Intuitive Eating vs. Dieting

snowflake954

asochable wrote: »

I was listening to a running podcast the other day and the takeaway (in his terms) was this: “intuitive eating is garbage. Most people who intuitively eat as their way of maintaining their weight can do so because they tracked their food for years and all that tracking taught them appropriate portion sizes, etc. if intuitive eating truly worked, no one would have been overweight to begin with because they would have all naturally been eating in a healthy way all along.”

Just throwing it in as something to consider!

No IE is not garbage. My husband has always been thin, always eats just enough, loves sweets and has never been overweight or on a diet in his life. My father was the same, as well as other people that I know. My husband doesn't even know what a calorie is. We'll go for an hour walk and he'll turn to me and say "There, you've burned off so many calories that we can go get a gelato". Sigh.

Lietchi

I think we need to distinguish between people who have never has issues with weight gain and those who have.

For people who have never had weight gain issues and who eat intuitively, obviously it works.

However, for people who have had problems with weight gain, I don't see how 'intuitive eating' is a good idea, since it obviously didn't work to begin with.
Unless, as has been mentioned above, this 'intuition' is acquired during and after the weight loss journey through first tracking foods and experience with what works to stay at maintenance.
But even then, I've read a lot of posts from people who tried maintenance without tracking, but had to start tracking again because they were gaining weight again.

So I think it's one of those things that works for some and not for others.

MidlifeCrisisFitness

My metabolism changed after 40. To lose bodyfat I have to count calories and watch my macros. I used MFP to learn at what amount and types of food I need to maintain and now for maintaining I don't need MFP at all. That's just where I am at.

NovusDies

Lietchi wrote: »

I think we need to distinguish between people who have never has issues with weight gain and those who have.

For people who have never had weight gain issues and who eat intuitively, obviously it works.

However, for people who have had problems with weight gain, I don't see how 'intuitive eating' is a good idea, since it obviously didn't work to begin with.
Unless, as has been mentioned above, this 'intuition' is acquired during and after the weight loss journey through first tracking foods and experience with what works to stay at maintenance.
But even then, I've read a lot of posts from people who tried maintenance without tracking, but had to start tracking again because they were gaining weight again.

So I think it's one of those things that works for some and not for others.

There are also people who eat intuitively but are underweight.

One of the problems I see with IE is that some people take it to an extreme. The thought process is if you want to eat more food and you end up obese it is because your body wants to be obese.

The part that puzzles me is the separation of brain and body. My brain is a part of my body and my brain knows that being obese again will likely bring back the health issues I have rid myself of by losing weight.

I think that if a person had some natural ability to intuitively eat for a stretch of time before gaining weight they might be able to return to it. Take a person that starts drinking too much gains weight and then later gets the drinking under control. I do not know if that person can resume IE after the loss is over or not but it doesn't seem impossible.

I see no reason to think it is not something that can be learned either.

I still have no interest in it at this time. I can log so quickly and easily I see no benefit to leaving it behind. Perhaps when I am done and I get to year 4 of maintenance I might change my mind. I dunno.

SezxyStef

NovusDies wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

I think we need to distinguish between people who have never has issues with weight gain and those who have.

For people who have never had weight gain issues and who eat intuitively, obviously it works.

However, for people who have had problems with weight gain, I don't see how 'intuitive eating' is a good idea, since it obviously didn't work to begin with.
Unless, as has been mentioned above, this 'intuition' is acquired during and after the weight loss journey through first tracking foods and experience with what works to stay at maintenance.
But even then, I've read a lot of posts from people who tried maintenance without tracking, but had to start tracking again because they were gaining weight again.

So I think it's one of those things that works for some and not for others.

There are also people who eat intuitively but are underweight.

One of the problems I see with IE is that some people take it to an extreme. The thought process is if you want to eat more food and you end up obese it is because your body wants to be obese.

The part that puzzles me is the separation of brain and body. My brain is a part of my body and my brain knows that being obese again will likely bring back the health issues I have rid myself of by losing weight.

I think that if a person had some natural ability to intuitively eat for a stretch of time before gaining weight they might be able to return to it. Take a person that starts drinking too much gains weight and then later gets the drinking under control. I do not know if that person can resume IE after the loss is over or not but it doesn't seem impossible.

I see no reason to think it is not something that can be learned either.

I still have no interest in it at this time. I can log so quickly and easily I see no benefit to leaving it behind. Perhaps when I am done and I get to year 4 of maintenance I might change my mind. I dunno.

I used to be able to eat intuitively...but then I couldn't and I gained...
I used MFP to lose and logged daily for about 3 or 4 years of maintenance and then tried to eat intuitively and it has worked for maintenance to a "degree" I have maintained my range for a while but know that weight can creep up if I am travelling a lot so I will log to lose that weight...

So jsut confirming that yah after a while you can stop logging if you are willing to learn the lessons...

NovusDies

SezxyStef wrote: »

NovusDies wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

I think we need to distinguish between people who have never has issues with weight gain and those who have.

For people who have never had weight gain issues and who eat intuitively, obviously it works.

However, for people who have had problems with weight gain, I don't see how 'intuitive eating' is a good idea, since it obviously didn't work to begin with.
Unless, as has been mentioned above, this 'intuition' is acquired during and after the weight loss journey through first tracking foods and experience with what works to stay at maintenance.
But even then, I've read a lot of posts from people who tried maintenance without tracking, but had to start tracking again because they were gaining weight again.

So I think it's one of those things that works for some and not for others.

There are also people who eat intuitively but are underweight.

One of the problems I see with IE is that some people take it to an extreme. The thought process is if you want to eat more food and you end up obese it is because your body wants to be obese.

The part that puzzles me is the separation of brain and body. My brain is a part of my body and my brain knows that being obese again will likely bring back the health issues I have rid myself of by losing weight.

I think that if a person had some natural ability to intuitively eat for a stretch of time before gaining weight they might be able to return to it. Take a person that starts drinking too much gains weight and then later gets the drinking under control. I do not know if that person can resume IE after the loss is over or not but it doesn't seem impossible.

I see no reason to think it is not something that can be learned either.

I still have no interest in it at this time. I can log so quickly and easily I see no benefit to leaving it behind. Perhaps when I am done and I get to year 4 of maintenance I might change my mind. I dunno.

I used to be able to eat intuitively...but then I couldn't and I gained...
I used MFP to lose and logged daily for about 3 or 4 years of maintenance and then tried to eat intuitively and it has worked for maintenance to a "degree" I have maintained my range for a while but know that weight can creep up if I am travelling a lot so I will log to lose that weight...

So jsut confirming that yah after a while you can stop logging if you are willing to learn the lessons...

Makes sense. I have been logging for 2 years. I have a very good sense of calories and portions now with the things that I normally eat. I do believe I could go for 3 months or more without logging and still continue on the same course I am on.

My fear is calorie creeping. I don't know for sure but I think because I have gained weight in the past I am susceptible to my calories gradually increasing past my need and regaining weight. Obviously I could just weigh myself but I keep reminding myself that I allowed my weight to go unchecked for periods of time before and it got way out of control.

I believe logging increases awareness. It keeps my current habit stabilized. I may not feel that way forever. Future me may do all kinds of things (as long as he doesn't gain a bunch of weight) that I do not think he will do. That is for him to decide. For now I am committing myself and near future me to logging all through weight loss and at least 3 years beyond.