Everyday Systems

Thanks for the food for thought. So -- I'm reading that it's key that it has to be super clear what I mean so no fudging. Can I tell right away what thing is a Synthesized Sweet and thus an S, or will I be able to fool myself into eating Oreos? We shall see.

I completely agree that Reinhard's ...

You could also have a "going out mod," where you say, "when we go out, I'll follow the one-plate rule but allow a dessert that hubby and I split to be part of my plate." Again, if it's only a couple of times a month, probably no big deal. If it's weekly or more, you may need to try it and see if it ...

Thank you to everybody who wrote in on this!

So what I am hearing is that the MOST important thing is to have clear lines that make it very easy to know whether you are in them or out of them, but that it might take a while to figure out what the exact precise meanings of those lines are.

I don't intend to encourage anyone else to do this, but I am thinking of ditching "no sweets." I wonder if anyone else has decided to drop one of the three cardinal No-S rules ----- not because "It's too hard!" but because it seems to cause more problems than it solves, which is what I am looking at ...

I thought an interesting topic of conversation would be, how firm is your definition of a "red" failure, and has that changed over the time you have done no-S? Having lived with an eating disorder in the past, I am a little wary about perfectionism because it has sent me into a bad place more than ...

I know I also read some research once that said men were more likely to just attack the most egregious eating habit[s], and that was often enough to get the results they wanted. Also familiar?

I can't be the only woman whose husband can say, "Huh, I'm up a few pounds," stop eating ice cream for a ...

Noni wrote,

Not having seconds became a lot easier for me because I learned how to slow down my eating. My husband and sons are finished their seconds while I'm still on my one plate. I like to point that out to them to remind them to slow down.


So what's the best way to learn to slow down ...

I don't know if it's just my bias, but it seems to me that I see a lot more people talking about their struggles with No Snacks and No Sweets.

No Seconds, especially at dinner, is absolutely the hardest part for me. Yes, I'm putting plenty on my plate to start with. I just... have a super-hard ...

90% of the time, some variation on "two eggs and toast with fruit or vegetable." And lots of black coffee.

This morning it was two eggs fried sunny-side up, with an English muffin and an orange.

Sometimes I make an omelet with vegetables in it. Sometimes I have tomato juice instead of a piece of ...

DAY 4 is an N DAY

Kids up by 7:30 - check. First day of school, whee.

Breakfast - poached egg on top of leftover mixed grain pilaf, tomato juice, and a nectarine. Again, more than I usually eat. I'm trying to figure out how to get through from meal to meal.

Had six almonds as I got ready to ...

DAY 3 is an N DAY

Kids up by 7:30 - check

Breakfast - 1 soft-boiled egg, 1.5 pieces whole wheat bread, about 15 blueberries. Coffee. I ate extra because I was going to try to get thru to lunch without a mini meal.

Lunch - Felt hungry and obsessed about food until I could sit down in front of it ...

Wow, a year-long resolution! Congratulations for having the guts to make it in the middle of August!

I wish you well and hope you continue the daily check in for a long time!

Thanks for checking in. Being at home all day can make it tough. I think that is one reason I have included the sensorially-satisfying mini-meals of fruit, nuts, and/or cheese -- I can really look forward to them and it helps me say no to the leftover frozen pizza or sleeve of saltine crackers. "I ...

DAY 2 is an N DAY

Kids up by 7:30 - check

Breakfast - one fried egg, one bowl steel cut oatmeal with butter and mixed berries.

Lunch - can of kippers, Thomas's mini bagel, couple slices tomato, maybe a cup of green beans, and a clementine.

Mini meal of 14 almonds. I ate a bite of raw cabbage ...

DAY 1 is an N DAY

Nosdiet:

Breakfast - met a friend at a restaurant with all our kids. Ordered black coffee, quiche with fruit, and tomato juice. Quiche was beautiful but huge so ate half and boxed the rest to take home. Successfully avoided eating children's pecan caramel rolls.

Lunch - Made a ...

