Heyo,

Well, my therapist suggested that I try resetting my brain with intuitive eating and really just learn how to trust myself with food. I've gone from hospitalized anorexic/bulimic, to recovery, to compulsive eater, to recovery and now I just have slow metabolism and I no longer feel hunger. I just don't feel hungry and so I can go all day and not eat. Then when I remember to eat, usually late in the day, I don't feel full either so I just eat until the food is off the plate. Right now, I average one or two meals a day and my weight stays stuck regardless of how much or little I consume.

I don't stick to diets. I'd rather go way restrictive than trust myself with a normal portion or even a larger portion. Large numbers regarding food scare me way more than the small ones. I lose weight and then when I try to eat healthily and or in a normative manner, I regain it.

Intuitive eating appeals to me because it's not just about the weight but about healing the reasons and the head trips and I think for me to be successful at becoming fit, I'll need to clear the bad programming and replace it with something that can last a lifetime. I can't see myself staying on Atkins for life, or low cal for life, or sugar free for life. I can see myself learning to eat, no longer making food the villain, and measuring success in something besides pounds lost which triggers me to cycles of self hate and starvation and binging.

at the same time, I'm afraid that Intuitive Eating isn't the best way to reduce or find health because I don't know of any other people who have had more than 100 pounds to drop who did so through these methods.

Pep talks? Referrals? Encouragements?

All welcome!

KismetKat

I am new here and I didnt really have a name for what I'm doing, but I am pretty much doing what you are talking about. I woke up one day and decided to change my ways. I started small. I picked one thing and eliminated it, like caffeine. Then I picked another. I have to force myself to eat three meals a day, because I also would only eat once. I keep a food log and look over it regularly to see what I'm actually eating. I just took baby steps and it is working. Good luck to you.

Thank you for responding!!

I appreciate that you've been doing this. Intuitive eating makes sense to me. I've got to change the recording in my brain that says "diet and punishment are the only ways to thin!" that has never worked for me and never will. I'm new here too. Some friends told me how supportive this place was and yet those same friends never post here!

Thanks again

I wasn't familiar with the term intuitive eating so I headed over to wikipedia. Well, that is exactly what Ive been doing. When I first started only a month ago I kind of went through a detox for about five days. Withdrawal I think. From so much extra sugar and carbs and never being really hungry. Now I know what it feels like to be hungry, not just in my tummy a little bit. But feel low energy. I had to kind of figure all that out to know how to treat my body with respect. And that is quite a change since Ive been obese since grade school.

Thank you for responding! I actually bought a book called Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch after my therapist mentioned the concept to me. It has 10 guidelines to intuitive eating and I've been trying to incorporate them one at a time, and the FAQ section of the book made me feel so much more at ease about taking this approach because there was one about not feeling hunger and they said to try eating by the clock, something small, every four hours until the body registers that food is coming and starts feeling hunger again, so that's what I've been doing first as step two is learning to honor your hunger. I was still a little guarded because I don't know anyone who has done it, but it feels really good to me. The women who wrote the book have a website and I got the book on ebay for $0.75 if you want to check it out.

I have learned a lot about myself over the last 2 months. I never thought that I was an emotional eater... however, since I am sticking to my regularly scheduled meals, I realize that when I am overly stressed, bored, angry, etc., I get hungry. And not just an urge, but a legitimate hunger. It has taught me that more of the hungry feelings that I have are psychological and that I have to learn the difference between true hunger and this crazy emotional hunger. Reminds me of how much we have to learn!

Hello Kat... I am practing this method and learning to trust myself and making peace with food. I weigh 434 and this method is the way to go. Re-connect on hunger signal and not eating from mouth hunger.

There is a special thread on this with a few ladies on the General questions section on IE for moral support.

If you want a buddy for moral support, just PM me anytime..am online here daily.

Good luck and looking forward on seeing your IE success.

I have been eating intuitively, more often than not, for the past 5 years. It's a lot of hard work for me, who uses food as a tool to deal with emotions, and who suffers from an eating disorder. The advantages of eating this way are enormous! In the years I've been practicing this I:

* Have learned to tell the difference between body hunger and other impulses to eat.
* Have learned to listen to my body and know what kind of foods it craves for nutritional purposes (now, this is VERY different from other kinds of cravings. I have yet to meet a body who would love to eat chemichaly processed food products laced with salt or sugar - aka. doritos, "potato" chips, etc.).
* Have learned and implemented 1,000 and 1 tools to deal with my life and my emotions in ways that don't involve food.

It's hard work honoring my body...but I do it to the best of my abilities, every single day of my life. It's so totally worth it!

There is an intuitive eating thread here. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/gene...ting-13-a.html. Lovely bunch of ladies. I lost a bunch of weight a few years ago doing this (gained it back after a broken engagement).


Another book I liked was the overfed head. You can google it and the first chapter is online.

Good Luck.

Thanks so much for all your advice here! I'm starting to eat intuitively and I'm actually feeling a bit better!