some kind of mandate.

I was telling a friend today that the hardest part of nos for me is S days. Isn't that weird? I get anxious that I will lose control. But, hopefully the N day behavior will start to assert itself more as time goes by.

Lisa

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Post by franxious » Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:39 pm

Because of the daily and monthly cards, I finally got myself to call an old friend with whom I haven't spoken in years. I feel so much better now that we're back in touch. I haven't done every single thing that I've written down, but I've done a lot of them, so I think it's really a good way to be productive.

My weight was almost back down to its previous lowest point this morning, so I'm down a total of 6.5 lbs. I'm hoping that I will be able to forestall idiocy by the knowledge that, if the weekend S days are reasonable, I'd probably be back in the 150s pretty soon. That would be great. Actually, as I mentioned before, the super-idiot S day two weeks ago was precipitated by the stress of my husband being completely incapacitated from a bad cold and having the kiddies all to myself all weekend. It's unlikely that something like that will happen this weekend. HOWEVER, I need to be able to deal with stress better, because it's the unexpected stress that is the big problem.

So far, I've had only successful N days. That doesn't really seem all that amazing to me, though. What's amazing is the successful S days. I followed the Johnson Upday Downday diet to the letter for SIX MONTHS, but didn't lose any weight because the updays were always too "up." Plus, it's an exhausting diet to be on. Every other day I'd wake up dreading the hunger of the down day. Nos is working great for me.

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Post by franxious » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:48 pm

I marked my S days with red on my habitcal "no binge" calendar, but in fact, I guess they weren't that bad because my weight is about the same this morning as it was on Saturday morning.

I have noticed that I don't do well if I don't plan S day meals in advance the way I do with N day meals. N days, I have oatmeal for breakfast or lunch and bring sandwiches and fruit in to work. Dinner is always fairly predictable, and I'm the least hungry at that time of day, so there's less of a temptation to go overboard. So my goal for next weekend is to plan out my meals!

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Post by franxious » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:30 pm

This morning I broke into the 150s, for the first time in several months. Only by .2 lbs, but I'm taking it as a good sign!

I think having the same breakfast every morning is helpful to me. It's a no-brainer in every way. Having the same lunch every day doesn't seem like as good of an idea from a nutrition standpoint, but I am trying to assemble an arsenal of easy-to-prepare fallbacks for when there are no leftovers or inspirations. The two I have so far are:

Cottage cheese and hard boiled egg, and/or avocado

peanut butter sandwich and an apple

I need a few more though.

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Post by franxious » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:11 pm

Took an S day yesterday for Valentines day, but I only ate 3 chocolates over what I would have ordinarily. And no damage done.

I'm feeling, on the whole, really happy. I have lost 7.5 lbs and I feel like my eating is under control. Now I just have to keep on keepin' on!

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Post by Blondie » Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:26 pm

Nice work. :D

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Post by franxious » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:31 am

Hey, thanks, Blondie!

Yesterday wasn't so great...that's putting it mildly...but I'm back on track after today. I had a cold, so wasn't very hungry anyway. I've noticed that Sundays tend to be the worst, and I have to find more effective strategies to talk myself down from the ledge. I'm not happy with my behavior yesterday, but I'm not discouraged about my long-term success.

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Post by franxious » Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:02 pm

Loss is up to 8 lbs, which is OK...I am expecting TTOM, so so knows?

I finally input all my weight in my physicsdiet.com chart. One day maybe I'll insert it. Looks pretty good.

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Post by franxious » Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:11 pm

Ugh, had a horrible S day on Sunday. Sugar is just so addictive! It makes me crazed. I am thinking about trying to keep the sweets on S days to baked goods. Maybe that'll help...I still struggle on Sundays much more than Saturdays. Not sure why. Sometimes I'm tempted only to take one S day a week!

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Post by Jammin' Jan » Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:49 pm

Lisa, it sounds like you're doing pretty well. Don't get too worked up over any failures, just pick back up and get going again.

We live in such a weird culture, when just eating three good meals a day is so difficult.

God bless!
:D

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Post by franxious » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:52 pm

Thanks for the encouragement, Jan!

I always feel full of confidence during the week. The three meals is not so hard. I know I'm doing well, because even binging once a week is better than four days a week or whatever it was before. I have been doing this for more than two months now, so I'm thinking it's been enough time to find out if any minor tweaks will help. Some of the tweaks I've been considering:

--Only 1 S day a week

--Hide the candy in my husband's trunk, and on S days, make one trip out, get one small plateful, and lock it back up, but allow more freedom for other S's on S days

I also need to focus more on planning three meals on Sundays. I tend to lapse into eating only snacks all day.

