Everyday Systems

If you're in... repeat after me.. "Starting April fool's day I will go green all month and record and edit my loss on this page for all to see" When I say green, I mean green N days on your habitcal. Yellow weekends are good, just no red. Please edit your page instead of adding a new one, so we all can see easily who's in. Thanks!




I've told so many about no S and I know that they will know who is me, so I chickened out and cannot put my weight down, but I'll write how much I loose... until I'm at a respectable weight.


April 1: down 7 since 1-1-9, green day
April 2: down 8 and green day
April 3: down 10 and very difficult but green day
April 4: down 10 and boy did I take advantage of the S day!
April 5: ------ absent and eating
April 6: down 7 and on a rollercoaster, Monday, but still green
April 7: down 9 green day
April 8: down 10 woo hoo!
April 9: down 12 very hard but successful green day
April 10: down 12 and green month so far!!!!!!!!!!
April 11: ----- green day, but huge plates
April 12: ----- not so bad S weekend!
April 13: down 10 and it's Easter Monday! woo hoo! I'm calling today an S day 'cause I gave up pizza for lent and I Now get it!!!
April 14: ----- I need to only check the scale every once in a while. besides, I was scared after the pizza buffet!
April 15: down 11 and still green all month. I can't believe it. For months 3 days was doin' good!
April 16: ----- green but feeling old - it's my oldest daughter's 16th birthday. I feel like calling it an S day and chowing this cake I'm making!


Failure!!!!! but I am down 13!
(see note below)

This challenge is really helping me, if I do good on the weekend, I loose, otherwise I am on a rollercoaster. I'm focusing all my efforts on Friday Saturday and Sunday.

I had a really huge eye opener on March 31st. You're welcome to read it in my daily check in. I think it changed the way I think about this whole thing!!

Sure I do that all the time anyway ... I weigh myself regularly, but not excessively ... and I keep the data so I know what's goin' on ... I'm 5'10"

Recent months :

11-1-2008 280.0
12-1-2008 266.0

1-1-2009 254.0
1-13-2009 250.0
2-1-2009 244.0
2-19-2009 237.8

This past month :

3-1-2009 234.0
3-14-2009 232.2
3-28-2009 229.4


...

Ok, official april weigh in numbers below ...

Goal for the month of april : Lose 8 pounds


4-1-2009 229.8
4-3-2009 228.2 ( Down 1.6 )
4-8-2009 226.0 ( Down 2.2 )
4-11-2009 225.2 ( Down 0.8 )
4-14-2009 224.8 ( Down 0.4 )
4-18-2009 223.0 ( Down 1.8 )
4-22-2009 222.4 ( Down 0.6 )
4-27-2009 224.0 ( Up 1.6)
5-01-2009 221.6 ( Down 2.4 )

Total for the month of april 2009 : Down 8.2 pounds

Marc

Count me in! I have had only 2 red days this month.

3/28/09 171.8
4/1 Success!
4/2 Success!
4/3 Success!
4/4 168.6 (I only weigh once a week.) s -day
4/5 S -day
4/6 Success! It wasn't easy after the weekend.
4/7 Success!
4/8 FAILURE!My willpower just left.
4/9 failure
4/10 failure O.K. I'm out. better luck next month with the challenge

I'm in!
Lori

When you say green all month -- does that include week-ends and special days?

I'm in -- I've been all green so far. I don't know how much loss I'll have to report, though, because it's been going SLOOOOW for the last month or so!

I think personally, it would be enough for people to record their successes and not necessarily have to post their weight loss.
This can be very discouraging for those who are battling with slow loss or no loss.
But a little challenge is always good!
I wish you luck Rene!
Debs

Thanks for the incentive! I'm in! This may be just what I need to perk up a bit as I have been feeling pretty Blahhh.
I am starting at 160lbs... just weighed myself this morning. Carole

Hi, I'm here! I did really well on vacation, the 10th - 17th; only one red day...I ate some wheat thins as a snack.
I haven't been on a scale so I don't know about pounds lost. I weigh in tomorrow so I'll update. The last time I weighed in on 4-7 at 160, I was measured also. I did lose some inches.
I did manage to get lots of exercise on vacation. I was spoiled with the fitness room and walking on the beach is always fun! I'll miss Fla.! Maybe I'll go back when I lose 40 lbs. Carole

4/23. I weighed in on the 21st and was up to 164 ugh! I am really going to cut back on no s days. I am drinking diet shakes and eating fruit. Now, we'll see what happens. I just have to get back into exercising.

(...)

