Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

With ten days left in the year, I am going to take advantage of these last few days of 2008 to "simplify, simplify, simplify". In that regard I am going to focus on the sentiments and real meaning of the season to spend time with those I love and in contemplation of what this passing year has meant to me and the seeds I would like to plant in the upcoming New Year.

My "peppermint-striped" No S has been going very well. I am no longer overly concerned with how it will effect my long-term No S compliance. Although I recognize that my HABITS are not impregnable they are pretty solid.

And to be honest that feels really good. And as food and weight becomes smaller and smaller issues of obsession and concern, an innate urge to "simplify, simplify, simplify" is taking hold.

I am going to heed the call of that inner voice.

To all of you precious people,

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am officially going on a "blog vacation"!

Losing Self-consciousness

It is ironic that "vanity" is associated with slimness and taking care of oneself. What I am finding is that the longer my weight is stable at a "normal, healthy, slim weight" the increasingly less self-conscious that I become. That means the less self-absorbed that I become.

I no longer worry about what I am going to wear, I pretty much pull on my jeans and Tshirts and cardy Uggs without thought. I don't worry what I look like, I know I look fine or at least all right. Maybe nothing spectacular but also nothing for others to point at, riducule or gleefully feel superior too.

So in the awareness of the how the symptoms of my overeating show, I am much more self-conscious than I am when I am not binging, overeating with great frequency, because after all the symptoms go away and nobody really cares anymore, including myself.

Of course, NO S compounds this Losing of Self-consciousness because no conspicuous, annoying, self-righteious, holier than thou, rigid, inflexible, you are no fun! behaviours are required. The innocous, "NOT HUNGRY" adequately covers any and all N Day assaults, incidentally ferreting out those with food issues of their own, i.e. "NOT HUNGRY" is accepatable code for I am not going to eat that now when it comes to normal people, but you can be assured that the people who fret and insist when you are NOT HUNGRY have a hidden agenda of their own and it is not an interest in your appropriate or sensible boundaries. No sense in confronting them, they will only deny and pretend that it is you and not they who are rude and insensitve, simply demur and play the game, how many ways can I innocently and politely say, "NOT HUNGRY"?

The culmination of all this is that I become more curious and interested and absorbed in those around me. What is going on with them? With all of that energy tied up in the discomfort of my too-tight jeans released I am revivified and renewed. What is going on with you? Life becomes more fun. Exciting.

Losing Self-consciousness, just one of the many and myriad and OTHER blessings of the No S Diet.

Common Sense and the No S Diet

One thing that I have learned for certain while doing the NO S Diet is that you cannot throw COMMON SENSE out the window and expect the NO S Diet to work. As much as I truly love love yes love the NO S Diet it is not an alchemical miracle that defies the laws of physics.

Topics that come up fairly frequently on the NO S Diet boards are:

whats filling your plate
the size of your plate
the size of your portions
S days gone wild
and
why am I not losing weight?
or even more discouraging,
why am I gaining weight?

To me the answers are obvious. But I am living in my own little world with my twenty plus years of searching and researching information on eating disorders, eating for health, etc. I have to step back and think, maybe these other folks have been doing other things with their time and have not yet figured out that ANY diet consisting of junk will not make you healthy, slim or functional.

SO to me, it is common sense that I think tells me, that I need to put some whole grains, veggies, fruit and/or healthy source of protein on my plate. Now I don't make sure every plate has an equi-portion of these items ... that would be irritating for me, I have already done and fallen off the Zone Diet (grin)! But I do make it a goal to have a whole grain, a fruit, something green and some healthy protien at least once a day. THIS is sustainable. FOR ME, it's also common sense. My body needs nutrients so I can think and move ... cheesy, white floury, fried THINGS may taste good but they are NOT feeding my body. AND BTW if you stop eating so much of that crud your palette will actually change and you will find it not tasting so good. What I am saying is this: Doesn't COMMON SENSE tell us that we need to put some actual, real food on our plates each day?

As far as the size of the plates and portions go, I honestly don't worry my pretty little head too much about that. I am pretty comfortable with a lot of blank space on my plate if I am not too hungry or very little blank space on my plate if I am eating a bunch of fruit and veggies and/or very hungry. Sometimes people get on and say things like smaller people need to eat less food than larger people. Like Reinhard is trying to put something over on us by telling us we can eat three plates of food a day. I find this confusing, but maybe its just an indication that COMMON SENSE is not fully functional. I don't read eating three plates a day as ... YOU MUST PUT AS MUCH CRAPPY, JUNKY FOOD ON YOUR PLATE AS YOU CAN FIT. Maybe this is the problem. Maybe some people read those three plates and the freedom to put whatever you want to them as "instruction" while I read them as "maximum" boundary and then fill in the actual amount I need to eat with COMMON SENSE. I mean ... isn't it common sense that a smaller person will need to eat less than a larger person? Or is there something I am just missing?

As far as S days gone wild there is much hooha about how many restrictions, what kinds of restrictions and what does "sometimes" mean? and "sometimes" I read this stuff and I am like, is it just me, or has COMMON SENSE completely fleed, bolted the premises for fear that we might discover that the No S Diet is really a straight forward and simple proposition once we apply a little COMMON SENSE?

DIETING is restricting what you eat. THERE are SOOOOOOOOOOO many ways we can RESTRICT our natural appetite. Interestingly enough our natural appetite can be rather strong. Funny thing. It finds away to rebel, get even, punish us for our restrictions ... binging, overeating ... then we gain weight. THE S Days on the No S Diet, IMHO, are for taking off the choke leash. Maybe your little puppy of an appetite pees on the floor, digs up your favorite flowers and runs away with you chasing it down the street. But if you don't give it those moments of freedom, how are you going to know what you are really dealing with?

What I love about the NO S Diet is the freedom I have attained. I take my appetite off the choke leash every weekend and NWS day. Somtimes I am embarrassed by my appetites behavior, sometimes I am appalled, but sometimes I am pleased, proud, exuberant and exultant. I know, I know, you need those restrictions. I know, I know they keep your puppy manageable.

