Calorie counting a couple of months minimal results but can cope as I feel slimmer. Had a thorough read of the Intuitive Eating board and it just makes such a lot of sense. No question accurately tracking calories has given me better idea of portion control as the weights of things like meat , baked potatoes, butter etc had been way off when guessing. However thinking I might try combining the two! Realise it won't be intuitive if still counting and weighing, but it's not an exact science and if it suits my personality then that's all I ask. Would be nice to ease off on the constantly having to think about eating or not eating! Anyone else tried or trying this?
Last edited by Milly1; 05-13-2012 at 10:31 AM.
Reason: Spelling
I used to, decades ago now, weigh more than 100 pounds over what I do now, and religious calorie counting is what works for me. I count everything I eat and have for two decades.
But I am also very in tune with intuitive eating and listening to my body about what I may need to eat, even if it's a cheat. I just log everything, though. Not logging is when I get into trouble.
When I tried intuitive eating, it was without calorie counting, because the main claim of intuitive eating (at the time I tried it, at least) wasn't just that you didn't have to calorie count, but that it was that calorie restriction/counting was largely responsible for the obesity epidemic, and that if you ate only for "true hunger" then you would just naturally gravitate to a healthy weight.
For me, that didn't work at all, because I either couldn't tell the difference between true hunger and false hunger or I was truly hungry all of the time, no matter how much I ate.
Eventually, I discovered that high-glycemic and high-carb foods fuel hunger to the point that the more I eat, the hungrier I get (which I learned is very common in people with insulin resistance, which I have).
I'm much less hungry on low-carb diets, but I still have difficulty distinguishing between "real" and "false" hunger, but I've read some pretty interesting books that argue that there really is no difference and that brain hunger is just as "real" as stomach hunger. The insulin spike that can occur after eating a large meal can cause a very difficult to resist hunger, even if the stomach is still uncomfortably full. It made sense to me, because I had always wondered why I could be stuffed to the gills and still feel "starved."
Intuitive Eating theory would have me believe that this type of hunger is "false" hunger, and that it's based on an emotional/psychological need to eat, rather than on a physiological response to insulin being released. If this were true, eating a low-glycemic or low-carb diet shouldn't make a significant difference, but I find that it does. The "insulin spike" theory fits better with my experience.
I have learned to recognize high-carb hunger, but it's still just as difficult to ignore, so I find it much easier to stay within my calorie limits if I keep my diet within a specific carb level and eat mostly low-glycemic foods (I use an exchange plan to count calories and carbs, and mostly paleo principles in choosing the foods to fill my exchanges).
I'm not sharing my experience to bash intuitive eating. It can and does work for some people, and even though it didn't work well for me, I did learn some very useful techniques that I still use. I just can't rely on intuitive eating as a primary method of food control.
Gosh that sounds a lot of work bellieup! It is a real learning curve how calorie dense some items are. I used to snack on nuts, well fill up before I realised the calories!! Amarantha I think I will try that, there is no question Choice of food enhances my well being. For example today my mid afternoon snack has been a cup of homemade soup. That choice was intuitive as its not normal for us to have soup in the afternoon, and somehow it feels wrong, but then that is just my perception as its not written in stone to only have soup at lunch/dinner!! Thanks for the info kaplods, type of carb does make a huge difference to the length of time I am satisfied. Hate that low blood sugar feeling when no complex carbs or too little protein. Yes I think blood sugar spikes do have a lot to do with that intense desperate hunger, from which there is no return!!!
I guess I do some sort of mix of diets... I overall count calories and at the end of the day, that's what I focus on. But instead of doing total calories, I do total meals. Right now, I am still focusing on 1600 calories in a day so the way I split it up is 3 meals at 400 cals each and then 2 snacks at 200 each. Really, what I do is calculate each meal. As long as that meal or snack is under the limit (either the 400 or 200), is all I focus on. I do tend to try to make my meals balanced but they need to be really what I want. An example is if I really want some chips because that is what I am craving, I have them. BUT, I also have some lean turkey with maybe some lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a whole wheat bread. So, it's a trade-off. I eat the not so good chips with a good sandwich that has lean protein, veggies, a little bit of fat, and carbs but good carbs.
What I'm saying is I think you can attempt to do both. You can eat what you want, when you want for the most part but you probably should still track it and try to keep it balanced. Maybe what you could do is try the intuitive eating for a few days and writing down everything and then totaling it out at the end just to see where you finish up. You never know... for you that may end up being lower than you thought or higher. But you will never know until you try!
