"No S Diet" challenge - any interest?

[Moustachienne]

Let's keep our momentum going! 

I have a comprehensive blood test on May 13 so will know after that if the No S changes I've made have been effective or it more is needed. So far I have *almost* completely eliminated sweets and snacking on N days, and don't go overboard at all on the S days. I have regained food peace and I'm really, really happy about that. I have not lost more than a couple of pounds and that is a big change over my No S related experience 5+ years ago. Age, hormones, larger portion sizes? I have some angles to investigate in the next while.

My biggest challenge right now is that we are having our bathroom remodelled and the work is very disruptive to my daily routine*. I find myself thinking more often than I'd like that I "deserve" a treat! Well, I certainly "want" a treat. :)  Keeping to the No S structure is more challenging but also nicely grounding.

*the cat is VERY unhappy about the disruption to her daily routine. :)

[diapasoun]

I successfully did NOT snack after a stressful meeting that really made me want to snack.

[Moustachienne]

I successfully did NOT snack after a stressful meeting that really made me want to snack.

Inspiring!

[Weisass]

I've been continuing with my "no S" Macro plan, and it is going pretty well, with the occasional slip. Down 16 pounds since January, packing on more muscle in the gym, and eating pretty darn clean. Mostly slip ups are related to my coworkers and my kiddos pushing sweets on me. my eldest, for example, would only have ice c ream the other night if I ate a bite, too. Little stinker. Of course I obliged :)

[WorkingToUnwind]

I managed to avoid sweets today, despite stacked odds. I went to my best friend's house and she had homemade white chocolate chip cookies in a Tupperware on the counter. They looked so good. I poured myself a cold glass of water instead and envisioned how I'd feel if I didn't eat them vs if I broke my pledge. It was not easy. Does it get easier??

[englishteacheralex]

I managed to avoid sweets today, despite stacked odds. I went to my best friend's house and she had homemade white chocolate chip cookies in a Tupperware on the counter. They looked so good. I poured myself a cold glass of water instead and envisioned how I'd feel if I didn't eat them vs if I broke my pledge. It was not easy. Does it get easier??

Sort of. After a while I've mostly just gotten used to passing over treats on No S days. For example, it is currently teacher appreciation week at my school, and we get an awful lot of nice treats. I also made treats for my own kids' teachers, and there were a lot of leftovers.

It's not that all that stuff doesn't look yummy, or that I'm not hungry, but more that...I just don't eat it. I know that if I did eat it, I would feel so taken aback that I had a treat on a No S day, it would kind of wreck the treat for me.

I think another thing that helps is that I really allow myself to eat whatever I want on S days. So I know that it's not like I'll never have anything yummy again. And I like the food I do eat on No S days. It's just not sweets.

I can't speak for everyone, but I've come to realize that my life is so awash in opportunities for treats that I've been able to really internalize that there's an abundance of treats and if I pass this one by, there will be plenty more to come.

Also, it helps a lot that the timing of treats has become such a matter of routine to me that it just feels so wrong to stray from it. It would be like not brushing my teeth in the morning. Routine/habit is very, very powerful to me.

[WorkingToUnwind]

I managed to avoid sweets today, despite stacked odds. I went to my best friend's house and she had homemade white chocolate chip cookies in a Tupperware on the counter. They looked so good. I poured myself a cold glass of water instead and envisioned how I'd feel if I didn't eat them vs if I broke my pledge. It was not easy. Does it get easier??

Sort of. After a while I've mostly just gotten used to passing over treats on No S days. For example, it is currently teacher appreciation week at my school, and we get an awful lot of nice treats. I also made treats for my own kids' teachers, and there were a lot of leftovers.

It's not that all that stuff doesn't look yummy, or that I'm not hungry, but more that...I just don't eat it. I know that if I did eat it, I would feel so taken aback that I had a treat on a No S day, it would kind of wreck the treat for me.

