Dear Brooke,

Hello! I’m writing to follow up on my September commitment that I posted here. I committed to NSNF for the entire month of September, and no joy eats or exceptions. I mentioned I had been half-assing my protocol all year, and was committed to changing that in September. And I did!! I remained completely NSNF all month (a miracle) and other than a few unplanned bites, I stayed on my protocol the whole time. I lost 7.2 pounds, short of my goal of 10, but really the main goal was to stay on the eating plan and I’m calling that a success, especially as I have PCOS/insulin resistance so weight loss can go slowly.

I’m debating how I want to proceed with October, but I think I’ll try to add in a few joy eats and exceptions here and there and see if I can stay on protocol otherwise. If the joy eats make it harder for me to stay on protocol I may have another month of no joy eats/exceptions. The weight loss progress is too important to risk. I am still having a fair amount of cravings and thoughts about food, which I do my best to accept/allow and then gently redirect my thoughts. I’ll carry on, and hope that these urges continue to lessen and then disappear altogether, as seems to have been the case for you and so many others.

– Beth