Everyday Systems

SkyKitty

I allow myself fresh fruit or veg any time without considering it a fail. To paraphrase Reinhard, nobody ever got fat from eating too many strawberries.! If I had a single bite of a biscuit, or cake or crisps etc I would consider it a fail. But not fruit or veg.

SkyKitty

I think this could be interesting.

Skykitty is married with no children. Enjoys reading, watching far too much TV and cooking. Is learning Argentine tango and in spare time is trying to write a book.

SkyKitty

I've been back and read your thread on the check-in page, I'm sorry you're feeling a bit down with No S.

My best advice would be to follow your own gut with the idea of deciding what you are going to eat before you start eating. I've done this since starting No S. I decide what my meal or portion ...

SkyKitty

Different things can work for different people.

I weigh every single day.
I didn't weigh myself often for several years and when I finally took my head out of the sand I was about 20 pounds heavier than I thought I was.
For my first year of No S I weighed every day. I loved No S for it's wisdom ...

SkyKitty

I tend to be a morning work-out bunny. At the moment I'm into Jillian Michaels 30 day shred DVD. It's hard work, but what I really like about it is I know it's only 20 mins. I figure if I could happily spend that 20mins reading, browsing the web etc I can use it doing some exercise. I set my alarm ...

SkyKitty

I just got back from a holiday yesterday. I was away for 8 days in total and my only requirement for myself was

No Mindless Eating.

Anything was allowed within that and I had a great time and mostly did OK. It helps that Israelis seem to have quite a healthy diet, lots of bread but mostly its ...

SkyKitty

Glad to see you're still doing well Amy, and congratulations for posting your red day on Friday. I believe that failures are important. Every red day you acknowledge, makes every green day a sweeter victory.
Denying our failures diminishes our successes.
Back on the green wagon for next week...

SkyKitty

I hope you're feeling batter now after your S day. I wouldn't call it a fail because as long as you concentrate on staying green on N days, you can't fail on an S day. They are meant to be there as a release valve, that is why they are built into the plan. Maybe you had a bit more that needed to be ...

SkyKitty

I'm not a person of faith, but please accept my wholehearted good wishes in place of prayer. Whatever is in your life at the moment please remain confident that you are strong enough to face it with the support of your loved ones, whether they be present in person or in your heart.

Also, hope you ...

SkyKitty

That looks like such a yummy, and healthy S day!!

SkyKitty

Have had a fully GREEN week. Some meals ended up being different than I planned but all were No S compliant. Biggest obstacle was Thursday evening when I had a plumbing crisis, water ended up pouring through my dining room ceiling and spurting into the bathroom, when the decorators accidentally went ...

SkyKitty

OK day today, food exactly as planned. Exercise didn't happen though. By the time the builders had left this evening all my motivation had gone. I just reminded myself that tomorrow I'll be going to the gym before work because my bathroom is being gutted and rebuilt and I don't have a shower. I will ...

SkyKitty

To update today.
All meals as planned, Incinerated my lunch by getting distracted while it was in the oven, but ate it anyway, with stir-fried cabbage rather than steamed as it was quicker. Dinner ended up being a korma, rather than red thai curry, still made with chicken and veg and served with ...

SkyKitty

And therein lies the beauty of this eating plan....

You can be perfectly relaxed to say to yourself and others, on an S day,
"Yes please, I would love to have that yummy treat"

You can be perfectly relaxed to say to yourself and others, on an N day
"No thank you, I don't have sweets or snacks ...

SkyKitty

Sometimes it helps to take a step back. Say to yourself, I tried that mod, it didn't work. I will go back to Vanilla and if that doesn't work for me I can maybe try a new mod if I need to.

Peace of mind and a sane relationship with food, is a healthier goal than a number on a scale.

You are doing ...

SkyKitty

I'm back on the board and maybe planning to stay again.
As anyone who read my yearly check in will have seen, I dropped off the board when a new job meant I lost the time I usually used to post, but II didn't drop off No S, although I have gained a mental peace with food but not lost weight.

Today ...

SkyKitty

If anyone remembers me...
*waves shyly from the corner*
I used to be quite active on the board up until I changed jobs in November and suddenly found myself more challenged at work, with less time to check or post on here. I did stick with No S even though I stepped back from the board however and ...

