But I don't think that's your "body" - that sounds more like your head. I know that when I listen - REALLY LISTEN - to my body, it craves fresh fruits & veggies. It makes sense, because the body FEELS better without all that *crap* - and the more fresh fruits & veggies I eat, the more "regular" I am... and who can argue that valid point? ;) :D

Normally, when I get a hankering for something sweet or salty (i.e. candy or chips) there's usually something else going on. Such as major stress, boredom, I see somebody else having it & then I want it too, etc. I rarely want it because I'm truly craving it. (except for that TOM.... :p and we all know that what you do during that time doesn't count, because we must keep sane & not kill people. Right?)

I think that really listening to your body takes some practice, tho. After all, it's drilled into us that we MUST eat breakfast & we MUST eat lunch, and we MUST eat before we go on that trip, and we MUST eat what is served, etc. I think it takes time to re-train our thought-pattern... to really ask ourselves "Am I really hungry right now? Or does Pizza just sound so good...?"

That's just the thing BeachPatrol. I have a hard time distinguishing between what my body wants/needs and what my head wants/needs. And quite frankly I don't have the patience to figure it out. Or the need to. That intuitive eating thing is just not for me. I've tried it and I know it's not the answer. But that's okay. I have figured out what works for me. I'll stick to my planning and scheduele and calorie counting. Yes, my body definitely feels better now that I am feeding it healthy foods, but my body never told me to eat that stuff. Now it's my HEAD that's telling me to eat it. You'd THINK that my body would be smart enough to figure it out after all this time. But my body's not so swift. Luckily I have my head to fall back on. :)

Ditto! I really do think that that it comes more naturally to some people rather than others. Perhaps if I'd devoted more time and effort to my two attempts at IE, it would have worked for me. However, I was afraid that by the time I got it to work for me, I would gain 50 lbs., and I really mean that.

I don't know how to add another quotation to my post, so I'll just cut and paste these words from Beach Patrol:

"I think that really listening to your body takes some practice, tho. After all, it's drilled into us that we MUST eat breakfast & we MUST eat lunch, and we MUST eat before we go on that trip, and we MUST eat what is served, etc. I think it takes time to re-train our thought-pattern . . ."

I completely agree with this--especially as it concerns the three meals a day thing. I know that some people swear by 5-6 meals a day, too, but that has never worked out well for me. I mean, I do lose weight, but I never feel satisfied, and I feel as if I'm constantly thinking or preparing food. I've known many people who never had a weight problem and do not follow much of the conventional wisdom concerning weight maintenance (e.g., my husband regularly eats 2 meals a day, and he's never had a weight problem).

TYPO: I meant to say I lose two pound a week... lol... not a day!

Just to let you know how I'm doing, since you're thinking about intuitive eating...

I've been doing it the past few days and I've felt less worry about dieting lately and I've felt good and content!

I've just started but I've been dropping about a pound a day.

I eat every 5 hours cause that's when I get hungry and I have a snack if I need it. If I don't need it I don't have it.

I've finally found my eating style! I don't like diets cause...what do you do after the diet!? I just want something I can do everyday without stopping to think, "Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?"

I have enough control to be aware and eat one portion and choose good things...but not enough control to count without going crazy!!

Go figure?

And I am one of them. Eating 5 -6 times a day works for ME. BIG TIME in fact. I am completely satisfied. Yes, I think about food often and have to plan and shop and prepare - but quite frankly it keeps me on track and I've been kinda successful with it and I ENJOY it. I really don't mind it AT ALL. People have all different types of "hobbies", things that they occupy their time with. This is what I enjoy. I love comimg up with new healthy recipes. I love the planning, going to the produce store and seeing what looks good and picking out my veggies. I love preparing healtlhy, delicious foods to eat for myself and my family. I love reading up on nutrition and health. I don't find it to be a burden.

This is exactly how I feel. I've tried intuitive eating before, and as much as it makes sense and it's how we SHOULD be able to eat, it just doesn't work for me....not yet, anyway. I hope that one day I can trust my body like that, but I have to tell you I don't know if it's possible for me. I let myself gain a TON of weight. I was obese. My body was completely out of whack. If I listened to my body, it was telling me it wanted Doritos and chocolate, I swear to you! That's because it didn't know any better!! It's like a heroin addict -- when they listen to their bodies, they crave heroin! I know it's not the same, but in a way it is because your body becomes addicted to what you keep giving it. This whole long process of changing my life is about training my body to want the right things, in the right portions, and even more than that it's about training my body to want to MOVE (I've been more successful with that part).

