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!

CarrotPuff, you're very welcome to join! Sorry to hear you're battling PND. No S is a good way to put food issues away - I mutter 'minimal compliance' to myself if I wind up having McDonald's for dinner - so long as I have a diet drink it's all allowed! Sounds like you've got enough on your plate without trying to do 5:2 or something as well. The hardest bit here is coping with the slooooow pace. Which is very annoying but then I sit down for my next non-restricted meal and try to remain calm.

I have lost the 2lbs I gained over the weekend, hurray! Still to see any actual weight loss but I've had about 8 extra S days on top of weekends in the last month, so it's not really surprising. This month will be better, and I will exercise!

Yay cheddar I'm pleased the 2lb has gone! Well done I agree it is sooooo slooooooow but I am sort of plodding on and trying not to think about it!
I have an important awards evening coming up in December, its my DH who has been nominated at his work, I wish I was a stone or two slimmer, but hey ho. Trying to find a dress to cover all my lumps and bumps is going to be tricky!

How about something you could eat on the go? Banana and a peanut butter sandwich. A couple of cream cheese wraps and an apple. A plate's worth of food but portable if you see what I mean. I know its not ideal but at least you would have a full happy tummy! (Very important to me!)

Well yesterday ended up being a write-off. I guess when I'm super tired like that I'll just count is a sick day and will just try to survive it the best that I can.

Today has been good so far, if a little bread-y. No snacking though. Feeling very proud of myself!

Well done carrot onwards and upwards! One more NoS day then time for treats

Scales say I have lost 2lb, not sure I believe them!
Hope everyone had a good weekend. I felt much calmer around food this weekend. Back to NoS today.

Morning! I haven't weighed because I forgot until this minute, but I feel thinner!

Congratulations Posie, that's brilliant! Well done you!

I am now kitchen-less - kitchen is being done up and we will be kitchen-free for a week at least. Main reason I forgot to weigh in - the plumber and joiner arrived at 8.30 and started ripping everything out and disconnecting the dishwasher/washing machine etc. So I will stick to No S, but it's going to be mainly toast and microwavable food, I think! I'm going round to Mum's tonight for dinner, though. Have just set off the smoke alarm making toast in the living room - we have a mini kitchen station set up in a corner, consisting of kettle, toaster and microwave.

End of last week was good, with minor lapse on Friday concerning poppadoms - I was making curry and I was starving, so I did a bit of specious virtual plating (I ate 4 poppadoms, whereas if I'd waited and put them on the side of my plate I'd have had 2 at most). I also accepted a Jaffa cake on Thursday at a meeting - the woman I was meeting was supposed to be demo-ing software and she couldn't get it to work and she was so apologetic and went and made me a cup of tea and brought a whole packet of Jaffa cakes, so I took one to be polite. But one tiny Jaffa cake is probably only about 40 calories so even though it is not in the spirit of No S, it won't have had any material impact on my hypothetical weight loss. Schroedinger's weight loss?

The weekend was very unstructured - grazed on Saturday and had McDonald's for lunch (bad), but didn't have much dinner, and then yesterday I was in a trampoline competition and had a bagel for breakfast, an apple for lunch and was so hungry by 6pm when it was over that we went to Tesco and bought stuff you can just chuck in the oven - spring rolls and gyoza dumplings and tempura prawns. Also rather a lot of chocolate, in a fit of 'but I want some chocolate before the end of the weekend!' Still, that's allowed on a Sunday!

Can I join? I love this idea and have given up sweet treats completely for November. I have done 5:2 a bit before but find it makes me binge a bit. I like how this is clear but you can essentially eat anything at meal times as long as it fits on your plate. This stops me eating a tiny lunch and feeling virtuous only to stuff myself later on snacks. Have lost a 1lb last week and it has been easy. Going to skip breakfast a couple of times a week to allow for some fasting as I think it helps reset my digestion.

My key focus atm is working on making my brains default being 'I don't snack' so changing my default mindset. I think that is how a lot of naturally slim people eat.

Stats wise I an 5'4 and this morning was 9'11. Hoping for 9'7. And generally a maintenance as I get older! Only 31 but definitely easier to put on weight that in my 20s!

Thanks cheddar we'll see if it sticks! Good luck with the kitchen refurb, we had ours done summer 2015, it is not fun to live through. Hope it doesn't interfere with NoS too much for you.
Welcome bestbees I hope you find NoS works well.

Well done Posie on 2lbs!

Cheddar yay for new kitchen, I hope the installation goes smoothly and is as little disruptive as it can possibly be.

Welcome Bees!

