LA Weight Loss - Intuitive Eating #6--March 08

Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're satisfied.

Good morning everyone,
If monthly doesn't work then next time we can do two months. We shall see.

Well I made it through 10 binge free days! I am so exicted. I am on to my second set of 10 days. Now I can write in my journal.

Good for you, Shay! Ten days is great!

Thanks for starting the new thread.

Thanks, Becky. Happy to see you here.

I got on the scale this morning and I only gained 3lbs. I am really happy about that. Looking back through my blog the last time I had a long binge I gained 16 lbs!!! So I think following the binge with the start of IE made a huge difference. Since the next time I will weigh will be June 1st I'm trying to decide if I want to set a goal. Maybe--maybe not. I'm thinking no. I don't want to set myself up.

Good morning, everyone...I'm VERY frustrated, discouraged, and irritable this morning. Even though I am past menopause, I still have those several days a month of bloating, moodiness, and carb cravings like you wouldn't believe--which is weird, but that's the way it is. It's just like the old pms days.

Even though this past week I had started back to IE again, for about three days, and was doing fine, along came yesterday and I didn't pay any attention at all to hunger/fullness. I just ate "whatever". The carb cravings were unbelievable, and I ended up the day feeling very bloated.

I got up this morning feeling discouraged, depressed, and irritable, which means that yesterday was obviously a "hormonal" day. Things were only made worse when I jumped on the scale and saw a three pound gain since yesterday, which I know is only water weight, but still, it means I'm right back up to within two ounces of my highest weight ever. :mad:

I think I would have been better off not getting on the scale at all. :(

This has thrown me for such a loop that I've been thinking about going back to low carbing again, but I know that's silly, because I can never stick to low carb.

I'm craving carbs so strongly again today that I don't know if I'll be able to find my hunger/fullness or not.

I should probably put my scale away again so that my moods and outlook won't be ruled by it, but I don't trust that I won't keep on gaining and end up even bigger than I am, which I cannot afford to do. I refuse to, and cannot afford to anyway, go up into another size. I'm already wearing size 26, which is about the end of the sizes you can usually find without having to do a lot of special ordering. I just CAN'T go up to a 28. :(

So, I don't really know what to do today, but I know I can't rope myself into another diet. I end up worse that way because I can't stick with them. I guess all I can do is do my best to not eat the house today, and hope some of this bloat goes away soon.

Thanks for listening, and I hope you all enjoy your Saturday!

I got on the scale this morning and I only gained 3lbs. I am really happy about that. Looking back through my blog the last time I had a long binge I gained 16 lbs!!! So I think following the binge with the start of IE made a huge difference. Since the next time I will weigh will be June 1st I'm trying to decide if I want to set a goal. Maybe--maybe not. I'm thinking no. I don't want to set myself up.

You are doing well, and I think you're smart not to set yourself up by making a scale weight goal.

I haven't kicked the daily weighing habit yet myself, but I tend to do better when I'm not weighing. I once went for two or three months without weighing, and ended up being fine. Weight remained pretty stable as I remember. But whenever I'm near my highest weight, I become terrified that the gain will never end, and it becomes hard to stay off the scale.

Becky--It will be hard for me to stay away from the scale for 3 months but I have to. It was always a neverending cycle for me. I was a daily weigher too. If I got on and I had put on weight I would think I worked so hard and I still gained. I might as well go crazy. Or if I lost after not eating too well then I would feel comfortable to eat more. Why after a bad day do we get on the scale? Many of us do it. To me it is a form of self sabotage. We do it to assess the damage. Why? We know we did bad why do we feel the need to dig the hole deeper? I know everyone is different and they must do what is best for them. What's best for me is stay off the scale and keep from giving it so much power.

I have posted on here before but i wanted to re-introduce myself because it has been awhile. My name is Aubrey. I am 24 and have been married 4 yrs. I have 2 children a 2 1/2 yr old little girl and a 9 month old little boy. My weight right now is 217. I am only 5' 4" so i know this is not a healthy weight but i really struggle with emotional eating.

Becky- I am sorry that you are having such a struggle with the hormones. I understand how it is to weigh yourself daily and have it effect you emotionally. I am still working on that.

Shay - I hope that you can make it the 3 months till your next weigh in. I know it can be almost scary not knowing. The 10 binge free days is great.

Hi Cherry--Good to see you again.

Chapter 7--Principle 3: Make Peace with Food
Well I can definitely identify with "the h*** with it" mentality. I just talked about it above. I have allowed some "forbidden" foods into my life. Namely peanut butter and skinny cow ice cream sandwiches at home. I'm doing pretty good with them. Wheat thins was always a big one for me too. In my recent binges I ate a box a wheat thins a night. Now I can go my whole life without ever eating them again. They taste like cardboard to me right now. At work I have boxes and boxes of girl scout cookies. What's interesting is I'm too scared to bring them home so I leave them at work but I've been barely eating them. Now that I say it is okay to eat them and I don't have to measure out a serving I'm like whatever...!

This place is busy today. Thanks, Shay. My family has been busy today doing a wedding dinner for a friend. Actually my son did most of it. Dh and I just helped, along with his wife. It was Mexican food which I"m not crazy about....good thing. Just wanted to share an interesting observation. I tried the Fast-5 diet where you only eat for 5 hr. a day. It felt good but eventually I just couldn't handle the all day hunger and my body rebeled. Interestingly, when I went back to normal eating I just couldn't get satisfied. Now after a couple of days of IE, I'm back to normal. Thank the Lord.

I've had a good day today and corrected yesterday. By that I mean that I realize now I should have just postponed eating until I got home from the wedding. We had sampled some before the actual dinner and not being too hungry, when we finally sat down to eat I know I should have just skipped it but I didn't. Seeing I don't like Mexican food, when I got home I was searching for something that I did like and over did it. Now I know I should have just not eaten at the wedding and I would have been fine and could have eaten at home without regret.

Hi everyone! Shay, congrats on only gaining 3 pounds! If you normally would have gained 16 pounds, that's great!

Becky, ugh, hormones. I'm struggling with PMS right now. Tired, unmotivated, puffy, cranky, headachy. I hate it. Too bad it doesn't really go away past menopause.

OK, so I said in the end of the last thread that I didn't want to buy any books on intuitive eating because of my entire library of diet books, but I did anyway. :) DH and I had a chance to drop the kids off and spend an afternoon together on a beautiful day, and we ended up browsing in a bookstore and I had him buy me the books for my birthday (next week). I got the Intuitive Eating book and also, Brian Wansink's Mindless Eating. I'm really familiar with Wansink's work from grad school and he's been on every TV show in the past year showing off his little experiments, but I'm still looking forward to reading it.

There is an interesting thread on the 100lb club about how thin people eat.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133802

Amy--I know I am very happy about the 3 lbs!

Very interesting read Carol. Especially since many of them were referring to IE although not specifically using those terms. An excellent example of IE was the one that talked about her 3 kids--her daughter was practicing IE.

I really need to work on Principle 5--Feel your Fullness. I am struggling with this one. The past two nights I have had to force myself to stop eating. I will try to read 2 chapters tonight to try and get me in the right frame of mind again.

Oh guys, I am feeling so optimistic right now! I read the naturally thin thread and yep, that's intuitive eating in a nutshell! I remember the last time I lost weight (2001) and managed to keep it off so long. It started by following a diet plan (the 90/10 Plan by Joy Bauer) but within a month of following it religiously (including the "Fun Food" a day) I didn't need to follow it anymore. It's not that it completely evolved into intuitive eating. I stuck to a basic breakfast and lunch and dinner was frequently a Lean Cuisine and a salad. And I lived for my fun food. So no, not intuitive eating per se, but at least I wasn't writing down every little thing I ate.

Anyway, I saw my mom after I had lost a lot of the weight and she asked about my weight loss and I basically said "I don't feel obsessive about food anymore. It's just food, it's not a big deal."

