Counting carbs/calories is a drag. Obsessive scale stepping is a recipe for despair. If you want to count something, "days on habit" is a much better metric. Checking off days on a calendar would do just fine, but if you do it here you get accountability and support. Here's how. Start a new topic in this forum called (say) "Your Name Daily Check In." Then every N day post a "reply" to that topic as to whether you stayed on habit. A simple "<font color="green">SUCCESS</font>" or "<font color="red">FAILURE</font>" (or your preferred euphemism if that's too harsh) is sufficient, but obviously you're welcome to write more if you want. On S-days just register that you're taking an S-day. You don't have to do this forever, just until you're confident you've built the habit. Feel free to check in weekly or monthly or sporadically instead of daily. Feel free also to track other habits besides No-s (I'm keeping this forum under No-s because that's what the vast majority are using it for). See also my <a href="/habitcal/">HabitCal</a> tool for another more formal (and perhaps complementary) way to track habits.
Ha, these rules make it obvious I am used to eating between meals I think I will get used to 3 meals only though! It was pretty unconscious behavior....a nibble while making lunches for school, while cooking dinner, a cookie here...
I started and stopped NoS earlier this year. I did not stay with it long enough for it to become a habit, but the basic concept stayed with me as a very smart solution to the 5-40 lbs I have struggled with for too many years. After trying other diets that were restrictive and got me nowhere in the long run, I am back to NoS. I had been doing it loosely for a few weeks, but for the last week I have been putting "fences around the law". (That is they saying, no?).
I love this system...and it is exactly what I did for 4 years in college. Yes, while most gain "the freshman 15", I actually lost weight and had no problems or issues with eating and my weight for 4 years. Why? I have often reflected on why that was...and I believe it is because I ate 3 meals at the dining hall the first 3 years when I lived in a dorm or suites, ate in from of others (I ate one plate of real food, staying away from all "mystery meat" and casseroles...the soup, salad bar was my staple). I almost never snacked, unless you count alcohol as a snack, LOL. I went to bed a little hungry sometimes, but not starving...and got used to the pattern of 3 meals, no snacks pretty quickly. The dining hall was paid for...we didn't spend $ on snack food or pizza late at night. I know...I was not the norm.
Thanks Reinhard, for putting this into a clear system. I've listened to all the Everyday Systems podcasts...I have them on my ipod. I am not doing any mods, just vanilla NoS. When I look at the mod thread, it seems like a lot of the mods change the simple beauty of this plan (adding meals, snacks, foods that don't "count" etc...that is a slippery slope for ME). I suppose I do have a few dietary defaults; I eat off 8-9" plates just when I am home (I am a woman, I am full with that amount of food) and I lean toward more protein/fat and veggies than I do carbs/fruit, mostly because heavy carbs make me hungry between meals (and I am a fan of the nutritional writing/lectures by Gary Taubes) but it's not a mod...nothing is a rule, or breaking a rule, it's just a tendency. That is what I like about NoS. You can eat what you want!
Anyway, I won't go on and on. The scale is already moving in the right direction. I feel great and am actually enjoying food MORE! I don't feel like I am on a diet. It's just a very smart system. I plan on making it a habit!