Mad Donnelly, what a great post. I truly believe that dieting for most of my life did nothing but leave me with food obsesssions. Dieting never kept me slim.
I have had an issue with not being able to stop eating once I start. I'll keep telling myself "one more bite" even when I'm full. My plan now is to prepare all of my meals ahead of time and have them in proportions. I think this way I won't be able to overeat just because there is food left.
Has anyone had experience with this? Seems tough planning all of that.
Nice post mad.
Great Idea TinyTiger! I am working in that direction with homemade soup ready at all times.
I made a recent observation when we went out with a friend for texmex. He states he wasn't really that hungry,,,,so no appetizer. He is skinny and listens to his body.
I am loving this WOL so far. But hating the scale. I think I need to hide it from myself for a while.
How do you all deal with the scale and have you read much on this WOL?
Last edited by FinallyFree; 01-16-2015 at 07:44 PM.
I have had an issue with not being able to stop eating once I start. I'll keep telling myself "one more bite" even when I'm full. My plan now is to prepare all of my meals ahead of time and have them in proportions. I think this way I won't be able to overeat just because there is food left.
Has anyone had experience with this? Seems tough planning all of that.
If you're just starting on IE I advise you to go ahead and eat. If you've been dieting for a long time then your body is literally starved for freedom to eat without fear that you will take that food away the next day or reprimand it for eating or punish it with guilt. This step is called legalizing food and it's meant to disentangle you from the diet mentality. Trying to impose rules like planning meals ahead of time and portion them put is the exact opposite of IE. How do you know in advance what the correct portion of food is for when you are hungry later? When you start to listen to your body's cues eventually you will know better when to stop eating.
A great way to become more aware of your natural satiety is to practice mindful eating. I find it integral to practicing IE.
Ok wannabe,
I also appreciate the clarification. The rules want to creep in from the past...
tks!
We've all battled our diet demons so don't worry. Just keep in mind that the purpose of this process is to learn how to trust your body. How would you accomplish that if you're preportioning out food? Doing that means you don't really trust your body to know when to stop eating. It's very frustrating in the beginning because your body wants to eat more than ever, but over time it adjusts. Initially I gained some weight but then I lost it, and I lost my desire to binge as well.
Mad Donnelly, what a great post. I truly believe that dieting for most of my life did nothing but leave me with food obsesssions. Dieting never kept me slim.
I know, right? Whether it's thinking about eating it or thinking about how NOT to eat it, it's still spending way too much time in the forefront of your brain. I think I just got sick and tired of it.
Quote:
Just keep in mind that the purpose of this process is to learn how to trust your body. How would you accomplish that if you're preportioning out food? Doing that means you don't really trust your body to know when to stop eating. It's very frustrating in the beginning because your body wants to eat more than ever, but over time it adjusts
ITA. Having prepared food to have on hand is good; but, yeah, it teaches you nothing about how to stay in control.
You know what kind of helped me? One of my favorite lunch places is a salad bar restaurant. At first I thought it was weird but it's great. It's not one price all you can eat, you pay by weight just like at a grocery store salad bar. I'm not going to take home leftovers, so it forced me to really be aware of how much I was taking of each item because I did not want to waste food. So I am in complete control not only of the price of my lunch but just exactly what and how much I'm going to eat at one sitting. Trust me, I never leave hungry but it's a much smaller salad than I would make at an all-you-can-eat type of thing.
Last edited by Mad Donnelly; 01-17-2015 at 12:24 PM.
this is really quite a different mind set to get ahold of since I've dieted since I was young. Oddly enough prior to marriage I did this style of eating and was just my right weight. After marriage and my first child, all things diet entered my life and has been there ever since. I have been having fun learning this WOL. Or relearning.
I have decided to keep some favorite foods around for when I am hungry.
P.S. I'm glad you warned me of weight gain wannabe. I have gained 5 pounds. I didn't think I would, but with the different foods I'm allowing myself, it makes sense. I'm starting to feel more control now. I really want to stop the binge eating and I feel strongly this new outlook will do it.
Last edited by FinallyFree; 01-17-2015 at 11:06 PM.