Yesterday scales revealed 1.5lb loss which I couldn't quite believe after a weekend gorging on chocolate and bread, but they are still showing the same this morning so I'll take it I'm only 1lb off from getting into 9st territory, which I'm very excited about!

Today is my sick day though, I've got a horrible cold and feel absolutely rotten

Brilliant Carrot! Well done. Pleased its working for you.
I still have a long way to go, another 2 stone at least. I am definitely thinking of long term weight loss, maybe over a year. Seems a long time but then this is the most manageable diet I have ever followed so I do have high hopes!

Well done posie and carrot!

I ended up munching on a bit of the kids cheese on toast at 5pm. Think it was because I forgot to take bread to get with my soup at lunch and I was hungry and about to go swimming. I must make sure meals are big enough.

Did anyone else find they needed to eat a bigger meal until they got used to no snacking?

Yes I definitely ate as much as I could fit on one plate to start with! And still do to a certain extent, although I am less hungry between meals. Remember you can have a glass of milk if you are hungry, and as many cups of tea and coffee as you like. I have discovered Douwe Egberts hazlenut coffee which is only 2 cals a cup and takes the edge off my sweet cravings a bit.

I did too! Then I went to the other extreme and had pretty small meals and wound up starving.

I have eaten a few tiny chocolate bits today. About 4 Twirl bites, which are about the size of Maltesers, plus one square of the Cadbury's popping candy chocolate. This is because I was grumpy at having to actually do the job I am paid to do - how unreasonable, god! I should have finished something ages ago and I've been putting it off, so I knew I would have to give up some of my evening to do it. I then put it off for so much longer that I am not finished yet and it's nearly 1am. I am an idiot.

Cheddar hope you got it done! I think it is easy to cut down the meals but it ends up being counter productive!

Posie thanks for the recommendations I will have a glass of milk before my run tonight if I am hungry.

I have been eating a piece of fruit after each meal. Does this go against the plan?

I haven't had breakfast today (by accident, not by design - just very busy at work). I have had a large baked potato with cheese and tuna for lunch. Do you think I should just have a hefty dinner? Or should I allow a mid-afternoon snack? I can't get much in the way of non-sweet snacks from the work canteen, though.

Bestbees, I think fruit is allowed if you count it as part of the meal rather than pudding. I've been eating apples and bananas, anyway!

Next on my list of habits to break (after the kitchen replacement is done): eating crisps 'as part of a meal', not eating enough veg and eating bagels non-stop. But I can't do much about that this week. Yesterday I had a bagel for breakfast, a bagel for lunch (with crisps and apple) and pizza for dinner.

I think no snack cheddar and decide what to eat later based on how hungry you are then if u can be that flexible. Surely having a snack defeats the whole point?

Have had a good week, and tomorrow I am looking forward to a planned non weekend S day. Its a belated birthday celebration with my two best friends who are coming round for dinner (provided by M&S!) My birthday fell on a Saturday and we couldn't get together anyway, so I am going to enjoy a few treats tomorrow. Will be good in the day but will definitely be having a few drinks, nibbles and a pudding as well as main meal. After nearly 7 weeks of NoS it will seem strange to 'break the rules'!
I hope everyone else is doing OK and has a good weekend.

Good for you, Posie! Sounds lovely.

I am on week 6 and I have still to lose a single solitary ounce. Grr! I am going to up my exercise and see where I get to. I've had some slip-ups in that time, but I have followed it pretty religiously for the last 4 weeks. Surely I should see some progress!

Maybe it's just the effect of living on takeaways all this week. They can't be good for me - and probably much larger portions than I need.

Well this week ended up being a write-off. I've been ill though, and just starting to feel better. Really shouldn't have treated it like a pass to binge on chocolate...

Never mind, CarrotPuff - if you're ill then all food rules go out of the window! I ate a whole bar of Galaxy Caramel last night. The sharing size, not the individual ones. Saying 'but it was a Saturday, I'm allowed' seems a bit dodgy - where is my self-restraint?

On the plus side, I've started to do the Couch to 5 k. I've started with week 3 and I'm coping with that. I have now run twice in 3 days - rest day today, and then I'll run again on Monday. I know running doesn't burn many calories, but I'd like to have the ability to run for half an hour without stopping. My ultimate goal is to be able to do obstacle type races like Tough Mudder - but I'm a long way from that!

Oh dear my S day on Friday led to a hangover and crappy food yesterday followed by generally too much food today. Oops. So I think the scales will reflect that in the morning. Looking on the plus side I have definitely learned something from the weekend. I felt very uncomfortable after overindulging on Friday and it will be a relief to get back on track tomorrow whatever the scales say!

Phew, I have maintained! Won't be having another S Friday for a while!
Have a good NoS week everyone.