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Post by franxious » Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:11 pm

My weight has been bouncing around a bit, but as of today I am still down 5 lbs. It's been about 2 months, 2 weeks since I started, so I really have no cause to complain.

I am officially trying a mod, though: S days are Friday and Saturday. I have had so many out-of-control Sundays, but only one failure on an N day. That was last Friday when I took a colleague who's leaving out to lunch and then, mid-day, turned the day into an S day. I figured it would have been OK if I'd decided it was an S day in advance, but it seems against the rules to decide during lunch! Anyway, the structure of the workday helps me. I can keep it together on Saturday, but on Sunday, I usually don't have meals planned out well enough and there is too much junk food around the house...I feel a little guilty about this, I must admit. But, much as I would love to follow the rules 100%, after all, I'm doing this for me.

I also put all my candy in my husband's trunk and I won't be able to get it until Friday evening. I don't have a key to his car, etc. I'll report on how it goes after a week or two.

I don't seem to have the willpower to put my scale away! What I do instead to minimize the disappointment is to expect the worst every time I get on the scale. The truth is never as bad as my worst-case scenario, so I don't freak out.

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Post by franxious » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:38 pm

Tomorrow is my first pre-planned non-weekend S day (that's not a special day). Now I'm feeling nervous because I've realized that I have, amazingly, gotten completely out of the habit of snacking at work. I don't want the Friday S day to make it harder to keep that going. On the other hand, the lack of structure on weekends make it difficult to eat three meals plus a few Ss. So it's a tradeoff either way. Ideally, I'd like to have a bacon, egg, and cheese omelette with a bagel for breakfast. A sandwich and fruit for lunch. Dinner is lamb chops and spinach and some starch or other. It would be great if I could stick to this menu until after dinner, then have one great treat. We'll see!

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Post by franxious » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:45 pm

Waah! I typed a whole post and then accidentally deleted it. No time to reconstruct it. In a nutshell, the Friday-Saturday S day experiment went OK, and I'll try again this week.

Had a failure on Sunday when I took a slice of lox after finishing my breakfast. I had to mark a red day on my Habitcal, but I don't feel any remorse. I'm sure I would if it had been a binge or something. Anyway, seconds is the one problem I really don't have; it's very rare for me to do that.

Weight loss is currently at 6 lbs, after 10 weeks of NoS.

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Post by franxious » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:46 pm

P.S. It was relatively easy to keep things under control on the Friday S day, but a bit harder to stick to the regimen on the Sunday N day. I just felt more like snacking since that's what I normally do on Sundays. But there is hope for me, since I used to snack all day at work, and now I don't!

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Post by franxious » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:47 pm

