https://www.nosdiet.com/The idea is simple: no snacks, sweets, or seconds except on days that start with S. Meals must fit on one plate. Eat what you want, but it can't be a sweet and it can't overflow the plate.
On weekends, do whatever you want--this makes saying no during the week easier, mentally, and also seems to help with potentially restrictive/disordered eating issues, such as seeing food as "good" or "bad".
There has been a thread or two about the "No S Diet" here already over the years, but I wanted to bring it up anew because somebody told me about it here and it has been working for me like gangbusters. It's free, simple, and effective. I've lost ten lbs since April. I'm 43, 5'5", started at 160 lbs and am now down to 150 lbs.
I bought the book used on Amazon and I enjoyed it a lot. Also I binged the author's podcast, which I found useful and enjoyable. It's very low-budget but gets the point across--reminiscent of internet 1.0, which I find charming. He's a software engineer and has a whole bunch of "everyday systems" (about lots of things, not just diet) that he's designed to harness the power of habit.
I think the diet has been effective for me because I needed some boundaries on my eating--my snacking had gotten out of control, and was becoming my go-to coping mechanism for most things. However, I really, really wasn't interested in any kind of complicated and/or costly diet program. I needed something concrete and realistic for a long term change. I don't go bananas on weekends, but it's nice to have a slice of cake on Saturday, because it makes it easier to say no during the week knowing it's not a forever ban.
I tracked calories for free on My Fitness Pal for about a month--started a week before the diet and kept going for three weeks during the diet. Tracking calories taught me that I was definitely eating way too many calories in snacks and that No S was keeping me at a very mild, very sustainable deficit during the week.
So anyway, it has worked and is continuing to work well for me and hasn't required anything burdensome or unsustainable, so I wanted to share it here in case anyone else had never heard of it and would also find it useful.
