Everyday Systems

mitchelll

well, i guess pride, or at least over confidence, does go before a fall. Wednesday was a big ol' red day. Not the worst ever, but i did not only have a second dinner (it was too big to call a snack) after eating left over pizza, I also polished off a pint of Halo Top and 3 Ferrero Roucher.

What got ...

mitchelll

Monday and Tuesday went well; pure green on NoS, gym routine and glass ceiling. My real challenge comes next week with visitors and Mardi Gras. I am actually looking forward to the challenge of sticking to my habits

Edited to add:

Tuesday evening added with something of a NSV. I had a late (close ...

mitchelll

1/23 Monday: Monday was an all around green day. Made it to gym, enjoyed my workout. Stayed to NoS. I am toying with IF, so I skipped breakfast. There was a bit on an issue with too long a period between lunch and dinner....a client meeting that ran long; I was ravenous when I got home and ...

mitchelll

Last week was a bit of a mixed bag as concerns NoS and my exercise plan. I would give it a C, maybe C+.

Wednesday was a technical fail, but not a big deal. My husband, without being asked, braved the freezing temps to go to the fridge in our garage which is about 10 feet from the house (the one in ...

mitchelll

yesterday's green square was a white knuckle affair. It started out fine, good even. Woke up happy to go to gym. After gym had my planned and eargerly anticpated breakfast, savory oatmeal. Had a lunch planned....the remainder of my salad from a restaurant meal the day before, which I planned to bulk ...

mitchelll

For me, I think two of the big issues that led to my food issues were as follows:

1. Food as love. Holidays meant my mother gave us enormous amounts of candy. Even as a teenager, long after the age of Easter baskets, we would wake up to 5lb bags of candy left by the Easter Bunny. There was no ...

mitchelll

So I'm back again. A common story: I lost about 20 lbs. Started looking and feeling better. People noticed. Then I lost track of the habit building portion of NoS. Focused only on my weight and pant size. Stopped tracking days. Started trying to limit calories/carbs too strictly. Slowly regained ...

mitchelll

Snacking is my personal NoS beast, so I feel your pain. Here's my experience.

I found the first week to be hell. I didn't even think I snacked that much, but I was wrong. I constantly found myself in the kitchen looking for "just a bite." I just had to plow through it, focusing on my goals of ...

mitchelll

hot drinks are what help me the most when it comes to snacking. I also make it inconvenient, in that I rarely have easy to snack on foods (chips, packaged cookies, nuts, etc.) in the house, so getting a snack requires effort, usually going to the store, but at the very least, getting a plate down ...

mitchelll

So, it's time to start over again. Had physical yesterday. Weight was back to 236 where it was when I started two years or so ago.

Sometimes, I wish I had it in me to let go, get really fat, and not care. But it's not the way I'm wired, so here I go again.

Yesterday was first bay back on NoS. My ...

mitchelll

Wednesday went well. I decided to do the 16:8 intermittent fast again, as I was working on a project in the morning, and knew I would be distracted by work. I also wanted particularly hungry.

There was a bit of funny business between lunch and dinner, though noting serious. It wasn't, at least I ...

mitchelll

i am definitely going to have to try that gravy bowl recipe. it looks delicious!

mitchelll

Thanks for visiting and good luck on a green week! I answered your questions about calorie banking and coconut oil in my thread. And you didn't ask, but at least at the 1/2 TBSP level, I can't really taste the coconut oil. The coffee is just a bit, naturally, oilier than normal.

mitchelll

Queenie, I first came across the idea of "calorie banking" from a great weight loss book called "I'll Never Be Fat Again" by Carol Livingstone. It's from around 1980, but it was reprinted later. It's easy to find cheap online and I highly recommend it. It's not exactly NoS, but it's not a diet book ...

mitchelll

Today's not quite over, but I think I will be able to make it through as a green day as I don't have any strong cravings right now, and the cup of hot tea I plan to have soon should be very satisfying.

