I was listening to a feature story on NPR a year or two ago about how drug companies started advertising meds with the hopes that their sales would increase about about 20% or so. They actually increased by about 80%. I think now that drugs are advertised, many people see their afflictions in what the drug purports to cure, and they ask their doctors, many of whom don't seem to mind writing a prescription to let a patient try it to see if it works. I am NOT suggesting that this is the case with anyone here, but I am suggesting that possibly the advertising has been a cause of the spike in prescription med use we now see in our society.

So very true southernmavin about how things are so different than they were a generation back. It is interesting how everyone did smoke and drink alot, and now so many people take meds. I guess people have needed a way of coping for a long time. And eating is a form of this self medication too. I myself have used meds in times of desperation where I found myself completely hopeless and not wanting to live. The meds helped pull me out, even if what I experienced was just the placebo effect. I've never stayed on anything for that long though due to side effects. For me the meds are a desperate and temporary solution to a desperate state. It must be very dire for me to take them. Like I will endure several months or even a year or more of depression before I finally succumb to taking anything. I have also found that exercise is my best antidepressant. Just hard to get yourself to do it when in a slump.

I agree it would be great to start a new thread as this one is so long now. Should we call it the same, or something like discussions on dieting alternatives or something. What do you all think?

veggiedaze - I'd keep the name similar so that people will recognize it...something like Non-Dieting With Positive Results #2 and in the first post just reiterate what it is about. Definitely put the #2 on there so that people will know it's a continuation of the first one.

I read through the first ten pages of this and I'm really just reaching out for help!! To be honest this post is the only reason I made an account so I can reach out to some of you, I don't know where else to turn...

I'm 20 years old in college, Last year I weighed 136lbs at 5'6'' and I felt overweight so I decided to count calories and diet down. That was February 2013, now after over year of eating 1500 calories or less a day I weigh 119lbs...the only problem is I feel like I've turned completely crazy!! Like I think and fantasize about food ALL DAY LONG! I'm always hungry, and my mood swings and almost depressive state can scare me..I tried to move into maintenance, but as soon as I did I had a binge fest and just couldn't control myself! It was like as soon as I started eating I couldn't stop, I just wanted to feel full so so so bad.

I want the freedom that bingefree and southernmaven found, but I'm absolutely terrified that if I give myself permission to eat I won't stop (I never had banned foods, I just restricted the amount of EVERYTHING). I'm afraid I'll put on all the weight I worked so hard to lose, and my mom repeatedly tells me that after dieting for a year I'll never know what true hunger and fullness feels like..

If someone can help me, give me steps to try to move into this type of sort of intuitive eating I would be forever grateful. I'm really in such a bad place right now =(. I never had a problem with binging before even! And all I think about all day is calories and meal planning and logging exercise. My whole day is based around food and how much I have to limit myself. It's ruined dating, going out with friends, even going out to eat with my family. I don't know what to do anymore, I don't like how crazy I've become, but I don't want to be at 136 again because I was really unhappy and had low self-esteem there.

If anyone could reach out I would appreciate it so so so much! I don't know were to go from here or if I even have any hope...

I suggest Brain Over Binge by Kathryn Hansen. She has a lucid and credible explanation of what you are experiencing, and an effective method for overcoming the urge to binge. You are not alone with this phenomenon that often follows dieting. It's a survival mechanism wired into our brains. After a perceived famine, like a diet, the urge to binge is this instinct telling us to stock up in case there is another famine. Good luck!

Hi Koalifornia! I hear ya! I have been in a similar situation (like many others I believe). I dieted for a while and restricted how much I eat, I wasn't starving, I was eating definitely more than 1200/day like I see many do, much more, but I was restricting and counting and I was afraid of gaining weight. Eventually, I started to binge and became scared. I then continued to try hard to control my eating, I was desperate to not gain weight. Again, I was not underweight or anything, but I was trying to eat less than my body needed. Long story short - I failed. And failed. And failed. The binges got more often and intense and I did gain all the weight back and more and now, after more than a year, I am still trying to get my life back. Now, I don't want to say that there is no way out, but I just want to encourage you to not try to continue dieting. If I could turn back time, I would ditch counting calories and try very hard to listen to my body, stop ignoring it. Eat when you are hungry, maybe try eating out so that you would not be able to count calories. I understand that it is hard, but trust me, it is even harder once you get into the habit of binging. I just read Have-Your-Cake-Skinny-Jeans by Josie Spinardi and can highly recommend it. I read a few IE books and this is the one I like most so far.

The epic thread. I reviewed all the pages and couldn't believe I took part in this discussion. Gosh I clung so hard to my anti-carb stance. I fought it so hard. But I can see glimmers of the IE me in my posts.

And to those who were calm cool and collected on this thread, magical you are my inspiration. Southermaven, you are guiding torch. Freelancemamma you are the logical voice. I'm being all gooey but it's been a whole year since this thread started and it's still relevant in so many ways.

For those of you who transitioned from counting calories to eating intuitively, did you find that you gained weight? Or is there any hope of maintaining a specific weight with IE? I really want to make the switch! ( I don't want to be logging calories on myfitnesspal for the next 40 years in order to maintain! )but I really am afraid that a weight gain would just send me over the edge... Are there any baby steps to eating intuitively?
I've gotten to the point where I weigh every single gram of food that I eat. I weigh my oatmeal. bananas, apples, everything.. I don't know if I could just stop everything cold turkey and just trust myself.

Thanks for the book recommendation Cinnamon apples! I'll look into it!

You can definitely maintain specific weights with IE, but you might hold onto like, five pounds here and there if you make a change in the amount of food you eat.