But I wonder, when your N days start going bad, is it because you have insisted on some sort of dietary restriction EVERY DAY, i.e. not letting up on the S days, or is it because the NO S Diet doens't work and you need to resort to even more and greater restrictions to lose weight?

Metaphysically the S/NWS Days are a great way to get to know the real you, in the meantime Common Sense and Keeping Those N Days Green really does go a long way in acheiving success and weight loss on the NO S Diet.

Years of Going Through Several Sizes of Clothes ...

As my weight loss has been somewhat slow for the past approximately 6 months (I have slowly gone from about 126.5 to 120.5) it is starting to dawn on me that the years of going through several sizes of clothes are finally coming to an end. Let me repeat that. AN END. The years of going through several sizes of clothes are finally coming to an end.

My weight gain journey started in puberty. At age fourteen, my paternal grandmother died and all eating structure in my life pretty much evaporated overnight. Preceding my grandmothers death I had already lost my mother and learned to turn to sweets for comfort. After my grandmother died I became a hardcore sugar junkie. Breakfast white bread toast with cinnamon sugar and hot cocoa. Now and Later candy on the way to school. Little Debbies Star Crunches, ice cream sandwiches and chocolate milk for lunch. A Snickers bar in the afternoon for a snack. A stressful "family dinner" often steak, pink with blood running on the plate that sickened me. Or maybe pancakes with maple syrup and powdered sugar. YIKES! Sounds pretty awful. YES, it was.

No wonder, now that I can be, now that I have the power and ability to assert myself I am so picky and demanding about my food!

Since I was fourteen I do not beleive that my body weight has EVER been stable for ANYTHING like a year. I don't think it has EVER been stable for more than four months. This is a painful realization that I confess. But it is the truth.

SO you can imagine that I can hardly fathom that the years of going through several sizes of clothes are coming to an end. I have been wearing the same jeans, shirts, slacks, skirts and dresses for months. I suspect this will continue. Think of all the time and money I am going to save by not having to buy several size wardrobes each year? Because I am on a non-hoarder. When my clothes become to small I don't hang on to them, just in case, I let them go and I give them to charity. When my clothes become to big, I don't hang onto them, just in case, I let them go and give them to charity. This means cycles and cycles of clothes. Of course I keep these purchases limited to less pricey venues ... Target for reasonably prices Moissimo shirts and jeans, thrift stores for a real bargain, throw something decent I can fit into during a trip to Walmart to pick up household items.

The Merry Go Round has not ever ended. Until now. The carousel music is fading as the wheel spins slower and slower. And I am getting used to myself. A new self that wakes up in the morning and does not have to worry "Will my jeans fit?" A new self that actually becomes less self-conscious because I don't have to think so much about what I can wear or what I can't. I new self that is not reeling from the binge and weight gain I just can't stop.

This is incredible. Simply INCREDIBLE!

Building Self-Esteem

About 15 years ago, my goodness has it been that long? Yes it has! Anyway, about 15 years ago I was in a situation as a student with a very challenging teacher. Now I did not personally like this person at all but I “sensed” that this person had something very valuable to teach me and I was right. The nugget of gold that I took from this relationship that has served me well is this:

Building self-esteem is doing something you thought you couldn’t’ do.

In the past fifteen years, this little nugget of golden wisdom has served me well whenever I am faced with a task or situation that I am afraid that I cannot do. And I have learned that I feel better, much better about myself, whenever I do those things I thought I could not do. Whether it’s just facing another day consciously and present, having that difficult and dreaded much needed conversation about boundaries with a relative, sticking with a task until I get it right or stringing along a bunch of green days on the No S Diet.

Each little success accumulates and so does my self-esteem. Now you might think I have self-esteem in abundance. But that’s just not so. I was harshly criticized, attacked, verbally abused, and ridiculed for a significant part of my early years and those experiences left their mark. I became riddled with self-doubt. Failure in all areas of my life became very familiar to me, and I became an “ace” at accepting it.

In fact, I was convinced that if I could just “accept” and “forgive” my failures and shortcomings, I would eventually succeed. But truthfully, accepting myself for my “failures” or “forgiving” my failures simply did not aid me in achieving anything that was meaningful or significant to me in the long run. My life really did not start to turn around and become enjoyable and worth getting up for until I started to encourage and allow for and “set myself up” for success.

If I have a failure today I don’t spend a lot of time trying to accept it or forgive myself. First I ask myself “Is this something I really want or need?” i.e., apparently achieving success in this arena is going to take a little or a lot more effort than I originally thought, am I willing to put in the extra effort?

If the answer is “NO”, then I accept that I was trying to achieve something superfluous in my life and let it go. No more discussions. No questions asked. No need to beat the dead horse.

But if the answer is “YES” then I ask myself, “What do I need to do to succeed?” I have already established with the first question that I am ready and prepared to make the extra effort. Now I just need to figure out what that extra effort is for me.

Although in his book, Reinhard says that it may take twelve attempts to make the No S Diet work for you, I decided that I didn’t want to waste my time with “false starts”. If I was going to do the No S Diet, I was going to “commit 100%” and do it. I decided after reading the book that I would commit my will power to keeping my N days green and I wouldn’t allow ANYTHING else to get in my way. Not weight loss or lack of it, not well-meaning food pushing friends or relatives, no more “Can’t work, too busy eating” and of course, I had to surrender one of my biggest beliefs right off the bat … “I am a sugar addict and I am powerless over food.”

From that point on Success was not necessarily easy but I honored my commitment to myself. I made the necessary changes in my life that it took for me to not snack, eat sweets or eat seconds on N days and limit each meal to one plate or one bowl. I was afraid, that like many other “plans” I would not last more than six months, but …

Building self-esteem is doing something you thought you couldn’t’ do.

And that is immensely more satisfying than any concoction that any chef, baker or food manufacturer can come up with.

And N Days are For Stopping ...

Days like today are days that you gotta' love an N day. After way too many "holiday treats", waking up to the knowledge that fresh wholesome food would be the only thing to pass between my lips today was a great feeling.

It helped me not beat myself up for yesterday's food indiscretions and get on with the business of living.

