Hi everybody! Already lost two lbs in two days. I was hungry last night but was I really hungry or just used to eating at night? I already feel more in control. Eating twice a day works for me.....and I stop eating early in the evening....it's not. At hard as I thought it would be....I haven't passed out from hunger yet....
Hi everybody! Already lost two lbs in two days. I was hungry last night but was I really hungry or just used to eating at night? I already feel more in control. Eating twice a day works for me.....and I stop eating early in the evening....it's not. At hard as I thought it would be....I haven't passed out from hunger yet....
When I initially started IE I found I was only eating one big meal a day, usually around 1:00 pm, then just a very small meal (really more of a snack) around 6:00 pm.
Now I'm moving more toward eating earlier, as my body cues are telling me to. You see, in the past, I regularly skipped breakfast. The "diet experts" tell us it is the most important meal of the day, but I just never wanted it.
I've had a few days where I've eaten before noon, and this morning I woke up really early (4:30 am) and around 6:00 am I definitely felt hunger. So I ate one of my favorites - cheese toast - and I feel really good.
I think ultimately it's really important to stop and listen to what your body is saying to you and not look for a particular pattern to your eating. Because it could change from day to day, depending on what your fuel needs are.
Bottom line - if we are truly going to embrace the principles of Intuitive Eating, we have to be prepared to eat at ANY time of the day, if we are hungry. Conversely, we need to be prepared to NOT eat, even if it's the appointed "meal time" our society has come up with, if we are not experiencing hunger.
What do you think about her rules and her 30-day-journal?
I am very grateful that I stumbled across her book, as it was my very first introduction to IE (even though she doesn't call it that). I think there are important pieces to the puzzle that are missing. But she makes some excellent points as well.
(I'm a bit frustrated that I can't seem to find my copy of the book - my office is currently a mess and I'm sure it's in here somewhere. Just need to take some time to clean up and get re-organized. So I may not be remembering it that clearly).
What I do like:
The idea of rating the pleasure of the food you're eating. I think that's very important and really haven't seen that emphasized as much in other IE literature. Even though I don't journal how I'm feeling about what I'm eating, I absolutely do concentrate on what I'm eating and how the taste, texture, etc is making the meal a pleasurable experience.
In the past, I literally just gobbled up everything - particularly the "forbidden" foods - because I didn't think it was "allowed" to really enjoy them.
What I don't like:
The idea of journaling itself...reminds me too much of tracking, which I consider a diet mentality. Although I do think it might work for some people.
The fact that she really - to the best of my recollection, anyway - does not emphasize listening to hunger signals, which to me is probably the most important part of IE. Maybe she does and I'm just not remembering it. But I do know the journal itself is set up in a more formal daily meal plan scenario, which I believe is counter-intuitive to IE. Also don't care how she tells you to start thinking about what you want to eat later. I'm trying really hard to get AWAY from thinking about food any more than necessary.
The idea of leaving food on your plate has merit - however, stating you must leave "three bites" of each item is giving food an arbitrary value that I don't think is necessary if you're doing IE properly. I rarely eat everything on my plate any more, but if I am truly enjoying an item and I'm still hungry and want to eat it all, I will. I will generally have something left on my plate, but maybe not something of each and every item. To do this dips back down into the "deprivation" aspect, which is a form of dieting.
But like all the other books and literature regarding IE, we can take from it what works for us. And her ideas about truly savoring your food is what I gleaned from it.
Donut whisperer, indeed!
Last edited by SouthernMaven; 04-03-2013 at 03:36 PM.
What do you think about her rules and her 30-day-journal?
I loved that book. What I got out of is is that we need to eat less....whether that is leave 3 bites or take less in the first place. I know that but it is sometimes hard to do. One of the things that surprised me was that your weight loss would be faster toward the end. I had never heard that before.
Wow, almost another pound down today...this kind of eating ROCKS! I feel like such a rebel , breaking all the "rules". For years I've been told that i had to take in a certain number of calories or go into starvation mode...that I HAD to eat breakfast early in the morning to get the metabolism going, and all this other stuff...I eventually put myself into a Diet Prison, following rules and feeling bad if I didn't do what I was supposed to. Yesterday I had a big meal at around noon and then a protein shake later on in the day. I felt hungry last night but that is just my body used to me eating late at night in front of the t.v. I held off and am no worse for the wear. It is so good to see the scale going down after months of it not moving no matter what I did or how hard I tried, I even thought there was s omething going on with my hormones or my thyroid and I made a doctor's appointment. Im so glad that I came across this thread, because I didnt' even know this way of eating existed...well not formally existed I mean.....
It is so good to see the scale going down after months of it not moving no matter what I did or how hard I tried, I even thought there was s omething going on with my hormones or my thyroid and I made a doctor's appointment. Im so glad that I came across this thread, because I didnt' even know this way of eating existed...well not formally existed I mean.....
