No S Diet

[Kylark]

No sweets, no snacks, no seconds, except (sometimes) on S days.

I just started this diet and I love it. Read more about it here: www.nosdiet.com

No, I do not have any affiliation with the author. Plus, this diet is entirely free. I just really liked the idea and wanted others to see it.

[Wit and Itch]

Very cute
It may work if you add Sweating on every second day.

[uberinquisitive]

I do this!

I thought I would totally pig out on Saturday and Sunday (the S days) - but I didn't. I ate a bit more on Sunday, but otherwise had no real desire to massively binge or eat sweets.

But, I do know that if I felt like it, I could just wait another 7 days and stuff myself without any guilt. And yet...the allure is gone. Probably because it's really easy to follow and I never feel deprived (I ate ramen for one of my meals, and that's totally fine, because I only ate 1 packet. Other meals have included: a big slice of pizza, pad thai noodles, and a big chicken drumstick with Spanish rice).

[bwb]

A while back, Steve posted a podcast on patterns, and how they basically run our lives and are responsible for most or all of our behavior. I think what's happened from following the no "S" diet is that you've broken the stimulus part of the pattern, and the formerly self-reinforcing patterns of "eat sweets, feel good" and "eat more, feel good" have been weakened.

This diet is rather clever in including the weekend-exception, because:

* The exception acts as a carrot to help prop up your willpower during the week.
* Not overeating on 5 out of 7 days is much, much, better than not overeating on 0 out of 7 days.
* For many people, as with you, the cycle of reinforcement will be broken, and they'll stop wanting to overeat or eat junk food in the first place.

In this way, it's very much like the "30-day trial" concept in that it can be used to introduce difficult but ultimately beneficial changes to your life. Often, you can't muster the willpower to change because you can't feel or visualize the result. Having a light at the end of the tunnel helps push you along, and hopefully by the time your trial period is up, you're experiencing the benefits and never want to go back.

-Brian