No more "Can't work, too busy eating" for me. After eight plus months of green N days, I know on many levels that Monday means getting back to work and green N days. When I first started the NO S diet, EVERY Monday was kind of like hell.

Why? I simply wasn't used to stopping.

I beleived that I was powerless over sweets and if anything sugary passed between my lips I would be unable to stop myself from the gorging that would inevitably follow and would it go on ... well for days.

A pretty useful "belief" if you want to be "Can't work, too busy eating."

Or if you just like to indulge in the sugary stuff. Think about it. If I believe one bite and I can't stop ... think of all the times and all the ways I will be able to give myself license to indulge ... and NOT STOP.

The beauty of the NO S Diet is that on N days you stop. YOU JUST STOP. No matter what else you believe you can commit to no snacks, no sweets and no seconds on those N days. And if you are like me, you will learn something AMAZING.

That you have a lot more power over that sweet stuff than you realized. You just needed to apply your willpower to STOPPING not to CONVINCING yourself and other people that you have a problem you don't really have.

Now if you are like me and your inner two year old has been eating nonsensical amounts of the sweet stuff for years, its going to be TOUGH to STOP. But if you make up your mind you can do it, I beleive that you will. Cause after all, that's what N days are for ... stopping ...

Photo: Grilled Wild Mahi-Mahi, organic herb salad with EVOO, steamed broccoli with EVOO, Navel Orange

That's What S Days are For

I feel like I have been blessed with my husband's attitude for S days. Especially in my first few months of NoSing when I was panciked and/or flogging myself for "overdoing it" on S days, he would say, constantly and repeatedly: THAT'S WHAT S DAYS ARE FOR.

I am so glad that I listened to him and beleived him.

While I beleive a certain amount of structure and limits are necessary and helpful, I am one that is especially senstive to the "galling limits" of too much discipline ...

One of the things I immediately loved about S days was the "no rules" quality to them. I really just "let go" and tried to help myself figure out what, when and how I wanted to eat. Of course I overdid it. Especially in the beginning, but I would be lying if I said that I did not thoroughly enjoy it.

Yes, it absolutely slowed my weight loss and maybe even stalled it for a few months. BUT REALLY, WHO CARES? Because there was much deeper work going on.

I was learning how to pleasure myself with food. I was learning my own food personality and tastes and quirks. I was learning what was special, a treat for me and what was not. I was learning that yes, overeating, anything, even mini-peanut butter cups and monster toll house cookies, really isn't fun.

I was learning that I can trust myself with food and eating and sweets.

No I wasn't perfect out of the gate. The beauty was I didn't need to be. In fact what I needed to do was exactly what I did, which is to learn that S days are the best days to be forgiving. S days are the best days to learn from my mistakes. S days are the best days to overdo it and experiment. THAT'S WHAT S DAYS ARE FOR.

I know it is popular to structure S days and add rules upon rules to protect ourselves from ourselves, our desires and our appetites. But I honestly don't think that will work in the long run. For me, eating three meals a day and one treat on an S day would have been a disaster. Where is the freedom in that?
Where is the fun?
Where is the je nai se quoi in that?

I mean, structure and 3 meals a day, or however many meals you have a day as habit (grin) is WHAT N DAYS ARE FOR.

S Days are for freedom. Fun. Pleasure. And learning for ourselves from the tips of our toes to the tops of our heads that glutting our selves with sweets FEELS AWFUL. But how will we learn that if we don't integrate it experientially?

To me, 3 meals a day and a treat, is not an S day, it's just another diet leaving your desires and your appetite, bound, gagged and full of resentment at now being allowed to express itself.

Trusting Yourself

I believe one of the greatest psychological tasks in healing from an eating disorder is learning to trust yourself. I am not a doctor, this is not a medical opinion. I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, so this is also not a professional opinion. It is simply my opinion. Someone who has suffered with a binge eating disorder for over thirty years and been felled by it many times.

Felled into the deep dark hole of self-doubt.

In the end the only thing that gets me out of that dark hole is trusting myself. In the end, the only thing that keeps me out of that dark hole is trusting myself. In the end, the only thing that keeps me far enough away from that dark hole is trusting myself.

Trusting yourself is not such an easy task when you are unable to control something as basic as feeding yourself. IN such cases, self trust is like a little bird that flies out the window and refuses to return.

So how does one go about trusting oneself?

Some call it prayer. Some call it meditation. In the end what it is, is listening. Hearing. Heeding. Paying attention to the still small voice within that whispers your own particular truth. The rhythm of your own particular drum. The meaning of your own particular life.

You won't always get it right, epecially in the beginning. You might mistake impulse for intution or maybe you might mistake a voice from the past for your truth in the present. These things will happen. But they are worth the gold.

There is NOTHING no donut no brownie no chai tea latte that will fill the dark hole of not trusting yourself.

Peppermint Striped No S

On the No S Diet bulletin boards we call the No S Diet with no modifications, "vanilla" NO S. And, being as we are all individuals, many of us, most of us? like do to "tweaks" every now and then ... to address our own little proclivities, idiosyncracies and lives.

I have been pretty much doing "vanilla" NO S for just over eight months with great success. And most people would say "why in the heck would you want to mess with success?"

Well, it could be better, for me, methinks.

On S days I tend to "drift" into two meals a day with snacks and sweets. And my husband is a "two meal a day" person by habit. As I have continued to do the NO S Diet, I have been struggling to keep my "three meals a day" on N days. There have been times I have used eight ounces of juice to "make" a meal. Maybe a piece of fruit. Something really small ... just to be legal. Which after a certain amount of time seems to be giving a bit too much emphasis on being "legalistic".

I have also been cutting down on my "cardio" exercise each week and this causes my appetite to significantly plummet. And I have been extremely challenged in creating "meaningful meals" in appropriate portions.

Let's face it when the portions get too small, and you are only cooking for one or two and you pretty much HATE leftovers, it gets to be honerous day in day out.

SO I am going to, for the month of December, see if I can transition to a "two meal a day" No S Habit. I'm certain I'll be drinking juice and coffee for "breakfast" but since this is not "techincally" a meal, all liquid, I am planning on EATING just lunch and dinner.

