The No S Diet [title edited by MNHQ]

[Asuitablemum]

I've decided that I finally need to commit to losing my baby weight. I have 2 stone (ideally more to lose). But will just take it half a stone at a time. I am not really into crazy diets. So I've gone for the 's' diet which is basically eat sensibly diet! No snacks, seconds or 'sweets' (includes cakes etc ) except on days beginning with s (weekends and special days). So three meals a day basically. Does anyone want to join me or be my supporter? I lost 1.5 lb the first week, but then gained 0.3. Next weigh in is Monday and today I was 2.5lb lighter so I'm hoping I will have lost something. I am piling up a bit on the meals but figure that I need that to stick to it at the moment. Hopefully as I adjust I can make the meals smaller/healthier too. Looking forward to the weekend for a pudding and some wine!

Hi Posie thank you.

Amazingly I've actually managed a sugar-free day today . I was more organised with my meals, and I really like the simplicity of just giving up all snacks. Also, the idea of being able to have some treats at the weekend if I really want them, rather than giving up FOREVER, is really helpful.

Hope everyone's enjoying their S day!

It's S Day ladies!

I've enjoyed myself. pats gut

I weighed in at 12st 8 this morning!

Well I am sitting in bed feeling rather.....uncomfortable It would seem that a week of No S has already managed to shrink my ability to eat huge amounts. We had our family meal this evening to celebrate my DBs birthday and as usual there was loads and loads of food. I ate and drank what I usually would but to be honest about half way through I started to feel really full. Rather than just stop I carried on, and now I wish I hadn't. I think this is going to be a long road for me, with an awful lot of undoing of bad habits. But I am determined, and I will be right back on it on Monday. Tomorrow will definitely not include so much gluttony!
Hope everyone else is enjoying their treats more than I did!

I think that's definitely progress Posie - sounds like you're gently breaking bad habits by allowing yourself your old 'treats' at weekends, and realising that perhaps they aren't all that treaty after all..?

I hope so BreakingBod I am prepared for it to take time but I would really like to think this might be the start of something good!

Well I lost a grand total of 1/2lb! But considering my excess at the weekend that's not too bad really.
I have a streaming cold so the temptation to comfort eat will be strong, but I will try my best to stick to the plan.

Remember sick days count as 's' so don't be too hard on yourself Posie

I weighed in 12st 11 this morning. I had a Chinese last night which was divine but also incredibly salty so not surprised or stressed by the gain. This weekend was interesting! I snacked, had seconds, and sweets! Certainly not doing it every weekend but it was a good experiment in eating habits. I used to eat like that all the time! That's the bit that shocked me.
I think this morning was the hardest part getting back on the wagon and making the right choices to last me til lunch! Roll on 5 good n days!

Hello all! I didn't weigh myself this morning because I only started on Wednesday last week, and then had 3 S days on Friday, Sat and Sun because it was my birthday on Friday. I didn't see much point in weighing myself after that! But I shall weigh in on Saturday morning before I eat anything. There was much snacking and seconding and sweeting in the last 3 days!

What are you all eating for breakfast? Today I had 2 slices of wholemeal toast with butter and marmalade, but marmalade is full of sugar, so do you think it counts as an S? I think I might stick to full fat Greek yoghurt and berries from now on.

I did a big shop yesterday and bought no biscuits or chocolate or Haribo! The kids won't know what's hit them.

This morning we had run out of normal breakfast food, so I had pitta bread and taramasalata. Normally I have boiled eggs on toast, or toast with butter or peanut butter and hot chocolate, or porridge with fruit (and sometimes a teeny bit of sugar).

I used to have super-healthy 'diet' breakfasts, but I think I'm happier like this, and nibble less.

I really wanted a second helping of lunch, but I resisted.

Posie, half a pound a week is 26lbs a year. That is, coincidentally, just about my target weight loss! I mean, it would be nice to lose another half stone on top of that, but I'd be ecstatic with losing nearly 2 stone, and even more ecstatic about doing it without too much effort. I suspect from reading the No S forum that 26lbs in a year is maybe a bit optimistic, but I can dream!

I wish there was a bit more info - there seem to be lots of people who fail at No S because it's too hard. It doesn't sound hard, although with a grand total of 2.5 N days under my belt I am far too new to know anything yet. Am I missing something?

