Everyday Systems

This is my Slow but Steady journal. I've fantasized so much about losing all my extra weight in a short amount of time that the thought of doing it slowly is really scary. But, I what I need more than fast weight loss is consistent structure that will make me change my habits for a lifetime.

So, I'm giving up the dream of losing 30 pounds in 3 months and I am focusing on changing my thoughts about food and my actual eating habits. I'm also going to focus on moving more and not being so sedentary. I am not going to make any HUGE changes right now. I just intend to follow the NO-S guidelines and start a workout routine a couple times a week.

Hi Dana! WELCOME to the board !

Week One

NO S
Wed Oct 3
Thu Oct 4
Fri Oct 5
Sat Oct 6

Resistance
Mon
Wed
Fri

Walking (30 mins)
Thur -:D
Fri

Today, I've given some thought to my fitness goals.

I've already been inconsistently following a resistance routine. So, my first goal is to do it consistently. 3 days a week, ideally Mon, Wed, Fri.

I also want to walk a little more. My goal is 30 minutes or more M-F. I will not worry about Saturdays and Sundays right now. It can be 30 minutes at one time or broken up throughout the day.

These fitness goals have been shown to give you the most bang for your health buck as anything. Moderate working out makes the biggest effect. More effort does pay off, but in much smaller increments that make the further effort questionable, unless one really enjoys the extra activity or wants to participate regularly in a sport of dance or something.

It took me a little over two years to lose 31 pounds, but I made no effort to curtail S days for almost all that time, and I had been a big binger. Cutting my binge days down to 8 a month as opposed to 30 was what I held on to for all that time. Even with my difficulties, even tempted at times to go the diet route, I kept to the path. Maybe I could have stumbled on something faster that would have me even thinner, but the odds are absolutely against that. We very rarely have anyone come back and say, Oh, I left No S and did such and such, and it has worked wonderfully. Maybe they're too polite? But over my years here I have read of MANY who quit because of slow loss and returned, heavier and sorrier.

Millions of people throughout the world live this lifestyle happily and healthfully for long lives. They have no idea what calories are in their food and they don't know what they weigh. They just know they eat real meals of an enjoyable variety of food (depends on the culture but no eats a plate of chips and dip for a meal) and then get on with the rest of their lives. You can, too.

Thanks for stopping by oolala. I can appreciate your experience with NO S. My husband once said that if you find yourself eating too many cookies then leave at least one so you can realize you have some self-control. So I understand the challenge and accomplishment in going from 30 binge days to 8.

I agree that most cultures don't have a clue about calories and macro nutrients and all that other stuff that diets keep teaching us. I wake up many days and wish that I had never learned about carbs, fats, and protein. I long for the days when I just ate and it never occurred to me to even care about the numbers attached to those foods. Pasta was pasta and beef was beef. Now I have all these numbers and labels associated with almost everything I eat. Perhaps I will find my way back to that peaceful place.

Well, to encourage myself on this journey I will hold on the feeling I had this morning as I stepped onto my scale. I have been bouncing between 160 and 165 for the last three months. Well, low and behold this morning I finally broke the 160 wall. I weighed in at 159.6! I was super excited!

I gave a lot of thought this past week to feeling hungry and feeling full. I researched a little about the Hunger Fullness scale/Intuitive eating. I really felt a lot of hunger these few days of doing NO S. I realize that even with this plan I need some parameters to make sure I am not just eating for the sake of eating. If I am not mindful, I think an S day can easily become a day of constant nibbling and munching and eating things just because the "rules" allow it. So, I came up with my own H-F scale.

0 =totally empty
1 =slightly empty
3 =satisfied/filled
4 =stuffed/over full

I decided that everyday, even S days, I will not start a meal/snack if I am not at 0 or 1. Right now I will not worry if I stop before I get to 4. I just won't start until I am back at a 0 or a 1 again.

I must say that this plan has really allowed me to see things differently. I am now contemplating how to make small changes and put manageable boundaries in place in order to create a new lifestyle (not just with eating but with many other areas in my life). I am most certainly an all-or-nothing person so this plan is really challenging me.

Week Two

Mon 10/7 XX
Tue 10/8 XX
Wed 10/9
Thu 10/10
Fri 10/11

Resistance
Mon
Wed
Fri

Walking
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thur
Fri

This Monday is not over yet but I failed already. After thinking about my failure I realized that I didn't eat enough for breakfast and I got hungry (really hungry) before I was prepared to fix my lunch for the day. Once that first snack hit my mouth I was on a munch-and-nibble quest. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and I did stick with my fitness goals. I've already walked my 30 minutes for the day. So that is a plus.

Good Morning, Welcome - this is a wonderful forum filled with very supportive people. I am so grateful to have a place like this to come to.

One thing many have talked about on this board is that new feeling called "hunger". Unless one has a medical problem and might truly pass out or something, hunger is actually something to embrace. To me, it shows that my body is using up what food I have given it and preparing for more. I don't find it a bad feeling at all, however our culture has gotten so used to always feeling full that hunger is a foreign concept.

In many places around the world, it is a daily event.

dana2012 wrote:This Monday is not over yet but I failed already. After thinking about my failure I realized that I didn't eat enough for breakfast and I got hungry (really hungry) before I was prepared to fix my lunch for the day. Once that first snack hit my mouth I was on a munch-and-nibble quest. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and I did stick with my fitness goals. I've already walked my 30 minutes for the day. So that is a plus.

Any experience that one learns from is not a failure, it is a lesson.

I will be logging my progress here from now on:


https://createhabitsforalifetime.wordpress.com