Anyone heard of the "intuitive eating" plan? I saw an article in the news where this professer lost 50 lbs by only eating when he was truly hungry, and then stopping when he was full. He eats anything he wants. The catch was, no eating when bored, depressed, etc.

What do you think?

I have heard of intuitive eating before - there are quite a few books out there about it, but they sometimes call it different things. I tried it for a bit a couple of years ago, and if you can do it it is wonderful. The problem with intuitive eating is sticking to the only eating when you're hungry part of the equation. If you are a particularly emotional eater that can be very difficult, and it is a gradual process of teaching yourself not to do that. There is a woman (I cannot remember her name, but I will look around for it and post it when I find it) who does something very similar to this guy's intuitive eating plan and she swears by it and even teaches workshops about it. The catch is that often in the process of learning not to eat emotionally, people gain weight before they lose it, so it is very much a long term commitment to changing emotional coping strategies more than it is about weight loss. Also the weight loss is often very slow, which really bothers some people.

In an ideal universe I think that intuitive eating is the best plan out there, but there is a lot more emotional baggage that HAS to be dealt with completely in order for it to work than they tell you about in that doctor guy's article.


Keep on Truckin!
Erin

I have 2 books by Jean Antonello, How to Become Naturally Thin by Eating More, and Breaking out of Food Jail. Geneen Roth also has books out on the subject. Another book, is 7 Secrets of Slim People, but I can't remember who wrote it. I'm sure if you do a search for Intuitive Eating, you'll find a website.
Ali

Eureka! That's It! I'm 95% certain that Geneen Roth was the woman I was thinking about in my previous post!

Keep On Truckin!!
Erin

Geneen Roth is GREAT!

As far as intuitive eating is concerned, I gained my last 30-40 pounds as an intuitive eater. My intuition told me I was REALLY hungry at 10 pm and needed full meals! As I begin to more CONSCIOUSLY eat, I find that I eat less of foods that are rich and enjoy smaller portions in general of such foods. I'm retraining my intuition

Another good book on it is EAT Eating Awareness Training..which is easy to find but out of print. In fact someone told me that she found a copy of the EAT book signed TO the author of Intuitive Eating and she thinks the Intuitive lady may have gotten some ideas there. The author of EAT walks you week by week into learning how to eat intuitively.

Regardless I have read all Geneen Roths books and the Intuitive Eating books etc and it does not work for me.

I now consider myself an intuitive eater. But, it has taken almost a year of structured calorie counting and portion control to get here.

I think anyone who has been overweight for a decent amount of time would have a problems trying to lose weight by eating intuitively. The problem being that we've often lost touch with our bodies - what we think of as hunger is sometimes just not feeling full. Paying attention to your bodies signals and feeding it accordingly really only works if know the difference between hungry, satisfied, full, etc. Certainly, curtailing emotional eating is part of the equation. But, the thing is, it is easy to tell if you are eating because you are sad, angry, or bored. If you are accustom to eating to keep yourself full (which is how so many of us got here in the first place) it isn't so easy to identify true hunger.

Interestingly enough, I remember the day that all of these signals clicked for me. I distinctly recall thinking to myself, "So, THIS is what normal feels like!" I'd gone so long keeping myself full that I had no idea what hungry felt like anymore. It was a real light bulb moment for me when I recognized that I wasn't full but that I wasn't hungry either. Finally, I knew how I was supposed to feel for the majority of the day.

I just came across a 1981 book by Edward Marshall called "The Marshall Plan for Lifelong Weight Control." I've been searching the web without success to find out more about it. Then I decided to check out 3fatchicks to see if any of you had heard of it. I believe it is much like the Intuitive Dieting I'm reading about here. It gives you the eating habits of naturally thin people--like my husband. Have you heard of it? Has ANYONE been successful at this type of a plan? Thanks and have a great new year!
Cheryl

As I posted on the other thread about this (in Alternachicks), intuitive eating follows half the Core WW philosophy, except there are no forbidden foods.

This would work if we didn't already have a problem. But seeing as we do, I don't think so.

Thanks Mina for replying. Having been a Weight Watcher (lifer no less ), I tried the Core plan successfully--if a week can be considered success--but found it too restrictive. So far today--first day of Marshall Plan--I'm working it, and will keep the thread posted on my success or otherwise. Hate to write that last, as it seems negative thinking. Apparently the Marshall Plan has not been real successful because I've not been able to get any info googling it. But having tried everything else and desperate, I'm praying it'll work for me. Until later,
Cheryl

My 2 cents about the intuitive eating books and information is that they were really helpful for me to stop hating myself for being overweight. Both Geneen Roth and Jean Hirschmann were great for me. "When Food Is Love" and "When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies" are two good ones. As other people have said, I think that for most people, when you get to be a certain weight your intuition is severely off-kilter and you need to re-learn what is a normal or sufficient amount to eat.

What these books helped me with was to stop obsessing and break my patterns of going on strict diets that only caused failure. Every time I went on a diet, all of a sudden I craved all the things I couldn’t have like crazy. I am also much more comfortable around trigger food than I was – for example, I have had girl scout cookies in the house for a few weeks now and haven’t eaten them all. That never would have happened before.

I was pleased to see a pro-intuitive eating "dieter" reply. I've been following the Marshall plan for 3 days now--lost 3 lbs. and wake up feeling more comfortable, less bloated. I went shopping for quilt fabric yesterday and when I got hungry I ate at Shell's--a cup for Lobster Bisque and their great coleslaw--oh, and a slice of bread with butter. I even left half the coleslaw because I was satisfied. The Marshall Plan instructs you not to go into the deprivation frame of mind looking for the salad and cottage cheese before looking at the entire menu and getting what we actually want--then eating it slowly and enjoyably until comfortably not hungry. I think I can live with this, especially since I've a thin husband to mimic. Have a great day and much success on your plan. I'll have to check out the books you named--thanks so much.
Cheryl

yenbac,

Congratulations on your weight loss! Where did you find your info. about the Marshall Plan?

I've sent you a PM

Ali

I was rummaging through free books at our library and found the book entitled The Marshall Plan, published in 1981. I tried to google by the title and author without results--nada. Guess it didn't gain popularity. It reads much like the Hirschman's books that Nancy recommended above. I found both recommendations, but actually ended up buying Compulsive Overeating by Hirschman because it seems to emphasize the same principles as in The Marshall Plan. If you should try it, keep me posted how you like it and fare.
Cheryl