No Snacks, no sweets, no seconds. Except on Days that start with S. Too simple for you? Simple is why it works. Look here for questions, introductions, support, success stories.
I'm having trouble keeping the testimonials page up to date -- so I thought maybe it's time to create a forum for people to post (and update!) their own testimonials directly.
Just start a new discussion for yourself and update it periodically or whenever you have some new major milestone to report. You can name it whatever you want, though it might be helpful to stick some salient facts in the title like gender, time on the diet, pounds lost (or not -- don't stress). You can edit or delete whatever you post, including the discussion title.
I love the enthusiasm which people tend to have starting out on no-s, but testimonials are most meaningful when you've got a few months and some satisfying results under your belt. So a rough guideline for whether you're ready to post a testimonial is "the rule of 10": you've been on the diet 10 months OR lost 10 pounds OR 10% of your starting weight -- same deal as the old, static page (which I'll keep up and update sporadically). And if you love no-s so much that you feel compelled to write a testimonial even though you don't yet meet any of these quantitative criteria -- go ahead, I promise you no one's going to hold it against you.
In terms of "update frequency," I wouldn't do it more frequently than every few months. The daily check in thread is better for finer granularity of updates -- this is more like "yearly check in." But again, do as the spirit moves you And while updates are very welcome -- they're certainly not required. I value whatever you find the time and energy to share with us here.
On the other hand, don't be shy about updating your testimonial simply because your results haven't changed in a while. Remember: Maintenance is more important that progress. The mere fact that you're still with it after another 6 months or year IS news -- the most important kind of news. The inability to maintain is THE problem most of us have had in terms of diet, pre-nos.
Thanks in advance to all those who post to this new forum -- and to all those who have posted testimonials in the past. Double thanks to old timers who have already shared their stories and provide new updates here.
For those of you who don't check the "testimonials" forum as obsessively as I do, there are some great recent additions I'd like to bring to your attention:
I've been on No S since mid-June 2008 and lost at least 10 pounds. I'm 5'10", female, 52 (we're talking menopause here), and an enthusiastic cook and eater. For years my weight was 172-175, no matter what steps I took: limiting certain foods, biking 3 times a week (on top of daily walks), and about 6 months of T-Tapp (an unusual form of exercise).
In a 2007 visit with my doc that was focused on losing weight, she told me I was within the normal limits for my gender and height and large frame. So she didn't exactly encourage me to lose weight. In fact, she seemed thrilled with my weight and overall health, which made me realize that lots of people my age must carry more weight than I do. I was not so thrilled, knowing more about my own condition than she did, and knew I had weighed about 20-25 pounds less through most of my 20s and 30s. Nevertheless, she gave me good advice about keeping portions to a reasonable size and eating 3 meals a day. I did pay more attention to quantities, but I also snacked and ate sweets any time I felt like it, so again no weight loss. (I know that hormonal problems make it especially hard for women my age to lose.)
So the No S diet came along and allowed me to drop these most unwelcome pounds. Besides feeling better about myself and my body, no longer being preoccupied with food has freed up lots of useful energy that used to be sucked into feeling bad about my weight and seeing it as the source of my other difficulties. My husband and I left the Boston area 8 years ago for Cape Cod--bliss, eh? Well, not really. Since I work at home, don't have kids, and don't go to church, my social opportunities are rather limited. Almost all our friends are still in Boston, and a trip to the supermarket doesn't count as socializing in my book. Here's the surprising thing: in September I was able to overcome my resistance to pursuing a volunteer opportunity I'd been interested in for at least 2 years. I signed up for some brief training at a local library to become a literacy tutor. This has really broken my isolation, given me an interesting non-work focus, helped me meet some great people, and provided a way for me to help other people.
At first I didn't link this development to my success in losing weight and to following the No S plan, but I have come to realize there is a real connection. Occasionally over the years, it has dawned on me how much time and energy I have wasted castigating myself about my shape and obsessing over food in different ways. Once I arrived at a place where I felt in control of my eating, lost some excess pounds, and lost that unfruitful obsession with my appearance, I was able to deal with my other needs more effectively. So for me, No S has had unexpected benefits that have been at least as wonderful as finally losing weight. I feel happier overall, and I bring more of myself to each encounter I have with others, if that makes sense (I'm still trying to figure out how to describe the change I feel). I also still love cooking and eating, even more so now that I eat more consciously. Another benefit: my husband just started No S this week!
