Everyday Systems

OT

6. Ok this one is going to make me sound nuts (and I probably am nuts...) but I used my right hand to control my left. There were several times when #5 failed and I found myself opening the refrigerator or cupboard to get out a snack. I would actually grab my left hand which was opening the ...

OT

I gave up sugar for lent as experiment 2 years ago and I haven't had it since.I never crave sweets.Although I agree that it's not a good idea to deprive yourself, sugar/sweets have absolutely no nutritional value so you are hardly depriving yourself of something your body actually needs!

OT

Pepper,

Don't take this the wrong way,but I really think that you are worrying too much about this nutrition thing.There are thousands of trace vitamins and minerals in existence and I am sure for each one of those there is some study or bit of research to show that the addition of that particular ...

OT

I think at the end of the day what it comes down to is that it's YOUR life and YOUR body-YOU decide what you put into it. Ok so sometimes your decision to stick to YOUR rules when it comes to YOUR food habits might mean you will hurt/offend someone but come on, there are worse things in life!I am ...

OT

My boyfriend is a permasnacker-skips breakfast,picks at the contents of his lunch box all morning at work, eats chocolate bars 10 mins before dinner because he is "starving" and can't wait for a few minutes and then it's coffee and biscuits in the evening in front of the TV.He is pretty athletic but ...

OT

I started out with 16-18 hr fasts 3-5 times a week actually,just to get used to going without food for a long period of time.I would basically just have dinner,then skip breakfast and then have lunch most days of the week. I just found this to be too restrictive and regimented. I don't believe ...

OT

just out of interested,what was it that made you give in after 22 hours?Hunger?Feeling of weakness?

OT

I love lemon in everything,it tastes amazing and really curbs my appetite.Hot water with lemon, twinings cranberry and orange fruit tea with lemon,seltzer water with fresh lemon juice squeezed in,even hot water with lemon,salt,pepper and herbs as a kind of bouillion drink when I feel a bit peckish ...

OT

OT, I totally identify with your post. I'm at the point where I've lost almost all of the weight I gained during my pregnancy (52 pounds!), and I look pretty good and don't 'need' to lose any more weight, but I also want more defined abs. There's a part of me that enjoys focusing on my eating and ...

OT

leafy_greens- good luck! The most important thing is that you had a good time on holiday and enjoyed yourself-we all need a break now and again.The most important thing is that you realise that now your holiday is over and it's time to get back in control! You can do it! No S is not a diet,it's a ...

OT

oolala is right-check out Brad Pilon's blog. If you can be as buff as he is whilst going without food for 24 hrs on a regular basis then I am sure you can build a lot of muscle on 3 meals a day! But yes,it depends on how much muscle you want to build. If you want to build 100 pounds of muscle and ...

OT

You are most welcome Paprad-I am glad you find my two cents helpful!

Practicing fasting IS amazing, on SO many levels-unfortunately there is a period of adaptation which varies from person to person and can be very uncomfortable-everyone's experience will be different. You can't fast(no pun ...

OT

Why donâ€™t you just ease into it and stick to one fast per week for the time being? Sounds like you are having a hard time doing it twice a week-just make sure you donâ€™t overdo it and give up completely! Please stick with it, you will learn to love it. Fasting shouldnâ€™t feel like a punishment-I ...

OT

Paprad, this sounds very unfortunate: I'm very intrigued by what you say. Did you lose weight following the fast but then put it back on, or are you saying you didn't lose any weight during the fast? Did your level of physical activity remain the same? I find it hard to understand how no weight was ...

OT

Just want to make a note- and correct me if I'm wrong- that combining fasting with NoS is not recommended for the first stages of NoS. I just have in mind KKCC's wonderful sticky post about the phases of NoS. I myself am still struggling with establishing N days (after a year doing NoS...don't ask ...

