Everyday Systems

Back to No-S now after a tumultuous fall/holiday season. I'm still inspired by this description of what being at a happy weight should feel like:

A happy weight is actually happy. You feel good, you're not hungry all the time, not chronically sore, not living in fear of gaining weight if you make one wrong move. Maintaining your happy weight will require awareness, but not vigilance, not fear. You shouldn't be walking around feeling like you're always on the brink of disaster.
You should have confidence in your ability to handle all of life's curveballs (vacations, injuries, illnesses, drama) without weight gain being a factor.
In other words, your happy weight shouldn't be dependent on adhering to a strict schedule or only eating certain foods. Focus on health, happiness, and habits first.
Don't fall into the trap of judging success or self-worth by a number. If you make it all about great, enjoyable daily habits, you might be surprised how easily you maintain a lower weight, or how fantastically awesome you look and feel at a slightly higher one.

I'm not there yet! Re-committing to No-S, and its focus on building good habits, is the best way I can get to where I want to be, I think.

good one, I like this a lot.

Thank you for posting this and sharing your inspiration, Amy! I like this a lot too.

A bit down on the scale after a week of recommitting to No-S, but since I am working on shifting my focus to the habits and not the results, my goal for this week is to do better than last week and be stricter on my N-Days. I was re-reading the book last night and I know that's what I need to do most of all.

Best wishes to everyone here for a good (green) week!

Good luck this week!

Thanks for the encouragement!

Monday was green and it felt good to get back in the swing of things.

Tuesday was RED. But looking at my habitcal I see I had two reds last week, so I can still improve on that if I only have one this week. So I am going to focus on that.

Wednesday - RED too - boo!
So two fails for this week, just like last week.
Got to do better!

but you will!
And two fails in a week means three successes.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

I really wanted today to be good. I ended up eating a "Hugh Jass" plate of curryied lentils, bulghur with spinach, and bread for lunch - I was so full! I felt a bit guilty but I was hoping this would tide me over til dinner so I could break the snacky cycle I've been in the past two days, and just feeling hungry all the time. I think it might be because it's just been so cold here this week, I am so glad they are predicting warmer temps this weekend.

My strategy worked because I made it to dinner without any problem at all. I felt completely satisfied all afternoon, and was able to eat a moderate plate for dinner, and then close the kitchen down. YAY! success today!

Thanks for stopping by my thread. Your support really helps.

And, good job yesterday! That reminds me...........when I first started No S (you know - when I was actually successful at it. ), my plates were MOUNDED. I felt ridiculous at mealtime with my plate being so full, but it was the only way I could get to the next meal without snacking. And as I was assured by others here, over time I didn't need the mounding plate after awhile, and I was able to eat a more normal-sized meal AND not snack in between. And surprisingly, I actually lost weight!

Good idea - hey, if it works, go with it, right? I think I'll give that a try again myself. Thanks!

Have a great weekend.

Hi Amy3010:

The only way I can make it from meal to meal is to heap my plate with whatever is going down that meal & to sit back & enjoy.

I figure right now the habit is more important than the volume - once the habit is set then I will worry about tweaking my plates.

The only other thing that keeps me going is eating nutritionally dense foods: like lentils, legumes, pulses, grains, fish, meat, eggs, veggies and fruit. Then I have a prayer of surviving for *gasp* all of 4-5 hours (or overnight!!) without food.

If I believe I am going to be hungry or if I tried to survive on too little calories I will just forage like a free-range chicken gone mad!

Have a great weekend & ENJOY!!

Amy, no-bs is correct, If you don't eat enough, you will graze all the time. I tested it and FAILED!!!!

Gk, No-BS and HoeHannah, thanks for the support. It does seem so counter-intuitive to focus on eating more rather than less at the beginning.

My weekend was fairly reasonable (even with my son's 18th birthday celebrations going on!), which makes me happy. Being very busy all weekend definitely helped. Still, glad to be back at Monday morning again with its familiar structure. My goal for this week (again) is going to be simply improve on last week, where I had to mark two red days.

Wishing everyone here a great green week!

Monday was GREEN!

this week I'd like to see a full four green days in a row to finish out the month on my HabitCal.

Time to get off the computer and on my way to the gym...

Ahah!!! I knew it! Green is definitely your colour - it looks fabulous on you!!

