Two Weeks Down

It's a lovely Monday morning. I had a perfect NoS breakfast and reflected on the first 2 weeks of the '100 Day Challenge'. Here are the stats: 10 N's; 2S's; 2 total DISASTERS. I've chosen to look at this sanely and consider twelve out of fourteen days being successful pretty good; no really good. Well done, Linda! Note the ' virtual pat' on my own back.

I just thought I'd check in. I have fresh brewed coffee waiting for me so I'll close my iPad and promise to come back later where you'll have the joy (???) of meeting Linda the Legalistic

N day. S day. N day. S day.

Last week had more than it's share of hurdles. It started out like a normal week. Tuesday I felt ill, and though I tried to make it an N - it ended up turning into an S. Sick is an S, so I didn't feel too bad about it.

Wednesday was another 'normal' N day. Thursday we got unexpected company. You know, the kind you see maybe once a year if you're lucky? The kind you cook special foods for, or that want to take you out to nice places to eat in appreciation? That kind of company. Maybe some other people can cruise through a visit like this with nary a splotch of red on their habitcal - but I'm not one of those. I didn't have plans to go nuts or anything, I just wanted to enjoy my company without stressing all the time about whether I'd be able to stick to the rules. The funny thing is, I ended up sticking to the rules anyway, without even trying. Cool :)

Welcome Monday and NoS structure and sanity.

Friday Foodspiration!

It's Friday, and besides being the start of the weekend, Friday means it's time for our weekly 'Foodspiration' post.

Foodspiration began as a way to generate new ideas, exchange recipes and share plate photos with readers and other members of the NoS community.

 

So ask questions or share your meals in the comments, or submit plate photos or recipes. 

We're looking forward to hearing from you.

Stressful Seven

It's a beautiful September Monday in my part of the world, and to make it even better, I have the day off. Work, anyway. I always have plenty to do at home. I thought I'd start it though with a quick review of my first 7 of 100 Days of Success. 

As I mentioned the other day, it was a particularly busy and stress-filled week. There are pros and cons to being busy. When we're busy  time flies and sometimes that makes it easier to keep to eating goals - unless we are so busy we don't have time, or simply 'forget', to eat properly. For many people, being unusually busy is more likely to interfere with exercise goals. 

This is exactly what happened to my goals. I was so busy I didn't think about eating most of the time, but I missed one of my three days of exercise. I did get in a family walk on two days, though, so it sortof evens out.

At times in my life I've been under stress that caused me to eat more - and other stress that left me nearly unable to eat. The particular stress in my life right now is of the first type. I have found myself more than once this past week thinking of eating. Each time, however, I managed not to. 

Perhaps it's the fact that I've committed in public to these 100 days of success and I don't want to mess it up at all, let alone the first week, that helped me stick to my goals. Or maybe  I'm just stubborn. Whenever I started thinking of eating this past week, I reminded myself that the person who's causing all the problems for me is totally not worth all this stress and I was not going to allow the situation to cause me to eat when I don't want or need to. I don't know if this will always work for me, but for now it seems to be. I just hope the situation improves soon and I don't have to keep testing my resolve.  

I had a nice weekend, though. We got out of town on Saturday, and had a lovely walk outdoors, finishing up just as a huge downpour hit. Sunday we caught up on some shopping, went out to lunch and watched a movie together in the evening. Everyone else is out today, so I'm enjoying a peaceful day on my own, catching up things around the house and getting ready for the week ahead. Here's hoping it's a more peaceful week. 

If you'd care to share, how do you keep to your exercise goals when life gets busy? What are some ways you deal with stress in your life? 

Friday Foodspiration!

Every Friday at LWNoS, we will have a post dedicated to 'Foodspiration'. It's a chance for readers to share menus, meals, recipes and even post plate photos to be included in our slideshow at the top of the page.