Thanks justj, your way of eating makes sense, I hate the "you can only eat this" lifestyle, just sets me up for failure! At this stage I am not ready to give up calorie counting, although that would be my long term goal. However up until yesterday I have planned in advance and I think I might ease off on that and go by appetite as long as in the main it is complex carb/protein with some goodies to prevent feelings of depravation which could trigger overeating. If I know I can have something it loses it's attraction.
When I practice intuitive eating, I generally end up eating more junk and bad carbs. That's for a very simple reason: these high fat and high carb foods produce an initial 'high' in the brain which is very like a sugar rush. Since my body always seems to be craving some kind of 'high' like that when I eat intuitively I end up eating lots of crap. I love veggies and get a good feeling when I eat them, but I've found tracking my food very satisfying and a challenge to fit in all my fruits and veggies. So intuitive eating does not really work for me.
Realise it won't be intuitive if still counting and weighing, but it's not an exact science and if it suits my personality then that's all I ask. Would be nice to ease off on the constantly having to think about eating or not eating! Anyone else tried or trying this?
I think I've been naturally gravitating toward this combo without being aware of it. I count calories VERY loosely, give myself extra food if I'm truly feeling hungry, and try to stop eating when I'm reasonably full. I still have the occasional pig-out day, but they're almost always planned.
Thanks justj, your way of eating makes sense, I hate the "you can only eat this" lifestyle, just sets me up for failure! At this stage I am not ready to give up calorie counting, although that would be my long term goal. However up until yesterday I have planned in advance and I think I might ease off on that and go by appetite as long as in the main it is complex carb/protein with some goodies to prevent feelings of depravation which could trigger overeating. If I know I can have something it loses it's attraction.
Yup. That's exactly how and why I got burned out on low carb! I'm a foodie and LOVE good food, and basically having an entire food category out of my diet forever really sat poorly with me. Not because Atkins or anyone else really says so, but in my brain I kept saying NO! For some reason, I don't do that on calorie counting. And honestly, I come in under cals many days just because it's not like I HAVE to eat anything or I CAN'T eat something else. Like today, I wanted a burrito/wrap. So that is what I had! I had 2 scrambled eggs with a bunch of salsa and full fat sour cream. It was EXACTLY what I wanted and I came in way under calories for that meal. But it was healthy, what I wanted, and satisfying. And I think long term to be truly successful at weightloss, that's what your new way of eating has to be. That is different for each person.
But it's also why I say that at the end of the day, you can do intuitive eating. Someone who has eaten a healthy diet for a LONG time and lost the weight probably can go back to not counting everything just because they have been eating well for so long (and balanced) that it isn't like they are going to suddenly turn into a manic crazy person who will dive into the first vat of chocolate that they come to! LOL Would I do it now? No. This is the second time of 'dieting' for me (the first time before I had my son I lost 40lbs.) but it's the first time I've tried just plain ol' calorie counting and balanced eating. But so far, it's working and I feel so much happier. I have lost 27lbs so far and have another 35 or so to go. Is it slow? Yes. But am I happy and still living life? Yuppers! And that's what I will continue to do. But I DO hope to eventually get to that point where I'm not adding everything up in my head. It's such a habit now, I'm not sure that I will! But it's ok as long as I can eat healthy, get to a healthier weight, and not feel like this journey is the long trek to He**! LOL
Anyone doing Calories / Intuitive Eating?
. However thinking I might try combining the two! Realise it won't be intuitive if still counting and weighing, but it's not an exact science and if it suits my personality then that's all I ask. Would be nice to ease off on the constantly having to think about eating or not eating! Anyone else tried or trying this?
before I realised the calories!! Amarantha I think I will try that, there is no question Choice of food enhances my well being. For example today my mid afternoon snack has been a cup of homemade soup. That choice was intuitive as its not normal for us to have soup in the afternoon, and somehow it feels wrong, but then that is just my perception as its not written in stone to only have soup at lunch/dinner!! Thanks for the info kaplods, type of carb does make a huge difference to the length of time I am satisfied. Hate that low blood sugar feeling when no complex carbs or too little protein. Yes I think blood sugar spikes do have a lot to do with that intense desperate hunger, from which there is no return!!! 
