Everyday Systems

sporkfancier

Fantastic to hear how your systems have evolved (or devolved) over the years. I was particularly interested in your rumination on glass ceiling, as I've definitely found "the average to be nearly the maximum" over the years as well. Looking forward to the next one!

sporkfancier

Any of you runners/cyclists/swimmers/etc out there, please join!

sporkfancier

I've been doing No-S for so long that I rarely write about it anymore, but I do write about it from time to time (along with shovelglove) at my blog A Sound Body: http://asoundbody.wordpress.com

It also covers a tonne of other topics.

sporkfancier

Very nice! I'm from the school that just buys heavier hammers. I now own an 8-lber (which I admit I never used, it's my partner's), a 10-lber, a 12-lber, and a 14-lber (which I use now). I'm expecting I'll start jonesing for a 16-lber in a few months, but I'm fine for now. It does take some ...

sporkfancier

The one I've really cottoned to is from Metric's newer album, "Help I'm Alive" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtA7YIFapnY

It's seriously awesome (I mean, it is Metric), but it also has this terrific refrain about "beating like a hammer" with this driving beat. Perfect for shugging!

sporkfancier

My partner is a woman and a shovelglover, though she is new to it. I've been shovelgloving almost every N-day since September of 2009, and she finally started it about three weeks ago.

Like many of the other women here, it isn't the only thing she does (while it remains essentially the only thing I ...

sporkfancier

palm_tree wrote:I've told no one, don't intend to.

I'll let others speak first.

When they tell me I look smaller.

This is what I've done. It makes people far more interested in the program. I've bought almost half-a-dozen copies of the book and handed them out, and I've never talked about it without being asked.

sporkfancier

Another 21 day milestone. Unfortunately, I can't seem to string these together--I tend to slip up around day 30.

Well, this time, I'm shooting for 42. That would be December 7th. Honestly, No-S has been so easy lately, that I have no excuse.

EDIT: Ugh. I made it to day 43, then failed on day 44 ...

sporkfancier

Congratulations on making this choice to lose weight. Many people hear that from their doctor and choose death--perhaps not explicitly, but they do choose not to change their lifestyle.

The main trap that people will fall into with No-S is that the weight loss is gradual, but it's permanent and ...

sporkfancier

HealthPrincess9 wrote:I agree - Meals definitely taste a lot better now that I'm not snacking!

Quoted for truth! This has been the biggest change for me.

sporkfancier

While my October was nowhere near as bad as yours, I'll echo the sentiment. After a perfect September for both Shovelglove and No-S, I had two red days for each in October. I want to do better this month, though I already have one red day on Shovelglove!

sporkfancier

Last month didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Two red days for both No-S and Shovelglove!

This month, I'm going to do better!

Nov 1: Exempt
Nov 2: Success
Nov 3: Mixed Success on No-S, Failure on Shovelglove. Damnit!
Nov 4: Success
Nov 5: Success
Nov 6: Success
Nov 7: Exempt
Week 1: All good on ...

sporkfancier

Renee, while I don't know what happened to Marc (though the fact that he lost 90 pounds suggests his mods worked for him) and what "getting upset" means in the context of a message board, I'd like to encourage you to share what you are doing. This is your daily check-in--who cares what others say ...

sporkfancier

I'm surprised noone has mentioned this yet, but Reinhard did three podcasts on this subject (though really just the first two apply to your question):

Episode 35: The Mods and Tweaks Trilogy Part I: To Tweak Or Not To Tweak

Episode 36: The Mods and Tweaks Trilogy Part II: How To Tweak

Episode ...

sporkfancier

I'm glad you're enjoying the diet (what an odd concept, eh?)

Since I'm sure there are going to be others who caution you not to expect this kind of weight loss every week, I won't do that. What I will say is that you need to remember how good it feels to follow this plan, how easy it is, because ...

sporkfancier

And don't forget butter churning season!

