Hello all! Sorry for not posting in awhile, crazy busy life!! Glad everyone is doing well. Carol hoping you are getting better also. Been doing good with my eating, the only looney thing is when my blood sugar is good the scale is up and when my blood sugar is bad the scale is down!!! Not sure what is the deal with that, but will figure it out one day. Hubby also is overweight and has Type II Diabetes, but his blood sugar has been soooo high, his doctor told him to eat six small meals a day and she put him on two more meds, so we have NOT been eating out that much, which is a GOOD thing, been eating more fruits and veggies, I find he still will still serve himself too much food, but one thing at a time, it has also made me eat healthier also, so that is a good thing. Hope you all have a blessed day!!

Thanks for the welcome everyone! :) I have been trying really hard to focus on when I'm hungry today. I was fine when I woke up and didn't eat until about 11:30/12, when I had a piece of rye toast with avocado, fetta and tomato. Then I went for a run and drank lots of water, and I've been really busy this afternoon so didn't even have time to think about food.

Around 3:30 a friend gave me a packet of homemade yoyo biscuits because I've been going through some stress lately, and I ate two (they were delicious!) I am trying not to think of calories/sugar etc, as they were a treat. Usually I would have eaten 4 or 5 in one go so I think I've done well!

Now it's nearly 5 here and I can slowly feel myself getting hungry - I might have a corn thin (do you have them in the US?) with peanut butter to tide myself over until dinner, since I don't usually eat until 7:30/8.

Sorry for the long post, I just thought it would help to dissect my eating habits! I have been finding that I get much hungrier in the afternoon/at night. It's strange to actually think about it instead of just eating 3 meals at the same time every day!

We like long posts.

Haven't been here in a while, but I do read from time to time. Just been busy. DH is having therapy after neck surgery for his neck and for back pain. Seems like we spend most of our time at doc appts and therapy most days right now. But Tony is getting better.

:welcome3: To all the Newbies. Seems to be more of us doing this now.

Still doing the IE/IF combo. Tired of trying to figure out what to eat and purchased some tv dinners today that I really like. I know they're processed foods (supposed to be bad for us), but since I'm doing IE and don't think of foods as good/bad foods, I can eat them. :carrot: Right now I'm not in the mood to cook so I can eat these on those days when I don't want to cook. Only losing less than a lb a week, but weight is coming off slowly, but scale is moving downward.

Have a great Sunday everybody.

Same here.

I just started the IE about a week ago I gained about 8lbs but now it's slowly coming off also. But it's so nice not to think about food 24/7 and what you're suppose to eat or not. I eat when i'm hungry and stop when i'm satisfied!! Lovin IT:carrot::cool:

So glad.

IE is working nicely for me too. I am finally at the place of eating exactly what I want when I'm hungry and stop when I'm satisfied. I still use the Allen Carr cd when I go to bed, but more now just to relax and get a good nights sleep. I am amazed how things are going now. I had a carby day Monday ( personal pan pizza for main meal then had a Lean Cuisine dinner and homemade nacho cheese) and the next day I was shocked that my weight was down 2 or 3 lbs. Don't remember what I ate yesterday, but I thought my weight would be up a little this morning, but the digital scale is such a blessing because it was in tenths. I was down .2 lbs. So I was so excited and look forward to see what my weight loss will be Saturday for this week. We eat out a lot since DH is having physical therapy. So I don't plan what I'm going to eat in advance.. I eat what I want and I'm losing. Fasting blood sugar isn't normal, but still coming down.

I think what has happened is that I'm finally convinced and have it in my mind that there are no good/bad foods which has taken off a lot of stress of having to think about foods 24/7. I don't eat breakfast any more. I only eat fruits in the morning because that is what I like to do. Many times we decide at the last moment where we are going to eat as we leave DH therapy treatment making choices spontaneous. But it isn't making gain weight; I'm losing. I really believe the big help is that I'm more relaxed. I don't eat snacks any more especially at night and I didn't plan not to, I just don't seem to need it. Amazing feeling to find that now I can eat whenever I want to and can eat whatever I want, I don't seem to want it or need it so much any more.

Yay, good to know :)

Pattygirl, I've found the same thing about breakfast - I don't really get hungry until about 11am or so, and then I usually have something small to tide me over until lunch. It feels like I'm eating less than I would with calorie counting and structured meals, so I'm trying to balance it out by making sure my diet is varied and I have lots of healthy fats and that kind of thing.

I'm surprised at how well I've adapted to IE, it really feels like something I could stick with long-term which I've never found with calorie counting and other diets.

Intuitive eating questions
 

I have had a major love/hate relationship with food, not eating and bingeing and then working my butt off in the gym, ad nauseum.
With intuitive eating I'm hoping to break the cycle.
What tips and tricks do you have that can help me stop when I reach for one more cookie? The last bit of the chocolate bar?
What helps for you?

Jennybee I usually don't eat my fruit until about 11am too. Then I have a cup of coffee that I put coconut oil, Stevia and cream in it and eat my fruit. Kind of like a fruit cup of fruit that I like. I use mostly coconut oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I find that having the healthy oils seems to keep me from being hungry if I get enough of it. I think my body likes the fact that I have more of a variety of foods instead of the same diet stuff all the time.

Tell your self you can have it later if you're hungry.

I continue to do well with my IE/IF combination. I get a bit annoyed in the mornings. When I wake up, I am definitely not hungry, but within an hour, I become jittery and anxious, and then my stomach speaks up. I'm glad I've been paying attention to that so that I have things that are very easy to throw together for breakfast.

My day is full and varied. I found that if I'm working after breakfast, I can successfully go till around 3 to have lunch. I am really good and hungry by then. I like to actually experience the hunger. Feels kinda powerful to me for some reason, like I am the one in control of this food/eating thing. Since I workout at 5, I don't want to eat so much that I am uncomfortable during my workout. I'll have a nice salad with tuna or sardines and a good bit of olive oil and lemon to dress it. Simply but yummy!

Yesterday I wasn't so hungry after my workout, and I stayed at work till 9:45 after that, so when I got home, a bowl of Chinese spinach and a small roast beef and cheddar sandwich was enough. I like to go to bed with a satiated belly.

If I had gotten home earlier, I would have overeaten out of habit. I'm really trying to get out of the habit of overeating at night. I'm trying out fasting in the evenings on the weekends, and eating smaller meals during the rest of the time. Trying to reduce the stomach acids. It takes some time to get them reduced, like about four weeks.

My weight is slowly creeping down. Finally!

Well said, Georgia! I bet you've discovered that hunger isn't the crisis we once thought it was - when dieting/restricting, hunger becomes almost scary - at least it was for me. I was always afraid to be hungry because I knew that if I didn't eat soon, the meager amount of food that I was allowed on my current "diet" would probably not satisfy me, and I'd be hungry all day/night. And I generally was.

Now I just allow myself to be hungry, and I know that when I do eat I can eat enough to satisfy me. I didn't eat until 3:30 yesterday afternoon. Ate a good, hearty lunch and then wasn't hungry until right before bed. I had bought some Haagen Dazs Gelato because it was on sale and I need to twitter a review of it in order to be entered to win a trip to Italy (my hobby is entering sweepstakes) so I had a few bites of that and that's all I needed.

It is very empowering!

I'm kinda new here, I've been doing IE for about a week and a half, this week I've lost 4lbs. Its' amazing after all the years of dieting I can actually eat what I want and still lose weight. I too was a little scared to stop my plan and just eat when I was hungry, eat what I wanted, but it's been awesome, I have no cravings anymore and i'm loving it. Thanks for all the posts and i'm so glad I found IE:carrot: