Has anyone tried intuitive eating?

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funkyspunky872
funkyspunky872 Posts: 866 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Have you ever stopped counting calories and focused only eating intuitively? Did you have any rules like 'saving treats or desserts for the weekends'? Did you keep a journal of your hunger levels? Etc, etc. Tell me your experience. :)

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  • patrox247
    patrox247 Posts: 50
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    I hit my goal weight last month and I am going to try listening to my body and putting away the scale and calorie counting for the next six weeks. It will be interesting to see if I gain, lose or maintain.
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
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    Intuitive eating is what got me fat. I'd been doing it all my life.
  • PapaverSomniferum
    PapaverSomniferum Posts: 2,677 Member
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    i count calories, but i try to eat intuitively within those bounds.

    for instance, i often have no desire to eat before 1pm. So I don't. But if I do feel like breakfast, I eat it. Make sense?

    I basically eat my allowance when I feel like my body needs it, instead of forcing meals at set times, which was counter-intuitive to my hunger. I also eat late night snacks (blasphemy!) if I'm hungry at night. Sometimes I crave a big heavy meal once a day. Sometimes I just snack on little stuff all day.

    I follow what my body wants, but I try to guide my choices within my macros.

    It's working out really well.
  • kusterer
    kusterer Posts: 90 Member
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    I have done it successfully (for a couple of years) while maintaining, but I have never been able to lose that way. I believe that, in theory, this the best approach, but I never got good enough at it to just go by mindful eating and instinct and lose weight.
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
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    Went off counting gained 20 pounds. Tracking for life.
  • snowlily80
    snowlily80 Posts: 18 Member
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    Intuitive eating is what got me fat. I'd been doing it all my life.

    I'm going to have to agree with this!
  • anifani4
    anifani4 Posts: 457 Member
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    Hi OP. I did IE quite a few years ago. I was in a good place emotionally, had a lot of personal support. I put the scale away and my only goal was to eat in a conscious way. That is, pay attention to when I felt hungry, what that was like. Pay attention to the food I was eating and enjoy it bite by bite. Pay attention to WHAT i wanted and eat a reasonable amount. Stop when I'd had enough. I'd alway had a fairly healthy food plan but ate too much. Over the course of 18 mo I lost 30 pounds and maintained the loss for 5 years. Hit an emotional hurdle...husband diagnosed with lung cancer. I started again to eat for comfort and gained. Could never really get back to the IE completely. It's been a roller coaster of up, down, up and now going down again using MFP tools.

    Good luck to you. Ani
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    I've been trying it since the beginning of the year. But being a meat head, I avoid fancy words and terms and just call it "eating".

    So far mixed results, but my heart hasn't been in it. I'm giving it til March to see how it goes.
  • alaskaang
    alaskaang Posts: 493 Member
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    After dropping the first 25 pounds, I maintained just eating intuitively. I think the biggest thing you have to do is something to monitor where you are at, and it will only work if you have a healthy relationship with food. I.e. no emotional/stress eating, tendencies to binge, etc. My method is weighing daily and setting a limit. My weight fluctuates normally 4 pounds with water retention ups and downs. So if I'm close to the upper end of the 4 pound range, then that day I make sure that I watch what I eat and it usually balances out.
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,449 Member
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    Sort of. It worked....until I got slacker about exercising. :)

    I think it can possibly work. Once you have a good handle on portions.

    I do try to listen to what my body hints at. I have beef cravings (means low iron). Nut cravings (can mean I haven't had enough fat or fiber). Chocolate cravings (need more sleep and/or PMS). It is pretty interesting. I'll return to it maybe in a few months.
  • brendajbentley
    brendajbentley Posts: 12 Member
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    Yes I have used IE to lose over 100 lbs and I teach it to people. I find it only works when you have cleared out any emotional eating tendencies and body image issues. This means you need to get to the core of your poor relationship with food - this could be linked to a poor relationship you have with yourself as well. Otherwise, it's just another set of rules you teach yourself to follow and will only work while you are doing it. You'll also be subject to 'falling off the wagon' just like when you were dieting.

    I've actually written a book which compliments the IE approach and deals with the underlying issues - you can get it on Amazon - it's called Eat, Guilt, Repent, Repeat.

    It's the most natural and healthy approach to eating according to your bodies needs, the challenge is the silence the mind and the heart hunger first....

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