Everyday Systems

Eschano,
Thanks for your concern and advice on my thread. I've been reading your comments all over and now I'm surprised I think this is the first I've actually stopped by your thread. You are doing great! Love reading about your lovely life!

I love you're LAMS eschano. Sounds like such a great weekend!

DH & I are pretty boring. Mainly we like to go out to eat. We love to explore new restaurants either alone or with friends. Occasionally we see a play or a dance concert.

Have a great week!

Linda

What a lovely weekend eschano! And great that you didn't feel like an S on Friday evening and you honoured that instead of having something "because you can". Onward to sometimes!

DH and I are a bit limited since the arrival of bub, so our date nights are things we can do at home after he goes to bed, e.g. Red Wine and Homemade Pizza Night (just what it sounds like). We've had evenings playing board games or card games that we both like, or sitting down to look through old travel diaries and photos together. In the late hot summer at the moment we like to sit out the back with a gin and tonic, and brainstorm all the wonderful things we are (probably never) going to do with our garden.

Thank you ironchef!

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - nothing to report, N days are easier after the weekend anyways and feeling a lot better about my fails since remembering extinction bursts.

LAM
Success - said no to a high-maintenance friend who wanted to meet up as I have a 16hour shift at work today and knew I needed the time. Instead watched some Modern Family. I laughed a lot. No LAM like laughing

LAM ideas I enjoy
Evolving Post that I will edit time and again. £ is the sign that it will cost a little more money than I'd usually spend immediately:

Taking a bath
Sitting in the sunshine
Lighting candles
Dancing in the living room/kitchen/wherever to my favourite cheesy music
Watching Modern Family
Having a laugh with my boyfriend/friends/family
Drinking my favourite tea while enjoying a quiet minute for myself
Reading a great book
Taking a nap
Breathing deeply and deliberately
Going to the beach
Learning to sew
Writing
Keeping my journal
Preparing and Eating delicious food
Sing along loudly to my favourite tunes (preferably in the car or shower where no one can hear)
Be generous to someone
Say no to anything that isn't important to me
Go to bed early
Take five minutes just to stretch
Be grateful
Make a list of my achievements, no matter how small
Wear my pretty clothes
Don't buy anything that doesn't inspire me
Clear the house of rubbish
Bring old/unwanted clothes to the charity shop to make room to be
Honour my limits
Be silly
Wear bright colours
Do something unexpectedly nice for a random person (pay it forward)
Watch my favourite old movies
Watch Disney movies (a variation of the above but hey, who doesn't feel good after seeing The Beauty and the Beast or Frozen)
Teach myself some papercraft, juggling, or a card trick. I like learning silly things that involve coordination
Visit the library
Rearrange a room
Notice and watch nature around you (a blooming spring flower, trees)
Allow myself time to Daydream
Blowdry my hair (this is a weird one but I find the hot air soothing)

£ Learning Flamenco
£ Visit an art exhibition
£ Knitting (surprisingly expensive)
£ Cooking a proper multi-course dinner for my boyfriend and me (not too stressful and yet special)
£ Hosting a themed party (I've done a Mad Men party and a murder mystery before, both were fabulous)
£ Get a pedicure
£ Get a head massage
£ Get a back massage
£ Buy myself flowers
£ Go to the hairdresser


Wow, I realize that most of my LAMs are things that I do on my own and give me some quiet. Just shows that I am completely right with my assessment of myself being a very social introvert. I get energy from quiet moments by myself but I love people.

Also, most of the LAMs don't take much. I mean, I can always light candles or breath deeply

This list will grow and I appreciate suggestions. I will also copy ideas from all over this board.

This gives me some great ideas, eschano! Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Love your list, now you've got me thinking....
I've been having a leisurely cup of decaf coffee with real cream after dinner almost every day. It really is just as good as dessert most of the time.

I love your list and think I need to start the LAM idea too. Just reading this makes me feel guilty.

It's crazy but even though I don't work & have lots of free time while my kids are at school, I almost never do anything like this for myself. I guess it's because I'm thinking of DH hard at work so I make sure I'm hard at work at home. I need to do this though because as soon as the girls are home, it's all about them.

I'm definitely an introvert too. Love people but need my alone time to recharge my batteries.

Anyway thank you for the inspiration. I'm going to try a LAM tomorrow!