I think another thing that helps is that I really allow myself to eat whatever I want on S days. So I know that it's not like I'll never have anything yummy again. And I like the food I do eat on No S days. It's just not sweets.

I can't speak for everyone, but I've come to realize that my life is so awash in opportunities for treats that I've been able to really internalize that there's an abundance of treats and if I pass this one by, there will be plenty more to come.

Also, it helps a lot that the timing of treats has become such a matter of routine to me that it just feels so wrong to stray from it. It would be like not brushing my teeth in the morning. Routine/habit is very, very powerful to me.

All very helpful points, thank you. The routine/habit component is what I'm relying on. I am a creature of habit. I hope that once it becomes the routine, I will just lean into it and stop thinking about the sweats options.

It was also strange how my first weekend of sweets, I kind of overdid it and felt gross on Saturday and so I didn't have much for sweets Sunday and was looking forward to the no S routine again. weird!!

[Weisass]

All this talk of habits is really inspiring, if I am honest. I have built some seriously solid gym and exercise habits over the last year, and now I need to build some "not eating the cookie" habits!

[Runrooster]

I'm sort of struggling with "don't eat the cucumber".  We ate dinner from 7-8 on Tuesday, when I would usually wind down and surf the net and go to bed.   I'd exercised a bit more than usual, so I was a little peckish. But my Mom needed me to do this 5 minute chore that took over an hour.  45 minutes in, I was annoyed and frustrated and ate 4 Persian cucumbers and hummus.

I get the point of "no snacks" is to avoid making a habit and then eating worse things.

[Moustachienne]

Happy Monday No Sers!  Tomorrow is my blood test and I feel OK about it. No S has helped me drastically cut my sweets/sugar intake and eliminate eating between meals, both things that should have a positive effect. I haven't lost much weight, just a couple of pounds, so we'll see how that plays out.

It's been very interesting to hear everyone's triumphs and challenges following the simple (but not always easy!) No S guidelines.  Let's keep on keeping on.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I'm here to focus on this week, after a bunch of lovely Mother's Day splurges. I enjoyed the weekend, but definitely ate enough that my stomach was a little uncomfortable, so looking forward to a No S week ahead.

[E.T.]

I only managed 2 No-S days last week once I decided to try this on Tues. It is very hard not to reach for something sweet as a snack when I'm stressed with work. Had a great weekend with some mother's day splurges, but looking to have more No-S days this week.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I'm sort of struggling with "don't eat the cucumber".  We ate dinner from 7-8 on Tuesday, when I would usually wind down and surf the net and go to bed.   I'd exercised a bit more than usual, so I was a little peckish. But my Mom needed me to do this 5 minute chore that took over an hour.  45 minutes in, I was annoyed and frustrated and ate 4 Persian cucumbers and hummus.

I get the point of "no snacks" is to avoid making a habit and then eating worse things.

I think there are other reasons for it, too- like to make sure you are actually hungry at meal times, and preventing heartburn at bedtime. I overdid on Mother's Day and I felt soooo bad trying to sleep.

Full disclosure, I still eat an afternoon snack if I am at work or if I exercise in the afternoon, but it's a lot smaller than the snacks I used to have (like, I used to have maybe yogurt and berries and now I just have an apple and a few cashews, or maybe a banana if I worked out). Otherwise I can't be a good parent or librarian.

In the case you describe I would probably take a red day and just try to move on, mostly because you don't seem to have been THAT hungry and more just annoyed. But on the other hand, if something weird happens with my schedule and I make the best choice I can to work around that but it doesn't land on 3 exact meals, I would probably count it as a green day as long as the amounts and types of food seem roughly appropriate. It's really up to you - there are no no-S police!

[diapasoun]

What are your thoughts on sick days that turn into No-S days for the simple fact that you can't really eat?

I had a GI bug and achieved No-S compliance through basically not being able to eat more than very small amounts of very bland foods.