Congratulations on a green Monday!! And congrats on making it to the gym, especially in the morning. For me that is the best (and hardest!!) part of the day for "serious" exercise to be done. I'm still negotiating with my abandoned elliptical .......................

I like Reinhard's habit of making everything (including eating!!) a game. I have a semi-virgin sledgehammer I'm trying to get psyched up to use. What's 14 minutes, eh?

It's like taking a few minutes to run stairs every time you walk by them........ Doesn't take any "time" or "commitment" or "organization", per se, but it still gives you fabulous benefits (like serious quads!!).

Have a great Tuesday!!

Ahah!!! I knew it! Green is definitely your colour - it looks fabulous on you!!

Congratulations on a green Monday!! And congrats on making it to the gym, especially in the morning. For me that is the best (and hardest!!) part of the day for "serious" exercise to be done. I'm still negotiating with my abandoned elliptical ..................the one that used to faithfully help me welcome every morning in dark season.

I like Reinhard's habit of making everything (including eating!!) a game. I have a semi-virgin sledgehammer I'm trying to get psyched up to use. What's 14 minutes, eh?

It's like taking a few minutes to run stairs every time you walk by them........ Doesn't take any "time" or "commitment" or "organization", per se, but it still gives you fabulous cumulative benefits, both physically and mentally.

Have a great Tuesday!!

You can do it! Think green!

Amy3010 wrote:this week I'd like to see a full four green days in a row to finish out the month on my HabitCal.

Not, you'd "like to see"......you WILL see. You CAN do it!!

Have a great week!

Thanks for the encouragement, Gk, Sarah and NoBS!
Well...yesterday was green -
I feel myself getting back into my groove like last spring when I first started No-S. And it's a wonderful feeling. Instead of feeling like my food behaviors are controlling me, I feel that I am in charge of them.
Hands down the best thing about No-S.
Have a great day, everyone!

Amy3010 wrote:Instead of feeling like my food behaviors are controlling me, I feel that I am in charge of them. Hands down the best thing about No-S.

I agree!!! I feel like that's more of an incentive to continue than the weight loss itself (almost ).

Have a great day!

Today went well up until dinner when I was trying a new recipe. Sometimes I have a hard time just letting things my kids don't like be thrown out - especially when I spent a long time chopping and steaming veggies like today!
So when my 15-year-old was about to throw away his uneaten pasta and veg, I caved and finished it (seconds). And then ("What the Hell" effect) I had some bread and peanut butter (more seconds!). So I really do have to mark it as a FAIL even though in my world, it is not a terrible fail.
Also, no wine for me today, which is a big victory in itself.
Tomorrow is going to be GREEN!

Hang in there, Amy3010, you are not alone. I've been known to walk a long way for pasta and/or a good feed of peanut butter!!

I'm realizing that No "S" GREEN is really our olympic gold, isn't it. I figure climbing atop that podium counts as some of the very best exercise!!!

Tomorrow is another day. And, in my world, it promises to warm up to -30 Celsius, which really will be a treat! And as I am sitting here sipping a beer (another treat!) I salute you for taking a pass on the wine!!

Go GREEN GO!!!

As you have said it's not a terrible fail
New game new chances!

Thanks for the encouragement! Today is the final day of the month and I am determined to finish on a green note. I track two things at the moment; No-S and exercise. I just got back from the gym so I can already mark green for exercise. I sometimes wish I had as much discipline for my eating behaviors as I do for working out.

I actually had a huge setback this fall - I'd been running since 2006, had done 4 half marathons and a bunch of shorter races, and I loved running - it was something that gave me great joy and made me feel really good. But I struggled with chronic bursitis in my hip. My osteopath told me in September that the sensible thing would be to find another sport and stop running - it was just doing too much damage to my body and it wasn't something that was going to improve over time. I knew deep down she was right. It was hard to accept it and I almost went into mourning in a way. Not being able to do the one thing that lifted my mood (and burned a lot of calories) left me depressed and I put on 6 kg between Sept and Jan...which made me even more depressed.

