I think no matter what you eat you will get sick of it if there is no variety. Like I said in my last post, when I was really hungry the healthy stuff is what I wanted. But that doesn't mean I don't eat other things people consider junk. I used to by Woman's World every week just for the diet. Haven't done that in a very long time. They don't really even tempt me anymore because I know that IE is the only way to lose weight and keep it off over the long haul. I had another thought yesterday. How wonderful it is to make someone else happy. I wonder if that goes with IE.
So, I've decided to stop feeding the fat girl. LOL I'm feeding the skinny girl!
Blue Serenity - I love that thought and I'm going to steal it from you. Going to place it on my fridge. You know I am one who actually got hung up on healthy foods. I have learned through IE that I became obsessive with it. I learned that I had such a fear of not eating healthy because of 2 incidents in my life. #1 My Mama died because of cancer and #2 I once was a Diabetic 2 for a short time. Because of that I believe the Key Principles for me has been learning to Honor Your Hunger and Make Peace with Food. Because of the freedom of IE to eat what I want, I'm learning that I really don't care for the junk food on a regular basis. In fact, I'm realizing that some of those foods are what caused me to feel uncomfortable physically. Example, chips which were my favorite snack/comfort food at one time isn't very exciting to eat any more because it gives me heartburn. I don't experience that when I don't eat them. So I think because we learn through IE to get in touch with what I our body says to us about the food, we learn that maybe they don't hold the value or importance in our life that we thought they did. In fact, I have a bag of potato chips that will probably eventually find itself in the garbage because it will probably go stale. Strange thing is the tortilla chips don't cause the heartburn. The cookies I recently bought, I enjoyed. However, I now find I have no desire to buy any more of them. I think one thing the freedom to "have what we want when we want it" in IE has done for me is it set me free to make better choices because I am no longer restricted from what people/diets calls "bad" food choices. Why? Because there are no longer good/bad foods out there. It is ALL just food period. Having been diabetic, I will tell you that I do recognize when I have stepped over what I call an "oh oh be careful" line. If I'm craving sweets, it tells me I'm not eating enough healthy foods and I''m headed for trouble. So I think it is all part of the progression of becoming an Inuitive Eater. I think carolr is a great example and inspiration to us because she has progressed to the place where she still has what some call junk foods sometimes, but most of the time when she is really hungry she finds she craves the healthier foods. I see that beginning to happen to me. I just hope I don't get cocky or over confident too soon and go backwards instead of forward. I think that is what happened to me when I did IE before. Yes, I think we are at about the same place in our progression because I'm experiencing some of the same thoughts and feelings you are. The nice thing about IE is that when you eat the foods previously forbidden on diets, you don't have the thinking of "I blew it so I may as well forget it, eat whatever I want today and start over tomorrow" mentality and fall into the Last Supper syndrome because in IE there is no falling off the wagon. Since we are no longer dieting, eating that food isn't forbidden in IE because it is part of the process of learning what you really like and what you don't. I've learned that there are a lot of healthy foods as well as junk foods that I don't like. I ate the healthy because it was on the "diet". I remember reading in the book about a woman who learned that she didn't like but a certain number of foods. I can't remember the # but it was something like only 5 to 10 foods she really ended up enjoying. She planned her eating around those foods. I think that is what we are learning.
carolr - Are you feeling better?
I love the way this thread is coming alive here. You are all helping me too. I love the way you make me think as we all make this journey together becoming IE people. I find it nice not to be thinking about food all day wondering what does this "diet" say I can have today? Now it is "now what do I really want?
I have lost about 30lb but gained 5 back when winter started and just lost that again. It is a very slow process but once you get hooked you can't go back. You know how useless dieting was. I think I would have stayed at a healthy weight through 10 pregnancies if I had not dieted and even fasted.
I hope you don't mind my jumping in here with questions.
I find intuitive eating principals really interesting and have read the book. I have given it some effort, but then before i know it 'diet' mentality creeps in.
So questions
Have any of you lost large amounts of weight (50+ pounds or so) with this philosophy and kept it off?
