Ready to Give Up . . . and then I found this site

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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Jetii
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:24 am
Location: Chicagoland

Ready to Give Up . . . and then I found this site

Post by Jetii » Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:34 am

Hello all. I have been flipping between Weight Watchers and Atkins for about 6 months and have not kept off any weight.

I travel for my job and eat out 3 meals a day almost everyday. I am going to give this idea a shot because doing Atkins on the road stinks (never can find a place to eat that I won't be tempted by other things) and WW is a nightmare because of counting points in restaurants all of the time.

I woke up today in Chicago and started Atkins again (had an Atkins breakfast bar) and then in Dallas airport I had a salad with Blue Cheese (very Atkins) - when I got to El Paso tonight I was starving and looking for something....I found PF Changs and had Beef & Broccoli with brown rice and a diet soda. When I got to my hotel I checked PF Changs website and saw that the meal contained WAY more carbs then I should have ate.....SO I went to the WW website and found that the total meal was 26 pts - what would have been my daily allotment!!!! I cried, and got really depressed. So I started surfing and found this site.

Hmmm..I had 3 meals today - one breakfast bar, one salad, and one meal at PF Changs. I did not have any sugar or snacks as far as I can see but I guess I may have had "seconds" since I ate the whole meal at Changs.... still not too bad based on this idea.

I am going to try this for the next couple of days and see how it works for me. Any advice for a person who eats out a lot??

Thanks! :wink:

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gratefuldeb67
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Location: Great Neck, NY

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:50 am

Good luck! Try to be really strict about not having soda and dessert, and extras which don't necessarily count as your meal, like bread....
If it fits on a normal plate, without stacking the food vertically, lol, then it's NoS approved...
Diet bars is no way to live...
That's not food!
Enjoy your culinary freedom :)
Peace,
8) Deb
ps... Weight loss may take more than a few days, so may I boldly suggest you try this for three weeks... Three weeks is the "habit forming" period of time...

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ClickBeetle
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Location: North Carolina, USA

Post by ClickBeetle » Wed Jun 15, 2005 10:13 am

My sympathies, Jetii ... it's very, very hard to eat right when you have to eat out all the time.

Strategies:

1. I would focus on portion control. Most restaurant servings in the US are WAAAAAAAAYYYYYY too much food.

2. Fiber. I've been cutting way back on the total calories I eat, and the absolute KEY to not starving between meals is to fill up on fiber. Black beans, whole wheat, hummus platters. In restaurants, it's really tough to get enough fiber.

3. The second KEY to not starving between meals is to have some protein in there but with Atkins I'm sure you know more than you want to about protein.

4. Consider meal alternatives at breakfast, like bringing packs of instant oatmeal on the road with you along with baggies of dried fruit to liven it up a little. Breakfast in restaurants is an absolute killer.

5. Get away from the standard-issue restaurants and head for the sushi places, the tapas bars, and the health food restaurants if you possibly can. Sometimes these places are more expensive but hopefully you are on expenses and your employer is picking up the tab.

It's tough. I know when I was on the road in Denver or Chicago, I had options covering everything from Tibetan to vegan to French cuisine but sometimes all I wanted was a good big plate of grits with butter, or some turnip greens and mashed potatoes.
Chance favors the prepared. - Louis Pasteur

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:20 am

Welcome, Jetii. Eating out or eating at home, the most important thing is to follow the literal rules strictly. Will that be enough if you're ordering restaurant "platters" three times a day? Probably not, but it's a foundation. Keep the focus on adhering to the strict, literal rules at first, even if it doesn't translate into less calories at first. Why? Because habit is more important than mere calories. Once you've toughened up habit and willpower, then you can afford to worry more about reducing portion size.

Does this mean you shouldn't think about portion size at all in the beginning, even if they are huge? No. Feel free to worry a bit and make sensible meal by meal decisions and think of some non-binding healthier intelligent culinary defaults (ClickBeetle gives some good tips for this). It'll actually be easier to make meal by meal decisions just by "eyeballing" because the literal rules force everything clearly out in front of your eyes: excess jumps out at you. But don't get systematic about it. That's a distraction. At least, that's the way it seems to me.

Disclaimer: I don't eat out a lot, so I'm not the worlds greatest authority on this issue.

Kevin
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Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 9:02 pm
Location: Maryland, USA

Give it a shot!

