Feeling beautiful is not something that comes easy. It is a skill, and it needs to be practiced constantly. Nobody just wakes up and feels beautiful by chance. It takes a lot of work.

Yes, I did reach my "goal" weight and size and I maintain it with IE. I am still working on the beautiful confidence feeling Palestrina is talking about though. I believe those feelings are completely independent from weight and I definitely agree that it takes work.

It was/is a very long journey for me, one step forward two steps back sort of thing and I am still working on it. I am happy to say though, that I almost never wonder anymore if I am hungry, and when I am not hungry I genuinely do not want to eat, and I can tell I am full before I am stuffed. It still isn't completely unconscious for me, and I have to maintain a certain level of awareness but it is much much easier than it was in the beginning.

Ok don't be disappointed in me. I've enrolled in an outpatient program at a very well known ED clinic here in NYC. I've really been struggling lately. Not because of my body image or my weight. But because my ongoing chronic illness (GERD) has been triggering my dysfunctional eating. I have to constantly battle food, food that is not necessarily unhealthy but it still triggers my symptoms. I have to constantly think about what I can or cannot eat and it's keeping me from my sanity. The stress of all this has resulted in pretty severe anxiety attacks, and my most recent anxiety attack landed me in the ER thinking I was having a heart attack. My anxiety has never been so physically tangible before. I have been urged by various doctors to seek therapy but I was having a hard time finding any kind of therapist that would treat someone with an eating disorder. So now I'm in ED therapy based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The program is rigorous, I have to constantly read the book, log my food, and they weigh me at every appointment. I do have mixed feelings about this but it's been getting to the point where I'm getting very sick. I'm not giving up on IE though, and in fact there are many corelations between IE and CBT as far as I can tell. I truly believe there is no way to be a normal eater without IE so I'm hoping this program won't veer me too far from it.

Palestrina, I am not disappointed in you at all. That sounds serious! I am glad you are getting help. I have read a book that seems to use the CBT method with IE, I am trying to remember what it is called, but I believe you can use both methods at the same time. What book are they having you read? I hope your anxiety attacks become much less. Please keep us updated.

It's called Overcoming Binge Eating

Thank you! I haven't heard of that one.

Glad to report no weight gain while visiting our dd.

Tried a low carb thing...............not working.

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I wanted to thank you for responding to my question. I belong to a couple of different IE groups (one is more of a body positivity group than IE) on facebook, trying to overcome the diet mentality. I watched the documentary "Embrace" on Netflix, and that has helped me a lot. Has anyone here watched it?

Haven't seen it but sounds interesting.

Thanks for mentioning this documentary. I checked it out and it was good!

So for me, I have been going through some stress stuff. Husband unemployed, looking for a job, so I think I have been doing a little more anxiety eating but at the same time I have been getting more in touch with my creativity than I have in years and I have been enjoying life so maybe it all balances out.

I finally stopped checking the scale as I feel it was detrimental to me over time. It made it too easy to make little rules for myself regarding food through out the day. All my clothes still fit and look good and I am active and happy so that is all I worry about. I do struggle with body acceptance still and without the scale to tell me how I should feel I find I struggle more with body happiness. That has been my main focus recently, just changing the negative body image voices in my head.

Glad to say I have stayed with IE for a long time, although I have a lot of kids trying to talk me into something else.

I don't think anything but IE really works for me long term as I eventually rebel against any rules I make myself regarding eating, even if it makes me feel better physically and has a positive effect. I just can't live with those constraints.

I did notice today at dinner that I have gotten a lot better about not just eating it because its there and not eating dinner just because its dinner time. This past week I have often eaten dinner after the kids have gone to bed because I am not hungry at regular dinner time. I don't make that a forced pattern though. If I am hungry at regular dinner time I eat it. I think knowing that I can eat any time I want to and that I have NO RULES about eating really helps me wait until I am hungry to eat, and only eat until I am full/satisfied. I got pretty good about waiting to eat until my body was hungry, but something I have been struggling with is still eating more than my body needs once I started eating. It's definitely still a learning process but I have seen improvement so yay!

IE all the way for 2018! :) Hope everyone is doing well!

Hello all.
 

Haven't been here in awhile. Still trying to wrap my heart, heart, stomach and everything around IE. It's a little more challenging because of Type II diabetes, gotta watch the carbs and fats and everything else. Hope you all have a blessed New Year's.:hug:

Carol, I like low carbing, but I decided there are some carby foods that I am not going to give up so I'm going back eating IE, but work at learning to eat only what I need to be satisfied. Haven't been back to IE very long, but it seems to be working so far.

Haven't heard of this but I looked up online and am following them on FB. Thanks for sharing it. I will see if I can get the documentary online.