I'm intrigued by this idea, because I do like the notion of just doing the movements and not worrying about couting--seems like a more natural way of doing shovelglove. Great idea!

sporkfancier

Kevin wrote:15 year olds measure everything in the distance from their what-nots.

Not just fifteen year olds!

sporkfancier

Last month went terrifically, and I'd like to "maintain the sustain". Once again, my goals will be:

Goal #1: No red days on No-S
Goal #2: No red days on Shovelglove

Oct 1: Success
Oct 2: Success , but tainted (maybe). At the grocery store, they were giving out samples of smoked salmon at the ...

sporkfancier

Of course in Canada we don't celebrate birthdays, but I wish you the very best kind!

This is a joke.

sporkfancier

One of the ideas I've had lately is that there has to be a way to make working behind a desk more physically engaging. I believe that the reason desk workers are so wiped after a day of sitting in a cubicle is precisely because they are SITTING in a cubicle.

Thus, on my list of monthly resolutions ...

sporkfancier

Starla wrote:I'm a little afraid of what will happen when I DO finally have a red day

You just start again at day 1. No biggie!

sporkfancier

I'm glad you're finding a way to get rid of a bad habit using the No-S systematic moderation system. Congratulations!

I don't know if Reinhard likes to promote this system or not, but he came up with a moderate smoking system called Low Smoking . Having never had a smoking problem myself (I enjoy ...

sporkfancier

Nichole wrote:I've been thinking a lot about how to maintain without being obsessive. Any suggestions out there?

Not that I have any experience in maintaining a healthy weight (though I hope to soon), but wouldn't simply following vanilla No-S be enough? Or are you finding it to be obsessive?

sporkfancier

I do Habitcal for No-S and Shovelglove. I don't count calories or "S-events" (my weekends are totally free).

I do try to remember to step on the scale on Saturday mornings, my one "official" weigh-in. Sometimes I forget, though.

This is not something most people can do, I realize, but when I step ...

sporkfancier

Wow, I found fitday to be incredibly time-consuming. Plus, how did I know if what I was eating was the same thing as in their database. This was especially true of dinner rolls.

sporkfancier

Last night for me it was my partner's homemade Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. Wow, the whole house smelled like them and we served them to guests in the evening. I can't wait for Saturday!

sporkfancier

A 25lb hammer! Wow, you're a beast!

sporkfancier

What awesome progress! The strangest part for me is remembering how I felt as I crossed each base-10 threshold.

<210: Finally! But I still feel fat.
<200: I can't believe I'm under 200 pounds! I feel better and healthier.
<190: Wow, that took forever ! I'm getting really close to a healthy body ...

sporkfancier

So far, the only soreness I've had is from the (15) bench presses I did on Monday. I think that moving up only 2lbs is probably helping the transition. :)

Good advice not to fixate on progress, though. The fixation is more on the Christmas gift--my out-of-province relatives want to know my wish ...

sporkfancier

I've actually had a "glass ceiling" slip up. Just a minor one (one drink over the limit), but still. Of all my systems, this is the one I find I have to be most vigilant about.

Well, look at it this way--in 2007, your biggest problem was weekend luddite. Perhaps you've improved there, and that's ...

sporkfancier

I have no restrictions on my S-days. Usually, I feel sick on Monday mornings because I ate like crap.

Still losing weight and having no trouble with N-days, so I don't worry about it. S-days are free, free, free!

sporkfancier

Nice work, BN!

I did C25K--it is very rewarding to run for 30 minutes uninterrupted. The best part about it is that I stopped running for 8 months, and when I came back, I still had a strong baseline of ability--I jumped back in at week 6 and got up to speed in a matter of weeks.

I'm not letting ...

sporkfancier

Congratulations on starting. Sticking to it is easy--the hard part is the patience. Remember, though, this is a plan that allows you to eat without embarrassment, without driving everyone around you crazy, and you never have to kiss any food goobye for longer than 5 days! That sounds like a great ...

sporkfancier

Over the weekend, I decided to trade up from a 10lb sledge to a 12lb. I've been 10lb shugging since the 3rd of August, so I figured I'd laid a solid foundation of habit and could handle the "progress".

