The No S Diet (it's not exactly a diet)

[holmessweetholmes]

I just found this and I think it's awesome. The most sensible thing I've read in aaages about how not to be overweight.

The No S Diet rules:

No Snacking
No Sweets (puddings, sugary stuff)
No Seconds

... except when the day starts with an S (Saturday, Sunday, Special days).

That's it.

I am sooo fed up with thinking about carbs / no carbs / fat / low fat / fasting / superfoods / G.I. blah blah blah. I think I might actually be able to stick to this.

Thanks Helen, yes I'm hoping that could have been it! We'll see at the next weight in :-/

Hi lizzy

We were away over the weekend and just came back today, so I am slightly dreading the scales. I don't actually own any scales so call in at the doctors on my way past but after last week's confusion maybe I should invest.

I should add that there is a weight and blood pressure room at my gp, I don't make an appointment just so the doctor can weigh me.

Thanks everyone. Think I've had an ok day today for day 3. Only problem is I have eaten 2 polos (sugar )
B- strawberries, natural yoghurt & a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds
L - chicken salad sandwich on wholemeal (homemade) and an apple
Tea - lasagne and salad

I too get the afternoon hunger pangs but try and curb them with a drink.

I'm slightly worried about the S day and have found the speculation around 'sometimes' interesting. I'm thinking of having one sweet treat on Saturday and another on Sunday. Maybe a normal sized chocolate bar. I'd be interested to know your thoughts

WhatLizzy that sounds fine. After a while you might find that a smaller size chocolate bar does the trick, or split the normal size bar in half and eat half on each S day.

Helen it definitely does get easier the longer you follow the No S diet, but one thing I'm noticing is that, having fewer sweet things to eat seems to make me want to drink sweeter drinks! On Monday I drank an apple & raspberry J2O and an elderflower cordial and yesterday a cider and a ginger beer (at friends' wedding anniversary celebration). I usually manage fine on unsweetened tea and water .

Today I was working a 12 hour shift so I ate lunch: baked potato, chilli and salad, tea: GF wrap filled with cream cheese, beetroot & rocket, tangerine, grapes & a yoghurt, supper: pork pie and tomatoes.

Good luck with the scales, beela!

Lizzy - my approach to s days (nb I've only been doing this for 2 weeks!) has been to try to limit sweets to meal times and snack on fruit/healthy stuff. I've also allowed myself things like artificiality sweetened pop which I've been avoiding in the week.

The lesson I learnt last Sunday was not to eat big ass (much bigger than I'd normally eat when not dieting) puddings because it makes me feel out if control and rubbish. And it won't help with weight loss.

In contrast, the weekend before I ate one chocolate digestive on Sunday evening (breaking the sweets at mealtimes only thing but hey ho). It tasted lovely. I was happy.

We'll see how this weekend goes...

Yesterday's menu

B - protein bar

L - smoked salmon & scrambled eggs on 2 toast, salad (was worried afterwards that I'd overdone the carbs but it kept me going for 7 hours so maybe it was sensible?)

D - quorn lasangne, veg, yoghurt with 1 spoon peanut butter (an experiment to replace my usual sweetener.. Don't think I'll be trying it again ), strawberries

cheapskatemum I don't think sweet drinks are allowed in the week? Only water, tea and coffee. I don't drink tea or coffee so it's very boring but I just drink water during the week. At the weekend I might treat myself to a glass of OJ for breakfast, a diet coke for lunch or a cider / cocktail / etc in the evening.
I would love to find a flavoured drink which doesn't have sugar, artificial sweetener, or too much fruit juice. I did find one which had green tea and a small amount of fruit juice which seems better than the alternatives. But It was in a cafe in London and I haven't found it since - can't remember the name of it

Emma I have been drinking herbal / fruit tea instead of my usual squash, as I don't drink tea or coffee either. Some of them taste pretty disgusting but they smell sweet so it temporarily fools me. Can't quite replicate the sugar hit from a sugary drink though.

Back from my holidays now so I am trying to be strict. I had breakfast (unsweetened museli and blueberries) at 6.45, so allowed myself an 11 o'clock snack of a satsuma and 2 oatcakes - although this isn't allowed, I have comforted myself with the fact that this is healthier than the chocolate bar or biscuits that I would usually have had!

Back from holiday, so am keen to properly get in the swing of No S. Today breakfast was two wholegrain rice cakes with peanut butter and apple slices. Lunch was salade Niçoise. Dinner will be chilli con carne, rice and salad.

Beela yes I guess the options are fruit or herb tea! I usually prefer cold drinks, I wonder if any of the fruit teas would taste ok chilled...

Yesterday:

3.5 mile run
4 ish miles walking to/from work (thanks to the tube strike)

B - muesli, yoghurt, apple
L - salad box with egg & olives, pear
D - halumi wrap, small packet of dried fruits nuts and seeds

Also messed up and had a glass of semi skimmed milk in the afternoon which I am counting as a snack. Didn't eat enough for lunch so was starving and needed something to take the edge of.

11.30am - eaten lunch, still hungry. It's not going well today!

Saturday - hurrah!

Yesterday:
B - egg & roast tomato muffin
L - quinoa, kale & salmon salad, nectarine
D - quorn fajitas (or fanjitas as do insists on calling them ), strawberries, 2 peaches.

Definitely broke the no seconds rule with extra quorn & veg and the 2nd peach. All very healthy but its the principle really.