I sware, I could have written your post. That is exactly how I feel. I can find something that is a good plan, but when I start trying to follow the rules, I seem to rebel against them. This has caused me to decide to stop following rules. No more counting calories, carbs or anything else. The closest to the way I am eating now is IE. I honestly believe this is the only way for me too.

I like your IE all the way I 2018. I've tried all the rules for controlling blood sugar, but I realized recently that when my blood sugar was good, not perfect but good was when we would travel and I ate what I wanted to eat. I saw a dietician a year ago when we moved to TX. The way I like to eat isn't much different from the way they suggested I eat. In fact, they told me not to worry about the blood sugar reading or the weight, but to keep doing what I was doing and it would finally come together and work.

But I kept trying to diet and exercise. I do feel good when I exercise. I read somewhere you should decide to eat what makes you feel good so maybe that is how you make IE work for you. Learn to eat and do the things that makes you feel good; especially good about yourself. I am so tired of dieting.

So this is how I'm ending 2017 and entering into 2018. IE 100%.

Me too TamTam

Happy New Year!

I'm joining this thread today because I'm sick and tired of trying to diet all the time. I originally joined 3FC in 2011, but haven't really been here a lot. I had to change my stats, however; because I've gained 10 pounds since joining (yikes!). I've read some books on intuitive eating and now I'm ready to start.

Here I go.....!

(I hope I'm posting the right way)

I've ate just what I wanted yesterday and I really enjoyed it. I thought boy, I will have a gain tomorrow, but I didn't. I was surprised to see a 2.2 lb loss and my Fasting Blood Sugar was only up 2 pts which means it stayed in the same area. I thought starchy carbs were bad for me so imagine my surprise to find that they worked for me and not against me. What a joy to find that I can eat the food that I truly like which I have to admit are considered healthy fiber foods. The thing is that when you low carb, you are made to believe you cannot eat those foods.

I have to admit that this morning, I had the tendency to want to track on MFP to see how many calories I'm eating, but I didn't do it. I am trying to break the diet mentality. I am working to go strictly IE. I don't want to eat anything just because a diet plan says I should. One successful day behind me and working on another one today. I'm just taking this One Day at a Time.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks Carolr. I went out for breakfast with Daddy and DS and DH this morning. DH isn't usually up to go with us. My DS and I usually go out 3 days a week to get our Daddy out of the house and we usually go to Whataburger. But my nephew had come to town to see Daddy last night and stayed late so Daddy had over slept. Whataburger doesn't serve breakfast after 11 am so we decided to go to Denny's. I have to tell I really enjoyed my breakfast now that I am doing IE.

I ate exactly what I wanted, but didn't feel like I had to eat it all and didn't feel guilty about the amount I ate. There was a time that I would have asked for sugar free, but not today. Another surprise is that what I ate didn't trigger a binge either. I really believe that I am really ready for IE this time. Already know what I want when I do get hungry later unless it changes and I might not want anything.

I suddenly feel like I'm eating like I saw DH DD eat when she lived with us. We would take her and her family out to eat and she would eat exactly what she wanted to eat and she ate as much as she wanted. She didn't seem to feel pressured to eat a certain amount. I think that is how normal people eat. I like feeling normal. I just hope I can keep up this feeling.

I've been struggling not to track my food. I'm finding it an extremely difficult habit to break...it might sound pathetic, but I've been tracking what I eat every single day since 2006. Crazy, right? If I manage to skip a day, then the next day I'm back at it, trying to remember exactly what I ate the day before.
With these apps and online trackers, it's pretty easy to just put it in....
(I think joining Weight Watchers back in the 90's started it all!) Anyway, today is the first day of not doing it. I'll have to try not to do it tomorrow, too!
And of course, I was practicing eating mindfully, as well. I feel like it went pretty good.

Miss Fitt: I understand where you are coming from. I started writing down what I eat daily since sometime in the 1970s. It has taken me a long time of coming in and out of IE trying to lose a lot of those diet habits and diet thinking. I hope I've got it this time, but I never know how it is going to go. However, I do keep trying.

Just be patient with yourself. That is what I'm trying to do. Good luck on your IE Journey.

Thanks, Pattygirl63 - That's the main thing: keep trying. Wow, you've been food journaling since the 70's on and off? I guess there's a lot of people out there doing it, though. It's like we think if we don't track everything we eat, something bad will happen (like gain weight)....but that's been happening regardless. I got a fitbit in 2014, and most days I eat more than I burn. I suppose that is the problem. But, then again, how much faith should we put in this technology?


Yes, trying to turn off the diet thinking is really difficult when it's absolutely everywhere - the news, TV ads, books, people....

Anyhow, all we can do is try to stay on our journeys for ourselves.

