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"No calorie-counting needed, just "eat intuitively" folks!"
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For me, hunger is based on what foods I eat.
If my diet is animal based, and I limit my plants, I will not often overeat.
If I include more carbs, especially refined and highly processed foods, eating intuitively or mindfully flies out the window.4 -
Bry_Fitness70 wrote: »Humans have never been "intuitive eaters". Pre-agricultural era, they ate whatever they could scavenge or kill in as great of quantities as possible and hoped that this was enough to sustain them until the next time food was available. That is why we are so efficient at storing fat. Becoming advanced and affluent enough to have as much food as we wanted as often as we wanted has lead to the US currently suffering from being over 2/3rds overweight or obese. Relying on our intuition has proven a disastrous strategy for most of us.
This Is my opinion as well. I find it interesting how people are different though. Some people can eat what and how much they want without thinking about it and maintain a healthy weight whereas a lot of people can’t. Similar to my dog. If you put food in her bowl she will eat every bit of it, no matter how often or how much you put in there. The dog we had before her was the opposite, you could keep her bowl full at all times and she would come by and have a little bit here and there as she got hungry.
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I find it useful to just log everything I eat purely so I am aware of what I’m doing. Sometimes I can eat a load of biscuits and not even realise. I’m not too fussed how many calories I consume as it’s not that which makes you gain weight it’s the sugar and salt etc. I think this app for example is great for tracking what your eating and being aware of foods that you may have thought were healthy but actually aren’t16
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When you're overweight the brain becomes resistent to leptin. Leptin is the hormon that signals the brain to stop eating. That's why overweight people never feel full. When I started my diet I was a bit overweight and hat no problem to eat a burger, chips and a small chocolate cake for one meal. That felt normal. Now that I lost quite a bit of weight an got used to healthier eating habits I'm not able to eat that much at once any more. I tried yesterday for a cheatmeal and failed to even eat the whole burger. There was no way to squeeze in a chocolate cake afterwards.
Next thing I learned is that fresh veggies with low-fat cream cheese and lean meat worth 300 calories is a damn lot of food and really filling.
So I think there is some truth to the whole thing, but if you are overweight and only pick out the "eat as much as feels right" part of it, you will fail miserably.
Once your leptin - ghrelin - insulin system works again and you really eat fresh and lean foods, you can maintain your weight this way. But you will not loose weight I think, as this is not something the body wants. We are evolutionary wired to keep our weight or gain more.11 -
Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »Disclaimer: I love Fitness Blender for their free workout videos. I've been doing them for over two years and still going strong. Their fun, fast strength training workouts have been a huge help in reshaping my body as I get leaner.
However....
The anti-calorie-counting is strong with them. In their latest article (https://fitnessblender.com/articles/not-seeing-results-5-common-weight-loss-methods-that-might-be-sabotaging-your-progress) this is what they say about it as one of the "methods that might be sabotaging your progress":
1) Counting calories or using a meal tracking app
Embrace a plant based diet, and fill up on unlimited plants. Remove processed foods from your diet and focus on fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and lean meats (or vegetarian/vegan equivalent). Eat mindfully. When you’re hungry, eat, and learn to recognize your body’s signals of feeling full; stop before you feel discomfort. Drink lots of water. Don’t waste time looking for shortcuts; eat for good health. Once you know what a healthy diet looks like, funnel your effort and energy towards making the right choices, not necessarily towards tracking them. A helpful read: How to stop dieting and learn to eat intuitively
And later (again in regards to calorie counting):
(...) focus on eating for good health, for energy and to feel good. If you are making smart food choices and listening to your body’s hunger and full signals, it’s typically not necessary to count or restrict calories, track every macro every day, eliminate entire food groups, or follow any other generally strict diet that has a lot of rigid "rules".
And...
(...) the end goal of any diet or exercise program should be something that empowers you to move through your life healthily and naturally, not indefinitely tethering you to tedious habits and inflexible rules.
Edit to add my opinion: In my view, "eating a healthy diet" might not be enough for maintaining my weight-loss. I know that if I don't log and track what I eat I very easily wind up eating too much of good things. I also get in this mindset where I feel guilty about every snack or treat, whereas if I'm tracking I know I can "afford" it so there's no guilt. However, I am attracted to the idea that one day I might be able to just wing it and not have to track....
What's your take?
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That’s exactly what works for me. I tried to eat paleo, but resigned to clean eating (avoiding processed foods, no pasta or bread, more veggies, reading the ingredients in EVERYTHING...) and exercising 4 times a week. I’m down over 37lbs. It may not work for everyone, but I highly encourage giving it a try.3
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Mandylou19912014 wrote: »I find it useful to just log everything I eat purely so I am aware of what I’m doing. Sometimes I can eat a load of biscuits and not even realise. I’m not too fussed how many calories I consume as it’s not that which makes you gain weight it’s the sugar and salt etc. I think this app for example is great for tracking what your eating and being aware of foods that you may have thought were healthy but actually aren’t
Um no.... it’s absolutely how many calories you consume that makes you gain weight. The energy balance equation, calories in calories out (CICO) describes all weight loss, gain, and maintenance. Salt may contribute to water weight gain, and sugar is calorie dense so eating too much added sugar can lead to weight gain because of increased calories but a person can gain weight eating too much of any food.