I had to find a new way to get my exercise in that wasn't going to keep me in constant pain. I like to get hot and sweaty when I work out, so I started walking and did the elliptical at the gym. At first it seemed like a lame substitute for the running but I have slowly adjusted to a different kind of challenge. My usual routine at the gym now is 30 minutes of hill walking on the treadmill, 4 different upper body weights, 15 minutes on the elliptical, and then lots of stretching afterwards. On the days I don't go to the gym, I walk in the neighborhood. I've also been doing the DVD 30-Day Shred - my goal is to get 30 sessions of this in before Easter so I can finally say I finished it! I feel like I am starting to get my groove back, I'm not hobbling around in pain after workouts anymore, and I have signed up for a 10K trail walk in April with a friend.

The next challenge will be to get those 6 kg that piled on BACK OFF. But that's where No-S comes in, right?

Amy, this is really weird:

I'd been running seriously since 2006, had done 2 half marathons and quite a lot of 10k races and I loved it so much. It was my way to relax, get fresh air, deal with stress and more or less stay in shape (okay I was neither really slim nor fast but I was okay) and at the end of last summer I felt a pain in my foot and my doctor told my I should stop running because I had a heel spur (?). I felt really really bad and disappointed because I knew I wanted to run. Since the end of summer I have put on about 6 kg...

Unbelievable, isn't it?

Amy, Jonas

Crazy wow on the incredible coincidence with your parallel running experiences ..... subsequent consequences & coping strategies.

This bulletin board and its members are seriously AWESOME!

Lemons/lemonade with the requisite discipline, acceptance..... courage.

I wish I could take inspiration from you all and enjoy running... or take on your physical ailments for you so that you can run, because I'm so lazy that I'm simply not going to! I've always wished that I could love running, and I tried, but I guess it's just not for me.

You sound like you've got a great routine worked out, Amy! I'm glad that you were able to find something that challenges you but doesn't keep you in constant pain!

I'm sending positive thoughts to you that you can end the month strong and stay a pretty shade of green today.

inswsn wrote:I'm glad that you were able to find something that challenges you but doesn't keep you in constant pain!

Me, too! I know what you mean about feeling down about not being able to do an exercise you really enjoyed......I just LOVED going for walks daily for years, but I can no longer do that due to a bad hip and problems with my feet (at 41? what's up with that, right??). You would think walking is "mild" enough that it wouldn't flare it, but it did. Anyway, I decided if I didn't find something else I enjoyed as much, I wouldn't stick with it. So, I started going to exercise classes, and found that I actually look forward to exercise now more than I did before! Yoga gives me a good full-body workout, and the deep stretches really help my hip and feet. Surprisingly, the step classes don't flare up my hip and feet if I keep the step low, and they give me that cardio that I crave. (Weird that I can do that but not go for long walks, but whatever - I'm goin with it.)

Great job adjusting to a different exercise routine! I'm sure those 6 kg. will just melt off.

Wow - you guys are amazing, thanks for all your supportive comments!

Jonas, that is unbelievable that our experience with not being able to run anymore is so parallel - it's almost kind of spooky! I guess that makes us "running dropout twins" - LOL! I'm sorry to hear about the heel spur - have you been able to do some other kind of exercise with that?

NoBS: I totally agree with you on how amazing the people on this board are - including you!

Sarah: LOL - thanks for your generosity but I wouldn't do that to you! And everyone is different - I for one can't stand swimming because I hate to get all cold and wet, but I have a friend who loves it and swims every week even in the dead of winter - brrrrr.

GK: good for you for figuring out what works for you. I guess that's all we can do, is keep working with our bodies as they change over time, right?

I really admire your gym discipline and the fact that you ran for pleasure for years before you had to look for another activity.

After a lifetime of physical activity. I got sidelined for a couple of years by cancer, surgery, chemo & radiation and am only now starting to get my life back in order and back to myself.

My elliptical sits dusty and idle: occasionally I hear it whisper my name, the whispers are getting louder now that I am No "S". When I elliptical regularly, used to be a daily half hour routine with sweat pouring off my face, I feel FABULOUS.

My struggle is not so much with food discipline but with getting back to a sane activity level. Hiking with the dogs & running stairs is nowhere near enough. But it seems to be all I can handle right now.

I enjoy reading about your focus and your workouts. Thanks for sharing the story of your setback & how you overcame it. It gives me hope that I too will do the same.

