Six week report from a newbie

(New!) Read (or post) about people who have stuck with No-S for 10 or more months, lost 10 or more pounds, or 10 or more percent for their starting weight. Periodic updates strongly encouraged -- you can think of it as "Yearly Check In."

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blessedbeingmom
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 12:55 am
Location: MS

Six week report from a newbie

Post by blessedbeingmom » Sun Feb 14, 2010 8:58 am

Hi, I'm Tricia, and I'm a newbie here, who just celebrated six weeks of No S success, combined with daily exercise via Wii Fit Plus. I love the No S diet because it is so practical, and the book was great and easy to read, even for someone who doesn't really like reading nonfiction.
I started out around January 3rd heavier than I have ever been, yet knowing that every time I try to lose weight by counting points or anything like that, I end up not being able to stick with it long-term and regaining those lost pounds, and not only that, but they bring friends back. The nerve of them! I love this "diet" because it gives me freedom to not have to count every little thing, and it just seems so logical and natural. I find I am enjoying my treats on the weekend so much more, and I used to be someone who had to have my chocolates every single day (no wonder my starting weight was so high!)
This is my habitcal thus far (and thanks for this excellent tracking tool!) I started out sick, so counted those as exempt days. My goals include No S diet, minimum 10 minutes exercise daily, green smoothie daily (amended to green smoothie or salad daily, allowing one exemption day a week), read one chapter of Bible a day, bed by 11 p.m. (failing miserably here though), and taking all my meds every day. I love the accountability of this handy tool.
I do modify the No S diet for the days I work 12 hours though, as I find since I don't eat supper until at least 8:30, that I need a small snack (usually my green smoothie) to tide me over till I get home and can eat supper.
I am also proud to be able to say that I still have leftover chocolate from Christmas hanging around, and allowing myself to have some on weekends and making it a treat makes it much more enjoyable. I do try to limit myself to a single serving size per S day though. I've also found it helpful (for me) to keep a log writing down what I eat on S days so I don't go totally crazy. I just write it down or put it in a notepad document and get rid of it after the weekend is over. I still eat whatever I want on weekends, but it helps me not completely lose it.
My plates probably hold more food than they should, but I am very overweight and still losing, and don't want to lose too fast. I am sure I will gradually start to put less on my plate as time goes by though.
I'm trying to lose slowly anyway to make it more easy to maintain. My goal is to lose 2 lbs every 2 weeks, which I think is reasonable, and even if I only lose 1 lb every 2 weeks, that is still 26 lbs in a year.

Making my exercise a habit also has been a big help. My goal was to aim for 10 minutes a day, but there were a few days that I only did 6 or 7 minutes, but still did it anyway, just to maintain the habit. I made some calculations to evaluate my exercise habits. These started January 2nd.

Percentage of days I've done any exercise at all since then - 100%
Percentage >10 min = 93%
Percentage >15 min = 81%
Percentage >20 min = 77%
Percentage >30 min = 65%
Percentage >45 min = 30%
Percentage >60 min = 23%

Overall minutes of exercise in 43 days = 1,689 = 28 hours and 9 minutes!
Average minutes per day = 39.3 minutes

I posted this part on another forum, but wanted to share it here as well. I hope this is okay to do. I am regularly singing the praises of No S diet and also exercise, and I do link back to this site. This was written last week so my stats are a bit different now, and I'll post them at the end of this post.
This really is starting from definite couch potato= very very lazy person. I just want to share this if there is anyone reading who is hesitant to join in this thread for fear they are too fat, too out of shape, or whatever. My initial goal was to get just 10 minutes a day, but as time has passed, I have grown to actually enjoy my exercises (on the Wii Fit Plus) and have lost about 1.4 inches already. I am going to be very real here and admit that I started out weighing 261 lbs, my heaviest ever. However, I know some of it was water weight from being that "time" if you KWIM. I am down to 245.4, which is what I was maintaining at about 6 months ago before I started ignoring the scale, neglecting my health & gaining again. I am only 5 ft, 4 inches & still about 100 lbs to go, but I am feeling good about it all and this No S diet is really really logical & just makes sense to me, and is really helpful, and is what I have known all along that I should be doing, but it really helps to have the basic framework for guidance. (By the way, I just finished reading the No S diet book, and it was really encouraging & easy to read, even for someone who usually hates to pick up a nonfiction book.)
Also, for those who are still making excuses about why they can't exercise, let me tell you that by far my biggest excuse was my long days of work. I work a schedule of 2 days on, 2 days off & every other weekend. On most weekdays that I work, I am there for 12 hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., standing on my feet for almost the entire day. This is a busy and stressful time of year too. I've had eight 12 hour days in the past month, and on my 12 hour days, I have still managed to exercise these amounts: 6 min, 14 min, 7 min, 56 min, 30 min, 30 min, 30 min, 17 minutes, for an overall average of 26.9 minutes. And to think I thought I couldn't do it, that it would be impossible after being on my feet all day, or even to squeeze it in before work. Well, those shorter sessions were the ones before work, and the longer ones (>30 min) were actually after work, when I thought I couldn't do it at all.
So, if you are out there and thinking you can't do it, I encourage you to at least try, even if you just aim for 5 to 10 minutes a day. I think the most important thing to do is to make it a regular habit, one that you do every day, even if you don't make your minimum that day. There was one day I only hit 6 minutes, and another I only hit 7 minutes, but at least I maintained the habit, which I think is the most important thing.
I don't mean to be sharing this to toot my own horn or anything, but just as encouragement for anyone else out there who is also struggling. I hope you may you be blessed & motivated today!
This was as of February 13th, six weeks into my new habits:
I haven't done my exercises yet, but I did weigh & measure this morning, and so far I've lost about 15 lbs. My starting weight was 261, but I'm saying it was closer to 259 due to a lot of water weight due to being that time of the month. This morning, I was 244.3, and I've also lost 2 inches in the past 6 weeks!
Thank for for allowing me to join in these forums and share my progress. I will continue to update. I'm really enjoying the "No S" way of life (feels funny calling it a "diet") and definitely see it as something sustainable for the long haul! :D

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sophiasapientia
Posts: 919
Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:09 am
Location: Michigan

Post by sophiasapientia » Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:12 pm

Tricia -- Thanks so much for sharing your testimonal. A 15 lb loss in 6 weeks is a tremendous success ... and developing the habits of moderate eating/exercise/etc ... WOW!!! :D I'm so thrilled for you and look forward to reading your progress updates.


All the very best ... You deserve it! :D
Restarted No S (3rd times a charm!) January 2010 at 145 lbs

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