Intuitive Eating- Very Low Calories?

wasmithie

So I recently started toying with the idea of intuitive eating- that I would eat when I'm hungry, stop when the hunger goes away, and then eat some twenty percent more so that I don't get hungry again immediately. I tried it for a couple of days and then did a calorie count for one of those days. I then realized I had only eaten some 600 calories! I've done a few more and found that I don't have hunger cravings beyond about 800 a day.

I'm in maintenance right now and not really looking to lose anymore and don't really have more to spare. I really like the idea of intuitive eating, but I don't like chronic under-nutrition. Has anyone else had this experience? Will it eventually even out? Is the body still trying to lose weight?

kommodevaran

Intuitive eating does not mean senseless eating - neither under- nor overeating. You're supposed to pay attention to how you feel as well as what and how much you eat. What have you learnt from counting calories? Can you apply that experience to eating without counting? Don't you have a "feeling" for how much you need? (That is the "intuition" part of intuitive eating.)

Or is it possible that you may have forgotten something you ate, so that the actual number of calories ingested was higher?

Your body can't lose weight on its own, it only does that when you don't feed it enough to maintain weight.

sollyn23l2

I do intuitive eating myself. If you only recently started your body has not had time to adjust yet. If you really want to give intuitive eating a chance, I would say don't second guess your what your body is telling you. By eating "20% more to make sure I don't get hungry" you're not actually eating intuitively, you're trying to make your body eat the amount you think it should. Give it some time, and genuinely listen to your body without second guessing it and it should start to even out.