Elinor's Daily Check In

[Elinor]

day 1:
got up early as i had to get into college for an allday tech rehersal, I wasnt sure if i would get a break for lunch before i got hungery so:

breakfast: cereal (corn flakes) soya milk, two pieces of toast with a little bit of reduced sugar jam (i know not really legal but i had nothing else and it was realy only a taste) cup of tea (no sugar)

lunch: sandwich all i could find that wasnt chips at the time and again cup of tea

dinner: pizza, oven chips and beans

didnt snack before bed even though i really wanted my night time cereal

activity: moved lots of heavy things around then played hacky sack for about 45 mins

not a brilliently balenced diet i admit but we are scraping the insides of the cuboards as we are poor students before we go shopping on wednesday, i plan to buy stuff so i can make lunch to take in to uni with me

day 2:
again early-ish rise

breakfast: cereal/soya milk and cup of tea (tried not having the toast and was fine so no more toast and cereal)

lunch: remembered that one canteen on campus sells salad: had a mixed one of veg and pasta and a bannana small coffee with half a sugar as opposed to two

dinner: havent had it yet but will be having pasta and sauce with vege mince.

activity: more moving things around and paper mache oh and the drama department has lots of stairs

have been drinking lots of extra tea and water to stave off hunger also the playing hacky sack in the evening took my mind off cereal for a bit

tomorrow: more friut and veg when the shopping is done

all in all not too difficult and ive been good when people have offered me crisps/chips and the like not even taking nibbles of others snacks. hopefully it will not get too much harder

[Elinor]

oops forgot: the pasta will have carrot, peppers and onions in it so theres some vegtables

[reinhard]

Elinor, this is great. Very helpful for even newer newbies than you. Do you mind if I go in the database and change the topic title to "Elinor's daily check Ins" so you can continue updating it here and have it all in one place? I know it sounds fascistically pedantic, but since this forum is brand new and I think that model could be really helpful to people, I'd love to get a few exemplary "check in" topics going. And don't worry, not one person who posted so far seems to have gotten quite what I was going for.

[Guest]

yeah thats fine i didnt really know what to call it but thats a good idea

[Elinor]

forgot to log in

[Jammin' Jan]

Elinor, you sound like you're off to a good start! Are you vegetarian? I was curious when I saw the soy milk and vege mince in the pasta sauce.

[Elinor]

No not really a vegetarian but I find, if I have too much cows milk (like on cereal everyday) it can make me feel ill (i may be slighty lactose intolerant) plus I think I prefur soya milk now Im used to it. I find I feel more refreshed by it than normal milk which seems sticky.
Also too much animal fats in general can make me pretty ill at times. One of my house mates is vegetarian and as we all eat dinner together we use vege meat substitutes like mince and quorn peices.
I did go vege for 2 weeks geletine free as well as that was the only thing i really eat regulary in sweets etc.
Maybe im a natural vegetarian ? In that I feel better (health wise) if I eat less animal products but still enjoy meat now and again.

[Elinor]

Day 3:

today was more challenging due to trains

B: cornflakes and tea

I got a bit stressed out over the trains that I had to get today, I got up in time, left the house in time, only to be capsized by someone counting out all their change to pay for a train ticket causing ques and me to miss my train. I then waited for the next one which was delayed then cancelled grrr finally got a train after waiting at the station for an hour.
This is definatly one of my things. I never thought that I was really a comfort eater but I really wanted a chocolate bar after that. There really wasnt that much reason to get mad but it just irked me that a simple task was so complecated.
I didnt have any snack though yayy instead I ended up having lunch a little early since the extra grr made me hungery quicker)

L: small veggie subway sandwich mmmmmm best thing ever water

After that i caught another train back to uni (much easier this time as it showed up) then proceded to fireproof some set peices this relaxed me a bit having a task to do and made me less angery about the trains.