SkyKitty

...and I weigh EXACTLY the same today as the day I joined this forum and started this eating style one year ago today.

I still weigh 198 pounds. I have gone up to 201 pounds and down to 193 pounds over these 12 months.

I haven't lost weight, maybe its my portion control, maybe its too many treats ...

SkyKitty

Thinking of you Who Me!!

Hope all goes well, have fun!!!

SkyKitty

What are your usual meal times? Could you eat breakfast later or lunch earlier?

Something I learned after starting No S:

Hunger is an uncomfortable feeling.
It is not life-threatening.

This is a profound realisation. I spent so many years basically overeating
'just in case I get hungry later ...

SkyKitty

Warning: You are being attacked by diet-head!!
Don't get side-tracked by other evil plans - stick to the true path ( :D )

Remember it's not just about the numbers on the scale it's also about the sanity in your brain! No S is the best plan to achieve that.

I think you have the right idea to stick ...

SkyKitty

Finally someone else who doesn't get filled up by porridge (oatmeal).

I like it but I still get hungry quickly afterwards. I always think, wow, am I just a really greedy person because it should fill me up all the way through to lunch....?

I find toast, or bread in some other form, much more ...

SkyKitty

Well I'm clearly not obssessive!

I lost count at lunchtime, and didn't even try with dinner, I had spaghetti for dinner and find it hard enough to even eat spaghetti in a civilised fashion that I can't think about counting bites as well.

The thing is I'm not so much interested in trying to eat ...

SkyKitty

Right back to SUCCESS days after the weekend.

Today:
Breakfast - Usual
Lunch - Cous cous with roast veggies, lemon and mint; nectarine and an apple.
Dinner - Pasta with chilli, prawns and rocket; orange and grapes.

I read last night about a counting bites diet. It seems that 85 bites is the number ...

SkyKitty

I'm losing at about the same rate. 5 pounds down in about 5 months. I'm OK with that, I realise it's not as quick as some others but I also know that I can confidently say that I am eating properly, with a sensible routine and normal, healthy meals. Possibly for the first time in my life; or well ...

SkyKitty

Yesterday I binged.
It was an S day but I was definately an idiot.
I need to confess it here, it's no good recording the good days and not the bad.
There was a small plus. I didn't eat all the food I bought to binge on. When I threw the rest in the bin I squirted washing up liquid on it to make ...

SkyKitty

I do float my S days, but I try not to do it too often and it's usually instead of taking a non-weekend S day, a Special S day. Most weeks I stick to the weekend but this week I found out yesterday I got a new job, so it became a celebratory day. I'll skip an S day on Saturday then go right back to ...

SkyKitty

Well yesterday sort of turned into a surprise S day, as I found out I got a job I interviewed for last week! So chinese take-away, strawberries and ice cream and champagne for dinner!!

Oh well, I'll have an N day on Saturday and all will be well.

Hubby is going away today for a few days for work ...

SkyKitty

It's just reading for me that's associated with eating. When I'm eating, I'm itching to raed something, and when I'm reading I want to be eating. I was always getting into trouble when I was a kid for reading a book at the dinner table.

I'm not so bad with the TV, although I do confess to eating ...

SkyKitty

I try to plan but also allow for spontaneity. If I'm working at the weekend I will always have a packet of crisps and a diet coke when I get home, my little end of work ritual. On Saturdays we always share a bottle of wine and hubby is in charge of cooking evening meal, usually with a dessert.

I do ...

SkyKitty

Oooh the pie I made yesterday was lovely!

Today I'm in snackaholic mode. I had half a crumpet and a bite of sausage in addition to my breakfast which I wouldn't normally have, and then biscuits after lunch. I work surrounded by packets upon packets of biscuits every day, and I never look twice at ...

SkyKitty

S days are part of the habit.

I think you will find it far more difficult to establish the habits without the S days to let off steam.

You're not alone in finding S days quite over the top to start with. We've all been there and it does calm down honestly.

SkyKitty

Totally addictive but unfortunately I didn't go today. Too wet, the glen would have been very, very muddy.

BUT...

I did have a breakthrough in that I did 14 minutes of exercise at home. I did 14 minutes of stepping. Not using a fancy shop-bought step or stepping machine, just the bottom step of my ...