Linda

Ooh, I'm delighted to spread the LAM ideas I hope lots of you come up with really fun things too that I will certainly copy!

For lent I'm giving up soda (I only drink diet but won't substitute with the normal stuff) and coffee. I had enough of the up and downs of feeling tired and hyper.

Green Tea is still ok. And Sweetness, decaff coffee might just be what I need from time to time!

Yesterday:
Special S Day
Success - a very very moderate one. My only S was a shot of salted caramel vodka that the waiters in the restaurant we hold our events in just got in for a tasting. Absolutely lovely. It was sweet. Otherwise I wouldn't have counted it.

LAM
Success - for the first time ever at an event-day I ate normally. Usually the stress of managing 45 people combined with the abundance of food makes me stuff my face. This time I stuck to NoS with the vodka exception and loved it! I felt so much better for it. Plus, work paid a cab home.

I love all your LAM ideas, they are so brilliant. I would love to do every one of them, and often do. In fact I could have written your list, how lovely to find such a kindred spirit

I would add, daydream, take time to look at nature ( I get so much joy each morning , even when I am hurrying to work, to look at my garden on the way to the car, drink in the colour, form and freshness of it all), watch Disney yes. But my favourite is jungle book and the king of swingers song, makes me laugh till I cry

Thank you for the gift of LAM

eschano wrote:. Success - for the first time ever at an event-day I ate normally.

Congratulations! That I hope to achieve someday. (For now it seems impossible). I wish moderation became second nature...

Pipina, I never thought I would get there, in fact, moderation was pretty much infathomable to me before NoS and even in the first year, I mean, my S days have just started to calm down and just most of them, not all of them, after 1 1/2 years of pretty good compliance (just over 80%). And I still have some weeks when it's quite red. But overall, I'm so stunned by how far I've come. So I'm confident moderation will become your second nature too.

Thank you Tessy! I will add your suggestions too

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - came home to a surprise home cooked meal. It fit on the plate and there was no need for seconds, sweets, or snacks. Lunch was a cream cheese bagel and dinner a pasta based dish so not the healthiest but Green nonetheless.

LAM
Success - home cooked dinner surprise and a bouquet of flowers. Techniqually I was being looked after but I still think it counts.

How nice! So happy to see your progress!

Definitely a LAM. You were the one that picked such a great guy after all.

Keep up the great work!

Linda

Hahaha, Linda, I guess you're right but never thought of it this way! Thanks snapdragon!

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - again not the healthiest but green!

LAM
Success - got tickets for a Flamenco show I really wanted to see for date night, with the BF's blessing of course. It was great but also was a bit long so when the final curtain fell I leant over to my BF and said: great, half-time! Still laughing tears from his reaction. Let's just say: he was very relieved I was kidding but felt a bit mean afterwards.

All good this weekend. It was sunny and warmish, which has such a big effect on my mood in a positive way.

Work-wise it's time to move on but it's hard to find the motivation to look while still employed. The work envirnoment has turned really sour though so that should help.

NoS
Friday:Success - all green

LAM
Friday: Success - Flamenco! I wasn't motivated at all but ended up super happy that I went (as it usually goes)
Saturday: Success - a really lovely lazy morning napping.
Sunday: Success - Gym and watching the full Oscars. Just love them.

New week. Let's see what happens!

eschano wrote:Ooh, I'm delighted to spread the LAM ideas I hope lots of you come up with really fun things too that I will certainly copy!

LAM
Success - for the first time ever at an event-day I ate normally. Usually the stress of managing 45 people combined with the abundance of food makes me stuff my face. This time I stuck to NoS with the vodka exception and loved it! I felt so much better for it. Plus, work paid a cab home.

This is a huge success, I'm proud of you! Isn't it great to feel good about yourself after this? NICE!

Refresh my memory. I know LAM is doing something nice for self, but what do the initials stand for?

Eschano, your LAM has really caught on! That's cool! It has struck a cord within the souls of many overworked and spread thin NoSers!

Sweetness, it stands for Looking After Myself (I think that's it, anyway).

Interesting about needing to move on, work-wise. I have been having thoughts like that. But jw really got to the heart of it when she told me to separate "teacher" stresses from "admin" stresses. Not sure if that applies in your case. It sounds more like you mean you have grown beyond your job and are ready for a new challenge. If that's the case, just make sure you can walk to the new job (ha ha, just kidding.....!)

What a great weekend - nice work Ah the Oscars, what was up with Cate's acceptance speech?

Having tried both ways, I'd say job hunting while already employed is really good. You're in strong position to negotiate and find the best thing for you - good luck!

What a lovely weekend! I totally forgot about the oscars. In my Parties cookbook by ina garten she has a menu for an academy award party. She invites a group of people over and they all watch it together while eating delicious food. Someday maybe when my kids are older!

Good luck with your work situation!

Linda

Sweetness, Auto, I am a little bit proud that LAM caught on And yes, it was originally Looking After Myself.

Linda, your Oscar Party menu sounds so great! Unfortunately, as I'm in Europe it's always hard to throw a party as it's not certain which day the full show is available to stream and as it's on a Sunday a 3am party doesn't appeal to me at all

Ironchef, that made me laugh. I did find a lot of the speeches quite weird but still loved it.

Yesterday:
NoS
Success - all green. I was home alone and that always means the possibility of binging but thankfully a friend called on skype and I forgot all about my sugar urge.

LAM
Success - lovely skype session with my friend.

Great job on a green day yesterday and if I ever have an oscar party, you're invited! Long flight yes but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Yes, LAM has definitely caught on. It's another priceless gem from this site. Awesome people here, truly.

eschano, a friend of mine threw a 3 am pajama party for the last royal wedding -- about 15 women attended in pjs and fancy hats and ate scones and drank tea -- small town USA's idea of a very British celebration! Talk about LAM -- and fun!

Linda, I'd love come to one of your parties - it would be an S day for sure

JW, that sounds hilarious! Rumours are going around there'll be Harry's wedding soon to look forward to.

Thanks so much Chani!

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - pizza but fit on a plate just fine so green it is:)

LAM
Success - Had the best catch-up with two friends over pizza. Lots of laughter. Both of them are a bit bitchy but sometimes that makes me laugh as long as it doesn't go too far.


Seeing the same number on the scale for the third time in a row made me immediately go into diethead. Immediately went out of it. I mean - I had pizza! But I think reading that article about how you need to compensate during the week for the weekends freaked me out as I'm currently not compensating enough. That said - I'm in NoS for the rest of my life and I love vanilla and love the freedom of having some weeks of heavy plates. Maintenance is good too! Diethead retreated.

Maintenance is very good! Especially because you are already at a healthy weight!

LAM - reading your lovely, supportive thoughts on this board.

Seeing the same number on the scale for the third time in a row made me immediately go into diethead.

I know what you mean - I try to over complicate things when really it always works itself out. I think you are doing great - way to go![/quote]

I don't think you should purposely compensate for weekends. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Was this a NoS article?

Trust your body to naturally compensate if it needs to but yeah don't overthink it. You're doing great so no need to mess with it.

Linda

Thank you Eveninglightwriter and Linda!

You're right, no need to mess with it. It was an article on the General Discussion Board. Good article to but you're right - I can trust NoS to take care of it.

Yesterday
NoS
Failure - two minor fails but I still want to mark it and fence around the law now: I had lunch and was called away on a call. Two hours later I returned to my desk, eating the orange I had planned on for lunch. I wasn't particularly hungry and it was more unconscious at it was on the plate. But: still a snack in my books as I really didn't need it. Second failure: Went to an Indian Restaurant. All good until I tasted the Mango Lassi - I'd definitely classify it as a dessert, it's so sweet. But my food was so hot and I enjoyed it so I took the hit. I did not have the mint chocolate they gave us with the bill so that's a win.

LAM
Success - Date night at the Indian. Date nights are always fun and LAM. Also, we booked our summer holiday to Italy. Can't wait.

I sometimes claim Success with an S event for Date nights, like tonight, I had 3 meals, one of them being popcorn at the movie (I pop my own and smuggle it in)...then I had an ice cream cone as the S event. And I would definitely not count an interrupted meal as a fail. I would call it "funny stuff". Oddly enough, that happened to me today too. My first appointment came before I finished breakfast, so I ate my breakfast nuts at 1:30 PM!

Hi Sweetness, thanks so much! I want to train myself on strictness but also have a very easy time forgiving myself for such minor fails. It wasn't exactly the end of the world I really appreciate your input though!