On the one hand, they were absolutely No-S days. They fit the criteria. I also don't want to make my challenge harder by wiping those 4 days from the calendar and turning my "14 out of 31 days" challenge into a "14 out of 27 days" challenge.

On the other hand, it doesn't feel great to count them as No-S days for two reasons: They weren't actually a challenge (I was struggling to eat at all) and I don't like the idea of "rewarding" sick days with a No-S label. I am finally at a point in my life where I'm able to look at weight loss and food restriction from illness as a bad thing, not a good thing, and so part of me pushes back against that.

I'm not very attached to either side, but I'm curious how y'all would count those.

[Weisass]

Honestly I would count them and move on. You aren’t aspiring to them happening this way but they did happen to you.

[Frugal Lizard]

Honestly I would count them and move on. You aren’t aspiring to them happening this way but they did happen to you.

I agree. And success breeds more success.

[Moustachienne]

tl;dr  Blood test results show I need to carry on with No S and focus on portion sizes/nutrition to drop at least 10lbs. I feel I have the basic No S habit dialled in, which is a great scaffold to build on. Given my previous sweet snacking and weight gain trend, I think my results would have been far worse if I hadn't been following No S for the past couple of months. Onward!

_____
Welp. Just looked at my blood test results online and there are flags on the results for both blood sugar and cholesterol. Levels of both are just slightly elevated past the optimum zones.  I have hypercholesterolemia and have taken a low dose statin for years because diet and exercise alone couldn't bring down my sky high levels. Low dose worked great until the last few years. I *really* don't want to increase the dosage. And I hope to avoid blood sugar meds entirely in the long term even as my levels are creeping up towards "pre-diabetes".

I'm in the upper normal zone for weight/BMI but it seems that I actually need to be at the lower end to keep my numbers down. Last time I was 10lbs lighter the numbers were great. I'll talk with my doctor of course but this is my plan going forward. I'm not anti meds, sometimes they are necessary, I just feel that I still have some diet/exercise room to improve first.

I swim 1500m 3 x week, walk almost daily and do a weight routine twice a week but there's room to be a bit more active throughout the day, especially after dinner.

[Weisass]

Solid insights @Moustachienne . No fun not getting all the numbers where you want them but a good incentive to keep working and tweaking.

[Moustachienne]

Solid insights @Moustachienne . No fun not getting all the numbers where you want them but a good incentive to keep working and tweaking.

Thanks. Support appreciated. I do feel a bit down - but not out. :)

[Weisass]

you bet! This weekend has been pretty good to me so far! Enjoyed some birthday cake within my plan for my oldest, and then had a solid workout today with good food. No snacking today, despite it being an S day. just didn't need it.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Posting again for myself, to reaffirm my plans to track my No S days, and do better with staying on track. It's been a rocky couple of weeks, and I need the momentum of some positive days!

[Moustachienne]

Posting again for myself, to reaffirm my plans to track my No S days, and do better with staying on track. It's been a rocky couple of weeks, and I need the momentum of some positive days!

Good luck! My N and S days are going pretty well and it does feel positive. I've switched my S days to Friday and Saturday as I seem to have a built in TGIF attitude, despite being retired! And I like to have the S days together.  A Sunday N day seems to start the week off on a good note.  I think other people have also noted doing this kind of switch.

I have a clothes swap party with friends on Wed evening which will include desserts but I'm thinking if I hit the grapes rather than the brownies it can still be an N day. As @englishteacheralex has said, remembering that there are lots of treats in the world can be helpful in passing up on the ones that don't fit our plans. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Yesterday was a good day, and it felt nice to be on track.

I find that if I have a plan that allows me to stay on track ahead of time, @Moustachienne , I'm so much more likely to be successful rather than just winging it.

[Frugal Lizard]

I have danced around the no-S-diet for more than a year now.