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I aspire to be able to eat intuitively. As of right now, it doesn't work for me because I don't recognise hunger very well and never have done because that's one of the quirks of my autism. So I tend to either not eat enough and be really grumpy without realising why or assume from cues like being really grumpy that I must be hungry, eat far too much and then hate myself for it and go into a negative spiral. For me tracking helps to keep things in balance whether I'm trying to lose weight or maintain.
Having recovered from a restrictive eating disorder, I am not a huge fan of the 'clean eating' thing, because I know myself and I know that I would take it to the extremes. Weirdly I find cutting out 'bad' foods such as anything processed/sugary is much more triggering than tracking calories because it's setting this precedent of there being things I am not allowed to eat. At the moment tracking calories is a safety net and a way of reassuring myself that it's okay, I'm not eating too much and also a way of making sure I am getting enough macros to keep myself healthy.
If it works for some people though, more power to them! Different things are going to work for different people. Hopefully at some point in the future I'll have got a better handle on what enough food looks like and be able to eat without tracking.5 -
I personally like to eat intuitively, but also track it and run a deficit. So, if I'm not hungry, I won't eat until I am. When I do eat, I track it. I listen to my body when I'm choosing what to eat. I stop eating when I'm full. But I always make sure I eat enough, so at the end of the day, if I have calories remaining, then it's not quite so intuitive sometimes. I'll try to choose something that will agree with me, but if it gets to that stage, getting enough calories is more important to me than being intuitive.0
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We all started eating intuitively at some point and here we are. I feel the problem lies within ease of access to poor foods and no one has "time". In 2018 we're all guilty of poor time management which reduces the chances of exercising, meal prepping, grocery shopping or any other activity you never get around to. People work more hours, have children, commute longer distances, and travel for work, which causes us to eat on the go. There aren't too many healthy on the go options. They're there, don't get me wrong, but so are Whoppers. With the amount of processed foods, sugars and other carbs that we consume daily our brains scream for the Whopper over the salad with olive oil and vinegar. Calorie counting is a must and it must be done with discipline and integrity. Plenty of people guesstimate the portion size of something. I'm the guiltiest victim, I always thought i was using a Tbsp of oil until I actually measured it out and was going over quite a bit. Eat what you want, track it properly, eat at a deficit and barring any severe medical conditions, you'll see results.4
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KickassAmazon76 wrote: »when I'm PMSing... I Intuitively want to eat 14 donuts, 3 bags of chips and a crap tonne of salsa / sour cream.
I don't think I intuit very well.
Maybe my intuit is broken?
This also applies... when I'm emotionally frustrated, angry, celebrating, sad, depressed...
and maybe also when I'm breathing, awake, sleeping... oh, and also when my kids have leftovers... that's when practicality and "starving kids in africa" mentality sneaks in.
ok ok... my entire consciousness is screaming for too much food.
nope.. intuit is not an advisable method for me.
Good for those who can do it, though!
Wow, that's all you want while PMSing? I want all of that plus 6 toblerones, a gallon of Hagen Daas Vanilla, 1/2 a cheesecake and a Brooklyn style "works" pizza!!!
I think my intuit is living in an country with no extradition laws (that jerk!) drinking sangria's on the beach.3 -
This is an unpopular opinion, but intuitive eating works better than counting calories for me. I have become sensitive to how I feel as I eat and after I eat. I use this feeling to guide me, and this made a huge difference on whether I finish the whole entree or get a box to take the rest home, for example. I have to tell myself - "Ok I'm full now, time to stop and enjoy the rest later."
This whole debate may depend on the food choices we make, because intuitive eating stops working if I eat a lot of processed food (it just doesn't fill me up!) For example, I can eat multiple donuts before feeling the sensation of fullness, but one big apple and I already begin to feel myself filling up (at least a little!) I have to be honest with myself about lack of willpower to stop eating some highly palatable foods because they don't impact satiety like whole foods in my experience.
Processed foods un-link the sensation of fullness from eating for me, so I factor this into my eating and have been able to control my weight fairly easily for many years, without the hassle inherent to calorie tracking.
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I can be intuitively and mindfully a nitwit when it comes to my internal metabolic cues. I messed those up from too much nitwittery and dieting. I don't know if they'll ever come back. At this particular time, they have not. Until such time, I keep tooling along with MFP. The joint keeps hoppin' with success the way it's established and I'm not about to change a winning game now.
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KickassAmazon76 wrote: »when I'm PMSing... I Intuitively want to eat 14 donuts, 3 bags of chips and a crap tonne of salsa / sour cream.
I don't think I intuit very well.
Maybe my intuit is broken?
This also applies... when I'm emotionally frustrated, angry, celebrating, sad, depressed...
and maybe also when I'm breathing, awake, sleeping... oh, and also when my kids have leftovers... that's when practicality and "starving kids in africa" mentality sneaks in.
ok ok... my entire consciousness is screaming for too much food.
nope.. intuit is not an advisable method for me.
