thanks
 

Thanks for the link! That helps a lot. So many acronyms to learn!

I read something a while ago that try as I might I cannot find again online but it really rang true for me. It had to do with using the words "hunger" or "hungry." And what I read that rang true was pretty extreme, more extreme than what I read from the posts about distinguishing hunger from thinking about food -- it was really a physiological definition of hunger that made me think that most of us have probably never really been "hungry" even though we say we are. So I stopped using that word. The idea was that even though it's been a while since you've eaten and so you feel like it's time to eat again, and maybe your stomach is making noises, that's not hunger. That's conditioning. Hunger is a long ways away. It's not as long away as starving, but still, it's a long ways away. I find it helpful to keep that in mind. I may not have really been "hungry," at since I was 14 or so (another story!)

Oh and what is the difference between "post reply" and "post quick reply?"
More later....
jo

Obi, could you post the link for the first IE thread for Jo? Then maybe you can tell me how to do that!!!

Stuff Link
 

Post quick reply-just a message, no fancy text or smileys

post reply you seem to get more options in formatting and adding smiley faces

Here is the link for the First IE Post.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90266


And the first chapter for the overfed Head
scroll to the bottom of the page
http://www.thintuition.com/thintuiti...?section_id=10

Thanks - I have read the first chapter. Yep, it all rings true (but I probably still won't use the words "hungry" or "hunger" for myself.) but yes, it makes complete sense. You listen to what you need.
And that is very different for everyone.
That's why those prescribed diets don't work so well for everyone; because everyone is different, and if we just listened to what our bodies need it would be fine, and it would be unique, not like that list of requirements that many diets prescribe for us, as if we are all the same! I know that I need very very little. I am the Honda Civic Hybrid of human metabolism; which is kind of cool, and I just need to act accordingly. Why keep filling up with gas you don't need, right?
Peace,
jo

I think on the weekend my stomach is a little free....I had wheatena for breakfast, pizza for lunch and a big bowl of vegetables for dinner and water all through out the day. A lot different from the salads and fruit Ihave been eating during the week. Maybe it was break time? Friday is my weigh in so will see how it goes.

Foot pain is just about gone. I know the doctor was completely wrong so won't be going back to him.

A bit Controversial
 

So I was readling a little of the old thread and some review of the IE book on amazon, and no both there was a question of do you actually lose weight doing this or are you just making peace with food? Thoughts?

Obi, I think that you have read The Overfed Head by Rob Stevens. He lost 140lb in a year and a half. My DIL has a SIL who has lost weight as she attends the classes Rob sponsors at a health club in Chicago. So I do think you can lose weight. Even Fiddler who posts here sometimes has gone from a size 24 to a 16. She recently posted that she had gone from an 18 which is below her name to a 16. Hurrah for her!!! I haven't lost weight yet but I take prednisone so I am being patient with myself. I do think this works and have tried to go back to dieting and just can't do it. Too many good foods are left out on diets even healthy foods like fruit.

I would like to put the IE thread at the bottom of my post when answering intoductions. I don't want it there all the time but just at that time. Can you tell me how to do that?

I will be the first to admit that I haven't read all the books. This way of eating is something I started doing on my own, and IE is the closest fit for what to call it.

I have lost a lot of weight. But I suspect that I let myself get a lot hungrier before I eat than some of you do. Jo posted a reply earlier about the difference between being conditioned to want food and true hunger. I believe it is a valid distinction and I try to eat only when I am truly hungry. I don't have a family that I have to plan to meals around, so I have it easier in that respect than some of you.

And even though I eat whatever I want, I have conditioned myself to want mostly healthy foods. Knowing how to cook a wide variety of foods is a huge help. I don't use any kind of "diet" substitute ingredients, but I do lean toward cooking ethnic cuisines that rely heavily on vegetables and complex carbs. I also take into consideration how the food is going to make me feel after I eat it. Therefore, I rarely want fast food or processed foods because they make me feel icky after I eat them, and it's just not worth it.

:)

I have been feeling a distinct lack of motivation for the past week. :(

I'm not sure if it's related to a new med I'm taking, or if I'm coming down with a cold, or if I'm just discouraged with how much weight I still need to lose to reach my goal (I'm guessing about 80 pounds).

In any case, I've now hit that no-man's-land between plus sizes and regular sizes so I can't find anything that fits, and that in itself is discouraging.

I'll stop whining now.

Does anyone have any idea why whenever I log on to 3 fat chicks my computer starts to sound like it's going to take off and my CPU usage goes up to 100%? It doesn't do this with other web sites.