There are many ways to participate:

• share any or all of your meals for the week in the comments 
• if you plan meals in advance, share your menu ideas for the coming week
• submit a recipe or a plate photo with information explaining which meal it is and what is on the plate, to nosladies dot gmail dot com.  Photos will be added to the slideshow and recipes will be available in google docs. 
• if  you have a No S blog, share a link to your blog, or 
• just check in on Fridays and have a look around. To get details on any of the slideshow photos, just click on the image. If you see a meal that inspires you, feel free to ask for details and recipes in the comments 

So try a new recipe. Snap a plate photo or two. But most of all, share and enjoy! 

4 of 100

I meant to write this yesterday, but a) I wasn't feeling well, and b) someone was borrowing my computer for homework.

Monday, the first of '100 Days of Success', couldn't have been a worse day to start if I'd planned it that way. I had a difficult day at work, and three appointments afterward. I didn't even get a real lunch - I just grabbed a Tanka Bar when I was out grocery shopping between appointments at around 3 pm, and called it lunch. It'd never had one before, but I might buy a few to keep around for other busy days.

I got home around 7 and fixed chili for dinner. it's a popular choice in our house for a busy monday. So, somehow I made it from my yogurt at 7 am, to my dinner at 7.30 pm with only a Tanka bar in between. I think it's just one more indication that my body is adjusting well to both No S and my new schedule.

Tuesday was pretty average, then Wednesday I woke up feeling ill, but not enough to declare it a 'S'ick day so it was a normal N day as well. Today (Thursday) has been a tough day, and there are still a few hours to go. I don't plan to mess things up now, so I won't be 'consoling' myself with food. A hot bath and a good book will do the job just as well. Maybe even better. I'm reading 'The Help' and I'm finding it as 'unputdownable' as everyone else I've talked to. It's probably one more reason I'm not thinking about food. I'm too busy reading.

How have the first  4 out of 100 days gone for you?

The Next 100 Days

Did you know there are 105 days til Christmas? No? Neither did I until I counted them, although the reason I counted them had nothing to do with Christmas at all. It had to do with this post on the No S forum.

I saw it a few days ago and since then the words '100 days of success' have been rattling around in my head. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.

I started by defining success:

• Confine eating occasions to meals 
• Confine desserts to weekends
• 'Exercise' three days a week
• Go out and play with my family at least once a week, hopefully more: tennis, bicycle, after dinner walk, etc- although by the end of the 100 days, this might mean building a snowman!
• Get to bed before 11 pm. 

I didn't mention seconds, because that has never been an issue for me.  'Dessert' means cakes, pies, cookies, etc. Fruit desserts and 70% dark chocolate are exceptions unless I decide otherwise. 

I'm posting this a day early in case anyone wants to join with me. But you don't have to start the same day or have many goals. Any day, any goal(s), just jump in where you are. Write us a comment or use  #100daysofsuccess on twitter. 

Friday Foodspiration!

Every Friday at LWNoS, we will have a post dedicated to 'Foodspiration'. It's a chance for readers to share menus, meals, recipes and even post plate photos to be included in our slideshow at the top of the page.

There are many ways to participate:

• share any or all of your meals for the week in the comments 
• if you plan meals in advance, share your menu ideas for the coming week
• submit a recipe or a plate photo with information explaining which meal it is and what is on the plate, to nosladies dot gmail dot com.  Photos will be added to the slideshow and recipes will be available in google docs. 
• if  you have a No S blog, share a link to your blog, or 
• just check in on Fridays and have a look around. To get details on any of the slideshow photos, just click on the image. If you see a meal that inspires you, feel free to ask for details and recipes in the comments 

So try a new recipe. Snap a plate photo or two. But most of all, share and enjoy! 

Go Figure

As I mentioned in a previous post  my first week back at work with my new schedule was something less than a rousing success.  I had tried to stick with No S, but I just wasn't successful at all. I was hungry hours before meals but didn't feel like eating when it came time to eat. I was unusually tired during the day and it didn't help that I started waking at 3 am which I haven't done in quite a while. The second week I decided to just bag the whole thing and allow my new circumstances to settle.

So for the next week I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and slept as much as I could. I didn't try to exercise, other than an after dinner walk one evening. I went to the pool once, but you can hardly call floating around on a lounger 'swimming', so I'm not counting that.