The early lunch bought up problems later as I ate it at 12:30 and dinner didnt happen until 8:30 pm because the shopping had not been delivered. It has now and I have lots of friut and veg again which makes me happy and the ability to make my own lunches (saving money) but it also means there is snack food in the house again

D: Quorn and veg tikka masala, small amount of brown rice and two satsumas

I am full but im definatly a unconcoius eater if im bored i'll eat something, bad me, bad, im not doing this though and it has highlighted how much I do it usually, (biscuits with tea etc) I have to stay out of the kitchen more, especially when I got home from uni and was very hungery today, I went out to play haky sack to pass some time until dinner. Distraction is the name of the game for the moment.
It was definatly easier the first two days when lunch was around 1:30/2pm and dinner at 7:30/8pm ish

all i have to do now is not eat before bed

i also came up with some goals:

i dont know how much i weigh at the moment but at easter it was close to 13 stone - aim weigh less

also i have a pair of jeans which used to fit me about 4/5 years ago when i was quite abit smaller but due to issues with being a chubby kid i didnt relise that i was actually quite slim at age 15/16 a uk size 12 really but i was still convinced in my brain that i was a size 18

im not saying that i am genetically fat but my family does have rather large busts and middles, even when skinny

currently im a size 14-16 i would like to be smaller again and appreiciate that i am and know that i have the control to change myself.

i would also like to be fit for once and not die walking up the stairs to the drama department everyday.

and eat healthily

this was longer than i thought it would be

[Jammin' Jan]

Hi Elinor,

Sounds like you did really well with a difficult day. It's hard to stay on track when the universe (and trains) are conspiring against you. But you did it!

What is veg tikka masala? Do you make this or buy it? Is it a recipe? (hint, hint )

Jan

[Elinor]

thanks yeah im kinda proud i didnt give in to the sugar deamons
veg tikka masala

its a curry, we buy a jar of tikka masala sauce then throw in whatever vegetables we have in it, tonight was lots of mushrooms, 2 peppers, 3 carrots, some broad beans and 3 onion, also some quorn/tofu pieces as pretend meat, then we cook it for a while, this feeds 4 of us

we arnt really that advanced at cooking to make our own sauce,

this is also applyed to pasta sauce but with mince instead

sorry it wasnt terribly inspireing but its an easy way to eat lots of different veg in one go

[ida]

Oh gosh, quorn! I used to live in the UK, and quorn is one of the few things I miss, those chicken pieces *drools* So good. The sharwoods spicy tikka masala gets my personal stamp of approval! Whenever I visit the UK (like I will in july), I drag back about 20 jars because all my friends here love it!

It's funny though, you say you're size 14/16 and if I remember, the average woman in the UK is size 16, yet its so hard to get clothes if you're not size 8. I think you're really making a step in a fantastic direction, overcoming the unconcious and emotional eating patterns, where you don't really enjoy the food 100% anyway. Thats the biggest hurdle for 99% of people (myself included).

Looking forward to the next update!
Love Ida xx

[Elinor]

yeah quorn is great
not sure about the average size but i think its closer to a 12/14

day 4: arrrrrrgh

today was stressful

B: musli and two satsumas, tea

L: bagel with turkey, cheese and salad that i made myself 4 cherry tomatos and a satsuma

today my main activity was painting the set only to realise at about 3 that it looked terrible (another girl ahd decided how to paint it and i went along with it) it was black :S i realised that there are now projections to be seen on it. made an executive decision as the only person there most of the time to paint them back to white, hopfully this wont cause problems (since the origional as anothers idea) but it just wasnt gonna work being black

then had to rush home as i was going to the theatre tonight

since i had stayed later at uni i didnt have time to cook any dinner before leaving so i had to give in and have a banana

i felt better after that and went off to the theatre to see 'theatre of blood' which was very funny, i didnt have any ice cream

i just got back and my boyfriend had saved me vegetable pizza and chips which was great, i almost didnt eat it all cause i filled up but then i did oops

so today ok except for the snck banana but at least it was fruit not biscuits

[Elinor]

day 5
B: cereal and banana
L: bagel sasuma apple
D: take away chickin in garlic and wine sauce from the chinese

alright day but i wish i hadnt had the chinese as it is always dissapointing to me and wasnt very good for me damn

s'days now have had ceral toast and a biscuit so far
sigh feeling a bit meh about things because of the dissapointing food last night

[cvmom]

Hi Elinor.