Oops, here's the post I thought I lost. Sorry for the repetition.

~~~~~~~~~~

The weekend went pretty well. The Friday and Saturday S days were pretty much OK. Sunday as an N day was so-so. I did have more snacking and sweet-eating impulses than I normally do, since Sundays are so unstructured at my house. Funnily enough, my one "crime" was actually seconds, which is usually not one of my problems! Friends brought over a huge platter of lox, and after I had my lox and bagel sandwich, I took another slice of lox. I did give myself a red day on my Habitcal, though, of course, it wasn't a really bad crime. Still, a failure is a failure. The result was good enough to warrant trying it again for another week or so.

I've been on NoS for about 10 weeks now.

By the way, I do chart my food on TheDailyPlate.com. I started just to see, for curiosity's sake, what my N day calories add up to. It's usually between 1800 and 2100 calories, which is fine. At first, I wouldn't have been able to even try to record what I ate on S days, since there was so much mindless eating going on. I've finally gotten a clue that I'm not going to lose any weight like that. I wish the habits would automatically carry over to S days, but they haven't.

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Post by franxious » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:31 pm

One of my boys had strep throat, so I had to stay home with him for two days. Both were successes. (I look through others' posts and often they are so short; just mentioning success or failure, which I often don't mention. I sometimes feel like I'm being remiss in leaving out this info and babbling about other stuff instead. So I put it in today. I guess I'm just a chatty person!)

The two days weren't hard. Today, I had planned three large meals, because I'm feeling hungry. But when I added up the calories (I can't break this habit so easily), it's still perfectly fine.

I have a really bad habit of chewing on my cuticles. I don't know how to stop doing that. I can't think of a system for it. It seems slightly easier to start doing something than to stop doing something. I can't chew gum all day (first of all, it seems like a snack, especially since I'm a gum abuser--I'll chew as much gum as I have; secondly, it seems unprofessional when I'm at work; and thirdly, it seems like a bad example to my kids and/or irritating to my husband when I'm at home). I can't wear gloves all the time. I have no idea how to stop doing this. I've been doing it since I was at least eight, perhaps younger.

Tomorrow is my second set of Friday/Saturday S days. I'm looking forward to it, though I'm hoping to keep the S's out of the picture until Friday evening. Maybe I'll have a muffin with breakfast, though. I love muffins, but they are really just cake, so I usually avoid them.

I found some really yummy naan in the supermarket. It's made by Fabulous Flats. It seems a lot more authentic than other naan I've bought; it has that loose, baggy quality that real naan has. I put peanut butter on it and rolled it up for lunch yesterday. Mmm.

Today:

Breakfast: bacon and cheese omelette, 10 small whole wheat crackers

Lunch: salad with romaine, apple, cheese, tomato, almonds; raisin and nut "bagel stick"

Dinner: strip steak, steamed cauliflower, maybe some brown rice

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Post by franxious » Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:58 pm

So far, there is nothing magical about any particular day. I had a horrible S day on Friday. It started at work and continued throughout the day. Way too much candy.

Saturday was a little better. I couldn't really think of a treat I wanted, but suddenly caved in to a Starbucks brownie in the morning. It was way too sweet, and I don't like iced brownies, but I ate it all anyway. I didn't go overboard the rest of the day, but it just didn't feel like a good day.

I did successfully stop weighing myself. Part of went wrong on Friday was the scale still at 161. I have lost 6 lbs in 2 and a half months, and I was admittedly hoping it would be more. I was disappointed, so part of me was thinking, "if this isn't working, why bother?" But it was just one of those days when all my thinking was off. I moved the scale to a slightly out of sight, slightly more inconvenient location and I'm hoping to just stay off it for a couple of weeks. There's no point in getting all down about a trivial fluctuation.

Back at work, back on track. I think this weekend will be Friday/Saturday S day's last chance. If I still pig out on Friday, I might as well switch back to the canonical Saturday/Sunday. Anyway, it's a little confusing to have an N day on Sunday. Sticking to the rules required more work than on a weekday.

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Post by chiquitabanana » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:39 pm

Franxious i think i have figured out your problem. You count calories and when you do that it sends you into binge mode. I am the same as you, i am a binge eater since the age of 13 years old. I was diagnosed with BED (binge eating disorder) which is the most common form of eating disorder. I have been receiving treatment for it and have been no s ing and i love it. I have come to the realization that just the act of weighing, measuring, counting calories or points gets my mind going into BED mode and makes me binge. I believe that you should just eat healthy foods like you have been eating on most days without counting calories.Just make yourself one healthy serving and eat and enjoy it. I myself start to question the truth behind the actual calories of foods on labels or websites, do not believe them! Also if you can get rid of your scale or only weigh yourself once every month if you feel the need, you can judge your progress by how you are feeling and how your clothes fit. Forget about all that craziness because it will only feed your need to binge. I am sorry for going on here but i feel your pain and i know what your going through. You can do this.
Heath starts in our heart and mind.