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - went out for a colleague's farewell party and had two very sour drinks, a handful or two of snack foods as dinner and no other dinner. But the timing was right so will count this as a success.

LAM
Success - loved being out in a really fancy cocktail place, trying out completely new things. I verged on the side of sour/zesty cocktails so I had a green day and even stuck to two cocktails, albeit not doing glass ceiling per se.

Eschano, I don't formally follow glass ceiling (I personally think it's fun to occasionally have 3 glasses once in a while..) but I have noticed that without trying my alcohol intake has self-moderated, all by itself, since starting NoS. I mean, 2 glasses can give me quite a nice floaty buzz.

Yes, I know exactly what you mean! And because my stomach isn't stuffed from the permasnacking it's quite a hit when I have a glass or two without eating.

Yesterday

NoS
Success - Burger and Thai food but all green. Next week I'm out less so it's going to be a lot healthier than this week where I was out four nights and two lunches.

LAM
Success - Another great catch-up with another friend.

Weekend

Sat

NoS - S Day - quite wild

LAM - Success - napped all afternoon and took the time to get a few much needed tasks done around the house YEAH!

Sun

NoS - S Day - cooked a lovely dinner I'm very proud of. Love my paprika app and have ventured more boldly into cooking.

LAM - Success - went to the gym in the morning and loved it. Also treated myself with a chai afterwards.

I had quite a wild weekend as was fully expecting the scale to punish me on Monday and to my surprise it didn't. I have noticed this three times in a row now and I believe my Sunday gym outings make the difference here. Plus, wild now is actually much better than wild was a year ago.

eschano, so many things about your weekend just sound lovely! Cooking, napping, enjoying exercise, great stuff!

So awesome eschano!

What did you end up cooking?

Thank you auto and Linda!

I cooked a Chicken & couscous one-pot http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1076 ... ous-onepot (I suggest only using the juice of 1/2 lemon instead of 1 lemon)

and as it was an S day my first home-made Apple Crumble
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/applecrumble_2971 although I used a lot more apples than they said and it ended up being an apple crumble for 6 people. We froze the rest.

Really yummy! And usually I wouldn't come home after a long day and start cooking two courses. I would just make one really simple one. They are actuallly still simple enough but for me already more advanced Really delicious, so I recommend it!

That sounds delicious, eschano! I'm turning apple crumble mods over in my mind now . . .
Thanks for your encouraging words on my check-in!

Eschano, you are really blossoming in the kitchen! You go, girl!

A great weekend! That chicken sounds lovely, I am definitely going to cook that soon.

Yum! Thanks for sharing. Sounds right up my alley!:)

Thank you so much you all! You rock girls!

Cooking has become my main creative outlet. Although, I don't do it that often. I only cook about twice a week but loving it.

Yesterday

NoS
Success - all green. After a week of heavy plates last week, I'm back to lighter plates. My body craves it. I love about NoS that it just absorbes a heavier week and I maintain.


LAM
Success - finished the novel I was reading: The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. A very different style from what I usually read but I enjoyed it a lot, especially learning a lot about the Trujillo era in the Dominican Republic.
I also caught the sun in the brief 10 minutes it was out on the rooftop.

I'm going to plan my LAMs a bit better instead of just letting them happen. I'll think of them throughout the day, although I won't always post them in advance. Tonight it will be yogi chocolate tea on the couch - no distractions.

Yep, so I've proven it once again to myself: if I'm sticking to Vanilla NoS I'm still losing weight. Slowly but steadily. It's when I'm stretching the limits (extremely dense plates filled to the brim, unhealthy junk food for a whole week) or have a kind of red week that I maintain (!!!).

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - all green

LAM
NOTHING - I was in alone yesterday and looking forward to a chilled out evening with a nice TV show and so on but then my stepbrother rang as he needed advice and I ended up speaking to him for 1 1/2 hours. That only left me time to do my hair and get ready to sleep. At least tonight is date night so I'll have LAM covered and tomorrow is a day working from home- much needed alone time.

I decided that there is no FAIL on LAM as that would defeat the purpose. I can only have extra S days and be aware that I want special LAM the next few days.

As for tomorrow: really nervous about working from home. In the past these days have become big bingefests so I hope to stick to an N day this time instead.