This week I'm back to No S - easily going up to 7 hours between meals without a problem. I've also stopped waking at night - and feeling like falling asleep during the day. Perhaps the weirdest thing though is that after about 10 days of this, I was sure I'd have gained weight. Instead I found I'd lost 2.5 pounds.

Sometimes the most unexpected things work. Have you ever had to 'shake things up' a bit in order to get back into your routine?

Meal Planning

One of my tasks this past weekend was to plan meals and shop for the month. I know it probably sounds crazy, since that's what I first thought, too. I tried it, though, and found that  it actually injected a bit of sanity in my life. I'm not very organized, so planning means less stress, and more success.

I began with the basics from this website, altering it for our activities and schedule, what leftovers will need to be used and even the season. To streamline the process, breakfasts change day to day, but repeat each week, as do lunches during the school year. Dinner is more thoroughly planned - down to side dishes and dessert ideas, if it's an S day.

If this sounds rigid, it's not. The last thing I need in my life is a list of 'must dos' to feel guilty about if I 'didn't do', and somedays nothing else will do but to ditch the whole plan and go out. But I like to cook, to eat and to feed my family well - and did I mention I'm a bit 'organizationally challenged'? Meal planning helps me avoid standing in the kitchen at 5 pm with no idea what to fix for dinner, and if I do have an idea, finding out I don't have the ingredients. It also doesn't hurt that since I started doing this, I spend much less time shopping, and our grocery bill is only one half to two thirds what it used to be.

What method of meal planning, if any, works for you?

Friday Foodspiration!

Every Friday at LWNoS, we will have a post dedicated to 'Foodspiration'. It's a chance for readers to share menus, meals, recipes and even post plate photos to be included in our slideshow at the top of the page.

There are many ways to participate:

• share any or all of your meals for the week in the comments 
• if you plan meals in advance, share your menu ideas for the coming week
• submit a recipe or a plate photo with information explaining which meal it is and what is on the plate, to nosladies dot gmail dot com.  Photos will be added to the slideshow and recipes will be available in google docs. 
• if  you have a No S blog, share a link to your blog, or 
• just check in on Fridays and have a look around. To get details on any of the slideshow photos, just click on the image. If you see a meal that inspires you, feel free to ask for details and recipes in the comments 

So try a new recipe. Snap a plate photo or two. But most of all, share and enjoy! 

A New 'Normal'

Last week was a tough one for me. I have a new schedule this year that sounded good in theory, but hasn't worked out very well. The way it's supposed to work is that I eat breakfast around 9, then have lunch when I get home at 2. At the beginning of the week I was hungry for breakfast about 8, and *very* hungry for a good two hours before I could get lunch. I also don't have a lot of time at 2 pm. The combined effect has been that I eat a lot very quickly which means I don't enjoy it much and I'm not hungry again in time for dinner. I've tried adjusting the amounts and the timing of breakfast and lunch as much as I am able, but it hasn't really made a difference.

The second problem is that it took me until Friday to adjust to these meal times, which of course, will not mesh with my family life on weekends - which then means I'll be constantly adjusting to two different schedules and for me that is simply unsustainable.

I didn't get any exercise in at all last week. I don't know how much of this is due to my busier schedule, the fact that I work in a very hot place that kinda sucks the energy out of me, or simply because I'm always tired when I start back to work.

Change is part of life, though. I just have to find a new 'normal' that works for me, and in the meantime, try not to get too discouraged.

Friday Foodspiration!

Every Friday at LWNoS, we will have a post dedicated to 'Foodspiration'. It's a chance for readers to share menus, meals, recipes and even post plate photos to be included in our slideshow at the top of the page.

There are many ways to participate:

• share any or all of your meals for the week in the comments 
• if you plan meals in advance, share your menu ideas for the coming week
• submit a recipe or a plate photo with information explaining which meal it is and what is on the plate, to nosladies dot gmail dot com.  Photos will be added to the slideshow and recipes will be available in google docs
• if  you have a No S blog, share a link to your blog, or 
• just check in on Fridays and have a look around. If you see a meal that inspires you, feel free to ask for details and recipes in the comments 

So try a new recipe. Snap a plate photo or two. But most of all, share and enjoy! 

