Thanks for the encouraging words TamTam. Besides that one fast eating of chips after it happened I haven't eaten in relation to this situation at all. I'm not sweating the chips at all, I'm glad I did it. I wasn't hungry for dinner after that anyway so I skipped food the rest of the day. Boy are chips salty, never noticed until recently. I think in at the point in IE Where are you? I'm acutely aware of how foods make me feel physically and that is likely causing me to be more selective with what I eat.

In other news I've had a few days of severe tummy troubles. Quite possibly gastritis. I fasted for an entire day with no hunger. I've been eating the smallest blandest meals you can image. Plain bread, plain rice, a little fruit and chamomile tea. I've gradually been getting hungrier over the last day or so and still able to limit to bland foods. Hopefully I'll be better quick because this is the last week of my vacation and I've got some last supper eating to do!

Otherwise I'm feeling pretty good. I'm certain I've lost weight. I'll try not to be too disappointed if I haven't though lol.

I thought I'd post just to keep this little thread busy. I'm at an interesting place with my IE right now. I used to eat and be very conscious of whether or not I was satisfied while I was eating. I got to a certain place and then stopped. I also ate as soon as I was even a little bit hungry. For the past several days I've been eating smaller portions. I eat them slowly and I savor each bite but I'm not as concerned with feeling "satisfied" at the end. I stop when I'm no longer hungry then I do something else. I usually will get "satisfied" a little while later.

I tell myself if I'm still hungry in a little while I can have dessert- which is enough to get me to stop when I'm no longer hungry (because omg there's a chance of dessert!) I know that if I eat until I'm satisfied at the table then I won't be hungry for dessert later. Usually I'm not hungry for dessert. I just don't care that much about food.

Waiting to eat until I'm really hungry has been good for me. Food tastes so good when you're really hungry. I also don't reach for sweets or high fat foods as much. When you're really hungry something as simple as beans and rice can be heaven.

P.S.- I had an ultrasound and my ovaries are in good working order. No PCOS at all.

Yay! That is great news about your ultrasound Locke. And, it sounds like you are in a really good place with IE right now.

Im not really sure where Im at with my IE right now. I still want to turn to food when I feel upset about certain things or if I feel like I have been depriving myself. Even accidentally. I do the same thing with stopping when Im no longer hungry and I notice I do feel satisfied later. I still haven't had a lot of success slowing my eating down, I think because things are so crazy at the house during mealtimes. But, that works for me for now I think.

I'm in a weird place right now with IE too...... more later as I'm swamped with work and my husband is gone on a business trip.....

Locke that is great news. To heck with calorie counting, back to joyful eating!

Hmm, I think that is my new word for IE... Joyful Eating! I'm sorry to hear you all are having a weird time with IE, I on the other hand couldn't be doing better. But these ups and downs are all part of life and they come and go indefinitely. IE is not some form of perfect eating, it's a practice that has it's ups and downs and the important thing is to stay cool and don't sweat it.

What's this about having a hard time with mindful eating pinkhippie and Jensassy? You very well can do it because... well, because frankly if I can do this anyone can! Ok let's see if I can offer any encouragement. Mindful eating is like meditation, in that it can be confusing - am I doing it right? Am I mindful enough? Am I listening to my body? You know what I mean right? There's too much pressure! Like that stupid kind I pressure you feel on New Year's Eve, the night that is supposed to be super super fun but somehow can't quite muster up the necessary enthusiasm for.

So start off by letting go of the pressure. Choose one meal or snack to be mindful about. Pick the meal that you get to eat alone and uninterrupted. If dinner is hectic because the kids are screaming then that is not the right meal to do this with. I started with breakfast. I want tired, my son would sit and play and watch tv and nobody else was home. I had the freedom to sit for 10 minutes. I know this sounds dumb but I take a little extra care to use my favorite plate and glass and Armageddon things prettily. I make sure I set up my placemat so that I don't have to get up while I'm eating. I have the napkin ready, the salt, the beverage, the condiments etc. I marvel at how pretty everything is. I'm worth it! This is not just a feeding session, this is a precious moment of self nurturing. It's special and I deserve it.

