The No S Diet: The Strikingly Simple Weight-Loss Strategy That Has Dieters Raving--and DroppingPounds by Reinhard Engels & Ben Kallen

Author:Reinhard Engels & Ben Kallen [Engels, Reinhard]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2008-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

5

Days That Start with S

SAFETY VALVE, REWARD, INCENTIVE * WHAT QUALIFIES AS AN S DAY? * CAN I REALLY EAT ANYTHING ON S DAYS? * HOW DO I AVOID BINGING ON S DAYS? * IS IT EXTRA-GOOD TO TAKE FEWER S DAYS? * WHAT IF I MESS UP DURING THE WEEK? * CAN I TRADE DAYS IN ADVANCE? * WHAT DOES A PERFECT S DAY LOOK LIKE? * CAN I FAIL ON AN S DAY? * WHAT IF I WORK WEEKENDS? * WHAT ABOUT VACATION? * HOW MANY NON-WEEKEND S DAYS CAN I TAKE? * SEASON’S WARNINGS

Safety Valve, Reward, Incentive

Most people, no matter what their diet plan is, make exceptions to it from time to time. Holidays, social obligations, or the simple, overwhelming desire to free oneself from eating restrictions eventually break down the most rigorous intentions. Because these exceptions aren’t planned, they feel like failures, and dieters get confused and discouraged. On other occasions, when dieters successfully resist the temptation to make an exception, they feel resentful, as if the diet were preventing them from enjoying life. It’s a constant struggle between guilt and resentment, with guilt (and failure) usually winning in the end.

The No S Diet is different. Not only does it budget for these exceptions but it uses them as a positive force to prove the rules. Regular breaks are built into the system, not as a necessary evil to be tolerated but as a positive requirement.

How can something negative—not following the rules—be a positive help? In a nutshell: It’s a safety valve to keep you from feeling too constrained, a reward for having complied with the rules during the week, and an incentive for you to keep on complying. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the exception is the most important part of the No S Diet.

Here’s how it works: On days that start with the letter S (Saturdays, Sundays, and special days [defined later in this chapter]), you are exempt from the rules, and you can eat whatever you want. This is very simple but very powerful and in ways that may not be immediately obvious. Let me explain.

First off, the terms of the exception are very clear. Just look at the calendar, and you’ll know when you can take it and when you can’t. This clarity is powerful. It means you’ll have a hard time abusing or extending the exception without it being very obvious what you are doing. It limits the scope for self-deception. Yes, you can abuse this rule by counting your hamster’s second cousin’s birthday as an S day or by gorging yourself with gallons of ice cream every weekend, but you can’t do it without knowing you’re being a bozo. And most of us, most of the time, will not knowingly be bozos.

In most people’s minds, dieting equals deprivation. It’s a kind of necessary misery. Either you make yourself miserable by cutting out pleasures entirely or you make yourself miserable by painstakingly counting them and rationing them out in pitiful little doses.

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