On the outside chance that I have grossly miscalculated I will allow myself the freedom to have a "third meal" if perchance I end up physically starving. But unless I decide to hike the ridgeline of the Rockies for Christmas or take up manual labor, highly unlikely.

Anyway, in honor of the holidays, I am naming this particular "flavor" of NO S "Peppermint Striped".

I'll keep my progress during this transtion month on my blog and Daily Check-In on the NO S boards. But nothing to report today, it was an NWS (non weekend special) day for me!

My First NO S Diet Thanksgiving

The day began when we took our beautiful homemade pumpkin pies out of the refrigerator. After making them completely from scratch the night before, I must say we were pretty proud!

Next on the TO DO list ... walk over to Starbucks for a Triple Shot Grande Caramel Macchiato! Can you say YUM! YUM! Our neighborhood Starbucks was "in the season" and packed. The friendly staff put up festive decorations the night before and it looked like everyone within a five mile radius decided to start their Thanksgiving the same way we did. The line was long but everyone was friendly and in a good mood. Now it is time to go back home, turn on the stereo and fill the CD player with seasonal music and get to work.

Hmmm ... this turkey is taking longer than we thought it would to cook. GOODNESS we are hungry and doesn't that pie just look absolutely DELICIOUS! Yes, we had a delicious piece of our "Chai Pumpkin Pie" with plenty of whip cream for breakfast. You could just taste the fresh cinnamon that we wore our poor little fingers to a nub grating last night.

Ahhh.... Finally! The turkey is done. Let's do this in courses. Let's start with turkey, stuffing and plenty of turkey gravy.

OOPs! Now we are TOO FULL for the second course. Oh well, the sun is out and it's a beautiful day. Let's go and get some fresh air and walk back to get another coffee at Starbucks before they close. DARN! They are out of vanilla syrup for a Caramel Macchiato. Try one with sugar-free vanilla syrup. What a rotten aftertaste. How can anyone gag this stuff down? They remake us lattes with a swirl of caramel on top. I would have enjoyed a plain latte more. Note to self: Next time either a latte or a macchiato ... the twain don't mix. Enjoy a longer walk home.

Do the dishes. Clean the kitchen. Make the phone calls. Ahhhh ... a nice cup of licorice tea to settle the tummy and make room for ...

Yes, I did. I had two more pieces of pie. Each was just as yummy as the first. But I have to admit the second piece was eaten very SSSSLLLLOOOOWWWWLLLYYYY ... cause my tummy was a bit full.

It's getting late and I realize it just won't be THANKSGIVING without some sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce ... And now, this is exactly how we feel!

Hope that everyone had as HAPPY a THANKSGIVING as we did!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo: Fairy Tale Pumpkins bought at the local Farmer's Market

Eight Month Results

These are my eighth months results:

Pounds lost: 11.8 (from 134.6 to 122.8 - I am 5'3.5") (And remember, my original maintenance goal was 124.5 pounds)

Percent: 9%

BMI: 21.1 (was 23.7)

Current bodyfat: 19% (was 27.7% in December 2007) It looks like I am maintaining about 99 pounds of LBM (lean body mass.) That has been pretty consistent for several months. What I have been trying to do is peel off a little bit more fat ... which, honestly, for me has been quite challenging and slow. I have found "undereating" REALLY DOES pull off the muscle and overeating ... well, let's face it folks ... makes you "fluffy."

"Overtraining", especially long steady-state cardio sessions also don't seem to do much for me other than "costing" a lot of time AND then increasing appetite. Think I'll stay away from that.

What works best for me are weights and high intensity cardio sessions of about 20 minutes.

It has been really fun to use my own body as my own "laboratory" and test some of these conflicting "theories". I used to be a big walker. I walked almost everyday for about ten years. There are definitely "health benefits" especially as opposed to a completley sedentary lifestyle, but it appears that for me, short, intense cardio sessions are much more "mentally" and "physically" stimulating. That being said, we all have to start somewhere and walking is a great place to start.

As far as my eating goes, doing weights and HIT (high intensity cardio) seems to give me the best balance between hunger and activity. I eat less and do not feel "starved".

The No S Diet has been critical in achieving my current and what I consider "very mainatainable" success. By letting go of external guidelines stipulating what or how much to eat I have found a new found freedom and connection to my own body.

In the long run (and let's not forget "the long run" IS what we are talking about here) with all the stresses and strains of modern life, being able to simplify a weight maintenance program pays huge dividends in time and energy. I love having the excess time and energy that I used to spend meddling with my weight and eating issues to focus on other things.

All and all I have to continue my "rah rah" for the No S Diet. Its simple approach to moderation is sheer genius!

"the Moderation Revolution"

On the back cover of the NO S Diet is a blurb: Join the Moderation Revolution!

The question for most of us "what in the heck is moderation" and "how in the heck do we apply it in our daily lives"?

According to the dictionary moderate means things like: kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits, not extreme, excessive or intense ... even :mediocre or fair. That being said why in the heck is it just so impossible for so many of us to practice "moderation" before we come to the No S Diet?

Interesting question.

Interestingly enough, the inability to eat moderately seems to "birth" the inablity to keep our "approach" to eating in moderation either. Ridiculous amounts of time, money and energy are spent TRYING to "CONTROL" a "perfect" food intake, whether its reaching that "perfect number of calories each day" or "perfectly avoiding offending food substances" our approach to eating is anything BUT moderate.

And this is where the No S Diet excels. No fancy calorie counting PDA required, no pre-packaged boil in the pouch meals, no points, nothing really at all required other than the plate that you put your food on.

Completely unobtrusive to the untrained eye, the NO S Diet is all about moderation.

I am starting to deeply suspect that "moderation" and the learning of it on just about all fronts of life is the only key to lasting, permanant weight loss and a peaceful and enjoyable relationship with food. VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

Too Little, Too Much

One if the things that I am loving about the No S Diet is my increasing ability to calibrate my meals according to my hunger on a daily and meal by meal basis. Since I don't work out or move the same amount every day, it would make sense that my needs for fuel would need to be modified accordingly.

