I think I seem to have a handle of the eating when I am hungry part, hard doing the eating till I am full particularly if the food is really good. I haven't been stuffed, but I know I have eaten more than I as supposed to, still less than I would have normally. I think part of it is sticking smaller portions. We'll see tomorrow through saturday is moving so limited posting.

may i ask you kind folks a question?

i have been wanting to try intutive eating, but i am worried about giving up dieting....it sounds nutty, but dieting is my hobbie...it occupies more of my time and attention. i am beginning to think that if i was not thinking of dieting, i would not know what to do with myself. But.....i need to lose weight...bad...for health reasons that i won't go into here now, I am scared by trying intutive eating my weight will only get worse.

what is your experience? did you gain weight by giving up dieting? were you scared?

thanks!

kat..

Ckatgo I think you should read the overfed head and intuituve eating. Those are the books that helped me withe IE. There are differing opinoins on how IE works for some people, but I think with any diet you have to make it work for you.

Also it is pretty simple to try out. You don't have to buy the books....Try to only to eat when you're actually hungry and only till your satisfied. Pay attention to why you eating if it isn't because your hungry. Most of us have found we eat because or stress or boredom or something else we never realized. I myself do what I call preventive eating. I figure I won't be able to eat later so I eat now which is NOT eating intuitvely.

Just like with any other "diet" you'll have good weeks and bad weeks and it really is a long term learning process. The thing that really got me into was reading the overfed head....who can tell me what MY body needs?

For me when I do eat I try to stick to balanced meals (more fruits and veggies), drinking water through out the day and regular excercise. I have less cravings and slowly foods I was focused on because I couldn't have them have lost their allure.

I still have says where I feel I should be counting something (old habits die hard) so I made my ticker reflect how much I have been walking and during the day I monitor what level of hunger I'm at.

Below is the first chapter of the book (go to the bottom of the page)
http://www.thintuition.com/thintuiti...?section_id=10

This is the link to the hunger guide from the overfed head. It helped me guage how hungry I was.

Hope that helps.

Ok. I am off the soap box for now.

ckatgo, I say amen to all that Obi says. The guy in that book lost 140lb in a year and a half. A long time ago I read Naturally Thin by Eating More by Jean Antenello. That is also a very good book but she limits what she calls pleasure foods and that isn't really how IE (intuitive eating) works. It's such a great concept and so foreign to what you hear most of the time although other authors (Geneen Roth, Gwen Shamblin, etc) have written about it. Today I remembered to eat light at breakfast and feel MUCH better. This really IS a learning process.

Obi, I know what you mean by not being able to stop when the food is good. I have gotten to the place where I don't like to eat out much because I think home cooked food is better. I like to cook and several of my kids are great cooks. I'm still enjoying the leftovers from my son's Chinese dinner on Mon. night. There's one thing Jean Antenello said in her book that I think bears repeating. She said that after she quit dieting she could eat a lot more because her metabolism raised. Our bodies were designed to survive starvatioin......so they slow down when we are dieting.

hey guys, im losing weight like crazy and happy but the thing i am wondering if is i am losing it healthy. i know i have to eat when im hungry but im new hungry at brekafast time. i eat 2 small meals cuz thats when i know im hungry and i usually eat cuz im bored or tired or just stressed. is this healthy?

What do you mean by "like crazy"? How many lb per week? Rob Stevens of The Overfed Head fame lost 140lb in a year and a half. If you have a lot to lose you usually lose fast at first so I don't think you have to worry about it. His whole point is to listen to your thintuition which you seem to be doing.

I have the Intutive eating book...I have not read it though. I bought it very skeptical about it, I just don't know what I will do with my time if I don't consentrate on dieting all the time! I think that is why I don't just give dieting up. I know in the back of the book they suggest a low fat eating plan....doesn't that run counter to the premise of the book? I am not trying to slam the book, just curious ....

Crawl before you walk. How about this...IF you feel you MUST count something count calories AND only eat when you're hungry AND only eat till your satisfied. DO NOT limit any types of food. If you feel like a hambuger have it, chinese food have it. Try it for one day or one week. There is a post some where about me having a hamburger just because I could. LOL I think others can agree they went through something similar. For me food lost power when I wasn't obssessing over it. Conversely foods I didn't like because I HAD to eat them I am starting to enjoy again (even salad)

Also in the end you have to do whats right for you and also something you can do long term. If that is counting calories, IE, Atkins, WW or anything then woo hoo, as long as it is right for you.

At the end of the overfed head he talks about not having a FAQ section because he can't tell someone what THEIR body needs. So I can tell you what works for me, but in the end you have to do whats right for you.

Ok, off the soapbox for now
-Obie

Ah I forgot to talk about my day...I phase 1 of operation get out of dodge (moving from NY to NJ) happened today. Definitely got in some cardio, LOL

Ate breakfast (no longer feel obligated to eat egg white anymore) was kind fo carb heavy. Then managed to resist when my brother and I went to subway to grab him a sandwich before the drive. Then pizza (one slice had salad on it, which was pretty good) before we headed home.

I think I am pretty much a 2 meal a day person when I am not at work.....hmmmmm

Ok off to relax. sore and stiff.. blah...

ckatgo,

What about using your spare time to learn to cook new things? There are lots of kinds of food out there that are interesting and healthy that you will never see listed in a diet book. Generally, home cooking is healthier for you, and if you eat a wider variety of foods you tend to feel less deprived, and can be satisfied with eating less. That has been my experience, anyhow.

Fiddler, Good to see you again. kcatgo, I was just like you and still kind of am. I have read almost every diet book out since about 1980. Pathetic, isn't it. I usually tried to hide the books from my dh because he made fun of me. Now I am really serious about this........The Overfed Head by Rob Stevens explains things so cleary and succinctly that you will wonder why you never thought of it before. It is the best IE book I have read. It makes me want to NEVER think about dieting again. So give it a try. You'll be glad you did.

Yesterday I had a few new situations to tackle. I have decided if I eat when not really hungry (maybe just a little bit) I can at least take really small portions and that seemed to work for me yesterday at least and I ended up not full. No one even noticed. We were invited out after supper to a birthday party for a 80 yr. old friend so again I just took a really small portion of what was offered. If I really was FULL like sometimes happens at home, I would skip the meal. That happens sometimes if I eat late lunch or snack in the afternoon.

Has anyone ever had the experience where you were craving something, ate it and thought it not substantial enough so you ate something else and it didn't taste good? I have been craving sweet and sour sauce with crab ragout (sp) since my son made it the other night. So I dipped some cheetos in the sauce and that's just what I wanted but thought it wasn't very balanced. Still learning.

I actually have to track my sodium intake because of prior health problems. So, what I do is incorporate my sodium tracking with the IE theory. In other words. I do write down what I'm eating ( to track my sodium intake ) and I use the hunger guide to decide if I'm hungry. The sodium tracking only helps me choose wiser foods. If I have a day where I'm eating too much sodium foods I'll just adjust my choices the next day or the next meal and it all balances out. I'm definately not depriving myself and I enjoy everything I eat.

I do agree about your weight fluctuating but you have to take into account that some days you are really hungry and will eat more and other days when you are not too hungry you'll eat less. You really have to think like a little kid - If you watch a little kid through their day - they eat when they are hungry refuse food when they are not and they are so active and happy.

Hope that helps