Going back to trying to do IE and NoS today (though, it’s Saturday, so it’s an “S” day). Easier to start on an “S” day, anyway.

I realized, last week, that I haven’t been serious about my weight loss efforts. I’d lost my motivation. And, today I came to the realization that I’ve also been wanting to lose weight for a bunch of reasons, other than just doing it for myself. And, apparently, to have it “click” for you — to reach that point where things just start working — you have to be ready to lose the weight for YOU only… not for family, not for friends, not for any other reason… just for you, personally. And, I think I’m there (can’t be sure, but I *think* I am! LOL).

So, onward and –hopefully– downward! Gonna give it my full 100% effort tomorrow!

As Oprah once said, “Any goal worth reaching *always* requires hard work.”

But, I really want to keep going with NoS. I want it to work for me… I really do! So, next Monday I will start over. But, this week I’m not going to worry about it. I’ve got enough other stresses going on currently to try to start again right this minute.

And, before you go leaving comments saying how I’m always going to have this or that stress come into my life to mess me up, yes, I already know that. I am not quite at the point, though, where I’m ready to push through the stress and persevere with the diet/eating plan at the same time.   I’m sure I’ll get there — I’ll have to if I want to be successful for life! But, not this week.

It may be just one pound every couple of months… or it might be more. But, I have to stop thinking in terms of weeks, or months, where reaching my goal weight is concerned. This may just take up to 2 years! But, I am starting to realize that, if it takes that long — and the weight STAYS off afterward– I can probably be okay with that.

Mind you, I have to say that I’m a little disappointed at the prospect of still being quite far from my goal when summer gets here. I’d really like to wear my cap-sleeved tees, or even the new swimsuit I bought several years ago (when I’d lost a lot of weight). And, I’m disappointed that there’s a good chance I still won’t be able to fit into my favorite skirt come Christmas… it’s something that I’d really like to wear, as I love it — but it’s currently 2-3 sizes too small.

I’m willing to try waiting, though. I will do as Reinhard says, and measure my progress in “days on habit“. I am using his HabitCal tracker to do this — the visuals are always more motivating to me.

I tell you, though — I’ve begun really living for the weekends! I love that I can eat how I want! And, with Mother’s Day this weekend, I’m happy to know that I won’t have to avoid any foods at the family meal I’ll be attending… I can have pop, and chips, and any other goodies, and I won’t have to feel that I’ve blown my “diet”. Yay!

I think that’s probably my FAVORITE part of the No S Diet, so far — the freedom to enjoy weekends and holidays without guilt or shame or condemnation. Whoohoo!

Small progress update: This week, I had one red day on Tuesday, but otherwise I’ve done well and stuck to the principles. My IE “training” had to come into play, yesterday, though — I had to eat something between lunch and dinner, because I was starting to get the low blood-sugar symptoms, and I didn’t want a migraine. I knew it’d be another hour or two before I could eat dinner (dinner was going to be late), so I went ahead and ate a yogurt cup and a granola bar. But, I decided something there and then: If I’m not able to eat for several more hours, and I’m getting shaky, I will allow myself to eat *something*, but I will do my best to make that ‘something’ healthy, and I won’t snack just for the sake of snacking — I will not snack unless I’m absolutely, without a doubt, NEEDING to eat (example: getting low blood-sugar symptoms). This is where my combination of IE and No S comes into play.

But, tomorrow will be the start of my 3rd “NoS” week, and I’m ready to get back into the swing of things. So far I have had one really good week where I stuck to the plan strictly, and one week where I totally didn’t do anything towards following the guidelines set out by the No S Diet. I’ve done some “observing and correcting”, and I realized where I went wrong.

Instead of outlining all that here, I’ll just tell you what I’ll be doing to *correct* what I did wrong. In the coming week, I hope to (in addition to following the No S guidelines)…

* not weigh myself on the scale!

* eat more protein/fiber at mealtimes, and keep my portions normal-sized (instead of big!)

* move more — get in at least 14 minutes of “extra” movement every day (more than I’d do on any “normal” day for me).

Here’s to a great “Green” week!

Something Reinhard Engels said, on the NoS bulletin boards last week, really hit me today. He said something to the effect of this: “Maybe I should post a sticky that tells all the new people not to expect ANY weight loss for the first MONTH!“

Wow. A whole month of playing (strictly) by the rules without seeing any progress? Could I handle that?

And, that’s where the insight came in: I still want the “quick fix” (that doesn’t really exist, anyway). I’m still hoping to be down 12-15 pounds by July 1st (no longer realistic, given how long I’ve procrastinated this year).

I need to wrap my head around the fact that, if I want to lose the weight AND KEEP IT OFF FOR GOOD, I need to let this process be S-L-O-W and gradual (which the NoS diet, supposedly, is). If the weight comes off slowly –so say many studies– it’s more likely to STAY off… for good! And, that is *definitely* something we want!