Your food sounds delicious! When you can only have limited quantities, it's worth to make it good, otherwise one starts thinking: That was awful... I'm entitled to eat something really yummy... DANGER - DANGER

Eschano, I feel confident (for you) that you will find some routine to working from home and eating at normal times.. Maybe spend a few extra minutes planning out your breakfasts and lunches. And mid-afternoon coffee or tea commonly saves you, right? Good luck!

eschano wrote:It's when I'm stretching the limits (extremely dense plates filled to the brim, unhealthy junk food for a whole week) or have a kind of red week that I maintain (!!!).

Isn't that amazing - that even with all that, you MAINTAIN (you don't gain). That's awesome.

As for tomorrow: really nervous about working from home. In the past these days have become big bingefests so I hope to stick to an N day this time instead.

Just know that you can do it! Your habits are strong. There's nothing except old (stale!) habit influencing you to overeat and feel shabby. Don't let it push you around.

Thank you auto, ironchef, and Pipina! That's three very good tips

As I can't leave the house because I'm waiting for 5 deliveries so I have planned all three of my meals. Usually, I am only at home when it's an S day so I will keep telling myself - N Day, N Day, N Day. And I'll check in here all day if necessary - nothing like the loving support of this board to keep to NoS. It's good practice for other occasions when I might be at home.

I also reminded myself that the last days when I was at home on an N Day was about 6 months ago and I have built a lot more habit since.

NoS
Success - all green.

LAM
Success - Date night in an amazing turkish restaurant. The food was good but the LAM was the brilliant atmosphere - the smells, the decor - it was beautiful and felt like 1001 nights.

YAY! I did it! I'm so delighted. I had a green N day working from home. Something unthinkable a year or even 6 months ago. So happy! As I'm in bed about to go to sleep I'm pretty confident.

Today:
NoS
Success - all green despite working from home!

LAM
Success - working from home was lovely. It's much easier to be productive in an office though as at home I have a lot of distractions calling my name but it was good for my energy levels not to face my 1 1/2 hrs commute twice today.

Edit: forgot to mention that I even did some yoga at home- heaven!

I knew you'd make it! And it sounds like you made it with flying colors!

Awesome eschano! You've come so far & should be very proud of yourself!

sounds like you are doing well!

You are a total Gladiator!

Okay..I've been watching too much Scandal and now I'm all gladiator this and gladiator that but you - working from home and having an N day is a total feat - you go!

Working from home and No S'ing - you got this! Keeping a schedule helps a lot. It's so nice to be able to set your meal times for when you want to eat. And eating at home is just always more relaxing, I think. Enjoy!

Thank you so much all of you! Your supports means everything! There are many days when I wouldn't have made it without you.

Go you good thing! And yoga too, nice! I jumped online just knowing I was going to read a positive post about your at home GREEN day.
Have a great weekend.

Knowing that N days are possible even a few steps away from the kitchen is really empowering! Plus yoga! Eschano, you rock! Hope you get the opportunity to work from home often --

You are awesome guys!

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - all green. Fajitas for dinner- yummy. Wore my new jeans that are still pretty tight and realised that I felt full very quickly. Weird trick but don't think that's healthy.

LAM
Success - two of my friends are a big high-maintainance, especially at the moment but yesterday, after a very exhausting weekend and in a stressful week where I was dealing with my own stuff, I staunchely defended my time with my boyfriend for dinner against anything and it was lovely.

Really realising how I need less in my life and focus on what I choose more, rather than have more in my life and be constantly distracted.

So I'll be downsizing a lot - my wardrobe is next.

Yay for downsizing and prioritizing your time. Life is too short to spend your time with people you don't enjoy!

Thanks Linda! I agree

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - really stretching the limits of what goes on a plate at dinner but green it is.

LAM
Success - Felt really poorly with headache and stomach cramps so went home an hour earlier and cancelled all plans. Spent the evening on the couch watching The Good Wife and cuddling a water bottle when my bf went to football.

Well done on the green day, but remember S is for sick as well. Take care, hope you are feeling better soon.

I sure hope you feel better

Hope you're feeling better tomorrow!

Feel better eschano!

Thank you guys! I'm feeling much better now. I took it easy yesterday, which helped.

Today is an Extra S day as it's my birthday so come on cake!

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - again stretched the dinner limits but green

LAM
Success - took it very easy yesterday and had a lovely dinner with a friend who was over in London for work for an evening.