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Post by franxious » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:03 pm

Chiquitabanana,

Thanks for writing. You know how it goes...there's the evil little voice that starts whispering and sooner or later you're sitting in a pile of wrappers or containers, feeling totally yucky. I do think that when I try to restrict myself, I binge. That's definitely true. I didn't think the mere observation triggered a binge, but maybe it does. The scale definitely is my enemy. It doesn't seem to motivate me when the reading is "good," but it does make me punish myself when the reading is "bad." But the punishment only makes things worse!

I am sure I have a binge eating disorder, but have received no treatment for it. I have read a lot of books and have tried a lot of things. So far, No S has worked better than other things, so I'm hoping that with time, it's effect will be even stronger.

Lisa

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Post by chiquitabanana » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:53 pm

Lisa i know all to well how it goes ending up with a kitchen full of empty cereal boxes, wrappers of anything and everything half a dozen plates and bowls in the sink due to endless servings of whatever was there. Then quickly cleaning it up and throwing out the evidence before my husband would come home.The worst part is the horrible helpless feeling at the end of the binge, the nausea, hazzy high from the food like your a junkie, the heart palpitations and that out of control feeling like you are not the one in control but the eating disorder is. I believe that if we keep no s ing that this is the perfect way for us to take control in our live with food,but we cannot do it as long as we are counting calories, weighing or measuring or counting points, fat grams or carbs. When you think about it, it really is crazy and unnatural. We are smarter than that and we will do this by eating a generous, healthy platefull of foods that we love and enjoy not by eating foods that we do not like but it fit the calories, or was the right points or carbs. I wish you so much happiness and health you are going to do this.
Heath starts in our heart and mind.

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Post by franxious » Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:48 pm

As usual, everything going fine on the N days. I've started having a new breakfast: a Fabulous Flats whole wheat naan with about a tablespoon of peanut butter or almond butter and a glass of kefir. Just needed to change up the oatmeal for awhile. The naan is big, and I like breaking off little pieces and nibbling them.

Have successfully not weighed myself for three days!

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Post by franxious » Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:26 pm

Yesterday, I met a friend for lunch and she needed to meet at 11:30. I was worried that I would be really hungry between lunch and dinner because I usually eat lunch at 2:00. I wasn't so hungry at 11:30, so had a small lunch. This morning I realized that I hadn't even thought about food until dinnertime. So I guess the habit really is turning into a habit.

Because Sunday is Easter, my Friday/Saturday S day tweak won't work this week. Actually, I'm wondering: do S days need to be consecutive? Anyway, they're the vanilla S days this week.

Candy is my weakness, so I'm a little nervous about getting out of control. We're having an Easter egg hunt for our two boys and our friends' two kids.

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Post by franxious » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:24 pm

I've been sick for a few days, which has really cut my appetite.

Two weekends ago, I had a disastrous Friday/Saturday S day combo. Last weekend, I had a great Saturday/Sunday S day combo, despite the fact that it was Easter and candy and treats were everywhere. This seems to prove that the particular day ain't the problem, it's just me.

I just need to get S days under control. It doesn't feel like a problem at the moment because I'm still sick (really bad cold). One thing I'm going to do is have one weekly weigh-in on Saturday mornings. Hopefully the weight loss from the previous five N days will motivate me to Keep it Sane during the S days.

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Post by franxious » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:01 am

I can't believe how long I've been sick. Even after three days of antibiotics, my throat still hurts and I have been minimally hungry. Sticking to No S, S days included, is no problem under these circumstances. I have lost 10 lbs, but I almost feel like I can't take credit for the last few of these. The credit belongs to some evil microorganism.

Anyway, haven't exercised all this time either. And, strangely, I don't feel like I can see any difference in either how I look or how my clothes fit. Must be what happens when you hit your forties...

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Post by franxious » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:26 pm

Not weighing myself every day has become a HABIT. Today I was realizing that my pants fit better, and then I realized that it hadn't occurred to me to weigh myself this morning. To me, that's when something really feels like a habit; when I'm not arguing with myself because whatever the topic is doesn't even come up.

I'm feeling very happy. I have lost 10 lbs and I'm not scared that I'm going to gain it back. I still have a lot more to go, but it won't get any harder, and it will happen!

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Post by franxious » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:23 pm

I'm having a big party for my dad's 80th birthday on May 31. I can't help but dream of losing a few more lbs so I can look good at the party. Hopefully this isn't a bad thing, but a good motivator.

I'm loving my new breakfast of one whole naan and a small carton of kefir.

