from senseless to savoring

No Snacks, no sweets, no seconds. Except on Days that start with S. Too simple for you? Simple is why it works. Look here for questions, introductions, support, success stories.

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savor
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2018 7:27 pm

from senseless to savoring

Post by savor » Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:18 pm

In a bit of a cliche, I'm joining on New Year's Day. Not so much a resolution as a that I have the day off.

I've been a yo-yo dieter all my life, even dabbling with eating disorders in my teens. In 2013, I lost over 60 pounds by cutting out sugar and cutting back on carbs, and kept it off for 3 years. But then life happened and all of the work involved in maintaining a low-carb lifestyle got to be too much. Then... more life happened, and I returned to an incredibly unhealthy obsession with fast food and packaged candy. Not even the good stuff...I'm talking M&Ms and peanut butter cups.

Now I'm back to within 18 pounds of my high weight and pushing hard towards "the age" when dieting becomes that much more futile. Diabetes runs in my family even among those who aren't overweight, and is a sure thing for those who are. My grandma is the only one who reversed i, with one easy rule: "Eat half as much and move twice as much." Right.

I think it's time that I rethink and rework my food habits. I would like to stop eating senselessly and learn to savor both food and life.

I've had success with a budgeting app which leverages four simple rules. If there were financial before and after pictures, mine would look pretty decent; my net worth has more than tripled in 3 years. But the best part is, it's just become part of my life. It takes me about 30 minutes a week to manage it and life is good. I follow the rules, set goals, keep accountable via the forum.

Ok, the forum takes more than 30 minutes a week, but it's also free entertainment. That's where I learned about Marie Kondo for one thing. Kon Mari also worked for me; I cleaned out my closet and dressers 4 years ago, and I'm pleased to say that all of my clothes are still folded neatly and filed away tidily.

In fact, I also heard about the No S diet on their forums, by someone who found the process to "stick" in the same way as the budgeting app. So I'm going to give this a shot and see if the simplicity sticks with me.

My downfalls are mindless eating (I literally eat breakfast and lunch while working and usually snacks too) and late night snacking (I can't seem to go to bed unless I'm vaguely sick to my stomach). Also, I live alone, so dinner not a social activity, which means it's far too easy to eat while sitting at the computer. Finally, I completely lack accountability. I used to walk 2 miles over lunch with friends, but I have a new job & lost that connection.

So I'm going to give this a shot and see if the simplicity sticks with me. I may even keep this thread as a bit of a personal check in if that's ok.

I'm a bit disconcerted by the vintage forum and the fact that HabitCal isn't an actual app. But I don't think that should impact my results, if I can stick to the plan.

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Merry
Posts: 1658
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:14 am

Post by Merry » Tue Jan 02, 2018 7:06 am

Welcome! (Love your screen name!)

New Year's Day is a great time to join. You can use anything you like as a check-in thread. Most people post their check-ins in the other forum: https://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewforum.php?f=8

I hear you on yo-yo dieting--and No-S is a great way to stop that trend and work on long-term sustainable habits.

Habitcal isn't fancy, but it's fast and an easy way to track things.

I hope you have a great first week!
Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation

gingerpie
Posts: 1031
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:16 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, US

Post by gingerpie » Tue Jan 02, 2018 1:49 pm

Hello and welcome.
I'm a bit disconcerted by the vintage forum and the fact that HabitCal isn't an actual app. But I don't think that should impact my results, if I can stick to the plan.
If you're looking for simplicity perhaps the "bells and whisles-less forum might be just the ticket. :wink:

Best of luck to you on your journey.

noni
Posts: 613
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:01 pm

Re: from senseless to savoring

Post by noni » Tue Jan 02, 2018 9:34 pm

Welcome to No S, savor!

[ "That's where I learned about Marie Kondo for one thing. Kon Mari also worked for me; I cleaned out my closet and dressers 4 years ago, and I'm pleased to say that all of my clothes are still folded neatly and filed away tidily."]

When I got tired of my son's folded clean clothes sitting on the floor next to his dresser, because it wouldn't fit in the drawers, I did the Kondo fold to all his clothes and everything fit. I also did it to my kitchen towel drawer. Love it!
"Never go back for seconds. Get it all the first time." - Garfield

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:05 pm

Very glad to meet you, Savor! That's the term I prefer to use more than eating mindfully. Mindful sounds so serious and joyless. This from someone who was a regular at a Zen center for several years, so plenty of practice being mindful. (It never had the magical effects on me that it seemed to for others.)

