First “S” weekend

Well, given that they’re not all that far off from what I’ve already *been* doing, my first two “s” days went really well. I didn’t go crazy with sweets and snacking — in fact, my snacking was mostly done only when I was actually hungry! So, very good for a first “S” weekend.

Mind you, I hadn’t had a full week of “no sweets” prior to it, so this may be an entirely different story next weekend! LOL.

For now, though, I’m feeling good about this. Today will be my first “No S” day… the first one where I have to be disciplined & say “no” to sweets & snacks.

I’ve come up with a “Good Constraint“, though. A Good Constraint is basically a phrase that helps you counteract “automatic” actions… it limits your choices so you don’t get stressed and just go with what’s “easiest”. My phrase is “Not An Option“. So, say I want to snack despite the fact that the NoS rules say “no snacking” throughout the week. I have to tell myself “Not An Option” and walk away! Or, say I want to NOT exercise when I know that exercise is good for me… I’ll tell myself it’s “Not An Option” to avoid exercise, and I’ll “do it anyway“. ((Note: I borrowed the “Not An Option” phrase from Lisa Delaney — she recommended this phrase in her book, “Secrets of a Former Fat Girl“.))

I’m a little torn on whether or not to consider my morning “French Vanilla” fake-coffee as a sweet or not. It’s awfully sweet, but listed as “coffee” (the instant stuff). The NoS website says you can still have “coffee”, but that it’s also up to you to decide what you’re going to label a “sweet”, and what you’re going to allow. So, my thinking is that I’ll keep the “French Vanilla” this week, and slowly wean myself off it — going back to having more decaf. teas instead. I don’t need the caffeine anyway. But, I can’t just totally give up caffeine today — I’ll go through major withdrawl! Been there, done that, don’t wanna do it again! LOL. So, given that I can’t have any other sweets this week, I need to slowly let go of the caffinated “coffee”. Next week I should be able to go without it without having to suffer the consequences of withdrawl symptoms.

Now, this isn’t to say I *have* to give up the coffee. But, I’m thinking that I’ll CHOOSE to do so, solely because I’d like to cut out as much caffeine from my diet as possible. I know it’s not good for me, and it really doesn’t help me in any way (other than to wake me up in the mornings! LOL).

 

The No S Life – intro

This is just a place for me to track my progress, following both my old “Intuitive Eating” plan, along with my new “No S Diet” plan.

And, for those of you wondering how an “intuitive eater” could possibly be reverting to “dieting” tactics, I’ve been reading a lot about the No S Diet, and fully believe that it can mesh with IE. It just gives me a few extra boundaries that I seem to need. I have been snacking relentlessly, despite my intentions to “eat only when hungry“, and I’m always reaching for the sweets when I snack, despite knowing that I should be reaching for something ‘healthier’ or more ‘beneficial’ to my body.

The No S Diet seems like it will help me in those two trouble areas… and I can still wait until I’m hungry to eat. Basically, my eating patterns have already stayed (mostly) within the “3 meals per day” guidelines. It’s just that one extra snack, between lunch and dinnertime, that always trips me up! Hence the need for the “No S Diet” rule of “NO snacks …except on days that start with ‘S’“. And, going without sweets (except on the weekends & holidays) can only be a GOOD thing, right? It’s just healthier, and Reinhard (author of the No S Diet) claims that it helps you to *appreciate* your sweet treats more when you only have them *occasionally*.

So, bear with me as I learn this new way of doing things. I only just started the No S Diet today, so the next few weeks will supposedly be tough — I’ll be building new habits that, hopefully, will stick for life!