In case this sounds just too golden, I do sometimes get preoccupied with thoughts of chocolate or salty snacks on N days, especially when I'm under stress with work or otherwise, but I don't eat them. I also have 2 or 3 NWS days/month when we get together with a friend who loves to cook, but I don't sweat that and it doesn't seem to interfere with losing weight. The emphasis on forgiving yourself for screw-ups or exceptions really helps me.
Happy Cooker wrote:At first I didn't link this development to my success in losing weight and to following the No S plan, but I have come to realize there is a real connection.
Wow! What an eloquent testimonial to No-S itself, as well as those unanticipated benefits it brings to other areas of life! Thank you, Happy Cooker, for so beautifully expressing many of the thoughts that I've been having, and very best wishes for continued success.
Once I arrived at a place where I felt in control of my eating, lost some excess pounds, and lost that unfruitful obsession with my appearance, I was able to deal with my other needs more effectively. So for me, No S has had unexpected benefits that have been at least as wonderful as finally losing weight. I feel happier overall, and I bring more of myself to each encounter I have with others, if that makes sense
Happy Cooker,
thank you for taking the time to write your wonderful powerful No S experience. And yes, it makes a lot of sense. I can relate to everything you wrote and ... the ability to "bring more of myself to each encounter" is really making the holiday season a much more joyous one this year!
Thanks for your encouragement, Winnie96, LA_Loser, and Blueskighs!
Good to know that other people feel this way too. I enjoy your posts and learn from them.
Congratulations, Happy Cooker! (and welcome to your husband)
I'm so happy you've experienced such good results while being able to live up to your screen name! I too, am an enthusiastic cook and eater, and I think No-s is particularly attractive to people like us.
Thanks so much for sharing your success with us here.
Its so nice to read not only about your weight loss (which is great!) but also about the changes in your life. It makes me want to stick to this even more!
Thanks for sharing your story (so much of which I can relate to!).
Hilary
_______
"Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity."-St Augustine
"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."-Thomas Jefferson
Lots of detail on how she accomplished what she did (the importance of the habitcal, limiting scale stepping, and more). Worth a look for detailed "how-to"s as well as inspiration!
Even those of you who are familiar with her story already should check it out -- it just keeps getting more impressive: 3 years, -84 pounds, "fairly automatically."
Phineas recently posted our first (I think?) updated new style testimonial:
Since the original post was made I have lost another 25 pounds, placing me right around 170. That makes for a net loss of 55 pounds in a little over seven months.
Her numbers are great -- but even better is her new found freedom from food obsession.
Over the years, through two pregnancies, I've gone up and down on MANY diets, all with one thing in common: obsession with eating. What should I eat, when, where, how much?? AM I hungry? Am I just bored? Why do I think about food so much? And on and on.
Not any more. No S Diet has literally freed me from all that. Eating (or not eating) is no longer my primary occupation. 14 pounds from a starting weight of 168 doesn't sound like much, but losing it on NoS has been so rewarding and easy.
Hi there, my husband and I have just started this diet / way of life, and it all seems to be a little too easy. Certainly sustainable. Anyway, just wanted to have a go at the Forum and also ask one little question. As Monday was a Bank Holiday (UK) was I supposed to count it as a NoSDay?
Thank you. Barbara
I count something as an S day if it's a big celebration that includes food -- so for me, if you were going to a bank holiday picnic or something, I would make it an S. If it's just a day off work, I would count it as an N day. I hope that's helpful!
Barbara: sorry you post slipped under the radar. Non-weekend S-days are pretty much your call. If you have off from work, then you could very easily, with good conscience call it a special day. But if it's not a holiday that involves celebrating with food, or if there won't be any special temptations you want to enjoy, you could also take it as a regular old N-day.
Jules has lost 40 pounds in about a year on No-s, despite some pretty extreme stresses in her life. No doubt Jules is a remarkable person, but I think her story goes to show how the structure of no-s can actually be a de-stressing positive when things get crazy.
With admirable (and accurate!) determination, BeatGuy just met his precise target weight (-20 pounds) in time for a special event (the World Boardgaming Championships -- go team No-S!).
