Hello Everyone,

Got up today with a better attitude. I ate what I wanted and not what I thought I should eat. Today I'm working at getting the "diet" mentality out of my head once again.

Lillian - You are doing great. CONGRATULATION on the weight loss and going down a size in clothes.

Busy day today Home everone has a great IE day.

Hi Trish. My son has had my computer so I have had little time to post. My gout is still not better but not as bad as it was. Awhile back I had a sore thumb and it took a long time to get better. But this toe thing can be really painful at times and not so much other times. Weird. Eating it pretty good. The other day I thought I over did it but was hungry at bedtime and in the night so was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Thanks.

Hi everyone!

I've experienced this Carol. Diet mentality would usually tell me "don't eat" even tho my tummy was telling me otherwise. But then I'd usually feel OK if I was feeling hungry because maybe I didn't overdo it as much as I thought I had.

I'm still flyin' high from that AH-HA moment I had the other day! What an amazing difference a shift in thinking makes. I've been reminding myself that "I'm not going to try to do better tomorrow" and if I want to eat something, whether I'm hungry or not, to just go ahead and eat it. This has helped BIG TIME! It's like suddenly the pressure, the DRIVE to eat is gone! POOF! I'm not subconsciously telling myself "eat another handful, and another because you're going to be good tomorrow, so just enjoy it now while you can." That thinking is GONE. And I'm almost 100% certain that that is what was holding me up from making progress in this area. I still wasn't trusting that the food would be there tomorrow because I was always going to "do better" (even if I was not consciously planning a diet, diet mentality was still working in me). It has also taken the pressure off of me to get this weight off. I feel like I'm free to eat and enjoy it and I haven't been overeating. I've been snacking when not really belly growl hungry, but because I just had a head hunger and have been able to stop when I've had enough instead of cramming it all in because it might be my last chance to eat it. This is great!

Hi Destiny, welcome! I think you are talking about Paul McKenna? and his show I Can Make You Thin? I followed him on TV but just couldn't get into the tapping technique. Didn't seem practical to me to start tapping so it never stuck. But he does teach IE otherwise. I highly recommend the Intuitive Eating book by Tribole and Resch. http://www.intuitiveeating.com/

Have a great one everyone!

I've been experiencing this as well. Once today I felt like I wanted something to eat and my first thought ("diet"mentality thought) was "I couldn't be possibly be hungry because it hasn't been that long since I ate". Then I remembered what the IE book said about eating when you feel you need to regardless of how long it's been since you last ate. I went ahead and ate the snack I wanted and then I wasn't hungry again for quite some time. So I think it is all about learning to be in touch with what our body is telling us. I also find that there are some day that it seems that I eat all day long and then there are days when I don't seem to be hungry at all.

Catch y'all later.

Hi pattygirl and all!

I was just re-reading "Principle1: Reject the Diet Mentality" of my IE book and came across this example of psudo-dieting in the Psudo-Dieting section:

And regarding my own situation earlier, I was definitely psudo-dieting! Here's what the book says about the dilemma I found myself in:

I was very good at vowing to be good tomorrow if I could just eat it today. Funny how you can totally miss something the first time around and then "BAM" it becomes crystal clear later on. Even tho I had read the bulk of the book, somehow I blew right past that and didn't realize it was me (unless I had not yet settled into that behaviour and therefore did not recognize myself).

One more thought from the book:

This is exactly what I have recently experienced.

As soon as I start thinking "oh, I shouldn't eat that" (diet mentality) I have been challenging that thought with ... "do you really want to eat it?" (intuitive eater) And then give myself permission to eat even if I'm not really hungry. But I think the only thing that makes this work, for me, is that there is no lingering thought of "I'll be good tomorrow if I can just eat it now." Instead the thought is "I'll eat it again tomorrow if I want to." And I am finding that this has diminished the overeating of "bad" foods greatly. I don't have to get as much as I can right now because if I want more later I can have it.

This is good! Pothole avoided!

Hi Everybody,

Blue Serenity, I think we are at the same stage experiencing the same things. Another thing we have to learn is that IE teaches that there really are not "good" foods "bad" foods. Since I am trying to eat more "healthy" foods, I find myself kind of stuck in the "mindset" of "good" foods "bad" foods thinking. I may be in a catch 22 situation and be psudo-dieting without realizing it.

Right now I'm trying to eat more fiber because I've been experiencing irritable bowel sydrome. What I try to do is to learn to eat just what I like or want when we go out to eat as long as I am careful to get the fiber in the rest of the day. I'm trying to spend time listening to my body by learning what it tells me or shows me that it needs. I am beginning to recognize "how" my body responds towards certain foods. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this? I am learning to eat things that I really love and enjoy. I need to get back to reading the book again as things are going to be kind of settled around here for a couple of weeks.

Hi ladies. To answer you question Patty, I just ate two hot dogs (haven't eaten them for months) and I already feel sick. I wanted them, but now, I remember why it's been months! Amazing how your body will "tell" you if you choose to listen!

Still learning about IE, but as I read the tidbits, I see that is what I have been doing this past year and what has finally given me weight loss success.