So, with this week being a complete wash, I’m going to start NoS-ing again on the weekend, and give it my best… and hopefully, by the weekend, I’ll have my head in the right place, no longer expecting a quick loss, but willing to put in the time and effort, and to just TRUST the process a bit more.

And, I’m doing okay! I bought a bottle of Coke, and have been enjoying it… in moderation. And, I had dessert (chocolate pudding) last night. And, I’ve had snacks mid-afternoon, but only because I was hungry. It’s been nice to have this “leniency”, knowing I haven’t “screwed up my diet”. I’m free to eat like this because these are “S” days. Whoo!

I haven’t seen any progress on the scale yet, but that’s okay. This is supposed to take a while, and the losses are supposed to be slow and gradual. So, I’m going to keep plugging away at it.

Really, other than a few incidences last week, I am finding this way of doing things to be really easy! I hardly have to think about it!   My book should be here, soon, so I’m looking forward to reading that!

Yesterday was difficult. I was soooo ready to give in and just snack on sweets. I even had the money in my hand, ready to go to the store for chocolate. Luckily, I didn’t have time before my DH had to go to work, so I was able to walk away from that temptation, and my day still turned out “on plan”.

Today, again, has had its share of difficulty. I keep wanting to throw in the towel, and “start again tomorrow“. But, then I’ll come across something online that reminds me that, if I make *exceptions*, I’ll just end up staying heavy, and that’s NOT what I want! I want to see changes, and the only way to see them is to put in the work required to reach my goals! Just thinking about weighing less is no longer good enough for me. I’m tired of looking at skinnier people and *wishing* I looked like them. I know I need to get up off my butt and do the work to actually BE one of those skinnier people! So, I’m sticking with the NoS/IE plan for now.

One other thing I’ve been thinking about is whether or not I’ll be frustrated (and therefore quit) if I weigh myself and find I’ve not lost any weight. BUT, the people on the NoS message boards constantly remind others that you aren’t necessarily going to see the quick losses of other diets with NoS. This is a slow, gradual process — and taking it off slowly is a GOOD thing, as that usually means it’ll STAY off! So, we *want* slow & steady! It’s just a matter of praying for patience.

The first was when my husband wanted me to go to the store to get a couple of cans of pop. He didn’t know I’m doing this NoS thing (I didn’t want him to start playing “diet police”, like he usually does when he knows I’m dieting), so he didn’t know that suggesting I go get pop was “tempting” to me, more so than normal. I went to the store, determined not to give in, and bought him a pop… and got myself a bottle of flavored water instead.

The second incidence — which I thought would be really difficult, but turned out to be not so bad — was my attendance at Bible study last night. There’s usually a plethora of wonderful snacks offered, and I always have a hard time NOT having any. So, I thought for sure I’d not be able to resist. But, I took along my bottle of water, and made up my mind to stay far away from the snack table. And, I did just that. I moved the bowl of M&Ms away from the table where I chose to sit, and didn’t go near the snack table. So, no snacking for me!

The last “trial” was today… hubby wanted to go to McDonald’s for lunch. And, since we don’t go out to eat often, I really wanted to do so. But, I was having trouble figuring out how to get a combo-meal without the pop (not supposed to have “sweets” throughout the week, remember?). I finally gave up and just told hubby about my “diet”, and he decided to get us 2 BigMacs, super-size fries to share, and NO pop at all for either of us.   That was sweet. And, I was able to bring my meal home (we went through the drive-thru), and have milk instead of pop. Whoo!

You know, this isn’t as “difficult” as I thought it would be. I thought I’d have a lot harder time avoiding snacks and sweets. Mind you, avoiding the sweets still gets me at times — I’ll see an advertisement for chocolate something-or-other, or for candy, and I’ll get a craving. But, I just remind myself that I can have it on the weekend, and eventually the craving passes.   I think I can do this!

For the record (as you’ll see on my Progress page), I’ve had two SUCCESSFUL days, so far, out of 2! So, we’re on a roll! Hopefully I can keep it up! Two-and-a-half more days to go!

I’m drinking water like crazy, hoping it’ll get me through until dinner. And, dinner will be earlier today than normal … I don’t need to wait as long as I normally do, and I don’t want to get *too* ravenous from having gone all afternoon without eating. So, eating one hour earlier seems like a good plan, and it won’t completely ruin my evening. I’m not really big on eating in the evenings anyway (except, sometimes, when I watch a movie… but, even that is getting better… I don’t watch a lot of movies any more, either).

In fact, I do have a movie home to watch tonight, so that’s going to take some extra diligence in sticking with my new “plan”, but I’m willing to go through the “trial” in order to come out on the other side successful!

 Edited to add: I managed to have ONLY water while watching my movie, and did very well for my first day of “No S”! I didn’t cheat, and didn’t give in. So, I’m looking forward to my next “No S” day!