Yes! The book I read most recently points out that the perpetual dieters/gainers/dieters cycle tends to make people unaware when they are really hungry. Part of her program is to make people go 8 hours without eating to really feel hunger. Most of her clients are TERRIFIED at the thought of going without food for a whole day!

I did it when I was following the program in the book and the last group of dogs (total weight of 5 dogs 400 lbs.+, yes the dogs are fat too! ) walked me. I was ready to fall down by that time. But I made note of how I really felt when I hadn't eaten all day and now have that as a reference point.

As for intuitive eating my take is that you would have to have a wide variety of food at hand at all times. Kinda hard to do for most people.

Abbyin great of you to report back on something that you tried. I was interested in how you would do. I know my intuition would send me back and forth between the belgian chocolate store and Ed's Real Scoop ( homemade ice cream)

Dagmar

Good morning! I think I just slept for 10 hours! Fabulous!
Now, what will I do with one day off? Mount Laundry? The Black Hole Of Kitchen? Mother Hubbard's cupboards? Bottle my rhubarb wine? Stick my nose in a novel and tan my legs? Nap? Walk? Legs?
Hmmm ... so many choices, so little time.

Mmmm. . .rhubarb wine. . .is that difficult to make, SusanB? I would LOVE to give it a try!

Another good day yesterday, despite an argument with DH I did not resort to food or wine! Scale was down another fraction this morning. . .so I made & passed my ticker by Friday goal by one whole pound! (Or 1.8, actually, since if I'd weighed in at 145.8 I still would've counted it!)

I'm lovin' those fractions lately.

So far the wine has not been hard. Tedious, yes. Everything has to be super clean. I'll know better when it's ready to drink.

Good afternoon ladies!

Where is everyone today? I'm having an OK day, I guess. I had a good healthy breakfast and planned on a good healthy lunch but that kind of got sidetracked because our office manager called in sick and when she's out I take care of some of her duties. So I didn't get lunch until after 2:00 (I usually eat around noon) and by then I was starving. So I ran some errands and you guessed it, I ran through a drive thru . Next week I'm going to make sure I have healthy snacks here to munch on so I don't get too hungry again.

Oh well, moving on, I have some homemade veggie soup I took out of the freezer this morning and will be having that for dinner. At least my whole day won't be a wash.

Well I better go. The work day is almost over, TGIF! I still have to stop at the store and buy a cake mix and icing to make a cake for my DS birthday tomorrow. I'll try to eat just a sliver and make him take it home with him when he leaves.

Ooh! I hit a new low on the scale this morning. Finally broke through 115 (by .5 lbs, but it still counts!). Maybe my goal is reasonable! Maybe I will get there!

Abbyin -- I hear you on the intutive eating. My intuition is always telling me I need to eat more. It especially thinks I need to eat more chocolate, peanut butter, and ice cream.

Honestly, I don't know about the rest of you, but I am always still hungry when I finish my breakfast and my lunch. I really have to force myself to stop eating. I usually have a beverage and eventually the hungry feeling goes away, but if I were eating on intuition alone, I would eat more.

But I'm not afraid to go without food. I always end up going without eating for at least a day, sometimes longer, when I have the stomach flu (which I seem to get more than the average person--once I had it three times in a one year). There's just nothing to be done in that situation. And on weekends, when I am busy running around, I often push it to see how long I can go between meals/snacks.

Way to go Barbara

115 ! That looks like goal to me

I also seem to wait until I'm really hungry to eat. I usually eat breakfast around 8:30 AM, Lunch around 12:00, I eat a snack (maybe 2 times a week) around 3:00 and eat dinner around 7:00. That's pretty much all I eat a day. I too, tend to put off eating until I'm really hungry.

my intuition isnt strong enough to overcome my self sabotage

ennay - you are doing terrific

I joined this site 1 yr. earlier than you, but I really got serious last November (it looks like that is when you joined). You have lost 41 lbs. - WOW! You should be really proud of yourself.

Morning Featherweights!