Now, somewhere along the way I lost that attitude and I want it back. I think I started using food again as a substitute for fun. I got married and yes, I love my husband and we have fun together, but we lived in the middle of nowhere and I just couldn't hang with my single friends anymore. Then I got pregnant (twice!) and my pregnancies are difficult on me. I didn't exercise. I missed my wine. So I felt entitled to eat. Honestly, the first trimester with morning sickness and all I didn't want to eat. But man, once the second trimester hit watch out. I legitimately felt hungry a lot, but I also just ate a lot as a substitute for fun. My appetite or whatever has not gotten the message that I'm not pregnant anymore.

Sorry, those are just some random musings I had in response to the naturally thin thread. I'm slowly working my way through the IE book. I'm clearly in the first stage of IE, where you feel like eating whatever just because you can (and PMS is NOT helping with that!). I do believe I'll get out of this stage rather quickly. I hope so anyway.

But I have a question for you. I take my lunch to work everyday. Does anyone else do this? Maybe this is addressed later in the book, but how does that apply to the IE life? I mean, if you're supposed to just want to eat whatever, how do you deal with the fact that it's noon, you're hungry, and you brought what you're going to eat (like it or not?) Honestly, I don't usually have a problem with what I brought with me that day, but sometimes I really don't want it.

One example: I've been taking a yogurt every day as a snack and yesterday I was grocery shopping and thought for the first time in months, I'm not taking yogurt anymore. I'm sick of yogurt. I've been on yogurt auto-pilot! Actually, I've been eating whatever snack people bring to the office a lot of time, and THEN eating my yogurt just because I brought it. I knew I should have skipped the yogurt since I already had a much more satisfying snack, but I guess I was falling into the waste-not eating style. :)

So anyway, back to my question: If you're following IE and for whatever reason bring your lunch to work with you, how does this fit into the IE lifestyle?

I guess if you're hungry you'd better eat it. ha! If you're not, save it for later. I had a similar thing happen at the wedding we served. I wrote about it above. I just should have skipped eating and I don't think anyone would have noticed. I have trouble with the fullness thing too, Shay, and I don't really feel it until about an hour after I've eaten. Just have to be more careful not to overdo. After 10 pregnancies and the breast feeding with it, I was used to eating a lot. Then complicated by prednisone. I just need to eat a lot less.

Hi, everyone...I'm back to struggling, and am falling back into diet mentality. One thing that set this off is talking with my sister, who is now on a big campaign to lose fifty pounds by the time she turns fifty this summer. She is fifty or sixty pounds smaller than I am as it is, and if she actually accomplishes this loss, I'll look even WORSE in comparison. I'm already the largest sibling in our family, and I hate it. I'm also very competitive, and don't want to be left behind when somebody is going full-bore to get their weight off.

Today I determined, once again--for the millionth time--to do Atkins to get my weight down. All day long I've eaten gross stuff I haven't wanted, but have done it just to keep myself from eating what I really wanted. I've also been craving carbs like crazy, just because I'm trying NOT to eat them.

But you'd think I'd learn, and stop doing this to myself. I don't enjoy the low carb foods. I don't like meat. I know by now that telling myself I can't have something just makes me crave it all day, then I go crazy once I finally let myself have some.

Even though I've done low carb all day, I'm on the verge of going out to make a big bowl of oatmeal with butter and brown sugar or something, just to say that I've "blown it", so I don't have to continue trying to do this.

Isn't it silly the mind games we play with ourselves? :(

I'm also under a lot of stress right now, because I might have to tell my brother, who has been living with us, that he will have to leave soon. (Long story.) I hate confrontations; I hate being a doormat, and I hate being the "bad guy". This situation is also making me crave junk foods like crazy. :(

Definitely hasn't been a good stretch of IE the last few days...

Oh Becky, I don't know what to tell you since I'm so new to this but I can offer you my support! Why not eat the oatmeal not to blow it, but because you want it? And then take each meal as it comes...no need to kill yourself with Atkins. I am completely with you on avoiding confrontation, so I hope things go okay with your brother!

There is an interesting thread on the 100lb club about how thin people eat.



Thanks for posting this. It was very interesting.

I'm constantly trying to figure out what happened to myself--I grew up naturally thin. I ate well, but didn't give food a second thought, and didn't even have any idea what "emotional eating" was. My mother always struggled with her weight, but it didn't rub off on us, not then anyway.

My problems started with my first diet, Atkins. Once I got on the diet merry go round, I just kept trying the diets, not being able to stick to them, falling off them, rebound eating, gaining more weight. You'd think I'd know better by now, but my fat disgusts me so much that I just keep holding out hope that the next diet might just be the one that gets me back to a normal weight again. It's very frustrating and discouraging, isn't it?

Oh Becky, I don't know what to tell you since I'm so new to this but I can offer you my support! Why not eat the oatmeal not to blow it, but because you want it? And then take each meal as it comes...no need to kill yourself with Atkins. I am completely with you on avoiding confrontation, so I hope things go okay with your brother!

Thank you, Amy. I ended up having homemade scalloped potatoes for supper--hee hee, that ended my Atkins day for sure, didn't it?

I noticed that you've lost ten pounds. Have you done this with IE?

Thanks for posting this. It was very interesting.

I'm constantly trying to figure out what happened to myself--I grew up naturally thin. I ate well, but didn't give food a second thought, and didn't even have any idea what "emotional eating" was. My mother always struggled with her weight, but it didn't rub off on us, not then anyway.

My problems started with my first diet, Atkins. Once I got on the diet merry go round, I just kept trying the diets, not being able to stick to them, falling off them, rebound eating, gaining more weight. You'd think I'd know better by now, but my fat disgusts me so much that I just keep holding out hope that the next diet might just be the one that gets me back to a normal weight again. It's very frustrating and discouraging, isn't it?

I know exactly what you mean. I've always had trouble with my belly after 10 pregnancies and after I went on prednisone it go even bigger. Uck! Sometimes I get really down. It's so hard not to be bothered by it.

Amy--I really try in the morning to decide what I am feeling like that day. Most times I get it right. If I don't think I want it, I eat a snack and wait. Maybe I just don't want it at that moment but I may later. If I find I truly do not want what I have I go out and get something different. My shelves and drawers at work and home are packed. I like a lot of choices. I like having a back up.

Truffle--I'm happy to hear you're off Atkins. I know it is hard but you really can't compare your weight loss to your sister's. You may be setting yourself up to fail and for self sabotage. This is about you. What you need to do for yourself. Weight loss is individual. I need to lose weight just as much as the next person. I'm 4'11" and I weigh 238. I am morbidly obese. So I feel ya--my back is hurting as I type this but what has worked best for me is not putting so much pressure on myself. Pressure makes me engage in self sabotage. Slow and steady wins the race. I've lost weight before about 130 pounds and see here I am back here again. We gotta lose it the right way.

Shay, you lost 130lbs before? Wow, it must be VERY frustrating to have to do it over again. I lost 50lbs about 11 years ago, but couldn't keep it off more than fifteen minutes, lol. I got down to 165, then zoomed up to 277. Sometimes I wonder what happened there. :(

This has been a goofy day, eating-wise. Did Atkins most of the day, then went off it tonight with scalloped potatoes, a dish of chocolate chips, and half a sleeve of Saltines with butter. I know that was the rebound from restricting myself today.

I really need to smarten up and recognize that restriction equals deprivation to me, and until I can "ease into" not seeing it that way, I probably won't have a lot of success in getting my weight down. When will I learn that I need to follow my own path, instead of getting sucked into the methods the people around me are using?

I've wasted this whole evening surfing around the WW discussion boards, Spark People, etc. I even found somebody talking about Prevention's Flat Belly Diet, so went off to see if I might want to follow that. Answer: no.

So, I'm writing today off and will start fresh with IE tomorrow.

Have a good evening, everyone!

Truffle, Becky--I keep going back and forth don't I? I will try to remember to address you as Becky. Yes, it was frustrating to regain most of that weight back. My heighest weight was 278. I got down to about 148-149. This time I started at 240. So the good thing is I didn't gain it all back but still...I lost it on a variety of different diets. It just got so hard. I was tired of restricting myself. I just gave up.

