I am truly starting to believe that my body will crave a sufficient amount of healthy food and that i don't have to force myself to eat salad if i don't feel like it. I used to make sure i started every meal with a vegetable, and then moved onto protein, and if i was having dessert i made sure i had that last. That was my way of making sure i ate the most important thing, veggies. But then i read that you should eat whatever you're craving first. That kind of makes sense, because if you don't eat it, you'll just keep eating other stuff and never feel satisfied even if you've eaten too much food.
I am truly starting to believe that my body will crave a sufficient amount of healthy food and that i don't have to force myself to eat salad if i don't feel like it. I used to make sure i started every meal with a vegetable, and then moved onto protein, and if i was having dessert i made sure i had that last. That was my way of making sure i ate the most important thing, veggies. But then i read that you should eat whatever you're craving first. That kind of makes sense, because if you don't eat it, you'll just keep eating other stuff and never feel satisfied even if you've eaten too much food.
I used to do the same thing, I would start meal with salad and end with dessert if I even allowed myself a dessert. Now I only have a salad with a meal if I want one. Otherwise, I don't eat one. Used to think that I had to eat a salad at least once a day.
Also agree about eating the food we crave. I wanted onion rings when DH and I went out for hot dog last week. Bought frozen ones at Aldi's yesterday. I cooked them today and had it with my BLT for lunch. Interesting result? Since I'm free to eat them, I couldn't eat the whole serving. Practicing NOT HAVING TO CLEAN my plate, I found it easy to put them + my few bites of the sandwich down the disposal.
Thanks Trish! I was really proud of myself! Before I would have freaked out about going and how much I could eat. I also would have prepared a side dish that was "on plan" and filled up on that because it was the only thing I could really have.
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Originally Posted by surfergirl2
I am truly starting to believe that my body will crave a sufficient amount of healthy food and that i don't have to force myself to eat salad if i don't feel like it. I used to make sure i started every meal with a vegetable, and then moved onto protein, and if i was having dessert i made sure i had that last. That was my way of making sure i ate the most important thing, veggies. But then i read that you should eat whatever you're craving first. That kind of makes sense, because if you don't eat it, you'll just keep eating other stuff and never feel satisfied even if you've eaten too much food.
Oh yeah...been there done that! Before finding IE the only side dish I would allow myself was a salad and a small portion of what I really wanted.
Today I'm having a salad because it's what I wanted. It's the Market Fresh Seafood Salad from Wal-Mart...it's one of my favorite!! Which, by the way, I only ate 3/4 because I became full before finishing it. When I was calorie counting I would have eaten the whole thing because it was within my allowance.
Last edited by PreciousMissy; 04-29-2013 at 03:27 PM.
I am truly starting to believe that my body will crave a sufficient amount of healthy food and that i don't have to force myself to eat salad if i don't feel like it. I used to make sure i started every meal with a vegetable, and then moved onto protein, and if i was having dessert i made sure i had that last. That was my way of making sure i ate the most important thing, veggies. But then i read that you should eat whatever you're craving first. That kind of makes sense, because if you don't eat it, you'll just keep eating other stuff and never feel satisfied even if you've eaten too much food.
surfergirl - Believe me, this is true! My very first "meal" when I started was a hot fudge sundae - and I don't even particularly LIKE hot fudge sundaes! I would generally much prefer a bag of chips....the spicier the better!
Some days I want a hamburger and fries, other days nothing but grilled tilapia and a salad will do. Last night I had pork chops and turnip greens. Love my greens! But I don't feel like I HAVE to eat them instead of something I really want.
So this morning I got up and to my surprise felt pretty hungry long before noon, which is my normal pattern. But ultimately I have accepted that there is no "pattern" to IE and anything can happen at any time.
I was probably hungrier than normal because I only ate one meal yesterday, then had just a yogurt last night.
So I thought about what I wanted to eat and decided I wanted a little bit of different things. I had one scrambled egg, one piece of toast, and one cup of yogurt with some mixed berries AND Post Grape Nuts.