SkyKitty

For me as well, defining a 'sweet' is part common sense and part personal context.

I have a fruit yogurt (I can't stand plain yogurt) with breakfast every day. But at any other time I would consider it out of bounds, because it would feel like a snack or a dessert.

There is no kind of cake, muffin ...

SkyKitty

I jogged today!!! Not a lot, but its a start. I went down to a beautiful glen about 5mins from the house, and walked/jogged as the mood (or music on my ipod) took me. I jogged more than I thought I would and tomorrow I will go again, maybe I'll jog a little bit more.

I'm going to be unemployed for ...

SkyKitty

Happy Birthday KCC!!

Glad you had a lovely dinner and lovely cake

SkyKitty

Rib-eyes and a green bean salad sounds delicious. Always so much easier to have green days when the meals themselves are a treat.

SkyKitty

I think I like moving S days around as needed. Maybe not for every week, but when necessary.

Yesterday I ended up all chocolated out after 7 individual chocolates, a nibble of chocolate while making a sauce, and then doughnuts with a chocolate sauce. Big S day, (also had a packet of crisps.) I did ...

SkyKitty

Welcome to the forum, I hope No S works well for you.

You may find that your weight loss slows down, but hopefully as you let go of previous diets you will start to find that you can relax more around food generally, enjoy it more and generally feel more sane in relation to food and eating.

No S ...

SkyKitty

I love tango, our tutors are away though so it was good to get a small group of people together to practice. We struggle to practice at home because it's just impossible to dance properly on carpet. The home-made pizza was good though and I had plenty :D .

I baked oatmeal and raisin cookies with ...

SkyKitty

I have the same breakfast every day -

2 slices of toast with butter and jam/honey/peanut butter, a yogurt and a banana.

Lunches are often pasta bakes, cous cous with roasted veg, leftovers from dinner or a common default is cheese or ham sandwiches with some form of salad, tomatoes, cucumber etc ...

SkyKitty

S day today!!!

Swapping my S days as I'm working a late shift tomorrow, which seems like kind of a waste of an S day, and if I take it today I can bake some cookies to take round to a friend's house this evening, they are making home-made pizza and we are going to practice tango. Will probably also ...

SkyKitty

"only about half an hour"?

Half an hour is excellent sweetness.

I was going to say that I wish I had a lake to walk around then I remembered we have a beautiful glen not 5 minutes from the house and I almost never go to walk there any more.

Must take advantage of it again, very, very soon.

SkyKitty

Hope you feel better soon. All your yummy, healthy meals must surely help.

SkyKitty

Usually when I miss a few days posting it means all is going well. Which it is.

Yesterday:
Breakfast - A fried egg in a ciabatta roll with brown sauce, yogurt and a banana.
Lunch - 2 roasted chicken thighs with roast potatoes and steamed chinese greens; cherries and an orange.
Dinner - (at work ...

SkyKitty

I think my food bills are definately going down, although not by as much as I thought because some of the savings are being cancelled out by the amount I'm now spending on fresh fruit.

I am noticing that it's also cheaper when we eat out though. Except for special occasions we only have a main ...

SkyKitty

I'm honestly heartened that the vote is leaning so far towards learning control. I think that says that on the whole, folks here have a determination to deal with rather than hide from their problems.

I did Slimming World before No S. I decided to start Slimming World when I realised I had eaten an ...

SkyKitty

I find it easiest to stick to the same basic strucure as weekdays, and then add in S treats as I want to. I keep exactly the same breakfast, 2 slices of toast, a yogurt and a banana and have a clearly defined lunch and dinner. This helps prevent S days turning into a snack-athon all day, although I ...

SkyKitty

Welcome to the forum, we're all eager to hear how you get on

SkyKitty

I also used to do this a lot. I would make a point of eating something really sweet or fatty, in a way it was almost to give myself a reminder through the week of what that bad feeling is like, to make it easier to stick to the plan.

I think I've mostly conquered that, and that's mostly just time ...

SkyKitty

Absolutely no trouble taking Sunday as an N day.

Breakfast - Usual
Lunch - 3 slices of cheese and tomato on toast; cherries and a nectarine
Dinner - (at work) lasagne, roast potatoes and parsnips. Didn't finish it as it was all leftovers and not as nice as it would have been fresh, but I didn't ...

SkyKitty

Aaah KCC was it YOU who got me hooked on grilled cheese with tomato? I remembered reading it on someones post when I was stuck for a quick lunch at home, made it and now I can't stop, I love it! The tomato makes it sooo much better!

SkyKitty

Congratulations on a great strat with No S SWeetness. You seem to be doing really well.

My only thought might be maybe sticking to fruit only for your evening supplements, the advantage of fruit is that you can SEE that there are no hidden sugars in it. Reinhard addresses it in the book that it's ...

SkyKitty

Sadly I can recall no time in my life that was similar to No S. My family was pretty relaxed about snacks, sweets and desserts when I was younger. I was allowed a reasonable amount but they didn't encourage them and they weren't used as a reward or a comfort nor did they notice if I ate extra.

I ...

SkyKitty

Oooh I'm doing less brilliantly now!

Having family over, I had dessert thursday evening, and yesterday was a non-weekend special S day. I think if I try to not have any S treats until after work today (finishes at 3pm) it will mean I really only have dinner to consider which will be a 3 course meal ...

SkyKitty

I also gave myself a 'break' when on holiday, mine was 8 days. I ate highly fatty junk food, cakes, chocolates, snack foods etc. When I weighed myself on return I had put on a few pounds but not as many as I had expected.

I agree that the best approach is to really think about what you are about to ...

SkyKitty

I tried Paul McKenna's golden rules, and I really, really wanted them to work for me. But they didn't fit into my life.

I can't always eat when I'm hungry because I'm often at work, don't always have access to food I want to eat when I'm at work. I often found I was hungry at different times to my ...

SkyKitty

My in-laws are coming over this week.

Think I might take two NWS days, I only see them twice a year so it is pretty special and I haven't really taken any 'special' S days yet. I think what I'll do is try to spread my S days over 4 days, so if my average is 8 'S treats' over 2 days (which I'm ok ...

SkyKitty

Right my S treats this weekend were:

Saturday-
1 chocolate
1 slice cheesecake
Half a packet (50g) caramelised peanuts and cashews
1 bowl pudding after dinner

Sunday:
1 packet crisps
half bag (about 90g) cadbury giant chocolate buttons
yogurt after dinner
about 4 crackers with cheese on, evening ...

SkyKitty

Long couple of days, but still No S compliant.

Having some friends over for dinner tonight, we only see them once or twice a year when they come over to the island so really looking forward to that

Today:
Breakfast - Usual (I find this really helps to prevent my S days going wild.
Lunch - Will ...

SkyKitty

Oooh, I love home-made cashew butter. We've only made it once but it took seconds to do. Must buy cashews tomorrow and make some more.

Yum!!

SkyKitty

Well done on your success so far Bride, I know for a lot of people the importance of No S is the sanity it gives you in a better approach to food, more than a number on a scale. For me it's got to the point where I almost feel relieved after an S weekend, relieved to be back to N days and eating ...

SkyKitty

Hmm yesterday was tricky, I have a usual routine for mealtimes.
6am breakfast, 12.30ishpm lunch and 7pmish dinner. But due to working late then going straight to a pottery class I couldn't eat till 10pm last night. I am so very much a breakfast person, I delayed my breakfast till 9.30am, to have a ...

SkyKitty

I find that particularly crisps (or potato chips) are my trigger for binging, it's like they flip a switch in my head. I only have them on S days but when I had some yesterday I even had to go and have a shower, just to distract myself and try to flip the switch back again and erase the 'want to eat ...

SkyKitty

Well it's been quite a good S weekend really.

Had my three meals a day as usual and the extra S's were:

7 chocolates
2 packets crisps (one was as part of a meal but I count as an S food because they are often a binge trigger for me)
2 small slices Hm apple tart, one with creme fraiche one without ...

SkyKitty

Ok so my meal plan for this week is:

Noodles with tofu and prawns (based on a meal in wagamamas, one of my favourite restaurants)

Tortilla with potato, cheese, onion and roast peppers from a jar.

Toad in the hole - more of a wintery dish reallty but one of hubby's favourites.

Fish pie.

Soup ...

SkyKitty

I tend to limit my baking to when I can give leftovers away.
Today I'm going to bake an apple tart, and take it to give to our tango tutors when we go for a lesson. They have an allotment and sometimes give us fresh veggies.