Hi Becky and Shay, Some author said that for every diet there is an equal and opposite binge. I guess that about sums it up. I had a good day yesterday but I was away from home part of the day and that always helps. I still have one daughter at home who home schools so when she is gone for the day I usually try to visit a friend in the care center or go grocery shopping or both. I even got the car washed yesterday at a new car wash. It didn't do a very good job and I bought 10 tokens to save money. Ouch! I might speak to them next time I'm there. Since I had a good day, this morning I'm not as hungry. Do you think there is a connection? By good day I mean eating small amounts only when hungry. I even threw away half of an ice cream cone.

Hi Becky! To answer your question, I lost the 10 lbs on Weight Watchers. Actually I lost about 15 pounds but gained 5 pounds back over the holidays (well starting before the holidays actually...we were hit by an ice storm and lost electricity for a week so I went "off plan" and didn't really get back on ever). So I started back at WW in late January (when I was in the middle of a move!) and haven't seen the scale budge.

I was excited to be on WW when I started and just lost my momentum. I think if I started fresh right now I might have more success, but I'm already so darn skeptical. First of all, the meetings annoyed me. I wanted to gain inspiration from them but they were mostly a waste of my time. I KNEW everything already. I starved myself every weigh-in day to boost my weight loss, and how healthy is that? And the latest ad campaign. Oy. Weight Watchers is not a diet? It sure is! It had me obsessing over every little point.

Hence, my final straw and decision to try IE, because I know what to do. I'm thinking I should take my weight loss ticker down. The last thing I read last night was that when intuitive eating, it's best not to weight yourself because that has the trappings of a diet. If the weight is up, you feel depressed and eat. If the weight is down, you want to celebrate and eat. It's something to consider, anyway. But on the other hand, I think seeing that ticker will help focus me on my long-term goals, which means listening to my inner signals. I guess I should just keep reading the book before I make any final decisions, but if any of you have input, share!

My DIL does the same thing on her WW weigh in day.......starves all day. But I used to do the same thing when I was going to the dr. for pregnancies. ha! On the other hand, when I got really sick and lost weight it didn't really matter. Then I started on the prednisone and back the weight came.

Here is part of an old post from Dr. Bert Herring's website.

"The bulk of our need for food is simply fuel and water. Our bodies
are excellent scavengers and recyclers, and everything but fuel,
water, and oxygen is re-used and lost from the body only in
relatively tiny amounts...I encourage you to trust your body and let
it be the wonderful machine that it is."

That last part hit me: basically just get out of the way of your
body's natural ability to take incredibly good care of itself and
watch the amazing results. After my short jog this morning, I sat
out on a rock by a stream near my apartment and chewed on that
notion for a while. Suddenly I was awestruck by how easy it is to be
supremely healthy, that it doesn't take lots of study, analysis,
controling, measuring, monitoring, memorizing, manipulating, or
other time-consuming, money-consuming bother. Consume just enough
wholesome food, trust the body's perfect design, and you are good to
go.

Amy--Definitely your decision about the scale is a personal one. Based on IE and knowing myself I did decide to take my ticker down. I also decided to only weigh myself every 3 months. My relationship with the scale just like food has been very dysfunctional for a very long time. I decided a few weeks ago that weight loss is secondary for me but that's because I'm a binge eater. Building a healther relationship with food is main priority now. Losing weight will be a bonus.

So here at work we are trying to resurrect our "fit club". We tried this a few years back and didn't stick to it because everyone is so busy. We are trying again starting tomorrow. Sometimes we will talk. Sometimes we will walk & talk. I definitely want to talk to them about IE and share my book with them. Some of them already know about it just from what I told them but not in depth.

Hi Becky and Shay, Some author said that for every diet there is an equal and opposite binge. I guess that about sums it up. I had a good day yesterday but I was away from home part of the day and that always helps. save money. Since I had a good day, this morning I'm not as hungry. Do you think there is a connection? By good day I mean eating small amounts only when hungry. I even threw away half of an ice cream cone.

Hi, Carol...That quote sounds like maybe Geneen Roth? I loved her books for years. Read and re-read them. Finally tossed them into the recycling recently because I pretty much know them by heart, and I needed room for other books.

I do think that when we have "good days" it's easier to eat better the next day. I know I eat a lot less when I'm busy, or when I'm very interested in whatever I'm doing, even if it's something mundane.

Hi Becky! To answer your question, I lost the 10 lbs on Weight Watchers. Actually I lost about 15 pounds but gained 5 pounds back over the holidays (well starting before the holidays actually...we were hit by an ice storm and lost electricity for a week so I went "off plan" and didn't really get back on ever). So I started back at WW in late January (when I was in the middle of a move!) and haven't seen the scale budge.

I was excited to be on WW when I started and just lost my momentum. I think if I started fresh right now I might have more success, but I'm already so darn skeptical. First of all, the meetings annoyed me. I wanted to gain inspiration from them but they were mostly a waste of my time. I KNEW everything already. I starved myself every weigh-in day to boost my weight loss, and how healthy is that? And the latest ad campaign. Oy. Weight Watchers is not a diet? It sure is! It had me obsessing over every little point.

Hence, my final straw and decision to try IE, because I know what to do. I'm thinking I should take my weight loss ticker down. The last thing I read last night was that when intuitive eating, it's best not to weight yourself because that has the trappings of a diet. If the weight is up, you feel depressed and eat. If the weight is down, you want to celebrate and eat. It's something to consider, anyway. But on the other hand, I think seeing that ticker will help focus me on my long-term goals, which means listening to my inner signals. I guess I should just keep reading the book before I make any final decisions, but if any of you have input, share!

Hi, Amy...I hear you on how annoying WW can be! I was never able to stick with the meetings because of that. It just felt so silly to be sitting there listening to people ramble on about whatever zero point snacks and desserts they could discover. That whole group thing has never been comfortable for me. I'd much rather give and get support online.

I don't think having a ticker on here would bother me. Listing my weight doesn't bother me either. I figure it gives people an idea of what kind of an amount I'm battling with, lol. It's easier for me to relate to somebody else who has a hundred pounds to lose than it is somebody with only ten. I know the person with ten to lose probably feels just as fat as I do, but somehow, since I've been this big for so long, having only ten pounds to lose doesn't even register in my mind as any sort of "problem". Does that make sense?

Here is part of an old post from Dr. Bert Herring's website.

"The bulk of our need for food is simply fuel and water. Our bodies
are excellent scavengers and recyclers, and everything but fuel,
water, and oxygen is re-used and lost from the body only in
relatively tiny amounts...I encourage you to trust your body and let
it be the wonderful machine that it is."

That last part hit me: basically just get out of the way of your
body's natural ability to take incredibly good care of itself and
watch the amazing results. After my short jog this morning, I sat
out on a rock by a stream near my apartment and chewed on that
notion for a while. Suddenly I was awestruck by how easy it is to be
supremely healthy, that it doesn't take lots of study, analysis,
controling, measuring, monitoring, memorizing, manipulating, or
other time-consuming, money-consuming bother. Consume just enough
wholesome food, trust the body's perfect design, and you are good to
go.

This is a very interesting quote. Makes me realize what a giant production we've made over trying to get our bodies to be something else. If only I'd never started on the merry go round! I wish I had just left my body alone. I think I would have remained close to my normal weight.

So here at work we are trying to resurrect our "fit club". We tried this a few years back and didn't stick to it because everyone is so busy. We are trying again starting tomorrow. Sometimes we will talk. Sometimes we will walk & talk. I definitely want to talk to them about IE and share my book with them. Some of them already know about it just from what I told them but not in depth.

I'm so bad at staying with these kinds of groups. When I was a regular walker, people would always ask if I wanted to walk with them, and I usually always politely turned them down because walking has always been an enjoyable private, quiet time for me. There's nothing better than taking a long walk, out in the beautiful creation, having time to think, dream, pray...