The only too things of note for today: Yesterday's dinner was one visual plate, but it was ...

mitchelll

When I first started NoS, since I hadn't been doing any sort of dieting or deprivation for a while, the weekends weren't a problem for me---I wasn't missing sweets or snacks, and so I wasn't making up for them on Sat. and Sun. So for the first month or so, my weekends were close to NoS days ...

mitchelll

Queenie, thanks for the reminder that I can start with really small snippets of meditation. I sometimes forget that building up to a certain amount of time often works better than trying to bite off too large a chunk at first.

As far was week: Wednesday night went fine as far as food was concerned ...

mitchelll

congratulations on your successful week!

mitchelll

Yesterday was a green day for all the habits I hoped to accomplish except for meditation. I would like to add a few minutes of meditation to my daily schedule---I have great results whenever I do manage to meditate, but for some reason, even though I enjoy doing it, I enjoy the results, and I ...

mitchelll

congratulations!

mitchelll

Also interesting was the concept that for those not doing manual labor, two meals is enough. I've thought this for awhile, but am not willing to try it out consistently until I'm retired.

I know that on weekends, which tend to be pretty sedentary for me, I gravitate toward having only two meals ...

mitchelll

I just try to be aware of whatever it is that is telling me to reach for those chips. Since I've (by and large) gotten out of the habit of snacking, I know that it probably isn't hunger. I ask myself if the urge to eat outside of a meal is hunger related, just to be sure, but usually it's a direct ...

mitchelll

yesterday was a green day for both NoS and going to the gym. It was hard to get back into the swing, though, especially as I essentially took the entire 4 day weekend as a New Year special occassion. It was very difficult, much more than usual, to refuse the siren call of sweets and snacks.

mitchelll

Current situation: Pretty good. I weighed on 12/31 and I was up about 5 pounds, but that was to be expected considering the holidays and the week of traveling I did prior to Christmas week. I also weighed after consuming liquids and was fully dressed, including headphones and jacket. Still, it was a ...

mitchelll

I have two suggestions that have helped me.

1. For more formal exercise, in my case walking, I started with only 5-10 minutes per day, focusing more on doing it daily than the time limit. At first, I occasionally only was able to force myself around the block. I gradually increased it to 45 min/day ...

mitchelll

It's been a while, so just checking in. I'm still following Vanilla NoS, and though I don't have perfect compliance, it really has become my default eating systems. At this point, about a year in, my weekends have become basically indistinquishable from by NoS weekdays, with the treats being ...

mitchelll

snacking between lunch and dinner was my most difficult habit to break. I did find that eating breakfast as last as possible and pushing lunch to 1 or 2 made a huge difference. that and having a hot beverage as my afternoon treat.

mitchelll

As much as I love NoS, I agree that the very slow weight loss is difficult to accept at first, especially if you have had faster results in the past. While it came in stages rather than a steady stream, my weight loss averaged about .5 pounds a week. But eventually those small losses add up; just ...

mitchelll

I'm going to go back to regular posting, at least for a while. for the last week or two, I've been overindulging in alcohol which has directly resulted in altering my eating. Over memorial day weekend, for instance, my eating was way disordered---not that I was eating tons, but at random times, too ...

mitchelll

i know what you mean about tv influencing you. I've been watching a show on Netflix, Grace and Frankie, and all the wine drinking on it has been making me crave some, but I've been trying to maintain a glass ceiling of 0 after overindulging in recent weeks.

mitchelll

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because there hasn't really be anything to report. I am still following NoS, and I love the effect it has had on my relationship with food and eating. I still think about food more than I would like, but it is definitely less of a focus. I find myself enjoying my ...

mitchelll

good stuff:
in the past couple of weeks, I've seen two people who haven't seen me in at least 6 weeks--both noticed (without being prompted) that I had lost weight. I can also see it in improved definition in my shoulders and jaw line. I've also been able to move my belt one more notch over to the ...

mitchelll

try not to get discouraged. Changing the habits of years can take time. I had the same problem you do; not snacking was, and continues to be the NoS I have trouble following. I really didn't realize before NoS how much snacking I did--since I didn't snack at the same times everyday, I really didn't ...