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Post by franxious » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:59 pm

Ugh, horrible, horrible S day disasters. Due to fight with my husband. Ugh. I don't even really feel like talking about the fight. I just have to pick up the pieces and keep on going. Bleagh.

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Post by Blondie » Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:30 pm

Hang in there Lisa.

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Post by franxious » Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:34 pm

Thanks, Blondie!

The fight was about smoking. I started smoking recently. I realize that this is a very, very dumb thing to do. I used to smoke and had quit for 10 years, but have been hanging out with smokers at work, and somehow stupidity got the better of me.

I concealed the smoking from DH, but made up my mind not to lie to him outright. So over the weekend he smelled smoke in the garage and I admitted the truth. Boy, was he pissed! The hard part about this fight is that, of course, he's right. I can't argue that it's a good thing to do. I have little kids, after all. Etc.

Another thing that I have is MS. DH searched on the Web and found an article saying that smoking increases the risk of relapsing-remitting MS turning into progressive MS, and causing more disability. So, I do have to stop, and soon.

The way I quit before was to schedule a "last day of smoking." I think that helped, to quit cold turkey but with advance warning so that I was able to emotionally prepare. This time I'm going to do something similar. I have one more pack, and after that's gone, that's it.

I feel a little better because now I have a plan. I knew he'd catch me eventually, but I didn't know when. Of course, it's no fun to be caught doing something so dumb, something that you have to hide in the garage to do. I was trying to console myself by eating like a pig all weekend. Or something. Who knows what kind of crazy logic my subconscious was using. I know that I deliberately shut off my rational mind and just acted without thinking. I was feeling really bad because he was so furious and I didn't have a leg to stand on. I also knew that Monday I'd be able to get back on track with NoS. I am not going to weigh myself for a long time, because there's no good to be gained from self-flagellation.

My pack of cigarettes will probably last a only few days. So, by next weekend, and the next two S days, I will have no reason to punish myself or anyone else with leftover Easter candy. After I've quit, I'll tell DH, and aside from the trust issue, things will be better.

I guess I was just trying to find a way to deal with stress. I'm a stressed-out person. There are a lot of things in my life that I find difficult to deal with. I know that other people don't have as big of a problem handling some of the the very same things thatI find so tough, such as caring for small children or working and caring for small children. And that's great, but everyone's different. The truth is that cigarettes, at least while I'm smoking them, really do make me feel relaxed. I guess it's similar to binging, in a way. There is, in fact, some momentary relief from the problems you're trying to escape. Yes, later, the binging causes problems that may be worse than, or the same as, the problems that precipitated the binge. Of course the problems caused by smoking are worse than stress. I know. I know.

Actually, I'm wondering if I was filling in the void left by so much less permasnacking with smoking. Not that I blame NoS in any way. It's all my problem. That may not even be the case, but it just occurred to me that I started smoking a few weeks after I started NoS. Anyway, no matter. I am sticking with No S, but obviously need to find some other, nonharmful way of dealing with stress.

Please don't suggest meditation. That's all I ask. It's not for me.

OK, back to work!

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Post by franxious » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:42 pm

Wow, there are so many new people I could hardly find my thread!!! That's fantastic, and happy dieting to anyone who checks in on my check-in.

I've revised my quit-smoking plan to: the last cigarette I smoke at work tomorrow is my last cigarette. I told three of my work friends, in fact the three with whom I take my smoking breaks, to keep myself honest.

I had a rare failiure the other day. I was cutting up a mango for my kids, and there was a lot of juicy mango left on the pit that I couldn't cut off. I didn't want to leave it on the counter or stick it in the fridge because I thought it would get yucky. I love mangoes. It was hours til dinnertime. I just impulsively ate the mango off the pit and marked a red square in the Habitcal. C'est la vie, I guess.

Otherwise, the week has been fine, but I'm afraid there will be evidence of my double binge last weekend on my weekly weigh-in Saturday morning. But I will persevere.

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Post by franxious » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:05 am

Saturday was an OK S day. Today, a little out of control. I had french toast and eggs for breakfast. Lunch was, uh, strangely, I can't remember. I guess I didn't really hav lunch, but just kind of ate some stuff throughout the day. I know I broke into my kids' leftover Easter candy later in the day. I chewed a lot of gum, which is an S for me. Dinner was a slice of pizza. Then my planned treat was ice cream. I ended up eating 3 servings of it, though, so that wasn't so great. I am marking it as a failure because I didn't quite plan out three meals, and had way too many unplanned, unnoticed "intake events" throughout the day.

However, I've certainly had worse S days, so I feel relatively calm.

This week, I'm taking off for some mental health time. I'm looking forward to eating my meals in a more relaxed way and planning better dinners than what I usually come up with.

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Post by franxious » Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:31 pm