This has been a weird day for me. I'm figuring out a couple of things. One is that, even though I've kept a detailed food journal for years now, it's not really of much use, so why do I continue keeping it? I first started writing down what I ate so that, just in case I woke up one morning fifty pounds less than when I went to bed the night before, I'd be able to see what I had eaten, and duplicate it for more weight loss, lol.

Writing down the food has not done a thing for me. Sometimes I'll have a nice neat page, then I'll come to the afternoon, when my "eating time" usually starts. If I eat several things in a row, I end up not writing it all down and instead, I just write "etc." at the bottom of the page. When I see that "etc.", I know I was eating for reasons other than hunger.

Another thing I'm learning is that I really need to have around some of the exact foods I'm looking forward to. If I don't have them, I seem to surf around the kitchen, trying to figure out what will work as a second choice. This doesn't seem to work for me. I end up eating all sorts of stuff I either don't like, or am not really hungry for.

I also seem to need quite a wide range of foods to choose from. Once we hit that part of the week where groceries run low and we're just eating whatever happens to be around, I don't do well. I do that same sort of surfing around the kitchen. I need to work on this.

The last thing today is something quite strange. I am one of those people who is super-sensitive to anyone who is nauseated or vomiting. All I have to do is hear about it, and my own stomach immediately starts feeling funny. I've been this way all my life. And wouldn't you know it, my brother who lives with us came home sick this afternoon with the stomach flu. Just talking about it with my mother on the phone has left me hyper-aware of the feelings in my own stomach. This has made me unable to feel true hunger and fullness this afternoon and tonight. Very weird. :barf:

Becky, so sorry to hear of the illness. I have a son like that. He'll through up if he hears some one else doing it. I had a half good day yesterday. When I took my DD and GD to Walmart they decided they wanted to go to McDonalds. Nothing wrong with that and I didn't order but I picked at there stuff. That kind of set me up for not so good eating ( no hunger) for the evening although I didn't eat after 6:30pm. I sure feel a lot better when I eat from hunger. My whole body seems to rebel with aches and pains when I do otherwise.

I introduced myself a month or so ago - and fell off the 'map'. I'll skip the details, but I'm back. I've been reading a bit, trying to catch up. But that will have to wait for another time. It's lunchtime - I'm actually hungry. I even know what I want. I also have a bit of cabin fever and really want to get outside for a walk.

Lavender

Oh yeah, and you convinced me to put my scale in the garage. That thing is not my friend.

Welcome back Lavender.

I talked about IE in my fit club today and a friend is interested so I sent her an e-mail from Amazon so she could check the book out. I think I will send her the website too. That will be helpful. Today was a really good IE day.

Had a hungry day today and just went with it. Tomorrow is a new day.

My friend bought the book. That will be great having someone right here with me doing IE too.

Okay I finally got a chance to read more of the book.

Chapter 8--Principle 4: Challenge the Food Police
I used to be a dichotomous thinker. I have worked really hard to get away from that and have suceeded. I then moved into linear thinking but I am now a process thinker. It definitely is a journey. What I really identfied with in this chapter is the last section--Self Awareness: The Ultimate Weapon Against the Food Police. I hadn't gotten to this part of the book but I had told my friend that IE is essentially about self awareness. I always strive to be self aware. It is something I work on every day.

I've been doing okay for the last couple of days, though I am waiting too long to eat. I seem to have a *very* fine line between hungry and about to pass out :)

I totally understand that one, Llavender. After being so hungry yesterday, today I wasn't hungry until about 1:30pm. I've had one meal so far and a slice of bread. I'll be interested to see what kind of day tomorrow is!!

I finally finished my IE book today. I am using the FBD idea of MUFAs with each meal. I was using it with WW Flex, but today decided to just eat when hungry and not count Flex points. I'm through eating for the day. I ate less I think because I ate what I wanted to eat and only ate when I was hungry not by the clock. I'm free from having to eat a certain amount of pts each day so I'll see how that all goes. I've used the WW Flex pts as a guide line and was thankful for it. I'm thinking that eating good fats in moderation probably helps with satiety as well. I think I'm starting to become comfortable with the food or it seems so and I hope I am. I know I can have whatever I want if I want it, but I need to just be sure I do. Some times, I think I want something just to eat it and find out it didn't taste like I thought it would. So maybe this is starting to really work for me.

Okay that's weird. I thought I posted something in here earlier in the day and its not here. I wonder if I copied it into another post before actually posting here and now its lost. I was at work multitasking so that might be it.

Shay, that's happened to me before. If it happens too often I start copying so I can paste it later if I find out it didn't post. Had a wierd day yesterday. I ate when hungry except we went visit my son and about 17 of the family went. We had to stop on the way for my DH to visit his tax man for about an hour so those who rode with us went to McDonalds while wating. The kids played in the play place and we all ordered something. I had a hamburger. The boys played raquetball and basketball until 9pm at the Y and I watched one of the babies and some of the other girls went shopping. When I found out they were going to a Mexican restaraunt, I was glad I had the hamburger. I really dislike most Mexican food. I never seem to order the right thing. I mostly just ate chips and salsa because we were starving by then. But I always feel bad when I'm starving and nothing looks good. What do you all do when that happens.

OK, so I was not an intuitive eater this weekend. Not at all. My baby boy's first birthday was Friday so we had a weekend-long celebration. My birthday is today!!! so I guess that got roped into the thing. We went to a wine festival on Saturday night then Sunday morning we had brunch, then Sunday afternoon MIL bought us dinner...so I ate and ate and ate. But folks, it didn't stop there. My officemate yesterday brought in a creation called "cake balls" and I was bored at work so I ate many cake balls.

But I'm getting ready to respect my fullness. You ever get to that point where nothing seems good, even something as delicious as cake balls? In fact, all you really want is salad and fresh food. So I'm there.

Carol--I have stood in my kitchen for 10-15 minutes trying to figure out what to eat. I eat a small snack first and then can usually figure it out. I make sure I have a lot of options. At work I make sure I have a lot of options or I just run to the grocery store or sometimes fast food and get like a grilled chicken sandwich. I usually don't go out to eat much but most time I get chicken and that covers it for me. When I do go out to eat I know ahead of time and know what I like or in my mind have some ideas of meals that I would eat from most restaurants. Mexican I generally do burritos or soft tacos or fajitas.

:bday2you::woo::balloons::celebrate:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY888

Many times I don't know what I want to eat. I've decided that if I don't know what I want to eat then I just might not be hungry. I wait a while and then I eventually something will come to mind. I'm trying to learn to eat only when hungry and not just because it is time. I know we shouldn't go too long between eating, but I am not going to eat just because I think I should. That is one of the ways I got here with all this wieght to start with. When I go out to eat and don't know what to get, I just try to stay balanced by eating something as healthy as possible. For example today we went out to eat and I didn't really know what I wanted so I got meat green beans and cole slaw. My hunger seems to be tappering off.

That sounds great, Patty, but I can be ravenous and still not know what I want. Do you ever notice if you wait too long that you overeat? Sometimes that happens to me. Yesterday was a fairly light day with a moderate supper. We had company so I fixed steak. Now this morning, I'm not as hungry. Off to take my Alaska son to visit his sister 4 hr. away.

Carol-- I definitely overeat sometimes if I wait too long. If I don't overeat it definitely takes me longer to feel satisfied. I've told my BF if I pick him up after work no stopping I am going home to eat. No ifs, ands or buts!

I don't know what it is, but when I go away I tend to eat for other reasons other than hunger. I had to take my son to the airport yesterday to go back to Alaska and we stopped at his sisters overnight. Part of the trouble is getting overly hungry and part fatigue, I'm sure. When you're home you can decides to eat or not but food is always there in case you really are hungry. Well, my DD had some shrimp to munch on as we were eating dinner late. She teaches pottery classes 2 nights a week and is very busy right now making pots. The art fair season is about to begin and besides that she has a wood kiln outside and doesn't fire during the dead of winter. So dinner was at 8:30 or 9:00pm. That would have been ok but she also made chocolate chip cookies for a snack. I wanted to stop with one or two but ended up eating 4 and one more after the late dinner. UGH! Then the next morning she bought specialty sweet rolls. She just knows we like them. She is really thin so no problem for her. Today is a new day and eating is gentle again.