mitchelll

i love the idea of the quantum scale, and I think I'll have to get one too. I've lost some weight, I know, but I afraid to start weighing again because it usually has a negative impact on me. On the other hand, I'm at the point where I want to know that I've lost weight and how much. this sounds ...

mitchelll

This may not work for you, depending on your location and responsibilities (I live in an urban area and have no kids and a very flexible schedule). What I like to do is limit my weekend treats to venues other than my house. For example, I'll walk to the local ice cream parlor for a scoop instead of ...

mitchelll

I've had some minor red days over the past couple of weeks, but nothing serious or upsetting. Weekends have been fairly low key; however, I do find myself allowing my esses on weekends more because I can than because I really want them, at least on most occasions. and one concern is that when I do ...

mitchelll

ginngerpie, thanks for the advice. I totally agree with you about the 3 meals being somewhat arbitrary, and I know that there's no magic involved with 3 meals a day, and that 2 a day might work, or 4 a day. that said, however, in the past, one of the factors that always led to success in my ...

mitchelll

Friday was, from a NoS standpoint, one of those weird borderline days, i.e., a technical fail with some funny business, but in reality really a success. First the technical fail: 2 Jordan almonds after dinner at a local Lebanese restaurant. I can, with effort, say no to complimentary bread or chips ...

mitchelll

I do my housework inefficiently to try to burn calories. for example, I take each load of laundry downstairs and up separately instead of trying to carry as many loads at once as possible. I figure that each trip up the stairs helps. same thing sometimes with carrying things to and from the car. I ...

mitchelll

something else I have found that helps, is to say "I'm not a ______ person" when treats are offered, and usually others don't press. I guess that they don't want to waste treats on some one who deosn't like them In my case it's sweets . I'm not really a big sweets eater and when I say it like that ...

mitchelll

Wednesday was a NoS success. Thursday, however, was a minor fail. It was a green day until after dinner, at which point I caved and had a small dish of ice cream for dessert. It wasn't a massive fail and did not, at least for last night, trigger additional eating. Possibly because there are no snack ...

mitchelll

Tuesday was standard NoS. lunch was a bit early and (while it was exactly what I wanted at the time, and I was completely satisfied after eating it) a bit too light so that I was very hungry by dinner time. I had so much hunger momentum, for want of a better phrase, that I had a bigger than normal ...

mitchelll

Gingerpie, I was at a client's house yesterday and was offered a box of Samoa's---I literally had to make the sign of the cross at it and run out the door like it was a vampire instead of pure deliciousness.

As far as the gym goes, I'm actually really interested in it. the one I'm interested in is ...

mitchelll

With Mardi Gras, and it's recovery period, well behind me, I'm back to NoS. I had to work this weekend, so making Sat. and Sun. low key S days was not a problem. What may be a problem--a local dairy stopped making its line of ice cream, a favorite of my partner's. Unbeknownst to me, he decided to ...

mitchelll

everything is going fine. I, along with the entire city, is distracted by the Mardi Gras season, but I have been so busy with my project (mercifully almost complete) and getting ready for a party this weekend (let's just say the house needed a thorough spring cleaning---watching How Clean Is Your ...

mitchelll

congratulations with your glass ceiling success!

mitchelll

i admire your success with the coffee. in the past couple of years, I've managed to drastically cut back on diet soda, but I don't think I have the moral fiber necessary to face the world without coffee. And I agree with you about the drinking. Since cutting my drinking drastically in January, I see ...

mitchelll

thursday was a NoS success. Considering I had some work/finance related stress at the close of the work day (it all worked out fine, but was a very stressful 45 minutes or so), I'm very happy that I didn't seek stress relief in overeating or drinking wine, especially since I have an open bottle ...

mitchelll

gingerpie, I think it was the donut holes I bought and ate on Sunday that triggered it. I usually don't eat a lot of sweets, so I think having that large amount (at least 6) started a craving, because the remaining donut holes was what I started with on Monday. I should have thrown the leftover ones ...

mitchelll

I agree. many times the difference between my snacking and not has been the fact that my cupboards were empty.

mitchelll

I'm not sure why, maybe just a carry over from Sunday, but Monday was a total NoS fail. While actually not that different from a typical eating day for me before NoS, it had it all: sweets, snacks, sweets for snacks, second, enormous meals, sodas, etc.

