Intuitive eating
Tatarataa
Posts: 178 Member
Hi,
I wondered whether anyone tried "Intuitive eating" before or in addition to calorie counting (although almost counterndicative..) and what your experiences and opinion is on that?
Many thanks for your replies!
I wondered whether anyone tried "Intuitive eating" before or in addition to calorie counting (although almost counterndicative..) and what your experiences and opinion is on that?
Many thanks for your replies!
1
Replies
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My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...0
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I do. I've implemented the "hunger scale" (google it), which helps me a lot, along with calorie counting. I feel much more relaxed around food now.2
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I see calorie counting as a way back to intuitive eating, reminding me how much food I actually require for my ideal weight, how much hunger is normal, what portions will realistically sate me. Once I'm back on track and have 're-educated' myself, I plan to rely on intuitive eating rather than a calorie counting app.0
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I second this... I'm trying to pay more attention to my internal cues, and eat when I'm hungry, within my calorie goals, rather than just eating because the food is there, or I'm bored, etc. Also hoping to not have to track of calories for the rest of my life… Though, I will if I need to – just hoping I won't have to!I see calorie counting as a way back to intuitive eating, reminding me how much food I actually require for my ideal weight, how much hunger is normal, what portions will realistically sate me. Once I'm back on track and have 're-educated' myself, I plan to rely on intuitive eating rather than a calorie counting app.
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I see calorie counting as a way back to intuitive eating, reminding me how much food I actually require for my ideal weight, how much hunger is normal, what portions will realistically sate me.
Yup. It is staggering how little food you really should be eating, and you won't know this until you start weighing and counting calories.
I used to eat nuts for a snack. I'd open a jar of them and eat probably 5 or more handfuls as a "snack". Each handful was probably 300 calories. I was eating nearly my entire day's calories as a "snack".
Most people have very poor intuition for how much food they are eating. See this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU#t=260 0 -
^^^ What they said! I am calorie counting to lose weight and to see what an appropriate amount of food for a day is. If it is meal time and I am not hungry - I do NOT eat. If I feel like I am starving to death before a meal, I work in a snack. But I am not allowing myself to eat out of boredom or sadness or even happiness. I am paying attention to my hunger levels. I am acknowledging how I feel after various meals.
French toast is one of my favorite meals, but I haven't had it in quite a while b/c I spend hours and hours afterwards feeling very thirsty. I feel thirsty after eating a lot of bread or a whole bagel. And so I have cut back on those foods. I feel satiated and full for a long time after a meal high in protein and fat - so I eat full fat cottage cheese for breakfasts now.
I am hoping once I get to goal weight, I can continue to eat the same meals without having to weigh every pretzel twist and every squirt of mayo - that I can pay attention to hunger cues.0 -
In theory, something like MFP should be the means for the average user to learn to eat intuitively.0
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Yes. Also read Geneen Roth and Breaking Free from Emotional Eating
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herrspoons wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
This.
Pretty much what I was going to say
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I can't do it. I need rules in place (like no snacking) in order to maintain my weight without counting calories.0
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I'm hoping that counting and tracking will help me internalize what and how much my body really needs. Right now my intuition is pretty out of whack with reality.
I do practice something like it in that I give myself some wiggle room-- I don't eat if I'm not hungry, even if that means I end up under calories, and on days when I just MUST EAT (if I can truly say it's hunger and not cravings/boredom/whatever), I give myself permission to have a little extra, provided it's low-cal nourishing food and not junk.
I eat back exercise calories only if I feel I need to on that particular day. I usually don't (in part because I mainly walk and I think MFP is waaaay too generous on the calories they give you for walking!)0 -
harpsdesire wrote: »I'm hoping that counting and tracking will help me internalize what and how much my body really needs. Right now my intuition is pretty out of whack with reality.
I do practice something like it in that I give myself some wiggle room-- I don't eat if I'm not hungry, even if that means I end up under calories, and on days when I just MUST EAT (if I can truly say it's hunger and not cravings/boredom/whatever), I give myself permission to have a little extra, provided it's low-cal nourishing food and not junk.
I eat back exercise calories only if I feel I need to on that particular day. I usually don't (in part because I mainly walk and I think MFP is waaaay too generous on the calories they give you for walking!)
This is my approach/philosophy, too. To gain the weight, I believe I was actually ignoring my intuition that I should not be eating as much as my husband, who is 8 inches taller than me! Yikes!0 -
dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
Well your guess is misguided. Intuitive eating is about paying close attention to your hunger and satiety signals and definitely does not include overeating. Most people who are here are regularly taking in more food than the body is signaling for.
I like intuitive eating as a concept a lot. I'm not convinced it is the best way to lose weight, however, because the body is designed for homeostasis so those hunger and satiety signals are most likely to keep you maintaining your weight rather than losing weight. I do think it is helpful to pay attention to those signals and use them as another source of information.1 -
I eat intuitively. I use MFP to track things other than calories like fiber and protein and exercise.0
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dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
I'm not convinced of that. I think NOT listening to the body's signals and eating with abandon is more likely the cause.0 -
girlviernes wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
Well your guess is misguided. Intuitive eating is about paying close attention to your hunger and satiety signals and definitely does not include overeating. Most people who are here are regularly taking in more food than the body is signaling for.
I like intuitive eating as a concept a lot. I'm not convinced it is the best way to lose weight, however, because the body is designed for homeostasis so those hunger and satiety signals are most likely to keep you maintaining your weight rather than losing weight. I do think it is helpful to pay attention to those signals and use them as another source of information.
No, my guess isn't misguided. "Intuitive" eating is the latest buzzword, nothing more. Hunger signals are a poor cue to determine whether you need to eat, or stop eating for the matter. Dependent on weight, leptin and ghrelin hormones will be out of whack, and provide even worse hunger cues. And your bolded statement serves to do nothing but invalidate your initial comment.0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »In theory, something like MFP should be the means for the average user to learn to eat intuitively.
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dieselbyte wrote: »girlviernes wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
Well your guess is misguided. Intuitive eating is about paying close attention to your hunger and satiety signals and definitely does not include overeating. Most people who are here are regularly taking in more food than the body is signaling for.
I like intuitive eating as a concept a lot. I'm not convinced it is the best way to lose weight, however, because the body is designed for homeostasis so those hunger and satiety signals are most likely to keep you maintaining your weight rather than losing weight. I do think it is helpful to pay attention to those signals and use them as another source of information.
No, my guess isn't misguided. "Intuitive" eating is the latest buzzword, nothing more. Hunger signals are a poor cue to determine whether you need to eat, or stop eating for the matter. Dependent on weight, leptin and ghrelin hormones will be out of whack, and provide even worse hunger cues. And your bolded statement serves to do nothing but invalidate your initial comment.
Not at all. There is a big difference between maintenance of weight and weight loss. One is a process of homeostasis and the other is a process of change. I will agree that there can be hormonal dysregulation especially with excess visceral fat - again, that is a state where weight is already elevated and the goal is weight loss. The average healthy person can maintain a remarkably stable weight through intuitive eating.
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dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
This. So much this.
If I know I've had all my calories for the day, I tell that "intuition" to "shut the hell up."
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girlviernes wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »girlviernes wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
Well your guess is misguided. Intuitive eating is about paying close attention to your hunger and satiety signals and definitely does not include overeating. Most people who are here are regularly taking in more food than the body is signaling for.
I like intuitive eating as a concept a lot. I'm not convinced it is the best way to lose weight, however, because the body is designed for homeostasis so those hunger and satiety signals are most likely to keep you maintaining your weight rather than losing weight. I do think it is helpful to pay attention to those signals and use them as another source of information.
No, my guess isn't misguided. "Intuitive" eating is the latest buzzword, nothing more. Hunger signals are a poor cue to determine whether you need to eat, or stop eating for the matter. Dependent on weight, leptin and ghrelin hormones will be out of whack, and provide even worse hunger cues. And your bolded statement serves to do nothing but invalidate your initial comment.
Not at all. There is a big difference between maintenance of weight and weight loss. One is a process of homeostasis and the other is a process of change. I will agree that there can be hormonal dysregulation especially with excess visceral fat - again, that is a state where weight is already elevated and the goal is weight loss. The average healthy person can maintain a remarkably stable weight through intuitive eating.
Reading comprehension and context seems lacking. The OP posted this in a weight loss thread. My initial comment was about intuitive eating and weight loss. You are arguing maintenance of weight. Again, your statement does nothing but invalidate your argument that my guess is "misguided".0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
I'm not convinced of that. I think NOT listening to the body's signals and eating with abandon is more likely the cause.
I agree with this-I did alternate day IF for my weight loss phase and it did a really good job of teaching me to listen to my body's cues and understand what real hunger was vs eating because of habit (computer time used to automatically also mean snack time for me etc), because the clock said a certain time, because of boredom etc. I have such a better understanding of how my body works and what it needs now, compared to before I started this whole thing.
OP-I've eaten pretty intuitively for the last two years, since I transitioned into maintenance. And I've stayed pretty on target with my maintenance range. But, there's no way I could have done that when I was losing the weight because I hadn't learned the things that I know now. So yes, I do believe someone can be successful eating intuitively, but I think it's a more advanced skill that will come into play further along into the process
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
I'm not convinced of that. I think NOT listening to the body's signals and eating with abandon is more likely the cause.
Right over your head...0 -
dieselbyte wrote: »girlviernes wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »girlviernes wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
Well your guess is misguided. Intuitive eating is about paying close attention to your hunger and satiety signals and definitely does not include overeating. Most people who are here are regularly taking in more food than the body is signaling for.
I like intuitive eating as a concept a lot. I'm not convinced it is the best way to lose weight, however, because the body is designed for homeostasis so those hunger and satiety signals are most likely to keep you maintaining your weight rather than losing weight. I do think it is helpful to pay attention to those signals and use them as another source of information.
No, my guess isn't misguided. "Intuitive" eating is the latest buzzword, nothing more. Hunger signals are a poor cue to determine whether you need to eat, or stop eating for the matter. Dependent on weight, leptin and ghrelin hormones will be out of whack, and provide even worse hunger cues. And your bolded statement serves to do nothing but invalidate your initial comment.
Not at all. There is a big difference between maintenance of weight and weight loss. One is a process of homeostasis and the other is a process of change. I will agree that there can be hormonal dysregulation especially with excess visceral fat - again, that is a state where weight is already elevated and the goal is weight loss. The average healthy person can maintain a remarkably stable weight through intuitive eating.
Reading comprehension and context seems lacking. The OP posted this in a weight loss thread. My initial comment was about intuitive eating and weight loss. You are arguing maintenance of weight. Again, your statement does nothing but invalidate your argument that my guess is "misguided".
LOL, thanks for the critique of my reading comprehension.
You stated that your "guess" was that intuitive eating is why people are here in the first place. Thus, you are blaming intuitive eating for people becoming overweight and obese, i.e., you were saying that intuitive eating leads to weight gain. I stated that generally speaking people are gaining weight because they aren't following hunger and satiety signals properly (the opposite of intuitive eating). I also stated, however, that it might be hard to lose weight through intuitive eating because those hunger and satiety signals will generally support staying at around the same weight.
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On the opposite end of the spectrum, intuitive eating can be very bad for people who don't eat enough. If it's a very busy day for me and I only use hunger cues for when I should eat, I could go until dinner without eating because I just don't get "hungry" anymore, unless I have time to sit and think about it. Sometimes I have to eat even though I'm not experiencing real signs of hunger because if I don't, I won't get near enough nutrition.0
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maillemaker wrote: »I see calorie counting as a way back to intuitive eating, reminding me how much food I actually require for my ideal weight, how much hunger is normal, what portions will realistically sate me.
Yup. It is staggering how little food you really should be eating, and you won't know this until you start weighing and counting calories.
I used to eat nuts for a snack. I'd open a jar of them and eat probably 5 or more handfuls as a "snack". Each handful was probably 300 calories. I was eating nearly my entire day's calories as a "snack".
Most people have very poor intuition for how much food they are eating. See this video:
This. One of the biggest, if not the biggest surprise I had when I started counting calories was the expense of nuts. I guess I thought they were magically low on calories because they were good protein sources. I know, stupid. I would eat whole bags of wasabi almonds thinking how healthy I was being. Now I know, and it has become natural to have 15 or so along with a fruit for a medium snack. It would be great if I someday had all foods down to memorization or intuition, but I will be safe for now and use a tracker. There is always surprises like salad dressing that you would think would be low on calories, but is not.0 -
dieselbyte wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
I'm not convinced of that. I think NOT listening to the body's signals and eating with abandon is more likely the cause.
Right over your head...
Or, you don't know what intuitive eating is.
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Thank you so much for your answers!0
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I eat according to a certain schedule of snacks and meals because my goal is NOT to get hungry. By the time I get hungry, I'm a mess and can rarely get satiated again that day.0
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dieselbyte wrote: »My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...
I think the inability of being able to intuitively eat is what got most people here!
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Yes. I believe in it. Someone mentioned Hunger Scale- really stopping to think about how hungry (you actually) are.
I read and recommend the book 'thin side out-- have your cake and skinny pants too". Hunger scale is detailed too. It helped me with my mindless eating thousands of calories, and I developed a better way of thinking about eating and food.0
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