Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 1144 of 3212

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Well, it's me again. =) My life got crazy for a few weeks so I had no time
to chat here, but I'm making up for it now! This is long, be warned. =)

I'm the one who was thinking of taking S's one at a time...giving up snacks
first and sweets later (seconds weren't a problem). Well, when life got
hectic, particularly with the crisis of a family friend getting ill and
dying suddenly, I wasn't ready to start, but having No-S in the back of 
my
mind made me much more conscious of what I was eating and why. I made two
discoveries:

1. The main time I have trouble with snacking is when I'm driving. I live
30 minutes from "town" and spend quite a bit of time in the car. I 
get
bored, and the radio isn't entertaining enough. So I have a conditioned
response to get "hungry" when I drive for any length of time. It's 
not
hunger, of course; it's boredom. That's what always gets me.

2. Sugar affects me more than I realized. A small piece of chocolate with
my coffee is not a problem, but any larger quantity, such as a cookie or
two, or a small helping of ice cream or dessert, sets off a craving for
more, later, and even more, later... I find myself coming back to the
kitchen within an hour, feeling "munchy" and not wanting healthy food, 
just
more junk. This can set off a bad cycle!

One of the secrets of slender people is supposedly that they don't eat
unless they are hungry. That was what I was experimenting with before I
decided to do NoS. But it's very inconvenient, as I usually get hungry 
at
any time EXCEPT regular mealtimes. I did learn some things by paying
attention to hunger. I notice that if I eat when I'm not really hungry, 
I
feel "yuck." I can't describe the feeling--it's quite subtle--but when 
I
make it a point to be aware, I really, really don't like how it feels. 
But
unfortunately, if my body doesn't feel good for any reason, too often
(irrational as it sounds) I will actually eat more in an effort to "feel
good" again. Eating something we like generally makes us feel "happy"--for
as long as it's in our mouths anyway. It's that "afterward" feeling we 
need
to learn to remember, before we start. Also, I recently began to better
recognize the little signal that says, "STOP eating NOW." I have known 
for
a long time that I'm generally unaware of my body, ignoring its little
signals. I get used to ignoring aches and pains because there's no point 
in
paying attention to something I can't fix. Then I finally go see the
chiropractor and when he asks about my symptoms I can't remember them!



Sorry for the rabbit trail. I was just trying to say that some of my
previous experiments have been helpful and it all should add up (slowly) 
to
success. It's a nuisance that something simple gets so complicated, but
here we are, and we can only go on! One of the things that amazes me about
us people with weight problems is that we almost never give up. For
years--decades--lifetimes--we go on trying one diet after another,
experimenting with another philosophy, another theory, another plan... 
I
certainly hope NoS will be the final solution, but I know there are no
guarantees. At least it makes more sense than 90% of what's out there.
Most of us have proven beyond any doubt that diets don't work.



So here I go. For the next three weeks I will do NoS--yes, all three at
once, because I've concluded it's better that way after all. I think as
long as I'm really going to concentrate, I may as well do several at once,
and see if 21 days really does establish a habit. My 39th birthday is
exactly three weeks from now, so I'll give myself some new habits for my
birthday! =) It doesn't seem like it should be so hard, but I know from
experience that if something seems like it "shouldn't be hard"--it will 
be!
I'm nearly through my first day now and parts of it were hard, particularly
when I got hungry (genuinely) at 10:00 after having what I thought was 
an
adequate breakfast at 7:30. I followed my own advice and had coffee with
cream and sugar, and it did help me get over the "hump." I'm sure part 
of
this is getting your body (not just your mind) into the routine. I think 
it
can learn, to some extent, when it will be fed, and get hungry then.



Enough rambling--I hope everyone is keeping on keeping on!



Diane


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