Post by Kevin » Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:58 pm

I second Reinhard's comments on forming a habit - it can be very difficult to follow this diet until the 21 day mark... then it's cruising.

Between meals I'll drink water, maybe with lemon juice, or tea. That's it.

No-S has simple rules, but they must be followed to the letter, not the spirit.

If you are eating out, eat slowly until you are full, then stop. Restaurant food is so incredibly caloric that it might be hard at first to lose any weight while eating it. But salads with dressing on the side (then just dip your fork in the dressing before you spear the veggies) or broiled fish or chicken would fit in okay.

DO NOT GIVE UP. Take the first few days one hour at a time. At some point or another, you might have an overwhelming desire to break the rules - resist it. At the three week mark, it becomes easy. A table full of food at a picnic is just not all that appealing to me anymore.
Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

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Jammin' Jan
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Post by Jammin' Jan » Wed Jun 15, 2005 2:17 pm

Another thing you might try when eating out, is to order from the "Side Orders" list instead of the main entrees. This is most often where I find the fruits, veggies, and potatoes. Also, a place like Perkins offers breakfast all day long, and if you want something reasonable, you can get oatmeal, fruit, and juice. Also, try packing some stuff with you if you can: whole wheat crackers, can of tuna fish, piece of fruit (or a can of fruit or vegetable with an easy-open pop top). It doesn't take up much space or weigh much, but it's good to have an emergency meal on hand.

Welcome to the No-S Diet!

cvmom
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Location: California

Post by cvmom » Wed Jun 15, 2005 4:18 pm

Hi Jetii:

Welcome to the No S mindset. I am a lifetime WW member who gained and lost the same 20 pounds at least 3 times. Yuck!!! I know the humiliation of removing watches and hair clips before I get on that scale. A good barrette can weigh a 1/10 of a pound which could be considered a failure at WW. LOL I also attempted Atkins but started to turn into a real you-know-what. (Carb deprived brains are not the most pleasant).

I think the beauty of this style of eating is it's simplicity. I eat out a lot too and what I have noticed is that I don't have to eat everything on my plate. On Suday night we went to a restaurant that we know serves large portions so my husband and I split an entree. (He also had an appetizer so he wouldn't go hungry. LOL)

So, give it a go and let us know of your progress. I have only been on this site for a month or so but there is a wealth of information and a bunch of cool caring people.

Best of luck.
Dru

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navin
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Location: Kentucky

Post by navin » Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:57 pm

Well, in addition to all of the wonderful advice already given, here are some things I've done to keep meals on the road or eating out under control. Granted, I don't eat out nearly as often as you, so your mileage may vary (pun intended. :P )

Try to find hotels with refrigerators... they are a godsend. Then, for instance, when you eat out for dinner, you can pack part of the meal for the next day's breakfast or lunch.

Look for (or ask for) half-size portions. Restaurants have slowly been adding them to their menus, so you may luck out. Another alternative to this is to order an appetizer as your meal... that usually has the bonus of beaing cheaper, too.

Deli and sub-style restaurants (e.g., Subway) are great for quick, reasonable meals.

And, as others have said, if you can pack lunches some of the time, that helps too.

I wish you luck. Of course, following the letter of the law of No-S will help you tremendously in and of itself. Also check out urban ranger... depending on where you travel, it might make sense to do as much walking as you can.

margaret
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Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:21 am
Location: Pine Mountain, GA

Starting my 3 wks. tomorrow

Post by margaret » Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:35 am

:lol: I've never enjoyed diet advice so much. I prefer to think of it as nutrition...but maybe I'm too much in the duality of being afraid to say the d word because of so many failures and feeling that I must be eating healthy to justify it. so I'll be new with you.
"E're she looked for the good, e're she found it.
Annie May Quigg 1891-1996

jools
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Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 6:42 pm
Location: florida

Post by jools » Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:57 pm

HI Jetii

Welcome,

I eat out quiet a bit too, i just stick to the one plate rule with no vertical stacking, i eat til i am full then box the rest for lunch the next day. Hard to do on the road though. I would rather leave it on the plate than take it ALL home on my thighs! LOL

Really concentrate on the three NOS rules, get those under your belt, you have enough to do just with this. Eat the foods you have been missing out on- for me it was bread and now amazingly it holds no fascination for me.Before i used to crave pasta and now i rarely want it, but when i do i know i can without guilt. You too will get to experience this !

Again welcome and good luck to you, keep posting and reading !

Jools

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