OT

I used to fast for 24 hrs twice a week,dinner till dinner,but I now do just one 30-36 hour fast per week.I have dinner,then don't eat at all the following day,then have breakfast the day after. I actually find that fasting for 30+hours is easier than 24 hours. With the 24 hr fast the last 2-4 hours ...

OT

Just read a new post on Brad Pilon's blog that resonated with me-maybe it is ok to lose control now and again,just to give yourself a break and get back on track...

http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/cheat-days/

OT

I wonder, what the need is that triggers the initial choice to step away from the rules? Did you simply need more food that day? Did you need to assert your autonomy to choose to break the rules from time to time? Were you feeling pressure from acquaintances?
And I also wonder how these binge days ...

OT

After a year of No S-ing I still have a couple of failure days every month-and when I say failure,I mean FAILURE.All out binge fest!I think the problem is that I need very strict rules, and 99% of the time I have no problem sticking to them as I am very disciplined. However,on the rare occassion ...

OT

Cereal bars. I actually can't believe they are marketed as being healthy when they are laden with sugar and salt. I used to especially love Special K bars-only 99 calories,so you can eat 3 of them instead of a chocolate bar and feel virtuous! What a joke.

OT

I love breakfast-I have my oatmeal every morning except on the mornings I am fasting of course.
When I am fasting I usually have my last meal in the evening and then I don't eat at all the following day-I hardly feel any hunger during the day because my body has now adapted to it. I do this once or ...

OT

What I have learnt from intermittent fasting is that hunger means absolutely nothing-it's a very primitive instinct and you can't use it as a guide to tell you when and how much you should eat. You daily calorie needs are determined by your BMR and activity levels-so if you need 2000 calories a day ...

OT

Paprad,

I think ultimately if you are going to adopt intermittent fasting in the long term you need to experiment and find something that works for you personally. If you are not a breakfast eater anyway and 24 hr fasts are too long for you and/or don't fit in with your lifestyle then go ahead and ...

OT

I think intermittent fasting is still far from being mainstream-you probably wouldn't find many books on the subject in your local library!

There are however LOTS of resources/ebooks online,just do a bit of googling.There is of course Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat ebook(it does cost $40 to download but ...

OT

I know how you feel-I used to be a 3 pack a day sugar-free gum addict!And I loved diet sodas as well! Then I went cold turkey and gave up completely for a few months-I definitely felt better for it.All my sweet cravings went away and I started to appreciate the natural flavours and aromas of ...

OT

I am switching to having S Events as opposed to free for all S Days as well.

I have a confession to make-when I first started No S over a year ago I didn't do S Days. At all. Looking back though,I don't remember feeling deprived or anything.Maybe because my meals were still very substantial and ...

OT

My 36 hr fast went great!Well it was more like 34 hours actually.

Usually I find that the last 2-3 hrs of a 24 hour fast are the most difficult-I can't seem to stop thinking about dinner which makes me hungry! But yesterday was different-there was something about knowing that I wasn't going to eat ...

OT

OT - one doubt I had re Eat Stop Eat. It's basically a 24 hour fast, as I figure it - you can determine the start and stop time based on convenience. Does it also mean that on the "eat" days, you eat less meals? One one blog, I think that of Eades', it says you can eat dinner on one day and ...

OT

Just an update-I am experimenting with a 36 hr fast today.I know it's not really recommended in ESE but I often find that after a 24hr fast I don't actually want to eat dinner,so I decided to take advantage of that and extend the fast until breakfast the following day.

If this works well for me I ...

OT

I've read a lot of Brad Pilon's work on the net. he does say that research shows that people don't slow their metabolisms and all that from fasting. My question is why are there so many heavy people who try to diet that way, skipping breakfast, maybe having a yogurt for lunch and then end up ...

OT

Kathleen, All the very best - I am sure you will find the experience a rewarding one. I told myself that even if I didn't last out, the sensations I would feel and my response to these would both yield learning about my body and they did. I plan to give it another go on Friday.

