Everyday Systems

OK, so I've been off and on No S Diet since sept. 08. At first I was on target and lost quite a bit of weight. Went off and am now thinking I need to give it another go. My problem is I'm a small female 5'3, my weight right now is 134. My goal weight is 120, but I'd be comfortable at 123.
I know it all comes down to calories, but I need a way to not get bogged down with all these different ways to eat and focus on what really matters. I think No S is the way to do that, but being a small female it takes a long time for me to lose weight. I get very frustrated.
This may seem winded but I'd love some tips on how some of you have had success on No S.
Thanks everyone.

Hi dmarie,
I'm the same height as you and have experienced the same issues of slow weight loss and going on & off No S. This time around things seem to be clicking for me. Right now I'm weighing about 130 and am down 15 pounds since the beginning of the year. I've decided to stay the course with No S, I've recently bumped up my exercise a tad and now I want to see where my body settles in terms of a goal weight. I just posted the following update in my daily thread intro. These are tweaks that seem to be working for me right now.

Here's what I'm doing:

Vanilla No S -- I do plain, good 'ol vanilla No S with unrestricted S Days. I also rarely drink anything with calories between meals on N Days.

S Days -- As I mentioned, I have unrestricted S Days. However, I generally follow the basic 3 meal structure with some added treats. I don't generally permasnack. I like to plan out at least one special treat for each S Day ... something I've really been wanting. We often eat out once or twice on the weekend. I look forward to S Days.

Exercise -- I've exercised consistently for years and it was a well-engrained habit long before I discovered No S. Mostly I walk or do nordic skiwalking. More recently, I wear a pedometer and try to get in over 12,000 steps on N Days and stay active on S Days as well. I think, for myself, if I'm following a moderate diet, exercise is especially essential.

Some of my Dietary Defaults:

9-inch plates: In 2009, I picked up a set of 9-inch plates. I use these for dinner and sometimes lunch at home. (Usually my breakfast plate is smaller and I often eat soup for lunch.) I don't worry about plate size when I'm out. I figure if the standard plate size was about 9" inches in the 1970s, prior to when our nation had an obesity epidemic, it is good enough for me.

Meal size: On N Days, I usually have a smallish breakfast with coffee in the morning. For lunch, I often have a big bowl of homemade veggie-based soup and hunk of good bread or a piece of fruit with some cheese. Something filling but not huge. For dinner, I have standard fare ... a plate of whatever I'm feeding my family. I refuse to count calories but I recognize that I'm short/don't have huge calorie needs and this is a painless way to keep things in check.

Friday night pizza: I usually make homemade pizza, served with salad or some cut-up veggies, for dinner on Friday night. This works great because my family loves pizza and I feel like I'm getting an end-of-the-week treat without violating the No S rules.

Tracking: I weigh in daily and graph my weight. I also keep a food journal here on the Boards. I know that Reinhard advises against weighing too much but I actually find it very helpful to see trends over time. If either the journaling or the weight graphing ever become burdensome, I'll stop but for now I find them useful/enjoyable.

I'm five two. I'm losing at a rate of about a pound a week right now, but I have a LOT to lose.

I don't have a goal weight. I have goal behaviors. Whatever my weight does on vanilla No-S and exercising five days a week is my ideal weight. (There's nothing bad about a goal weight, mind. I just don't have one. As a lifetime dieter, it's just not good for me).

My usual meal structure goes like this: Breakfast is oatmeal with almonds, sunflower seeds and dried fruit. It's substantial and keeps me going fine until lunch. Lunch usually looks like this:



You could cover one of those boxes with your hand, by the way. They're small.

Dinner is whatever I'm feeding the family and I try to be heavy on the veggies.

S-days are off the hook, but in practice they tend to be three normal meals and a treat or two. I'm very much looking forward to Easter candy this Sunday!

For exercise, I swim for half and hour three days a week and lift weights for half an hour two days a week. I walk places if I feel like it, but I consider my exercise all good if I've put in that half an hour.

thank you for the replies. This is really giving me an idea what I may need to do to make this work for me. Already I eat a late breakfast/early lunch of a salad with spinach/turkey breast and a lowfat dressing. I than have lunch about 2:00. For Dinner, I will have a bite of what the family is eating, another big salad maybe with cheese and turkey and a piece or 2 of high fiber bread all on one plate. I'm trying to have my salad at dinner to cover 1/2 of my plate. I'm going to get my N days down before I worry about S days, but I like what you are doing with your S days. I'm going to try to make No S work for me because I'm so tired of obsessing. Oh yea, speaking of that I practice eat stop eat as well. Fast days are Mon. and Tue.

I think that you might be at the weight your body wants to be. You might be able to starve yourself down to 120-123, but you'll go right back to the 130s once you're not being hyper-vigilant.

I'm with Noel -- give up the goal weight.

I totally agree with the others about the set goal weight.

The question to ask yourself is: can I see myself doing what I'm doing right now, in terms of what I'm eating and how I'm moving, on a long-term basis?

It doesn't sound like you are eating much at all so I'd be more inclined to look at how much exercise you're getting before adjusting anything. I''d also make sure that that you're eating enough. Otherwise, you're likely to feel deprived and give up.

Remember that a lower body weight doesn't necessarily mean being fit or account for muscle. Last night I was shocked to try on some old dresses and find that I am fitting into stuff that I last remember wearing in the low 120s. I suspect that I've added muscle and my scale/BMI range doesn't account for that.

I agree with the others about ditching the goal number. That said, I know what it feels like to be just a little bit above the weight where your body feels happiest (even if the way you determine that weight is by the fit of your favorite pair of jeans). When I was in that place, I just felt a little bit icky and sluggish.

If you don't already, start exercising. You don't have a lot of weight to lose (if any at all--this just might be your body's set point) but I've learned from experience that the best way to get those end pounds off is by moving--and vigorously.

I think that being "on and off" the No S diet is a signal that it's being used as a "diet" -- meaning too much deprivation and "short term" thinking. I too went "off" it once, and I think I did that by tricking myself into thinking I'd eat less if I could snack. Hah! This time I'm 8 weeks in (and losing) and a couple times I considered going off -- both times when it was around 3 in the afternoon and some impulse grabbed my attention, like a Shamrock Shake on St. Pats -- and I asked myself "What are you going off TO? I know snacking has never left me satisfied OR slim, and I am certain that three decent meals a days is wholesome and sane, so why would you ever go off?" -- it totally put the stupid Shamrock Shake into perspective. The real telling part is that I didn't go back for the shake on my S day because I wanted BETTER stuff.

I think to determine whether you are eating enough to make this a lifetime plan, ask yourself an hour after a meal if you are hungry. If you are, then you are dieting, and you are in for obsession and yo-yo-ing. If, instead, you feel relieved and satisfied, you are on the road to slim sanity.
Celebrate!

sophiasapientia wrote:

The question to ask yourself is: can I see myself doing what I'm doing right now, in terms of what I'm eating and how I'm moving, on a long-term basis?

It doesn't sound like you are eating much at all so I'd be more inclined to look at how much exercise you're getting before adjusting anything. I''d also make sure that that you're eating enough. Otherwise, you're likely to feel deprived and give up.

I also thought it sounded like you weren't eating very much. Having said that, in comparison to others, I don't eat much -- but it's fine for me. Also, my breakfast and lunch tend to be smaller, much like sophiasapientia's, but my dinner is larger. Whatever I cook for the family is what I eat.

wow, you all are giving me alot to think about. I really appreciate all these helpful tips. The diet mentality is a problem & the reason I go off & on No S is I'll think I should count calories instead. Really, I can do no s and make sure I'm eating low calorie foods. I know, for me, my weight is too high. My favorite jeans (that used to be loose) are now tight. I'm starting to creep into a size 10 which does not make me happy or comfortable. Just in the last month I started back at the gym for about 1 hour a day 6 times a week.
You all are really great. You pretty much pinpointed the things I need to look at. Which is a commitment to seeing this as a lifestyle and not a diet. The light bulb has come on. I really appreciate you all.
Thank You
Denise

finallyfull wrote:I think that being "on and off" the No S diet is a signal that it's being used as a "diet" -- meaning too much deprivation and "short term" thinking. I too went "off" it once, and I think I did that by tricking myself into thinking I'd eat less if I could snack. Hah! This time I'm 8 weeks in (and losing) and a couple times I considered going off -- both times when it was around 3 in the afternoon and some impulse grabbed my attention, like a Shamrock Shake on St. Pats -- and I asked myself "What are you going off TO? I know snacking has never left me satisfied OR slim, and I am certain that three decent meals a days is wholesome and sane, so why would you ever go off?" -- it totally put the stupid Shamrock Shake into perspective. The real telling part is that I didn't go back for the shake on my S day because I wanted BETTER stuff.

I think to determine whether you are eating enough to make this a lifetime plan, ask yourself an hour after a meal if you are hungry. If you are, then you are dieting, and you are in for obsession and yo-yo-ing. If, instead, you feel relieved and satisfied, you are on the road to slim sanity.
Celebrate!

I can completely relate here, and have definitely been tempting by the on and off mentality before. I'm finally starting to get it now, and these are some great questions that should be easy to answer with NoS.

dmarie710 wrote: The diet mentality is a problem & the reason I go off & on No S is I'll think I should count calories instead. Really, I can do no s and make sure I'm eating low calorie foods.

It seems to me that the diet mentality is still very much in effect.

OK, wosnes. You do have alot of wisdom. It did sound like diet mentality, but I think what I meant as low cal is heavy focus on vegies. At least 1/2 plate. Maybe not at each meal, but I do love vegies. It will probably take a long time to train myself not to have diet mentality, but on Friday I was so proud of my meals. All of them were non sweet foods I was craving and approximately half my plate was vegies & it was delicious.
I love this forum. There really is alot of wisdom here. Thanx
Denise

DMarie, you don't say how old you are, but I'm 50 and my stats are almost identical to yours and I'm feeling the same about where I am right now.

I have been thinking about adding the old WW exchange plan back to No-S, but that puts me back into diet mentality.

I know that I need to eat more fruits/veggies and move more. Also less sugar in the hot tea and better S day decisions.

Thanks for your post. You're not the only one out there at that size and we do start looking pudgy at that height and weight.

dmarie710 wrote:The reason I go off & on No S is I'll think I should count calories instead.
Really, I can do no s and make sure I'm eating low calorie foods.

It sounds like you know yourself, and
REMEMBER
NoS and Counting calories are NOT mututally exclusive..
i.e. you can eat NoS and count calories at the same time if you choose to.

Okay...I'm 61 and also 5'3". I have come to realize that no matter what I do, I'm never going to see 120-125 again. 135 is about as low as I can get.

I eat very similar to the way you do. I'm not much of a breakfast eater -- never have been -- but if I do have breakfast it's toast and fruit or a homemade smoothie. Lunch is almost always a broth-based homemade vegetable/bean soup with bread and maybe a salad or raw vegetables and/or fruit. At dinner I aim for my plate to be 1/4 meat, 1/4 starch and 1/2 vegetables. If I'm serving some kind of one-dish meal/casserole the plate will be about 1/3 main dish and the remainder vegetables. There may also be a salad on the side (I've never followed the one-plate rule) and/or a serving of fruit. Depending on the meal sometimes salad will be on the plate, sometimes it will be on the side.

In theory I could exercise more. But for health reasons I can't do more than I am -- which is daily walking, some light weights a few times weekly and household chores.

I started to write "I've come to accept this," but the truth is -- I'm happy where I am.

scgal, I'm 38 years old, and at 5'3 I have a very small frame. My 11 year old daughter's hand's are the same size as mine and she wears the same size shoe. I'm very small boned. This is turning out to be very interesting on how us small woman can make NoS work for us to lose what weight we want to lose. I really appreciate all your comments. Food for thought.

[quote="wosnes"]Okay...I'm 61 and also 5'3". I have come to realize that no matter what I do, I'm [i]never[/i] going to see 120-125 again. 135 is about as low as I can get. ...
I started to write "I've come to accept this," but the truth is -- I'm happy where I am.[/quote]

If you're happy, then there's no reason to change, but if you are looking to change, you can make sure that your N days are "eating clean". Google for more information, or it's discussed in magazines like Men's Health, etc., but basically no processed food, a protein + fruit/veggie at each meal, starch only at breakfast and after working out. I followed the eating plan in Rachel Cosgrove's book, and I found that to be really helpful and lost 5 pounds in just over a month when I couldn't exercise due to a recent sprained ankle.

Cantab wrote:

wosnes wrote:Okay...I'm 61 and also 5'3". I have come to realize that no matter what I do, I'm never going to see 120-125 again. 135 is about as low as I can get. ...
I started to write "I've come to accept this," but the truth is -- I'm happy where I am.

If you're happy, then there's no reason to change, but if you are looking to change, you can make sure that your N days are "eating clean". Google for more information, or it's discussed in magazines like Men's Health, etc., but basically no processed food, a protein + fruit/veggie at each meal, starch only at breakfast and after working out. I followed the eating plan in Rachel Cosgrove's book, and I found that to be really helpful and lost 5 pounds in just over a month when I couldn't exercise due to a recent sprained ankle.

Sounds like some form of a low-carb diet, which is fine if it works for someone, but the purpose of NoS is to eliminate the diet mindset. Also, I was very familiar with both Cosgroves before coming to NoS--the eating plans they lay out are extremely strict and geared towards people who are serious weight lifters. Again, something like that kind of takes away from the simplicity and freedom of NoS.

cantab, I appreciate your input, but for me, eating "clean" is where I can become obsessive. Naturally I already crave lo-fat foods and lots of vegies, but that is where I want to leave it. I want to enjoy my life and have the freedom to eat out occasionally without guilt.