Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 1073 of 3212

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On Tue, Jul 06, 2004 at 05:34:18PM -0000, kim_riddell <kim_riddell@...> 
wrote:
> I had Women's Essentials Golden Brown Sugar Oatmeal today. Is that 

> considered an "S". Sure hope I didn't screw up my first day on the 

> plan already!!!

There's a three-part answer to this two-part question. :-)

First, as to whether or not something is considered an "S", there's
a bit on the webpage which seems minor when you first read it but
really turns out to be the key to getting started on the whole thing:

http://www.nosdiet.com/#fence

What is important for the first while -- for me this was about two
weeks, for some people it might be faster, for most I suspect it's a bit
longer -- is that you train your brain on your new approach to eating.
That is the goal right now, to start making the rules second nature;
it'll also start you on your way to the end goal of sustainable 
weight-loss, but right now you have to concentrate on your brain. 
If you wonder if something is OK, then right now it probably isn't.

With that in mind, read over 

http://www.nosdiet.com/#lists

That's part two of the answer. Note that that doesn't contradict the
first point. :-)

The third point is possibly the most important of them all:

http://www.nosdiet.com/#screwup

The proper approach to screwing up is to avoid it, not to worry about
it. I think about this part as sunk costs. If you've already spent
$100 on something, still owe another $20, and then realize you could've
got it done for $80, then the best deal for you right then is still the
one you have, because it only costs you another $20 and the other option
costs you another $80. The $100 is sunk, and it's not worth considering
it when it comes to future decisions. 

Same thing here -- let's say that because of the fence-around-the-diet
principle you decide that the oatmeal was a bit too much dessert and
not enough no-S breakfast. Ok, you had it, it's a sunk cost. When
lunch rolls around, don't go "Well, if I had had a different
breakfast.." and don't go "Because I had a bad breakfast", 
because
neither of those matter -- choose this next meal based on the general
principles of the diet and not on sunk costs.

Best of luck!

-Rich

-- 
Rich Lafferty --------------+-----------------------------------------------
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!
http://www.lafferty.ca/ | http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html
rich@... -----------+-----------------------------------------------