Tuesday, however, was back to regular NoS. In ...

mitchelll

I'd have a hard time going to the flower market without pretending to be Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle. I would be walking around singing "Wouldn't It Be Loverly"

mitchelll

congrats on staying below your glass ceiling!

mitchelll

The weekend went pretty well. there were many more sweets than usual and heavy meals, but nothing too horrible. interestingly enough, I can tie both the sweets and the general overeating directly to my choice to drink on Saturday. At lunch Sat., I used a gift certificate to have brunch at a nice ...

mitchelll

wednesday and thursday were both NoS days. Wednesday, I did have two glasses of wine with dinner. I did enjoy them, but I felt them a bit Thursday morning---a had a bit of trouble sleeping, and a smallish headached (that went away quickly).

Thursday, I had only two meals--a lateish breakfast and ...

mitchelll

the only chips I can safely have in the house are corn chips and tortilla chips because I don't really like them on their own---only with something like chili or cheese dip, so I often end up throwing leftover corn chips away because they've gone stale. Sour cream and onion chips, however, are a ...

mitchelll

Eschano, alcohol used to work like that for me: i.e., I'd rather have a martini than an appetizer before dinner when eating out or a glass of wine instead of a bag of chips. in fact, back in my single days when I drank the most, I was at my thinnest. But at a certain point after settling down and ...

mitchelll

a barren cupboard has saved me on many occasions. i rarely want something bad enough to get up, put on outside clothes, and walk to the store to get it!

mitchelll

congratulations with your glass ceiling successes. I am seeing a direct link with it being easier to have No S success with cutting my nightly wine.

mitchelll

This week, I got another glimpse into how drinking was being translated into extra calories. I went with DH to a Mexican restaurant (in my thread you'll hear about Mexican restaurants a lot because I love Mexican food, and we have a great Cali-Mex restaurant within walking distance). I did not order ...

mitchelll

epic NoS fail on Tuesday: I decided to go try calorie counting again which lead directly to major overeating on snacks (which is rare) and sweets (even rarer). I think I was seduced by the relative ease of my not drinking, which I thought would be harder, as well as the resulting slight weight loss ...

mitchelll

Monday was NoS success, though dinner was a larger meal (even if it fit on one plate) than I was comfortable with, physically and psychologically.

Continued with no drinking even though ate dinner at a friend's bar-b-que where there was plenty of beer and, my favorite, bourbon. Just reminded myself ...

mitchelll

great job on all the weekend movement. I find the same problem with vegetables. I, and the DH especially, really like vegetables, but I still struggle with getting as many servings in as I would like. I think it's that vegetables (though worth it), require so much more work than say cheese. I admire ...

mitchelll

I find the scale is helpful for me when I was trying to maintain my weight...then I could use as info like your husband does. but when I've gained substantial weight (and it always included stopping daily weighing as well as any other regular measuring indicator), it has always been an awful tool ...

mitchelll

First, I have made one small mod to vanilla NoS. I like to eat one banana a day as I have high blood pressure. however, I'm usually not in the mood for it at breakfast, and I don't really like it as a dessert for lunch or dinner, so I started using it as a floating snack between breakfast and lunch ...

mitchelll

thanks, eschano and ginger pie for the support. While I'm not sure I'm an alcoholic, I do think that for now, at least, I need to give up drinking entirely. but knowing my hatred of the "never" word, I am only focusing on one day at a time.

yesterday, successful NoS. Today is day 5 without drinking ...

mitchelll

if you like warm salads, two I can recommend:

a neighborhood Mexican restaurant had a fantastic fajita salad, with sauteed green, red, and yellow peppers and onions served warm over mixed greens, topped with salsa (which is very easy to make), sour cream, and a sprinkle of cheddar. you could also ...

mitchelll

i hadn't realized it had been quite this long since I posted, though I know my falling off the radar was somewhat deliberate.

The falling off was triggered by the wedding weekend I mentioned in my last post. Now, it was the expected overeating that triggered it. In fact, I stayed true to NoS ...

mitchelll

Tuesday and Wednesday were both green. Wednesday night, it was especially difficult to stop at one plate at dinner (we had pizza, my favorite), but I stopped with two slices, and in time my stomach caught up, and I was quite satisfied.

Tomorrow is a travel day---I'm going to NYC to visit friends ...

mitchelll

Monday is NoS success so far, and at 8 pm, I do not forsee any failure---I have no urgent snacking desires.

A bit of a success today, belt moved in one notch. Still a bit snug on the third hole, but it was the hole the belt went to naturally. This was the hole I was using this spring before Dad's ...

mitchelll

Friday went as planned: regular NoS for breakfast and lunch, taking an S event for the evening. But the actual S event, for a variety of reasons, ended up being very little indulgence. My late was lunch, so when my partner wanted an early dinner, I wasn't very hungry and ended up taking most of my ...

mitchelll

welcome, and good luck. I also agree with you that when I was much thinner, I also ate very like NoS---regular meals, few sweets, and almost no snacking. Since your family is on board, the one thing that has saved me from snacking more than once is not having any of my favorite snack food on hand ...

mitchelll

MerryKat, I know how you feel. I can do fine with NoS as long as my schedule is stable, but any change to that routine easily knocks my eating out of whack. Good luck getting right back on the NoS horse.

mitchelll

thanks, eschano. the deal is that three times in the last 20 years I have lost the 40 or so pounds necessary to take me to my version of my ideal weight. According to the BMI charts it's still officially overweight, but at 200 (give or take 5 pounds), I like the way I look and feel, and can wear 33 ...

mitchelll

Yesterday, Wednesday was a success.

Br. Fried egg sandwich on wheat with grape tomatoes
Lunch: Salad with leftover pork ribs.
Dinner: meatloaf (made with green peppers, green onions, and lots of fresh parsley), sauted green and red peppers over rice, and spinach.

Dinner was satisfying. but ...

mitchelll

That's the worst----a fail you don't really enjoy! I hate that feeling.

mitchelll

congratulations on any coffee-free days. I don't think I could face the world without coffee. I finally managed to (more or less) make diet sodas a rare treat--coffee is my last safe vice!!!!!

mitchelll

welcome back and good luck! I'm in a similar position--success in the spring---major stress, then a summer of comfort eating. I'm just about at the one month back mark. I haven't weighed, but I can tell I've lost a little weight. it's certainly the most rational weight loss plan I've ever tried.

mitchelll

6 pm Monday.

A small bit of a fail, in fact the kind I could rationalize away, but I'm trying to do the fence around the law of my vanilla NoS.

Breakfast and lunch went as planned. both were, luckily on the light side.
Breakfast was a slice of wholewheat toast with peanut butter and an apple ...

mitchelll

way to go!!!

mitchelll

Imogen, thanks for stopping by the thread.

It's Monday about 5:30. It's been a green NoS day today, and I just finished dinner. I don't, however, anticipate failure tonight, especially since I plan to go to bed early. I was, frankly, hungover from a night of sampling different white wines with some ...

mitchelll

Sat and Sunday both went well. both were days of relaxed eating, but not binges. In fact, while I did a bit of snacking on Sunday, I think I actually ate less food than a normal N day.

I did have a bit of funny business on Friday night/Sat. morning and then again on sunday night. I am normally in ...

mitchelll

Friday evening.

Funny business, and a bit of a fail.