Now, you dot have to eat at a snails pace. Eat with enjoyment! I tend to start off at a quick pace and then slow down considerable before I get halfway through. Sorry, but I cannot and will not enjoy myself if I eat too slowly at first. The beginning is all the fun - hunger meets food. Once I get that initial hunger calmed I can start to linger and choose and put my fork down. Yummy noises are mandatory. Sometimes I close my eyes and focus all my thoughts on the mushroom in my mouth. The texture, the taste, the aftertaste. It's heaven. Then I take a little break and reassess my satiety and proceed from there.

I've gotten very good at this. It seems theatrical at first but eventually it becomes second nature. I can be in a room full of people but I know how to turn my attention to the bite in my mouth. It feels normal and natural to reach for the pretty plate and to sit down with the tv off. Yes at first this was difficult. But now I just call it eating.

Geneen Roth writes frequently about eating with the intention of being seen by others. Many of us binge eaters eat differently when no one is around. I have impeccable table manners when dining with others but when I'm alone and eating without paying attention I will shovel food into my mouth while my eyes are glued to a screen, take gigantic bites, etc. This happens especially when I'm really hungry. These days even if I'm ravenous I make sure to pause before my meal to think about intention. I try to slow down and eat gracefully. I chew each bite until it loses its texture and then swallow. It was hard to do this at first but it increases the enjoyment of each meal.

Wannabe sounds like you have gotten so good at mindful eating!

Thanks for the suggestions. I do agree with you about not wanting to put pressure on yourself and I think that for now, that is why I am not striving to mindfully eat. My life situation is such that my kids are with me during all meals. The 2 year old stopped napping so now I don't even have that partial haven any longer.

When I try to concentrate on mindful eating with them around I get very stressed and sometimes angry and then my eating is even worse. I have just accepted the reality for now. When they are older, I think it will be easier.

But those are all great suggestions, thank you.

My travels are coming to an end and the rough start is bookended by a rough ending. My tummy troubles are over just in time to indulge in a bit of last supper eating with a dash of Overeating. It is what it is, not too concerned. Although I am filled with stress over traveling, I hate flying and I have to board 3 planes in a span of 20hrs with a toddler in tow. I'm also very afraid of plane accidents and godforbid there is any turbulence, the hours tic by as long as days. Part of the stress is causing me to have body image issues, body hating is my new binging. As of this moment I'm convinced I've gained 10lbs on this trip and that I will never lose it again. Don't ask me why, just last week I was marveling at how skinny I felt. I'm starting to believe that our weight is not real, it's just a state of mind. For all I know I could be a skinny Minnie and not even know it because inside my head I'm big. Anyway, off I go.

Wannabe good luck. I think weight is all about your state of mind, too. I'm starting to drop weight very quickly as things have sort of clicked in my brain about emotional eating and really eating intuitively but I still have the body hatred issues. Just last night I had to have a cry because I was so upset with myself. Afterwards I felt much better and moved on- I think it was PMS because Aunt Flo showed up this morning. Still it's scary when I get into these moods. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think "I'm beautiful!" and other times I think horrible things. It's a roll of the dice to see what it will be each morning.

OMG. So I'm back to fill you all in and you girls have hit the nail on the head already!!! I've been obsessing about my weight and how I just need to take a break from IE and get some of this weight off because I just can't stand it any longer. I've been so sad and emotional over it.

So this weekend, after my husband came home he took the kids to visit his family for the day on Sunday, I started reading through this book I bought before IE called the "fast metabolism diet" and started having an anxiety attack. it is only 28 days but it is very restrictive and thoughts were flooding through me that I won't be able to eat anything and I'm doomed to live without food for the rest of my life in order to be healthy.

That's when I closed the book and said, "no way in heck am I going through that torture again - ever". IE has given me the freedom from food that I never dreamt was possible, I don't have anxiety attacks over it and everything is good. Am I losing weight right now, nope. Will it all click and come together someday, yep. I need to stay the course.