So I have done a full week and my weight has stayed exactly the same. I did not go mad at the weekend - 3 biscuits and one lot of seconds - BUT I did you out with the girls on Friday night and had quite a bit to drink.

I'm going to try it for another week and see what happens ...

How's everyone else getting on? X

Keep going WhatLizzyDid, it's a marathon not a sprint!

I weighed myself this morning and am pleased to report my weight is back to "normal" (ie a bit lower than when I started the diet) after my terrible weight reading last week! Phew! So after 4 weeks of the diet (including a bit of cheating) I've lost 1.7kg which is 3.7 pounds, just under a pound a week. Not bad! That will motivate me to keep going... I'm about to go on a month-long trip (eeee!) so I'll try and keep it up, but may slip a bit. We shall see!

Hope you're all getting on ok.

AnotherEmma that sounds really good, well done! I've stayed the same again this week, so I've lost 1.5lb over the last 4 weeks. I do eat big meals though. WhatLizzy while you were having your girls' night out drinks, I was eating: a jam filled macaroon, 2 millionaire's shortcakes and a chocolate brownie at a minute past midnight .
Today I've had:
Brunch - cheese, ham & salad wrap, grapes, apple, Nak'd bar
Afternoon tea - 2 boiled eggs with toasted rye bread, Marmite & cream cheese, nuts.
Dinner - chicken & veg soup.

Things going OK here, although I have fallen out of the habit of posting. Will try to start again as it makes me feel a but more in control.

Had my first non weekend s day on Thurs, a but cheeky as it was only a friend's birthday, not a family member's, but it was a meal out with a set 3 course menu and I couldn't resist the pud . Managed to stop it slipping into a whole day of s-es though which I guess is good.

Yesterday
3 mile run
B - protein bar, apple
L - big salad with tuna, sweet corn, homous, apple
D - Thai meal (tom yum seafood soup, pak salad with egg and peanut sauce - yum!)

The last couple of weekends I haven't had regrets eating wise. I'm going to try really hard only to have s-es that I really want and which will make me happy not miserable this time.

That sounds like a really good plan, Helen. I bought a bag of Minstrels for this weekend, chortling at the "more to share' phrase on the front, but I have actually shared them. It's made me happy rather than miserable, so I know what you mean. This week I stayed the same weight again, so I do need to start doing something different in order to lose this last 6lb. Any suggestions? Today I ate:
B - 2 slices toasted rye bread with sunflower spread & blackcurrant jam, raspberries & 2 apricots
L - crabcakes, sweet potato & salad, half pint cider.
D - salad & 1 frankfurter sausage
& Minstrels!

Arg, well the first few days this week for me have been sick days (horrible cold) and I have definitely made the most of the free s-es . Back at it yesterday - it is surprisingly hard to get back into the saddle after slipping back into old habits for only a short time . Managed it just about (with the exception of throat sweets which I'm not counting!)

Yesterday:
B - muesli and yoghurt
L - tomato & mozzarella roll, graze pot, apple
D - veggie pasta bake, peas, orange

cheapskatemum I'm finding weight loss really slow too. I don't know if any of the following are relevant to you?

• I drink a couple of glasses of wine most evenings. The official no s website states that alcohol is not an s, but it certainly contains a lot of calories! I intend to cut down, however there are only so many lifestyle changes that one can make at a time so I'm getting used to the no s (also more water, no artificial sweeteners, less salt) before I broach that particular vice!

• exercise. I'm doing better at this one! I find exercising before breakfast helps me lose weight so I'm running in the mornings. Strength/weight training is also supposed to be good so I'm trying to fit some of that in to (harder, as I don't enjoy it so much)

• I have a (relatively) small amount to lose, and am wondering if this is hard to do simply by healthy eating etc, maybe the body needs something to jolt it out of equilibrium?? I'm going to stick to no s for now because it is really helping to normalise my eating (I have a history of binging/extreme dieting) but once I feel like the habits are truely ingrained I might consider adding an additional element (maybe 5:2) for a limited time. But maybe that is a terrible idea and I will ruin all my good work and go back to being obsessive about food?! Its so hard!

too doh

And it's. My grammar is atrocious

Yesterday
B - muesli and yoghurt
L - omelette, salad, coleslaw
D - egg sandwich, smoked almonds

Hi all, I still don't know if I've managed to lose any weight! But I have noticed some more snacks and sugar sneaking in. So I have invented a new cheat rule: if I have to break the rules then I can only break one at a time. For example, if I have a snack, it can't be a sweet one. Then I feel that at least I am sticking to it a bit. I had a snack of 2 oatcakes this morning, instead of the 2 garibaldis that I was about to eat (I had breakfast at 6.30, so was wilting by 11am!).

Thanks, helentheheron I drink very little alcohol, 1 or 2 units a week on an average week. Like you, I don't have much to lose, about half a stone. Once the summer holidays are over and the kids are back at college/uni/day care I'll get back into a routine of exercising more. It won't be running early morning though, my body would be !
Today I ate:
B - 1 slice rye toast with almond butter & a banana
L - baked potato with tuna mayo & salad, an apple
D - roast peppers, onion, cherry tomatoes & mushrooms, new potatoes and grated manchego cheese

I'm working tomorrow, 12 hour shift, so off to prepare bircher muesli for breakfast.

beela that sounds like a good idea & well done on healthy snack.