Let's face it ... some days, Sundays, I am a slug and other days I am in high gear and hardly sitting down or still. With the only unit of measure on the No S Diet being one plate or one bowl, it has become a huge learning process to figure out how much I need to put on that one plate or in that one bowl.

Why has this been such a huge learning process? As an ex-dieter, binger, I was either relying on an external authority ... i.e. calories, menus, food plans, to define how much food I should eat or I was pretty much in binge mode. Now into my eighth month on the NO S Diet, I have shifted to the internal authority of my own daily cues of hunger to help me sort it all out.

This is something akin to finally growing up. And I love it. I love being physically aware of too little and too much. No other process or method or diet for that matter has gotten me this close to consistently listening to and learning to rely on the natural method of weight control ... my very own appestat.

Consistency is the Key to Results

Years ago I used to do the original Firm workout videos. They had an abs video with about five ab segments. There was an adorable italian guy in the videos who at the end of one of the segments said "Consistency is the key to results."

That particular phrase has struck with me through the years as the truth of it is proved over and over again in my life. And following the No S Diet it has been proved true once again.

Consistently keeping my N days green, pretty much no matter what I eat or how much I eat on my S/NWS days has been the key to my results on the No S diet. Consistently eating only three one plate/bowl meals every N day and not eating snacks, sweets or seconds has paid huge dividends for me.

Sometimes I fret that I "ate too much" on an S/NWS day. But the truth really is "consistency is the key to results." As long as I have kept my N days green, the weight has slowly but steadily come off and now it is staying off.

Once again I am truly learning, it is consistency over the long term that is the key to permanent and lasting results.

... Nothing You Can't Comfortably Do Without

By cutting out [snacks, sweets, and seconds] during the week, you cut out plenty, but nothing you can't comfortably do without.

p.5 The No S Diet by Reinhard Engels

The "nothing you can't comfortably do without" is probably what is debatable for some of us, especially at the beginning. In a culture, where "well-known" fitness gurus are telling us to eat every five minutes to keep our metabolism up and so ... god forbid, we won't get hungry ... many of, especially in the beginning wonder ... can we, in fact, comfortably do without snacks?

The truth of the matter is that in the first few weeks, it might not be so "comfortable" to forego snacking. But it is truly amazing how quickly our body adapts when we are strict with our N days.

Others, of us, sugar babies that we are, fret. No chocolate? No soda? No snagging a handful of jelly beans when we cruise by the receptionist's desk? And HOW WILL we say "no" to the rest of the ubiquitous sweets that are offered, pushed, insisted upon? Perhaps in the beginning we are not so comfortable with "no sweets" either.

Our "no thank you's" are rusty and flimsy, perhaps even a bit wimpy from atrophy and little use. But, once again, it is truly amazing how quickly we can adapt when we are strict on our N Days.

And let's not neglect "no seconds". In a world where our eyes are much bigger than our stomachs, the concept of "no more" may seem daunting. But, once again, by keeping those N days green, in what is almost no more than a blink of the eye, you just might learn that "hunger" actually feels good and "less really is more."

So that, in not too long, perhaps in just the amount of time it takes to join the "21 day club" we have arrived at a point, where No Snacks, No Sweets, and No Seconds are something we can comfortably do without on our N Days and look forward to on our S days.

Photo: Yummy Lunch of Grilled Albacore, Sauted Spinach with Loads of Garlic and EVOO and Spiced Yams

Hexagram 61: Limitation

Through the years I have dabbled in studying different religions and philosophies. One of my favorite "soothing" books is the I Ching. I am very fond of the "taoist" strain in its teachings, not so much the "confucianist."

Since I have been on the NO S Diet, I have often thought of Hexagram 61: Limitation and how enlightening it was the first time I read it. In a culture where "more" is never enough and "too much" hardly seems like a respectable amount, the wisdom of "limitation" is like good medicine.

Let's look at some excerpts from the Wilhelm translation below:

The Judgement

Limitation. Success.
Galling limitation must not be persevered in.

The Image

A lake is something limited. Water is inexhaustible. A lake can only contain a definite amount of the infinite quantity of water; this is its peculiarity. In human life too the individual achieves signficance through the discrimination and setting of limits ... Unlimited possibilites are not suited to man; if they existed his life would only dissolve in the boundless. To become strong, a man's life needs the limitations ordained by duty and voluntarily accepted. The individual attains significance as a free spirit only by surrounding himself with these limitations and by determining for himself what his duty is.

To me traditional diets are a "galling limitation", i.e. limits that lead to the "misfortune" of failure if "persevered" in. The"diet backlash" or binge that follows every diet is a good example of such "misfortune". The No S Diet, on the other hand, gives us just enough limits to be appropriately discriminating in our daily eating lives.

The No S Diet is definitely NOT a "galling limitation." It is just the right amount of limits to help us acheive "success" and get on with the business of living our otherwise fascinating lives.

Anxiety

One of the many reasons I used to overeat and binge was to handle anxiety. I am not necessarily talking about huge or crippling anxiety, I am talking more about the "garden variety" kind of anxiety of living a "normal" life in the "modern world." The somewhat ongoing background tensions caused by interruptions, miscommunications, minor daily frustrations and obstructions.

This morning I accompanied a loved one to the hospital for an outpatient procedure. Hospitals, Parking Lots, Doctors, Consent Forms and basically the realm of the "unknown" loomed before me and my loved one. In the past, I might have been completely "unaware" of my anxiety, moving like shifting sands just below the surface of my consciousness, and used the experience to be "really hungry" all of a sudden.

But let's see, yesterday and today were N days. Hmmmmmmmm ... not a lot of room their for "food" subterfuge.

I began to realize last night that I was bit worried, just because anytime someone goes under anesthesia there is always THAT RISK. Small, but present. Curiously, I focused on how would I handle breakfast which was actually concrete and helpful. After much back and forth I decided the best bet would be to pack it and take it with me.