There are quite a few pop ups here but don't know if that might be it as I'm not much good at computers.

:dust:

First your not whining. If it is how you feel that is perfectly ok. I have to say your an inspiration to me so be proud of what you have accomplished so far and focus on that. Also it might help to think about getting to a size 14 rather than all the way to a size 8.
I haven't been a size 16 since I was in high school. So can't help you there.

I do computers for a living so.....w

Do you have Dial Up or some form of High speed internet (DSL, or cable modem). If you are trying to load this thread it may be that we have 25 pages that are loading everytime you view it. I actually think it is time for an IE #3.

Let me know which we have.

Obi, You can start a new thread. Just let me know where to go.

Thanks, Obi. You've made me feel much better. :)

i have high speed dsl here.
actually right now my computer is ok after I logged off, then went directly to the last page instead of starting at the beginning of Intuitive Eating #2, and logged back on again.

On the subject of Intuitive Eating, I read some discussion about thinking like a kid and I can identify with that. I think that as a child I intuitively liked the right kinds of foods. Meaning the right kinds for me. Has anyone else read the Eat Right 4 Your Type info? I was really blown away to notice that many of the foods I instinctively did not like, turn out to be foods I am not supposed to have for my blood type anyway! Unfortunately those were the foods I kept being fed by my mother (meat and potatoes.) And I also do better avoiding wheat, which I was never big on either. I remember being 12 and noticing that every Sunday I'd feel like crap. I figured out what was different on Sundays was that every Sunday after we came home from church my mother would make pancakes. Other days I'd just eat something like a can of soup for breakfast (I have always hated "breakfast food" so I'd just find something else) but on Sundays we had to eat those blasted pancakes. I announced that I didn't want to eat them anymore and voila- I started feeling better on Sundays! So anyway, I think there's a lot of inner wisdom that we have as kids but then we get conditioned away from it so sometimes it's hard to get it back.

Jo, I have never like breakfast either and it used to drive my mom nuts until she let me eat soup and other nonbreakfast food. My favorite was homemade veggie soup which I used to eat often.

Jumping on the non breakfast eater Band wagon
 

I don't eat eggs so made breakfast a waste of time since most people seem to love scrambled egges. For years I stuck to pancakes when possible, but when I went on atkinds that ended I realized I didn't like they way they made me feel afterwards. So I pretty much eat whatever, although I just discovered egg whites and when I have to have something "breakfasty" I alternate between those and wheatena.

more breakfast weirdness
 

Oh, I am glad I am not the only breakfast food rebel. You know what I think is funny? How the addition of "and eggs" makes anything an acceptable breakfast food. (People are such sheep!!)
Pork chops = not a breakfast food.
Pork chops and eggs = breakfast food.
Burrito with beans and cheese = not a breakfast food
Burrito with beans and cheese and egg = breakfast food.

That is just SILLY

I wanted to share something that I read that I thought was interesting.

Hopefully I can help. It sounds like some perfectionism is sneaking up on you. IE isn't about doing it perfectly. It's about taking care of yourself, learning from more difficult times, and moving on without guilt when you do overeat. My experience (I've been doing IE for about 6 years) is that I strayed from IE often but with each binge or overeating episode the time it took me to get back to IE was shorter and shorter. These days I still have the occasional times that I overeat for whatever reason, and I recognize it, try to figure out what happened, and then I move on. This means I don't do any extra exercise, I don't skip meals and I don't feel guilty and beat myself up. Try being a little kinder to yourself.

Think about this - you said you feel guilty and disappointed in yourself and then you punish yourself by eating that way all weekend. Consider yourself as a small child. When you were learning a new behavior (which is what IE is for most of us) such as eating with a fork, if you put the fork in your mouth backwards or dropped it, did your parents get mad and punish you? Did they take the fork away. Hopefully not. They would just encourage you to try again, having patience and understanding. Whenever I hear my own self-talk or start feeling guilty about what I ate, I ask myself if I would treat a small child that way. Your subconscious acts like a small child and believes everything you tell it.

One other thing you mentioned was that IE is hard work. I won't argue with you on that, but maybe you are working too hard as well. There are several behaviors and actions that an Intuitive Eater takes every day, but after a while these things are natural and you don't have to constantly think about it. What I recommend to my clients is to look at one step, for example, asking if you are hungry before you eat. Just focus on that. Don't worry about the rest. When you get that down, then start working on feeling fullness. You have the rest of your life to get this and when you do you will be so glad you took the journey. Even better, for the rest of your life you can eat the foods you love, even every day!

