I was here about three years ago - lost about 25 lbs counting calories, but managed to regain most of it.

Since the first of February I've taken off about 8.5 lbs - started out doing a modified paleo (not perfect, but pretty good) and that lasted for about three weeks. So I switched back to calorie-counting for about a week or so, and then I weighed myself after the four weeks were up. Down 6 lbs. Pretty good. I must mention that I think a lot of that was due to me completely giving up my nightly chardonnay - that had to make a huge difference, particularly since that also lead to nighttime snacking, which I have completely stopped as well.

And I'm rebounding from a broken foot, so exercise is almost non-existent.

But I had a really long talk with myself at the 4-week point, and I knew - just KNEW - that I was done with dieting. Done. No calorie counting, no carb counting, no measuring, no points (I have joined WW at least five times and have never lasted more than 4 weeks). Done.

I said to myself "I'm 61 years old. Life is too short." Now, I was somewhat familiar with IE (still haven't read the book by Tribole/Resch but have read others) but couldn't quite wrap my head around it. I really think I just wasn't quite ready for it. But suddenly, I knew I was. Just knew it. Deep down inside. It really is my last best hope.

So I've been practicing it since my last weigh-in (3/3). Some IE people say not to weigh but you know what? I'm doing what I feel is right for me. I had said I wasn't going to weigh for a month, but this morning I woke up and knew that if I got on the scale I was going to get some positive reinforcement, so I weighed.

Down 2.6 lbs in 11 full days of IE.

And if I told you what I've eaten in that 11 days you probably wouldn't believe me. I can hardly believe it myself.

Again, ZERO exercise.

I'll weigh again when I know I've lost more weight. That may be a week from now, 10 days from now, or two months from now. Who knows?

Anyway, I'm participating on the Intuitive Eating Thread but was just wondering if there were any 50+ people here also doing IE?

Maven -- A soulmate!!! I too gave up on dieting, and I've never been happier. After all the years of dieting and failing, I finally said the h*ll with it, I've had enough!! And it's all good. After all the diets, we know what healthy eating is.....so I try to make the best choices, and I control portions -- and the weight is dropping. Sometimes I don't make the healthiest choice, but if I go for Kentucky Fried Chicken or Fetticinni Alfredo, I have some - a reasonable portion, once in a while. No guilt - no feeling of failure. I'm aware of what I eat - I don't go hungry. I didn't even realize I was losing weight until I had a doctor's appt. and decided to let them weigh me -- I was thrilled with the weight I had lost. I track what I eat and sometimes check out calorie counts for certain foods -- but I don't really track the calories - just try to make sensible choices. I did come accross the IE thread and feel that's the closest to what I'm doing. I read a few IE books I ordered a few books from Amazon. The feeling of freedom is wonderful.

Exercise -- haven't done any yet except I try to do some stretching to loosen things up -- I do plan on doing some in the future but it will be a bit down the road for that.

Thanks for posting, forreal! I was beginning to think I was the only one in the 50+ forum doing IE.

For the most part I do eat healthy as well. But the very first day I finally decided to try this out was a Friday, and since I'm Catholic and it's Lent, that meant no meat.

I'm not a big breakfast eater and this particular day I had been really busy all morning and hadn't eaten at all. Had to make a run to the post office and after that I realized I really needed to get something to eat. I was trying to decide where to go when I passed by Wendy's and saw the cod sandwich on their billboard so I thought "why not?" Went in, got one as well as a plain baked potato, and sat down to eat it.

I am here to tell you that that was one of the nastiest things I've ever put in my mouth! Uck! And one of the first books that introduced me to the concept of IE was "I've Tried It All! Now What?" by Susanna Dee. In in she talks about rating your food and it needs to be at least a 6/7 on a 1-10 pleasure scale or else you shouldn't eat it. Well, that fish sandwich was about a -5 so I just pitched it. The baked potato was dry and I only ate about 5 or 6 bites before throwing it away as well.

Of course I was still hungry, and by that time it was after 2 pm. So I asked myself - what do I really, REALLY want to eat? And immediately I knew - a nice, gooey Hot. Fudge. Sundae. Which was really strange, because I'm not a huge sweet eater (I like bread and chips much more) and I honestly could not tell you the last time I had a sundae of any description. I also knew where I wanted it from and I knew I wanted a nice hot cup of (black) coffee to go with it. Since I was unsure if the ice cream place sold coffee, I drove to McDonald's, bought me a cup of steaming hot black coffee, drove to the ice cream shoppe, went through the drive-thru, purchased the hot fudge sundae, and sat in their parking lot in my car and ate that sundae with more relish than I think I've eaten anything in the last 20 years! I enjoyed the he** out of it - every bite! Really savored the flavor, the texture, everything about it. It not only got rid of my hunger, but it really, REALLY satisfied me. I didn't eat another thing until the next day because I certainly wasn't hungry after that.

And I haven't had any desire for another one since. It's as if I ate it and then I could just forget about it.