Initially I think I gained one or two pounds, then stayed there for a while, then slowly floated down at the same time I started weight training. If I don't eat enough I can't complete workouts and feel weak; if I overeat I feel fat and gross. I still weigh daily and I pay attention to what I eat, but there is no numbers crunching, weighing or measuring going on (except for obvious situations like oatmeal to water ratios).

Lower carb, higher protein keeps my blood sugar and hunger moderate.

Kolai, I read your post earlier today and have really been thinking about it. I am your same height, 5'6" and am now 60. I was your weight at your age in college. I probably weight in the low 120s when I got there and put on the classic freshman 10. I was in a sorority and we were all dieting and I distinctly remember the one gal who was what I now know as bulimic. At that time we just thought she was determined...but I digress.

Anyway we would eat lightly and run at night. I remember I got down as low as 110 for like 2 minutes but we were all pretty thin. After college I went thru ups and downs at first not too often and I can't say I was obsessive but as the years went on by the time I was 40 it turned into an annual sort of routine to lose then regain the 10 pounds and in the past few years it would get to be more like 15. I continually have gone thru diet and relapse cycle for like 40 YEARS.

I embraced intuitive eating somewhere in the middle for awhile and I thought I had really found the answer. I had quit weighing myself and one day feeling absolutely terrific I stopped on the scale and weighed like 128 I think. I had been working out and using weights and remember feeling so good about myself but I compared that 128 to my idea weight which I felt should be 123 or something and just really got derailed. It seems so ridiculous now I hate to even out it in writing.

Anyway I finally got back on track and am simply determined not to let the pounds on the scale matter EVER again. I have been really using IE for the past few months and am fitting comfortably into a size 4 again. My guess is I weigh around 130-135 I don't even own a scale to check. People all tell me I look wonderful, the critic in me would like to be a few inches smaller in the hips and thighs but I am pushing that critic back and drowning her! Bottom line is yes you can be trim and intuitive at the same time in my experience.

But I really you to get off the diet train now and not spend all those wonderful years ahead of you fighting with yourself, you are young and your body will settle into a great weight for you it may not be 119 or 122 or whatever your magic number is but you will be happy and able to focus on other priorities which are so much more significant.

Eat healthfully, move reasonably to make yourself feel great, enjoy every calorie that goes in your mouth and I am sure you will feel and look wonderful.

Thank you for all of the wonderful replies everyone!

Krampus- it's encouraging to hear that you can actually practice maintenance with IE! I can't imagine spending the rest of my life weighing and measuring every single bit of food I eat.

cindy- thank you for the perspective, I really appreciate it! You're fantastic =)

I guess my question for both of you is how do I make the transition? Weighing food, using cup measures, portioning out calories per meal are the only ways I know how to lose and maintain weight. To be honest I don't know how to only eat when I'm hungry and "honor fullness"

I usually feel some form of hunger all day long, over the past year I've gotten used to it. and the only time I feel truly full is if I do binge and mess up... I guess I don't know how to practice IE without going straight into an all I can eat fest. Without calorie allotment I kind of don't know how to gauge my eating.

Well what I did and I had been tracking calories was I just sort of picked meals I really liked and ate enough of them to be satisfied and quit adding it up. Think about your exercise and what is reasonable, sustainable, and enjoyable and start to transition.

There are loads of great books that give advice there are different challenges depending where you are when you start. If you read the intuitive eating threads there is lots of good advice. My staple book was Intuition Eating By Tribole and Resch. If you haven't already done so it might help to read one of them. There is another new one by Josie Spinardi something like Thin Side Out have your cake and fit in your skinny jeans that acknowledges the desire to be trim while being intuitive. I read a sample of that one on kindle it has been well received. Or there is plenty to read for free on the internet.

But you need to get to eating enough to sustain you and get your body to trust you call it 1800 calories or so to start and edge you up from your restricting. After that I think it's best to eat enough at a meal so you go from hungry to satisfied and then wait til you are hungry again without too much grazing or snacking, but you may be fine with snacks. You just need to find what works for you.

As long as you like healthy things eat them and enjoy them, but if you have a craving for something eat it you get to fuel your body every day and it doesn't need to be the same.

I wish you success and peace with food!

Hi Cindy,

I think that I'll start by looking through some of the intuitive eating threads. Thanks for the tips about just eating more of what I normally eat-some things like oatmeal and yogurt I really enjoy, so maybe I can just start eating them without measuring (even though that sounds kind of intimidating!) haha

I prefer big meals to snacks anyway, so I'll probably try eating until I'm full and not snacking.

So, I just had an early dinner and ate without weighing/measuring anything! I let myself eat until I was full and then I got up and left the kitchen...is it normal that I'm freaking out a tiny bit that I don't know the exact weight of everything I ate?

I guess I'm just worried that by not counting calories I'm admitting defeat or throwing in the towel or basically just saying I don't have enough willpower to do what it takes to be thin....I'm sure this probably sounds strange, but I feel guilty if I'm not on an actively restricted plan now! Like I'm letting myself go or something.

I guess by not counting calories I can't feel like I'm in control at all times of my weight (even though this lead to obssession) and that scares me.

Another question I have is does it get easier to recognize real hunger? I'm having a hard time differentiating between cravings and actually being hungry I think.

Yes it is totally normal to have anxiety when you start doing IE. It can feel chaotic to listen to your body instead of rigidly controlling your food intake. Hunger does become easier to recognize but that takes time. Listening to your body is like listening to an orchestra. If you aren't used to listening intently to music it can be intimidating at first. It all sounds like one big giant loud sound. Once you begin truly listening though you begin to pick up the subtle nuances. Instead of "sounds" you begin to understand that you're hearing a flute or an oboe, that the tempo rises and falls, sounds get louder and softer. This is a clumsy metaphor but it's extremely hard to put into words what it "feels" like to be hungry.