Generally if I'm going to eat eggs I'll eat eggs and toast (maybe 2 eggs and 2 pieces of toast) and that's all. Or sometimes I'll eat yogurt with fruit OR berries, not both. But this morning I wanted it all, so I just cut the egg/toast portion in half. Not because I'm restricting myself, but because if I'd eaten 2eggs/toast I could not have eaten the yogurt.
I ate around 10:00 am which is relatively early for me. But it was all delicious, esp. the yogurt with the berries and grape nuts. I ate it slowly and really savored every bite. Honestly, it was as good as any ice cream or cake I could have had. Really delicious because it was just what I wanted.
Oh, the only yogurt I'll eat is Publix fat free light vanilla yogurt. Don't care for Greek yogurt at all, no matter how many times I read that it's "better" for me. Who cares? What I love about the vanilla is that I can add anything to it depending on my mood. And I can also eat it all by itself. It's very versatile.
Well, good morning Southernmaven! I had a similar experience this morning. Typically I have 2 egg whites with spinach and cheese, but I was really craving cottage cheese, and it was delicious!
I'm still trying to get myself out of the dieting mindset. Granted, I want (and need) to lose weight, but I know that IE is about focusing on what your body needs. I still weigh myself. I've seen on other IE forums about people giving up their scales...I'm just not ready for that. I tried to go for a period of time without weighing and only lasted 3 days. I'll get there one day .
Anyway, the whole point to that last paragraph is that I almost denied my body what it wanted because Tuesdays are my WI day. I was seriously craving salt (which is probably why I wanted the cottage cheese this morning, I eat it rather salty, but I digress) and I suspect it's because of what Lunasongbird calls OTOM. I didn't want to eat anything salty because I was worried about the scale going up.
How many times have I done that to myself in the past??? Probably too many times, I suspect. After a few moments of thought I realized that I wouldn't deny my salty cravings if it were Thursday or Saturday night. Why would the night before my weigh in make any difference, it really shouldn't! I also thought about the fact if I don't satisfy my craving then I'll eat a bunch of food I don't want (or need) looking for a substitution.
So, I realized, not only do I need to work on having a healthy attitude about food, I need to work on my scale issues, too.
PreciousMissy - I can sympathize with you regarding TOM. Don't miss that AT ALL! When I was still at that point in my life I would blow up like a puffer fish. Fortunately that was when I was a normal weight, so worrying about the scale wasn't an issue then, but boy was there a huge difference in my body! I had awful periods and miserable bloating (not to mention almost debilitating cramps). This is one lady who welcomed menopause.
And not to go too OT, but - maybe it was because I had such horrible periods, but menopause was a breeze for me. Very few hot flashes (more night sweats than anything) and no hormones necessary. In fact, I never even went to the doctor while going "through the change." I would wish that for every woman out there.
Another thing to notice is, and it is very hard to detect, but notice how your first bite tastes and then notice your last bite as you are getting full, it does not taste as good!
Another thing to notice is, and it is very hard to detect, but notice how your first bite tastes and then notice your last bite as you are getting full, it does not taste as good!
Yes, i consider that, besides the feeling in my tummy as one of the main indicators that i'm probably soon done eating.
Another thing to notice is, and it is very hard to detect, but notice how your first bite tastes and then notice your last bite as you are getting full, it does not taste as good!
In a book I read the author called that the point of diminishing returns. She pointed out that there's no point in continuing to eat that particular item if you're not enjoying it, and should move onto something else if you're still hungry.
After my post yesterday I've been thinking a lot about "official weigh in days". I've put too much emphasis on how much I weigh on one particular day of the week. I think too hard about what food I eat the night before and how it will affect my weigh in.
So, I've decided to do away with official weigh in days!
For me this is a pretty big, and mentally freeing, step. I weigh daily, it works for me, but why should I worry about one day? I'm not going to worry about any of them!
You all look like you're having a wonderful time!!
