Everyday Systems

navin

I have a tale to tell. It is sad, sweet, cautionary, and hopefully encouraging.

I found No-S by accident way back in the early days.. before there was a book, cool magnets, and the like. I was probably in my mid to late 20's. A friend of a friend of a friend was somehow acquainted with Reinhard and ...

navin

You rock! You should have Richard play a celebratory tune on the sax for you.

navin

Warning: sort of long-ish. I'm making up for not having posted in a long time. :-)

No-S Past
I've been doing this No-S thing for several years now, even before this board existed. I started a fat slob who ate too many sweets, didn't exercise much, and had low self confidence. I'm about 5'8, and had ...

navin

Or you could handle this from the other end (pun intended) with something like this:

http://www.flat-d.com/flatdpremium.html

navin

You could maybe try a mini-Thanksgiving. Whole turkeys aren't that expensive, and are not as intimidating to cook as they may seem. Stuffing is cheap too, and you have flexibility with whatever other vegetables you want to serve.

Another idea might be pasta - it is not that expensive either and is ...

navin

A few thoughts.

Studies *should* try to prove or disprove something - that's the whole scientific method. You start with a hypothesis, come up with an experiment to test that, and then evaluate the results.

The quality studies depend a lot on how well they are run - two big factors being the ...

navin

That's some good stuff Deb! Thanks for the link.

navin

WAL-MART won't let me shop there anymore.

Not sure I'd consider that a bad thing...

navin

What do you think? Has anyone ever seen a bride with glasses on?

Actually, I believe I have. She *always* wears glasses, and would have probably looked funny without them.

navin

Wait a minute... isn't the title Woman's world?? If so it ought to be available everywhere!

navin

It'll depend greatly on the individual, and how much you have to lose. I lost maybe a pound a month, and that rate lasted for a couple of years.

navin

Agreed with the sentiments that Blondie looks great! Now the tricky part, since I'm a guy, I might get funny looks if I browse this magazine, so maybe I'll go into the grocery store in drag just so I can check out the whole article.

navin

Another thing is the fact that, in general, we do less physical labor than our predecessors. For instance, eating a big meal of fried chicken and its extra calories works OK after laboring hard for a day. But eating that same chicken after sitting in front of a computer in the office all day, not so ...

navin

The first question I'd ask myself (well, metaphysically speaking - you don't actually have to talk to yourself) is what do you really want to do? You certainly wouldn't want to get into something you dislike just as much.

navin

I found out about it, ironically enough, through a friend at a gluttonous party, who I believe knew Reinhard, or knew someone who did. That was a long time ago, maybe 4 or 5 years, and these plush message forums didn't exist yet. There was an old, less luxurious system, and Deb, if you're reading, I ...

navin

I did too! Fortunately there's an Amazon.com warehouse right here in town, so it won't be long now...

navin

The classic "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie is worth reading for these often sticky human interactions.

navin

For most of my pre-no-S existence, I was on the seefood diet. If I see food, I eat it.

navin

You know, it speaks volumes to Reinhard as well as the No-S community as to how we respond to these types of messages. This type of stuff can easily turn into flamewars, or they could be censored, etc. But instead it turned into interesting and helpful discussion.

I definitely agree with the ...

navin

Until they come out with a study that shows that women are more attracted to fat guys, I'll stick with No-S and exercise.

navin

Stop procrastinating.

I'll get right on that tomorrow.

navin

My DENTAL bills have gone down since No-S. It's amazing what a lot less sugar can do for your teeth.

navin

This would be useful if you're using Habitcal for No-S. But I've thought of using it for other things, in which case there won't be as much of a benefit with this strategy.

Then again, while I've *thought* about using it, I haven't actually started a Habitcal yet so take any of my suggestions for ...

navin

About all I have to add might be the old "serenity prayer":

"Grant me courage to change the things I can, serenity to accept the things I can't, and wisdom to know the difference".

Sounds like there are a lot of things in your life that you have to determine whether you can (reasonablly) change or ...

navin

Don't forget - your chance of picking up hot chicks is much greater if you go to a gym or class than if you exercise by yourself. I think this is a much more important motivator in gym attendance than polite discussion and newspaper reports would have us believe!

Phil.

Heh, that's absolutely ...

navin

If you like seafood and can find a Weathervane, those are great. I think there's on north of the city (a fair bit north) in Saratoga, and there are a few scattered throughout New England if you make it east of New York.

Of course, when I think New York, I think pizza. :-) Can't recommend a specific ...

navin

I take a different take on this. I think people tend to take those group exercise classes for completely different reasons than this author seems to think. The main reasons I do them are to learn something new and to have social interaction, both of which are good things. And having accountability ...

navin

What they said.

Enjoy some well-deserved S days.

navin

I agree that everyone does S days a little differently.

