An experiment with intuitive eating

BoubouChan

I am doing a little experiment right now. I messed up on Friday, and as I thought about it afterwards, it felt to me like it might very well have been triggered by the mere stress of dieting and logging everything. I have counted calories on and off for 11 years. On FitDay first, then DailyPlate, then MFP, then paper, then MFP again! I've been doing it consistently during the last 3 months. I know from all these years of experience that I cannot log calories 100% accurately, 100% of the time. I always get fed up at some point, even though it has been of tremendous help at times. I never start to log with the intention to do it forever. My dream, if you will, has always been to one day maintain a healthy weight without tracking. To eat intuitively, like a "normal person". Of course, sometimes I don't believe that this dream could ever come true.

I am not really comfortable with my current weight I'll admit. I am obsessed with this silly idea that if only I'd be thinner, I'd feel better. Can't shake that thought, no matter how much it'd be easier if I could. Still I can acknowledge that I am not overweight anymore. I feel more or less okay about maintaining this for a while. So that's what I want to try.

Because I get scared without the "comfort" of numbers (ha!), I think I will weigh on a semi-regular basis, to check up on things. I can't give up both the calories and the scale, at least not right now.

Today will be my third day not tracking. I might update this thread from time to time, to write down my thoughts about all this. If I can't do it, I will go back to tracking. No shame in that. So yeah... that's it! This post ended up being longer than I thought.

totaldetermination

Good Luck ! - I hope you find something that works for you.

How will you decide if you can or can't 'do it' ?

Dennis4766

Best of luck. I like you one day aspire to maintain without logging.

BoubouChan

totaldetermination wrote: »

Good Luck ! - I hope you find something that works for you.

How will you decide if you can or can't 'do it' ?

I meant that if I get super stressed with "not knowing" and the feeling just doesn't pass, leads to binging, etc., I would go back to logging my calories. So far, I do experience some anxiety, but no more than before.

Not tracking calories means that I have to ask myself the question "Am I hungry?" more often. When I have a set limit of calories, I tend to eat that amount pretty much regardless of my body's signals: if I'm hungrier one day I just suck it up and try to ignore it, and if I'm not as hungry I still eat the extra calories as a "treat". Now I really have to make that decision by myself.

totaldetermination

oh, I see - Good Luck !

You could also consider alternate days or weeks of tracking, then not tracking.

girlviernes

I like it and hope it's a good fit for you It's good to try things out, you always learn something. Intuitive eating is great especially because it doesn't feed obsessiveness like calorie counting can.

Another thing you could try is giving yourself a calorie range if you are counting so you would eat more if you were hungry.

BoubouChan

Thank you for the encouragement. So far, so good!

I have also thought about alternating days of tracking and not tracking. It might be a good idea in the long run.

BoubouChan

It's day 7 and things are going well. I am enjoying the extra freedom; little things that make my days easier. For instance, before, I wouldn't taste things as I was cooking. Now I do. It's just a tiny bite, and I guess it wouldn't have mattered all that much, but when tracking I just found it easier not to taste, and keep my calorie count as exact as possible. An other example: I can now grab a couple of walnuts without weighing them if I find I need a little extra after breakfast.

I have yet to do it, but I look forward to eating out. When I track calories, I never eat out because it's just impossible to get an exact calorie count, and I hate to guesstimate. I'm not even talking about junk food! Here's my thought process: "Oh, this quinoa and kale salad looks real good, but how would I log it if I don't know how much it weighs and how much olive oil they put in there? Oh well, better not eat anything and wait until I get home." It's tiring.

I realize we all approach logging calories differently, but me personally... I get just too damn rigid.

Dennis4766

It is tough to eat out - I want to know my calories I'm taking in also. Keep up the great work! You are giving me some hope that someday I can eat without weighing and measuring portions, etc.

totaldetermination

thanks for the update. I was wondering how you were getting on.
happy for you

Summerfit321

I really do wish you the best of luck. I think it'll work out really well.:-) I have practically never eaten out over the past two months :-( Just can't get myself to do it.

Not bingeing for two and a half months is my longest stretch in about two years. When I first stopped bingeing, I didn't log at all. I kind of knew how much I should be eating and stuck to that, but really didn't stress about a couple of hundred calories more or less than 12000.
And as for being happy when thin... I have been thin in the past: even so thin that people told me I was too thin. I was happy, to be thin, sure... but it didn't solve all my problems and I put all the weight back.

BoubouChan

Thanks guys

I'm really glad that I didn't binge once since I started doing this. My weight is stable, too. I make sure to eat mindfully and my daily diet is really similar to what it is when I track calories; I'm not going all out trying to incorporate binge triggers. One step at a time.