Everyday Systems

Started here on April 28, 154 pounds.

Today 140 pounds.

It has been amazing finding this board and meeting so many supportive people.

Thanks to you all (and I am very grateful to you Reinhard).

Now, I have to figure out my maintenance plan....

Hmmm..

Congratulations! Fantastic.

Terrific news. I'm betting your maintenance plan may not be too different than what we've been doing except maybe you get to have a few more special days. . . Reinhard's been doing "maintenance" for years!

Your success is a testament to how this can work (and since we're near the same age, it's certainly makes a case that this is a successful solution for all ages!)

Congrats!!!

You *ROCK*!!!!!
Way to go Strawb!!!

First of all congratulations Strawberryroan and well done! I'm new here and this is just the sort of thing I need to read.

I have a question for you, I see on the Daily Check In that you were using CalorieCount. I have been using it for the last 3-4 weeks. I had some initial success but then got lazy about logging my calorie intake and put a couple of lbs back on My question is did/do you count calories when no-essing or did you rely on the simplicity of the no-ess rules?

Congratulations!!!!

ps.. Strawberry, the NoS diet is pretty much designed to be a perfect maintenance plan.
It's really not gonna be too much of a transition.
Congrats again!

getoka wrote:First of all congratulations Strawberryroan and well done! I'm new here and this is just the sort of thing I need to read.

I have a question for you, I see on the Daily Check In that you were using CalorieCount. I have been using it for the last 3-4 weeks. I had some initial success but then got lazy about logging my calorie intake and put a couple of lbs back on My question is did/do you count calories when no-essing or did you rely on the simplicity of the no-ess rules?

Hi there,

I use the Calorie count feature only to check on the calories in an item that I'm not sure of but I don't log my calories every day, never really have. I have been doing this so long, I am - sad to say - an expert by now.

I have made some wonderful friends over there (same name, drop me a line anytime - I do a daily journal there as well where I brag about this site)

The simplicity, the normalness, of this plan is why it works.

I am retired so I can more or less eat when I want to but will adjust the times if I am out and about or at people's homes.

I eat breakfast late, usually ten (as I cannot stand the thought of food too early in the day). Usually a lowfat yogurt with either some additional fresh fruit or a crumbled up cereal bar in it as well as a spoonful of flax seed.

Then. about two, usually a VERY large mixed green/spinach salad with boiled egg, shredded cheese, green onion, red/green/yellow peppers - whatever I have, etc. croutons, lots of croutons and a healthy dose of vinaigrette dressing. I buy different fat fee dressings and mix them half and half with vinegar. I have never liked the creamy type of thick dressings.

About six or seven I eat dinner, whatever we are having. A normal sized plateful except I usually stick to veggies, etc. and don't eat the meat. If we are having pizza, I have one piece not four or five like I used to. Seriously, I admit it, I did. I make a lot of homemade soups, spaghetti with salsa instead of spaghetti sauce, etc. Beans and cornbread are a favorite healthy food.

That's it, I don't eat anything else for the day.

On weekends, maybe a little more leeway but not much. If we are at a Mexican restaurant, I enjoy the chips and salsa. If we are out and want an ice cream cone or something, no problem. I just don't throw away all the good I have achieved all week.

I am enjoying the way I feel on this plan and haven't really missed the snacks and sweets - never did too many seconds.

Exercise is not a problem, I LOVE to exercise.

Gee, more info than you needed, huh?

Thanks to all of you. I know that I am always inspired by other's results so wanted to share mine,

I agree that this is the perfect maintenance plan because - well - people do eat meals so I can certainly continue to do that. No one is going to say when I am at a committee meeting or something,
What - you are eating only one plate of food?

I am going to try and maintain the strictness of the weekly regime and then maybe have a little more leeway on the weekends or special days.

It will be interesting to see how it works. I am so psyched for the first time EVER about this whole food/exercise/lifestyle thing.

And it was so simple, makes me want to smack my head with a can of V8,

would that be a snack?

StrawberryRoan wrote:
Gee, more info than you needed, huh?

No, that's wonderful, thank you so much. I'm a big fan of lunchtime salads too-especially French style ones with goat's cheese or blue cheese-yummy.

Thanks. Forgot to say that I have graphed my weight over there every day so it is interesting to see how it looks when charted. I can pull it up for the month or the year.

The month looks better. I was thinking earlier about how different it would be now if I were trapped in the hospital. I wouldn't be eating from the vending machines at all. I would go down to the cafeteria and get a salad with some kind of low cal dressing, maybe some fruit and some ice tea. Don't know why I went so crazy unless it was just nerves. I never wanted to leave the room for very long (I didn't leave the hospital once) as my husband was very critical, had to be resuscitated, etc. and I didn't want to be far away.