I still stick to the 3 meal plan almost always. Sweets are my S of choice... I rarely have a snack that's not something nice and sweet. I also sometimes have a pastry, donut, or even chocolate cake for breakfast on Saturday.. or maybe make ...

navin

Short answer: about 20 lbs.

Long answer:

I've been doing this for about 4 years now. At first, it was relatively quick progress (by my standards, at least) - about 1 or 2 lbs a month. I "peaked" at around -26 after a couple years. I have somewhat plateaued since then, even going up a little bit ...

navin

Yes, I do the tooth brushing thing too, and it usually works great! My dentist bills have gone way down, too.

navin

In the end, it's easier (and probably healthier) to drink when you're thirsty.

The exception to that is if you're exercising:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/hydr ... 41103a.htm

navin

Glad to see you back, Betsy, and congrats on your good results so far!

navin

Congratulations on the birth of the world's newest No-S'er!

navin

Shamrockmommy -

And if it makes you feel any better, there are some of us, like me, who have been doing this for *years* and still have mess-ups from time to time (often bigger than yours!) And I don't even have any kids.

I have friends who either are or have recently nursed children, and it seems ...

navin

I started having this same problem, too. I had never been deferred for low iron before, but after a couple of years and about 20 lbs loss on No-S, it started happening from time to time. I figured before, my body must have had lost of iron (and about every other nutrient) to spare, just because I ...

navin

That's a tough one. Well, for sure, 2 out of 3 of the S's still make sense - sweets and seconds. No sense loading up with chocolate chip cookies and donuts before a race, right? Or 4 plates from a Chinese buffet? As for the snacking - while I don't do anything like a half-marathon, I do play ice ...

navin

The only issue is an acronym collision. NWS can also mean "Not Work Safe".

navin

Good luck, and I think you already have a good start - a lot of us here have found that combining No-S with exercise gives even better results.

navin

That book will be rereleased this summer.

Interesting... but how do we know they aren't using similar techniques in the book, to persuade you to their conclusions? :)

It also seems that super-sizing is startingn to disappear from McD's menus. I wonder if, ironically, people felt even more ...

navin

I agree... though I have a feeling Reinhard is weekend-ludditing and might not even be aware of the post until Monday!

navin

This may sound silly, but something I did a lot at first to help avoid the vending machine is just don't carry any cash! Or at least, no change or small bills.

As for dealing with the hunger, water is a good suggestion. You could even try juice or milk or something like that - yes, it does have ...

navin

I think a simple "No, thanks" is all that is required. If he asks why or persists, just say you don't feel like it (which is true).

This is pretty easy if he didn't make the cake. It might be a little tougher if it's his homemade cake, so the worst case, and you really feel bad (or the cake looks ...

navin

Hexagon,

Wow, in a lot of ways, you sound a lot like me. :) (Well, except that I'm a guy..) I'm 30, and have about 10-20 lbs to lose myself. I used to be a lot worse - I was about 20-25 lbs heavier before starting No-S. I used to think I was so unattractive that I'd never find anyone who'd be ...

navin

I agree about 80%. Most of the time, lifestyle changes shouldn't be excruciatingly hard. That being said, when I first heard about No-S, I thought going a whole day - let alone 5 in a week - without snacks or sweets would be excruciatingly hard! But I went and tried it anyway, and it really wasn't ...

navin

I have these little bowls for cereal.

Ah, so I'm not the only one who does that kind of thing. :-)

I do it for lunch or dinner if I'm having soup 'n' sandwiches. Put soup in the bowl, put it on a plate, and fit a sandwich on it, and it usually makes for a pretty nice meal.

But yeah, there are 2 ...

navin

This is an interesting thread. It certainly gives many reasons to cook food yourself... for example, if I make bread at home, I can control exactly what goes into it. (No high-fructose corn syrup for me... ) Of course, the trade-off is that it's much more time consuming than buying a loaf of bread ...

navin

Most people have a tendency to pig out on snickers bars way more than they have a tendency to pig out on plain bread.

No kidding!

(but not anymore after that Super Bowl commercial...

)

navin

I'm the same way... and at first it was difficult to go between meals... especially between breakfast and lunch. But after a while, it got easier. Part of it was getting used to being a little hungry now and then. That can turn into a positive - everything tastes better when you're actually hungry!

navin

For me it was an N day - though somebody at work did bring in cupcakes, so I did have one of those.

navin

Anyway, this is my attempt to be accountable Smile Glad to see some familiar names (Kevin, Deb, Navin etc). I will start up a daily (or dig up the old one) today.

Glad to see you back,and congrats on your success! Sorry to hear about the bad relationship... but one positive No-S thing about it ...

navin

When I started, I figured I was about 40 lbs overweight.