Still can't bring myself to fold my clothes, but clothes are almost the least of my problems.

I'm an 8-year veteran of No S, also solo, and have managed successfully savoring many a meal while on the computer. Yes, it takes practice, but so does all of it. Even with years of meditation and lots of alone time, it still feels weird to sit by myself and eat with no distractions or music only. Traditional societies don't have this problem, but I can't see many of them doing it, either, unless they just don't have any distractions! Anyway, your odds of success are very good.

It's almost embarrassing how much I've taken advantage of the free entertainment here. Some people may consider me a part of it. But better than the alternative of still eating way too much.

I am pretty sure I heard that Reinhard was looking into making an app. I know he loves us, but has a lot of priorities that are actually impressive to me- so un-obsessed!-, so no promises on timeline.

May we know the budget app, please? I am not one to spend money even though I have it, but I'll be retiring next year on a reduced income, so I may want my spending to get more transparent.

Welcome!
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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Merry
Posts: 1658
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:14 am

Re: from senseless to savoring

Post by Merry » Wed Jan 03, 2018 1:14 am

noni wrote:Welcome to No S, savor!

[ "That's where I learned about Marie Kondo for one thing. Kon Mari also worked for me; I cleaned out my closet and dressers 4 years ago, and I'm pleased to say that all of my clothes are still folded neatly and filed away tidily."]

When I got tired of my son's folded clean clothes sitting on the floor next to his dresser, because it wouldn't fit in the drawers, I did the Kondo fold to all his clothes and everything fit. I also did it to my kitchen towel drawer. Love it!
Hm, my kitchen towel drawer needs help. What's the Kondo fold?
Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation

vmsurbat
Posts: 499
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:12 am
Location: Montenegro

Post by vmsurbat » Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:14 am

oolala53 wrote:
May we know the budget app, please? I am not one to spend money even though I have it, but I'll be retiring next year on a reduced income, so I may want my spending to get more transparent.
I'm not the original poster, but based on the "4 Rules" comment, I'm guessing it is YNAB (You Need A Budget). We use it, too. (Not the new current app, an older version) and it has been FABULOUS for getting a good handle on our finances. We didn't (and don't) struggle with debt at all, but YNAB gave us a very clear blueprint for making purposeful financial choices.

You can check out the forums--look for someone named Patzer--he's just retired and has detailed posts.....

And, WELCOME to Savor! I've long considered "Savoring my Meals" as a light-hearted rule... :)
Vicki in MNE
7! Yrs. with Vanilla NoS, down 55+lb, happily maintaining and still loving it!

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:31 pm

Merry, I'm not aware of any special instructions for kitchen towels. Marie Kondo recommends folding many items of clothing that we don't usually fold. I'm have mild ADD, and an organization author I read said to not worry about folding a lot of stuff, like underwear or socks.Things that can be work wrinkled. t's been great! Maybe you could handle that with your towel drawer, although I have a feeling an organization guru would say to first cull your towels. The Kondo method is to hold each item in your hands and wait to feel a little spark of joy or love for the item. Keep only the items you feel it for. I couldn't get past that, so I probably shouldn't even be commenting.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

gingerpie
Posts: 1031
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:16 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, US

Post by gingerpie » Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:00 pm

The Kondo method is to hold each item in your hands and wait to feel a little spark of joy or love for the item. Keep only the items you feel it for. I couldn't get past that, so I probably shouldn't even be commenting.
I'm sorry . . . but this is cracking me up!! If I did this I would have nothing in my kitchen. I mean nothing. It would be an empty space filled with hungry people.

Edited to say: It would be filled with hungry people eating healthy, tasty food magically prep'd ,cooked, cleaned and removed by someone other than myself. I would definitely hold that mysterious person between my hands and feel a spark of love for them. :wink:

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Wed Jan 03, 2018 5:39 pm

Excellent, GP!
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

ladybird30
Posts: 1118
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 10:41 pm

Post by ladybird30 » Thu Jan 04, 2018 1:58 am

Me too, Gingerpie :lol:
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

User avatar
Merry
Posts: 1658
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:14 am

Post by Merry » Thu Jan 04, 2018 6:29 am

gingerpie wrote:
The Kondo method is to hold each item in your hands and wait to feel a little spark of joy or love for the item. Keep only the items you feel it for. I couldn't get past that, so I probably shouldn't even be commenting.
I'm sorry . . . but this is cracking me up!! If I did this I would have nothing in my kitchen. I mean nothing. It would be an empty space filled with hungry people.