Friday
I've still been getting on the scale. Its been tough to stop something you've been used to doing every day. I've finally not been on the scale for a couple of days straight now. What I have learned is I am maintaining even though I am eating what I want when hungry. The reason I know I'm maintaining rather than losing is because I need to stop earlier than I do. I take 5 bites when 3 would have been more than enough. Still a work in progress. My schedule has been ridiculous but I am managing.

Today
Okay everyone it is confession time. I made it through 24 binge free days but didn't make it to 25. Yesterday was a disaster. But you know what? I am so proud of myself for making it to 24. I have not been able to go that long without bingeing for a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time. Today is day 1. My friend at work got her IE book yesterday so here's hoping she gets a chance to start reading her book so we can do it together. I already know what my 10 day reward will be. Either a few new cds or games for my computer.

What a wonderful thing to have a friend to share with!! Most people would think IE was strange. Let us know how it goes.

Even Oprah is getting on the IE bandwagon.

By Elaine Magee, RD, MPH
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic Feature Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD, MD
Try these tips for getting more satisfaction from fewer calories.



Babies are born knowing to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are comfortable. But as we grow up and are exposed to fad diets, advertising, food used as a reward, etc., many of us unlearn this beautifully balanced way of eating and begin to overeat.

Yet eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are comfortable is one of the keys to healthy eating and living, says Linda Bacon, PhD, nutrition professor at the City College of San Francisco.

Much has been written on the "eating when you're hungry" side of this equation. But how do you learn to stop when you're comfortable if you've lost touch with this over the years?

Experts say there are things you can do to make yourself more likely to stop eating when you are comfortable. They include:


Eating Slowly
This isn't a new concept. Remember all those familiar dieting tips like "sip water between bites" and "chew thoroughly before swallowing"? These were all aimed at slowing us down when we eat. Research led by Mark Gold, MD, at the University of Florida at Gainesville has shown it takes 12 or more minutes for food satisfaction signals to reach the brain of a thin person, but 20 or more minutes for an obese person. Eating slowly ensures that these important messages have time to reach the brain.
Being Aware
"Be more attentive about the whole eating experience; don't eat when you are driving or at the computer," Bacon advises. When we're distracted or hurried, the food—and calories—we eat tend not to register well in our brains. Jean Kristeller, PhD, a psychologist and Indiana State University researcher, suggests a brief premeal meditation to get centered before eating so you can more easily derive pleasure from your food, give the meal your full attention and notice when you've had enough.
Make the First Bites Count
Bacon believes that maximum food enjoyment comes in the initial bites. "After a few bites, taste buds start to lose their sensitivity to the chemicals in food that make it taste good," she explains. Satisfying your taste buds by really savoring those first few bites may help you stop eating when you're physically comfortable.
Keep up appearances
Using a smaller plate and paying attention to the presentation of a meal can increase your awareness of the food in front of you and help you stop eating when you are comfortable. "The brain looks at the plate and decides if the portion is adequate," Gold says. "It takes some time, but the smaller the plate, the smaller the portion."
Choose Satisfying Foods
Steer away from foods that give you a lot of calories for very little volume, such as milk shakes, cheese and chocolate, Gold recommends. The higher the fiber, protein and/or water content of a food or meal, the more likely it is to be satisfying in your stomach without going overboard on calories.
Research during the past decade suggests there are three factors that help make a meal more satisfying: the weight of the food, the amount of protein and the amount of fiber.

A revolutionary study done by researchers at the University of Sydney in 1995 noted that of the 38 foods tested, certain foods scored higher in satiety. Top-scoring foods included whole-meal bread, grainy bread, cheese, eggs, brown pasta, popcorn, all-bran cereal, grapes, porridge, baked beans, apples, beefsteak, ling fish (a type of cod) and oranges. All of these foods are high in fiber, water or protein.

And which foods tend to have low satiety scores—making them much easier to overeat? These would be foods with large amounts of fat, sugar and/or refined carbohydrates, like potato chips, candy bars and white bread.

"

Great article Carol. I always look forward to reading them. I was very excited that my friend wants to do IE. This was based on sharing the book at the "fit club" meeting. I think some people find the concept of IE weird because many feel if they knew how to stop eating when satisfied they wouldn't be overweight. I love it because I don't have to restrict or deprive myself. I am still working on the stopping when satisfied or full and not eating beyond that.

Shay, Have you seen the discussion, I Can Make You Thin? It's about Paul McKenna. Bascially, I think it is IE. He has a website and you can join his group for free right now.

Just noticed that he is a hypnotist. Not interested in that.

Carol--That's the exact reason I wasn't interested too.

I told my friend that I thought she should talk with her sister about how she is restricting her niece's eating. I told her it was an eating disorder waiting to happen. I'd been thinking about it for awhile and I was worried about what she would say. My friend agreed and had been thinking about it herself. Her niece is so young she does not need a lifetime of sneaking and eating which will just lead to bingeing. I know. My mom didn't restrict me but another family member did and I know it contributes to my binge eating amongst other things.

I got on the freaking scale again this morning. I am determined to not do it again. I am maintaining which is amazing to me with that terrible binge I had on Saturday and I am still working on trying to get back on the right track. IE is so going to work for me once I master stop when satisfied because eating what I want has worked. Part of the reason I believe I am still getting on the scale is because I feel so fat these days. I think that has to do with IE and me being more aware of my body. In the past I was always in denial. Now it is really in my face. I'm contemplating totally getting rid of my scale and just going by how my clothes fit. We shall see.

OK Shay - I'm here! :) I'm brand new to the IE mentality. and although it makes sense to me in a nutshell - I still have a lot to learn! I was an avid calorie counter - and that's how I lost the last #20 - but it's just not enough for me. I hate the guilt feeling when I would go "over the limit" and then I'd fall into the "Hel with it" mode for a few days or more - completely screwing up any progress.

Currently I'm learning to listen to my body - eat when I'm hungry - stop when I'm full. Today was day one for me. (I made it 6 days a few weeks ago - but that went to heck) I'm learning to not eat out of emotion - and to get rid of the guilt. This is VERY VERY hard for me!

I know that in the long run this will be the best solution - because I can maintain this for the rest of my life. There will be times when I'm hungrier then others - and times when it's ok to have that cookie...and I'm accepting that.

Amy - as for the lunch thing - I generally take my lunch too. but in the case of getting to lunch time and not wanting it - I generally run out to the store and get what it is I want. I put my lunch in the Fridge and either take it home or eat it the next day.

My goal right now is to finsih the introduction and Chapter one tonight during my newly scheduled "ME TIME".

:welcome3: Enygirl!

I thought this article from the lastest Beyond Chocolate newsletter was interesting.

Soul food

Hot cross buns, still warm from the oven, oozing butter... Chocolate eggs, cracked open to retrieve the treat within, then savoured slowly, piece by melting piece... A slice of simnel cake, delicately spiced, and topped with marzipan... Will you be indulging in these timeless traditions this Easter?

Every religion has feast days and food rituals - the Jewish Seder, the Buddhist ideal of 'mindful eating', the grace that followers of many faiths say before meals - because food has always been sacred, worshipped by mankind for millennia for sustaining life.