This wasn't posted in the testimonials forum, but it's certainly testimonials worthy.
Despite massive stress (her husband deployed to Afghanistan, a death in the family), Ifee five lost 53 pounds in 6 months (and she calls herself a "newbie!"):
Hi Reinhard and friends
I didn't remember about the "ten pound" thing for posting on the testimonials page, but I just took a peek and was reminded of it now, so I suppose I qualify for posting!
I've lost about 10 percent of the weight I would ultimately like to lose, and it so happens to be just over 10 lbs.
To be honest, I have been here for years, but my "official" starting month for this most recent *serious* attempt, is May 2009.
My hope is to one day be between 170 and 150 lbs.
I started at 255 and, after 2 good months and a radical increase in the amount of exercise I was doing before, as well as curbing late night eating,
I am now 243! .
Thanks to all for your ongoing support and love!~ Debs
Maybe you should post your own new style testimonial discussion to the testimonials forum? You certainly qualify -- and it might give an additional motivational boost.
In any case, looking forward to many more updates!
Thalia has just posted a wonderful testimonial describing her No S experience so far (-19 pounds, or 10% of her starting bodyweight, in almost 8 months) :
I started 11 months ago, give or take. I am now down 21 pounds from my starting weight, and I haven't been posting here because it really has become second nature for me not to eat between meals, so much that talking about it much would be like talking about how I get out of bed every morning
Reinhard's approach seemed to give a voice to our non-obese ancestors -- he gave a "vote" to the dead and listened to what they had to teach us about diet and living. He listened to the voice of tradition: "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about." -G.K. Chesterton
Please join me in congratulating ShannaR and MerryKat for their achievements (and thank them for sharing them with us as testimonals!)
ShannahR's testimonial, besides containing an impressive story, is organizationally interesting. She divides her testimonial into three points ("me," "the diet," "exercise") which might be serve as a template for future testimonials.
MerryKat provides an outstanding example of someone who ran into some pretty serious initial difficulties with No-s, but kept coming back until it clicked. And click it did!
* No-s helped Ashbee conquer BED (Binge Eating Disorder -- pretty serious stuff)
* She lost 60 pounds -- in time for her wedding
* While "enjoying food" and eating like a "sane person"
* And actively participating in church and (large!) family life (she's one of 12 siblings!)
If you're a wavering newbie, do yourself a favor and take a look. I think you'll find her story very encouraging. If you're already in the "promised land" of firm healthy habits, please join me in congratulating her.
In March of this year, ShannahR hit her first "testimonial" milestone: -10 pounds.
She just posted an update saying she hit another: -10% (down to -17 pounds).
Please join me in congratulating her. She also provided a helpful month by month breakdown of her weight loss which might be helpful to newbies in budgeting their expectations (first month she didn't lose anything).
DaveMC recently completed his one year anniversary on No-S (-20 pounds).
Here's a small "teaser" from his testimonial:
NoS is a *perfect* match to my personal psychology: simple, effective, and unobtrusive, just as advertised. I took to it right away, and was lucky enough to have it stick the first time I started. I still use the HabitCal, but nothing interesting ever happens there: I now just fill it in a month at a time, in advance, as a way of "declaring" which days I'm going to count as S-days, and I never need to touch it after that. Now, if a day is an N-day, I just don't eat sweets or snacks - it's as automatic as getting up in the morning.
But please do yourself a favor and read the rest. Among other things, he reports on his success using a slight but often discussed "mod."
KCCC, a long-time no-esser and a pillar of this online community, recently updated her testimonial to let us know that she's slowly and steadily (and with "minimal panic") recovered from a very difficult year. Please join me in congratulating her.
Although these are great numbers, as is so often the case with no-s, Vicky's "qualitative" achievements are almost more important that the quantitative.
She experimented with a bunch of different mods and tweaks, but in the end, it was good old vanilla no-s that did the trick for her.
"It's a marathon, not a sprint" and all that, but some people do get startlingly fast results. Ironsickel just reported losing 18 pounds in a single month:
That's probably some kind of quantitative record for no-s, but the following qualitative comment made me very happy to read as well:
Really enjoying the diet. I've never said those words in succession before.
Staria recently reported losing a whopping 65 pounds in her first year on No-s.
Her secret? Plain old vanilla no-s.
