Having Trouble Having Faith

[esdaly]

I started no S'ing at the end of May. Beginning of June I had my shoulder operated on so for one week I did not follow any plan at all. Re-started noS on Monday June 16th. I LOVE this plan! It makes perfect sense to me to eat like a normal person and the mental relief is FABULOUS! I only have one problem: I am afraid it isn't going to work! What I mean is that I am afraid I am not going to lose weight unless I add some more rules like, eating "healthy" during the three meals. It is difficult to fathom eating cheeseburgers and fries and losing weight. Plus, I know it is sloooow so it is hard for me not to jump on the scale every day and tell myself, "See, this isn't going to work!" Did any of you feel this way? How did it work out!

[wosnes]

If you've been eating "healthy" and go to cheeseburgers and fries every day for lunch -- you may well gain weight! But those aren't great food choices anyway, IMHO. They're okay now and again, but not as something to be consumed daily. There's a little restaurant near me that I go to for lunch weekly. They run weekly specials on a soup, entree salad, sandwich and a dinner entree.

Usually I have the special soup or salad, sometimes the sandwich (which probably isn't one of the best choices!). But every now and again I'll have their cheeseburger instead. It's one of the best it's ever been my pleasure to wrap my hands around. This happens once every couple of months or so. Since it's so infrequent, I don't worry about it.

I think you have to use some common sense about it and have some realistic expectations. A lot of us have gone from using "diet" foods to the real thing. There's an adjustment to be made there. You can't use as much as often and expect NOT to gain some weight. So, you use less and less often -- and enjoy it a whole lot more!

[Writer110]

I found when I first started NoS that my meals were rather large and unhealthy. However, over time, as the "thrill" of eating former forbidden food wore off, and also as I learned to deal with my emotions better (as opposed to bingeing because that just wasn't an option on N-Days) food fell into it's proper place and I found myself making better choices. (This is not ALL the time true for me, but a heck of a lot more than when I started).

I started listening to my body and realizing that pizza every day made me feel sluggish, that too big of meals made me feel bloated- and I didn't like those feelings. Now I don't eat pizza every day because I CAN'T, I don't eat it every day because it doesn't make me feel good- BUT if I really want it, I have it and enjoy it and move on. But the bottom line is it's my choice and I make it for me- not because someone told me to.

I think maybe over time as food loses it's focus you will find you won't want to eat cheeseburgers & fries every day and may start craving healthier options because ultimately the body wants to be healthy.

Just my 2 cents!

Moxie

[esdaly]

Thank you so much for this response. It really rang true with me. Prior to surgery when I had been on the NoS diet I was already having the same kind of experiences you describe here. I think the surgery set me back a bit b/c 1) I wasn't able to exercise as much and 2) to be honest, I felt a little bad for myself and I think I reverted to a food for comfort mentality. I am feeling better already and I think I will come to a nice medium like you've described if I just stick with it and don't give up. Thanks for the support!

[rose]

I only have one problem: I am afraid it isn't going to work! What I mean is that I am afraid I am not going to lose weight unless I add some more rules like, eating "healthy" during the three meals. It is difficult to fathom eating cheeseburgers and fries and losing weight.

NoS gives you the framework to be aware of your food intake. When you monitor your food intake this way for a month or two, and find out you don't lose weight, then yes, you may need to give yourself personal rules such as "fast food, right, but only once per week".
I think people who don't naturally eat "healthy" food will need to gradually adapt their meals for two reasons:
1) it is difficult to follow NoS when you eat junk food, because junk food typically does not contain enough fibers, does not contain enough vitamins, and contains soft refined white bread which is too quickly absorbed by your body. All this leads cravings which lead to snacking and eating sweets. So, a lot of people start eating healthier food just to make NoSsing easier.
2) Yes, it is difficult to lose weight while eating a lot of junk food. Some people need to make fast-food an S-food. Some people just take care not to have it too often. Some people just lose their appetite for fast-food.

But perhaps gorging oneself on junk food/fast food is normal when starting NoS. Once the novelty has worn off, perhaps you will tend towards healthier meals unsonsciously. Or perhaps it will take a conscious effort to slowly reduce your fast-food intake. In any case NoS enables you to monitor what you really eat easily. And, even if you end up making fast-food an S-food, you can still have it on weekends.

So, no need to worry. NoS is not just a set of rules, it's also a learning process. If doing it one way for a few months doesn't work at all, just make a little change and evaluate this change over another month or two. A plateau is a learning experience as long as you take care to analyze what you are doing, and what moderate little change you can make without feeling restricted, and above all without crashing your NoS habits.

[blueskighs]

esdaly,

I have been nosing for almost three months, in that time my food needs and preferences have changed.

In the past I have either "been on a diet" or "binging/don't care"

what I love about No S and is also daunting about NO S is that I get to make all my own food choices.

I think as you work on building habit over time, you will find your way and probably find that day in and day out you will probably enjoy eating a fairly decent amount of what would be considered as "healthy" food

Blueskighs

[resting52]

What they said.

Hang in there.

There were so many good things that happened to me as I gave up my undisciplined drive to eat. I would never have believed it if I hadn't experienced it.

We are all there with you and for you!

Resting

[Dawn]

For me the best part of this has been not having to deal with guilt and worry. Once I got rid of those the rest just fell into place.

I did not lose an ounce in the first 10 weeks! But now 4-1/2 months into this I am down nearly 10 pounds. My goal when I started was to roughly lose around 20 pounds within a year and I think that is very possible.

Rose said it perfectly: NoS gives you the framework to be aware of your food intake. It's easy to SEE what you are eating when you only eat 3 plates a day. So if the weight isn't coming off make some changes with those plates. Start off small and see if that change makes a difference. You MUST give each change time to take effect. You can't just give it a few days, hop on the scale and say "well, that's not working!" and give up.

So take it slow and make itty bitty adjustments until you get into a groove where you are losing a few pounds per month. It takes time but it's worth it.

[blueskighs]

Dawn,

I always love to see your posts, they are so inspring. Glad to know you are doing so well!!!!!!!!!!


Blueskighs

[reinhard]

Here's my take on the cheeseburger issue (assuming by cheeseburgers you mean junk in general, though cheeseburgers aren't necessarily too bad as far as junk goes):

1. I eat cheeseburgers (etc.). I've lost a lot of weight.

2. Though I don't have any specific rules about it, I don't eat cheeseburgers every day. I probably wouldn't have lost so much weight if I had.

3. I don't think you'll eat them every day either with the spotlight of just 3 single plate meals. It looks too bad. And you can't justify them by healthy eating some other time -- these three meals are your only times.

So yes, while the No S Diet lets you eat cheeseburgers every day, three meals a day if you want, unless you are deliberately trying to sabotage the system, you almost certainly won't.

I'm not saying the three plate spotlight is going to turn you into a health nut. I never eat food merely because it's healthy. I slather butter over everything. But pure play junk, bright orange stuff in bags, just doesn't seem very appealing any more. And I like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains enough to want to see them on my plates -- where they crowd out fattier stuff.

Reinhard