That is what I did this morning. Packed my healthy one bowl breakfast and threw it in my purse with a spoon. SO there I was in the waiting room ... tick tock tick tock ... the time was past when they were supposed to call me. Other patients "drivers" had already been called. I got to feel all my anxiety. Not mind bending. Not extremely high level. Just enough that prior to No S I might have ended up with some unwanted pastry from the coffee cart or some unsatisfying fare from the hospital cafe ... both reasons to indulge MORE when it was all over and I was free to leave the hospital, discharge my loved one, and then be free to ... well ... eat.

But that's just not how it went to day. I ate my one bowl. Satisfying as it always is. Lived through the anxiety. Tended to my loved one. Had a nice one plate lunch and got to work when it was all said and done. A "normal" day.

HALLELUJAH!

Who would have thought that I would have ever chosen anxiety over a donut?

Best Weekend Ever!

First of all, a housekeeping item.

After an emotionally tumultuous process I have decided to continue blogging about my No S Diet journey, however because of the time consuming nature of taking and preparing pictures I am going to start today, doing my week day posts without photos and save the pics for "weekend features". For right now this seems like a better balance than either continuing as I have been or totally stopping the blog. Okay. We shall see how it goes!

As far as being the "Best Weekend Ever!" this one was definitely it.

Why?

Simple reason.

I actually woke up grrrrrrrr .... HUNGRY this morning. "So what," you say. OH NO. This is the first Monday since I have been on the No S Diet that I actually woke up MONDAY MORNING - well, hungry.

What is the significance of that?

Well it means that I did not overeat this weekend. At all. AMAZING. I had my delicious caramel macchiatos, a dark chocolate/coffee bar from Starbucks, a lovely Italian meal and even ... GASP a peice of Von's birthday cake. What can I say, I was in the mood.

Anyway I also ate salmon, artichoke, healthy beans and lentils, an organic free range turkey burger, plain organic yogurt .... blah blah blah. BUT the thing is it is becoming more effortless and I am becoming more skillful at keeping to the right size portions for my body by "eyeballing" things and sensing how my body is "feeling."

Yes, I am somewhat delirious with this progress. I suppose you can tell!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween all of you NOSers!

Bwahahhahahhahahhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

This can definitely be a HAPPY Halloween for all of us. Myself, I am taking Halloween as an official NWS day. A couple of weeks ago I stacked up on my stash for the trick or treaters who will come by tonight, but because of my "time" on NO S they have been "safely" stashed in the closet untouched.

TRICK OR TREAT?

It is your choice.

Call it an NWS day and have a Treat or pass and go for the Trick.

It is your choice!

Me ... my treats today will be fresh donuts from our local donut shop, vegan nachos and a wickedly delicious Caramel Machiatto! Teeheeeheeee!

Photo: Halloween TREATS!

"Glass Ceilings"

"Glass Ceiling" is a concept Reinhard uses for "containing" alcohol consumption. I have been using it for the past two months to contain caffiene/coffee consumption and it has been working really well. I quit drinking coffee over four years ago because I could not stick with reasonable amounts. After nosing for six month I decided to experiment with using the "glass ceiling" concept for caffiene/coffee.

Works like a charm. Now I can enjoy my coffees twice a day, once after breakfast and another, usually after lunch. Then that's it I am done. I have only "broken" the "glass ceiling" once ... and that was an S day.

Reinhard has come up with so many useful ideas for managing our habits and disciplining our appetites. I am so glad I stumbled upon his book The No S Diet in Barnes and Noble this past March. It has changed my life and had an impact that the gazillion diet books that I bought before cannot even touch!

I love being "normal" and I love my "drinky" things. I am so glad that I get to MAXIMIZE my ENJOYment of them by using No S Diet concepts like "S days" and "glass ceilings"

Photos: Two Starbucks Coffees

I Love Veggies

I suppose I am fortunate because I love veggies. No broccoli haters here. ANY vegetable steamed or sauteed with a generous dollop of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), salt and/or pepper is yummy to me.

I know! I know! We all talk about eating protien and making protien the central part of meals, but for me, my only "rule of thumb" is this:

I try to make sure that not a day goes by without a nice serving of GREEN!

The No S Diet is great for getting in your veggies because they are a GREAT way to fill up your plate. Without the higher natural sugars of fruit and loaded with even MORE MINERALS, veggies are the road to exuberant good health.

Like I said, I suppose I am fortunate, I have loved veggies since I was a kid. The simpler the better. Great tasting, fresh vegetables don't need to be drowned in heavy sauces, cheesy toppings, or fried and breaded. BLEYCH! is what I say to drowning all that natural goodness!

For today, try filling up your plate with nice, fresh veggies.

Photo: Mesquite Grilled Halibut, Steamed Green Beans and Carrots with EVOO and Celtic Sea Salt

Just Looking

I use to LOVE LOVE LOVE Von's Cake. It was my "big deal" for such a long time. Years. Sweet. Secret. Forbidden.




Now sometimes on S days, I think - Von's cake! Wouldn'cha love it? I go to the store and I stand at the case and I look at my favorites ... white birthday cake, carrot cake and ...



chocolate birthday cake. Then after a few minutes I realize that I really don't WANT any Von's cake and that JUST LOOKING is enough!

WOW!

That is CERTAINLY an UNEXPECTED result of the NO S Diet!

Photos: Von's White Birthday Cake, Von's Carrot Cake, Von's Chocolate Birthday Cake

Pre-disapproved

I love this little gem from the No S Diet book ...

"You're pre-disapproved, so forget it and move onto something else." p119

Being pre-disapproved definitely keeps things simple.

Someone stands in front of me with a sweety thing and/or a snacky thing and a big smile on their face.

"Here I brought this specially for you cause I KNOW it's your favorite."

Quick internal reconnoitering - is this an N day? Yes? Hmmm ... that means I am PRE-DISAPPROVED for ANYTHING sweety and anything snacky I can't or don't want to put on my one plate. Do I want to put THAT particular SNACKY THING on my one plate today? Heaven's no.

"Gee, that was so nice of you to think of me. I'll just take it and wrap it up for later."

Person's smile fades as I swipe it from their hands and quickly disappear.

On the way to lunch I make three points free-throwing it into the garabage. Better in the waste can than on my waist band.

Pre-disapproved.