Every Bite Counts

"Every Bite Counts" has been part of my signature at Everyday Systems blog for quite awhile now. At first that was meant as a reminder to help establish the no snacking and no seconds habit. And then I used it to make sure that on my S Days any splurges I might choose were really worthy. Now when I think of every bite counting I think of making sure what I feed myself is good for my body.

You see, I have no calories to spare like I used to when I was a young thing. I have monitored my 3 plates for 10 months now mainly for information. For instance in the last quarter (May 25-August 25) I have averaged 1341 calories daily. This has been all nutritious food..no junk. And I have gained 2 lbs. I am assuming this is not a real gain, but just a 2 lb. fluctuation. Nonetheless, it is obvious that I will not lose weight on 1341 calories. My choices: try to get calorie count lower? don't think so Maybe up the exercise? I am still recovering from a broken foot bone and cannot walk for exercise, but I can work on this some. Get happy where I am? Maybe. I am just 4 lbs. over the BMI suggestions for normal weight, but I am 20 lbs. over my normal adult weight. I think it is just hard for a 64 yr. old to eat what I used to. My appetite and desire stays the same, but I just don't burn it off.

Conclusion: Just keep on NoSing and don't fret. I am healthy, don't look fat, can wear size 12 clothing. And lest I forget, I have lost over 40 lbs. since last October! My body will do its own thing, but I still have to be aware that Every Bite Counts. If I don't, then I will not just maintain, I will gain bigtime.

Fall Ahead

Temperatures are in the 90s here, but the days are shorter, yellow leaves are starting to appear and as of today, school is back in session. As Sojourner mentioned in the comments last week, for many of us, this time of year can feel even more like the start of a new year than January 1 does. I've often felt that way, and this year is no exception.

You're no doubt familiar with the phrase 'Spring Ahead, Fall Back' that helps people know which way to adjust their clocks when daylight saving times begins and ends. I'm feeling quite enthusiastic today, so rather than thinking of falling back - I'm looking ahead. Summer has been lovely and much as I don't want to see it end, I find myself looking forward to fall specialties -  crunchy leaves, backyard bonfires (no mosquitos!), and the golden glow of aspen trees. To  cozy sweaters, hot chocolate and other  comforting, cool weather foods. And to that favorite of parents everywhere - the return of structure and routine to family life.

I've got my goals (health/fitness and otherwise) lined out for the month and I'm ready to give it my best. I've even set up a habitcal, which I haven't used in quite some time. 

Here's to old routines and new challenges. Happy (almost) fall, everyone. 

Friday Foodspiration!

Every Friday at LWNoS, we will have a post dedicated to 'Foodspiration'. It's a chance for the No S community to share menus, meals, recipes and even post plate photos to be included in our slideshow at the top of the page.

There are many ways to participate:

• share any or all of your meals for the week in the comments 
• if you plan meals in advance, share your menu ideas for the coming week
• submit a recipe or a plate photo with information explaining which meal it is and what is on the plate, to nosladies dot gmail dot com.  Photos will be added to the slideshow and recipes will be available in google docs
• if  you have a No S blog, share a link to your blog, or 
• just check in on Fridays and have a look around. If you see a meal that inspires you, feel free to ask for details and recipes in the comments 

So try a new recipe. Snap a plate photo or two. But most of all, share and enjoy! 

Two Month Review

It's been two months now since I started back with NoS, which means it's time for an update. I have been doing weekly updates, but there isn't that much to say, so I've decided to go with monthly for now, and possibly throw in an extra if something unusual is going on.

I guess that's a clue then that things on the NoS front have been fairly 'usual' - which is to say, 'mixed'. On the positive side, I've been keeping up well with some of the goals I set for myself. I've managed to stay off the scale, other than a couple of days this past month. I've also continued my exercise - both 'playtime' and the scheduled type. I've played tennis 2-4 times a week, been for the occasional walk or swim, done some gardening and kept up my strength training 2-3 times a week. I like the way my arms look and feel tighter, but I really noticed the benefits of that strength training yesterday when I went to work and had no trouble with the heavy lifting I have to do as part of my job.