Today I already have my LAM sorted. Was surprised with a lovely present from my boyfriend this morning. Love birthdays!

Happy Birthday, eschano!
I hope you have a great day!
Thank you for your LAM idea, which is awesome, and for your supportive entries on my thread.

Happy Birthday eschano!!! Hope you have a lovely day!!!


Linda

Have a Great Birthday eschano and enjoy that cake!

Hope your birthday is perfect, eschano!

Happy Birthday! Enjoy!!

Hi, let me add my birthday wishes. I have just read your entire thread and you are doing great!!!!

Keep it up, you can't go wrong when you are doing right.

Whoop, whoop! Happy birthday to the girl that always has something encouraging enough to say to talk us down from our ledges..... !

Happy birthday! Hope you have a fabulous day - yay for surprise presents

Thank you all! You are the best people - wish you could be here to celebrate

I think I broke my lent - gave up coffee and diet coke for lent and when I had the most amazing caffe semifreddo I only realised afterwards. But well, it was delicious icecream dessert with some coffee in it so I'll treat it as a Birthday exception and the spirit of my lent was to give up the daily morning and lunch time coffee so in a way it's not too bad. Wonder why we Catholics didn't know about extra S days (no offence meant)

Today: normal N day and then delicious S days in front.

That cake sounds like my cup of tea! (oh--I mean cup of coffee!)

LOL auto!

Thanks for checking out my page, Eschano. I came to see yours, and it is quite the inspiration. Keep up the great work!

Thank you Skipper!

I had a wonderful bday week and weekend.

Friday:
NoS
Success - all green. Had a lovely dim sum dinner with my friends.
LAM
Success - well, it was my birthday


Weekend:
NoS
S days - with lots of meals for my birthday and for mother's day with my boyfriend's family. (Austrian mother's day is later in the year).
LAM
All green - wonderful meals, lots of fun, good company, busy weekend.

After months of being in my 160s I seem to have suddenly dropped to my 150s. I think I stick more to vanilla now and eating with my boyfriend most days makes me eat less as we sit down properly for dinner instead of eating in front of the television where I used to easily overeat (even on 1 plate).

My boyfriend thinks of me as someone who doesn't finish her plates. I had to laugh so much about this because I still think of myself as someone who is quite greedy with food but delighted I clearly changed. English portions in restaurants are very big so it fills me up a lot. Still, funny and probably time to revise how I think of myself.

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - all green. My boyfriend is "juicing" every morning so I am getting delicious fresh smoothies as breakfast. Hopefully my metabolism will catch on soon that the winter-porridge days are over.
Lunch was a delicious Cucumber, Feta, cranberry, pumpkin seed oil salad with tortilla crisps.
And made a delicious Lamb Ragu Parpadelle for dinner. http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/pap ... -lamb-ragu I added a carrot and some red wine to the ragu.

LAM
Success - Watched the series finale of one of our favourite shows yesterday, had a brilliant dinner, and all in all, was a lovely, quiet night in as deserved after a busy weekend.

I decided to post my food if it's post-worthy, i.e. if I have a nice recipe to share

Wowza! Your lunch and dinner look pretty darn amazing!! Gosh...this No-S "diet" is rough, huh?!

eschano, if you hadn't told us that you used to eat junk, I would have never believed it! You've changed your eating so much! What an inspiration! Thanks for sharing, I know many people will appreciate if you put up your recipes.

And, if you don't mind my asking, what was the season finale that you watched?

Yum! I love Nigella! Great idea to post recipes since we have a lot of creative cooks here. I'll try to do the same!

Linda

LOL tobiasmom, yes it's "rough" indeed! I chatted with a waiter in the restaurant we do our events in who is fascinated by Nos as he saw my progress and knows I kept it off well (thin as a stick himself but for his sister - gave him my book to give to her). I was chatting away, saying:
"And I still love food!"
His reply: "Yeah! I noticed!"
Hahaha, that made me laugh.

Auto: you wouldn't believe how much junk I ate! I went from permasnacking on junk and ridiculously big burger/pizza/etc lunches and dinners daily with no-food days to make up for it (not that it helped) to my NoS beginnings: buger/pizza/etc. whatever savoury junk fit on one plate. I did that for at least 6 months before veggies started to sneek their way into my food. And since discovering the joys of cooking this year, 1 1/2 years in, I'm quite delighted how healthy my meals have become!

Linda - perfect! I love your meals so already looking forward to copying lots!

Yesterday
NoS
Success - I was at a work event in an Italian restaurant and decided to stick to an N day after having had a great experience with it last time, despite having scheduled an extra S day. Felt so much better for it!

LAM
Success - sticking to N day and making sure I left in time to catch the train I wanted. Took some negotiating with the Director but hey, I'm pretty persuasive if I want to be hahaha.

excellent, excellent LAM!!!!!!!

Great job eschano! Some pretty advanced NoSing there!

Linda

You're doing sooo great! So what did you eat at the Italian restaurant? A plate of something amazing, I hope?!

Thank you auto, Linda, Tobiasmom! I had a plate of lasagne, salad, some bread. yummy!

I put on half a kilo again of the 1 kilo I lost miraculously last week. Not the least bit worried about it though as I know the weekend was on the heavy side and my N days are going well. However, since yesterday evening I have the munchies big time and am dreaming of sweets. I didn't give in and I won't until S days arrive but yesterday evening and this morning were hard won. Funny how our bodies go through these phases.

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - breakfast smoothie, vegetables and 2 ravioli for lunch (from the Italian Restaurant yesterday- just bagged it. How do they get the broccoli so right???) and for dinner Thai take-away. A yummy day and am very proud to have defeated the ravenous munchies after dinner!

LAM
Success - cab home as I had lots and lots to carry yesterday and take-out eaten in front of TV - yummy! It's a complete exeception for us to eat dinner not by the table so it's a bit of a special treat but I wouldn't want it more often than twice a month or so.

I'm really impressed Eschano with your story of overcoming big meals and fast days to finding No S and sticking to it even at special work events. And of course, a big hurray for not indulging last night's munchies.

Do you think it's a problem to eat in front of the TV? Just curious. I truly prefer to eat in front of the computer, but DH loves to eat together, so I do that more often. I think I like having visual stimulation while I eat, rather than overfocusing on the food or on DH's eating (although he has really great manners and I can learn from him!). lol

edited because I didn't want you to think I was joking about DH's great manners.

Thank you Chani!

I think you're right about the TV. While I love eating in front of it I always end up getting the munchies. It's just a very ingrained habit of mine to eat in front of the TV. It reminds me of popcorn at the cinema. And while I'm fine to watch TV and not eat I find it really hard to eat only one plate in front of the TV once I start. I do agree with you though - it's nice to have some visual stimulation but I think that's the old habits giving me comfort instead of me actually enjoying my food

Glad DH has great manners

Your success is amazing! I was wondering if I could ask you how old you are and how much exercise you get it? you seem to eat three normal meals a day

Hi Joasia, thanks! and of course you can ask.

I try to give you all the information you could need:

I'm 31 years old.

I go to flamenco 3x every month, go to the gym 2-3x per month(nothing exhausting, just the crosstrainer and a few moves as I don't enjoy streneous exercise so far), and walk to and from the station every day for about 1 hour. I should also add, I walk a lot otherwise as I don't have a car and often it's easier in London to walk.

I am 175 cm tall, which google tells me is 5ft 8 something inch. So that might work a bit in my favour.

I don't drink a lot of alcohol. Or sometimes it's more and sometimes it's less but as I get tipsy after 2 glasses the days where I drink more are only about 2 - 3 per month.

I think that's it? Oh, and you're right: I eat totally normal meals. I don't believe in restricting myself. My metabolism took a while to catch up with NoS as it's quite slow but now it's ok.

Thank you so much for your answer

With pleasure

Yesterday:

NoS
Success - breakfast smoothie, cucumber-tuna-feta-cranberry-pumkin seed salad (my healthy default otpion), dinner: a really really late-night small chicken shish kebab with salad.

LAM
Success - Went for a good few rounds of pool and drinks with a bunch of friends. It was great. I am not good at all but love it. It's something to do while catching up and having fun, a nice change to the usual dinner chat. Loved it!

Funny stuff - because of playing pool we didn't get to eat until we were back home at 23.15! However, I'm very proud that I didn't snack at all despite crisps and chocolate being passed out to everyone! And funnily, neither did my boyfriend. He's naturally slim (although not thin) and he either doesn't do it naturally or he is starting to unconsciously take over some of my habits, haha.

