If only this "diet" worked as well for the rest of us! __________________________________________________ __________

When Steven Hawks is tempted by ice cream bars, M&Ms and toffee-covered almonds at the grocery store, he doesn't pass them by. He fills up his shopping cart.

It's the no-diet diet, an approach the Brigham Young University health science professor used to lose 50 pounds and to keep it off for more than five years.

Hawks calls his plan "intuitive eating" and thinks the rest of the country would be better off if people stopped counting calories, started paying attention to hunger pangs and ate whatever they wanted.

As part of intuitive eating Hawks surrounds himself with unhealthy foods he especially craves. He says having an overabundance of what's taboo helps him lose his desire to gorge.

There is a catch to this no-diet diet, however: Intuitive eaters only eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full.

That means not eating a box of chocolates when you're feeling blue or digging into a big plate of nachos just because everyone else at the table is.

The trade-off is the opportunity to eat whatever your heart desires when you are actually hungry.

"One of the advantages of intuitive eating is you're always eating things that are most appealing to you, not out of emotional reasons, not because it's there and tastes good," he said. "Whenever you feel the physical urge to eat something, accept it and eat it. The cravings tend to subside. I don't have anywhere near the cravings I would as a 'restrained eater.'"

Continues Here...It's a Long Story

I do something like that, but i never over eat, so that helps. I eat what i want, when i want, like already today i ate a piece of chocolate. The only way something like that can work is if you don't usually over eat and don't eat huge portions. I ususally NEVER eat a full serving of something. If i'm a bit hungry, i go grab HALF of piece of bread and have it with something. I go back to my room, and IF i'm hungry for the rest of it, i go back down and make it. It helps me with not over eating. Plus the extra getting up and moving around is good for you!

He described exactly how I gained weight! I think that maybe that can work for some, but for others (like me) it can get out of control. What I do now, I do eat the things I like, but there are some things that I will not give into unless it's a special occasion. If I were to eat chocolate or pasta whenever I had a craving, I would only be eating those things. Even in a controlled portion it's not hard to go over a decent amount of calories eating high calorie food. I used to get Ben & Jerry's all the time. I would eat what was 2 serving (which isn't really a huge portion), but the calorie content is so high that doing that often put on the pounds pretty fast.

But, as it has been well proven, what works for one doesn't work for another. That's why there are so many different approaches.

Would you believe that I actually went to a nutrionist once and she reccommended this kind of "diet?" I only saw that nutrionist the once. This plan did not really work for me.

This is not a good combo.

For me this wouldn't work. If I had that kind of self control I would have never gained weight to begin with.

When I was gaining I ate what I liked when I wanted to. It wasn't even about being hungry. Emotional eating, being social, and being in a culture surrounded by fast, cheap food makes this difficult to do.

Even if I were to try it I could never stop eating. If I bought a cake when I was hungry I'd eat the whole cake and go back for more! At that point it wouldn't be about hunger it would be about the love of all things sweet and soft or all things crunchy and salty...Ummm ummm!

Then too balanced meals just seem healthier and more realistic.

You have very very good self-control!

... i try.

... the fitness part is a problem. Being constantly on the computer all day/night , being a designer/editor, your butt grows! It kind of tries to form to your chair after a while. Not a very good look! hehe

Okay I have never gone as far as this guy with surrounding myself with bad food, however I do eat what I want. It's all about portion control. I lost 60 lbs. doing it, but then again gained about 20 back LOL because I stopped watching the portions. Duuuuhhhh of course I'm going to gain it back. I was just lacking some brain cells for a few months. Okay about a year I'm trying to get back on the portion control wagon, but until then I'm trying not to eat much of the bad stuff.