You're right, of course. However, to me having that "rule" was no different from having the "rule" of eating only a set number of calories each day. I thought that the IE rule would be easier, but it turned out to be harder for me. Like Kilketay, I think years and years of dieting, emotional eating has put me so out of tune with my body that I find it difficult to lose weight on IE.

I must say, however, that I'm getting a bit closer. Even though I count calories, I still try to wait until I'm hungry before I eat my first meal (i.e., I don't eat just because it's breakfast or lunch or dinner). The only difference is that if I cave in and eat when I'm not hungry, I still have the calorie counting to fall back on (whereas when I was just trying IE, I felt defeated if I'd eaten when I wasn't hungry). Perhaps I'm still eating for emotional reasons at times, but when I do, I end up not gaining weight because I'm still restricting my calories.

However, for those of you who haven't tried IE and would like to know more, there are some good books out there (I've read many of them). A couple that come to mind are Seven Secrets of Slim People and Intuitive Eating.

To summarize: Do what works! If calorie counting works, do that! If intuitive eating works, do that! And don't do something that doesn't work--at least not once you figure out it's not working.

That said, it's important to give a weight loss method a fair try before giving it up.

For me, calorie counting is the way I best know where I'm at. I kinda fail at intuitive eating because I don't have a good sense of when I'm genuinely hungry.

Keep going on whatever is working for you!

Jay