Marc

Ok, I'm in... 199 lbs (as of last Fri). April is going to be green all the way (apart from today, as I'm having a sick day!)

I'm in!!!

4/1/09: 256 lbs

I was down two pounds from my previous low this morning, so I expect to stay in this neighborhood for a while, but I'll jump in anyway:

April 1, 178.5, for a total of 12 pounds lost so far.

I had a marvelously green day today after being gone for a while. Alas, I do have to be careful about high-calorie foods, but the structure of NO S is so soothing that I've combined it with a bit of a watchful eye on the fatty/hical stuff.

Good luck, everyone.

I've been off the habit for a bit, not terribly, but enough that I feel like I have compromised. I'll join you starting tomorrow. Today became an S-day, kids home on Spring break. Made some cookies for them tonight.

Well, I'm in. I normally weigh in on Tuesdays and Fridays, and my Tuesday weigh-in was 287.4, according to the digital scale at work. Better than the 298 I started at, but discouraging considering I've been doing this since December.

ETA: After having a long weekend with my sweetie, who lives 506 miles away, I am now down to 280.2. I have been no-S every M-F, except for last Friday when I decided seeing my sweetie made it a Special day.

I'm assuming it was all the exercise I got. (Oh, shut up! He lives on a third floor walk-up with 38 steps between him and the street.)

Was No-S all day yesterday & after physical therapy ate dinner (Healthy Choice dinner plus a can of soup) went swimming for 30 minutes, followed by 10 minutes in the hot tub.

Ended up the month at 282.8.

Hi "Would you Eva"
Think about it.
That is a good loss, considering this is not a crash diet.
Keep it up!!
I wish I could say I lost ten pounds since December.
Sadly I have gained about that much.
Be patient and stay positive!
Debs

Hi all!
I'm working out of town all week, when I weighed in last Sunday, I was 149 lbs. That will be my starting weight.
The first day was a SUCCESS.

FAILURE
Started April 1st motivated to the challenge. Messed up mid afternoon with a snack and then it was downhill all the way.
Hope today will go better.

April Fool's Day was green, green, green. And I kicked the month off by having a croissant (well, half a croissant -- that sucker was way oversized) and strawberries for breakfast, in homage to French Women Don't Get Fat. Googling that book was how I found the No S Web site in the first place, so thank you Mireille Giuliano, in spite of your snooty tone and your leek-soup weekends!

I think that we have all the people that we'll have, so I'm posting comments at the bottom now...

Marc, You're doin' great! I wouldn't change your goal yet. You've lost 8 lb. since March 1st. If you feel like upping your goal, just think... I'd rather leave it and have a better chance of meeting it... or blowing right past it to a greater loss!

Hey Woods... you're droppin'! Don't quit now! Renee

Renee wrote :
This challenge is really helping me, if I do good on the weekend, I loose, otherwise I am on a rollercoaster. I'm focusing all my efforts on Friday Saturday and Sunday.



Yeah, anything that gets you motivated is great. This way you know other people will see your efforts so you are more likely to put in the good work. This should be a permanent thing really, Starting a new 'challenge' each month.
Good work, Ren.



Yes, I like challenges, my objective is still at least 6.0 pounds down in april officially, but now I want more, I'll say between 6 and 8 for april would be great considering I'm in my 5th month now, almost half way there on my year long marathon. April 30th, point of no return.

Bumping the message up the page again.

Marc

I'm here! I just don't have anything very interesting to say. Still green so far for the month.

I did my first week straight green! woo hoo!


How are you doing Thalia? writing it helps...look at me blab!

U rock n' roll, Renee ! Glad you found some thing that could motivate you. It's all good. I 'cheated' a lil' bit this morning, no - not that way ... I weighed myself even though I wasn't supposed to do it until monday morning. I wasn't worried since I have been good the past 3 days. I'll post the result up there in my original message. Right on track. I am thinking of switching to a weigh in every 3-4 days instead of 4 to 5 days actually. I won't go under 3 days in between weigh ins though.
Marc

oh, ur really green, Renee ! Glad ur doing so well. It's true that when you post about your progress and failures in a public forum, it encourages you to be good, so that's positive in the end, at least I think so, anything to get you to make some effort is great.

I've been really healthy as well recently, even reading books about nutrition and whatnot ... even when I slip up, it's not as bad as before, it's more controlled and reasonable.

Side note, your name reminds me of the song :
"Walk away Renee" ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_Away_Renee

Bumping the thread up top again.

Aaaaahhhhhhh! I blew it!