This past week I decided to stop the all or nothing when the reality of my practice was nothing or nothing. One small change. No snacking after 8pm. Late yes - but we often don't get a supper done until then. If I stick with no before bed snack, I am winning more than aiming higher, failing and completely doing nothing.

[chaskavitch]

I just started doing this a few weeks ago after reading about it on and off on the forums for a few years.

I'm definitely a bored/stressed snacker, and I've gotten into a nighttime snacking habit, especially when I'm already in the kitchen making lunches for the next day.  This mindset has already helped a lot with that habit. I think I need to work on the "no seconds" part, because I'm still not hungry for meals a lot of the time.

The fullness may be influenced by the fact that I decided to add in the 800g challenge/Lazy Macros (https://optimizemenutrition.com/800g-challenge/).  It's just "eat 800g of plants daily", with an added challenge of "eat 0.7g protein per lb of body weight" for the Lazy macros part. 

I tend to get super obsessive over everything if I try to track my actual macros/calories, so it seemed like a good compromise, but it's a LOT of food, even when I calculate the protein based on "ideal" body weight.  Getting to 800g of plants is so hard, especially since I don't tend to eat many veggies unless they're actually inside a meal - I'm much more likely to cut up an apple as a side with dinner than to grab carrots or peppers or something. 

I'm going to try to do all three - No S, 800g of plants, about 100g of protein, in that order of importance - and do my best to be more active for my mood/health.  I've been skipping the gym at lunch to do work (and to be stressed, haha), and it's certainly not helping my self-image, or my ability to keep up with my kids. 

[Moustachienne]

I have danced around the no-S-diet for more than a year now.

This past week I decided to stop the all or nothing when the reality of my practice was nothing or nothing. One small change. No snacking after 8pm. Late yes - but we often don't get a supper done until then. If I stick with no before bed snack, I am winning more than aiming higher, failing and completely doing nothing.

Same for me. All or nothing can easily become nothing or nothing, lmao.  Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good! 

[Moustachienne]

I just started doing this a few weeks ago after reading about it on and off on the forums for a few years.

I'm definitely a bored/stressed snacker, and I've gotten into a nighttime snacking habit, especially when I'm already in the kitchen making lunches for the next day.  This mindset has already helped a lot with that habit. I think I need to work on the "no seconds" part, because I'm still not hungry for meals a lot of the time.

The fullness may be influenced by the fact that I decided to add in the 800g challenge/Lazy Macros (https://optimizemenutrition.com/800g-challenge/).  It's just "eat 800g of plants daily", with an added challenge of "eat 0.7g protein per lb of body weight" for the Lazy macros part. 

I tend to get super obsessive over everything if I try to track my actual macros/calories, so it seemed like a good compromise, but it's a LOT of food, even when I calculate the protein based on "ideal" body weight.  Getting to 800g of plants is so hard, especially since I don't tend to eat many veggies unless they're actually inside a meal - I'm much more likely to cut up an apple as a side with dinner than to grab carrots or peppers or something. 

I'm going to try to do all three - No S, 800g of plants, about 100g of protein, in that order of importance - and do my best to be more active for my mood/health.  I've been skipping the gym at lunch to do work (and to be stressed, haha), and it's certainly not helping my self-image, or my ability to keep up with my kids.

Whew, that's a lot!. I made a decision a few years ago to avoid the quantified life as much as possible so I just use broad categories, e.g swim for 40 minutes and don't count laps, walk for 45 minutes and don't count steps, eat a balanced plate and don't count calories or macros, spend a monthly budget and don't track daily/weekly.  That's why plain vanilla No S appeals so much to me.

That said, I did track more closely early on to establish the baseline on all these things and I know that other personality types are very motivated by closer tracking. Good luck!

[Moustachienne]

Solid insights @Moustachienne . No fun not getting all the numbers where you want them but a good incentive to keep working and tweaking.