Why, then, do so many of us now pray at a very different altar - the altar of deprivation? In recent times, far from the act of eating being perceived as enriching, it is viewed warily, as something to control, its significance sidelined. This historical shift in our attitude is something that interests Michelle Stacey, journalist and author of Consumed: Why Americans Love, Hate and Fear Food and The Fasting Girl: A True Victorian Medical Mystery. In an article entitled Starving Your Soul, she questions why limiting what we eat has become revered: "Food is not just sustenance but comfort, companionship and communication. It is both a connection with our most elemental, animal selves and with the physical world outside of us that supplies our needs. In that connection, and in the plain physiological reality of eating, there is a joy that can be transcendent, if we let it be. The truth and logic of this fact have become so lost recently that, oddly, we've turned the idea around: we're more likely to think that in being stingy with how we feed ourselves lies our salvation."

Ellyn Satter, a US dietician who specialises in treating eating disorders, agrees: "Dietary restraint - holding back on either the amount or the types of food we eat for external reasons - has become so pervasive that people see restricting their food intake as normal. And it's applauded by the dietary powers that be. It's become completely accepted that eating for emotional reasons is bad, that one should simply put fuel in one's body as if it were a car."

Instead, says Stacey, we should make sure our diet is peppered with "soul foods" -"the cheesecake you used to share with your high-school best friend, the spaghetti carbonara from Maria's Kitchen that you fell in love over, the rice pudding your mother made when you were sick. These foods soothe us, take us back in time, and unite our bodies with our hearts and our minds."

She concludes: "An Italian friend once described the family meals she grew up with, at which cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, grandparents talked, argued, laughed, stirred pasta and risotto, drank wine, then let enough hours elapse to return once again to the kitchen for midnight pasta; the food was inseparable from the emotion. These are the foods we cannot live without - and fats, protein, and carbohydrates have nothing to do with it."

If you're ready to learn how to eat when you're hungry and what you're really hungry for, join Sophie and Audrey in London on 29th March for the Beyond Chocolate 1 Day Experience, or, on the same date, either near Wallingford or in Bristol for An Introduction to Beyond Chocolate with your local Chocolate Fairy. We have just a few places left at each venue, so book now!

Hi! I just wanted to say this is a great thread! Thank you for starting it!

Good morning girls! I made it two days - and then not so good yesterday. It was a bad day from the start. I woke up with an enormous headache and went home from work around noon. I'm getting burnt out. Because of the headache and being exhausted - I didn't work out. Eating was really good up until about 9 pm. I was hungry - which generally I'm not that late - but I indulged and ate WAY more then I should have or needed to.

Today is a new day...

As usual Carol another great article. Deprivation definitely does not work for me. It feels so good to eat whatever I want and not feel guilty. I have had

Hi Steph!

Enygirl--When I first started IE I went crazy. I ate way too much and too often because I was so used to restricting myself.

Shay - it's good to know that I'm not the only one. I am getting better though... Today I was completely on plan. I didn't eat too much... maybe a couple bites too much - but I'm counting it as a success!

I just got done with my workout. I couldn't stand to do another night of Slim in 6 - it gets SO boring for me to do the same videos over and over.. so I'm going to be mixing my aerobic videos around. Tonight was Taebo. It took ALL of me to get through it since I haven't done it in SO long! I know that at the end there was not much effort left to put into it... but I did it! :D :yay:

Carol - I'm with Shay. I love the articles that you have posted in the last week. I love researching everything! :)

Alright - I'm going to go spend some time crocheting. I still have a few projects that I need to get done - and Summer's coming! I need to start making DD's summer clothes!!!

I'm looking at my last post and thinking I didn't finish my thought. Oh well I have no idea what I was trying to say.

I really need to go grocery shopping. I have quite a bit of food. I always do but the problem is I keep going in the kitchen and there really isn't anything that I really want to eat so I eat what I don't want and then I continue to eat because I'm not really eating what I want. I've got to get the energy to go because I had a crazy schedule this week and will have another one next week so I have not felt rested this entire week.

Glad you enjoy the articles. Really busy here with company and I think eating goes out the window. At least once in awhile I'm asking myself if I'm really hungry. My DH loves to cook and has been making pies and cookies which linger for several days and I'm a picker. So tired, too, which doesn't help with the picking. Still have a few busy weeks but I try not to dwell on it too much and just live one day at a time.

I went grocery shopping today. Thank goodness now I feel I have some stuff I would really like to eat. I am trying to incoroporate superfoods into my IE and realized I eat more superfoods than I though. So far today I've already had 6 of the 14. I want to keep an eye on it. I'm probably going to Whole Foods later on in the week too. Can't wait for the Farmer's Markets to get going for the season.

Hi everyone! I took last week off of work and spent the time with my visiting mom and stepdad and getting ready to put our old house on the market. Now I'm sick. :( But I DID finally get around to watching the first episode of I Can Make You Thin, and I'm almost done reading the Intuitive Eating book. I just posted this in the I Can Make You Thin thread, but is anyone watching this? It's perfectly consistent with Intuitive Eating...in fact, it IS IE! I like the concrete suggestions he gives, like putting your fork down and closing your eyes for at least one meal. If you're not watching, you should give it a try!

Amy--I may give it a try. That hypnotist piece I don't like. Maybe he doesn't use it as part of this program. I don't know.

I'm still really struggling on knowing when I'm full - has anyone else had this problem? I also haven't had time to read the book - and I REALLY REALLY WANT TO!!! I just have SO much going on... and right now - it's either workout or read... and although both are beneficial to my well-being - I need to workout, :sigh:

Alright - here's to another day...

Enygirl, The Overfed Head by Rob Stevens is a short IE book and I think you would like it. You can get it at Amazon used and I have had very little trouble with them.

Amy--I may give it a try. That hypnotist piece I don't like. Maybe he doesn't use it as part of this program. I don't know.


I've still only seen the first episode and there was none of that. I'm not a big fan of that side of things, but I know he does have a PhD and hypnotism does have a pretty valid place in therapy, not so much for entertainment (except that it's funny). I've heard in the second show he had people tapping themselves when they had a craving. That just sounds like simple distraction to me, but I have to watch to see. I say give it a try and skip over the parts that aren't useful. The concrete tips and anecdotes are good for me!

carol - I was looking at that one as well. oh and I LOVE AMAZON! I'm pretty much addicted! :) That and ebay.

Anyhow - I cheated a little and stepped on the scale this morning... I was happy to see a drop. :cheer: It makes me feel a lot more confident in my ability to trust myself in doing this - without watching and counting every morsal. :) Yay me! :yay:

Way to go Enygirl. My trouble is I do so much reading and am always "trying" other things. Not good.

I'm a diet veteran, but I'm tired of diets, so I'm giving this a try. I did last year and failed miserably, but at my husband's suggestion, I'm trying once more.

One of my problems is getting over "food guilt" when I eat a small portion of something very tasty - does it just take time to get past it? Heck, even when I counted calories and included something really tasty that was within my calories, I'd feel guilty! (I was brought up Catholic ;) ) I'm trying to stay the course and push through the guilt, but I just hope that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Edit: I also keep mentally counting calories, and it drives me nuts!

Forever, I think this will pass but it may take some time. For example, today I came down to the computer and there was an almond joy there with 3 of the 4 pieces left. I ate one absentmindedly, but it just didn't taste good. Could be I wasn't hungry???? So I wasn't thinking of the caloies or whether ti was good or bad, my body just didn't want it. And after one piece, I am not hungry at all.

Another interesting IE article.

You have a choice. Reclaim your rightful ownership of your
time and energy or continue to waste it. Here are five
critical strategies you need to learn and practice
consistently.

1. STOP! Whenever you catch yourself thinking or talking
about food, eating, dieting, or weight, say STOP out loud
(or at least loud in your head). Unless you're physically
hungry, don't fritter away another second of your time
worrying about food.

2. Redirect your attention. Trust your body to let you
know when it actually needs food so you can focus your
attention on other enjoyable, more productive activities
until it does. (You'll find helpful strategies in Chapter 3
of Am I Hungry?)

3. Let go of guilt. When you stop obsessing about
everything you eat, you'll discover an untapped well of
time and energy. Amazingly, when you stop restricting,
depriving, and punishing yourself, you'll naturally begin
to seek balance, variety, and moderation in your diet.
Although it seems counter-intuitive, I have seen this
happen over and over again for our workshop participants.