I was feeling like the routine was getting a little too easy and wanted to see if I could take it ...

sporkfancier

Hey everybody:

I thought I'd make a kind of catch-all post that let's us see how we're all doing in one place, and to encourage those of us who haven't updated in a while to do so! I did this alphabetically to make it easier to find ourselves and our compatriots!

~emilyr: Let us know how your ...

sporkfancier

I've had a few additional S days other than the weekends, but otherwise, been following the rules.

This is where you should look before adding a modification. Reinhard did a podcast about this: http://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode.php?id=34

Get your N-days perfect before worrying about ...

sporkfancier

Out of courtesy to a friend who brought chocolate covered almonds for us to taste at a mother's coffee, I had one even though I had no Exception Days left. Lo and behold, the sky did not fall. I went through the rest of the day without worrying about having had that one chocolate covered almond ...

sporkfancier

My partner and I are heading to Value Village to try to find some low-cost clothes that fit RIGHT NOW that we won't feel bad about discarding as we continue to lose weight. It's not ideal, but it's better than paying full price....

sporkfancier

Return member of the 21 club, here. Both for No-S and shovelglove this time!

Here's to making it to 21x2!

sporkfancier

Canada never had Prohibition, either.

This is a great point. I did want to point out that one of the items that's being discussed legislatively up here is tax *breaks* for healthy lifestyle decisions (e.g. gym memberships being tax deductible). It's also being discussed in the context of children ...

sporkfancier

To me, it sounds like another opportunity for the government to infringe on our personal behavior. If the government takes over health care, I'm afraid that they'll start instituting a "fat tax" and justify it with the health-care-costs argument.

We've had government health care since the 60s and ...

sporkfancier

Funnel cake for me, too. We went to the zoo last weekend, and I was pumped to grab a funnel cake or mini-doughnuts. When it came time to buy one, I decided I wasn't hungry for one. It was really, really weird, and my wife couldn't believe it either.

No-S!

sporkfancier

I'm enjoying actually feeling hungry.

I think I know what you mean, though I wouldn't refer to it as enjoyment. I think I appreciate hunger now. When I do feel hungry, I tell myself: "This is good. This means you'll really appreciate the next meal." And if that doesn't work, I tell myself ...

sporkfancier

I simply use Diet Coke/Pepsi as the mixer. I have a problem of not drinking enough, so I don't limit myself even on N-days. Of course, that leads sometimes to nights like last night, where I had 5 SRN(D)Cs.

sporkfancier

The hardest day for me is always Wednesday. We have friends over and there are always chips. Chips are my huge, huge weakness. Saving ice cream for the weekends is easy--not eating those damn chips during the week is hard!

sporkfancier

Ah, Coke--I used to love it and drink as much as you're saying you drink. I switched to Diet Coke (and now Diet Coke with Lime--so incredibly good) about 11 years ago, and now I can't drink "The Real Thing".

Can I recommend something? How about make Diet Coke or Coke Zero your N-day coke ...

sporkfancier

Y'know, I've lost about 30 lbs since April, and I still have this happen to me. This week I weighed myself and had gained more than 3 lbs since I last weighed myself. I went through everything you just went through. The thing to remember about No-S is how easy it is! The weight does come off, just a ...

sporkfancier

August wasn't a great month for compliance. :(

Goal #1: No red days on No-S
Goal #2: No red days on Shovelglove

I think that's enough with school starting up again. I'm teaching 6 classes this term, so staying compliant will be struggle enough!