When I was little we used to have Saturday Sweet Day. The sweet was a Cadbury's fudge bar or a Wham bar - whatever cost 10p. We used to have a competition to see who could eat it slowest. And that was it for actual sweets consumed throughout the week (although we had a biscuit barrel stocked with digestives and hobnobs, and used to get tinned peaches/pears and ice cream for pudding, or those microwavable sponge cakes - more than once a week but not every day). This diet feels like a reversion to Saturday Sweet Day.

I am dithering about the shovelglove thing. I don't own a sledgehammer and I think I might kill a child if I start waving one around in the house. (Dad once knocked out his brother when they were teenagers with a sledgehammer - he swung it back to hammer a fence post just as his brother walked up behind him. This was drummed into me as a cautionary tale). I have a weird feeling about doing pretend wood-chopping - it just feels silly when I have an open fire and should really be more countrified and order some logs to do real wood-chopping!

I am a former NoS failure, and there is a typical failure pattern which is that it all goes well but it seems a bit too easy and chesty, and you don't really want to eat sweet things much anyway and that maybe you should be eating cleaner and counting calories, so you start restricting what you eat beyond the rules and your own appetite. And you go too far and can't keep it up and then go on a bit of a binge of forbidden foods and then find yourself back at square one, with a sweet tooth and no sense of discipline.

Frestelli thank you I did consider taking today as a sick day but actually I haven't had much of an appetite so that's a bonus I guess! I agree that having NoS and S days really makes you stop and think about how easy it is to snack. And how much snacking I have been doing!
Cheddar I hope you had a lovely birthday! I am having quite filling breakfasts like porridge with sliced banana, or poached eggs on toast, or muesli plus a piece of toast and peanut butter. Seems to keep me going until lunch.
Thanks for your words of encouragement and yes you are right I should add up all those 1/2 lbs! Actually the book says around 1/2lb a week which although slow, is more manageable than a restricted diet which I never stick to. This way has to be better.
If you have a look at the website there is a thread about people who have left and are now coming back to the No S diet. Actually I have found that website quite useful.
Jasper well done for resisting seconds! I find myself reaching for more without thinking sometimes, then I have to tell myself no, its a No S day! Talk about retraining my brain.
Good luck everyone with your No S week, I am so pleased we have this thread for support!

I have now bought the book to read properly!

Thanks, Jasper, that's very useful re reasons/patterns of failure. I will try to not go mad. Does the same thing happen with exercise where people try to exercise themselves thin manically and wind up so fed up they don't want to leave the couch, or is exercise naturally self-perpetuating? not that this is likely to be my problem

I swear I look rounder. Grr. Must start some exercise!

Today's breakfast is overnight oats with a teaspoon of cocoa powder and half a banana cut up into it. It is yummy! Lunch will be coronation chicken sandwiches.

I weighed myself this morning after a full week on the diet and have lost zilch, waah! But I have done zero exercise, so if I can ever get my lazy arse in gear it should help a lot. It is weird, but my tummy is sticking out more than it was. At what point do I have to start worrying about the content/size of my meals? I suppose there is much chat about it taking 21 days to form a habit, so perhaps I should focus on snacks and sweets for the first 21 days and think about portion size after that. He frowns on vertical-stacking. If I have two sandwiches on top of each other in a tub which is a lot smaller than a plate, does that count as vertical stacking?

Hi cheddar sorry I haven't posted much, I have been unwell with sinusitis and some kind of virus which has left me feeling very unwell. Have been off work too which is most unlike me. Haven't really had to think too much about No S as my appetite has gone (that shows how ill I am!) but technically I am still sticking to it, just very small meals.
With regards to no weight loss, I would definitely say you need to give it longer, maybe re assess at the end of the month and see how things are going. I think the idea is that you naturally adjust portion size etc over time and that sticking to the plan is all you need to worry about in the early days. Easier said than done though I know!
The author of the diet talks about a virtual plate, when you can't actually use a real plate, so in the case of your sandwiches I would think that's fine given that your tub is smaller than a plate. You need to eat enough to keep you going until dinner so I say go for it!

Oh no, Posie, that sounds horrible! Hope you feel better soon.

New discovery: Overnight oats made with Greek yoghurt, blueberries and about half a teaspoon of lemon curd. Absolutely lush!