First, the funny business. I skipped breakfast again. And again, I'm not really sure why. It was partly because I had my dinner, which was heavy, must later last night than normal, and I wasn't super hungry. Partly, because what I wanted for ...

mitchelll

good luck with your battle with sweets.

mitchelll

thursday was another green day. there was some funny business. for various reasons, both valid and asinine, I skipped breakfast. I did have a small victory at lunch. I decided to treat myself to a local Italian restaurant for lunch. I ordered the two course Italian sampler, a mini-Italian salad, and ...

mitchelll

nice work and congratulations!

mitchelll

Thank you so much, eschano. I'm trying to use this place to journal all this thoughts and concepts that have been rattling around my brain for years. I'm about to turn 43. I've never been great about planning for the future, but it's hit be that what I am at 43 is because of decisions I made at 33 ...

mitchelll

it's a little too early to check in for Wednesday, but I had one of those epiphany moments early that I want to record while it's still fresh. Now it wasn't out of nowhere because I already knew all the aspects of it, but I never really put them together. And the catalyst was reading a thread where ...

mitchelll

Though I like sweets well enough, they are not a major temptation for me. Still, at one point, I did find myself eating them more often than I was happy with when dining out. Since I don't care enough about them to waste my calories on them, one of my set habits is:

When I eat out at a restaurant ...

mitchelll

Glad you are feeling better. that span between lunch and dinner is definitely my danger time, too. From breakfast to lunch is never a problem. And I, luckily, never developed a late night snacking habit. However, come 4 pm, I often start craving a snack. before NoS, with a handful of nuts here, a ...

mitchelll

Tuesday was a green day.

breakfast: pate with everything flat bread, boiled egg, an apple, black coffee
lunch: smothered pork chops with green peas and rice
dinner: meatball sandwich, 3 olives stuffed with garlic, 3 olives stuffed with jalepeno. red wine

Today went well. in fact, today was my ...

mitchelll

Congratulations on your engagement!

mitchelll

eschano, thanks for that. I have found reading through the boards has been so helpful and given me so many insights. I am glad I found this community. Like so many others have posted, I'm not even sure how I stumbled here as I had never heard of NoS, but I am glad I did.

I, too, used to use the "I ...

mitchelll

Monday evening.

It's around 5 p.m. NoS so far. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to make it a green NoS day, but I'm not positive. I'm starting to get hungry, but DH is in charge of dinner and has just gone to market. But instead of a snack, I thought about a glass of milk, but ultimately decided on a ...

mitchelll

Walkerlori,

Thanks for posting. As a relative newbie to NoS, I can honestly say that just reading through the forums, especially the daily check ins has been incredibly helpful to me, if for noting else, the knowledge that I am not alone with my diet and food struggles. And I find it all helpful ...

mitchelll

I am very happy with how both Sat. and Sunday went. Both went more like NoS days with a little extra as opposed to being pig out fests. Sunday night there was a bit of funny business. I was eating alone, so able to eat exactly what I want. I settled on fried chicken tenders from the local market, 5 ...

mitchelll

i admire anyone who stick to weight watchers for any length of time. i always thought it sounded like a reasonable and sustainable plan, but the points and figuring and calorie counting always did me in quickly. I either got overwhelmed and started "estimating" or got obsessed with calculating with ...

mitchelll

Saturday morning.

Stoked after the success of the past week---4 green days, with Monday's fail being very minor, and Friday's successful non snacking. Today is a beautiful day, and plan to start the weekend off with a nice long walk with Cleopatra, the sweetest dog in the world. I plan to keep this ...

mitchelll

Friday was a success, though a bit hard fought at the end. Breakfast and lunch went easily; In fact, I was able to push back lunch an hour and half to finish some work with no ill effects. For dinner, we went to a local Mexican restaurant. Luckily, the chips and dips, which I find hard to resist ...

mitchelll

I actually found one thread especially helpful, though in an odd way. It was a long thread (I haven't quite finished the whole thing) and the poster has been unsuccessful in losing weight so far. But I found it helpful because it helped me clearly see my own mistakes, missteps, and misconceptions ...

Everyday Systems

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