I just got back from London last month. I am married to an ex-pat so we go every few years to visit family and friends. I love England and I was very jealous to hear about your curries since we can't get a decent one here in Californian. LOL

One of the things that I always find interesting is that the portions sizes in England are at least half, if not more, then what they are here in the US. Even the little yougurt cups look like they are made for dolls!! I throw that thought out here since "No S" is about what can fit on your plate and not what is piled on your plate.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hey and thanks for posting. I can't believe you can play hacky sack, and even for 45 minutes. That is really hard.

By the way, I am a loose UK 14 (at least that's what my clothes from Boden read...)and I'd like to lose a stone (1 1/2 would be "perfect" whatever that is...) I started doing this NoS thing about 11 days ago and I think my jeans are a bit looser. I won't weigh in for awhile b/c I have issues with the scale.

Take Care,
Dru
CV MOM

[Elinor]

hmmm first s'day weekend and i compleatly over did it basically i ate like i would normally and i feel really blergh after that. there were takewaways, chocolate and ice cream in there somewhere
a lot of this had to do with beer, eurovision and lots of people hanging around the house
i wasnt even hungry most of the time.
well ill be good this week and next weekend wont be such a disaster i swear

[reinhard]

Elinor, don't worry about the weekends. Concentrate on getting the weekdays down. Worrying about the weekends is a dangerous distraction (and it's no fun). If you feel the need to do something, don't swear about avoiding disasters, but take the opposite tack and plan something especially nice for the weekend. That way you enjoy and are less likely to go berserk. Also, eating just like you would normally doesn't sound that bad. If your current excess is your previous normal, you're in pretty good shape!

Regarding Theatre of Blood, house pets are definitely off limits on the no-s diet, so don't get any ideas

[Elinor]

yeah was a bit overly dramatic about the weekend really
ahhh so you have seen theatre of blood it was so funny
dont worry though im not allowed any pets cause i rent student accomodation, but when i can im so getting a cat awwwww kittys
i made friends with a big black fluffy cat this morning kitty witty awww

[Elinor]

also today
monday
very good no funny stuff even though i would really like some cereal right now

B: cereal, banana
L: bagel and satsuma
D: quorn korma (mild version of the tikka curry) satsuma

did lots of hammering today building set which is all ready for the dirst performance tomorrow yayy

[Elinor]

tuesday
B: cereal
L: bagel and apple
D: pizza (ordered in because we had people round but i ate faaaar to much of it )
not such a good day because of the huge pizza and some crisps out of zomeone elses packet

wednesday
B: cereal
L: tuna wrap
(again a few crisps)
D: two small baked potatos, baked beans and cheese

well the snaking on peoples crisps has occurred because i was in uni from 9am until 9pm on tuesday and 9am to 11pm on wednesday, and since i had my lunch at around 2 and dinner wasnt until i got home i think its better that i had a few crisps than eating junk food, wednesday also involved some celebratery drinks in the uni bar

all in all not too terrible

[Elinor]

thursday
good

B: cereal
L: BLT sandwich on whole grain
D: pasta, sauce and mixed bean salad with a tomato, brown sauce, branston pickle and lime juice dressing

[Elinor]

friday - day 12 :O

good

B: cereal
L: bagel, scrambled egg and some leftover bean salad
D: ordered in indian takeaway, tasted sooo nice was good though (i only ate half the sauce and half the rice and that was more than enough whereas before i would have eaten the whole thing) also i have some left for tomorrow yayy

aims:
have better s' days than last weekend (helped by the fact that there is no food to eat but i do have a bit of chocolate which i have saved for the last two weeks so i might eat some of that

[Elinor]

s'days

day 15 good no snacks, no seconds, no sweets

bit more difficult this week cause im at home everyday but i shall overcome (the biscuits that is)

[Elinor]

day 16 - my first fail day

not so good today sitting at home writing essay i was ok until the late afternoon when i had a piece of friut loaf to keep my brain going
and then there was a piece of apple strudel

not so good with the self disaplin and people going 'go on' doesnt help

[gratefuldeb67]

Don't feel bad Elinor!
15 good days is really excellent!
Pick up again tomorrow
Love,
Deb

[Jammin' Jan]

Was it good strudel? Might as well eat something really good if you're going to do it at all!

