Everyday Systems

I started the NoS System 12/20/2010 after picking up the NoS Diet book on a sale rack while I was out Christmas shopping. I had a very successful first year. I lost 45 lbs and developed a whole new relationship with food. However, I stopped short of achieving a weight in the average range. I am longer obese but I am still overweight. I became content with that.

Over the past 9 years, I have maintained my weight loss, but from time to time I find myself getting lazy with the habits, and my weight starts to creep up. When that happens, I return to this forum for help and inspiration. I also always think of losing the additional 25 lbs that would bring me back to a ‘normal’ and more comfortable weight.

So here I am again. Our family started 2020 with the death of an immediate family member on New Year’s Day. It was an elderly person, and the death was not totally unexpected but sad nonetheless. This was followed by a persistent case of Bronchitis that went on for several weeks and then a persistent case of Bursitis in my hip that has been painful and has been hampering my mobility for the past several months. I am in my 60s but very active; so, this has been frustrating. Add the isolation and restrictions that COVID 19 has placed on everyone, and this all adds up to struggling to maintain my weight.

I am lucky. I have a strong family base, a strong faith base, and the means to access everything I need. However, I am struggling with my habits terribly right now.

It is obvious to me that losing my extra pounds is crucial to overcoming chronic hip Bursitis; yet, my weight is creeping up instead. My activity is building back up but it is slow. My eating habits are fairly NoS compliant, food choices are poor. My overall ambition is lacking.

So I am back to post and read posts and to get myself going again.

Welcome back Jean

Welcome back

Jx

Wb & GL! Glad you’re still around!

Hi Jean! So nice to see you posting. I'm sorry about your hip pain and I really hope that improves for you soon.

Thanks for the welcome!

I just finished my first week of stricter tracking of my behaviors. I have a list of a few things that are just red or green each day (or yellow on S days for my NoS tracking). I detest detailed logging, but I can do a checklist!

I technically was NoS compliant, but one of my S days was out of control. Overall food choices were just okay, indulgent at times. I got better at drinking water but had too many beers this week.

My exercise was more than compliant as well both for regular exercises and physical therapy, but I feel slow.

My weight stayed the same.

On to week 2.

I am not posting much but I am visiting this site and reading and settling back in to better habits. I do appreciate this site.

I have been doing pretty well this week right up until I got home last night after grilling outside with my son and daughter-in-law for supper. I just went over the top with snacking. Discouraged.

Oh well it is a new day.

I love your signature, Jean:
The journey is the reward.
Maintenance is progress.

Thank you automated. The maintenance quote from the NoS book is one I have always hung onto. Even though I have not gotten down to an ideal weight, I am so much better than before. Right now I am struggling to maintain so it is very apt.

I have an appointment for my hip this week. It has improved but is not completely healed. I also am still on a prescription anti inflammatory that I want to get off of, and there is still some pain. Exercise is so crucial for me, and I am still at a much lower point with being able to exercise like I want to.

But I am on a better eating and cooking routine!

I rarely eat sweets. I found out when I gave them up that during the week for NoS that it was easier for me to avoid them completely than go back and forth on weekends. Since then I have figured out I can eat fruity sweets such as sherbet, but many others are ‘red light’ foods. There are just some foods that prompt me to eat them until they are gone. Chocolate is involved in most of the red light foods, although I can enjoy a frozen banana dipped in dark chocolate with out going crazy. So....this week I overindulged in York peppermint patties. They were a favorite treat for me as a child. Needless to say, I am now trying to stop eating them!!!

Interesting about what foods we can enjoy (moderately) and others that flip some switch in our brain and it gets stuck in the "keep eating this" mode. My "red light foods", as you put it, are Doritos and Cheddar/Sour Cream Ruffles. Well, also pizza and french fries!

Welcome back, Jean! Weighing less than you did ten years ago when you started is against the odds in your age group, I'm pretty sure! But I completely get the dissatisfaction with too much freedom. I always suspected that it actually isn't natural to be moderate with food in general; there have been comments just about all through written history of admonishments to go easy on food. Only lack of access or cultural valuing of moderation lead to slim societies. (Freely eating slim individuals are another story. They're called exceptions.) I knew before I started 10 years ago that "highly palatable" foods have a profound effect on the brain. It's part of what helped me surrender to No S. It wasn't just emotional problems. Or even mainly emotional problems. It's the availability of the dang modern engineered foods. In the meantime, I've read other stuff along these lines and they have helped me accept making other adjustments that didn't come about naturally. But I had to be ready. I never made any of the changes specifically for weight loss, but it has happened. It's definitely convenient to be thinner, but I can never aim at it. I CAN aim at what I think of as "eating for supportive aging." It's pretty strict in comparison with Vanilla, but the stakes get higher every year! No husband, no kids, not really close to family, though there are some younger ones who would probably step in if needed. I'm not one to think I don't want to be a burden on anyone, but it makes a difference to me whom I am a burden on. I'd like them to be on more wavelengths than just DNA, though that may be asking a lot.

So sorry about your aches and pains. I am so lucky, knock on wood, and don't take advantage of it. Every time I do get some little twinge, I think, "Is this the beginning of the end? Why didn't I move more when I could?" Maybe thinking of doing it in your honor until you're well will help.