Sept 1: Success
Sept 2: Success but only barely on ...

sporkfancier

Kathleen:

You've accomplished quite a lot in terms of habit formation. I agree with the others here: quitting isn't a positive step. Like you said, you accomplished something great by not gaining 10 lbs this year. If you add that to the 10 or so you lost, that's 20lbs! :)

Can I ask you if you try ...

sporkfancier

I think the key here is that you're never going to look like Michael Phelps just by doing No-S. You might look like Reinhard , though. If you want to be ripped, you're probably going to have to pay attention to your macronutrients: drastically increase your lean protein and cut your simple ...

sporkfancier

The "No S**t" diet. I'm overweight because I eat too much. Stop eating so much, and I'll lose weight. The No-S diet gives me clear guidelines to follow to ensure I don't overeat at least 71% of the time. Seriously, no s**t!

I got the idea from a conversation I had with a coworker, when she asked ...

sporkfancier

Nothing wrong with nudges, Reinhard. You've given us quite a lot of advice and help without asking for anything in return. I was happy to post a review on Amazon (4 copies purchased now, and counting!) and on dietreview. Thanks!

sporkfancier

I've done this a couple of times. The first two segments of "The Daily Show" online add up to about 14 minutes, so I tried doing Shovelglove while watching the show on my computer. I found that I was losing track of the count or not getting the jokes--I wasn't really enjoying the show or the ...

sporkfancier

I really wish I'd noticed this thread before last week's screw up! I've hit the 21-or-better mark twice since I started No-S back in April: 36 in a row from May 21 - June 25, and 25 in a row from June 27 - July 21. The reason I wish I'd noticed this thread is that I need some motivation to stick ...

sporkfancier

I had to give myself a red on Friday after eating dessert at lunch (had a good reason, but still annoyed that I let myself get into that situation). What I realized that evening was that my temptation was to say "It's already a red day, why not earn it!" Fortunately, the snack food I wanted we didn ...

sporkfancier

With regard to the 25 pounds, I really do need to remember how great it is to have lost that much weight without feeling like I've sacrificed anything. I know I'm not saying anything new, but this is so straightforward and so easy to see myself doing for years and years (as opposed to weeks ...

sporkfancier

It's been a while since I've darkened the door of the forums here, but I had another set of people notice that I've lost weight (it's approximately 25lbs since mid-April) today, and I just wanted to thank Reinhard publicly for the No-S diet!

I can reiterate all of the great things about the eating ...

sporkfancier

The Johnny Cash version of "Sixteen Tonnes" is my startup song for shovelglove. I like to think of it as my Struwwelpeter

sporkfancier

DAY 11: SUCCESS
DAY 12: SUCCESS, though I had a little syrup at breakfast.
DAY 13: S-DAY
DAY 14: S-DAY

No shovelgloving this week!

sporkfancier

DAY 7: S-DAY .
DAY 8: S-DAY .
DAY 9: SUCCESS .
DAY 10: SUCCESS . Though I did have a small piece of roast before supper--old habits die hard.

I didn't shovelglove on days 9 or 10, and not because I didn't want to! I didn't have time on either of those days--up at 6:20, catch the bus at 6:45, and on ...

sporkfancier

DAY 6: SUCCESS

As I mentioned, I made today an N-day in anticipation of Monday's hockey game.

Also shovelgloved today, which was satisfyingly debilitating. Looking forward to pancakes with syrup tomorrow morning!

sporkfancier

Update: I did my full SG workout. This is so much fun; why did I ever stop doing it? Life is full of mysteries.

I've only just started SG, and yet I can relate. I was only able to do it twice this week due to business and soreness, and I genuinely resented my inability to work it in. It's a quite ...

sporkfancier

Good luck! I'm on day 6, and I'm feeling very good about my choice to go No-S!

sporkfancier

reinhard wrote:Deb, my handles are all 36 inches. This seems to be pretty standard (for sledgehammers ).

That's funny, because that's my wife's nickname for my...

Nevermind.

sporkfancier

That was *the most* confusing post I have ever read! :shock:
Are you disappointed that you lost five pounds painlessly???
LOL..
Were you expecting more?

What I mean is that everything and everyone associated with No-S has said that the weight loss is slow, steady, etc. To lose 5 pounds in a week ...

sporkfancier

I lost five pounds my first week of No-S. The weird part is, I don't really feel as though I've been dieting. I've been obeying the no sweets part rather strictly (I felt very iffy putting a tbsp of brown sugar in my Red River Oatmeal), but other than that, I'm not really doing much different.

