Starting the no 'S' eating regime today to lose weight, anyone want to join in?

[standclear]

Hi, have got decidedly porky over the past few years.
I feel tired and lethargic, and none of my clothes look good anymore.
I also need to lose weight for health reasons and increase my (currently woeful) level of exercise.

I want to follow a simple and 'do-able' eating plan that is fairly simple and that I will be able to sustain ie hoping to lose 0.5 kg each week.

I'm planning to follow the no 'S' "diet":

book here

A summary of the basic rules is:

no snacks
no sweets (it's an American book so that covers puddings as well as biscuits and confectionary)
no seconds

except on days that start with 's' ie the weekend, and 'special' days ie birthdays and big holidays such as Christmas.

I've got the book so can answer further questions but that is basically it!

I'm going to be using MFP to log calories and I have also found the free NHS weight loss plan (includes exercise) helpful too

see here

I am planning to post my weight here every Sunday too (but that is not obligatory of course).

The other reason for posting on here is that I don't want to bore my family and friends to death about it in rl!! But it would be nice to have some companions along the way .

Anyone want to join in?

I've been a bit rubbish lately and not wanted post about it.

Yesterday was better, even if it was mainly due to working 8am - 9pm and having no time to snack.

B - egg & mushroom roll, can of double shot coffee
L - tuna nicoise salad with dough balls, 1 baci chocolate
D - prawn & salmon sandwich, salad, almonds

Starting a week of night shifts tonight. I know I will feel so much better (or at least less grotty) if I can such to eating 3 meals but there will be so much temptation to graze all night.

Waves to everyone - hope you're all hanging on in there.

Great you are back on track Helen and good luck with the night shifts this week (which sound exhausting!) and with resisting grazing etc! [Could you pack an emergency bag of almonds or some such in case of blood sugar dips?]

Congrats on getting weight back down Julie and for being active and great that you have been eating less in the evenings! Good luck with the last 3/4 lbs!!

Well done EltishT on your loss and good luck with reaching your Christmas goal too!

Grumpy now don't me cross with me because I have virtually (apart from one present) done all of my Christmas shopping but I probably have a lot more time than most people on here and only 1 dd and I haven't written any cards at all and the house is a sea of clutter - no way I can put decorations up until I have had a serious tidy and dust - so in many ways, I'm not prepared for Christmas at all! And I haven't made the cake yet either!! And good luck staying strong at work lunch!

Hope things are going well with you too Boozena (very encouraging to be reminded that the no S diet worked for you in the past)

Hope you are having a lovely holiday Rivier!

How are you getting on Jolly?

I am maintaining at the moment and not putting weight on or taking it off ... .

I am hoping that the indulgences of Christmas will be counter-balanced by all the rushing around involved in having lots of guests!

Waves to ¨Uphill and anyone I have missed!

Keep going (or maintaining!) eveyrone!!!

You can do it!

Well I am taking a break till 1st/2nd of January. No a break so much as just not worrying about things so much. As I know since starting in October I have really managed to change my habits for the better, thanks you all for your inspiration, pep talks and for Sharing your own journeys.

I am 63kg today which is just under 10st, and 4kg lighter than when I started.

Many congrats eltsihT on reaching your Christmas goal - that is really good going!! [hangs up celebratory bunting]

Think you, and others on here, are the ones who are inspiring us!

Well done eltsihT that's fab news.

I'm still trying to keep going. First two nights were OK, but then last night was a total disaster! Kind of gave up at the first hurdle and bought loads of (healthyish) snacks to munch on while working (I'm in CID so during night duty we only really go out if something 'big' happens, otherwise we're mainly in the office) but then finished them and moved on to my colleague's crisps and chocolates. Oh dear. And it didn't even make the time go quicker tbh.

Felt really grotty and bloated by the end of the night so need to remember that and stick to my plan of:
Dinner at home at 7pm ish
2nd dinner about 1am
Breakfast at home around 7am

On the positive side I've been doing the shred every evening which is doing a good job of waking me up!

