Respecting Your Body

rolyathslaw

Hello!

I was wondering if you all had some insight on how I can grow to eat more intuitively and respect my body. I've been trying to implement things such as "blessing" my food as I prepare it, chewing and eating more slowly, and things like that, but there are definitely times when I completely throw these principles out the window. I eat extremely healthy 90% of the time, but that other 10% is what is keeping me from reaching my physical and mental goals. I want to overcome this! I know I need to learn to respect my body and what it is feeling, but I have become such an avid snacker I must have forgotten how to turn it off! I also worry that in my quest to turn off this habitual signal that I will end up not eating enough calories, and whenever I worry about that, I generally eat far over. I log my food regularly, but I feel like to get enough calories of healthy food, I end up eating when I am not hungry, and therefore am continuing this cycle. The answer would seem to be eating higher calorie foods, but then what if I am hungry later? I just am at a loss of what to do! I know overeating slightly is not the end of the world, but I really want to create healthy habits that are continuous. All help is appreciated! Thank you!

Pebble321

I feel as though I'm getting really repetitive because I suggest this book a lot - but I found "Eating Less" by Gillian Riley to be a really helpful read.
She talks about taking control of your eating behaviours rather than focussing purely on weight loss as an outcome. It's not exactly what you are asking about, but I think you might find it helpful. You can download a sample from Kindle to see if it looks like something you'd like.

cocono

Find a book called the "Don't go hungry diet" by an Australian scientist. It talks about re-training your body to recognise when it is hungry. It is not a diet at all but has lots of scientific evidence about weightloss and the body's reactions to food. Some people have found it really enlightening regarding respecting their bodies needs.

taso42

I eat extremely healthy 90% of the time, but that other 10% is what is keeping me from reaching my physical and mental goals.

Actually this is as much better than most people ever do. Lots of people are even a bit looser and go with the 80/20 rule. You don't have to be perfect 100% of the time. You are human. It's ok to strive for perfection, but it's not ok to beat yourself up when you are imperfect.

Plan ahead every day, for as long as it takes to get into a routine. A little over or a little under on the calories IS perfect. On days that you feel unsatisfied, analyze your diary and try to figure out why. You'll get it.

Phoenix59

What I'm seeing are a lot of carby foods and not enough protein. Protein will help you feel full longer and decrease the urge to snack. Also, is there any particular reason you're keeping to a 1,200 calorie day?

rolyathslaw

Thank you, all!

In terms of the carby thing--I try not to eat too much meat, so I'm not sure where else to get significant amounts of protein! Almost every day I end up eating far more than 1200 calories (for example I had probably close to 5 servings of trail mix because I got the munchies--eek!), so I just try to stay as low as I can because I always go over anyway... /:

Thanks again!

Pebble321

Thank you, all!

In terms of the carby thing--I try not to eat too much meat, so I'm not sure where else to get significant amounts of protein! Almost every day I end up eating far more than 1200 calories (for example I had probably close to 5 servings of trail mix because I got the munchies--eek!), so I just try to stay as low as I can because I always go over anyway... /:

Thanks again!

"I just try to stay as low as I can because I always go over anyway"

I wonder if this is part of what is leading you astray. You are not permitting yourself to eat enough and when you do, it is in the frame of mind that you are doing something wrong. This doesn't sound like a healthy approach to food and eating.

There are a million different things you could try - but one of the things that has worked for me has been to set a moderate calorie deficit and not focus completely on "losing weight". My focus when I started was learning HOW MUCH food my body needs. Not what I think I need or what I want, but how many calories keep me healthy and let me lose weight in a steady(ish) way.

I was surprised at how much I could eat when I was "dieting". I would plan my day's meals - and most days I still do (535 days yesterday!) so I can see exactly how many calories are in each meal, then I add in snacks to get me close to my day's total. This way when I feel hungry, I already know what I have to eat and (more or less) when I'm going to eat it. This leaves me free of worry about what and when and how much and whether I'm eating the right things. It doesn't mean that my plans never change, if there is birthday cake at the office I can easily see what I will take out of my days meals to fit in the cake, if I decide I want to have it.

At this stage I wouldn't worry too much about your macro ratios (carbs v protein v fat) except that you might like to experiment with different things at different times of the day to see if you feel fuller for longer.

Good luck!