Red day on the 16th. I was tempted and caved like a spineless wimp! It wasn't even a good cheat. I snitched making supper. I know I could call it good since it would've fit on my plate, but I'm a cheater and I need to do a strict no S. There goes the 21 day club. I wrote more about my day in my daily check in... I am going to keep going and try to make it a 1 red day month. I'll probably issue annother challenge in May since I've been doin so well.

So, is Marc the challenge winner... the sole survivor?

Good luck and keep posting! Renee

Nope, still green here. And the same weight I was on April 1, sigh.

It's really tough to do 21 days in a row ... 21 days straight where you are extremely good and focused, no red flags at all ... and sometimes you can't avoid it as well, when there are holidays, birthdays and stuff.
You still made a lot of progress so it's all good in the long run.

I usually have 3-4-5 days in a month where I get red flags, nobody's perfect. Even in april it has been going really well so far but I still had 2 red days, (Nothing really terrible ! A couple extra slices of pizza, a bagel and some cookies I wasn't supposed to have that sort of thing, I am still doing really well in april, even better than what I was expecting when I set my objectives for the month on april 1st) The exercise helps a lot though to avoid gaining weight back and erasing mistakes in the dining room.

I'll try to only have 3 red flags during the entire month, that would be my lowest number of red days ever in any particular month (I had 5 in feb. and 4 in march) ...
I don't have off days from No S, no weekends, no holidays, no nothing ... a red flag is a red flag, I don't care if it was X-Mas eve, it's still a red flag for me, crazy, right ? A few yellows as well, where I may have cheated a lil' bit but nothing excessive, like having an extra bagel with butter on top I wasn't supposed to eat, you see. If I had the weekends off it'd be easier but it would slow down my progress, so I don't want that, even if it's much harder.

I am not doing this to be miserable though and I know if I am good the vast majority of the time and I keep on exercising, there will be improvements ... I have a weigh in tomorrow morning so it's not a good idea to have a red flag today though ... I'll post the result, I expect it to be good since I haven't cheated really.

4 green nutrition days in a row since the last weigh in and I have been cycling and SHOVELGLOVIN' those 4 days as well, except for one day where I only SHOVELGLOVED, no cycling (That counts as a yellow square for the exercise). Intense cycling too, it's not sight seeing let me tell you. 30 minutes straight I am doing intervals hard on the bicycle path and then I am done. Best way to lose weight and fat, you go hard and fast for a while (I do that for 15 seconds, basically going as fast as I can, well, 85-90% really, 100% would be dangerous !) and then you slow down a lil' bit (30 seconds, where you work at 35-40% of your top intensity) , rinse and repeat - hard - easy - hard - easy ... My mp3 player let's me know the intervals, when I need to speed up and slow down ... more effective than to slow roll at the same pace for 1 hour or more accroding to all sorts of studies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_training
This is tough. Kicks my butt every time, crazy ! Much harder than to always keep the same 45-50% of your maximum speed the whole way (even if you do it twice longer) ... I'll probably do intervals only 3 times a week top cos' it's so tough and it's not something you should do daily anyway. The other 2-3 times I'll do regular cycling or I'll work out inside when the weather is not appropriate.

I track all this with the HabitCal. 7 green squares and 1 yellow for those 4 days (Exercise + Nutrition) so I am optimistic. I probably need to slow down a lil' bit anyway so I don't lose too fast until the end of april. If I go a lil' nutz in the next 2 weeks I'll lose 9-10 pounds in april when my original objective on april 1st was to lose 6 pounds this month. (Updated to 7 recently)

Marc

Oh, I'm verrrrrrrrry social !!!

How are you doing, Renee ??

Oh really ... gooooooood !

I'll update my posting above directly ...
so everyone can see how I FAILED this time ! ;-(

Yes, a monthly challenge is a good idea ... but I have to get my focus back first,

Cheers !

Marc

I'm still in! and still green. I saw a new low a few days ago -- my pattern is I bump around plus or minus the same weight for a week or ten days, see a drop to a new low, then bump around a pound of two above THAT for another week or ten days, then another drop ...