Hi Everyone,

I'm hanging in at almost exactly 11 stone - definitely haven't lost any this week. Mostly I'm hoping to maintain over the Christmas period and start phase 2 on 4th Jan with a goal of getting to 10.5 stone by Easter (might be ambitious as Easter is early).

I had a massive piece of chocolate cheesecake on Friday which was delicious, but I did spend the next 24h hours thinking "I could just, you know, NOT have eaten that".

Helen I think night shifts are a whole new challenge, food wise. It's easy to feel all grotty and bloated just from being up all night and it's hard to trust any hungry/not hungry feelings.

eltishT well done!

Big wave to everyone else

Much better night last night

1st dinner - quorn meatballs in pasta sauce with veg, blueberry yogurt
2nd dinner - minestrone soup, apple, mince pie.
Snack - apple, hot chocolate
Breakfast - porridge & yogurt

Feel much better and less bloated so need to keep it up tonight.

Well done for maintaining grumpy, and good luck with your new year goal.

Can I join you? I have 10lbs or so to lose and some dreadful habits to break!

A warm welcome to you Monty of course you can join! (I'm not officially "here" btw, having given up temporarily, but will be starting again in Jan ) Good luck with your 10lb objective!

Yes, well done for for maintaining Grumpy!!

Keep going Helen and very well done re: the shredding and the return to healthy eating!!
Wasn't there quite a lot of publicity a year or so back about shift-work playing havoc with one's circadian rhythms, hunger patterns and insulin production etc? In summary, it is very tough to diet whilst working odd hours. Particularly tough, I would imagine, in a stressful job like yours and when everyone around you is snacking too! I think all of us would struggle with that!

Hope everyone is surviving the pre-Christmas madness! I am trying to stretch my hand out to the satsuma bowl rather than the chocolate box! But beyond that, I daren't weigh myself atm!

Ooh, forgot to report a tiny bit of positive news: I can (unexpectedly) fit in to my black "posh" Christmas trousers after all! Yay!

Monty welcome! I have another 10 pounds to lose so we will be in good company :) Does your NN have an interesting back story?

You will find that Helen posts amazing healthy menus (that she's actually eaten, not just idealistic ones), which make me feel envious and hungry at the same time.

SC that is rather fabulous. It's amazing how good it feels to get into an item of clothing that hasn't fit for a while.

I have just splashed out on some expensive control tights from John Lewis for Friday's work do. Slightly concerned about the sizing (they only come in s/m or m/l and I normally buy a large in tights or the legs are too short....), but the woman in the shop sung their praises and reckoned they would be perfect. Just need to get round to epilating legs now, or it will be a bad look entirely

Thank you for the welcomes!

grumpy it's a line from my favourite film which always makes me laugh! It's from Withnail and I - Richard E Grant yells "Monty you terrible cunt, what are you doing prowling around in the middle of the fucking night"? It's funnier in the film than written down probably...

I have the same problems with tights btw Grumpy (not being long enough in the leg I mean)! Hope you have a good time on Friday!

Hello all, and welcome Monty !

And well done to everyone for holding it together in the face of terrible temptations, awkward shift patterns and life generally. I too seem to be in a 'maintain' phase which, frankly, is a miracle given what a mess the rest of my life is right now.

No more nights out/nice lunches for me til Christmas now, so it's just a question of buying presents, food shopping, wrapping presents, decorating the house, sorting out beds etc for visitors, remembering what items and/or money the DC need for school each day (thankfully they all vetoed Christmas jumper day today!), having everyone in the right place at the right time for evening concerts and parties and extra-curricular stuff - oh, and trying to look vaguely competent at work. AAARRGHHHH!!!!!

Is it any wonder we turn to the chocolate?

Good to "see" you Julie

I could have written your post almost word for word! Exactly the same here chez SC (apart from the competent at work bit )

Well done for holding it altogether yourself too xx

Evening!

So day 1 went OK in that I didn't have any snacks, sweet stuff or seconds. Calorie wise, not so brilliant as I've put my meals into mfp and it's coming out at 2,000 calories or so... I'm ok with that for today though as I think that, firstly, I really need to break my bad snacking habit. Anyway, this was today:

B - Granola, toast with butter and marmite

L - 3 bean chili, rice and sprinkle of cheese

T - bacon and green lentil stew type thing with lots of veg and sprinkle of Parmesan, banana and satsuma

Drinks - tea and coffee (a lot of), some with sugar...