I'm going to indulge in my first bit of virtual plating at lunchtime - we're going out for someone's leaving lunch, to a restaurant with a 3 course lunch deal of £11.95 for starter, main and coffee with homemade brownie. I am going to be incredibly virtuous and forgo the brownie, but I am going to have the starter - it's a French restaurant and the portions are small, so I reckon starter and main would fit on one plate!

I managed some exercise last night - day 1 Level 1 of Ripped in 30. Not bad at all!

Ooh how do you make your overnight oats? Is it just normal porridge oats soaked in milk? Have never tried but it sounds yummy!
Hope you enjoyed your meal out, sounds lovely.
I am hoping to be better for a buffet lunch out with friends on Sunday, and as its an S day I will be going back for more

Equal amounts of porridge oats and either milk or yoghurt. Mix together (add a splash of milk if you went for yoghurt) and leave overnight. That's the basic recipe, and you can add anything you like as flavouring - I've tried cocoa powder and banana, lemon curd and blueberries, and frozen forest fruits.

I am so ready for the S days to start! BIL kindly gave us chocolates for putting him up on Monday, and they have been calling to me all week! Nearly there...

I'm going to weigh in tomorrow - will try not to get discouraged if it's the same again!

Thanks cheddar that sounds delicious, I'm going to try it!
You enjoy those chocolates, and well done for resisting up until now, they'll taste all the better for being 'saved up'! Yes definitely try not to take it too badly if the scales are not in your favour. Stick with it and I feel confident this will work for us!
I am starting to feel better and my appetite is coming back, just in time for the weekend
I have a dilemma coming up soon, I have two consecutive Friday evenings where I have planned to eat out with girlfriends. Not sure if I should a) stick to No S which would mean just having a main course or b) move my No S to start Fri evening and end Sunday. Hmm.
Have a lovely S weekend, and Frestelli Jasper and BreakingBod I hope you are all doing well!

I've been wondering about that. I've got some random weeknight events which centre around drinking (naturally) and although the advice on the website seems to suggest that you shouldn't swap S days, I don't want to stick to two drinks only! I think when I've got a planned night out, I'm going to make that an S day instead of Sunday. It would be sensible to be able to have a drink-absorbing snack before breaking open the wine! I think it will depend on how much I've got on in any given month - I could take some as extra S days, but not more than 2 a month. December might be tricky! Although I looked, and Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on the weekend, which is perfect! DH's birthday is New Year's Day, and that is also a Saturday. I think I'll take Hogmanay as an extra S day.

I've already had one extra S day for my birthday this month, and the other is going to be Fri 28th Oct when I've got a long weekend for a Halloween party. I've got a friend coming at some point next week so I might swap whichever day that turns out to be for the Sunday.

In Nov PIL are coming from a Friday through to Tuesday, so I'll have that Friday as an extra S day (think it's the 4th) and count Monday as an N day. Then there are work drinks on a Thursday in the middle of the month and I'm not sure what to do about those. December - we're going to a wedding on the 3rd, which is a Saturday anyway, and then we get into Christmas parties and drinks, which mostly take place on Thursdays and Fridays. I think for those I will swap for the Sunday, because otherwise I'll have far too many S days!

Hope you're on the mend now!

No weight loss. No gain either, though! Am enjoying a bit of rocky road and a San Pellegrino Limonata now on my S day!

I had a migraine on Wednesday and post migraine extreme tiredness on Thursday and Friday, and ate crap constantly on both of those days :-

I'll write them off as S for sick, keep any snacks, sweets and seconds moderate this weekend, and start afresh on Monday.

Cheddar maintain is good! I think we will see losses but only very gradually. Someone on the NoS forum was actually advocating weighing yourself every day, just so you get used to the idea that your weight goes up and down a bit as a matter of course. And it takes away the 'status' of the almighty scales! I jad always thought daily weighing was a big no no, but actually I can see the logic in this.
Jasper oh no sorry you've been poorly, definitely take them as Sick days. I was lucky, my illness just reduced my appetite so I didn't really feel like snacking.
I'm enjoying dipping into the chocolate box that's been sitting in the cupboard, yum yum!

Just weighed in, another 1/2 lb off. This could be the sloooowest diet in history But hey it seems to be working. Had a lovely dinner out with friends, ate rather a lot! Back on it today.