Hi, Carol...That quote sounds like maybe Geneen Roth? I loved her books for years. Read and re-read them. Finally tossed them into the recycling recently because I pretty much know them by heart, and I needed room for other books.

I do think that when we have "good days" it's easier to eat better the next day. I know I eat a lot less when I'm busy, or when I'm very interested in whatever I'm doing, even if it's something mundane.

Hi, Amy...I hear you on how annoying WW can be! I was never able to stick with the meetings because of that. It just felt so silly to be sitting there listening to people ramble on about whatever zero point snacks and desserts they could discover. That whole group thing has never been comfortable for me. I'd much rather give and get support online.

I don't think having a ticker on here would bother me. Listing my weight doesn't bother me either. I figure it gives people an idea of what kind of an amount I'm battling with, lol. It's easier for me to relate to somebody else who has a hundred pounds to lose than it is somebody with only ten. I know the person with ten to lose probably feels just as fat as I do, but somehow, since I've been this big for so long, having only ten pounds to lose doesn't even register in my mind as any sort of "problem". Does that make sense?

This is a very interesting quote. Makes me realize what a giant production we've made over trying to get our bodies to be something else. If only I'd never started on the merry go round! I wish I had just left my body alone. I think I would have remained close to my normal weight.

I'm so bad at staying with these kinds of groups. When I was a regular walker, people would always ask if I wanted to walk with them, and I usually always politely turned them down because walking has always been an enjoyable private, quiet time for me. There's nothing better than taking a long walk, out in the beautiful creation, having time to think, dream, pray...

This has been a weird day for me. I'm figuring out a couple of things. One is that, even though I've kept a detailed food journal for years now, it's not really of much use, so why do I continue keeping it? I first started writing down what I ate so that, just in case I woke up one morning fifty pounds less than when I went to bed the night before, I'd be able to see what I had eaten, and duplicate it for more weight loss, lol.

Writing down the food has not done a thing for me. Sometimes I'll have a nice neat page, then I'll come to the afternoon, when my "eating time" usually starts. If I eat several things in a row, I end up not writing it all down and instead, I just write "etc." at the bottom of the page. When I see that "etc.", I know I was eating for reasons other than hunger.

Another thing I'm learning is that I really need to have around some of the exact foods I'm looking forward to. If I don't have them, I seem to surf around the kitchen, trying to figure out what will work as a second choice. This doesn't seem to work for me. I end up eating all sorts of stuff I either don't like, or am not really hungry for.

I also seem to need quite a wide range of foods to choose from. Once we hit that part of the week where groceries run low and we're just eating whatever happens to be around, I don't do well. I do that same sort of surfing around the kitchen. I need to work on this.

The last thing today is something quite strange. I am one of those people who is super-sensitive to anyone who is nauseated or vomiting. All I have to do is hear about it, and my own stomach immediately starts feeling funny. I've been this way all my life. And wouldn't you know it, my brother who lives with us came home sick this afternoon with the stomach flu. Just talking about it with my mother on the phone has left me hyper-aware of the feelings in my own stomach. This has made me unable to feel true hunger and fullness this afternoon and tonight. Very weird.

Becky, so sorry to hear of the illness. I have a son like that. He'll through up if he hears some one else doing it. I had a half good day yesterday. When I took my DD and GD to Walmart they decided they wanted to go to McDonalds. Nothing wrong with that and I didn't order but I picked at there stuff. That kind of set me up for not so good eating ( no hunger) for the evening although I didn't eat after 6:30pm. I sure feel a lot better when I eat from hunger. My whole body seems to rebel with aches and pains when I do otherwise.

I introduced myself a month or so ago - and fell off the 'map'. I'll skip the details, but I'm back. I've been reading a bit, trying to catch up. But that will have to wait for another time. It's lunchtime - I'm actually hungry. I even know what I want. I also have a bit of cabin fever and really want to get outside for a walk.

Lavender

Oh yeah, and you convinced me to put my scale in the garage. That thing is not my friend.

Welcome back Lavender.

I talked about IE in my fit club today and a friend is interested so I sent her an e-mail from Amazon so she could check the book out. I think I will send her the website too. That will be helpful. Today was a really good IE day.

Had a hungry day today and just went with it. Tomorrow is a new day.