Hey Chickies, Lot of newbies since I posted over a week ago. Seems we are growing... A BIG to each of you.
It was a very busy week with DH having a lot of docs appts. We thought we made all of them and got a letter from the blood doc that we had an appt Monday that we missed so will make it up this coming Wednesday.
I tried eating extremely low carb... mostly meat and veggies. Got so sick at stomach 2 times this week. Stomach rejected the cukes I ate and today I woke up sick tasteing the homemade beef jerky I had made. So needless to say won't be eating those any more for a while anyway. I don't think I can eat a strict lowcarb any more. IE may not be about the weight, but I'm sorry for me it is about the weight and the health. However for me it is about healthy weight loss. Still have the tendency to slip into that thought of I should eat this or that. When I got over the sickness today, I wanted oatmeal and bluebearries with yogurt and you know what I ate. RIGHT what I wanted. I didn't want breakfast so I had it for lunch.
One of the newbies mentioned fasting. I only use fasting in regards to the fact that there are times that I do not want breakfast. However, in the past, I have had days that I could go all day long without eating... just not hungry. After reading about Intermittent Fasting, I came to realize that not eating all day JUST BECAUSE I'M NOT HUNGRY is NOT a bad thing. It is just my body saying... "I don't need anything right now". It is so difficult to get away from the "BRAINWASHING" of diets etc. To me true IE means that yes there may be days I will go all day or most of the day eating nothing. Then there may be a day when I am eating every few hours. Some days I might need 1 meal, another day I might need 3 and there may be days I need 6 or more. Right now, I am just working at accepting the fact that this is really "normal" for me. So why not go with it.
I told DH the other day that when I was young, I would be out with friends and they might decide they wanted to eat. There were times that I only had a cold drink or I might have a cold drink and fries or onion rings and nothing else. Just because that was all I wanted. If I wanted a HB basket or some other basket combo, I ate it. The difference in then and now is that I didn't feel like I had to have a whole meal just because everyone else was. I ate according to my needs and desires. AND I ate only as much as I needed to satisfy me.
I'm hearing newbies saying similar things. We all have gotten screwed up by the "diet" propaganda. We knew it didn't work for us... we knew we couldn't eat as much or sometimes as little as they were telling us that we must. There is an old saying that tells us that "to keep doing the same thing we always did and expecting different results is ridiculous". Yet, that is what I've done for years. Why? Crazy isn't it?
I suddenly realized that I have to step back and look at some of this stuff with "common sense".
I loved that book. What I got out of is is that we need to eat less....whether that is leave 3 bites or take less in the first place. I know that but it is sometimes hard to do. One of the things that surprised me was that your weight loss would be faster toward the end. I had never heard that before.
I am not a journaler myself. I think I can only follow the original 4 IE Rules.
Carolr Correct me if I get any of them wrong, please.
1. Eat only when I'm hungry.
2. Eat what I really want.
3. Savor every bite.
4. Stop when satisfied/full.
If I could learn to live by these rues again, I would be a successful IE-er and wouldn't keep falling for the "diet" junk. JMHO
Wow, almost another pound down today...this kind of eating ROCKS! I feel like such a rebel , breaking all the "rules". For years I've been told that i had to take in a certain number of calories or go into starvation mode...that I HAD to eat breakfast early in the morning to get the metabolism going, and all this other stuff...I eventually put myself into a Diet Prison, following rules and feeling bad if I didn't do what I was supposed to. Yesterday I had a big meal at around noon and then a protein shake later on in the day. I felt hungry last night but that is just my body used to me eating late at night in front of the t.v. I held off and am no worse for the wear. It is so good to see the scale going down after months of it not moving no matter what I did or how hard I tried, I even thought there was s omething going on with my hormones or my thyroid and I made a doctor's appointment. Im so glad that I came across this thread, because I didnt' even know this way of eating existed...well not formally existed I mean.....
Glad the scale is moving down for you. I know that feeling of feeling like I was cheating or thinking "I can't have that" or "I should have eaten that". I had myself in Diet Prison for over 40 yrs. That is why I still fight it, but I do fight it.
We went out to eat this week and I got EXACTLY what I wanted although it was NOT considered good food, good for Diet Food. But you know what? I TOTALLY ENJOYED SAVORED every bite. I also didn't feel that I had to clean my plate either. I ate just as much as I wanted... no more and no less. Wasn't the type of food that you bring home for later, but I didn't feel guilty about not eating it all. Oh how I pray for this to become such a way of life that I do this automatically without any second thought. Interesting thing I just realized is that while it was very carby that it didn't raise the my # on the scale however the last few days on very strict lowcarb it did. hump
I really do think IE is the answer. The 4 IE Rules Trish posted are really all we need to remember. And I think SAVOR, SAVOR, SAVOR is so key to everything. It has made a huge difference for me.
