Intuitive Eating

(Marie Dantoni) #1

One of my goals this year is to explore eating without rules. Now that I’m no longer plagued with carb addiction, I think it may work for me. That might mean no counting of carbs, calories or anything else, and just using what I already know works ie: eyeballing portions, sense of smell, and “listening” to body signals of hunger and satiety. It’s kind of an anti- diet.
Do you have some input on this topic ?

(jilliangordona) #2

I’ve tried and tried to count my non-detail oriented brain could just never do it successfully, so I’m pretty much always done intuitive eating.

What seems to help me is making myself at minimum write down the things I am eating, especially if I introduce anything new into my diet. Then if I have a stall or weird reaction, I can pin point where it came from. I’m not sure consistent with it, but it seemed to help to at least write down anytime I eat something new.

Best of luck!

(Allie) #3

This is what I’ve been doing since I stopped tracking six months ago. Just pay attention to how your body reacts and allow it to guide you.

(Marie Dantoni) #4

Yep, that’s what I’m after.

(Lesley) #5

I’ve been doing this the last two weeks and so far so good. Some days I seem to eat a lot and some days just not much at all. But overall I think it is working out.

Edit: only time will tell :slight_smile:

(Marie Dantoni) #6

I just came off a fast and decided it was a feast day today, so my experiment is in full swing. Guess I don’t need to overeat now that I can have anything I want…much less of an issue

(Lesley) #7

Sounds good. I’ve just done my first two very short fasts. I am late to the party with fasting. Just 21 hours each time. The only thing I’m worried about is eating too little. But I’m not going to stress it out… I will just go with the flow and see how it comes together at the end of the month.

(Allie) #8

I make a point of asking myself if I’m really hungry and if I really need to eat, or if I’m bored or something else.

(Marie Dantoni) #9

Sound like a good way to go. Hard to tell the difference sometimes, but good practice.

(Karen Parrott) #10

Its never worked for me, so when I stopped trying, I finally got to my goals. Now almost 6 years of maintenance. I was obese for 40years prior.

My advise would be to end the experience if you find yourself regaining the weight. See how you were doing one into months in, and then decide.

Too many people have used intuitive eating as a tool to keep binge eating, I’ve noticed. Best wishes and be sure to evaluate that part of your food plan.

(Marie Dantoni) #11

I am combining this with ef, and If. So far I’m happy to report that I’m finally out of the 180’s where I’ve been stuck since July. I hope the trend continues, because I’ve been on useless diets from the age of 9. If it stops working I’ll change it up. Thanks.

#12

Yes, this was me when I tried it as well. It’s different for everyone, but my relationship with food is distorted anyway, so I do much better with at least having a shorter time in which to eat. Thus the IF daily and EF as often as I feel inclined.

I’m interested to see how it goes for you @Marigrace and Congrats on your latest weight changes as well. Just don’t forget those NSVs are even more tell-tale of you progress.

#13

This is a topic I take to my heart. I have disordered eating tendencies since mid-20s - non-weight related but it was something I could manipulate to deal with my frustration towards others and ultimately myself. Have been on recovery for a while and I find intuitive eating is so much easier to practice with a few things for me,

  • Lots of sleep, made it my priority, no matter what. Being an adult with family/young kid, a demanding job and addiction to caffeine, this means giving up so much…
  • Self compassion. Think in a totally different way. You know how some people are just full of life? Try to do that. Love life, love myself and I deserve to be happy and free. It’s not a shame that I need to deal with this, it’s just my life has more “dimensions”. {I certainly cannot think this way when I am sleep-deprived, as in, one “stupid” thing will go wrong in the morning, say my face looked puffy, then I will just lose it for the whole day, so again SLEEP}
  • Lots of support and sense of belonging. None of my family members or close friends have this issue, it all just came so easy for them. So I had to look out for health care professionals, online communities, podcast programs to feel sane, and not alone.

That is really it for me. Sounded so easy for people who are not aware of control issues exerted onto food, but it took me years to realize and practice. Good luck!

(Brian) #14

Try it. But as you try it, keep an eye on the scale and how the clothes fit. Changes in the wrong direction can signal that you need to get back into something a bit more structured again. Just do it before it gets out of hand.

Take the training wheels off and watch what happens. If not able to control the balance, put the training wheels back on for a while. Then, maybe try again. If you just can’t manage without the training wheels, then you move to a trike (staying structured all of the time, indefinitely) and keep going with life. Either way, life is good and the eating is good, too.

Good luck!

:slight_smile: