[Charlottelouise]

Hello, hoping you can please help. I read about intuitive eating a good few months a go now and successfully maintained my weight. Since then I went back to dieting and lost 20 pounds. I am about 14 pounds to my target but I know as soon as I stop dieting I will gain it again. I am thinking of restarting intuitive eating to help with my eating pattern. I do still want to lose some weight though, has anyone successfully lost on this way of eating? Thanks x

[Defining]

Hey Charlotte, if 'stopping dieting' results in regaining, this may be a good time in your journey to start researching and experimenting with long-term eating habits that will just become permanent changes. This could help you maintain your rate of losing, in addition to helping you create new systems to finally get away from a yo-yo pattern. Just my 2c. :hugs:

[Pinkhippie]

Yes and no. I sort of intuitively eat. I also have an eating disorder history so I have had to tweak it for me. I tend to undereat when I intuitively eat and wait until i am fainting hungry. So, I instituted some guidelines for myself that I would try to eat about 3 regular meals and 2 or 3 snacks a day. This has helped me so much! I no longer overeat at meals because I know I will be eating again in a few hours. About 6 months ago, just for my health I started trying to eat vegetables with 2 out of 3 meals a day and so I also do that and now really enjoy them and feel weird if I eat a meal without them. And, I realized that refined sugar seems to mess with appetite and becomes what seems a very addictive habit so I cut way down on that.

I feel like with those guidelines I am much more in tune with my body and its hunger signals and I have stopped being starving, craving sugar and eating huge meals. But that is just me, everyone is different. I also worked on my emotional eating issues and intuitive eating for about 4 years now so I think that has helped too. My motivation has to be for my health and enjoyment of my life, not my weight.

As far as weight goes, I don't know what my weight is as I stopped stepping on the scale, but I went jeans shopping a few weeks ago and bought all my old pre weight gain sizes (US size 10) and they fit comfortably! Maybe even a little loosely which is how I like my clothes to fit. I can also comfortably wear the oldest pair of jeans I have from when I was 24 before kids ( and before spandex was a thing in jeans) so I'm happy. Also, I feel so much more SANE about food. A lot of my eating disorder stuff seems to have faded for the first time in a long time. So that makes me REALLY happy.