Thanks. Support appreciated. I do feel a bit down - but not out. :)

Update: Doctor is not concerned about my blood sugar levels, although I want to keep them from creeping up further. She is concerned about my cholesterol levels and has asked me to double my statin from 10 to 20mg/day. Not happy about that! We did agree that I will continue working on diet/exercise changes and retest in 3 months to see if I can maybe reduce the dosage.

So the No S journey continues. Some good news is that I have started to lose a bit of weight. Goal is 7-10lbs before the 3 month test.

[diapasoun]

If I stick with no before bed snack, I am winning more than aiming higher, failing and completely doing nothing.

I've been adding in the options of what I call a "1/2 N day" -- which is basically a day where I have an additional small fourth meal (for chaotic days where I have 7-8 hours between lunch and dinner and I know I can't reasonably go that long without eating). It helps keep me on track because it's not an S day, and therefore I'm not "licensed" to go off and eat a bunch of sugary things -- it's a 1/2 day and I am expected to maintain my other good habits!

[chaskavitch]

Whew, that's a lot!. I made a decision a few years ago to avoid the quantified life as much as possible so I just use broad categories, e.g swim for 40 minutes and don't count laps, walk for 45 minutes and don't count steps, eat a balanced plate and don't count calories or macros, spend a monthly budget and don't track daily/weekly.  That's why plain vanilla No S appeals so much to me.

Honestly, plain No S is probably a better plan since it doesn't have any actual tracking.  I might just try to make sure I have plants and protein at every meal, then focus on the snacks/sweets/listening to my fullness cues.

[Moustachienne]

Just having a quiet No S week over here. Lots of stuff going on but the food part of it is locked and loaded - whew!  Feeling discombobulated on a few fronts but the NoS structure provides a nice base of "normal". :) Hope the same for others.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Oof, things have not been very "no S" at my house. So many graduation events, picnics, awards nights, banquets, etc. And, my parents arrive on Wednesday, graduation on Thursday, lunches out, taking my mom to a winery, etc.

Breaking this down into manageable goals for the week:
-No S day today & Tuesday. Lots of veggies, eat well in general.
-No S day on Wednesday, but can have wine with my parents (best to be realistic)
-No S day on Thursday, but will have an adult beverage of some sort to celebrate DS18's graduation
-No S day on Friday, minus the wine tasting

I count drinking alcohol as not a pure No S day, but sticking to the rest of the plan is very helpful for me. I want to get in two great days (today & tomorrow) before the chaos kicks off in earnest for the rest of the week.

[diapasoun]

My goal was to get 14 N days this past month. I got 13, plus 4 "1/2" days (days where I have a fourth small meal).

My weight (and milk supply) have both gone down this month, but it's not clear to me what's due to No-S and what's due to two separate bouts of gastro. If I keep having reduced supply (even with extra pumping), I guess it's time to change wholly to four meals instead of three.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Oof, things have not been very "no S" at my house. So many graduation events, picnics, awards nights, banquets, etc. And, my parents arrive on Wednesday, graduation on Thursday, lunches out, taking my mom to a winery, etc.

Breaking this down into manageable goals for the week:
-No S day today & Tuesday. Lots of veggies, eat well in general. - Today went well! Yay for one positive day.
-No S day on Wednesday, but can have wine with my parents (best to be realistic)
-No S day on Thursday, but will have an adult beverage of some sort to celebrate DS18's graduation
-No S day on Friday, minus the wine tasting

I count drinking alcohol as not a pure No S day, but sticking to the rest of the plan is very helpful for me. I want to get in two great days (today & tomorrow) before the chaos kicks off in earnest for the rest of the week.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I had 4 yellow/red days on weekdays in May. Some special events and one day I just really wanted an ice cream sandwich so I ate one and moved on.

Someone at OMD gave me a free login to a paid app that uses AI to tell you the nutrition content of your food based on a picture. It's probably not that accurate, but then no calorie counting is going to be all that accurate. I'm not counting calories, I just want to see if I'm getting enough protein and fiber and this is a lot less work than entering all my recipe into MyFitnessPal (especially since my husband doesn't use recipes and he cooks half my food!).

