I don't regret using calorie counting to jump start my weight loss, that is to loss a bunch in a relatively short amount of time (30 lbs, 4-5 months) it was very motivating and I learned a lot about calories and portion sizes (I was clueless--deluded into thinking that foods with good nutritional content, such as nuts or cheese, couldn't make me fat!) But the problem is that the calorie counting hasn't been sustainable--it's fun and interesting at first, but gets tiresome after several months. I didn't find calorie counting to be restrictive (I gave myself a reasonable amount of calories to "spend" each day and I never felt unsatisfied) but that it's just tedious to have to write everything down and log it into the computer each night, piece by piece to get the calorie count.
So, here I go jumping into the No-S plan. I am really excited. I was going to wait until October 1, but decided yesterday, why wait? So here I am!
Based on what I know works and doesn't work for me, I have a few variations on the No-S.
1) I will allow myself one small snack/sweet every day (truly a single portion size). Preferably I will save this to have some chocolate after dinner. That will be very motivating to me during the day as I want to reach for a snack, I will think no, I'd rather have some chocolate after dinner.
2) Balancing out #1 is that weekends are not special days for me. I don't think it makes sense for me to have weekends as special days. I actually look forward to adding some meal structure to my Saturdays and Sundays. On those days my eating tends to be chaotic as I don't have regular work hours to suggest when meal times are (and are not).
3) Fresh plain fruits or vegetables are acceptable between meals. But, even before these healthy snacks, I should first consider taking a walk and/or drinking water. This will help me to avoid eating due to thirst or stress.
Yesterday was my first day on No-S, and I was totally on track: breakfast, lunch and dinner. I didn't quite make it to post-dinner for my free "S", ended up eating a tablespoon of nutella with almonds pre-dinner. Have to admit that I didn't THINK about taking the nutella, I was thinking about other things, preoccupied, and suddenly was looking at the spoonful of nutella. I said to myself, ok, but that's it, no "S" after dinner. And I'll admit that my dinner was kind of weird (popcorn, cantelope, and some cheddar cheese), but I defined the meal ahead of time and that was it, no seconds, no snacks.
Today: It's just past lunch time, but so far I did fine with breakfast (which I tend to want to skip or short-change) and lunch. I had a salad plus some crackers. It was just a whole new box of crackers, not an individual portion. I counted out one portion of crackers and set the rest aside. I did not take any seconds on crackers, yeah me!
For the record, current weight is 145 (more or less, ok mostly on the more side lately). Goal is to be consistently under 140 and/or that my pants fit.
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bkfst/lunch ok, but had seconds with dinner (at Sally's) and dessert (fresh-baked apple cobbler with icecream, handed to me with a silver spoon, how could I resist?)
had one very large (caloric) meal, most of a bowl of clam chowder soup, plus a heap of garlic fries. The garlic fries were like 1000+ calories (seriously) but I haven't eaten anything else the rest of the day (oh, except some chocolate). Not sure if today is a pass or fail. Pass because it was only one meal, fail because it was a gluttonous meal, and not sure if a pile of fries counts as a meal?! But you know, it was very satisfying, and the calories for the day weren't terrible. I think sometimes with this autumn weather I just have to have a hearty savory meal here and there.