Poppins - how about you follow a little intuitive eating in your unexpected meals? Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're satisfied... Then at least you know you are getting just what your body needs, not what the calorie counters and fitday say you should be having?

Well I had a pretty rubbish day at IE yesterday. I ate when I wasn't hungry at work (albeit ryvitas and apples) and then I got home and snack snack snacked until DH came home and I had a second dinner, and ice cream! (First dinner was a bowl full of veggies and a hot cross bun so I'm not tooooooo distraught but the snacks really did me in! )

Today I waited to be hungry for breakfast, and I still feel hungry, but I'm pretty sure I'm just a bit dehydrated. Must get some water in that drinking bottle.

Anyway, got the gym planned at lunch and 2 hours of kickboxing. Must get my knee iced so that it's ready for the day

Good morning ladies. Couldn't really sleep so I decided to quit fighting it. I'll get a nap in later.

All my kids are home so that is nice (although one of my older sons isn't feeling well). We went out to eat last night and I ate pretty well although I actually stuffed myself on the "good" stuff

2frus-If I wait until I'm actually hungry to eat I seem to then be so hungry I eat probably more than I really need. Does that ever happen to you with IE? I really would like to try it. I just don't want to get shaky which is what I seem to do. I guess I just don't know when I'm hungry as opposed to too hungry.

Have a great day ladies. I guess I'll go exercise and get that out of the way. Jane

I made a hunger mistake yesterday. I was busy around and enjoying the outdoors and got waaaay behind with my eating ... and then got called to work. Left my lunch bag at home. That didn't stop me from eating while I was there. By the time I landed home again I was famished and ate mindlessly. I'm not sure I ever felt full.
My natural signals are just not good.

I went to mom's yesterday and had to deny pot roast with gravy and all the other good stuff. I did end up eating a bite of hubby's chocolate bar by the end of the night. Made the mistake of weighing again...same....I just need to keep my weigh-ins to 1x/wk. I get so discouraged if it doesn't drop (even 1/10th of a lb.) every day I am trying to lose weight!

I never (or at least try not to) eat when I'm faint and falling over. I always try and eat a little before that. When I first started IE I thought I would wait until I was falling-over-hungry but it didn't really work. On the hunger scale I think they recommend that you eat when you're around 2-3 (0 being empty and 10 being thanksgiving-stuffed)

If I do go to being too hungry I really have to pay attention to how fast I'm eating. If I get very hungry I tend to wolf my food down and end up eating too much.

If I'm just feeling "hungry" rather than starving then it's easier to stop when I'm satisfied.

I think initially IE is very free-ing. I think it's good to be in touch with your true hunger, rather than forcing something down because it's "time to eat" or eating when you really don't need to. If you've been eating healthily for a while I think it's easier because the stuff that your body wants is fairly healthy. F'rinstance I can usually ask myself what I'd really like for dinner and I usually come up with "eggs please!" Or "A ton of veggies!" If there's choccy in the house, or cereal or whatever then that's still a bit of a danger for me, but I allow myself to have some if I'm hungry and that's what I want at the time.

I think once you really start paying attention to your body you can tell if you're really hungry or not. Or if it's really time to eat. It does take a while to sort things out, but I much prefer this way than counting every last thing and worrying that if I ate a cookie or something then I didn't get enough protein for the day. This way I get what my body wants/needs and I don't worry.

I must say that this probably isn't a good plan for everyone, BUT I do feel that it's a very healthy way to eat. I think you have to give it some time. OR you can listen to your body AND stick to the plan you're doing, like calorie counting or eating 6 times a day or whatever. I find that when I really really listen to my body about food, then some days are 1500kcal days and some days are 2300kcals (my approximate "Maintenance" level). I feel like this is the healthiest way forward and that in time I won't have to worry at all about food. I feel like first of all I taught myself portion control when I was losing weight - the amount of food I used to eat in a day reduced drastically. Then I taught myself about protein and mini-meals and I learned about whole-foods and I learned to love veggies and nuts and healthy things. I think once I had a good base of the healthy eating thing then it was a natural progression to IE. I think if I'd started IE when I first wanted to lose weight I'd still be eating mac n cheese and refined carbs and no veggies.

I had a friend with me in the grocery store yesterday. She was pointing out these fabulous 100 cal pack things she liked. I said that I'd probably just eat the whole box. She very patiently explained how they were all in little tidy packages. I just looked at her and moved on ....

Some people just don't get it do they? We do

I'm a glutton and I admit it.

Well at least you know

Left to my own devices I'd be face-down in a pile of chocolate digestives in no-time. It's only you gals, my kickboxing and DH that keep me out of the biscuit tin!

Hi everyone.

OK well the scale is in the mail. I got one of the cheaper tainta body fay scales from an ebay store. I can't wait to see what it says. I feel like I am in weight loss limbo until then. I mean it could say 170 or 165 or really anything and I won't really know if its because I gained weight or if my scale is wrong. Of course it might even say 160 but the pessimist in me doubts this highly.

I just want to get the number so I can relax and see if I am really stalled or if I am just loosing slowly.

I feel like I am doing everything well. I could count calories more often but I never have any disaster days. Its the difference between one half cup and one cup of low fat cottage cheese or non fat plain yogurt or an extra piece of smoked salmon or maybe another apple. Nothing that should derail things.

I am in much better spirits today. I can't remember if I popped in here yesterday. Had a terrible run and spent half the day in a snit then I cheered up about things and realized that if I am exercising to the point of failure then I will surely improve and if I have to go light one day because of a heavy day before well thats just ok.

No I don't go for the 100 calorie things either. My body totally craves nutrition and I figure I don't have much room for extra calories. Still I can see how they might work for some.

Happy day all!

Are you sure we're not related?

It's only this lot here who've taught me to relax about the scale. I'm beginning to hop on it quite frequently and to at it if I don't like what it says. Unless it's Monday of course - which is my official weigh in day. I get really p*$$ed if it doesn't say what I want on a Monday.

I thought I'd get on here for a minute until the walnuts kick in...I'm starving and feeling weak. My family wants to go out for Mexican tonight (the only restaurant that I can't get anything healthy at). I did cheat and get back on the scale naked, but I kept my hair in a towel and figured that I could subtract at least 1 lb for the towel and probably another 1/2 for the water weight in my wet hair ! I kind of like this "eat 6 walnuts a couple times a day" thing....they actually do curb the hunger better than just about anything I have tried.

SusanB As for the 100 cal packs--I feel ya! If I allow myself to have a little sweet treat, I only want more. Best if I just avoid it.

Is it just me or do you guys think serving size on the food labels can't be right? If left to my own devices, I'd always have about double what the recommended serviing size is on food labels! (and honestly, I don't think I overeat...just make bad food choices)

Doughnut: I hope we're not related for your sake. It's a dysfunctional bunch

Hey girls ....

I'm very tired today... We took DD and some friends to a concert last night and we didn't get to bed till 2am and we were up at 6am ... Surprisingly food was good today, sometimes when I'm overly tired I tend to eat, I guess my body thinks that if I eat I'll get more energy but usually it's the other way around... But today that didn't happen ... I didn't exercise though and I don't feel bad about that one darn bit ...

Later girls I'm going to go surf around the site...