When you don't fool around, stay strict on your N-days, and enjoy your S-days (without too many non-weekend variety) it's amazing how powerful it can be.
Lots of details as to how she pulled this off here:
Beautiful pictures -- and no less beautiful story (some of you will remember Ashleigh's post a few months ago on how No-s helped her lose 60 pounds and overcome BED).
Please join me in welcoming and congratulating He>mE, who has been "consistently loosing a pound a week, and not even trying." (so about -14 since he started about 3 months ago).
ShannahR has maintained her 15-17 lbs loss for another 6 months. I love maintenance stories. Any diet can do steep drops. This is what No-s really excels at.
I've been a little remiss in keeping this testimonials thread up to date with the amazing progress people have been making in the testimonials thread, but I'm going to start remedying that now.
In reverse chronological order, please join me in congratulating Sienna on an incredible first year (she's down 65.5 pounds or 28.93% of her starting body weight).
Before I let the backlog pile up even further, some more testimonials you should check out (you guys have to slow down on the success, I can't keep up!):
I'll let Sheepish's discussion thread title speak for itself:
Reinhard, I'm so glad you have this thread going. All I have to do is scan down the page to see example after example of people using No S to lose a lot of weight. I almost had a dietary freak out yesterday ending with me running full speed back to extreme low carbing (we know how that would have ended) but while cruising this site I came across this post. What a life saver. Thank you for keeping this updated.
Heidi
SW 236.4
10/26/11 restart date
1st goal 21 day club !accomplished! 11/24/11
2nd goal 10% loss
3rd goal...????
I'm nervous and excited about finally writing this because I love No S so much and want to sing it to the high heavens, and not after just the honeymoon phase of success. At age 58 and two years, this marriage is going to last!
I can’t be a source of hope for anyone who is trying to get into the low end of his/her BMI range, but there are others who can. However, No S HAS SAVED MY EATING LIFE AND MY SANITY AROUND FOOD. In 2 years, I’ve gone from 185 to 161 (13% of my weight) and am still losing. Not the huge drops some have, but I had some setbacks, and yet I’m stronger now than ever, unlike most people who follow traditional diets; they are usually heavier 2 years later. Plus, I look good in my clothes and I feel confident and peppy. I wasn’t even sure I would lose weight on No S, but I knew I had to do something about my insane compulsion to overeat, mostly sweets, and mostly in private. If you want freedom from the tyranny of food as much as or even (as I did) more than weight loss, I ecstatically recommend it!
(BTW, the National Weight Loss Registry reports that it takes 2-5 years of compliance for the likelihood of relapse of overeating to drop to 25%, and this is only in the 3-15% who actually do lose weight in the first place. And those people do not usually get thin, just thinner. Sobering news, and more reason not to choose radical plans, in my opinion. Consistent moderation forever!)
• I no longer worry about the pull of fattening or processed foods/ carbs/sugar. I can have small amounts without going overboard-- or none.
• I don’t fear restaurants or social eating situations where lots of food is available.
• I don’t feel deprived or in food prison.
• I’m completely happy with the program. I’m not afraid that there’s a better, faster way to get lean and mean that will last.
• I love my three meals a day and love getting hungry. I overeat some on the weekends, but less and less, and I enjoy all that I do eat.
• I stuck it out even when I was bingeing on weekends much longer than many and it has paid off. Don't fear the weekends!
• Thank you, thank you, thank you, Reinhard and all the long-term No S-ers here.
The challenge for anyone with disordered eating is to find the right balance of ordered eating to counteract it. As I see it, the major problem is too many random decisions to eat a lot of calorie-dense food, especially in the face of promises to self not to eat. No S has been the best of both worlds for this recovering disordered secret “emotional†binge eater, even though it was not designed for it: a program that promotes flexible food choices with ordered limited access to food, and free eating on weekends to promote more independent judgment. Jackpot! I found that it didn’t matter what the reason was for my wanting to eat during the week. I just didn’t do it between meals. So freeing. And two years of mostly compliant weekdays tamed my weekends enviably.