I agree with the diminishing returns, absolutely. When I was dieting though, the returns NEVER diminished. Every tiny bit of food felt like the last food EVER, so I never got to feel that "I don't actually want this..." feeling. It's so wonderful to get it now!
I'm having a few IE debates with myself right now. I'm going back to the doc's for a third attempt to get the pill in 2 weeks, and as I'll be 32 in a few weeks, they're much stricter with my BMI. Last time my doc's scale put me 10lbs over my morning weight, and pushed my BMI over 35... Man, I felt cheated! I had a repeat prescription for 20-odd years after being prescribed it when I was 13 due to really bad TOM (it's put me in hospital twice, hence one reason I loved the pill so much - I'll spare you the second reason!) SouthernMaven, it sounds like you can relate! I agree that daily weighing is really helpful for me, I'm about to get rid of 5ish lbs of puffer fish weight from a week of ibuprofen. If I was fixating on Monday's weight like I used to, I'd have gained weight over the week. But in a few weeks? It'll be low again. No matter what I eat. I seem to be gradually shrinking with some very predictable weight behaviours related to what food I ate, what medication I took, and what TOM it is. The short version? I really need my weight down as low as possible for my doc's appointment. This is the MOST IMPORTANT thing, temporarily. How do I reconcile this with IE, any ideas?
Also, I got hit with some big bills this week. It's gonna be a beans on toast week. What do I do here, eat beans on toast, but only when I'm hungry? I can buy more food in about a week, but right now I can't just want salmon and veggies, and go and buy them. Any ideas?
In short, it's great seeing you all on track and enjoying IE in your own ways, whether you're a weigher like me or not, and I agree with a whole load of what you're saying about it all. But I'm due a conflicting couple of weeks and would love any input anyone has about how to handle it
Wow Shiv, you're right, you have a lot of IE conflicting things going on in your life right now.
Who knows, just the fact that you are only able to have the beans and toast may contribute to your weight loss to help get you back on the pill .
I don't really have any advice for you, but wish you the best of luck.
Yesterday my department went out for a birthday lunch (it was yummy!!!). I ordered what I wanted and ate until I was full. The portion was much larger than I thought it would be! I had less than half left, but it was too much food, and too good, to toss. I knew I'd eat the leftovers when I was hungry again.
This morning I grabbed them for lunch along with another small portion of leftovers I had from another meal. I figured it would round out my lunch if I was still hungry.
Well, I ate the leftovers from the restaurant, which was a smaller portion than yesterday, I didn't eat the extra food I brought (and also didn't have the tortilla chips available they always put on the table at Mexican restaurants like I did yesterday), yet I am full. It's the same exact meal, but it took less food to fill me up today.
It still astonishes me how intuitive the body is! Yesterday I needed more food, today I need less, yet both days I feel full and satisfied.
Last edited by PreciousMissy; 05-01-2013 at 01:45 PM.
Yesterday i had a monthly meeting at a restaurant. Every single time i've gone to this restaurant, i've ordered a salad. I've almost been afraid to look at the rest of the menu because a lot of it looks "unhealthy." So yesterday i decided to do something crazy and order something other than a salad. I ordered irish stew in a bread bowl. It had looked really good when i saw someone eating it. But it turned out to be disappointing. I think it probably looked good because it was "forbidden" (not really forbidden, i just always thought it was "better" to eat a salad).
Hi, ladies...It's been a few months since I've checked in here. Looks like this section has gotten a lot more active, and I have a LOT of reading to do to catch up on the thread.
As of last Fall, I had managed to take off 15 pounds. Winter's snow and ice put a stop to a lot of my walking, and I gained back a few pounds, but have managed to keep at least 10 of the 15 off.
I still cannot diet, and will not diet, but now that Spring is here I am eager to start back in with lightening myself up.
I do like to have something to aim for, so my big goal for summer is to take off another dozen pounds so that I can at least say that I'm "under 275".
Welcome to the ladies that are new since I was here last. Now I've got to go start catching up on the thread.
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