I hope this helps.

Thanks!
Gillian

Gillian Hood-Gabrielson, MS, ACSM
Healthier Outcomes

Breakfast...yuck!
 

I'm not a breakfast food eater either. I do like eggs, just not for breakfast. But I don't like cereal at all, either hot or cold. And stuff like pancakes or toast and jam just makes me feel icky afterwards.

I usually have some sort of a salad for breakfast.

I thought about it alittle bit more. Depending on my schedule for the day I more often than not skip breakfast during the week. I just wait a little while longer and go to "lunch" yes I know it is the most important meal of the day but I kinda think if there isn't anything I want to eat it is a waste and I would rather wait. I haven't felt any difference and I usually for better for it.

Okay, so I actually do like breakfast. I make myself eat it every day because I am always hungry when I wake up and I have heard several times that it is very bad to skip meals. There is a lot of different kinds of cereal out there( I love cereal)..have you guys looked at your options?

I'm usually hungry right away but can't have calcium so I use soy milk and whatever else looks good. Sometimes if I don't eat I get too hungry and then tend to overeat when I do eat. I was happy to find out that Westsoy Organic unsweetened has 4 gm of fiber which I really need.

I think with IE i eat when I'm hungry and because of years of not being interested in breakfast food i am just not interested in it very often. Also I am rarely hungry as soon as I wake up. It takes me about 3 hours or so before I start feeling hungry. I guess your energy is supposed to be lower or something, but I manage to knock out my 3 miles of walking and that actually make me feel better than eating something.

Obi, Do you walk outside? I see you're from NY and I'm sure it gets really cold there sometimes. Yesterday it seemed I was hungry all day and couldn't get full. Today is a new day. :)

I do the walk away the pound tapes. Which means I walk no matter whats going on outside. I recently moved to the suburbs (of NJ) and am thinking about getting a bike since My complex is pretty big and not alot of car traffic.

I was having a bad day at work and ate some oreos (the minis they sell in vending machines) I knew what I was doing and didn't stop but hoping next time I can find something else to make me feel better.:^:

Hi! My name is Andrea and I'm new here. Carolr3639 invited me over from the introductions board. I've been following Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live program and I feel much better on it. However I find it difficult to completely stick to it and I find myself binging fairly often these days. I am completely addicted to sugar.

Anyway, when reading this last page I feel like I can totally relate to the entire breakfast thing. I can't eat when I first get up in the morning, but then by 10 a.m. or so I'm hungry and go for sugar. I need to curb this habit and I'm always at a loss of what to eat. I sometimes have Kashi Seven Grain cereal which I like, but I can't eat the same thing every day. I really like the whole idea of forgetting about 'breakfast' foods and just eat.

When do you all exercise? Last night I ran on the treadmill after I put my daughter down for the night and it worked out pretty well. I'm just worried I won't stick to it because I'm so tired at the end of the day.

Andrea,

It's great to have you here!

I think you will find that if you can cut out the sugar habit you might be less tired by the time you are ready to exercise. Also, once your body becomes accustomed to exercising at a certain time of day that will help too. :)

I am actually switching from mornings (I go into work 3 days a week and I am more likely to clean when I first get up than after coming home at night, I know its wacky, but its seems to be what works) to night right now. I live alone so no kids or hubby to worry about. My one weakness is TV. Once its on I know I am not going to do anything, so as soon as I hit the door I put on my clothes and go to it. Then I watch or do whatever. I guess it is like a prize. No TV or computer till I work out.:carrot:

Ok the other thing is there a few view on how IE works. from what I have observed on out thread....

1. you eat what you have a taste for and your body will naturally go towards healthier sthings

2. You purposely pick healthier things and decide when to eat something "not healthy"

So for me I purposely drink water with just about all of my meals. I make sure I make sure I am getting enough fruits and vegetables everyday, and I try and keep "bad stuff" to one or 2 meals during the weekend (if I am craving it). Most times my body doesn't really have any specific cravings so I pick healthy stuff. If I crave someting I eat it. I just eat it in moderation. Food seems to fall off the pedestal once it is easily accessible.

I think I posted a while ago that IE doesn't have that instant 10 lb weight loss other plans have. It is really up to you.

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I posted. I guess a lot has been going on.

Before I start rambling, welcome to the new people!

First of all, we went to visit my family for Thanksgiving. They live in another state and haven't seen me in several years, during which I am sure I have gained weight. I don't weigh. Well I was petrified about what my mother would say as she has been judgmental in the past, even vocal about my weigh. It is although it reflects on her!