History for those who need to hear if it matches their problems: I started eating sweets secretly when I was about 10 years old and was told at 12 to lose 10 pounds (I weighed 120 at 5’4â€). I did not and weighed 145 after high school when I went on my first real diet for a gymnastics class (even though I was in my normal BMI range). I managed over 40 years to stick to diets and lose weight for probably about 3 years total in that time. The rest of the time, I agonized over eating and my body, never able to stick to my attempts to cut eating sweets, especially at night. My disordered eating got progressively worse so that my weight rose from mostly in the 140-150’s before my 40's to eventually to over 200 for a short time. I first joined No S in October of 2008 (age 55), probably weighing 180, had brief success, but fell off after Thanksgiving and didn’t return in earnest until Dec. 26, 2009 at 185. I WAS DESPERATE AND KNEW THAT MY DISORDERED EATING WOULD ONLY GET WORSE AND BE WITH ME MY LAST YEARS ON THIS PLANET IF I DIDN'T DO SOMETHING. I knew that eating 5-6 meals a day as I had been for 7 years was not stopping it. I knew that though intuitive eating had helped me get rid of a lot of food prejudices against supposedly fattening foods, I hadn’t been able to use it to lose weight. I knew that though I had actually learned a lot about what combinations of whole foods I enjoyed and actually satisfied me on traditional diets, I wouldn’t follow one, nor track calories forever. And I believed that at least for me, there was no food I couldn't learn to eat in moderation. No S was and remains my best bet, and I am so grateful I found it! I may alter what I eat at meals or how much on weekends but I will never go back to snacking, tracking, or sweets every day. This is it!
May we all find peace with food soon.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 71
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
12/20/24 24.1
Since Nov 21 (so less than three months ago), Anonymous 58 year old man writes:
I have gone from 164 bs and a 34 3/4" waist to 150 lbs and a 32 3/4" waist. I look like one of those guys on the "P90X" commercials except that I didn't have to shell out $$$ to make it happen or eat eat special foods. And I have absolutely no doubt that my approach to eating has changed forever.
Lots more impressive detail in his full email (anonymized and posted with permission):
I just noticed in my campaign to figure out facebook I neglected to report the last batch of testimonials to this thread. Have to log off and luddite now, but I will transfer them in a bit.
I've been bad about keeping this thread updated again... (I've been posting testimonials to facebook and forgetting to put them here as well. I should probably figure out some kind of feed thing to stick them both places at once...)
Anyway, here's the latest:
What's the most important component of diet and exercise success? Focus on a "sustainable minimum of compliance." It doesn't take much; it just takes consistency. Chentegt's 2 year testimonial is a case in point.
NoSRocks has some impressive numbers to post -- and an interesting reversal of the order in which people traditionally tend to approach diet (first lose, then maintain).
2 new testimonials to report, one rather overdue. Forgive the self-plagiarism from facebook.
"Slow and steady wins the race." If you have kids, I bet you've read the story of the tortoise and the hare to them a bunch of times, perhaps with a pang of conscience at how you've failed to apply its simple and obviously true lesson to your own behavior. Take a look at Minkymoo's recent No S testimonial to see how she finally has applied it -- with impressive results.
Yes, it's still true, MEN can lose weight on No-S! We've had so many testimonials from women recently that it's hard to believe people used to worry that No-S might only work for males. See jakemart's testimonial for details on how he combined No-s and shovelglove to lose ~25-30 pounds.
More good news in the testimonials department while I was on vacation last week: DaveMc has racked up yet another successful "year on habit" (4 years and counting);
Late summer is usually a slow time for diet (everyone has given up on trying to fit in their swimsuits already), but No-essers have been steadily plugging onward!
Three testimonials to report since my last update here, in chronological order:
#1. TigerCrane tried No-s successfully about 5 years ago. Then she "fell of the wagon." But a significant part of the weight she lost (20 pounds) never came back, even without her consciously continuing to apply the rules -- "permanent weight loss." Think what results she'll achieve now that she's back to conscious no-essing!
#2. As I say every time a No-S "old timer" posts another yearly update, "maintenance testimonials" are my favorite kind. And at year five, sustaining a 55 pound loss, Vicki's recent check-in is among the best of the best. How few "dieters" ever make it that far.
#3. Imogen has also racked up quite a few "years on habit" (3 and change ) and impressive results (-28 pounds). But what I love most about her testimonial is her description of what it took to force these initial habits in place, and the unanticipated positive side effects they have had for her in other spheres of life.
.
Debs