I try to eat when I am a little hungry if I wait to long I will be starving and start shaking and then I lose all control of eating intuitively. I guess I'm what is considered a snacker I will eat small servings which makes me get hungry sooner and I have to eat more often. I can't eat a full meal consisting of a protein, vegetable, and pasta or else I will be stuffed. Tonight my husband made fish fillet and corn for dinner and I was satisfied off of 1 fillet but after about a hour or 2 I was able to eat a 2nd fish fillet. When I was dieting I could easily put down a whole meal but since I have been IE I have only been able to eat smaller portions.

I am wondering how everybody is doing with IE and loosing weight.

I lost 1 lb in one week, which is great. I do feel very free emotionally. Counting calories was a little depressing in the way. The biggest progress so far is my water retention. When I was counting calories I use to make myself drink 1.5 – 2 L of water daily and every morning I would wake up feeling swollen , and looking puffy in my face, hated that feeling …so for 2 days now I’ve decided apply IE to water consumption as well.

I removed 2L bottle from my desk and I drink when I actually feel thirsty. In 2 days lost 5 lb of water and for second morning I woke up feeling slim and light and have no problem to put ring on my finger, as my hands are not swollen any more and my stomach is not bloating ether. Very happy about it!

Also, yesterday we had pot lock in the office….OMG was I surprised with how I eat!!! I didn’t want chicken wings, I didn’t want lasagna, I didn’t want Sheppard pie, I didn’t want cheese cake, I didn’t want spring rolls. I didn’t want that food…I always loved that food when I was on the diet, now I could have it and I don’t want it. I end up eating gorgeous fresh fruits, vegetables, brown rice, and 3 cabbage rolls.

I am so happy that I stopped dieting. It really does change the way you eat if you don’t have taboo food. Also, since I don’t have schedule when and what I can eat for the day, I have container of fruit salad on my desk and when I feel like I getting hungry I just snack on my salad. I didn’t feel hungry once since I started IE!

Good morning, ladies...And welcome to the new ladies!
Carly, I'm another one who loves to read lots of posts here, so never feel you're writing "too much". The more to read, the better, is my feeling.

I got SLAMMED by the scale this morning.
I've been cutting back on my portions, getting a lot more daily steps on my pedometer, have tried to stay busy and active doing things like raking the lawn...I lost a couple of pounds, and an inch from my waist, was feeling like I was going along well and would "really lose some weight this time".

My mistake is that I've been weighing myself daily again. It was okay for the few days I saw the scale going down, but, as always, it starts going back up.

I weighed 283.2 near the end of March, got down to 275.2 last week, but this morning was back to 278. This immediately depressed and discouraged me, because I'm seriously working at getting smaller.

After that weigh in, I said to myself--once again--no more daily weighing. It just doesn't work well for me.

From now on, as much as possible, I'm going to weigh myself on the FIRST of each month ONLY, and see if that works any better for me.

I'm always amazed at how some days I "feel smaller" even when the scale says I haven't lost. Just goes to show, I shouldn't give so much power to the number on the scale.

I'm going to keep doing what we've been doing though--my husband and I have been eating much smaller portions of everything, and I'm going to continue trying to be as active as possible because I've noticed some very tiny improvements in my fitness level, even though the weight loss isn't cooperating.

When I walk, I'm not huffing and puffing QUITE as much as I was when I started, and here and there I'm finding some little energy spurts. These are good things.

We're supposed to have rain for about the next five days, so I've got to get outside and take advantage of this sunny day.

Hope you all enjoy the day.

onthedietagain-it is weird how we can avoid foods now that would of made us binge while dieting. I also drink when I'm thirsty and sometimes I get the craving for water. I just never saw the point in drinking huge amounts of water if the body didn't need it.

Truffle-I weighed myself 2 days ago and was shocked that I weighed the same as I did at the end of March but I got my period the next day and usually the week before my period I gain about 3-5 lbs. So I'm thinking I probably did lose weight but since I'm bloated the scale said that I maintained. I weigh every 3 weeks, when I was weighing everyday the scale would have full control over my emotions for the rest of the day.

When I first started IE I gained 5 lbs but this was because I was letting go of the diet mentality but I was still having cravings as if I was still on a diet. I had to eat the foods that were banned and when I first started IE I had no hunger signals or satiety signals (I don't know if thats the right word)to tell me that I was satisfied. I noticed that I could eat and eat and not know when to stop. But as the days went on it got easier to read my hunger cues and since I was eating the foods that used to be banned I was noticing that they didn't taste as great as they used to when I was on a diet. I thought I had been IE for 2 months now but I started March 8, 2010. Its getting easier and the cravings have changed drastically since I first started.

I also think it takes a while for the body to change and let go of the weight or at least thats my experience. I haven't been over eating to where I'm stuffed like I did while dieting. It will pay off in the end and there is no way I could ever go back to dieting so I'm IE for the longhaul. I sold my bodybugg also it tells you how many cals you burn the whole day and even that couldn't help me lose weight because I would see that I burned 3000 cals and I would be like ooooh I'm gonna eat 2500 cals. I would rather not know how many cals I burn because I would always sabotage myself.

I'm thinking about making a blog myself it will be interesting looking back a year from now.

I got back on track today and feel so much better. I only had toast and juice for breakfast and ate only a happy meal for lunch and was satisfied.

Thats awesome, keep up the great work

Quite honestly, I'm doing lousy with losing weight on IE. But I only have myself to blame. I have lost weight with IE in the past and I know what I need to do to get myself back on track this time, I've just been lazy about it, I guess ... been very distracted with life for a long time now, so food has been a good friend to me.