Anyway, when we arrived, one of the first things she said was that I look great! I was so relieved. There wasn't a negative comment out of her. I don't know if my husband emailed in advance, or if she was just happy, or what.

Anyway, I found it to be so easy to not overeat while on vacation. I guess there isn't any of the loneliness or boredom so the eating urge was non-existant.

My mother tried to force us both to eat things (well, offering things over and over and OVER!) and we just kept saying "no thanks" and let her deal with it.

Also I have started working part-time temp. This is something I have anticipated, just through February or so. This is also keeping me busy and not lonely.

I had to buy clothes to go to work, and I ordered from one of the catalog places I really like. All the pants came too big, but to be honest, I don't care. I suppose I wanted to have a smaller size hanging in the closet but to return them and reorder was just too much trouble and they are so danged comfortable anyway.

I went to our local bookstore, which is "Half Price Books" to look for The Overfed Head. I didn't find it, but I did find Feeding the Hungry Heart by Geneen Roth, but I haven't started it yet. We don't have a regular book store in town so I will wait for my next trip to a real mall to get The Overfed Head.

I have noticed that my wedding rings are coming off easier. It was a real dilemma to have them sized upwards or not. I just felt for so long that something was changing, that I held off on sizing them, and now they seem to be fitting a little better. That's a good sign. And, I feel good, and the big pants seem to be a little bigger.

Something about the pants, I had to resist the urge to buy pants that I hope would fit later. They aren't that expensive, so I can either have them altered or just buy more. I really hate wasting money though, be it food thrown away, or ordering what I really, really want to eat even if it costs $2 more or $10 more.

Anyway, that is the latest from me, I'm still reading what everyone else is up to.

I had a NSV today as I realized the pull most foods have lost for me. I have had a bag of Cheetos in my pantry for a month or so and I'm not tempted. I also used to buy a Cadbury Almond bar nearly every week and it is no longer calling my name. I don't think I've bought one for a month. Hurrah!! When you allow all foods they just loose their power. For exercise I do Bodyflex every day and have been working on doing it 2X per day.

Wiffle, For awhile they were offering The Overfed Head for free on the Thintuition website.

:bravo: :cp: :cb:

Congratulations and thank you for giving me a reason to have fun with the smileys

Thanks, Carolr. I never thought to look at the website. I have only heard of it in this thread. It doesn't seem to be free now.

I love Cadbury bars too, especially the fruit and nut.

Like you, as time goes on I have also gravitated away from the forbidden foods and more towards the good stuff. I haven't been reading labels either. I have been really pleased with my husband because he has tried some new foods too and has accepted things like berries, etc. as foods. This makes it easier for me since he is eating better now too. We even make food together now since I am working and we are sharing duties.

Derogatory Exclamation! I just composed a thoughtful post (I thought so) and lost it - again! - because even though I had logged in, this site told me I had to refresh and log in again! Why do I have to keep logging in so frequently? I have never seen a board do that before. Anyway, I will have to wait for the original inspiration to inspire me at another time since I lost my past post. But really, why do I have to keep logging in all the time??
Hooooh-Shigh.
jo

I don't know why it happens, but having lost many a post I know copy them into notepad or somewhere else, or compose in notepad or Word and then paste it in. This save me some headaches if I I accidentally close the windows or something goes wacky while posting.

Jo, Hope you can get your post back, at least in your own mind so that you can share it with us. Sometimes I will just forget to push post and then have to start over. It is frustrating. Obi, Thanks for the smileys.......love those smileys. Wiffle. Hope you can find the book. Did you sign up for their free newsletter? I think it only comes about 4 times a year.

My preferences are definitely for the more healthy foods. I imagine that is how it would be for others; problem is -- what have we had to pick from for so long? Why is the "default" setting white bread, white rice, mayonnaise on sandwiches, etc.? Sure I go out of my way to make my own food and select carefully, but if you go out, want to get something quick, there it all is - the junk. And what about for kids?! I never had any kids but I always notice that the childrens menu at restaurants is so junky; what do they have to pick from? Corn dogs or fried chicken strips with french fries! Not a green vegetable on the list. It's hard for people to even know what their preferences are when they are choosing from such a narrow range of minimally nutritious foods.
I just went out for sushi with my boss for lunch - the crab for the rolls was drenched in mayonnaise, of course it was white rice, the spicy sauce for spicy tuna rolls was mayo-based; I guess they think this is how Americans like it. Waah! I did select things with no mayo and nothing fried, and I didn't eat all of the rice but geez.