Begin. Continue. Repeat. (life is filled with new beginnings.)

[Elinor]

well it was ok strudel so really thinking about it wasnt worth it it was more the fact i hadnt eaten any pudding things lately *sigh*
yesterday was a semi s'day cause my friend from america came back to london for the month so we all went out and had mexican food

right starting again today

day one (again)
shame i was nearly on three weeks
theonly way is up (or down in weight)

[Kevin]

I think you're doing great.

Today I had an accident. I was making lunch for myself (ham and cheese on rye) and ate a piece of ham before lunch. I swear to God, it was in my mouth and I didn't remember putting it there!

Old habits die hard, nasty, horrible deaths. They do not go easy...

[Kevin]

No, it's not Day 1 again. No one is perfect. You're 15 out of 16. Major league baseball players are thrilled with a batting average of .350... Your batting average is .937!

Just don't break the habit you've been forming. All that work you put into it, those 15 days, it's still there, slugger.

[gratefuldeb67]

Kevin wrote: Old habits die hard, nasty, horrible deaths. They do not go easy...[/quote]

Yep Kevin "Hey how did that ham get in there?", you sure are right!
The first step in changing ourselves is through loving awareness...
The more we beat ourselves up, the more resistance to inner change...
We have to be both child and parent all in one
(and no, not the parent who says... "Come on EAT, you're looking too skinny these days!)

Keep the faith!
Yay Kevin and Elinor!!!!
Love,
Deb

[Elinor]

Thanks everyone

yeah i do beat myself up abit over things when i cant dont do them

today was good though

B: cereal
L: re-fried beans and rice
D: mushroom quiche and baked beans

but even now i feel really full from that as a left over from yesterdays big meal i felt really ill last night and this morning bt at least it seems i ahve managed to shrink my appetite some

yayy keep on going to everyone

[reinhard]

Elinor, this was a tough week for a bunch of us, you're not the only one resetting your count. Don't "go on," start over. It's clearer and more inspiring to have a clean slate. 15 days on habit is an excellent first attempt. It takes most people more than one. And now you have an even more attainable mini-milestone for your next attempt: go for 16 to break your record. Best of luck, keep posting.

[Elinor]

hmmm
well im not really sure what happened to me in the last few days

right then i kinda went off track at the end of last week but not too much so, its been really busy lately with friends staying over, going home for a birthday party (it was on a sat so i didnt have an extra sday)

while i was at home i weighed myself on my sisters swanky scales not good, at 20 years old and 5'5'' i really shouldnt be 13 and a half stone :O also it said my body fat was 45% how can i be almost half fat
i take heart though that i was probably bigger than that 4 weeks ago before i started no s (i dont know for sure because i have no scales)

i have been ok at no s'ing but we are starting again tomorrow in earnest woo
i feel less ill when i no's

its sunny outside and im optamistic but i think im getting a cold and i have an essay to write booo but i think its time for lunch soon

[reinhard]

Elinor, as Betsy put it in her check in, "don't fret." "OK" is better than disaster. Muddling forward is still going forward. But muddling isn't inspiring, so you're right to want to restart in earnest. You had a strong first run, learn from it, and try to go farther this time, if not all the way.

But if the lost count is psyching you out, there are other tacks you can take. More important than the count of successful days is being clear with yourself as to whether you are "on system" or not on any given day. You shouldn't be asking yourself "am I really on this diet?" or you don't stand a chance against temptation. It seems to me the count would be helpful and motivational towards that end, but if it's too distressing to lose so many days after a minor incident, maybe just skip the count and just take it one day at a time. In all fairness, I never did a count (until now, for demo purposes). And you can still check in here without it (many people are doing this already).