I'll keep enough for hubby and I to have 2 slices each probably.

A ...

SkyKitty

I just had my best S day, not necessarily eating the least but I was happiest with what I had eaten, yesterday after about 3 and a half months.

What I had was:
Breakfast - My usual which is 2 slices toast, a yogurt and a banana.
During morning - 2 chocolates from a box given as a thank you to all ...

SkyKitty

Crisps for me yesterday. I could theoretically have them as part of a meal on N days but they are such a trigger food I only have them on S days. I bought a pack yesterday to have with my lunch but then decided I didn't need them, they then sat in my bag, right next to the sofa all evening and I ...

SkyKitty

Yum, will you be my personal chef please

SkyKitty

Thats fantastic, I would be jumping round the room, you must feel great having stayed strong when you really wanted to.

A triumph to remember every time you're in a similar situation, if you did it then you can do it again.

SkyKitty

I wouldn't worry too much about fuller plates and more indulgent food, especially with your high level of exercise. I think it's really positive that you relise you need to continue to tweak your meals, and isn't it great that No S lets us do that instead of saying, no you can only eat this, and ...

SkyKitty

Woo, another SUCCESS , ended up making roast chicken with roast potatoes, peas and Hm onion gravy for lunch yesterday, most unusual when it's just me at home on a day off, normally it would be leftovers or cheese on toast, not sure what came over me.
Did have a very light dinner though, some fish ...

SkyKitty

My hubby is doing it with me, right from when I first decided to do No S he thought it sounded like a good idea. He's not as strict as I am but he does try to follow it, and as we no longer buy 'snack food' that alone makes it easier.

I don't know if he's had a big weight loss with No S but he does ...

SkyKitty

Oooh, Meatless Mondays I like that, I might use that to add to Curry Tuesdays and Soup Fridays, I could even start from this week as we had a courgette and blue cheese tortilla on Monday which was meat-free.

Do (or will) you have entirely meatless mondays or are you thinking mostly evening meal? I ...

SkyKitty

I think it is going well. This system suits me with it's guidelines but not too many strict rules.

Last night I went to a new pottery class (I'm the least artistic person in the world, I can't even draw stick people, but it sounded like fun to do something completely alien to me) and there was a ...

SkyKitty

I'm back.

I did have a FAIL on that last Friday before I went away, but it wasn't an epic fail, I had 2 small plates of buffet food, most of a slice of chocolate birthday cake and a slice of shortbread I had made.

As for while I was on holiday, I pretty much ate whatever, whenever but I tried not ...

SkyKitty

Yesterday was indeed cheese on toast with sliced tomato, yum! With grapes and a peach. SUCCESS
I burned the second batch of shortbread so had to make a third, which is now sitting in a tin ready to go tonight.

This evening I'm going to a milonga, a sort of tango social evening. We all take food ...

SkyKitty

If you head on over to the daily check-in board you should find that quite a few people describe their meals over there, which could help you with inspiration.

What I find though is one of the true joys of No S is that you don't need to change your meals from whatever you would normally have. A ...

SkyKitty

Welcome to the forum.

I threw all the S's in at once, but gave myself a mod. I allowed myself fruit at any time, so I guess really I started following No sweets and no seconds straight away then added no snacking about 3 weeks in, but fruit was all I snacked on in that time. When I had got used to ...

SkyKitty

I have experienced the same hunger, my usual bad time though is around 10am as I have to have my breakfast v. early, 6am, before starting work. When I first started No S I gave myself a mod of having fruit at any time, just fruit. I have since phased this out mostly and do nearly all vanilla days as ...

SkyKitty

Well done on the success, especially with the caramel slice. I'm going to think about that tomorrow night as inspiration. I'm going to a milonga (sort of a party with tango dancing) where everyone takes a sweet and a savoury dish for a buffet. I will have to be very aware and careful to only have ...

SkyKitty

Congratulations on the success, following being sick, although wow they seem they small meals. Good luck with getting back to exercise, I know I for one am in a real rut at the moment, my gym was closed for a few weeks and now its reopened I just can't seem to motivate myself to make the time, and I ...