I've been doing this about 4 years now, and have lost somewhere around 25 lbs. After 3 years, I took off somewhere between 26 and 30 lbs (depending on the scale's mood on any given day). For the last year I've remained kind of stagnant over ...

navin

Let the maximum be the minimum.

Now if only you could get the highway departments sold on that idea...

navin

I think muffins are generally fine, unless they have a ton of added sugar or are more like desserts (e.g., double chocolate chip mufins). Bonus points if you make the muffins yourself... then you KNOW how much sugar is going in them.

AS for other breakfast ideas, I will eat muffins sometimes (but ...

navin

1) Do your age in push-ups everyday

Another fun way to incorporate push-ups if you're a football fan... do your team's score in push-ups every time your team scores, much like the mascot would. Helps if you are for high-scoring teams with good offense.

navin

For me it varies a little from week to week.

I try to get to the gym a couple times a week. I do some strength training (you know, those various weight machines each tailored to certain muscle groups), the odd "Spin" class (especially when it's too cold to ride a real bike).

When it's nicer out, I ...

navin

gee, is it any small wonder that some of us are having trouble with going back and forth? sure makes me wish that i could block those kinds of commercials like you can with the parent controls for swearing...hmmm, maybe there's a way?! Laughing

Heh, that's what the "Mute" button is for ...

navin

In addition to what everyone else has said, try ordering a lunch item or appetizer as a dinner main course. I find a restaurant sandwich and side typically fills me for dinner. Or often I'll find an appetizer that looks so good i could eat it as a whole meal. Bonus: these tend to be cheaper than a ...

navin

Now keep losing weight! We need more testimonials!

Well congratulations, first of all! But now that means I have until 2008 to pad my weight loss numbers... I've been at about 25 for too long now, something like 35 would certainly be better book material.

navin

As far as telling, I won't make an explicit effort to tell people, but I'm not making an explicit effort *not* to tell people either.

For instance, yeah, if somebody notices something and says "what's your secret?" or something to that effect, then that is a perfect lead for No-S evangelism. I'll ...

navin

Hmm, that would bring up the age old philosophical question of whether the ends justify the means.

navin

My question is this: how do I do that? I guess if I really loved myself as I currently am, I don't think I'd want to change. How do you reconcile love/acceptance with the simultaneous desire to change?

Not much to add here, lot of great posts already. The analogy I see with this one is, let's say ...

navin

So how long before you have the anti bookmark FireFox plug-in?

navin

So why is it that in this one area we see ourselves as failures?

I think, as Reinhard said, there's a big difference between *being* a failure and *having* a failure. I think it is good to recognize that we have failures. For instance, at work, I may not get a specific task done on time. Or I ...

navin

ps..I didn't look!

Sure.....

navin

That's a tough situation, been there myself from time to time. I think your problem isn't really food-related though... it's more just being lonely and bored and eating becuase it's something to do. I may be off-base here... I'm saying that just becuase that has been my experience in the past.

But ...

navin

Heck yeah. I've found No-S really makes buffets reasonable and enjoyable again. At a Chinese buffet, for instance, I used to be able to pack down two or three plates, as well as desserts. And I felt stuffed and miserable at the end. But now one plate works wonders. I even keep this rule on the ...

navin

Hmm, why do I have an image of Wharf saying, "Captain, they've adapted!" all of the sudden??

I suppose you could make your tool and run it as a dry-run for a while, and see what it's accuracy rate is and once it's good enoguh let it in. But yeah, you're absolutely right, it's better to let a few ...

navin

Hmm, it sems like a lot of new sites I register on these days have some sort of graphic with a word on it... something that is apparently easy for a human to read but difficult to read programmatically. Wonder if sometihng like that could prevent those accounts from being created in the first place ...

navin

When it's shut off, it's just another piece of furniture for the cat to lay on.

So how in the world did you train that cat to lay on it when it's off? They seem to like my computer only when it's on and I'm trying to use it.

navin

OK - here's what I posted a while back:

Here are a few of mine:

1. Improve my overall health, not die of a heart attack at 50, not get diabetes, maintain a high quality of life when I get old(er).
2. Be fit enough so I don't have to suck in my stomach any time an attractive woman walks by.
3. Be ...

navin

Boy is this an interesting thread! I'll just throw in one more thing - buying local produce can also be better. If something is only trucked from an hour or so away, it needs a lot less preservatives than something pickeda on the other side of the country. (Not to mention it uses less fuel, and so ...

navin

I'm with Deb... exercise and overall weight loss will help. Do you have any idea what your cholesterol was *before* you started No-S? Has it gone down, up, stayed the same?

I had a similar problem before I started No-S... cholesterol was much higher than I'd like it. But as I lost weight, it went ...

navin

I love seeing newbies on NoS!!!
And most, are sooo happy to have found it!
I know I am!
Continued good luck to you Smile

But newbies beware - this place is like a cult! I couldn't leave now if I wanted to.

navin

As far as shoes, I've had good luck with New Balance walking and/or running shoes. I don't have any good recommendations for boots though - I still have yet to find a pair I actually like...

navin

That sounds like a tough situation.. but maybe this will work. Just say to yourself, "Those goodies aren't for me, they're for the customers." You just might be taking somebody's dessert!

I worked at a buffet in college, and while the manager generally turned a blind eye if we took stuff, she'd ...

navin

Making parole is an S-day? Man, I wish I had known that!!

navin

Actually, here's something else... a mental trick. DO something to take your mind off of food for a while. For instance: bad - sitting at work in front of the computer, not doing much. Good - talking a walk, having an interesting meeting or conversation, doing some manual task. As with most things ...

navin

I've had this happen, and no big magic tricks. For me, I find that drinking a lot of water works. Also chewing sugarless gum can help.

navin

Hmm, maybe "No Spam" should be the 4th S.

navin

... and aren't you in Maine? So it must have been in several feet of snow, too!

navin

2 major chains of grocers as described are "Whole Foods" and "Wild Oats", you can find them in many cities.

In addition, many places have a "Co-op" - which is (usually) customer-owned store, and those often have a lot of the same type stuff.

navin

I've had a similar problem. The trick is to get your own laziness to work for you. Here's what I've been doing, and it gives me decent success.

I have found that I tend to be lazy in these ways:
1. I don't mind taking time to make a nice meal, but I hate doing it right after a tough day at work.
2 ...

navin

An oldie but a goodie:

"You are what you eat."

navin

Very interesting. It also doesn't say whether it affects cats that snack on those genetically-reprogrammed mice.

navin

Here's another idea: be a volunteer mover. Now that's a full body workout. I guess it would be hard to do in discreet little chunks throughout the week, though.

No kidding. I've helped several friends move, and moved a few times myself (though thankfully, haven't moved in about 5 years now) - and ...

navin

This guy has the right idea:

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0802MowMan02-ON.html

As for me, my own lawn is enough for me if I stick with my push-reel mower. I have been using it exclusively for about a month.... so long as I'm not lazy and actually mow it about once a week it works ...

navin

My only concern: it sounds like a lot of keeping track.

Combining this with Urban Ranger and a USB pedometer could help in that regard though.

navin

I must say that's quite impressive. Both the actual loss as well as sticking with it for a year.

navin

Heh, I like the option, "Meh, they're ok".

In my opinion, they're just another tool in the box, like your tape measure, or looking int he mirror, or BMI, or anything else. They can provide a meaningful gauge if used in the right context and, of couse, if they're relatively accurate - or if you use ...

navin

That's impressive. And, of course, success is a great motivator to keep on going. Keep up the good work!

navin

Here are a few of mine:

1. Improve my overall health, not die of a heart attack at 50, not get diabetes, maintain a high quality of life when I get old(er).
2. Be fit enough so I don't have to suck in my stomach any time an attractive woman walks by.
3. Be able to ice skate faster. (I *hate ...

navin

I can also give a simpler reason why you would want to stick to the rules. Most of the people here, at least as far as I can tell, that have lost and/or kept off weight have done so by following the No-S rules. As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Really, it's not as hard as ...

navin

I thought it would be fun to post this, to see if there are certain foods which you have been able to enjoy while being on NoS, which previously, you might have "dreaded" as very unhealthy and bad for your diet, or "taboo"...

I have never had individual foods that I considered off-limits for diet ...

navin

Keeping track of your score like a baseball game is a neat idea.

Beat those Yankees!

navin

I've lost around 27 lbs total over the couse of 2-1/2 years. I've been relatively stable for a few months now, though I really could stand to lose about 10-15 lbs more. But clearly it is not coming back, so even if I stay here, I'm light years ahead of where I was back in the Dark Ages before the ...

navin

I agree with what Deb says, to experiment and find what's best for you, and not to try and weight in every day.

I typically weigh in about once a week, and make sure and do it on the same day and time (Friday, before dinner).

For you - it really depends on what motivates you. Would you get ...

navin

At least I'm not going totally nuts going off plan with eating and thank God I have some regular employment!
And I actually did a huge sink of dishes yesterday which, up until that point, was starting to grow things!!!
Major triumph! LOL...

Good thing. And while it might seem natural, I don't ...

navin

Deb, just make sure it's all natural peanut butter as i've made the switch! Laughing I can't believe how much better it tastes!

I'll second that! I still enjoy Jiff every now and then, and use it for cooking... (maybe it's the fact that their factory is in town and every now and then I can get a ...

navin

Well, that depends. Will you be walking *to* the track?

Everyday Systems

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