On the negative side, I have been staying up too late, which really affects how I feel the next day. I haven't been very serious about NoS rules, either, which isn't entirely negative, depending on one's point of view. It's not because I've been struggling, but more because I just haven't been too bothered. I have had a 'summer vacation' feeling and I haven't really wanted it to go away. But it's my summer, my NoS, so it's a compromise I'm okay with. If I want to sit with my son on a 98 degree summer day by the pool and eat ice cream that's melting almost faster than we can eat it - I'm going to do it. It doesn't mean I'm going to do it every day, or that because I had an ice cream, all rules are 'off' for the rest of the day. It just means, for me, there's a time for rules, and a time to just live life and make memories.

And for me, summer is over. The weather is still hot and sunny, but summer activities are winding down and school is starting up. So what are my goals for the next month?

• keep up my activity - go for walks or play tennis with the family in the evenings, do some fall gardening and continue with the strength training 
• get to bed on time
• get some sunshine every day
• take some time to relax, laugh and generally enjoy life every day
• tighten up 'da rules 

How has everyone else been doing? Do you have progress to share or goals you're working on?

MM: Judgements and Rationalizations

A friend and I were out at the pool recently with our children. It was a Saturday, and since we were going to be there most of the day, we packed a picnic lunch. I even got up early to early to bake brownies for everyone. The kids and I enjoyed them, but my friend didn't have one. It was just on the tip of my tongue to say 'I only eat sweets on weekends' but I stopped myself. Why did I feel, even for a fleeting second, that I needed to justify eating a brownie?

We all have the right to eat what we want, when we want it.  It's no one's business but our own. Yet many people, especially women or the overweight, sometimes act as if they are embarrassed to be seen eating as if they have been caught doing something wrong. 

I've noticed this behavior in other people recently. We were in an ice cream shop a few weeks ago, where an overweight woman declared loudly to the room in general that she knew she 'shouldn't' be eating ice cream, but was getting the  'low fat'. Was she feeling 'guilty' about eating ice cream? Maybe she felt we were all judging her - so much so that she felt she had to make this announcement to a roomful of total strangers that she would never see again. 

Later a very fit, young woman was heard telling a group at large that since they had walked for a while, they could 'enjoy a second scoop of ice cream' at lunch. That they'd 'earned' it. As if we can only have ice cream if we 'earn' it - or that exercise is for no other purpose than to allow ourselves to eat more later? She would have probably found herself in agreement with the woman I overheard later on the trail, telling her husband that surely she was 'burning off the second cookie'.

Why for so many has it become something to be avoided - almost to be feared? I read a comment once by a woman who was so fearful of gaining weight, she said she hated eating and wished she didn't have to eat at all. 

Judging by the brownie incident, there's still a bit of that kind of thinking in me, but I'm working on erasing it. I will  eat good food and I will enjoy it. I will not explain, justify or apologize  and I will not feel guilty (unless, that is, I steal it).  Food is fuel. It is life. It is also meant to be enjoyed. If it was not, then why were we given the ability to enjoy it? 

FOOD REWARD

There is a huge discussion going on in the blogosphere concerning what causes obesity which bubbled up at the Ancestral Health Symposium this month in Los Angeles. Gary Taubes has put forth the carbohydrate hypothesis (carbohydrates pumping up insulin), and Stephen Guyenet has put forth the food reward theory, and others say it is the Neolithic agents of disease –gluten, excessive fructose, and omega 6s as well as food reward. Lustig of youtube fame says that we are becoming leptin and insulin resistant due to excessive fructose. So if you are interested, it is good reading. However, I am only going to speak for me, an older woman who has lost 40+ lbs. and still has 10 lbs. to go that won’t budge. I have been losing and gaining all my life so I am sure I may have a messed up metabolism. There is probably some reason that I cannot lose weight at 1400 calories a day.  I do practice 3 meals a day without snacks, seconds or sweets. But I cannot lose weight without watching my calorie and carbohydrate consumption. And I have always had trouble with S Days undoing all the good work of my N Days.  Here is where I think the food reward hypothesis does have some validity.