NoBS, I think we are all at a different place in different areas of our lives when it comes to discipline - I think we all have one area where it seems ridiculously easy to be disciplined while in another area it feels impossible. It's strange, isn't it?

Thanks for sharing your back story. I'm sorry you had to go through cancer - I hope you are okay now. I've had too many people close to me deal with that disease, and I know it's not obvious to recover from it, even if the doctors say you are cured. I admire how you get out with your dogs in that bitter cold - I couldn't do it! And you probably don't even think it's a big deal to do that!

I was just reading a really good blog post about building habits: http://zenhabits.net/sticky/ - one of the things he mentions is starting very small. For example, he would say if you want to build the habit of using the elliptical, start by just doing 2 minutes on it each day. He recommends making it incredibly easy - which kind of fits with the No-S philosophy, doesn't it?

Anyway, I've been so busy writing about exercise, I conveniently forgot to mention that I had a RED day on Thursday (a dumb fail late in the evening - ugh), but that Friday was GREEN. So a good start to the new month. I hope these habits get easier and more automatic in the coming weeks. But I sure am glad the weekend is here!

Hi Amy,

It will definitely get easier and more automatic at least that's what I have experience and since we seem to be twins...

You mean Belgium like in truffles, wafers, beer etc.?

I think I did not only gain the weight because I ate too much due to the disappointment of not being able to run anymore but mainly because the running had also concealed my mad eating habits. And to be honest during the last year the running wasn't sufficient any more I felt that I was gaining weight (and tried No S to counter steer but it did not work for me at that time)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Yes, that's the Belgium I mean! Although I'm not much of a beer drinker, the waffles and chocolates can be deadly...

Jonas, I hear you on running being a great cover-up for mad eating habits - - perhaps being forced to choose an activity that has a more "reasonable" calorie burn will also nudge us in the direction of more "reasonable" eating habits, right along with No-S, of course. So at the end of the day it ends up being a good thing.

That said, my friend and I hiked 9.5 km yesterday, in about 2.5 hours (the Garmin watch I bought for running is still very useful for hiking) - and burned about 500 calories! Which we promptly cashed in with some wine and chips - LOL! Thank goodness it was an S-Day.

perhaps being forced to choose an activity that has a more "reasonable" calorie burn will also nudge us in the direction of more "reasonable" eating habits, right along with No-S, of course. So at the end of the day it ends up being a good thing.

That's exactly what I thought, I would love it if my foot got better but I wouldn't like to miss the eating habits I seem to acquire right now.

Your hiking sounds great maybe I could do something like this on the weekends - and, of course, I also have a Garmin...

Amy3010 wrote: I was just reading a really good blog post about building habits: http://zenhabits.net/sticky/ - one of the things he mentions is starting very small. For example, he would say if you want to build the habit of using the elliptical, start by just doing 2 minutes on it each day. He recommends making it incredibly easy - which kind of fits with the No-S philosophy, doesn't it?

Most excellent suggestion & helpful link, Amy. Thanks!!

I just had to look up elliptical. I kept reading epileptical and thought: Now this new American fitness trends does sound sick

But it seems to be something which I know by the good old German name cross trainer.

Epileptical - ! It's actually called crosstrainer here too...

Sunday was pretty reasonable, nothing too crazy. Phew!

My goal for this week is more green, less wine, less cheese.

Let's have a great one!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but it actually feels good to be back to Monday with normal eating habits.

Wishing you a very GREEN week!

a lot of us are recommitting! seems like a good thing to do this cold february!

You are so right, GK and MJ, it does feel good to get back on track, doesn't it? I just popped in here to mark my habitcal green for today so I am not tempted to mess it up later and get a little boost from reading threads...been feeling emotional and snacky this afternoon, but am white-knuckling through it. Really don't want to mess it up!!!

B: muesli w/ soy milk, half banana

L: leftover risotto w/ spinach & tomatoes, salad w/ yogurt dressing

D: pumpkin soup, homemade veggie burger, boiled potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad w/ yog. dressing


Ex: 30 Day Shred (#6/30), walk to pharmacy and back (25 minutes)

Made it through yesterday evening...one green day down this week. Onto number 2 and the gym this morning...

Have a good one!

Atta girl. Keep it up!

You can do it!! Go, Amy, go!

Thanks for your support!

