Day one of 100 - barely made it.

Dawn · Post by **Dawn** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:39 pm

I am counting yesterday as my first day of my personal 100 day challenge. I am counting Sunday as a failure since I didn't plan my day but rather went about it willy nilly, which never ends well and then I feel guilty. I know you aren't supposed to feel guilty on a Sunday being that it's an S day but due to my history with No-S I know I have to have rules for S days in order to keep sane and God forbid, lose a few pounds. So I started fresh yesterday.

Ah yesterday, well I had a terribly hungry day and found myself eating my meals much earlier and closer together than what I would have liked. But for some reason after I had my 3rd meal (at Noon

) I managed to wait until 7PM for my last meal and since I had gotten up at 3AM that day I went to bed early and therefore didn't find myself struggling at the bewitching hours of 8 - 10PM, which normally I would have my 4th meal around then anyway, which is my new strategy to get round the bewitching hour problem, which was my one and only problem with N days when I attempted No-S last year. Not that I ever succumbed to the temptation, but it stressed me out and I loved how 22 hours of the day were easy and stress free, it was just those 2 lousy hours that were kinda ruining it for me. So doing 4 smaller meals is my answer and in just the few days that I implimented it I think I found my forever answer to my N days.

So I ended up doing fine and today so far (it is only 8:24AM) I am not having an unusually hungry day.

I now have my plan for the S days. #1 I am going to enforce the 4 meal rule, skipping meals sets off that deal making part of my brain into action and I love having that as a non issue on N days. And then I am going to start out with 6 S events for the entire weekend. I know it's a lot but that is kinda the idea. It is a set number yet very doable. The plan is to whittle the # of Ss down as needed to lose weight. Heck, if I can lose weight with my already easy N days and doing 6 S events on S days, then I will just stick with that but if the S events are too much for weight loss then I will go about whittling them down, dropping down by one and seeing how that goes.

I wish I could be like a lot of you and just vanilla No-S and not think twice about it, but after 8 months of just not being able to get the S days under control I know I have to do something. I love this plan and really want to do just enough to make it work for me.

TexArk · Post by **TexArk** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:11 pm

I am with you Dawn. What I really appreciate about the folks on this forum is the freedom and the space we give each other to find our way. I, too, think the original plan is perfect. BUT I have been trying to work it for 10 months. At first, I had no difficulty with my N days, but my S days never did get under control. Eventually, when life threw me a curve, my S days bled into my N days and I tried many do overs and adjustments. I am still searching. I lost my excess weight about 7 years ago I thought for the last time. I just couldn't keep up with the accounting and obsessing that was necessary and gave IE and "normal eating" a try. I promptly gained weight on that. NOS helped me stop the gain for awhile, but I have been steadily going up, up, up since last May.

I love the structure and simplicity of 3 meals and no snacking in between. I love not having to count, measure, weigh, record and journal. I love enjoying real food, not sugar free, fat free, fake food, and I am enjoying cooking probably for the first time in my life.

However, I have decided that for now, I can't handle so much freedom on S days. I probably have compulsive eating disorder because bingeing has always been an issue for me. I also can't handle so much restriction on N days. I think it sets me up for a weekend binge or at least permasnacking.

So..my plan for now is to give myself 8 S events per month (no matter what day of the week) which is actually the same as 1 S event per S day. That way I can retain the structure I need on the weekends without feeling I should be rewarding myself for having been "good all week." If this is not enough, I will adjust next month. I am so with you on the "witching hours" of 8:00-10:00. This is where I plan to have my glass of milk or hot cocoa.

Sorry to take up your space, but I really identified with your attempt to personalize the plan. Best wishes on your 100 days!

Dawn · Post by **Dawn** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:36 pm

TexArk, no need to apologize for taking space here, that's what it's all about, letting others know they are not alone, sharing ideas and just giving moral support.

I suspect there a lot like us, ya know the ones that are 86.4% of the way there and just need something to get them all the way.

This plan is too good to give up on and I do take mods very seriously, but like I said after a good long time without getting S days under control I have to do something.

I think like anything that is difficult in life you have to break it down and when you do you see that there really is only a small portion that is actually hard and the rest you don't have to worry about. So I feel super good about the 4th meal keeping me sane during the bewitching hours, but I will just have to see how the 6 S events work out. I think I will be fine as long as I stick with the basics - 4 meals, no skipping. Maybe that will keep me feeling under control like it was just another N day.

I wish you good luck and I will check in on you and you feel free to check in on me. And by all means if you come up with something that makes this easier let me know!!!!

clarinetgal · Post by **clarinetgal** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:13 am

I think your idea makes a lot of sense. Good luck to you!

mimi · Post by **mimi** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 12:03 pm

That idea makes sense to me too...good thinking! You could also reasonably have up to 10 S events per month, since 2 NWS days are allowed if necessary. Keep us posted how this works for you! We all learn from each other. Good luck!

Mimi

Dawn · Post by **Dawn** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:42 pm

Thanks for the encouragment. I did forget I can have 2 extra S days in a months time, but to be honest I don't think I ever used even one of those in the 8 months that I did this last year. My life is very routine so when the occasional event pops up during the week it's usually a business lunch or dinner and drinks with the girls. Lunch is easy, I just order light and am thrilled to be eating something prepared by someone else. Dinner and drinks are easy too, same thing, order light and keep "drinks" to diet coke since I am driving anyway. Desserts or other sweet treats rarely come up during the week. Also I have been on so many diets for so many years that behaving myself during the week is truly a habit for me.

So like I said it's the S days and keeping the S events within a specific number is what I plan to focus on. I will keep a tally sheet of sorts where I can see it. I can see myself making sure I really enjoy an S before having to mark it on my tally sheet. Sort of like logging or journaling but so much easier, just a dash mark on a postit.

I think the problem before was that I took to heart the rules of this plan too much maybe. I was scared to death that adding mods would kill the whole thing and since it was just the S days I was having trouble with I just didn't want to take that chance. So every weekend I would have some half assed thought about how to keep things under control, but now that I have a full assed plan with actual numbers of S events I think I may have found the key.

I will keep you guys posted.