I spent yesterday at Disneyland with my kiddo. So, a remarkable amount of exercise, walking all day and we climbed the treehouse, etc. But also a remarkable amount of calories consumed, at least compared to what I eat on an N Day.

haha ! Thanks, Renee ! Yes, I was a lil' depressed but I know this is only temporary, I'm not really used to seeing a number that is bigger than the previous one ... Up 1.6 this time. Anyway, the best thing to do when you fall off the horse is to get back on it straight away ... so I am planning on being really good the next 4 days so I can lose the weight back quickly ... before the may 1st deadline, I am not too worried since I have a few days left. Unexpected things can happen of course, like a party ... or my sister asking me to babysit my nephew, That's what happened the other day and I couldn't CYCLE hard for 35 minutes as I was planning to do ...
I couldn't leave him alone so I had to watch him instead of cycling like a bat out of hell. I had to watch him overnight so this was a couple of days in a row where I couldn't stick with my routine, my lil' nephew is nice though, he wanted to cycle with me and had his lil' bicycle but of course his lil' 8 years old legs couldn't handle the break neck pace I usually keep, for me it wouldn't even count as a work out since I was hardly sweating and my heartbeat was probably slower than when I'm sittin' back watchin' tv. Nice ridin' with a lil' kid though, he thought it was 'cool' ...

Marc

Marc, you work out so intensely that I wouldn't be surprised if that little gain was muscle building up.
Muscle weighs three times as much as fat, volume for volume..
You've lost so much already.
Look at Reinhard, btw..
If I were to guess his weight, I would probably think he was 150 or maybe 160.. But I think he weighs 170... but probably with close to zero body fat at this point with all the shovelglove he does etc..
Muscle weighs more.

It's totally unrealistic to never have a setback or a plateau, so just don't let it psych you out.. especially at the stage you are at, because you have really been pushing yourself and you've made a *huge* amount of progress!
It's *definitely* temporary..

Debs

Oh hi again Marc
I just read your update, when I hadn't actually read it before. I was just going off what Rene wrote and your last post.
Anyway, pizza is really salty. That makes me go up between 2-5 lbs in one day..
So don't worry.
It's probably just water and will be gone within a day or two..
Drink lots of water.
Debs

Thanks for your words of wisdom, Debs ! Yeah, I know I have been worrying too much, I'm almost sure if I do relatively well in the next 3-4 days I'll go down easy at least to where I was before .... it's the effect of that pizza. Pizza is really my toughest enemy, lol ! Salty, greasy, high in calories, not nutritious ... but it tastes so good !! It's the one item I have issues with, the worst one, really.

I was at a party and pizzas were ordered, by then I had already been drinking a few glasses of wine, my guard was down and I was starving so I knew I was in trouble ! It was a nice party though, good company, wine, pizza and cake ... oh well. As long as the slip doesn't last for too long, it's all good. I need to work hard in the next few days so I feel better about it though ...

I had a few problems in early march and then I did really well for a over a month, close to 6 weeks, until near the end of april, it was smooth sailing ... now I freak out a bit cos' I ain't used to having a couple of bad days in a row and my weight going up all of a sudden.... that's the story.

Today I am doing really well though, thanks to everyone for their support. I am sure I'll be right on track a few days from now.

Cheers !

Marc

Sure, pizza is nutritious! Cooked tomatoes for lycopene and vitamin c, cheese for protein and calcium, veggies for all the good stuff that's in veggies ... we make pizza at home a lot, actually.

Hum, oh yeah ... making it yourself is nutritious (at least more nutritious !) but I was talkin' about home delivered pizza.

I just had a lil' bit of PLAIN AIR POPPED popcorn, I eat some of that regularly now, I keep a big bag in the cupboard and make it myself once every week or two
so I know it hasn't been MESSED WITH ...

It fills you up well, lots of fibre and it has very little calories too. Plus it's not expensive at all, I bought a big bag of kernels the other day for 3$ and it should last me over a month, maybe 2 months, hard to tell.

You eat a few cups of the plain air popped popcorn and then you have a couple of tall glasses of water, you won't be hungry for an hour and a half at least !!

Cheers !

Marc

I worked at a pizza place for oh... 2 weeks (don't ask) so I can speak with much authority that the ingredients are all the same, it's just what you put on it and how much you eat. I was reading on here somewhere the other day about eating 1 or 2 pieces. Ha! If I could do that I'd be thin! Pizza is my downfall and I gave it up for lent. I won't tell you guys how much I had the Monday after easter. Let's just say that I got my money's worth at Godfather's pizza buffet!
Load it with veggies, less meat and cheese and it's great for you, if you can control yourself. I remind myself how much I love peppers, onions and mushrooms, then the peperoni can sometimes be avoided.

Pizza... love it. But on No-S, I've really learned to cut back. I can actually do JUST 1-2 pieces if I put a salad on the side and sit down with it as if it's a full meal. And that's actually satisfying.

But if the dining is sort of casual, pizza is all there is, everyone's eating out of the box... it's harder. I usually hit 3 pieces, sometimes even 4 (though I really regret the 4.)

In reasonable portions, it's totally fine IMHO. Especially veggie version.