How do you keep your brain from drifting into 'diet' mode?
Thank you!
I don't know that I really "do" IE 100%, but I quit calorie counting at the beginning of September and have lost 21 more pounds since then. It's slower, but that might also be because I'm closer to a normal weight. I really focus on the quality of what I eat (both nutrition-wise and taste-wise). Truly basing your eating on your hunger and satiety is a lot more difficult than it sounds. I don't overeat in the extreme anymore, but respecting the more subtle cues is something I'll be working on for a long time.
I'm not exactly sure how I managed to come to this place, and get comfie with no calorie counting, but man, I am glad I did. I really enjoy food and life a lot more.
Just a quick flyby to say hello and I'm still here. Just staying busy doing other things. I am enjoying the fact that I can eat things I like. Still learning what I really like, but finding I'm more drawn to the healthier foods. I went to the store yesterday and didn't buy any junk food. I am excited that spring is coming and I'm looking forward to fresh fruit. We love lemon and garlic flavored chicken, but only like certain parts of the chicken. DH only likes the legs. So I looked up recipes online. I mixed lemon juice and garlic with season salt and marinating it now hoping I can learn to make my own with just legs. You never know what they put in some bought roasted chickens like a lot of salt. I found one recipe for a whole chicken I plan to try where you put the lemon, garlic and I would add onion in the cavity of the chicken and roast it. That really sounded good. I still get the "diet" thoughts, but I know I don't want to ever actually "diet" again. It is always too much food for me.
Carol - how are you feeling? Hope the gout is better.
Hello intuitive eaters. I am checking out the intuitive eating website. It makes SO much sense. I am recovering from an eating disorder, so following this makes more sense to me than following a diet. I wonder if this will finally help me to physically and mentally heal.
Hi everyone. i am back. just got lazy alot going on. loss my brother in november and was taking care of him. then holidays so back to business now. i am going to go online and review this plan again. i have not gained and loss about 45 lbs now. kept it off the 34 for 4 years. my daughter got me a curves membership for christmas. oh i love it and going 6 days a week and then walk the dog. going to start adding my exercise bike to..good luck to all. hope your feeling better carol. LaDean
First off to all the Newbies Glad to have y'all here.
A quick one here. A busy day today. DH has a doctors appointment 6 mo check up after surgery to be sure cancer is still gone. I suppose he'll do this the rest of his life. Just glad he is okay and hopefully stays that way. Then out to eat and shopping for a new printer.
I am having a real problem with the "diet" thinking right now. Keep thinking I need to eat this and do that instead of this. It is really tormenting and I am really having a hard time. The problem is when we diet, we are told that we need to it certain amounts of foods and how often etc. I am really having a difficult time of getting the WW rules of 5 fruits & veggies, 3 dairy etc out of my head. The problem I had with diets was that I had to eat when I wasn't hungry and I find I'm still doing it subconciously. I'm finding that you can become compulsive with healthy foods as well. I have a nephew who (he and his wife) is a vegetarian. I remember her telling me they had a friend who became a vegetarian because of the foods he could eat that were healthy. One day he told her that he didn't know what was going on because he was eating healthy and gaining weight. Now that I am doing IE there are days when I feel like over doing it. Maybe I'm not, because it is so different from dieting and it just feels like it. I know there are days that it seems like I'm not eating anything. I don't know if anyone else is experiencing what I am or not.
I bought some new shirts since we are regularly going to church now and active. I've been feeling so "fat" lately and I was really depressed. I haven't even tried to put on the pants I wore when I was about 10 lbs lighter. I was thrilled when I realized I was still able to wear the same size clothes as then. This morning when I put on a pair of pants that would go with one of my new blouses, I was surprised that they were a size smaller than what I thought. The blouse is a long one so I thought oh well if there are a little tight then the blouse will hide my rear. I am amazed that although the scale shows I'm up some that the pants fit perfectly fine. Go figure. I am going to have to do away with getting on the scales and start going by my clothes at least for now.
Gotta run as this didn't turn out to be a quick one after all.
hang in there and get well soon!
Glad to have y'all here.