4. Eat mindfully. The best time to think about eating is
when you are eating. If you love food so much, act like it!
Turn off the TV, sit at the table, notice the aromas,
textures, and flavors, and pay attention to your hunger and
fullness signals so you'll feel great when you're finished.

5. Invest wisely. Look back at your time study. What's
missing from your day? Could you be trying to fill that gap
with food - or distracting yourself by focusing on your
weight instead? Invest your physical, emotional,
intellectual, and spiritual energy in meeting your true
needs.

You're in charge of where you invest your most valuable
resources. Nourish your body, mind, heart, and spirit for a
more balanced, fulfilling and vibrant life.

Eat Mindfully. Live Vibrantly!
Michelle May, M.D.

Enygirl--Great job. I think when you start IE it is easy to be distrustful of yourself because we are so conditioned to restrict ourselves.

Forever--I think it comes with time. Who knows when it will subside you may never be able to get past it but you may have to learn to cope with it.

Carol--Another fantastic article. I am working on not obsessing about food. I know I can turn any conversation to one about food. I am trying to make it so my entire day does not revolve around when I am going to eat and what I am going to eat. IE has definitely made that less of a struggle.

Thanks for the help! The Almond Joy example particularly helps, as I've been concerned about putting things in my mouth when I wasn't hungry, and then feeling overwhelming guilt, but I see that it can be a learning experience rather than a hindrance.

After two and a half days of really paying attention to my eating and enjoyment, I'm absolutely FLOORED. I'm eating so much less and satisfied with what I'm eating - I feel like there's a thin person inside of me trying to get out! My body has effortlessly let go of about 1.5 lbs in the last couple days that it's been hanging onto for a month.

Forever--I know isn't it amazing? I'm always fighting my mind rather than my body. Meaning my body tells me when I'm done but my mind is like "you used to eat way more than this how could this be enough food? You don't know what you are doing!" A work in progress. One moment at a time.

gentle footprints girls....

I actually fell SO much better now that I'm not obsessing about everything! I'm still losing weight - I'm getting exercise as part of my daily routine, like showering or brushing my teeth. I wouldn't skip those - why do i feel I can skip the 1/2 hr+ of working out?

I don't feel guilty when I eat something that was "off limits" before - and because of that I don't eat NEARLY as much of it!

I'm completely with you on the amazement of how much actually satisfies you! This morning I had the fight w/ myself when I realized that 2/3rd of a bagel was enough - when generally I'd eat that plus a bowl of cereal! IT WAS CRAZY!!!

I'm going to incorporate more Super foods into my household. BF wants to lose weight too - but he's a muncher. The good thing is - he'll munch anything - so if I buy carrot sticks instead of potato chips he'll be just as happy ;) Monday is pay/grocery day! I'm happy about that!

:hug: and :dust: to everyone - enjoy your Friday!

Okay so I have been to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods so I am all set. The thing is now that I have finally gotten to Stage Four--"The Intuitive Eater Awakens" I am eating less. So I need to be careful. I buy alot of food. I like to have a lot of choices. I don't want food going bad because I'm not hungry for it or bought too much. Today is Day 5 of being binge free again and being in Stage Four. I feel really good.

Hi everyone,

I was on IE awhile back but got too scared having any food I wanted and quick jumped back on another diet, then another. I dieted my way up 15 pounds and have just been having such a rotten time lately. I decided to give IE another go as I cannot diet anymore.

So this morning on my way back from the dmv and getting my license renewed I picked up some breakfast from dunkin donuts for myself and my family.

I have to say it was very freeing to know I would have a BAGEL! (which I havent allowed myself in about 6 months) and I was thankful. I took half and wrapped it up right away to save for later. I savored my 1/2 bagel and had 1 munchkin afterwards. I felt satisfied and all was right with the world. Then, I dont know if it was habit or mouth hunger, but that other half of the bagel was calling my name until I finally gave in and had it. Then topped it off with more munchkins! It being my first day Im trying not to be hard on myself, at least I'm aware of what Im doing. I will go back and re-read my IE book and just keep practicing. :dizzy:

:welcome2: Tigerseye (Nancy)! I think it is natural when you go from restrictive eating to IE to go a little crazy at first. No worries you will get back on track soon. My IE book has been extremely helpful for me. I will always use it as a resource.

Hi Everybody,

I have been MIA around here. Saw some of you on other boards. Welcome Tigerseye (love the name). Shay is right. We all go a little crazy at first on IE, but it does settle down after a few weeks. I have actually begun to settle down and I'm not gaining weight any more. Plus I am eating more fruits and veggies and healthier. I'm learning there isn't that many foods that I really like so that will be good on my food bill. I have also learned that I don't have to eat everything on my plate. I love springtime with all the fresh fruits and veggies. I had roasted chicken and mixed (version of my likes) healthy veggies for dinner. We only eat one meal a day and snack the rest of the day. I didn't eat all the meat and veggies so I put them in a container together and I'll make a soup out of it one day when DH doesn't want a meal.

I went to the Paul McKenna website and it is FREE so I joined. Got a lot info I downloaded to read. I did the technique on line for getting rid of cravings. I've never been much of a sweet eater but lately found my hands going into DH Heath bars too much and too often & the crazy thing is I don't even really like them. I think it was the fact that I could have them. Any way after doing his technique, I'm not sure I will be able to eat anything chocolate without feeling nauseous or sick. I just need to get to where I am eating more IE lifestyle... eat when hungry and learn when I'm hungry and when I'm not and also get rid of cravings. I expect it to be a great addition to IE and Whole Foods as I learn to eat a more healthy lifestyle.

Thank you for the welcome :)

I ended up not doing too badly for the rest of the day, tho when I got home from work just now I had left over chinese when i really wasnt hungry...Im jst exhausted and wanted to feel better. I shouldnt be eatting at 1130 pm anyways.

I do have a quick question for you ladies in the know:)....I notice in reading back that some try to eat 6 meals a day or graze...does that mean they are eatting even if they're not hungry? I know its better for the metabolism but then I think its not IE then. Im just a bit confused. I ate around noon then again at 630 and I remember thinking my metabolism must be slowing down, but I didnt feel hungry. Any thoughts?

Hi, i am a diabetic and i have to eat like that. so i jsut watch it. but feel better. have a good week to all. LaDean

Tigerseye--It may have been me that said that in the beginning. I no longer worry if I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks. I eat when I'm hungry and stop when satisfied. So some days that may be 3 meals and 3 snacks or it may be 3 meals and 1 snack like it was on Tuesday. I really don't pay attention to the time. I am able to do this at work also because I have a really flexible schedule. When I said that I was still holding onto the diet mentality. If I'm not hungry I don't eat. I better go now because I am hungry. I will check back in later.

Edited to add--Whew I was really hungry I can't let that happen again but I whipped up a quick smoothie.

I don't really keep up with meals and snacks any more. I eat when I am hungry and I don't eat when I'm not. I think I am a grazer any way. Some days I eat more often than others. I do try to manage one good meal a day as my DH only eats one meal a day usually around 3 pm. That is the only "planned" meal we eat. I have learned recently that I don't really care that much for as many foods as I've always eaten. I ate them either because I thought I had to or because people around me ate it or it was cheaper. I've learned that I really like fresj fruit and veggies so I eat a lot of it. I used to drink a lot of coffee, but I realized that I really don't care for it as much as I thought I did. I mostly drink water, green tea and other herb teas. I really love IE. I am slowly learning to eat the way I did when I was a child and teenager when I was thin. On days I want breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks, I can eat them. On days I don't want one or all of them and I don't need to eat them, I don't. I'm learning to listen to my body and I feel better when I do that. However, I still have that diet voice that yells at me from time to time and that gets me into trouble. When it doesn't yell at me, my DH will remind me... "you know you really shouldn't eat that". He has that "diet" mentality as well. You don't have to be fat to have it.
Have a good day.