This check in will be for a modified nosdiet -- I allow myself a controlled afternoon snack and sometimes a morning one, to curb hypoglycemia. So the habits I am working on are

* no sweets (except on s-days)
* no seconds (except on s-days)
* controlled my snacks (except on s-days)

Plus I have ...

I recently got a set of Corelle "luncheon" plates, 8.5 inches, with dividers in them -- the pattern is Winter Frost White and it comes divided or undivided. The dividers roughly split the plate into a half and two quarters. I have found it really helpful for keeping my veggie portion nice and big ...

A challenge for all the witty people out there:

I am working on a variation of the NoS diet that will be compatible with my needs as a breastfeeding mom who tends towards the hypoglycemic. I am loving the idea of defining a certain kind of "mini meal" as exempt from the definition of snack, so that ...

Ooh, I'm so glad somebody brought this up!

I spent a week experimenting a little bit with NoS and I had just made up my mind to try something like it. I had no idea it was a sort of "official variation." I am like the original poster in that I am trying NOT to stuff myself at meals. I am coming off ...

Seriously, if you've had two kids, the tummy is likely not going to go away without plastic surgery.

That flap that hangs down in front? It's not made of fat. It's made of skin and its supporting structures, plus some fat. Even skinny people usually have one after a few pregnancies.

So don't beat ...

I have been reading the boards for a couple of weeks and asking questions, thinking about moving to NoS for a maintenance plan after losing most of the weight I needed to lose via intensive calorie counting.

Starting tomorrow I will be spending a week away from home (without internet access!) in a ...

Hmm, if it were me I'd sketch out a little schedule showing where my work time, sleep time, and waking breaks are -- covering the stretch of shift work plus a day on either side -- and, without worrying too much about how MANY meals there are altogether, just try to arrange meals in the possible ...

Here's a little update. Yesterday I tried substituting glasses of whole milk for those snacks I seem to really need (especially the midafternoon one).

I did just fine! No lightheadedness and I enjoyed my dinner (still need to learn to eat more slowly, I'm always done before everyone else is ...

CrazyCatLady:

And finally, one Monday I woke up and said to myself that I just feel like I'm ready to let this excess weight go. Not "fight" to get rid of it, but just stop feeding and caring for all the excess weight. The first thing I stopped was McDonald's Sweet Tea. I still have occasional ...

Yes, I'm interested too to see how it works. The diet seems flexible enough to accommodate most health needs -- it should, for example, be safe during pregnancy or breastfeeding just by adding more meals. As I said, I'm sort of trying it out here as a maintenance strategy as I approach the last 15 ...

I just tried online-stopwatch.com and it does have an audible alert.

Browser issues maybe? I'm running OS X.

Hey! Somehow I missed that caloric fluids were allowed. I love whole milk (we get it raw, straight from the farm!) and perhaps that would be enough "snack" when at home.

Maybe I'll try switching to milk when it's convenient to have it (refrigeration) and only use nuts for a snack when I'm out and ...

Not much you can do about people who dis the lifestyle without even trying, I guess -- I was just wondering if there were any who tried it for a long while and then quit. i suppose if you didn't see any weight loss or other improvements, that could be pretty demoralizing. And I suppose no plan is ...

A friend of mine said about this diet, "Boy, if I fail at this it'll be pretty embarrassing. I'll have to say, 'I tried not being a glutton, but oh well, it just wasn't me!'"

Which got me wondering... here on the boards are all the people who are currently trying out the NoS Diet, and a lot of ...

These are all good ideas.

I have been feeling pretty confident that I have established the habit of the really small mini-meal, which is usually some mix of a few nuts, about an ounce of cheese cut in tiny cubes, and a few bites of fruit (e.g. 2 big strawberries, or ten blueberries, or a quarter ...

Hi there. I'm approaching goal weight from a counting-calories, 6-mini-meals-a-day type weight loss program -- I've got about 15 pounds left (out of a total 48 pounds I wanted to lose). Counting calories, and getting used to being slightly hungry by keeping those 6 meals small, worked great this ...