I'm with Robin -- my head has to tell my body what to do. Otherwise, I'd still be carrying that 97 pounds around, for sure.

I don't think our body let's us get fat. I think WE let ourselves get fat. I used to think hungry was when I wasn't full. I have cravings to eat and feel "hungry" between my meals. But that's not hunger. It's my old habits wanting to be done.

I'm hungry ever 5-6 hours. That's when I'm genuinely hungry. And it doesn't take much to satisfy me.

I know in my case, I LET myself get fat because I made excuses for myself. I made excuses all the time for why I ate and why I wasn't eating normally.

I don't have excuses anymore, and I listen to my body. When it has cravings and is "hungry" between meals, I know that it's wrong. "Am I genuniely hungry? No. Okay, then. I don't eat."

That's what I'm understanding now. I'm also seeing that I AM in control. It's like this way of eating has been waiting for me. I don't feel bad about food like I was feeling bad. I find it very easy to eat when hungry and stop when satisified. This is my thing, of course, it might not be someone else's.

Gamerchick, after reading your post, I kind of think there's really no difference in what you and Robin and I are doing. We're just calling it something different. When you tell yourself you're not actually hungry, you say it's your body you're listening to. When Robin and I do it, we think we're listening to our heads because we think our bodies actually want the food. It all ends up the same, it seems. I agree with you that our bodies don't let us get fat -- our heads do. And my head is what's getting me AWAY from fat. Once I allowed my body to get obese, though, it craved more. My head had to take over.

It's all semantics, though. Whatever we call it, it all comes down to consuming less than we burn so we can get rid of the excess weight. And that's what we're doing, so yay! :)

I think it's interesting that different things work for different people - it makes sense; we're all such individuals... in our likes & dislikes, in our strengths & weaknesses. You say you don't have the patience to figure it out (distinguishing your head wants & needs from your body wants & needs) - but for me, I don't have the patience to figure out all the counting, measuring, weighing, etc. I mean, I love FitDay! - it's great! - but when you eat something that doesn't have a "label" (such as going to a restaurant) you really just have to GUESS at the ingredients & portion size & go from there. So for me, it's way easier to just judge my tastebuds from meal to meal, and eat accordingly, as long as I keep it healthy & watch the portion size.

And I'm glad you have your "head" to fall back on. ;) :D :D :D

Think about it......for thousands of years people didn't diet or knew about food values, nutrittion, etc. What did they go by? Hunger and satisfaction. How did they know what was good for them? There bodies or heads or whatever told the.

Food availability.

Nutrition is a modern concept that comes from abundance.

Yeah, for thousands of years people ate what was available and that was it. They find that if you take people currently living in subsistance cultures and eating according to hunger and food availability and bring them to the US, they will get obese just like most Americans.

I agree with the people who said intuitive eating just doesn't work for them. If at some point in my past (maybe as a child?) my body knew intuitively what to eat, that part of me has stopped working after years of eating from emotions, boredom, cravings, etc. My intuition is to eat all the time, load up on salty fatty foods and and top it off with ice cream!

But if you make it a rule to eat only when you're genuinely hungry, you're not going to be eating all the time. Only every few hours.

It is not that simple. Most people cannot just eat when they are hungry and stop as soon as they sre satisfied. If they could, we wouldn't all be chubby!

I find if I wait until I am hungry then I definitely overeat, I definitely eat too fast, and I risk just "grabbing something" non-nutritious just because it's faster than making something healthy.

For me, the only thing that has ever worked was eating 5-6 times per day. It rocks! It has virtually stopped my cravings, I can actaully slow down and enjoy food now, whereas before when I waited until I was hungry I would be shoveling in the food to get full..it keeps the blood sugar steady, it makes me feel better.
At first i was a total non-believer but I thought I owed it to myself to at least give it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did! The first few days it felt as if I was always eating, lol but once you get into the routine of it it's not a hassle at all. I plan to keep this routine forever.