I think you're right about the good food/bad food mindset. I just have a really hard time viewing Cheetos as equal with an apple. So naturally when eating the "bad" stuff I tend to feel bad because it was a lousy choice health-wise. There was a time in my life, when I was naturally thin, that I just ate healthier. Didn't bother to buy the snack foods much and didn't eat them much. If it wasn't in the house I wouldn't eat it. And I didn't miss it. I just preferred "healthier" foods then. But things have changed over the years. This may be an even harder mindset to break free from than "I'll be good tomorrow." Hmmm.

Regarding how food makes us feel. Yes, I've discovered this too. As an example, I skipped eating a meal at lunch yesterday and ate a bunch of potato chips instead because I was craving potato chips. Mentally I felt lousy because I realized that eating a meal would have been more satisfying, even tho I enjoyed the chips at the time. The rest of the day I made pretty lousy choices, healthwise, (tacos, donuts and pretzels) and by bedtime just felt bloated and "off." Side note: This also tends to trigger the "I'll do better tomorrow" thinking. *sigh*

Congrats on your weight loss! That's wonderful! You're exactly right about listening to our bodies. I've become an expert at ignoring mine! Not good! lol Need to work on deprogramming that area.

I'm new here, but not new to the ideas surrounding Intuitive Eating. I've not read that book, but I've been through The Solution Method, developed by Laurel Mellin, which is similar but does a lot to help manage emotions and thought processes surrounding food, eating and other behavioral issues. Have any of you heard of that?

Her book is The Pathway and you can learn about The Solution Method at http://www.thepathway.org/method.asp.

Georgia

My blog: http://half-the-woman.blogspot.com/

Geogia I've never heard of the Solution Method but I went to the site and saved it to go back and read. We are glad to have you here and look forward to getting to know you.

I had a pretty good IE day for a change. I just have to keep my mind clear of "diet" thoughts and full of IE thoughts. When I do hat I have great days like today.

Does anyone else find that even with IE that there are certain foods you just can't have in the house? carol I think you have been doing this longer than any of us and no more about IE. Do you find you have to do this? I'm thinking that if I cannot get a handle on eating a moderate amount of chips that I cannot have them in the house.

Blue Serenity I understand what you mean about Cheetos. I am feeling the same way about my potato chips. However, when I bought the chips I did think "diet" lower calories, fat, etc. I guess I need to skip over and read that part of the book as I'm not sure we are supposed to be thinking that way. Strange all this is trial and error as we learn how to eat normal. Do you think maybe we over do the chips because we are thinking like you said that is a bad food and perhaps we subconciously feel guilty about eating them? Maybe if we could lose those feelings, we could eat a handful like a normal eater and then walk away from them they would lose their power. Makes since to me. I'm open to the thoughts of others.

Hi Trish. I regard all foods as equal and don't worry about having them in the house. But it has taken a long time to get to that. There sure has been a lot of good ideas posted here lately. Blue, do you ever get down because you are not losing faster? Sometimes I'm like that and sometimes I am content. Funny.

Thanks for the welcome, Trish. I'm traveling at the moment, and I had a terrible IA day! Which is usually the case for me when I'm traveling. If I wait until I'm actually hungry, I am usually too far gone with a drop in blood sugar that I make horrible food choices, and I overeat. And that's what happened again today. I exercised, and I kept my total calories for the day at 1700, but I still overate at meal times, and didn't get enough water.

There are definitely food I can't have in the house. No processed meats and nothing like artisinal breads. Those breads sing their siren song, and if there's a bottle of Spanish or Greek olive oil around (and in my house, there always is), and some garlic or zataar spice blend, well...I'm lost!

Georgia

Good afternoon Everyone,

Definitely are some foods I don't think I can have in the house at least for now. Funny, DH keeps regular chips in the house and they don't usually bother me and I can eat a handful ever now and then if the mood strikes me, but when I buy the ones I bought that were less fat or something can't remember, I we just couldn't leave them alone. I have finished them off and I will not be buying them any more. Maybe there is something about them being "diet" that causes that. I'm not sure, but I'm leaving them alone.

Not much going on here today. We had snow Sunday and Sunday night and it is cold enough that it hasn't all melted away. I love it. It warmed enough for us to go to the post office and out to eat yesterday and everything looked so beautiful. We have spent 3 winters here now and had 2 snowy days out of the 3. I wouldn't mind having one a year. I'm from central TX and while they would get snow north of us we seldom got it. DH grew up in Terre Haute, IN and he doesn't feel about it the way I do. A good day for beans I've got cooking. Never was in the mood for beans or soups/stews when I lived in South FL. One of the things I love about living in the 4 seasons of SC certain foods seems to just fit the seasons. lol

I'm in that stage of IE where I am gaining rather than losing and it is really driving me nuts. I know it will stop and start coming back down when my body trusts me to feed it, but I am beginning to panic. I don't want to gain back all I've lost plus more. When does this stop? I'm close to "panic". I want to see this through this time... this is where I start thinking "I need to follow a diet" and leave IE thoughts behind.

Trish, hang in there. I haven't bought a Woman's World in months which is progress to me. I know the perfect diet is not out there. Hunger and satisfaction is the only thing that has worked for me in 30yr. I just wish I would have know about it a long time ago.

Thanks Carol for the encouragement. I plan to keep on doing IE. I've got to see this through.