One more day on this challenge... how ya doin' everyone?

Look for the new May challenge... Hope others do it!

So who's a challenge winner?

Still green!

Update :

Wow, this is my best day of the month so far ... I must be losing a lot of weight today ... this morning I was doing yard work outside for an hour straight in the sun and sweating bullets ... Later I went cycling for a long time too and it was intense. Plus tonight I plan on shovelglovin' a bit as well ...

It's crunch time due to my personal deadline, may 1st in the morning, it'll be my official first of the month weigh in ... 40 hours to go, but I'm very optimistic at the moment since I have been very focused the past couple of days in a row. (A deadline helps me, I know I have to be extra good until friday morning)

I'll be very surprised if I don't have a good result @ that time. (But I am ready though, I won't go nutz if that happens, I'll just work *HARDER* !!)

Cheers !

Marc

I just wanted to say thank you guys for helping me do my best green month yet! I started in October and have had very colorful months since OH... Thanksgiving! This challenge really got me back on track (better than when I started even) because I knew someone was checking on me. I'm am a cheater and if I'm not held acountable... as if no one can just look at me and see that I eat too much. Ha! Anyway... thank you very much! Glad to see you guys on the May challenge!


Anyone want to report their total weight difference (hopefully no gains) for April? With one day to go I've lost 9 this month and I'm down 14 since new years day. Woo hoo! I will try to drink tons of water today to make it 10 this month



Lets storm into May!

My total weight change for April: Down a pound and a half, for a total loss since January of 13 and a half pounds. On to May!

~reneew wrote:I've lost 9 this month and I'm down 14 since new years day.
Lets storm into May!

That is wonderful!!!

Thalia wrote:My total weight change for April: Down a pound and a half, for a total loss since January of 13 and a half pounds. On to May!

Excellent!!!!!

Goal for the month of april : Lose 8 pounds


4-1-2009 229.8
4-3-2009 228.2 ( Down 1.6 )
4-8-2009 226.0 ( Down 2.2 )
4-11-2009 225.2 ( Down 0.8 )
4-14-2009 224.8 ( Down 0.4 )
4-18-2009 223.0 ( Down 1.8 )
4-22-2009 222.4 ( Down 0.6 )
4-27-2009 224.0 ( Up 1.6)
5-01-2009 221.6 ( Down 2.4 )


Total for the month of april 2009 : Down 8.2 pounds

Rejoicing !!

...

Ok, I am just about to start SHOVELGLOVIN' and doing a few sets of jumping jacks as well, 30 minutes total workout time ... late night training session since it's a friday night ... I already CYCLED for 40 minutes in the early evening and I was right on track with my diet today too. Another good day so I'm happy.


Marc

Marc, ya done good! I should really set specific goals. I tend to not do that in fear of not meeting those goals. You're a real inspiration!

Oh, thanks Renee !

Everyone should experiment and try to find what works best for them of course ... personally I like to have goals and I weigh myself every 4-5 days to make sure I am on track, if I am not I try to make adjustments in order to make it, or I set the bar a lil' lower so I don't feel like I'm never gonna get there ...
I tried various methods but this one works the best for me.

Last night I was thinking it is surprising that most days I find it all quite easy (the past 4 days for example) and other days I get in a slump and it's quite hard for a few days in a row even ... I was really good for most of the month of april but I had problems near the end ... from april 23rd to the 27th it was a real struggle, I was having a hard time following my diet and even training, I was only at half speed ...

Good thing I had a few days at the very end of the month 28-29-30 where I was 100% focused so I managed to finish the month strong.

Still learning and experimenting !! You should do that as well, find out what is the best for you and then ... a lot of elbow grease required. It is much harder for a woman to lose weight though, I just read something about that yesterday, you have to struggle more so I won't whine too much about gaining a pound here or there in the future ! Sorry !

Cheers !

Marc

Well, 4.6, but at one point in April it would have been around 7. Still, I managed to be no-S 22 days, and I went water-walking several times.

I find setting very small goals works for me, so if I get discouraged, I can see that I'm on target for my modest goals. For example, my goal for 2009 was to lose 10% of my weight, and that works out to around 3 lbs. a month. At this rate, I won't be at goal until I'm 60 but I hope to turn 60 anyway, it'd be nice to do it without the pain I'm in now.

Another goal is to try to water walk more often, and I think I'm going to have to bump it up to a specific number because it's too easy to let it slide during the week. And the indoor pool I belong to is closed or limited to members at least two weekends of every month for swim meets, employee training and such. They only have water walking lanes from noon-4pm on weekends, so I have to budget my time to get there.