Edited to say: It would be filled with hungry people eating healthy, tasty food magically prep'd ,cooked, cleaned and removed by someone other than myself. I would definitely hold that mysterious person between my hands and feel a spark of love for them. :wink:
:lol: :lol: :lol: You two are cracking me up!

I already don't fold undies but do match up socks (since we've never had all one type of sock--though sometimes I dream of throwing them all out, starting over, and only having one type for all 4 people in the house & not folding any! Of course, then there's my son who insists he can tell a right sock from a left sock and has to re-match them...)
Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:08 pm

LOL, I felt like I was reading a post I would have made!!! I sense we are kindred spirits, savor. Without going into too much detail (I've got to head out to work) I will say that I love applying systems to all parts of my life.

YNAB, baby! love it! And now I will go look up this "kondo" you all speak of.

Welcome!! Start your thread over on the daily check-in. And yes, we may have an old school forum, but we are super entertaining. haha. :)
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

savor
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2018 7:27 pm

Feels like home

Post by savor » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:01 am

Yep, the budget app is YNAB. Didn't want to name drop in my first post here, lest I seem spammy. I'm also using an older version & love it! And yes to looking up Patzer's journal. Jessiebird is also inspirational.

On the Marie Kondo....I had to modify the "joy" bit. I don't remember who said it, but I love the quote, "have nothing in your home that you don't believe to be beautiful or know to be useful." So those were my criteria. But the folding was mostly about clothes. My kitchen drawers are shallow, so I just folded my towels how they fit best.

Anyhow no-S is going well, except I'm... wasting food? I only had one "failure" day this week...snagged a handful of popcorn at work without thinking. I was so excited for Saturday, but ended up throwing out some of my lunch because my eyes were bigger than my stomach. ;) Same thing today. Today was actually a green day, mostly out of laziness; couldn't be bothered to hunt down some sweets. I think my tummy is adjusting to eating less. We'll see how the week goes. My cube neighbor keeps a candy dish. Grrr

I've decided to track 3 habits: No-S, Exercise, and No-spend Days. Too often, my mindless spending and mindless eating go together. Seems like a bit of planning could help me savor more.

If I wanted to create an ongoing thread here, should I make one in the daily check-ins? I'd probably check in more like weekly, but...

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:03 pm

The "daily" thread doesn't require daily check-in at all. It's just a personal thread that I like because I have 14 pages of my journey all in one spot. Goes back to 2013! :)

I was re-reading it the other day for NoS purposes and realized that actually, I have most of my life story there, lol.

And can all be anonymous, like our made-up names. My personal favorite naming scheme is Ironchef, who has her son Ironbaby and her daughter Squiggle. Lovely!

So, yes, we all think you should join us on the check-in (some people only check-in once a month)
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:58 pm

I agree about having your own thread. A lot of use have gone all analytical, but originally, if you look at Reinhard's, it was very cryptic. You can check in as briefly as you wish. And you don't have to tell us anything more. But you can!

In fact, and you didn't ask, I know, but I will offer that if there's one thing I believe is really valuable, which I kinda wish I'd attempted, is to be as indifferent as possible to the process in the beginning. Being indifferent doens't mean don't do it. In fact, absolutely do it! Do your best to relish your full meals and be done with it. Try treating the process as if you've moved to a different country and you're not really expecting anything else but to enjoy the local life there. It's a little hard to do because you came here for a purpose, but I've read such great accounts of people who lived in France or Italy for several months and ended up dropping weight without intending it.(Though they also ended up inadvertently walking more, but I'm positive the local eating habits had a lot to do with it, too.) It was a relaxed and delightful process. They weren't examining themselves and judging their "performance" at each meal, examining whether their appetite was decreasing, etc. They just loved their meals! Then lived life in between. :wink:

But if you want to totally ignore that and analyze up the yin/yang, go ahead! I actually love being a voyeur.

However, if you have a question about something more general to get clarification of, you might first review the No S Diet page (on which Reinhard has a rundown of the program) or browse through a few pages of the general discussion to see if it's come up before. If not, ask away.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Amy3010
Posts: 1282
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:48 am
Location: Belgium

Re: Feels like home

Post by Amy3010 » Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:12 am

savor wrote: I love the quote, "have nothing in your home that you don't believe to be beautiful or know to be useful."
William Morris said that, I also think it's a far more useful approach - I read Marie Kondo's book with the same thought in the back of my mind as Gingerpie - a lot of useful stuff in my house wouldn't make her cut. And then what? :shock:

Welcome and good luck with No-S!

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