My friend bought the book. That will be great having someone right here with me doing IE too.

Okay I finally got a chance to read more of the book.

Chapter 8--Principle 4: Challenge the Food Police
I used to be a dichotomous thinker. I have worked really hard to get away from that and have suceeded. I then moved into linear thinking but I am now a process thinker. It definitely is a journey. What I really identfied with in this chapter is the last section--Self Awareness: The Ultimate Weapon Against the Food Police. I hadn't gotten to this part of the book but I had told my friend that IE is essentially about self awareness. I always strive to be self aware. It is something I work on every day.

I've been doing okay for the last couple of days, though I am waiting too long to eat. I seem to have a *very* fine line between hungry and about to pass out

I totally understand that one, Llavender. After being so hungry yesterday, today I wasn't hungry until about 1:30pm. I've had one meal so far and a slice of bread. I'll be interested to see what kind of day tomorrow is!!

I finally finished my IE book today. I am using the FBD idea of MUFAs with each meal. I was using it with WW Flex, but today decided to just eat when hungry and not count Flex points. I'm through eating for the day. I ate less I think because I ate what I wanted to eat and only ate when I was hungry not by the clock. I'm free from having to eat a certain amount of pts each day so I'll see how that all goes. I've used the WW Flex pts as a guide line and was thankful for it. I'm thinking that eating good fats in moderation probably helps with satiety as well. I think I'm starting to become comfortable with the food or it seems so and I hope I am. I know I can have whatever I want if I want it, but I need to just be sure I do. Some times, I think I want something just to eat it and find out it didn't taste like I thought it would. So maybe this is starting to really work for me.

Okay that's weird. I thought I posted something in here earlier in the day and its not here. I wonder if I copied it into another post before actually posting here and now its lost. I was at work multitasking so that might be it.

Shay, that's happened to me before. If it happens too often I start copying so I can paste it later if I find out it didn't post. Had a wierd day yesterday. I ate when hungry except we went visit my son and about 17 of the family went. We had to stop on the way for my DH to visit his tax man for about an hour so those who rode with us went to McDonalds while wating. The kids played in the play place and we all ordered something. I had a hamburger. The boys played raquetball and basketball until 9pm at the Y and I watched one of the babies and some of the other girls went shopping. When I found out they were going to a Mexican restaraunt, I was glad I had the hamburger. I really dislike most Mexican food. I never seem to order the right thing. I mostly just ate chips and salsa because we were starving by then. But I always feel bad when I'm starving and nothing looks good. What do you all do when that happens.

OK, so I was not an intuitive eater this weekend. Not at all. My baby boy's first birthday was Friday so we had a weekend-long celebration. My birthday is today!!! so I guess that got roped into the thing. We went to a wine festival on Saturday night then Sunday morning we had brunch, then Sunday afternoon MIL bought us dinner...so I ate and ate and ate. But folks, it didn't stop there. My officemate yesterday brought in a creation called "cake balls" and I was bored at work so I ate many cake balls.

But I'm getting ready to respect my fullness. You ever get to that point where nothing seems good, even something as delicious as cake balls? In fact, all you really want is salad and fresh food. So I'm there.

Carol--I have stood in my kitchen for 10-15 minutes trying to figure out what to eat. I eat a small snack first and then can usually figure it out. I make sure I have a lot of options. At work I make sure I have a lot of options or I just run to the grocery store or sometimes fast food and get like a grilled chicken sandwich. I usually don't go out to eat much but most time I get chicken and that covers it for me. When I do go out to eat I know ahead of time and know what I like or in my mind have some ideas of meals that I would eat from most restaurants. Mexican I generally do burritos or soft tacos or fajitas.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY888

Many times I don't know what I want to eat. I've decided that if I don't know what I want to eat then I just might not be hungry. I wait a while and then I eventually something will come to mind. I'm trying to learn to eat only when hungry and not just because it is time. I know we shouldn't go too long between eating, but I am not going to eat just because I think I should. That is one of the ways I got here with all this wieght to start with. When I go out to eat and don't know what to get, I just try to stay balanced by eating something as healthy as possible. For example today we went out to eat and I didn't really know what I wanted so I got meat green beans and cole slaw. My hunger seems to be tappering off.