I'd suggest for those who are new to Intuitive Eating that you also read a book called "The Overfed Head by Rob Stevens. (I've seen others here mention it, too) I've tried IE on and off in the past, and always resorted to going back to counting calories because every time I tried IE, I would end up grazing throughout each day. I could never fully grasp it, for some reason
I recently bought The Overfed Head and am so glad I did. The first part of it was just gobbledeegook to me because it was stuff I already knew. I almost didn't finish the book, but continued reading and when I got to Chapter 5: Satisfying Your Hunger, it was written in such a way that a lightbulb went off in my head and I finally GOT how to eat from hunger to satisfied. It's very detailed and much easier to understand the concept, or at least it was for me. There is also a great illustrated hunger guide in that chapter that's very helpful, as well.
I'm learning to eat what I'm craving most first, and then go from there and stop when I'm satisfied. For example, my husband and I were running errands yesterday and he decided he was hungry so made a stop for food. I wasn't yet hungry, so decided to wait until I was hungry and sure of what I wanted. After I was sure of my hunger, I knew that I wanted a hot fudge sundae and some McD's fries. So we made another food stop on the way home and I ended up savoring every delicious creamy spoon of that sundae, which is what I was craving the most. I ate maybe 10 of the fries and then felt completely satisfied, so quit eating. What a feeling! It was wonderful eating what I really wanted from the start and knowing when I was done. I'm learning to truly enjoy the tastes and textures of food and it's so nice to have my dessert first if that's what I desire. It's wonderful learning to really know when I'm hungry and what satiety is.
I think the IE book is fabulous, too, but the one mentioned above was very helpful to me and so I wanted to share, in case it could help others, too. I got mine cheap, for just a penny and shipping for a used one (like new) from Amazon. $4 total. I believe it's going to be the best $4 investment I've ever made. Time will tell, but I feel confident that I now know how to truly eat intuitively.
Thanks for sharing Liz and welcome! The Overfed Head was my first IE read, I found it really great and it grabbed my attention immediately. I went on to read Overcoming Overeating and IE and now I'm reading books by Josie Spinardi. I've read some Geneen Roth as well.
Everyone's journey is a little different and it's great to have a variety of resources. But if I'm being honest I would say that the greatest help to me was seeing a nutritional therapist who specializes in IE. The component of IE that's been the hardest for me is separating my hunger from my emotions and that's where my NT played the biggest role.
Glad to see so many new people here. I haven't been here for awhile but that doesn't mean I haven't been working toward an IE lifestyle. My biggest obstacle has been giving up the low carb mentality and the let me just try this LC diet one more time. I'm pretty sure (hate to jinx myself!) that I am FINALLY over it! My last attempt on LC resulted in a 4 day headache. It all finally came crashing down on me and I cried many tears. I finally realized all this dieting is doing more harm than good to my poor body. I'm so thankful my body has "tolerated" my mind through all these years of yo yoing that I have put it through and it hasn't given up on me! I am flying so free right now and feel on top of the world. I never ever want food to control me again. The stress of all that dieting has been unbelievable when I think back on it.
Just thought I'd share my "hitting rock bottom" and finally climbing to the top journey! I have been working toward an IE lifestyle for about 2 years (yeah I'm stubborn!) now and I believe it has finally paid off. It has been a very very very hard journey. This country is infatuated with dieting and it's just INSANE!
Glad to see so many new people here. I haven't been here for awhile but that doesn't mean I haven't been working toward an IE lifestyle. My biggest obstacle has been giving up the low carb mentality and the let me just try this LC diet one more time. I'm pretty sure (hate to jinx myself!) that I am FINALLY over it! My last attempt on LC resulted in a 4 day headache. It all finally came crashing down on me and I cried many tears. I finally realized all this dieting is doing more harm than good to my poor body. I'm so thankful my body has "tolerated" my mind through all these years of yo yoing that I have put it through and it hasn't given up on me! I am flying so free right now and feel on top of the world. I never ever want food to control me again. The stress of all that dieting has been unbelievable when I think back on it.
Just thought I'd share my "hitting rock bottom" and finally climbing to the top journey! I have been working toward an IE lifestyle for about 2 years (yeah I'm stubborn!) now and I believe it has finally paid off. It has been a very very very hard journey. This country is infatuated with dieting and it's just INSANE!
The LC mentality has plagued me for years. I always thought it was the best way to eat but every time I attempted it I would fall into binges. What's the purpose of eating healthy if I'm just going to end up binging? There are some die hard people here on this forum that push the LC lifestyle and while for some it may be helpful for others like me it doesn't work.