I had a great workout at the gym, biked there and back (it was chilly and windy but thankfully not raining or snowing). Did well up until dinner time when I started mindlessly nibbling while preparing the food. DOH! So, I have to mark a RED for today, but I am not letting myself be sucked under by WTH effect - I had a one plate meal for dinner and then cleaned up the kitchen so there are no temptations around.

Decided to come and post here to get it marked so I can MOVE ON. Sometimes I think I just suck so bad at this, but I have to keep plugging along, right?

Hey, until it becomes second nature, you're going to have little slip ups. You did the right thing marking it red and moving on, and maybe your brain will remember "NO NO RED BAD!!" the next time you move in for a nibble.

Thanks for stopping by my thread! I hear you, this is tough. Something that helped me put it into perspective. A quote from another thread

"losing weight is tough, maintaining weight loss is tough, being fat is tough, choose your tough"

I also reminded myself the benefits of moderate eating, that this too will pass, I have a choice, it might not feel like it but I have a choice.

Then I try and get busy to distract myself.

Great job circumnavigating the WTH effect!

Spiritsong, Snapdragon, Jonas, thanks for your supportive words. It helps so much to know that other people understand these crazy struggles.

Okay so yesterday was a FAIL, but it really could have been a lot worse. Later, even after posting here and getting inspired by other threads, I was reading in bed, when I looked at the clock and for a few minutes contemplated going downstairs and having something to eat (because I had already failed for the day and what difference would it make if I compounded the fail by having something else to eat before midnight, right???) I was even planning in my mind what I would have to eat, thinking about the specific food...but then I knew that was the crazy food obsessed part of me speaking and the rational part of me knew that that was silly - it did make a difference, and I would regret it in the morning. In the past, I have lost many of these mind battles to my food obsessed self, and for some reason, my rational self seemed stronger last night. So I put my book away, turned my light off, and went to sleep. Go figure. Perhaps this No-S stuff is starting to slowly, insidiously, take hold in my mind?


Anyhow. I want today to be GREEN.

I hope so! I have to keep believing that it will get easier. "the more I resist the stronger my resistance muscle gets, the more I give in the weaker it is"

I think it's a Native American FolkTale but not sure if it's origins about two wolves one is black and represents "evil" and one is white and represents "good" and the lesson of this tale is the wolf you feed the most will be the strongest. The wolves are f'ed by our thoughts and actions. A mental picture I squirrel away for these days. I am lucky that I will be busy today.

great job at not caving in the second time. that is hard for me too. it's like once i've done it, why not more. but i came up with a new system, a 1-10 scale. i outlined it a little in my daily post but you can personalize it... like a 10 is a great vanilla no S day! 1 is total failure, gluttony, feel sick, etc... maybe a 5 is snacking a lot but not out of control. i think this my help me get past WTH because when I see it's RED i get all freaked out anyway... maybe if i think "well i still have a chance for it to not be worse" that could help... just a thought i'm playing with. of course we want all 10s!

Way to resist the bedtime call of a snack! Now you can be proud of yourself (plus you got a few more minutes of sleep) today!! The red mark isn't as important as how you reacted to it.

Please don't groan when you read this - yes, I failed again - had to mark Wednesday as red. Am feeling frustrated and annoyed. GRRRR

I like your idea MJ. May have to incorporate that one myself. Also brings to mind the thought of a color chart that goes from green to red with brown being the middle.... well, you get the idea.

Amy, you have to get those failures under your belt so that you can succeed. Now put that red block under your feet so the green block is easier to reach!

Kop op (?)
It will get easier, you've already mastered some very difficult situations

you can do this! we all have slip ups now and then. the important thing is getting up, dusting yourself off and going back to try again.

Thanks, everyone - I felt like I was letting you guys down...

So it's partly due to thinking of you that I finally managed a GREEN day yesterday - woo hoo!

And now it's Friday so I should be able to end the week well. Phew!

Hope you all have a great day today, too!

hope your friday is great!

Go, Amy, go! The only way you let people (including yourself) down is if you stop trying.