Plan for tomorrow is to continue in the same vein but maybe eat something less carb and calorie heavy at breakfast time. That was where a lot of my calories came from. Also will try to stop putting sugar in my hot drinks as it seems a waste of calories and possibly not in the spirit of No S.

Hope everyone else has had a good day!

Good work on your first day Monty I found it quite hard at the outset to break the habit of calorie counting as well as doing the no-S thing, but I do think it was worth it to get out of the snacking habit which was my main downfall.

I'm eating shockingly badly at the moment - every meal is thrown together leftovers or junk bought out, but I haven't touched the box of celebrations that I use for the kids' advent calendars, nor eaten any of my home-made mince pies except when I've accidentally missed a meal. So I might get scurvy some time soon, but I'm not putting on weight!

SC, the end is in sight for all my running around, with term finishing tomorrow and DH being off from then til after Christmas too although I'm not sure he'll pick up much slack . How are things looking for you??

That's kind of you to ask Julie (and well done for nearly getting to the end of the Christmas prep and hope you can ring-fence some time just for yourself next week if at all possible).

I'm afraid I'm behind with things (a) because I am suffering from gynae "ishews" atm which are slowing me down and (b) because every time I use the washing machine, our electricity goes on the blink.

Mt Washmore is growing at an alarming rate. We may be wearing swim wear for Christmas if electrics not fixed soon

[Although I hope not because, unlike you, I haven't had the discipline to avoid the mince pies, although I really should!)

Hope everyone else is surviving all the pre-Christmas stresses (and culinary temptations!)

I think it is quite a challenge to eat healthily at this time of year tbh. It's hard when there is so much extra stuff to fit in and so many school concerts/carol services/events to attend etc. Meal planning tends to go out of the window (well it does in this household anyway).

Well done to all who are managing to resist all the festive deliciousness! I agree with you SC, it's really tricky at this time of year.

Thanks Julie. Yes I'm keen to get out of a really bad grazing habit. The problem is, I eat 3 decent meals AND graze in between. It's completely unnecessary and I don't want it to rub off on DD.

Day 3 is done anyway. I've managed not to snack, eat sweet stuff or have second helpings, though I did have a beer at supper time... Not sure if that's allowed but t'is the season and all that!

I managed a run / walk with the buggy this morning too which is the first time for a while. Was very smug about it to DH though it's hard to be too pleased with yourself when you have a red, sweaty face and are extremely out of breath after 3k...

I'm a bit worried that you're not really entering into the spirit of things Monty ... If you'd read the thread, you'd have seen that most of us rarely manage a single day of sticking to the rules, let alone 3

I'm definitely for the naughty corner today. I opened a bottle of mulled wine last night to help me along with some work I had to finish. After drinking half of it, I had no willpower left to resist the camembert. A kilo, I put on overnight. A KILO!!!

I'm not sure the quality of my work was the best, either...

Hello again! I've finally made my way back to this thread.
I held up quite well on holiday I have to say, much better than I've been doing since I've been back jetlag makes me tired which makes me hungry.
I only have christmas and new year's day themselves off, so can't overindulge too much really.

Oh julie, I'm joining you in naughty corner! I was ravenous this pm and "had to" have 2 hot crossed buns... and a couple of crisps... and I'm just enjoying a brandy... But it's KIND of a special day... I think... a bit. DH had finished work for Xmas and Santa came to our street on a float this evening, so that's a bit special.

Oh well. At least I have company here in naughty corner!

Just stopping in to say hello! And welcome. It's lovely to see how you are all doing and I am missing checking in.

I have been surprisingly well behaved saying I am having a bit of a break. I seem to have cracked the snacking habit and really want to keep it up. I now have family Christmas dinners on the 23rd 25th 27th and 28th of December but I am going to try to stick to the it fits on a plate idea and no seconds, but I will be eating plenty of pudding ( I made the puddings for 2 of the dinners before I started no s'ing)