No-S is what I'm planning on doing for maintenance. Right now, I've been following a strict calorie counting diet to get some weight off faster, but I know I won't be able to do that for life (been there, done that, gained it back). So, at the outset, I've been planning on what I know I'll be able to live with and No-S seems about right to me. No counting, no freaking out if I have a special function, no worrying about carbs, etc.
In my 20's, I did a version of No-S (I didn't know about No-S then; it probably wasn't even around). At that time, I didn't have any extra money to buy special foods, and it just seemed to hard for me to calorie count. So I devised my own rules: 3 portion-controlled meals each day (no seconds, trying my best to make them reasonably healthy) with only fruit as snacks inbetween. I lost so much weight that I was TOO skinny.
The fatal flaw in my plan (and the reason I regained the weight) was that I did not make any room for sweets or goodies. In short, there were no "S" days in my plan. So, after two years of following my plan, I went off the deep end and started eating sweets like there was no tomorrow! And--you guessed it---I regained the weight.
Fast forward to now (I'm 40), and I really feel as if No-S would work for me to maintain a weight loss because it's simple (which is what I need) and it allows for some goodies in limited portions. Some people on the No-S forum have tweaked the diet to suit them. There are those who do go overboard on "S" days, and have incorporated their own rules to handle that. I read about one person who does not do weekend days but instead, allows herself 3"incidents" of "S"'s per week (e.g., a dessert = 1, eating seconds = 2, etc.). I like that, so that's what I think I'll try. It's important to realize that the laws of nature do not cease to exist because it's an S day (i.e., you'll gain weight if you see S days as permission to eat 1/2 gallon of ice-cream, 1/2 a cake, etc.).
The reason I'm considering No-S for maintenance rather than for weight loss is that I just don't have enough patience for what seems to be a very slow weight loss using No-S. Although some posters on the No-S board have lost a good amount of weight in a normal time-frame, many of them are losing at a rate of 2 lbs. a month or less. I wouldn't mind that if I was within 5-10 lbs. of my goal, but I have at least 25 lbs. to lose, and I don't want to take a year to lose it. That being said, though, I think you can lose fast on No-S if you really watch what you're eating at mealtimes.
Last edited by lynnm39; 07-24-2008 at 07:56 PM.
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Thanks!
but I'm not sure it would work for me either - I'm one of those people who has trigger foods that, if I eat one, I have to eat everything in sight. I also find that I do much better if I have a big majority of my food spread out over the whole day. I nibble on something pretty much every couple of hours - not a full blown meal of course but a hard boiled egg here and a couple of raw almonds there. Keeps my energy and mood on a much more even keel. If I didn't get my 10:00 am egg I might be a little hard to live with 
*Thank You!*