Good for those who can do it, though!
hahaha absolutely this!0 -
I think it depends on what ‘intuitive’ means to you. My intuition tells me to make healthy choices; if I make unhealthy choices, it’s because I’ve deliberately ignored my intuition. For example, I’m mildly lactose intolerant. My intuition always screams at me not to eat dairy because I will pay for it later. But I sometimes ignore that, eat the dairy and pay for it later.
I don’t necessarily see intuition as doing whatever you feel like, but others might see it differently.1 -
When you're overweight the brain becomes resistent to leptin. Leptin is the hormon that signals the brain to stop eating. That's why overweight people never feel full. When I started my diet I was a bit overweight and hat no problem to eat a burger, chips and a small chocolate cake for one meal. That felt normal. Now that I lost quite a bit of weight an got used to healthier eating habits I'm not able to eat that much at once any more. I tried yesterday for a cheatmeal and failed to even eat the whole burger. There was no way to squeeze in a chocolate cake afterwards.
Next thing I learned is that fresh veggies with low-fat cream cheese and lean meat worth 300 calories is a damn lot of food and really filling.
So I think there is some truth to the whole thing, but if you are overweight and only pick out the "eat as much as feels right" part of it, you will fail miserably.
Once your leptin - ghrelin - insulin system works again and you really eat fresh and lean foods, you can maintain your weight this way. But you will not loose weight I think, as this is not something the body wants. We are evolutionary wired to keep our weight or gain more.
There is probably some truth in this
From https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938414001826
However, most individuals with diet-induced obesity (DIO) develop leptin resistance, which is characterized by elevated circulating leptin levels and decreased leptin sensitivity.
Decreased leptin sensitivity means that the individual is less able to detect that they are satiated and therefore eat more. So, according to that study at least, obese people are not able to eat "intuitively"; at least until they lose weight and improve their leptin sensitivity1 -
This is an unpopular opinion, but intuitive eating works better than counting calories for me. I have become sensitive to how I feel as I eat and after I eat. I use this feeling to guide me, and this made a huge difference on whether I finish the whole entree or get a box to take the rest home, for example. I have to tell myself - "Ok I'm full now, time to stop and enjoy the rest later."
This whole debate may depend on the food choices we make, because intuitive eating stops working if I eat a lot of processed food (it just doesn't fill me up!) For example, I can eat multiple donuts before feeling the sensation of fullness, but one big apple and I already begin to feel myself filling up (at least a little!) I have to be honest with myself about lack of willpower to stop eating some highly palatable foods because they don't impact satiety like whole foods in my experience.
Processed foods un-link the sensation of fullness from eating for me, so I factor this into my eating and have been able to control my weight fairly easily for many years, without the hassle inherent to calorie tracking.
Your bolded is very true for me.
I eat certain foods and suddenly I have what some people might call a lack of self control. With only those foods. And nothing else... except maybe books. But then I change my diet and exclude certain foods, and suddenly I can eat intuitively and lose or maintain with ease.
YMMV3 -
This is an unpopular opinion, but intuitive eating works better than counting calories for me. I have become sensitive to how I feel as I eat and after I eat. I use this feeling to guide me, and this made a huge difference on whether I finish the whole entree or get a box to take the rest home, for example. I have to tell myself - "Ok I'm full now, time to stop and enjoy the rest later."
This whole debate may depend on the food choices we make, because intuitive eating stops working if I eat a lot of processed food (it just doesn't fill me up!) For example, I can eat multiple donuts before feeling the sensation of fullness, but one big apple and I already begin to feel myself filling up (at least a little!) I have to be honest with myself about lack of willpower to stop eating some highly palatable foods because they don't impact satiety like whole foods in my experience.
Processed foods un-link the sensation of fullness from eating for me, so I factor this into my eating and have been able to control my weight fairly easily for many years, without the hassle inherent to calorie tracking.
I'm not sure this is unpopular, considering the majority believe they can self manage without budgeting. Also noteworthy that the majority are failing at this.
It's easier to limit bad tasting food just as it is limiting spending on things we don't like. I don't know of anyone who went into debt from paying excess taxes. I'm going to assume this is even less than the number of people who became overweight from eating Brussels sprouts.5 -
One of the things I am trying to work on right now is paying attention to signals of hunger and satiety. When I eat a lot of processed foods, I ALWAYS feel hungry, even when I am starting to feel full. By focusing on better food choices I am able to recognize when I'm satiated, and I don't feel the same driving hunger. I think that's probably why they are emphasizing food choice over tracking calories.
At this point, just gaining control of my appetite is allowing me to lose at a rate of about 1 lbs per week. As my weight drops I may need to track more closely, but right now I'm focusing my energy on choosing and preparing healthy meals rather than tracking calories and macros. As my food choices become more automatic, I'll have the time to focus on tracking if I need to.2 -
The "intuitive eating" movement seems to be good for a lot of people who have undereating disorders, from my experience observing others, in the sense that they oftentimes had obsessive calorie counting turn into a full-blown disorder and they need to get out of that mindset.
For chronic overeaters this usually doesn't work.3
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