Keeping life simple on the No S Diet.

... when you are not not not

WOW!

What a productive week! This is what I love about No S, all of that healthy structure and effective discipline spilling over into all of the other areas of my life.

Reading my blog or daily check-ins on the No S boards this week you know I was SAD! But you also know I kept my N days green. The results ... I felt the sadness AND kept on moving forward. And now I turn around and look behind me and what an AMAZING week.

Not only did I feel, dip into, absorb, integrate, accept all of that sadness, but I also KICKED BUTT in getting organized and facing down some fears so I could COMPLETE some very significant and necessary tasks in my life. Hmmmmm....

Now it is Saturday and I feel good!

Don't let anyone tell you that getting the stuff done that you need to get done does NOT feel great. GETTING the stuff done that you need to get done FEEL'S GREAT!!!!!!!!!

So does being genuine and not PRETENDING to be happy happy happy when you are just not not not.

Photo: Grilled Salmon Salad with Avocado, Tomato, Shredded Carrot, Arugula, Romaine and EVOO

Implicit Memories

It is uncanny, but getting well into October I have had up to four episodes where I pretty much JUST WANT TO EAT.

Thank goodness that my No S Habit is holding me in good stead and I have lots of practice in ... "how can I handle this without food?"

I was listening to an interesting audio recording the other day called the Neurobiology of We. The guy was talking about implicit v. explicit memories. Implicit memories, as I understand it being memories that are encoded into our bodies but because we have not integrated them through our hippocampus we may not have verbal or "conscious" recall of them.

This can happen when either we are too young and the hippocampus has not developed or under the stress of trauma, the hippocampus shuts down.

I had a particularly traumatic experience in October in my early years. Inevitably, inexplicable waves of sadness wash over me in October. Usually, I find a way to eat them away.

This year I am allowing myself to be sad. This is not brain numbing tear spilling sadness, it is just something deep within that at this time of the year simmers beneath the surface.

The relief and "safety" of the NO S Diet is that as far as my food goes, all I have to do is just have three one plate/bowl meals today. Nothing less and nothing more.

Then I get the opportunity to accept whatever washes up as just something I need to deal with in ways other than eating.

I think this is going to work.

Photo: Homemade Tuna Salad Sandwich on Ezekiel Bread, White Peach

Sushi

A new sushi restaurant opened up in our neighborhood recently, Wonderful Sushi, and we decided to walk over to dinner last night and try it.

IT WAS TRULY WONDERFUL!

We started with tuna ...

Then we moved on to salmon ...

Next up was shrimp tempura hand rolls ...

A spanish roll, this one was a new one for me, and absolutely delicious ...

The sushi chef gave us this fancy shrimp complimentary ... tasty ...

We ended the meal with a Wonderful High Crab Roll, yum! yum! it's been years since I had sushi, it was truly wonderful, fresh and as you can see very beautiful!

Another way to spend your S day meals when you ARE NOT limited by just one plate!

Photos: SUSHI!

Bad Ass

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, then you might remember that I took some of the $aving$ from following the No S Diet and hired a personal trainer at my gym in May.

Let's see that was four-and-a-half months ago.

IN the beginning the training manager gave me five complimentary sessions and trained me himself. VERY GOOD. And very nice. Then I was assigned another trainer. Pretty tuff on me, but that is what I asked for.

Yesterday I went in for my session and that trainer was no longer with the gym. Sigh. So they assigned me to another trainer. Young. Nordic. Uh huh.

I decided to take it in stride. We discussed my goals for the day and settled on some circuit training. He wanted to assess my fitness level.

So he had me start with 25 pushups, 25 deadlifts and 25 pull-ups. Now let me remind you that I used to not be able to do even one full body push-up. KNEES PLEASE!

Well, I dropped down and pumped out 25 perfect form full-body pushups and he was ... wide-eyed (probably not more so than myself) and said I was "bad ass". We continued through the circuit and he was apparently sufficiently impressed.

He took me to the other side of the gym and had be do another circuit of squat press things (not sure what they were exactly) and then these squat jumps and chin pull up things, in circuits of 21, 18, 15, 12 and 9.

He basically told me that most of the other people coming in for training weren't up to doing this ... COOL! When I was dying at the end, he said with a smile on his face, "That is what you get for being a bad ass."

As a forty-six year old female, who has in the past year-and-a-half been on a passionate journey to claim her inner IRON WOMAN - big smile - I felt like being able to pump out those 25 full body pushups and have this twenty-something jock call me a "bad ass" was pretty much a testament to not only the body reshaping that I have accomplished, but the development of FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH as well.

VERY COOL! I LOVE THIS STUFF! AND I LOVE BEING A "BAD ASS"!

Photo: One Bowl of Watermelon, definitely think this fits into the "maximize your real estate" category

'Tis the Season

It's October 9th today and I realize that for me, 'tis the season.

My personal "binging season" is the beginning of October through the end of February.

NOTE: This does not mean I do not binge throughout the year, I do. It simply escalates significantly during this time of the year.

For me, my personal "binging season" has more to do with a series of events that happened during this time of the year in my early childhood, than the season per say, but the coupling of my own personal "anniversary season" with the culture's "food free for all" time of year can have pretty nasty consequences.

I think there has only been one year in my adult life I have not gone through a fairly significant weight gain in this time period, for example, last year I managed to put on about eleven pounds.

I remember ten years ago when my weight had dropped to 107 pounds and I beleive it was the first of October, walking through the grocery store and spying a pumpkin pie, I could FEEL the tidal wave coming. I didn't buy the pie that night but by November 30, I had eaten many pies, and pieces of cornbread with lots of honey butter on them, if I remember correctly.

So I have successfully passed my six month No S Diet anniversary and am settling into maintenance and here comes "the season".

I know that the last six-and-a-half months of building HABIT will probably hold me in good stead. Besides, I do not have to "forego" pie altogether now, I can have as much as I want on my S days and NWS days. That knowledge and trust within myself is a bulwark against binging in itself.

So even though I am AWARE that 'tis the season, my personal "binging season" as it were, I am feeling pretty comfortable with the No S Diet. There have already been two nights I basically just wanted to keep on eating, clean out the fridge, just not stop.