[diapasoun]

Tracking fiber and protein is such a pain in the ass! I was doing very detailed macro tracking when I had GD, and it was like having a part-time job.

[mspym]

Yesterday was my first red day in two weeks. It was some post-Mum stress eating

[My only variation on vanilla no-S is: I can have a biscuit on the two days I drive my mum to tennis and errands because 1) otherwise I get a real bad case of the F-its and don't hit *any* days and 2) the lunches we make are designed for septuagenarian appetites so there's definitely some wiggleroom on the calories. Since I started giving myself that, I'm doing way better at sticking with it.]

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

@mspym - The biscuit sounds like a 100% reasonable adaptation!

I'm still enjoying the food logging. In his podcast the author talks about "surgical flogging" as a tool for occasionally getting a closer eye on your eating. Surgical meaning targeted and "flogging" meaning "food logging" but also a tongue in cheek reference to it being unpleasant. Anyway, I'm kind of doing that! A basic low effort food log that is making me look closer at what I am consuming.

Unfortunately, I am NOT getting enough fiber and opinions differ on the protein.

[WorkingToUnwind]

I've been really enjoying this "diet," though I am quite liberal with the S days, or more accurately S events. I mostly don't eat snacks or seconds even on S days, which is quite the transformation for me (I have always had a few snacks a day). I try to have smaller and fewer portions of sugar on my S days, but I also call many events special events, like a big beach day with a friend where we went out for ice cream after. I lost a couple pounds initially and now have been kind of stagnating at the same weight for a while. I think I need to up my protein and look at waist measurements rather than weight, as I have been working out more lately. Regardless of what happens with the weight and physique, I am just happy not to be mindlessly snacking anymore and indulging in all the sweets at work. Eating mindfully truly is more enjoyable, and I've been actually finding it refreshing to be a little peckish at meals.

[Moustachienne]

I've been really enjoying this "diet," though I am quite liberal with the S days, or more accurately S events. I mostly don't eat snacks or seconds even on S days, which is quite the transformation for me (I have always had a few snacks a day). I try to have smaller and fewer portions of sugar on my S days, but I also call many events special events, like a big beach day with a friend where we went out for ice cream after. I lost a couple pounds initially and now have been kind of stagnating at the same weight for a while. I think I need to up my protein and look at waist measurements rather than weight, as I have been working out more lately. Regardless of what happens with the weight and physique, I am just happy not to be mindlessly snacking anymore and indulging in all the sweets at work. Eating mindfully truly is more enjoyable, and I've been actually finding it refreshing to be a little peckish at meals.

Excellent!  I really agree that "Eating mindfully truly is more enjoyable, and I've been actually finding it refreshing to be a little peckish at meals". 

[diapasoun]

Sigh. My milk supply had gone down a bit (I thought maybe related to multiple bouts of gastro) but I had several S days in a row due to grandparental visit and lots of special things we were doing... and my supply is going back up.

Minimally that means I need to fully commit to 4 meals, and we'll see if it actually requires me to just keep eating the way I was.

[E.T.]

Sigh. My milk supply had gone down a bit (I thought maybe related to multiple bouts of gastro) but I had several S days in a row due to grandparental visit and lots of special things we were doing... and my supply is going back up.

Minimally that means I need to fully commit to 4 meals, and we'll see if it actually requires me to just keep eating the way I was.

It's really tricky trying to figure out dieting while breastfeeding. In the grand scheme of things, it's a very short phase of life. You're being there for your baby, be gentle to yourself. I just weaned mine in January and it's def taking me time to reset how I'm eating.

[diapasoun]

Yeah, even with the gentleness of No-S it seems like the body is rebelling!

It's definitely a short phase of life -- really only 4-5 more months, most likely.