I constantly think of two quotes I heard recently - one was from Giada from the food network - they asked her in an interview how she stays so thin around all the food and she said, "I try a little bit of everything but not a lot of anything." Then a friend said to me today that she "takes a taste of everything but doesn't finish a thing." it got the wheels turning for sure that I do not have to clean my plate even if it's tasting good or because I think I'm wasting money or whatever. Today for instance I wanted to try this caramel frappe from McDonald's - it was horrible. Then I thought about those quotes and dumped it down the disposal. Why was I eating this if it wasn't giving me extreme pleasure? I didn't want to waste the $4 I spent on it - oh well, too bad, a very small price to pay I think. So down the drain it went.

I really want to believe that my body is just trying to get used to what in the heck I'm doing. How could I think that after abusing it for 30+ years that it would all be fixed in a few short months. Stay the course - enjoy the freedom and grace to eat what you want when you're hungry. Enjoy the food to the fullest because that's all it is....food.

@wannabe: deep breaths. lost of one minute meditations in the airports. I cannot imagine all the flying or switching of plans with a toddler. This is a huge deal and it will be a large accomplishment when it's done. One day, moment, minute at a time.

@locke: I love how you allow yourself to feel your feelings - that is so awesome. you are an inspiration!

Have any of you read Thinsideout? It's by Josie Spinardi. I downloaded it into my nook yesterday, it is good and interesting. My battery is low so I have to recharge my nook It is not available as a book. She has some videos on youtube I think or thin tv or that may be the name that's it's under on youtube. Anyway her website is: josiespinardi.com and you can watch the videos there, I have not had a chance yet, I want to finish the book first. I think it will be more or less the usual you read about IE, but you never know when someone will print something that will make the light bulb in your head light up. The scale is not my friend at the moment so we are not on speaking terms, I may visit it Friday morning, but not until then!! I did something that I should have done probably a long time ago. I had my phone set to go off every 3 hours so I could eat because of my diabetes, but I DO NOT want to continue to eat by the clock, so the alarms are off!! I want to eat when my body says to eat, not when the alarm says! Have a blessed afternoon!!

@TamTam: I bought Josie's first book and have not read it yet but will probably end up buying this one too. they are good to read when I feel like I need to eat for all the wrong reasons!!

@Jen. We had identical experiences! I got triggered by a friend who is vegan. I started thinking "well, I could add a few more meatless meals to my week"... and it totally snowballed into me thinking I'm going to cut out all meat, egg, dairy, oils, and everything. Just potatoes and rice with some veggies from now on. I got that panicky feeling, too. I also got HUNGRY. Strange, because I had just eaten a good sized meal a few hours ago. It's like my body saw the deprivation coming and decided it was time to pile on. It really isn't worth it. I'm tired of being afraid of food, and of depriving myself from it. Good job with the frappe- I've had those moments when I've just decided "this is yucky" and thrown away the item. I'm six months into IE- it gets better but it's still a day in, day out process for me.

@TamTam Yes I have read and enjoyed that book. My favorite book of all is Overcoming Overeating because I've had the most success with the methods. I feel like Thinsideout is a modernized version of OO, but unfortunately it is less comprehensive, especially regarding emotional eating. Very good book though, and super positive.

Thanks Jen and Locke. I need books to help me with hunger/fullness. The overfed head is one that I am going to re-read after Josie's book. I may or may not re-read Intuitive Eating, they have updated it, but I had this thing awhile back that I wanted to read EVERYTHING on IE and it was just too much to take in. So I am going to keep it simple and read Josie's book and the Overfed Head and watch her videos and leave it at that.

Great progress everyone. Jensassy that is very courageous to deny that diet. IE is becoming more ingrained in you so go with it!

TamTam I haven't read anything by Josi Spinardi but I have seen her YouTube videos and I like them a lot. She's right on!

So I'm back, the trip was fine and my anxiety over traveling was at an all time low surprisingly. Back to life and back to reality.

So...... the scale showed a 9lb loss. Amazing for 6 wks by eating all my favorite foods. I swam a lot but did hardly any walking. I ate, I enjoyed myself, I napped everyday, I sat staring at the sea for hours and lost weight. Not bad.