[Elinor]

ive been doing ok this week but not great now and again snacks sneek in
sitting at home now uni has finished dosent help either

[Kevin]

So, maybe don't aim for a day at a time. After breakfast, aim for lunch. After lunch, aim for dinner. After dinner, aim for breakfast.

Frankly, that's the way I do it. Even a day at a time is hard until the day is over.

[ClickBeetle]

Hi Elinor - Maybe it would help if you took a look at the precise functions involved in snacking. How did the pastry get in your house? What was the circumstance that made you break down? Were you stressed and tired? Were there no healthy alternatives ready to grab? Maybe you were hungry and the pastry was the most convenient option.

Personally I know I can't have a sweet pastry in the house for long ... so I try to avoid buying those things - and I can't be tempted if it isn't there.

Or maybe in an attempt to limit calories, you are not letting yourself eat and fill up enough on healthy food?

Or maybe one particular time of day is difficult, and you need to schedule a pick-me-up - such as a piece of cheese and some tea?

I would try to stock the fridge & cupboards with snacking alternatives to pastry. That way you won't have to try thinking about what would be healthy when you're tired and hungry -- the work will already be done, and you can put your hand on something satisfying but healthy too, like apple slices with a dab of peanut butter, or brown bread with a smear of creamcheese.

If you feel hungry, maybe you need eat something filling! After all, a pastry goes down easy, but doesn't satisfy for long -- leaving you with a sugar crash and then another snacking urge. Then you feel guilty for not having any will power - but it's a physiological urge, not a weakness.

Last but not least, food cravings are often a result of not getting proper nutrition - not enough fiber, not enough of certain vitamins or minerals. So be sure your meals are real meals and treat yourself as well as you would treat another when it comes to that.

[Elinor]

well really there is usually very little sweets and pastry in the house (poor students) before no-s i was eating a lot of biscuits chocolate etc but that has stopped now. the snacking is mostly made up of bread, fruit (mmm strawberries and grapes like sweets btu good for you) , yogurt etc quite heathly-ish

its the amount of food that im eating that is the real problem becuase i eat the 3 meals and then usually mid afternoon / early evening need a pick me up.

maybe im being too hard on myself but its difficult at the minute my sucess on no-s well 15 days was because i was going into college all day everyday and being strict with myself but now term has finished my brain seems to have gone into hibernation and the will power hasnt come back yet. (i also have a cold )

once i get some sort of routine going in my life again the eating pattern will be easier im sure

[Kevin]

Have you considered making the No S diet the "routine" in your life rather than waiting for a one to pair it with?

I dearly missed snacks until day 20. At day 20, they no longer appealed to me much. There is some magic around that three week mark.

I got through the first three weeks by talking about it and talking about it and talking about it. My wife and kids were sick of hearing of my virtue, but they gave me some slack. Now my wife is thinking about trying the diet...

In fact, I'm not even craving a lot of food at meals. I eat enough now, but not a lot.

I do give myself one "treat" whenever I want it - icewater with lemon juice. Strangely, that's what I "crave" now, because it's what I drink when I'm just sitting around...

Everyone is a slave to habit. Pick good ones.

[Elinor]

thanks for the ideas guys

ive been doing better the last few days its just the motivation i was lacking and im trying to get it back

[Jammin' Jan]

All any of us can do is to just keep trying. As long as you keep trying, you will succeed. Instead of thinking about "failure", think of "practice." Everytime you eat what/when you shouldn't, just think of it as a practice session and then begin again.

My daughter is practicing her piano now...I hear some incorrect notes now and then. That's okay; she just picks it up again and goes on from there.

[cvmom]

Hi Elinor.

I remember what it was like being a student. Your life is so fun and flexible. You can come and go as you please, as long as you get your studies in.

But I also remember what it was like to come home for the summer. I always went into a bit of a funk. Most likely your routine, as flexible as it is has been shaken.

Just think of doing this less as a diet, but more of taking care of yourself. You do deserve to look after yourself. Like Reinhard said, sometimes it takes 12 goes to get it right. Just keep posting and know that we're all here.

Fondly, Dru