That ...

sporkfancier

Altoids are about at minty as they get and I'm sure they aren't more than five or ten calories...
This stuff is really borderline and I wouldn't even worry about it, unless you are in the habit of eating ten mints a day, as candy, not as a quick breath freshener.

Yeah, altoids are good and ...

sporkfancier

Jan-Tz wrote:I like a nice hot cup of peppermint tea...calorie and sugar free.

That's an interesting idea. I'll check that out.

Cam

sporkfancier

So, yesterday, I popped in an English mint before a client meeting, and didn't even think about the fact that it was a 'sweet' until long after. The problem, of course, is that i was just looking for a breath freshener, so i didn't even think of it as food/snack.

Does anyone have suggestions for ...

sporkfancier

DAY 5: SUCCESS

I popped in a mint before a client meeting without even thinking about it. Other than that, doing okay. Went to the family's place for cake after supper and I refrained. :D

I'm going to make Saturday an N-day so that I can make Monday an S-day--it is a special day, because I'm ...

sporkfancier

DAY 4: SUCCESS

It was a toughie, too, because my wife popped some corn while we watched the hockey game. Didn't shovel glove, but I did urban range for 2.5 kms. I was actually fairly sore throughout my upper body, so I may not do it tomorrow either. I think this week I'll probably s-glove on ...

sporkfancier

DAY 3: SUCCESS , though my supper meal was not at all healthy (someone took our kids so we went to a movie).

Also, first day of shovelgloving went terrifically, though "Churn the Butter" kicked my butt with only 9 reps on either side. Weak shoulders, I guess. I only did twelve minutes, and I'm glad ...

sporkfancier

What subject do you teach?
Also, is that your picture on the avatar?
Very pretty!

Deb, I teach freshman English. It's mostly communications/writing, that sort of thing. This term I'm teaching Engineers, which I haven't done before. They're a little more willing to follow me down rabbit trails ...

sporkfancier

Some more information for those of you interested in the Kuna Indians and the heart benefits of cocoa:

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/18/health/webmd/main1218304_page2.shtml
The Kuna let their cocoa roast in the sun, Hollenberg notes. "What the Kuna Indians do is they treat it very ...

sporkfancier

Way to go, Deb!

I've always found those before and after photos where people go from obese to chiseled to be uninspiring--either drugs or genetic superhumanness are behind those. To see real change like you've shown above is definitely inspiring!

sporkfancier

DAY 2: SUCCESS with some funny stuff .

Basically, the funny stuff was me taking a few sips of Kool-Aid at supper before realizing "HEY! This is sweet stuff." I'm giving myself a pass on that one though. Also, one 591ml bottle of Diet Coke with Lime during class--it helps keep me focused so I don't ...

sporkfancier

Day 1: SUCCESS .

I drank a can of diet coke with lime (crack in a can) in the morning, and a 591 ml bottle in the evening. In fairness, i hadn't yet discovered no-s in the morning, and the evening was a deacon's meeting that had "long & boring" written all over it. At the meeting one of the folks ...

sporkfancier

This weekend, I was looking at a scrapbook that my youngest sister made for my maternal grandparents. It featured a couple of pages on each of the grandchildren composed mostly of photos. There was a picture of me that I almost didn't recognize: strong jawline, noticable cheekbones, no breasts. It ...

Everyday Systems

Search found 78 matches

I started a Shovelglove group at DailyMile.com

Re: Epoxy for safety

sporkfancier's October challenge

I gained 2 lbs! (on my shovelglove)

Mid-month followup

Re: First month weight gain

sporkfancier's September challenge

Another meaning of "No-S"

Another set of people noticed today...

Quick check-in

Don't kill me, but

Mint alternatives

More Cocoa Info

sporkfancier's daily check-in

Going for the trifecta