The No Diet [ An Everyday Systems site ]

Testimonials: every diet seems to have them; where the testimonials of the 95% who failed on those diets have gone no one knows.

So take the following with a grain of salt: just because someone was down x pounds at one point doesn't mean they won't gain them all back. Ideally I'd like to have a "before and during" gallery where people update pictures and stats every year, but honestly, it's just too much work -- I have enough trouble keeping my own before and during up to date.

Since people who come to this page are presumably most interested in blood and guts numbers, pounds lost are given in blood and guts red for each entry. It's not the only metric, it's not the best metric, but it's the metric everybody seems to want to see.

All of these "testimonials" are from the bulletin board or the older mailing list archive. Click on the "writes" link by each entry to see the original post in context. And poke around a bit to get a less skewed view; plenty of people have posted about running into trouble. You can learn from these "failure testimonials," too.

Please email me or post the board if you want to add/remove/change an entry. While I appreciate hearing from enthusiastic newbies, please keep in mind that what people want to see here are significant drops and/or marathon maintenance. So my general rule for inclusion here is 10 pounds, 10 months, or 10 percent (and a reasonably interesting quote).

New! You can now add/update testimonials without waiting for me to get around to it in this new testimonials forum.

At 96 pounds down, Josie from Washington is probably our (women's division) reigning blood and guts champ. She writes:

I have been dieting and following this program seriously for 9
months. In that time, I have lost an incredible amount of weight and
increased my weight and fitness in ways I never dreamed possible. I
started off at 289 lbs. I am now at 193 and still dropping...This plan
really, truly works! Be kind to yourself. Some days are just better
than others. Do the best you can and Stick With IT!... I CHEAT EVERY
WEEKEND!! I love red wines and dark beer! This diet allows me that
choice. I truly believe my finding this Diet has changed my life
forever. No words can express my Thanks! My DR is going to go into
shock when I go see him in October! What fun!! yippeee
 

"Too Solid Flesh" from England writes:

I have been No S-ing for nearly a year, and have lost about 45
lbs. No S has been brilliant for me. I gave up conventional
dieting years ago, because I could lose a lot of weight but would
always put it all (and more) back on again.

No S avoids the pitfall of having to do things perfectly. I can choose
the foods I like to eat, and am never very far from an s-day. "I can
have chocolate at the weekend" is far more liveable with than, "When
I reach my perfect weight, I can have some chocolate".

The bulletin board has been a great support. It's very reassuring to
see the helpful and sympathetic advice, and to see that other people
are dealing with the same problems. I always get hungry in the late
afternoons on N days, and reading the comments on the bulletin boards
helps me stay on track.

Thank you, Reinhard. Your practical and witty plan has made a big
difference to me, and I believe that I will be No S-ing for life.

UPDATE (2008-02-26): "Too Solid Flesh" has just emailed me that she has since lost an additional 25 pounds (so circa 70 pounds total)

Rose (from France?) has captured her progress in this lovely graphic:

This chart is useful not only as evidence that you can get impressive results on No-s, but also because it shows the importance of not relying too much on any single data point. The individual measurements seem to be all over the place -- but the moving average reveals a very clear trend.

Brian from Ireland writes:

I started this sometime last summer or fall, can't remember exactly. I
lost 40-50 lbs and seem to be holding steady around 185lbs for several
months now, which is good for my height and i'm happy with it. I'm
still doing No S, it seems once I got to my ideal weight I
stopped losing it.

Sensible balanced eating. No way-out menus. I love it! I've never
felt so content about my weight or my appetite.

Deb from Long Island writes:

I eat what I enjoy, and I balance that with regular exercise...  I
would rather take longer to get slim, than feel like I'm in a
biochemical war with my food.... I love it all....  It's almost my
first year anniversary with NOS and I have lost about 17 lbs...

I will never ever switch from this life plan... It is
foolproof...

Rich from Toronto, who has since lost over 30 pounds, writes:

A month in, I don't think I'm on a diet anymore. I'm just eating
normally, but it's a different normally than a month ago. There's
nothing left to stick to; eating because I'm bored is unsatisfying
now, going for seconds leaves me feeling uncomfortably full, and
sweets that aren't *treats* are nowhere near as satisfying as they
used to be.

James from Maine writes:

I've been doing No-S since last June. I don't know my exact starting
weight, but my best guess is that I'm down about 40 or 50 pounds since
then. I still have a long way to go (probably at least 75 more
pounds), but after 8 months I'm smaller than I've been in well over a
decade, my belt has a half-dozen new notches cut into it, I have more
energy, and I don't get as tired.

Perhaps more importantly, my relationship with food has been
repaired. I now know what it is to enjoy food, both while I'm actually
eating it, and when the act of eating it lingers in my memory. No more
binge-guilt cycles. No more "I shouldn't be eating this...." I just
follow the rules, and enjoy the abundance of tasty, nutritious food in
my life. 