We've had a busy weekend with our yearly Bible reading conference and I found myself not doing what that last articles said....always comparing myself to others and bemoaning the fact that I'm not thinner.....belittling myself, etc. It's just hard to change years of thinking and doing.

Carol--We all know we should not compare ourselves to others but we do. It happens but please don't let those thoughts linger. Move on.

On another note I was thinking about this thread and the fact that tomorrow is the last day of the month. This thread is actually manageable but it does say it is the March 08 thread. So I was thinking of doing a quarterly thread for April/May/June beginning on the April 1st. What do you think?

I'm watching a repeat episode of "I Can Make You Thin" and will watch the new one right afterwards. I will come back with my thoughts.

I Can Make You Thin--Episode 2: Overcoming Emotional Eating
A lot of things he said really resonated with me because I'm an emotional eater. He talks about asking yourself if you are really hungry and that has helped on many occasions. What's interesting is I had to fight myself in the past when I went to the fridge and I usually lost but now that I've been doing IE I no longer have that fight. I was skeptical about the the tapping but as he was teaching everyone I tried it and it was calming. So I will see if it works when I need it. So far I'm enjoying the show.

Shay, the quarterly thing sounds great. I remember looking at McKenna's sight a long time ago and then saw it here more recently. In between, I forgot he is a hypnotist and I"m really not into that. But he does have a lot of good thoughts about IE. I had the funniest thing happen yesterday. I'm not a coffee drinker but I wanted to stay awake for the days meetings so had 2 cups (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) yesterday and did great. Not only that, I had been bothered by a back ache the day before and it lessened considerablly. I'm going to try that again.

Hi everyone! I'm kind of hanging in there. I feel like I'm still having trouble with the stopping when satisfied, and heck, even eating just because I'm hungry. But I noticed I've been doing better about stopping and not eating out of boredom. I don't remember what night it was, but over the weekend I thought I wanted some snacks while I watched TV. I had already had something to eat, and I wasn't physically hungry. On a diet, I think I would have gone with the "I blew it" mentality and ate more, but this time I stopped myself and said tomorrow when I was hungry again I could eat whatever I wanted. So that's progress, right?

I also go to lunch on Thursdays with my husband and a group of friends. We always eat at the same place, and my most common choice is a sandwich and french fries. Usually I just eat the entire plate even though I'm full long before the end, but this time I stopped and saved half the sandwich. It was my lunch on Friday too. I used to be pretty good about saving leftovers but I stopped. I think some of that may be the result of being on Weight Watchers. When I did eat out on WW, I carefully calculated the points of whatever I was eating and since I was using X number of points, I was going to clean my plate! I guess just a perfect example of how diets trick us into not trusting ourselves.

I am also proud that I am actually adding exercise back into my life. I love my new neighborhood. I used to not like walking very much, even with my favorite music, but I love walking around my house. I have a big park if I go in one direction, but I've actually enjoyed going the other way and just walking the sidewalks. There are some nice steep hills, and when I'm pushing the double stroller, wow! It's quite a workout, and the kids enjoy it too.

And I've been on a month long shopping spree. I think it started before my birthday a few weeks ago when I was bored at work and looked for some things online. I just needed a few new shirts because I was becoming so predictable in what I was going to wear all week at work. And I felt entitled because my birthday was coming! But I just kept going. I've found some great bargains and I love that I've updated my wardrobe a little, and most importantly, that I didn't wait until I lost weight. I think a big part of intuitive eating extends to your life in that you're supposed to live in the now, not the past and not the future. I'm hungry now, so I'll eat now. I'm not hungry now, so I'll stop eating. I need clothes to wear now as I am, and I can't wait until I lose weight to wear clothes.

So anyway, I think I'm making progress. I haven't weighed myself, my clothes certainly don't feel any looser at all (although I think I'm hormonal right now...), but I am retraining my brain to get to the point where I will feel better.

Carol--Quarterly it is then

Amy--It sounds as if you are doing fantastic. That walk with the double stroller sounds like a serious workout. Good point about the clothes. I barely have anything that fits me and I need to go shopping.

I Can Make You Thin--Episode 2: Curb Cravings
Okay that technique he used to curb cravings had me naseuous for the rest of the night. I was focusing specifically on skinny cow ice cream sandwiches because I can't seem to stop eating them. I definitely eat way past full when it comes to those. Now let me just say ewwww!

"I think a big part of intuitive eating extends to your life in that you're supposed to live in the now, not the past and not the future. I'm hungry now, so I'll eat now. I'm not hungry now, so I'll stop eating. I need clothes to wear now as I am, and I can't wait until I lose weight to wear clothes. "

Amy, I totally agree with that one. How many years I've spent saying that I have to wait to buy such and such until I get thinner. Never works. Our 10 kids are all grown now so I don't push strollers much, once in awhile the grandkids. We do have lots of hills to walk but I can't be in ths sun for health reasons. I used to do a lot of walking.........up to 6mi. I kinda miss that. We do have an eliptical, though. I'm also amazed at the things I don't like now that I used to. Sweet rolls and donuts just don't taste that great anymore. I think I'm getting picky. Hurrah!

Carol, I'm not into hypnosis either for spiritual reasons. However, I felt the techniques I saw would be more of me taking control (with a prayer) and it is working for me. However, I think IE gets the big credit with how I am feeling about food. I did use the craving technique (Shay I feel the same way about DH candy bars) because I couldn't keep my hands out of the candy bars. That was Saturday and I still can't stand even the thought of them. I did like his 4 Golden Rules of (my version) 1. When hungry eat. 1. Eat what you want and not what you think you should eat. 3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful. 4. When satisfied Stop eating. He says if you don't know when you are full or satisfied to stop when yout hink you are. I am now at the place (which I attribute more to IE) where I am not hungry. So I'm not sure some time when to eat. However, he has his scale of 0 to 10 and the main thing is to not let yourself get ravenous or stuffed feelings. So it goes well with IE.

Amy - Congratulations on the progress you are making. Your doing great. We all do this at our own pace and some times we might have the tendency to think we are not doing as well as we should or what someone else is doing.

Hi all. glad everyones week is going good. mine is to. have tops in am but scales are looking good. so makes me happy. will know how much in am. so hoping for a good loss. got to get with exercise. as eating is going good. LaDean

Hi guys! I have one more question for you all, if that's ok :)

How do you deal with business travel, if that's a factor in your life? I'm on a trip right now, and it's frustrating having to eat on a schedule that isn't my own. I do have protein bars and such in my purse, but it's not an option in some of these meetings. I had to eat breakfast very early this morning and am slightly too-full, but I won't get a chance to eat again until late this afternoon. Thankfully I'm going home today. Since my travel isn't terribly frequent (3x this month, but that's just an anomoly), is it just something I take in stride?

Good morning everyone. We have a new thread. Here is the link:
www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138620

Forever I can address your question over there.

This may help you get your minds back on track... For the past two days I have been using the Paul McKenna technique of eating what I want, eating only when I am hungry, and stopping when I am satisfied. I'm listening very carefully to what my body is saying to me. Yesterday, following this technique, I ate 400 calories less than the 1600 calories I normally allot myself. I did not feel deprived. I felt comfortable. It's mid-afternoon right now and I've eaten over 300 calories less than I normally would have eaten at this point in the day having eaten my breakfast and lunch meals. I am comfortable and not craving anything. I have an apple peeled and ready to take with me when I leave the house in a few hours. McKenna says to feed your body when it is hungry so it knows you're not trying to starve it. If you don't know about Paul McKenna, go to The Learning Channel website and click on the link for Mr. McKenna. He explains his program and has some videos to watch describing the technique. You can also buy some DVDs but I'd recommend reviewing his website information before you make a decision to buy.

I'm going to continue to watch my calories as I've been doing with my diet but I'm open to anything that will help me to get and stay on track. Good luck ladies. You can do it.

Sorry - I guess I'm a bit confused. I was replying to a post from earlier in March. It looks like you have already been practicing some of the Paul McKenna techniques.