SkyKitty

The soup was nice, not as smooth as I usually like but I think that's because I've got a cheap stick blender rather than a problem with the recipe/invention, anyway there are now another two portions in the freezer for when we get back from holiday.

Yesterday was a FAIL .

I'm not too bothered ...

SkyKitty

Well I managed to resist munching on chocolate to calm my nerves but mostly because I didn't have any as I was at work.

The interview went well, I think I am what they're looking for and I think they liked me but it sounded like they had a lot of interviews so there will be a lot of competition. I ...

SkyKitty

Aahh tobiasmom your strategy for not snacking sounds a bit like mine,
be stubborn and refuse to give in!! Hope you did have a success and are feeling strong enough to face all challenges.

SkyKitty

Hope you feel better soon, sending lots of healthy thoughts your way.....

SkyKitty

Wow, quite a few days since I last posted.
No failures, all success or S days. I've been quite good at sticking to the rules, I think it's because I'm far too stubborn to fail most of the time. I've ended up digging my heels in, crossing my arms, sticking my tongue out and declaring

'No, I won't ...

SkyKitty

I find sheer bl**dymindedness helps.

I say to myself.

'You did this yesterday, you felt hungry like this at 10am and you were still alive at 12pm, without resorting to snacking. It didn't kill you yesterday it won't kill you today!'

You just need one vanilla day to kick it off, remember it is ...

SkyKitty

Very dramatic :?
My friend is actually okay, which more than anything makes me think maybe she made the right choice, I've got a feeling if she hadn't called it off the night before she might have turned and fled down the aisle in front of everyone which would have been worse.

I was amazed I got ...

SkyKitty

I have to sing the praises of toast. I could live off toast, quite happily for 3 meals a day, although I do try not to.
My usual breakfast is 2 slices of toast with jam or peanut butter, a yogurt and a banana. Pretty much the same thing every single day and I'm not bored yet.

SkyKitty

Wow, I had a busy few days.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all SUCCESS . Not necessarily really healthy meals but within No S rules.

Weekend was all over the place though. Firstly the wedding was cancelled, called off by the bride (a good friend of mine) the night before, so we ended up meeting up ...

SkyKitty

Well yesterday was a SUCCESS .

The next few days maybe not.

I go away this afternoon for a really hectic few days; I'm seeing my oldest friend from childhood who I've not seen since November and we'll be celebrating her being accepted onto a PhD course, seeing an old friend from school and meeting ...

SkyKitty

It was me :D who didn't weigh for 3 years and discovered the 20 extra lbs. To be honest I wasn't affected too much physically or mentally by the extra weight. I had a physically active job, a good relationship, went out a lot and was very confident. What drove me to Slimming World was more the way I ...

SkyKitty

This is one of those things where so many different things work for different people.

I never weighed myself at all for about 3 years a while back, then discovered I was about 20 lbs heavier than I thought I was.
Since starting No S, I've veered between weighing myself either once a aweek or every ...

SkyKitty

Finished up last week with 2 more SUCCESS days.

S days not too wild, and I had some lovely treats.

Today will be
Breakfast - Usual
Lunch - Mackeral and leek pasta bake I put together last night. Plus an apple and some strawberries
Dinner - Spicy turnip and lentil soup, some friends gave us a ...

SkyKitty

Good luck with your N day before S days, fingers crossed for you xxx

Have to say I love your thought of a 'current weight minus 10lbs lifestyle'

I plan to steal that and repeat it to myself frequently and loudly.

SkyKitty

Something I learned just this weekend was that on S days I need to stick to my usual N day breakfast. On Sunday I had chocolate with breakfast and ended up having a ridiculous binge later in the day.

The longer I can put off having an S, the better overall the day becomes, a good breakfast puts me ...

SkyKitty

Well yesterday was a FAILURE but I feel like it was a failure on my terms. I thought I'd got away with it when, shopping for stuff for dinner my friend asked if we should get something for dessert, I said, no we'll be fine without dessert. Cue Skykitty thinking, woohoo no failure for me today.

But ...

SkyKitty

Seconding Oolala, my first thoughts on reading that post were
'wow, that's not very much food at all'
although reading back through your posts that little food seems to be the exception. I'm curious, was it enough? Why not have something more than lettuce and tomato for lunch, or more than just ...

Everyday Systems

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Skykitty's Check In

My yearly check in.

One year in...