OT, thanks for ...

OT

[quote="KCCC"]

One of the reasons I'm wary about fasting is that the ESE version looks too much like my worst days when I was trying (and failing) to diet - eat nothing all day, then (over)eating at dinner. Of course, I was eating well beyond dinner in those days as well!

KCCC-ESE simply wont ...

OT

Kathleen,

Hope your fast goes well today. If you do struggle the first few times just try to stick with it, it gets so much easier!

I have been following No S on and off for about a year and a half. I was never overweight-I lost about 10lbs with No S which took me from 145 to 135lbs.I have been ...

OT

Kathleen,

Yes you are right-it's all about breaking the emotional bond we have with food. It's amazing how much more you can do with your life when you are not obsessing over what/when your next meal will be!Don't get me wrong,I love food-I believe it's one of life's pleasures which we have been ...

OT

Kathleen,

Just to reassure you-once your body is used to fasting, you will barely feel that growling in your stomach type of hunger!If you do,it will only last a few minutes.Most of the time I find that I just feel kind of empty and light when I am fasting,it's quite a nice feeling actually.

It ...

OT

Just to clarify-with the ESE approach you DO eat one meal per day still-you have your dinner at say 6pm,then consume zero calories over the next 24hrs,i.e. your next meal is your dinner at 6pm the following day. So you still eat a meal every day. Of course you can always skip dinner the following ...

OT

Was just wondering,seeing as it's the BBQ season and all that (well it is in sunny England anyway believe it or not!), how do you all handle BBQs on N Days?

The problem I have is that at BBQs you can't really put all your food on one plate in one go since it's being cooked continuously-so you ...

OT

Just wanted to share my personal experience with fasting-firstly I should say that I don't fast for religious reasons so I will not touch upon that aspect of it.

When I first started with intermittent fasting (Eat Stop Eat 24 hr fasts with zero calories consumed during the fasting period), I made ...

OT

Kathleen,

You said "What this means is that, on normal days, I put on my plate as much as I think I could eat. On Fast Days, I put on my plate what I know is less than I think I could eat."

I am a bit confused as to how that's fasting?The definition of fasting is abstaining from food isn't it ...

OT

"otherwise I feel that this diet is just to help you "eventually not binge or eat badly"

Well of course it is! No S is not a diet-it's a lifestyle.It's designed to help you develop good eating habits and change your life for the better. But you have to be willing to change your attitude.Do you ...

OT

I went out for a few drinks with some friends earlier.I had dinner around 6pm and when I got home it was after 1am so I figured that I could legitimately have some fruit seeing as it's now technically Saturday! So I had an apple(my favourite food in the whole world!honestly I love them!) ,a pear and ...

OT

I have actually highlighted my favourite lines in my copy of the book when I was reading it- now and again I just open it on a random page and read a few lines for inspiration,esp the chapter on building habit.Some of my random favourites:

"You're the boss.You're the trainer.Your appetite is a dumb ...

OT

I guess my mod is that I don't eat sweets/anything with added sugar/artificial sweeteners.At all.I gave it up for lent last year,before No S,lost a few pounds and all my sweet cravings as a result, and haven't had anything with added sugar/sweeteners since. It was only hard for a few weeks but after ...

OT

Re after dinner snacking-I find that drinking lots of tea and low calorie beverages helps a lot.I don't drink diet soda, but I love soda/seltzer water with a wedge of lemon for flavour. Also fruit tea, rooibos tea, decaf coffee with milk. My favourite drink for curbing cravings (which may not be to ...

OT

Hi CGB,

Sorry it's taken me so long to post a reply!

I agree that if you already have a healthy diet and exercise regularly, it can be very hard to lose those last few pounds just following No S.I just wanted to share my own experience with you.

I have been following No S on and off for about a ...

Everyday Systems

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Controlled Failure Events

BBQ season!

I love S Days!