We already know that processed foods and restaurant foods are chocked full of sugar and fat and salt combinations designed to get us to over eat. We are also now living at a time when foods of all types are abundant year round. We probably have the most variety of any diet since the beginning of mankind.  We can go to local stores or walk into our own kitchens and food is readily available. It is obvious that our food environment is contributing to obesity because of all those darn high reward foods calling our name. But shouldn’t I have more control of the available food in my own home?

Here is a list of foods that I really have trouble limiting. Can we say FOOD REWARD?

Salty foods…nuts, chips, fries

Sweet foods…especially if combined with flour and fat…Brownies, pies, cookies

Breads, especially homemade and biscuits and cornbread

Coffee with cream leads to more coffee consumption than black

Creamy foods…butter in mashed potatoes, cheese, mayonnaise, creamy dressings, buttermilk

Fruits…ripe and juicy

Do I ever overeat vegetables without seasoning or butter? Do I overeat unseasoned lean meat? Unseasoned rice or potatoes?  NO… NOT ENOUGH REWARD

I do not plan to put Guyenet’s plan into practice…i.e. eating foods separately, unseasoned, bland, etc. However, since food reward is an area where I do have troubles, I have to be very, very careful. I have learned that it is better for me to have some foods outside of the house on S Days, and there are some foods I just do not eat any more. Even on N Days I have to put some restrictions in place so that I don’t overeat.

How do you handle highly rewarding foods?

Friday Foodspiration!

A few weeks ago I read this post on the No S board. 

"I searched around a bit, but couldn't find a thread for meal planning / brainstorming--either for questions, or just folks describing meals that work well for them.

I get stuck in dietary ruts really easily--I've got multiple, severe food allergies, which means that trying new things often feels like more trouble than it's worth--so it's always useful and helpful to see what other people are putting together!

I've also noticed that with No S, I'm paying much more attention to planning balanced meals, since the need to be the source of *all* the calories and nutrients I'm getting.

So, if you've got regular meals that you make, or stumble across meals or recipes that work well enough to be worth sharing, here's a place for it!"

This post really hit home with me. Around the same time this was posted I was also in the  doldrums as far as meal planning/cooking was concerned. I just couldn't think of anything that sounded good or that I felt like cooking. Sometimes I couldn't even think of things to cook at all. That's saying something considering I really enjoy cooking (and eating!) Once in a while I shopped and cooked, but  we were eating out far too often.

I finally decided enough was enough. Fortunately, stored on my computer I have lists and menus from previous, doldrum-free months. I pulled up a couple of them and started small, planning just a few, easy meals at a time until I was out of my rut. 

Shortly after that, I saw this post and I realized I was not alone. Other people also ran out of ideas from time to time, or sometimes just want to climb out of their rut and try something new for a change. Over the next few weeks I thought about it, wondering if there was a way we could use this blog as a way to share meal planning ideas, recipes and plate photos in a way that isn't always so easy on a fast moving forum. 

Beginning today, I will be dedicating my Friday posts to 'Foodspiration' with the hope that it will become a useful resource for the No S community. A place to share menus, meals, recipes and even post plate photos to be included in our new slideshow at the top of the page.

There are many ways to be included:

• share any or all of your meals for the week in the comments 
• if you plan meals in advance, share your menu ideas for the coming week
• submit a plate photo, along with information explaining which meal it is and what is on the plate to nosladies at gmail dot com and it will be included in the slide show. Recipes should be sent to the address, and will be available in Google Docs
• if  you have a No S blog, share a link to your blog, or 
• just check in on Fridays and have a look around. If you see a meal that inspires you, feel free to ask for details and recipes in the comments 

So try a new recipe. Snap a plate photo or two. But most of all, share and enjoy!