This is exactly why I don't weigh that often! I've never been "addicted" to the scale, but it has been known to put me in a rotten mood. I don't even know how often I step on the scale now, because it has just become such a non-issue to me. I'll weigh every so often, just to make sure I'm not ballooning up, up and away and apparently my body knows exactly what it needs to do, because there are days the number on the scale is down, and there are days it is up, but I seem to be maintaining for the most part for several months now. (Even tho I am maintaining at my high weight. Ugh!) But my point is this ... even tho my weight isn't where I'd like it to be right now, I can't tell you enough how good it feels not to stress over the numbers! I think you guys are wise to put the scales away (at least cut back on the number of times you weigh). Just like we have to relearn to eat with IE, I think we also have to relearn how to judge ourselves based on how we feel about ourselves, not let a number dictate our moods.

I just received this from Gillian Hood Gabrielson.

I admit it; I am a cynic by nature. And while I try to see the glass as half-full, I tend to drift to pessimism if I'm not paying attention. So I work pretty hard on staying positive and looking at the world with a positive outlook. But the pessimism jumped up right away when I saw the headline on the latest Oprah magazine, "'The Battle is Over' - Oprah, How She Ended Her War with Food". I seem to remember she had some big revelation last year around this time when she suddenly discovered she had gained weight. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic, that's part of my nature, too. I'm sure many of you are Oprah fans so I'll stop )

The good news is that Oprah had discovered Geneen Roth, the author of the very first books I read about overcoming emotional eating way back in the early 90's. Geneen is coming out with her latest book, "Women, Food and God," and she has accomplished a most remarkable feat, of which all of us who know and love intuitive eating have been hoping for - she turned Oprah onto the concept of mindful eating and that it's not about the food - food and weight are merely symptoms of whatever is being covered up or avoided by eating. Hooray!

I picked up a copy so I could read the article. Oprah has a brief interview with Geneen and then there is a good-sized excerpt from the book. I can't wait to read it, the excerpt alone was amazing. Here are two of my favorite quotes:

"All any feeling wants is to be welcomed with tenderness. It wants room to unfold. It wants to relax and tell its story. It wants to dissolve like a thousand writhing snakes that with a flick of kindness become harmless strands of rope."

"To change your body, you must first understand that which is shaping it. Not fight it. Not force it. Not deprive it. Not shame it."
I do hope Oprah has ended her war with food. But for me, the struggle did not end until I realized I was at war with myself. It wasn't the food telling me what to do. I wasn't a victim. And it wasn't the fault of the media, society's expectations, or any of that (but it's out there!). I was trying to stuff my feelings down with food. I was at war with my own feelings. Once I learned to feel, it was a whole new world. I hope Oprah will have a similar experience. I also hope that you can find it and be at peace with food and your body (whether you are a glass half-full or half-empty!).

Gillian Hood-Gabrielson

Hi Girls

Great discussion today and yesterday. Y'all are great. I see me and my experiences in each of you.

Carolr Feels good to be back on track doesn't it. I know because finally got back on track today as well. I've spent the last 3 to 4 days eating, eating, eating. Thanks for sharing the article. I have a friend who has decided to get Geneen Roth's book hoping it will help her.

I just haven't been waiting until I was hungry either. And there have been times that I've not stopped when I was satisfied. I can't tell you what was going on; I think I was just going through an attitude of total rebellion. Today I got up and weighed and was so grateful, that while my weight was up a few lbs, that my weight was not as high as it could have been. I decided that this is ridiculously crazy and that it has to stop. I mean IE so simple and it is a great way to eat. Eat what I really enjoy when hungry and stop when I'm satisfied. And I lose weight soooo easily when I do this.

It has been a terrific IE day. I love yogurt and fruit so that is what I had for breakfast, DH and I went out to Zaxby's and halfed a meal. I too eat small amounts of food which means I eat several small meals that are more like snacks. I'm finding that seems to work better for me too.

I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences and what they are learning because sometimes what you are going through or learn is an eye opener for me and I'm sure it is for others as well.

Later,

Checking in.

I've been pretty busy lately. IE is going fairly well. I still fall off the horse sometimes, but I think the key to success is to keep getting back on. There's always tomorow and the next meal.

I finally received my copy of the Eden Diet in the mail and I finished it the other night. I thought it was fantastic. It is IE, but it has a little more structure regarding portions and head hunger. I often struggle with portions in IE. I feel like I push it too often without some sort of portion guide, partly because it takes so long for my physiology to acknowledge fullness. Dr. Hancock's guide of 1-2 fist size portions has been working well for me so far, although I guess it is kind of "un-IE" since I'm not relying solely on my internal cues.

I started exercising more seriously these past two weeks. I've noticed that my hunger pangs are much stronger and clearer during the day when I do cardio in the morning. Plus I end up needing to eat more... added bonus!

Good for you! Isn't it amazing when you really eat in proper portion size how LITTLE it takes to satisfy your hunger!!!

Kattterina I understand what you mean by struggling with portion size, to help me with this I started using salad plates and IF I have a side salad I use saucer plates, I find that this helps keep my portions more in check.

TruffleHang in there and don't give up!! Hubby and I have a deal, he has to slow down his eating and I have to NOT weigh in for 2 weeks, so I am officially on a "Fast" from the scale and then will try and only weigh in every 2 weeks, because I am a scale addict, and let me tell you it is very hard to break the routine of daily weigh ins!!

TrishThanks for sharing with us. It's great to be able to half a meal and still be full and satisfied, we usually do that and then take the rest home and then you can have another meal with food you enjoy.

I hope everyone has a blessed day.

Just ordered the Eden diet. How many of you have read or is reading it?