Update (April 2008): James is now down over 100 pounds.

acs from Canada writes:

I found this diet two years ago, and made several abortive attempts to
start it. I guess the timing wasn't right, but I simply couldn't stop
snacking.  A little background: Snacking is my problem. I already take
small portions at meals, and sweets aren't a problem for me. I did
tend to graze all day on salty snacks (chips, crackers, whatever) and
drank upwards of 10 cans of diet pepsi a day. Sloth is also a problem,
I've never been an active person. I weighed 240lbs, on a 5'8" frame.

So, the last week of July, I had a huge upset in my personal life,
which spurred me to action.

I quit snacking completely, dropped to one or two cans of diet pepsi a
day, and began running moderately (15-20min a day, low
intensity). Within six weeks, I lost just under 50lbs. I'm 36, and now
weigh the same as I did when I was 21. I had to buy new clothes, as my
pants kept falling down. 

Since then, I've followed No-S most weeks and run once or twice a
week, and have maintained that weight, give or take a couple of
pounds.

Jamie S writes:

12 months in... and I'm down thirty pounds from 144 to 114 pounds. I
just a bought a new pair of shorts for summer- size two! (I'm 5'3 so
it's not too skinny for me). I wouldn't be surpirsed if I lost a few
more. This is the easiest, un-diet way of eating in the world. To all
the newbies: keep it up! It's so worth it in the end.

Spiralstares from New York writes:

I started the No-S diet in the middle of June, now almost exactly 5
months later I am down 50 pounds. So it's been my experience
that No-S really works if you commit to it.  

Emma from an undisclosed location writes:

I looked through my diary this morning and counted 10 weeks no s Smile
how time flies! I've lost 4.5kg [10 pounds].

Prior to no s I was a constant grazer with an insatiable sweet tooth
and despite regular exercise I was gradually getting fatter. I felt
depressed and guilty about the way I was eating. I reached the upper
threshold of my healthy weight range and I'd be officially overweight
now if I hadn't found no s and this board. 
 

benjishi writes:

I've lost 30 pounds on NoS over about 8 months and hit my target weight of 205 lbs and one pants size smaller. 

Now I'm 195 and and two pants sizes smaller (34" waist) which I haven't bought since at least high school. 

In 2005 I was 111kg (244.2pounds - BMI of 35.03). I am now about 84kg
(184.8pounds - BMI of 26.51) [so 59 pounds down]. That is without any consistent
meaningful formal exercise, but a bit of incidental walking and
wandering.

SilentButDeftly from Boston writes:

Does it work? YES!

12 pounds since November and still losing. Only about a pound a week
but they're not coming back. It can be the easiest thing in the world
to do , but there are times when it's almost frustratingly
difficult. I can tell you it's worth it -- I've never before had
anyone ask me if I'd lost weight without wanting a favor. People
are starting to notice and they're amazed when I tell them that I'm
still eating what I used to eat, just less of it.  

and more recently:

Long story short, after 7 months of no-S-ing I am still keeping the
weight off. I'd managed to lose about 25 pounds in the first 5 months
and since then I've dropped down another 5 (and then bouncing back up
& down again) but I haven't bounded back up the scale since.  

Rhumba from San Francisco writes:

YIPEEE!!  I just reached the 20 lb. weight-loss mark. I checked on the
member list to see how long it has been. I joined in June, so the loss
is about 1 lb. per week, or a teensy bit more.

I think of all the diets, exercise programs, personal trainers, and
general misery I went through over so many years with little result,
and this simple, easy system that works so well.

Navin from Kentucky writes:

I'm another example of the "slow loser". I've been doing this over 2
years, and I've lost about 1 lb a month ... While it doesn't sound
like much, do the math and discover it adds up over time, as I'm down
about 26 lbs.

The fast loss of other diets is fool's gold. Sticking with it is the
bane of any diet, I'm sure all of us know more people who have lost
big, and then gained it right back, than who have lost and kept it off
for any length of time.

...

Unless you are morbidly obese, a slow, steady, maintainable loss is a
good thing. Your body will thank you later. 
 

Catbert from "Planet Texas" writes:

Haven't posted in a loooooooooong time - just been really busy. But I
wanted to take a minute and encourage anyone out there who might need
it.

I've been NoSing for about 11 months now and just recently hit the
25lb mark -- too cool! My husband reminded me the other day I should
let you all in on my sucess. I'm still NoSing, still walking and still
losing. It doesn't get much better than this! 

Kevin from Maryland writes:

Since June, [I lost] about 20 pounds, but most of that in the first
three months.

At this point, I'm closing in on my ideal weight (probably another 10
or so). Before I started resistance exercise, I had actually weighed
about five pounds less. I might not make it all the way down to my
ideal weight given that I eat whatever non-sweet, one plate meal I
want, three times a day.

When you stop and think about it, by world standards, that's still a
pretty generous amount of food.

At 46, I'm 10 pounds over what I graduated college at, and I'm
significantly stronger, although I know I couldn't run as far or as
fast as I could then.

Do it. You'll love it.