But I did. Stop. When I was done with my one plate/bowl meal.

Last night, it was get to bed early.

Another green N day.

A little bit deeper groove in my habit structure.

One meal at a time, one day at a time, I really BELEIVE this is going to be a DIFFERENT season.

Photo: Hickory Smoked Turkey Burger, Steamed Green Beans with EVOO, Peach

Fast Food

Friday afternoon I was in a hurry and did not have much time for lunch. I had two doctor's appointments (just routine), a session with my personal trainer at the gym and just my "basic work" to do.

I stopped by Jimbo's our local health food store and picked up some fresh wild salmon and a bag of pre-washed organic baby spinach.

I got home and put our metal grill on the oven and let it start heating up. A few minutes later I came back and washed the fish, doused it with EVOO from my Misto and rubbed it down with some Celtic Sea Salt and Black Pepper on both sides, oh and I cut off almost all of the nasty fatty stuff I don't like. I threw it on the grill and set the timer for 5 minutes. I went off and did another couple of things then came back and put our saute pan on the flame. I opened the bag of spinach and flipped the fish when that timer went off. I set the timer again for five minutes. I put 2 teaspoons of EVOO in the saute pan and let that heat a minute are two. Then I threw in the whole bag of spinach and a little bit of Celtic Sea Salt. By the time the fish was done so was the spinach.

WHAT A LOVELY FAST FOOD LUNCH!

I would have sat longer in the drive-thru!

I did take a few minutes afterwards to trot over to Starbucks for my tall Cafe Misto.

Afterwards I was feeling really good and satisfied and got back to work. I had a great afternoon!

Who says "fast food" has to be "bad food" or even "sad food" for that matter!

Photo: Grilled Wild Salmon, Baby Spinach sauteed with EVOO

Happy Friday

I love Fridays!

I know, I am not the only one, most of us do.

What I love about Friday's on No S are this. Almost each and every Friday I get to look back over the week and see how much more productive I am and how much more of an even keel I am on as I get things done in my life. It feels wonderful week after week to be living insteaf of binging.

Sure! Now I have to deal with stuff more straight up, but the point is I deal with it. And then it's done. When I used to binge I would procrastinate and hesitate and make things worse.

I also am able to appreciate my weekends even more on NO S. Why? Because on the weekends my eating is not ever restrictive ... at all. I can eat whateever I want, whenever I want, and as much of it I want as long as I am ENJOYING it.

Funny how that last qualification, ENJOYING it, changes everything.

Ladeedah Ladeedah Ladeedah

Photo: Ingredients for my "MV Pudding", Plain Organic Yogurt, Peaceful Planet Soy Protien Powder and Mona Vie Active Functional Beverage

Sunday Bar B Q

Sunday we barbecued. I guess that is a pretty official end to my veganism, SOB!

WHAT HAPPENED?

When I first started the NO S Diet we had just been to the Indian Cooking Classes and I was making delicious homemade dal several nights a week. Finally my husband spoke and said this stuff is giving me indigestion.

I was stumped. Years ago I had done the Blood Type Diet and I was pretty sure that lentils were "beneficial" for both of our blood types. The Blood Type Diet is ONE of the "diet" books I have hung onto through the years because I actually liked being on it, but found it too rigid.

ANYWAY, I pulled out the book and wa-lah ... lentils were actually an "avoid" for my poor type O husband. He stopped eating them and started doing research slowly over the months on the blood type diet. As an O he is a "red meat eater" of all things.

It seems that since I had tried the diet, Dr. Adamo had added a variation to the blood type called the secretor status. We decided to do the mail order tests in August.

WALAH! I am a non-secretor! About 20% of the population are non-secretors and all of the information about being a non-secretor fits me to a "T". The bummer was this, being a non-secretor A takes me from being a vegetarian as optimal diet to being a "fish eater" SOB!

Since then I have been making the adjustments and am SO GRATEFUL that JIMBO'S our local health food store is a totally "cruelty-free" animal products. It is tough. My husband thought becoming a meat-eater would make his lunches at work easier. But actually it makes it tougher because so few restaurants serve free-range, organic meats and non-farmed fish products.

Thus, the trip to Jimbo's on Sunday to get some acceptable fish and meats and the Bar B Q.

Damn, that hickory smoked wild salmon was good!

Photo: Hickory smoked wild salmon and steam sauted broccoli with EVOO and red pepper flakes.

MAINTENANCE HAS OFFICIALLY ARRIVED

Well that was quick! BIG HUGE GRIN!

When I posted my six months results yesterday, Saturday, the actual results were from Tuesday, September 24, my OFFICIAL six month date. I hadn't had a chance to get on and blog them before Saturday.

ANYWAY, I knew I was getting ready to break through a plateau, I could just FEEL it! Last week I scheduled two personal training sessions with my personal trainer at the gym (usually I just have one) because I wanted to reach my goals by November and the coming month, October, is going to be the most flexible in my work schedule. Doing even two thirty minute sessions a week with my personal trainer is VERY demanding, cause lets face it he's a youngster, about 22, and in about 10 of my 30 minutes I am usually drenched.

Well the week before my vacation he had kicked my butt, and that started a shift. Apparently with my two sessions last week and two very intense strength training sessions, I did one upper and one lower body split with five sets each, NEVER DONE THAT before, looks like I was able to let go of some more body fat.

SO this morning I am happy to report that I have reached my six month goal with my personal trainer in about 4 months and 1 week, using the No S Diet as my food plan.

WIth my current weight of 124.3 and 19.6225 body fat, my body fat is about 24.4 pounds and my lean body mass is about 99.9 pounds. That is right on target with my original goals.

I am going to go on and keep my next 5 weeks with my trainer AS IS and experience the pure bliss of just having fun and completely not worrying about results or meeting my goal. I am already there!

So now, this blog will become my record of my life on MAINTENANCE on the NO S DIET!!!

If I have anything to say about all this it's this:

DOES THE NO S DIET WORK?

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!

Photo: Me on the Scale Monster at MAINTENANCE