Ah faith in technology! The thing about that is being precise on your estimates....or overestimate your intake and underestimate your burn if you want to see quicker and truer results. I do use a chest strap HRM when I exercise (when I exercised....haha) and I would subtract a number of calories based on my Basil Metabolic Rate. Which I calculated at about a 70 calorie per hour number and that's just what you would burn sitting in a chair or sleeping. As for food if you are not weighing it you have to be careful that you could be guesstimating wrong, and I have found that even prepackaged food like canned green beans or oysters are actually a lot less sometimes in weight (which they are screwing us over!). Eating healthy foods is easy. Eating the right amount for weight loss is a pure struggle!!!

Yes, and the food labels: there was a piece in the news that the nutritional info labels are up to 20% off, meaning they aren't accurate at all. Same with restaurant nutritional info...and it's usually more calories, not less!

I noticed with my fitbit tracker, too, when I dried my hair yesterday morning, it thought I did 90 steps. Also, when I fold towels, it thinks I'm doing steps and credits me with active minutes. So, yeah, I take it all with a grain of salt. It looks good "on paper" as they say, but I know it's not all true.

All that said, I'm still using the darn thing.....

Miss Fitt, I also use a Fitbit. I am aware that is just an inexpensive gadget and has it's limitations. But IMO it is not a pedometer, but an activity tracker. It tracks all your activities but the only way it can record them is with steps. Whether you are drying your hair or folding towels, that is activity. The calorie burn is just an estimate, because it's based on information you entered into it, and we are all individual. It's a good place to start!

Carol - You are so right...I never thought of it as an activity tracker in that way; but yes, folding towels and drying hair is activity! I feel so much better now.
Thanks for that!

My husband jokingly calls it cheating, but it's not really, is it? I'm still moving about (while he's sitting in his chair, lol!).

I'm pretty much addicted to my fitbit. It only comes off when I have a shower, or when it needs to be charged.

Well, I'm so fed up with everything. Today, I quit tracking my food, threw out a bunch of dieting books and that's it for me. This past week, I just couldn't stop tracking, thinking, reading - all diet related. I found an old WW booklet with what I had eaten and how much I weighed (from 13 years ago) and that set me off. The thing is, I wasn't even overweight back then. I was 120 lbs, and wanted to get down to 108. Now I realize how ridiculous it was for me to even be dieting then.
Sorry, I just had to vent....

Exhausted
 

Good info on here great deal.

Having such a hard time. Re-reading the Overfed Head. Trying to get my diabetes numbers better AND Intuitive Eating but it is not easy. It's like you have to play both sides of the fence. Gotta watch and balance the carbs, fats and proteins, but trying to eat what you are hungry for. I don't want my meds to be increased nor do I want to go on insulin. Very frustrated!

Tam Tam, my opinion of Intuitive Eating is that it is meant to help with binge eating. So, if you eat what you are hungry for you are more likely to be satisfied. Sometimes you can eat what you think you should be eating but it doesn't satisfy your craving, so you continue eating other things and never getting satisfied. Having diabetes puts a different spin on it because there are a lot of foods you can't eat and still have good blood sugar readings. This is where I think modification comes into play and is necessary for a diabetic.

Things seemed to be going along fine, until DH called me fat. Probably joking, but it's no laughing matter.

Dont eat when are stress!
 

Dont eat when are stress!

Ok first of all let me start by saying I LOVE LOVE Krispy Creme Donuts! So the other day I bought a dozen for a high school fund raiser. Did I eat one? No I ate 3! Not all at one time, had some "control". Get into work this morning and there is the box. Have I eaten one? Nope. Not hungry for it. I cannot say for certain that by day's end I won't have one, but as of now not hungry and not craving it. So I think so far that is a plus for me. I just ordered 3 books on dealing with food issues, NOT diet books (as far as I can tell) One is Food Triggers and the second book by the same author is Satisfied and one called Full. Will let you know if they are good or not. Have a blessed Triduum and Easter!

Ok read the book Food Triggers. Not for me. She talked a lot about Overeaters Annonymous and how to cut sugar completely from your life and really did not get anything out of it. Starting the book "Full". Will see how that one goes.

TamTam, Have you read The Overfed Head by Rob Stevens? You may find it helpful.

Yes I have. To me it is the simplest book on IE. I think at the time I was having a frustrated moment and saw those books and ordered them. I think like IE, I need to break away from books, for sure diet books, but some IE books too, like diets they can become an obsession. I wish there was still a website for Thintuition. I think Rob was ahead of his time back then. Thank you for the suggestion.

Ok read full. Not the most inspiring book either. Gonna donate it to the library. I will revisit the Overfed Head and give up on ordering anymore books.