Just stopping by to say hi.
Also, when I see your tagline "Vanilla rocks", I literally image rocks that taste like vanilla. Yum.

Hahaha, WalkerLori!


Friday:
NoS
Success - didn't even have a treat at night although my S days start Friday night, Friday is when "Sometimes" really kicks in.

LAM
Success - Flamenco - Ole!

Weekend:
NoS
S-Days - Permasnacking on Saturday which wasn't great or to be precise, didn't feel great. And an ok S day on Sunday.

LAM
Success - Managed to finally sort my new room out and now it's beautiful in there and I love it! Also, went to the gym on Sunday although both by bf and I didn't want to once I was there I felt great. And: wonderful wonderful progress on the cooking front. On Saturday I cooked my favourite Thai curry for the first time and was delighted that it turned out well! And on Sunday I made the most amazing white Lasagne. My bf said that it's the best meal I've made although he liked them all! Yummy! Love cooking. My app "Paprika" is really invaluable as I love rating it and matching my own photos to it and being able to edit ingredients and make notes.


Thai Panang Curry Recipe: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipe ... gcurry.htm

Chicken Lasagne with White Cheese Sauce:
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/21597/c ... sauce.aspx Warning: it's super rich and I ended up using less cheese and it's still very very cheese but delicious.

I thought a lot about the things I read on here lately and realised that it is time to wave goodbye to Diethead for good.

Until recently I still had a new "goal weight" in my mind and I noticed, as so many others here, that while I weigh less now than for the majority of my 20s, I am in no way as happy as I thought I would be and am already revising the "ideal weight" down again. This nagging dissatisfaction is still there as if I still weighted 10kg more, as if I was still overweight.

So now, instead of keeping on doing this I will stop dieting. This is my ideal weight. I will be happy now rather than later, I have a healthy BMI, it's time to focus on something else. While I will stick to vanilla NoS because it makes me physically feel good, I have decided to stop reaching for goals. And I will keep putting delicious things on my plate that might be a nutritionist's nightmare because it's part of my enjoyment of life and (I'm paraphrasing some great quote here I can't remember): you need some vices to die from, otherwise you have nothing to live for.

Goodbye diethead!

Yesterday
NoS
Success - Breakfast Smoothie, Lunch was thai left-over and an orange, dinner was left-over lasagne and some grapes.

LAM
Success - Bade farewell to diethead! YAY!!!

What a great post, eschano!
Neat stuff.

Love it eschano!!! So happy for you! I've been doing a lot of soul searching too these last few days and may be relaxing things a bit. Food should be pleasurable first & foremost. There's an interesting study that shows how enjoying food actually makes it more nutritious.

"In the 1970's, researchers fed two groups of women, one Swedish and one Thai, a spicy Thai meal. The Thai women — who presumably liked the meal more than the Swedish women did — absorbed almost 50 percent more iron from it than the Swedish women. When the meal was served as a mushy paste, the Thai women absorbed 70 percent less iron than they had before — from the same food."

I love to see you moving towards living your life to its fullest!

Linda

Thanks for this amazing fact Linda! And auto for your support.

I had a massive emotional eating urge yesterday and for at least 20 minutes I thought a lot about the chocolate in the cupboard but I just knew I wouldn't savour it, I'd just wolf it down to stuff my frustration further down.

We want to buy a car and I got so frustrated with how far behind the world is with making it easier to move around. After 13 years of claim-free driving in Austria and Ireland I have to start at 0 with my UK insurance, which means a lot more money for the first two years. We're probably going to do it anyways as we live in the countryside and at the moment we spend £50 on cabs just to visit some friends so a car is really going to make life easier, for weekend use only to pop around a bit.

Anyways, I resisted the chocolate because of the reasons above and am happier for it. This wasn't because I wanted to lose weight but because I want sanity with food and emotional eating just doesn't provide that.

NoS
Green

LAM
Green - did every little thing I could think of to make myself feel better. Gave myself a face massage, used tiger balm on my temples, turned the heating up a bit, watched a comedy, finished my book I was captivated by, and left all the chores for another time.

It really is the little things that count - feeling so much better now.

Well Done on getting rid of diet head!

So great for you to be able to enjoy your meals with No S!!!!

Congratulations on not having the chocolate when you knew you would not really enjoy it.