I agree that it IS about weight loss, even though I did get the Tribole/Resch book from the library yesterday & have been reading it. I understand where they are coming from when they try to de-emphasize the weight loss aspect, because they seem to think that puts everyone back into "diet" mode. But I don't necessarily agree with that, although I can see how some people might fall into that trap.
That said, I've decided to take my ticker down for the time being and really concentrate on getting in tune with my body's cues. One thing that has really helped me is getting away from my distracted eating. I no longer eat in front of the TV, no longer read when I eat, I just eat. And concentrate on everything about the food. I was definitely an "unconscious eater" as described in the IE book I'm reading right now.
I also think the idea that you HAVE to eat breakfast (and even some IE proponents say this) is just not valid. I have many days that I just have no appetite. If people are on a schedule that means they will get absolutely ravenous before they get a chance to eat, then maybe they should eat a little something. But fortunately I'm not on that type of schedule, so I can stop and eat at ANY time.
Has anyone here read Overcoming Overeating by Carol Munter & Jane Hirschmann? I'm thinking of ordering it. My library doesn't have it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pattygirl63
There is an old saying that tells us that "to keep doing the same thing we always did and expecting different results is ridiculous". Yet, that is what I've done for years. Why? Crazy isn't it?
That is so strange that you wrote this! I just changed my signature this morning and put that quote in it! It was Albert Einstein who said it. And it is absolutely true, isn't it?
Wow, almost another pound down today...this kind of eating ROCKS! I feel like such a rebel , breaking all the "rules". For years I've been told that i had to take in a certain number of calories or go into starvation mode...that I HAD to eat breakfast early in the morning to get the metabolism going, and all this other stuff...I eventually put myself into a Diet Prison, following rules and feeling bad if I didn't do what I was supposed to. Yesterday I had a big meal at around noon and then a protein shake later on in the day. I felt hungry last night but that is just my body used to me eating late at night in front of the t.v. I held off and am no worse for the wear. It is so good to see the scale going down after months of it not moving no matter what I did or how hard I tried, I even thought there was s omething going on with my hormones or my thyroid and I made a doctor's appointment. Im so glad that I came across this thread, because I didnt' even know this way of eating existed...well not formally existed I mean.....
Congratulations on the weight loss, Zumbachica!
Diet Prison - that says it all! We've all been there, and I'm not going back.
I was thrilled to find this thread also, and as more and more people learn about this, no doubt it will continue to grow. But I do believe people have to be ready to come to this; not everyone is. It took me awhile to wrap my head around it, and I'm still learning. It's a process.
I find myself feeling very sorry for some of the people who post here, particularly those (that I can so relate to!) who have lost, gained, lost, gained, and yet still think that the answer is yet another diet. I want to tell them NO, NO, NO! but of course I can't.
We went out to eat this week and I got EXACTLY what I wanted although it was NOT considered good food, good for Diet Food. But you know what? I TOTALLY ENJOYED SAVORED every bite. I also didn't feel that I had to clean my plate either. I ate just as much as I wanted... no more and no less. Wasn't the type of food that you bring home for later, but I didn't feel guilty about not eating it all. Oh how I pray for this to become such a way of life that I do this automatically without any second thought. Interesting thing I just realized is that while it was very carby that it didn't raise the my # on the scale however the last few days on very strict lowcarb it did. hump
Trish, I completely understand what you're saying here. I wrote elsewhere that I have NO problem leaving food, or throwing it out, which is something that people who want to practice IE have to be able to do. Last night my daughter, SIL, and I went to Red Lobster and I ordered the shrimp your way combo, which lets you pick two or three different shrimp entrees. So I got two - and both of them were shrimp scampi. I could only eat one so I brought the other one home and my husband ate it.
And like you, I want to be able to do all this without even thinking about it....intuitively, of course! One of these days a miracle is going to happen - someone's going to ask me what I had for lunch the day before, and I'm not going to be able to tell them! What a great day that will be!
Well, Ladies, I am testing this IE theory all the way this time with my blood sugar. I was under the impression that I could not eat carby foods. Yesterday, I just couldn't look at protein so had a pretty carby day not junk but just more carb than I usually can eat. I only ate when I was hungry and what I wanted and as much as I needed. I'm thinking that (for me anyway) that eating only till satisfied is a big key to lowering the blood sugar. I remember you telling me Carolr about your diabetic friend's doc just telling him to eat less. Maybe he was saying don't overload your stomach. I have noticed that I need to eat just till satisfied not till full and get plenty of rest as well as move around more seems to help the fasting blood sugar go down. Anyway after my carby day, my weight was back down 3 lbs not up and my fasting blood sugar was down 8 pts. I find that quite interesting.
to each of you. 