Thanks to your positive energy I managed another green day on Friday!
Phew...
So far, since I started back up (mid January), I've had two red days each week. I was looking at my habitcal and I realized that is certainly much better than I was doing when I wasn't doing No-S at all. So instead of being so down on myself, I should be happy with that improvement and simply encourage myself to do better each week.
So that's what I'm going to keep doing. But first enjoy my weekend - sensibly!
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Well done on the green days!! It's a great feeling when you think you're in a slump and suddenly you realise that you can do it As you say, even two or three green days is better than none at all, so give yourself credit!

I think you're doing wonderful!

Great job with the green on Friday.

Amy3010 wrote:So far, since I started back up (mid January), I've had two red days each week. I was looking at my habitcal and I realized that is certainly much better than I was doing when I wasn't doing No-S at all. So instead of being so down on myself, I should be happy with that improvement and simply encourage myself to do better each week.

Awesome outlook - great job on all the greens!

Hi Amy!!

I have been out of the loop & missed communing with everyone on the BB and being inspired by all of our peaks & valleys!! It is amazing how all of these "conversations" help keep me focused. Reinhard is really brilliant for giving us this forum.

Keep on trucking into another green week. You are doing incredibly well. I don't know what it is about our nature that focuses on the 1% negative shit and ignores all of our 99% great stuff!!

Your green days outnumber your red days and pretty soon that critical mass will crowd out even the most determined red! You be patient enough & you will see.

Carry on! Have FUN!!! You are driving the sports car - no one else!! My sports car is painted British racing green !!

And I must confess I am extremely irritated with myself for continuing to diddle around in my head more than in my house with my elliptical/crosstrainer and my sledgehammer.

But on the plus side I did do one day of both last week. Maybe this week it will be two days!!! I thank the powers that be that I am a completely unrepentant OPTIMIST!!!

That's the spirit, No BS, incremental improvement over time...

My Sunday was much more reasonable than my Saturday and i managed to shut down the kitchen at 6 and enjoy my evening with a cup of tea. (I take my S-days from 6 pm friday til 6 pm Sunday so I can enjoy pizza night with my family)

I've been back here for four weeks, gotten two reds each week. So my goal for the coming four weeks is to reduce the frequency of red days during the week and continue building good habits.

Have a great week, everyone!

So how's your week going?

Wish you all the best

My week got off to a red start - BAH!

A friend who I don't see that often came with her three kids to visit, have dinner with us and spend the evening together (all the kids are on winter break this week). Her kids are big eaters, and she's kind of fussy about the things they should eat, and I was stressing out a bit about what I was going to make (ended up doing 2 big casseroles of macaroni & cheese plus salad, grated carrots, grated beets, sliced tomatoes and spinach soup to start). She always offers to bring the desserts.

I fully intended to stick to No-S but first the stress and then the "celebratory" feeling of having them here got to me and I broke the rules in multiple ways...

Am feeling a bit down about it, but still determined to get 4 greens the rest of the week.

Oh Amy,
Don't get me wrong, but that red seems to have been totally worth it if you know what I mean. And four greens out of five is still something!

Thanks, Jonas...yes, I was half considering granting myself a non-weekend S day for it...but I think it will be more motivating through the rest of the week to know there is already one red on the Habitcal for this week.

Celebrations, however spontaneous or routine, are still important with friends & family. And celebrations are a potent cue for "food" in most cultures.

I totally think you are doing the right thing claiming it as a "righteous red" rather than an "S" day and using that red to motivate you for the rest of the week!

Amy you can do it! try and use the scaling method if it helps you. I have an example on my daily check in thread. basically unless you completely failed and overate the the point of sickness you get a 1 but it goes 1-10. most days just having a dessert or extra snack puts you about a "5"... that way you don't have to feel ultimate failure and trigger yourself to do more damage, but it allows you to turn it around. in the past i have had problems with one mess up leading to many so i've been brainstorming ways to fix that thought process. this is just experimental in other words!
i believe you can get 4 greens the rest of the week!

Your system makes a lot of sense, MJ, but I am scared of not being strict enough and then my sneaky mind taking advantage of the situation to skate around it and justify all kinds of rule breaking! I have to work hard to out-fox my food-obsessed alter ego - LOL!

NoBS: I love the thought of a "righteous red"! Makes it feel more like a badge of honor than a scarlet letter - ha ha!

Anyhow, coming here to get closure on my day and mark it GREEN - woo hoo!

Amy3010 wrote:Your system makes a lot of sense, MJ, but I am scared of not being strict enough and then my sneaky mind taking advantage of the situation to skate around it and justify all kinds of rule breaking! I have to work hard to out-fox my food-obsessed alter ego - LOL!

NoBS: I love the thought of a "righteous red"! Makes it feel more like a badge of honor than a scarlet letter - ha ha!

Anyhow, coming here to get closure on my day and mark it GREEN - woo hoo!

very good point about the sneaky mind taking advantage of it. I'll let you know how it works for me. i'm hoping to not mess up this week but if i do, i'd love to only make it a level 8 or 9 mess up and not a full out failure, level 1! of course aiming for 10's all week. i can see that this could happen in my mind too... but we'll see! hoping to not use the terms "bad" or "failure" because i know in the past that set me off big time.

I'm all in for both the number scale and the color scale. I'm very much a person who throws in the towel after one failure. I know it's just an excuse but my inner-trickster is always looking for ways to talk me into pigging out to the point of illness and self loathing. Hope I can incorporate these scales into my thinking. I've drawn them on the fridge with colored window markers. Mike (tall/skinny/eats whatever he wants) thinks I've lost my mind. Whatever it takes to set new patterns.

Congrats, Amy, you keen green No "S" machine!!

Some thoughts about the inner trickster & righteous reds & degrees of "sanguinity" ( ):

It seems to me the lethally food obsessed are forever playing a zero sum game: ALL or NONE; RED or GREEN; FAT or THIN; SUCCESS or FAILURE; GOOD or BAD. Life is NOT an either/or proposition.

People, like food, are on a sliding scale of accommodation. The inner trickster doesn't want "accommodation" though, the inner trickster wants total "domination".

Life is NOT a zero sum game. Pretending otherwise is not only unreasonable but can allow your inner trickster to dominate your life.

Good discussion! I really can see the advantages to thinking of things in terms of a scale - black and white thinking is very dangerous in its own way. I suppose it all comes down to which strategy seems to work best for each person - and it could be that this could change over time.

Does anyone here observe the 40 Days of Lent (which start today?)...My son is doing a 40 Days of no Meat/Fish this year (Dagen Zonder Vlees: http://www.dagenzondervlees.be/nl-BE/index.php) and I was thinking I could join him by doing Vanilla No-S very strictly (since I am already a vegetarian). The nice thing is, Lent provides its own S-day, as the Sundays don't count in the 40 days.

i'm actually doing NoS as a part of Lent, kind of. It's been nice because if anyone asks me at work i can just use lent as an excuse. of course when i continue past lent i'll have to have some other things to say! but anyway i think if you want to give up more you can. just maybe trying and making it non food. at least for me since i'm just startign out with this. if your habits are pretty secure, why not

Today was GREEN!

I must say, I'm pumped up about being comically strict for the 40 days of Lent. I thought about it a lot today and decided to go for it. But my S-day is going to be Saturday, because that works better for me than Sunday.

While I was waiting for my son at the orthodontist I also made a list of 40 small things or areas to clean or declutter and I'm going to do one each day, as an additional challenge (which will have the extra bonus of keeping me busy when I have those inevitable and difficult snacky moments).

Today's was deep cleaning my stove top - took everything off, including knobs and gas burner fixtures and gave it all a good scrub.

Hope you all are having a good day!

You're heroic, I think the Lent thing is such a good idea. I will not observe it, I am sulking because soon we are no longer the boss

I had a look at your link, the recipes sound delicious

Ha ha, Jonas - sulking about the Pope, that's a good one!
Do you speak Flemish or is it close enough to German for you to easily follow? The funny thing is I hadn't even seen that they had recipes on that site, so I'm glad you pointed that out!

Hi Amy,

Dutch/Flemish is very close to German so that we can read most of it, I don't think I would understand spoken Flemish, however, but I bet you understand German.

Amy3010 wrote:Today was GREEN!

Good job!

Thank you, NoBS!

Jonas, I understand a bit of German; like you said, reading is easier than hearing someone speak.

I took an S-event for Valentine's Day yesterday - some cava and chocolate in the evening when my husband came home.

Cava and chocolate - sounds good.

We as enlightened Europeans ignore Valentine's day since it is only commercialism inflicted upon us
Good for me, no NWS-day

Well that explains why my husband never buys anything for V-day - LOL!