And the best part? I had ZERO guilt about what I ate. None. Nada. That was so liberating.

Well I just lost a long post I had written - I get really upset when that happens. So here it goes, again........

I had never heard of IE -- but knew I couldn't diet any longer. When I was trying to figure out what to do, I had an "epiphany" (sp?). I remembered some attorneys I worked for many years ago. Sometimes they would take us out to lunch for special occasions. We'd go to a fancy club or restaurant and I would devour my lunch. The attorneys would leave half their meals on their plate. I realized that to them it was just another meal. They stopped eating when they were satisfied.

I figured I'd eat what I wanted to eat, and stop when I'm full. But I do want to eat healthy foods, and I know I can cook delicious meals that are healthy. So I eat what I want to eat. I'm not going to eat pizza and chinese food and Kentucky fried chicken every day - but when I have a yen for it, I will eat it.

I've done some reading - I've read two books: Overfed Head by Rob Stevens and Intuitive Eating - Revolutionary Program That Works by Evelyn Tribble and Elyse Resch and I read the IE board here.

So that's what's working for me and I'm loving it. I'm going to a nutritionist next month because I want to learn more about what foods are healthier than others - want to learn about nuts and seeds and quinona, etc. ..... but I don't plan on starting to count calories or carbs - I plan to continue what I'm doing - eat when hungry - stop when full.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

Someone on the IE board here recommended Overfed Head and so I found the pdf online and read it. The only other book I'd read was Susanna Dee's book "I've tried it all! Now what?" She never called it intuitive eating but her experience was similar to yours, MaryGee. She just came to it on her own.

I got the Tribole/Resch book from the library yesterday and have been reading it. I think we have to take from each book/website/forum what we think is applicable to ourselves and work with it. If we follow slavishly follow one person's book/advice to the letter and don't let our own personalities, situations, and needs help us decide how to proceed, then we're just on yet another *diet*

Has your most recent weight loss been due to practicing IE?

Sure was - I was doing IE without realizing it.

It seems a good number of people here are counting calories. I am mindful of calories, but don't really count them - it just seems obvious that a baked boneless chicken breast has less calories than KFC's extra crispy chicken breast. I really enjoy chicken, but instead of going boneless I get the breasts with the bones and leave the skin on. Years ago I was lamenting to a co-worker about the diet I was currently on and mentioned I did put sugar in my tea and ate "regular" chicen breasts. She said "Mary, chicken skin didn't make you fat" - So bearing that in mind, I let everyone else take the skin off - I leave it on my chicken. At my current weight, there's enough room to lose weight with those extra calories.

Congratulations on your weight loss! I know the feeling of freedom that IE provides, and when you think about it, if we eat in a natural, intuitive way (like thin people eat) then of course we're going to eventually make it to the weight we are destined to be - not one on a chart somewhere.

I actually now watch thin people when they eat whenever I'm in a restaurant, or a group of people that includes naturally thin people. It really is very instructive.

I understand what you mean about the chicken skin. It's great to know we don't have to deny ourselves what we really want to eat. Frankly, when I'm able to eat what I really want, it no longer has power over me like it does when it is "forbidden."

But the lack of guilt, I think, is the most important component of IE.

Googled it and got some weird results.
So I give....what's IE?

Intuitive Eating. If you google that you'll probably find more info.

If you find that you're interested, there's a thread under "General Diet Plans and Questions" dealing with it. It's easy to spot - right now it's "Intuitive Eating #17."

mmmm.....sounds interesting and I've ordered the book. Thanks!

Not sure which book you ordered, but I'll wait to hear what you think of it! Feel free to join us at the Intuitive Eating thread.

Hello hope you all don't mind me joining in the conversation. A really good and SIMPLE book on IE is called "The Overfed Head" it is a small paperback that can be read in a few hours. Puts it in simplistic terms. IE can be a challenge, from those of us who have had the diet mentality for years, it is very hard to let go and trust our instincts. Hope we can all help and encourage one another.

Welcome! I LOVE The Overfed Head; have read it several times. Rob Stevens has videos on vimeo (and elsewhere).

Feel free to join us on the intuitive eating thread. You can find it here:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/gene...ting-17-a.html

Also, there's a thread under "Chicks In Control" that also deals with the topic. Very informative thread.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/chic...e-results.html

Thank you so much for the thread information. I too am from the deep south, right now though, we are enjoying beautiful weather! I weighed in this morning and lost 1.5 lbs, which for me is very good! I did good all week with IE. Have a blessed day.!

You're welcome! This thread doesn't have much traffic, so I thought you'd probably get more out of those other ones.

I grew up in south Mississippi (Biloxi) so I'm quite familiar with the bayous of Louisiana...and they are beautiful! I love, love, love south Louisiana! I actually lived in Morgan City for a year. I'm not in Mississippi right now - although I wish I was - but I am still in the Deep South. And that's a good thing!

And I'm Catholic too - one of those really annoying traditional, still goes to the Latin Mass, won't say the Luminous Mysteries kind of Catholic. I know - we're a pain!