As I've become more and more intuitive with my eating I'm better able to make food choices that are appropriate for my body's needs. I like to direct my eating in a nutritious way without forcing myself to eat nutritiously. My primary goal is and always will be to avoid binges. Getting fixated on a particular ideology about nutrition always sends me into a binge so I avoid that.
My meals now are very balanced. There are days that I notice that I don't eat any wheat products at all, there are days that I eat completely vegan, there are days that I eat mostly protein and yes there are days where anything goes and I'll eat pancakes for breakfast, cheesecake for lunch and cheetos for dinner. But those days are extremely rare and I can't remember the last time I did that.
My biggest trigger for binging is making "healthy choices" in spite of the cravings I have. It's what I used to do and could not understand why I was binging! I'd go out with my girlfriends and I would go sooooo gooood! Grilled chicken, broccoli, and quinoa! I was so smug. And then on my way home I'd stop for KFC or Burger King or whatever. Whenever I made food into a moral issue it sent me into a binge.
So is it possible to eat healthy and follow IE? I doubted it at first, or at least I couldn't understand how it was possible but it is it totally is! Somehow without even trying I've settled into being the kind of eater I've always wanted to be - I eat few carbs, mostly potatoes and legumes and very little in terms of wheat and processed carbs, I only eat 2 meals a day with at most one snack (this is like intermittend fasting!), and seem to be following the 80%-20% model of eating. Ok I'm not perfect but I'm happy, I enjoy my food and things couldn't be better.... of course I have a terrible acid reflux problem but I'm getting further testing to see what's going on with me since my diet is entirely free of all acids AND I'm on medication.
Wannabeskinny, I thank you for the warm welcome to this group! I'm thrilled to be here and no longer counting calories, carbs, etc. Oh the freedom!!!
I so agree with you about everyone's journey being different. There is no one plan that's going to work for everyone. If that were the case we'd all be skinny, woudn't we?
CountryLiving, I completely understand about wanting to break the control that food has over you. Something about counting carbs, calories, fat, whatever it is we're counting on whichever "diet" we've chosen keeps us thinking about food 24/7. That's what drove me crazy over the years. So I'd try IE, then I'd start the grazing again. It was a vicious circle!
I'm also an emotional eater, y'all. And let me tell you, there are times when I feel like I could clean the cabinets bare and there may still be days when I attempt to do just that, but I hope to have less of those days by simply allowing myself exactly what I want to eat at the time. I think the only way I'm ever going to lose the diet mentality and the binging (hopefully), is to allow myself cake and ice cream for dinner if that's what I'm craving at the time. No matter what I'm craving, that's what I'm going after. I'm going to rely solely on my body and appetite to tell me what to eat when I'm hungry. I think doing this will help control a lot of the binging (I never can figure out if it's binging or bingeing?)
There was something else I wanted to touch on but got a phone call and lost my train of thought. lol
I am glad to see there is a good bit of activity on this IE thread. I'm looking forward to learning ideas from others and sharing, too.
Wow! Thanks for all the sharing of your experiences.
I have the book on the way written by the two ladies and I'll order the overfed head too.
This weekend was just wonderful for me with some much needed time with family. I let my hair down with the IE and that was a really learning experience about myself . I celebrated with binge eating and then starting thinking about diets to compensate. Ok,,,,I just decided to suck it up and get back into the right mentality.
So I wasn't even gonna show up here, feeling like a failure, so I just really appreciated the sharing you all did.....
Hi Finally Thin! I know the feeling of wanting to jump back into another diet when you feel like you've messed up. But even "naturally" thin people indulge now and then, too. I had a slippery slope of an afternoon, myself, but let's hang in there! Ain't no diet mentality gonna keep us down.
I did very well during the morning, and early afternoon. But by mid afternoon I started going a little downhill. It could have been much worse, but I do regret eating some things before I got hungry today.Total mouth hunger and I gave in. There will be those times, though. I'm determined to make this work, though.
First thing in the morning I'm rereading chapter 5 of The Overfed Head. Finally Thin, I think you'll appreciate that chapter, too. Very helpful. I would also like to read the book Wannabeskinny mentioned, Overcoming Overeating. I am going to look it up.
By the grace of God I will never turn back to dieting again.