When I went to Belgium I remember being pleasantly surprised that everythign was in French and Flemish. I could actually somewhat understand the Flemish due to having some German language classes throughout high school.

Anyway, I digress. Glad to hear you had a green day!

Hi Amy,
Have a nice weekend in chocolate country.
In the chiller section of my supermarket I saw a packet of yummy Belgian chocolates, 400g, individual packaged, the best before date said April.
I resisted but they are tempting, maybe next weekend.

What I also like about NoS: I take my time at the sweets shelf in supermarkets. Before I grabbed some packages and threw them into the trolley, now it sometimes takes ages before I can decide on something S-worthy putting this or that back on the shelf standing in everybody's way. Maybe I look more like a sweets junkie than before.

Jonas: Or a very discerning chocoholic... It is a great side effect of No-S that we get pickier and pickier about our treats, isn't it? Right now is the time of those small chocolate Easter eggs in all kinds of flavors and I have been known to spit them out in the trash if I get a flavor I don't particulary like, rather than just swallow it.

MJ: You are right - I took German for a year before coming here (Dutch wasn't offered at my university) and it did help a lot.

Yesterday was a very odd day, lots of random but good things happening, and through it all I was glad to be able to keep my day green up until dinner time (pizza night). I feel like I am starting to get a handle on things, the habits are starting to feel more natural again...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Amy3010 wrote: It is a great side effect of No-S that we get pickier and pickier about our treats, isn't it? .... I feel like I am starting to get a handle on things, the habits are starting to feel more natural again...

Amy, I think you just nailed it! For me that is the beauty of No "S". It just slows me down long enough to habituate my mindfulness about food.

@ No BS: I totally agree!

Just stopped in here quickly to mark my day green for both No-S and exercise, so I can make a mental stop in mind that the day is logged and there is nothing, no way, that will make me turn into a red.

See ya tomorrow!

great job! both successes!

Amy, the colour green, you wear it well!! Keep up the good work!!

Good girl yourself!

So you all speak German around here and I have to struggle for nothing

Jonas, a year of German more than 20 years ago just won't be able to compete with your proficiency in English in any way, I'm afraid!

Just stopping in to mark my day GREEN so I can close things down for the night... I was feeling crappy this morning but did my Shred workout as planned anyway, knowing that just to get it out of the way and checked off would leave me feeling happier than not doing it and having it hanging over my head. I am also starting to get more in the groove with my structure of not even considering eating outside of mealtimes...once I developed this kind of wonderful "forgetfulness about snacking" last spring when I did No-S the first time, things suddenly seemed to go much smoother. So I am looking forward to things smoothing out. It feels good to feel a bit more peace around food...

B: 2 ryvitas w/ almond butter, a small banana
L: a big plate of risotto w/ spinach/broccoli/asparagus & a bit of parmesan
D: a large serving of vegetarian lasagna w/ a bit of salad & mayo/yog dressing, 2 glasses white wine

KUDOS, Amy, you are so totally in the groove!!

Not only that, your menu for the day looks tasty AND nutritious!!

It is easier to do your workout & get it over with than to agonize over it all day long; I'm learning that the hard way!

Hope you are feeling better tomorrow!

Thanks, No BS, I am feeling better this morning...planned exercise for today will be a walk to the pharmacy this morning and a bike ride to the theater this evening...

I'll be back to check in (my plan is green) later...

I was very tired and cold all day and I was going to a play in the evening with my friend Linda (an adaptation of A Doll's House by Ibsen - it was very good) - and I always have a problem when I come home from those things late in the evening and I can't go straight to bed, so what do I do? Eat something! So it was a "fail" for me yesterday. But I am just moving on and going to do better again today.

I was thinking about how I often do my exercise so that I can not have it hanging over my head, which feels better than not doing it and having that nagging feeling of not having got it out of the way. Why can't I NOT eat, so that I don't feel bad about myself, which in theory should be easier (not doing something you know you're going to regret afterwards vs. doing something you know will make you feel better afterwards) - all I have to do with the eating is NOT do it, it's totally passive. I really need to start thinking of it in the same terms as I do the exercise, as in, taking the time in my mind to remind myself how I will feel about it later.

I guess it just a habit that needs to be cultivated. Because I didn't always feel that way about exercising.