My mysterious illness lingers, so I just feel like sleeping. Guess I should go to the doctor, huh? I had a throat culture and it was negative.

I love those Nancy's kefirs, but they are kind of expensive. I tried making my own, and have realized it's really pretty easy. My concern was leaving dirty dishes that either my husband would grumpliy wash or would attract ants or would be a drag when I got home from work. But I forgot about my handheld blender. Just rinsing it off is really OK for the morning, and cleaning it more thoroughly after I get home is no big deal. I was thinking of a big blender with a glass container, but that's not necessary. Also I'll use frozen organic fruit, so I don't have to worry about spending time cutting stuff up. So, the big question is, will that actually be cheaper? Not sure yet!

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:20 pm

Wow! I still can't believe how many new folks there are. How fantastic.

I took an impromptu S day yesterday, which I marked as RED on my habitcal. I was eating at a nice restaurant with my hubby for lunch. An unusual occurrence, since we work far apart. There was chocolate mousse on the menu. The rest of the day stayed pretty much within No S bounds.

Breakfast: naan, yogurt smoothie
Lunch: 1/2 buffalo reuben, fries, chocolate mousse
Dinner: veggie burger with cheese on a bun, asparagus

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:42 pm

Horrible S day Sunday. Now just plodding ahead, trying to recover. I feel really fat.

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:22 am

I just keep reaching the same conclusion. S days have to be very, very similar to N days. I have to change my mindset. S days are not Bacchanalian feasts. They are N days with, say, one rule relaxed once. I have to stick to that.

I don't know about the built-in willpower. For me, it's a matter of expectations. On N days I don't expect to eat sweets, so I don't argue with myself about them. On S days, I expect them and part of me asks for them all day long.

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:59 pm

Managed to get through two whole S days in a row without too many Ss.

I moved my scale down to the basement. The chances that I will bother to go down there before having had any coffee are infinitesmal. So, I'm just winging it. And I'm hoping that I will reach some kind of equilibrium thereby. I am enjoying the lack of anxiety about weight since I don't know how much I weigh. I have also stopped charting my food intake on the Daily Plate, since it got boring and annoying. On N days I usually eat about 1900, calories. It never varied much. Wasn't worth the time.

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Thu May 01, 2008 1:02 am

Lately I've been eating meals such as:

Breakfast - 1 whole whole-wheat naan, 1 homemade fruit and yogurt smoothie. Full-fat yogurt.

Lunch: Garden salad with vinaigrette, pb sandwich on whole wheat, apple.

Dinner: chicken breast, potatoes, green vegetable.

Sometimes I think I'm eating too much food, though. With salads and foods that don't really go on a plate, it's hard to tell if it's too much.

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Sun May 04, 2008 1:30 am

Successful S day!

Breakfast: 1 naan, small amount of scrambled eggs
Snack: 1/2 apple
Lunch: Salad with beets, asparagus, feta, walnuts, greens; slice of bread
Dinner: chicken breast, cauliflower, corn on the cob
Snack: handdful of grapes
Treat: brownie, most of a Starbucks chocolate mocha bar

I was disappointed in the brownie. It was a Wegmans "Ultimate" brownie, reported in their Menu magazine to be so great, but I thought it was too sweet and not chewy at all. A little flour would have helped. Actrually, the recipe that used to be on the back of the Baker's chocolate box yielded pretty terrific brownies, as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, I cut a big slice, ate a little, and gave it to my husband. Then I broke into the Starbucks bar, which was really very good. I wish I hadn't, though, because my tummy is bothering me.

I think, for me, it's very helpful to stay away from concentrated sugar on S days until the very end of the day (or totally!). Sugar is a real trigger food for me Also, maybe I can train myself to dislike super-concentrated sugar.

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Mon May 05, 2008 12:11 pm

Another successful S day.

Breakfast: belgian waffle with syrup, side of bacon
Snack: small bowl of grapes
Lunch: slice of whole wheat bread, small homemade yogurt smoothie
Snack: 1 serving of tortilla chips
Snack: 1/4 candy bar, a few chocolate covered cinnamon altoids
Dinner: 1 calzone (shared some with hubby)
Treat: brownie

Is that really all I ate? I think so. Oh, after dinner my husband and I shared a bottle of wine. Anyway, there was no binging. I usually polish off the chocolate covered altoids, but amazingly yesterday I did not.

The scale is still in the basement, so I have no idea whether I've lost any weight. My clothes seem to fit about the same, but I have a lot of clothes that shrink in the dryer and expand as the day goes on, so it's hard to tell!

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Sun May 11, 2008 2:43 pm

See my grim carb thread in the noS discussion area for my checkin!

franxious
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 8:00 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by franxious » Sat May 24, 2008 10:15 pm

I'm going through a rough period, but still trying. I have gained a few lbs back, and this just makes me feel crappy all day long. I can tell without the scale. Anyway, haven't checked in for awhile because I feel sheepish about this. But I didn't want my checkin thread to be irretrievably buried.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs, walnuts
Snack: pickles
Lunch: salami slices, cheese slices, raspberries
Sweet: ice cream with M&Ms, snickers, and chocolate sprinkles mixed in
Dinner (to be eaten): grilled salmon, brocolli

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