My problem is want ... I don't think it's stomach hunger, it's probably not a nutritional imbalance, it's often not even really a nibbly hunger ... I just want. And then I eat an inordinate number of something.
One chocolate is never enough. I habitually chew four pieces of gum at the same time. There's doughnuts left, I might as well have another.

That's how it is with me and DH. We can't buy a package of anything like cookies 'cause we'll finish it in one go (usually in front of the TV). I see things in my clients' houses like packages of 6 muffins and they sit there for days - not at our place!

We are trying to just not have any junk food around. There are also smaller packages coming out now - 2 bite brownies 4 pack comes to mind - but they are very expensive and DH is always grumbling about how he doesn't want to pay $4 for an ice cream cone if he can get a litre of it for $6.

Any suggestions?

Dagmar

I can really relate to the *want* I don't *want* to diet anymore. It is just that at the same time my motivation is gone; in order to lose I have to be closer to perfection for a longer period of time. When I first started dieting i could *cheat* a bit and still lose. Now not so much.

But I feel like this is just another challenge for me to figure out and overcome. Someone who I haven't seen at work in a while came up to me yesterday and said that he thought it was great that I hadn't gained. Yes that was rather a backhanded compliment but I took it as a victory.

Ann

hey everyone! hope all is going well with your goals this week.

my problem is that the time between my meals is REALLY spaced out.. breakfast at 7 am, lunch at 12:30ish, then dinner at 7 pm..so i'm really hungry when it's time to eat, and i end up eating too fast, and don't take my time. and i get full too quickly. i also need to try not to overinduldge either.

i lost 2 pounds since last time i weighed in! i wore my size 6 skirt today, and it felt really loose..i had to keep fixing it throughout the day. felt pretty good.

Hi all! Had my WI this morning... I was down 1.2 and was at 135.4 That is so cool! Especially since last night I was telling DH I just feel fatter... I feel ucky... not sure why. I can't stand all this loose fat around my back and belly.
Today my boys are getting their white belt in tae kwon do! And then lots of running around and cleaning.

I have a pedomete question... how many steps should I strive for? I hit 5000 yesterday withing trying to... not sure if that's good or not?

Kate~I eat at about those same intervals.

Barbara~I have the problem that I want to finish what is in front of me regardless of whether I'm still hungry or not. And I don't fear hunger either, but I fear the munching from boredom.

This is how I'm dealing with the two things above:
Breakfast~I try to eat it just before I leave the house. I fix a small amount and as soon as I'm done, I leave for work. Therefore I can't eat more. (But I bring a snack of berries for about 10AM).
Lunch~4 days a week my lunch is a cup or so of cut up vegetables (mostly carrots and celery) with no dip, an apple or some cherries. The vegetables take so long to eat that I am gaging my lunch time on how long it takes DH to finish his lunch. Once he is done, I pack up the rest of my lunch for later. Usually that means that either my apple or the cherries become my afternoon snack.
Dinner~I have been fixing some really good, lean, low cal dinners so that isn't my problem. My problem is taking seconds because they are there. I do much better when I fix one chicken breast per person and just enough brown rice to go around (seconds on vegetables is not taboo in my book). Last night, however, I fixed a flank steak and some lowfat pasta. There was too much pasta and flank steak and I had seconds of the pasta which I should not have done. It was about an extra half cup, but I wasn't hungry. Ugh.

I also think my WORST time of the day is that hour when I first get home from work. I have to stay out of the kitchen, but that is hard when I'm getting ready to prepare dinner! I will open the pantry and eat 8 cashews. Then I might open the fridge and eat a slice of cheese. These things ADD UP! I rarely eat dessert, so I don't have the munch factor going on after dinner. I also have the wine thing....you know me--I love my Cabernet! Sometimes I think that my 5 ounce glass while fixing dinner helps to keep me from munching, but then it usually leads to a second glass during dinner. Again those calories add up.

Anyway, as my weight continued to go up for the past few weeks, my plan is working so far. My lighter lunches have allowed me to lose 1.5 pounds this week. I will continue to stay OP for more time as I feel it is really working. I am also going to change my ticker to show my correct weight. That means a move upward, but it keeps me honest. I have 11 pounds to go until goal.