I could have, however, certainly managed to have someone bring me up a cup of soup or something.

I know better now and would do better. Hopefully I won't be in that position again. My husband is still improving but the operation (vascular) was successful.

Gee, I'm a wordy one, aren't I?

Guess all the time I don't spend chewing, I spent typing or reading. Just finished 45 minutes on the exercise bike.....So, that's something.

SR

StrawberryRoan wrote:
And it was so simple, makes me want to smack my head with a can of V8,

would that be a snack?

Ha! Only if you drank it... but then if you hit hard enough, you'd be injured and could probably call it a special day.

It is simple, huh?

Congratulations Strawberry! I'll be anxious to see how maintenance goes for you...you can be our guinea pig, okay?

Mimi

Congratulations strawberry roan!! Really inspiring to read your story....

Congratulations!!!

(I started to make that red, but somehow that didn't seem appropriate.)

On maintenance... You might just continue eating this way for a while and see what happens. One thing I love about No-S is that it's inherently reasonable - I doubt you could become underweight on it. (Well, maybe if you made your meals microscopic...) I expect you'll pretty much stabilize close to where you are, or somewhere in your healthy weight range.

If you do want to make changes, I'd suggest treating them as a "mod" - add one change, see how it's going, etc. Don't throw away the basic structure - this isn't a diet, it's a lifetime plan for moderate eating.

Again, CONGRATS!!

(Edited to fix the messed-up color/size tags. Sigh.)

CONGRATS STRAWBERRY!

(Does this count as a belated congratulations? heh! oh well)

ANOTHER success story! Wonderful to read!

StrawberryRoan wrote:
Now, I have to figure out my maintenance plan....

Hmmm..

I read this once: Start as you mean to continue.

One of the things I like about No-S is that there are no phases or waves or steps. No maintenance. You start -- and that's exactly what you do to maintain.

Congratulations!

You are all so sweet, that is what I like about this board (and Calorie Count). Everybody is so supportive, sometimes in our "real" life, others either don't understand, think we don't need to lose weight, have weight issues of their own so that plays into how they accept someone else trying to be better, etc.

Here, we can be honest and support each other. Whether it is five pounds or five hundred, each pound comes off one at a time.

I plan to stay the course, do nothing different. I agree that I probably won't waste away to nothing eating three meals a day. Should I happen to get below my lowest desired weight (138), I will just add a whole grain dinner roll or some extra cantaloupe or something to my meals. Healthy additions, not junk.

However, I seriously doubt if that will be an issue. My problem before has ALWAYS been. Okay, you're thin enough. Go back to eating marshmallows out of the bag every time you walk past the pantry and cheese nachos for a late night snack.

No more.

No S...

Fantastic work, Berry ! ...

It's nice to read positive messages like that, people who have achieved their goal, that's inspiring. 14 pounds in a month and a half, you were on a mission,
Berry. Those are pounds that are harder too, since you weren't starting from a very high number, 154.

Wishing you the best of luck *MAINTAINING* your weight now.

That's what you do when you diet, you learn new tips and tricks that you can apply later on as well to help you stay right where you want to be.

Remember to weigh in once in a while so you can KICKSTART the diet/exercise again in case you would gain a few extra pounds and you should be fine long term hopefully. No reason for this plan not to work since you have all those good habits now.

Cheers !

Marc

Disclaimer : I am following a more extreme version of the 'No-S' diet.
I made my own personal modifications to the original plan (Diet & Exercise)
What I am doing should not be misinterpreted as being a typical 'No-S' diet experience.
11/01/2008 : 280.0 pounds - - - 06/10/2009 : 212.8 pounds
7 months 10 days / 67.2 pounds

Congratulations, you must be feeling brilliant
This is so good to read; I have been pretty depressed lately and out of control- I know this system can work well if I let it and trust in it- and you are proof of the pudding (probably not the best way to put it but you know what I mean!!)
I'll be really interested to see the maintenance plan as we yo-yos know that is the real trial!
Good luck- and we are all with you all the way
SusieB

Congratulations, StrawberryRoan!

And 14 pounds too, my favorite number

As for maintenance, as others have pointed out, long term maintenance is where no-s really shines. There's no "phase 2." Phase 2 is phase 1, except easier.

My problem before has ALWAYS been. Okay, you're thin enough. Go back to eating marshmallows out of the bag every time you walk past the pantry and cheese nachos for a late night snack.

No more.

No S...

You're not alone -- this is pretty much everyone's problem who manages to "succeed" on a typical diet. Great to see you're prepared for it!

Reinhard

You're not alone -- this is pretty much everyone's problem who manages to "succeed" on a typical diet.

Yes, indeed.

Yay!! Congrats!