Intuitive eating

FlowerFairy493
FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
in Health and Weight Loss
Been reading up on this. Something about it catched my eye and was wondering if there is any truth to the following:

When you learn to "listen" to your body's hunger signals (that is your stomach grumbling and not your mind telling you to eat) and follow them, eat when you're hungry and stop when you're comfortable, would you automatically return to your body's built-in ideal weight eating this way?

Does your body have a built in ideal weight? < hopefully you all understand what I mean by that...

Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    I can see some sense, we didn't use to snack at all and fruit and cake were occasional treats. Now many of us are locked in a permanent post-meal condition, except at night - and some even get up in the middle of the night to eat and get back into that mode.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    You might find this TED Talk interesting:

    https://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    You might find this TED Talk interesting:

    https://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work

    Thanks I love reading up on health and fitness, hence me stalking the forums all day. :wink:
    Guess it's a bit obsessive but I really enjoy it.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    You might find this TED Talk interesting:

    https://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work

    Thanks I love reading up on health and fitness, hence me stalking the forums all day. :wink:
    Guess it's a bit obsessive but I really enjoy it.

    I'm the same way. Every lecture, documentary, and abstract I can get my hands on is fair game.
  • thegreatcanook
    thegreatcanook Posts: 2,419 Member
    It won't work if your body isn't getting the foods it needs. Often hunger is craving a nutrients that we are lacking.
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    IE is possible. If I could just eat 3 squares a day, no snacking and very little alcohol, I could do it. But, the problem is, there is just too much available food every where. And, I enjoy eating it.

    I'm aware that it's possible. I was just wondering wether or not your body would, through means of it's hunger signals, lower (or raise for underweight?) your weight until it reaches what your brain perceives as a healthy weight for you.
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    It won't work if your body isn't getting the foods it needs. Often hunger is craving a nutrients that we are lacking.

    For me...there is a difference between hunger and craving. A craving is my mind asking for a specific food. An easy way to distinguish between the two, is if you are for example thinking of having chocolate, ask yourself if some veggies and chicken will also do the job? if the answer is no, it's a craving and you're not really hungry.

    On the same note though I get what you mean. Different cravings means that you need different foods. if I were craving chocolate, it would probably mean I need more fat in my diet. So you shouldn't completely ignore them, but just acknowledge them.
  • kymgraner
    kymgraner Posts: 2 Member
    Although not the most engaging speaker I've ever seen on TED, she did have some good data and presented it well. The problem with her approach is that it's not congruent with today's "immediate gratification" culture. Meaning her approach is sound, but it most likely won't be adopted by those who need it most because the results are based on a long-game, not a "lose 10 pounds this weekend" strategy.

    For myself, I'll be paying more attention to when and how much I eat, based on this, and won't beat myself up over less-than-I'd-like weight losses. I'll keep in mind that I'm improving my health, even if my dress size isn't where I want it to be, because in the long run, my health is what I should be most concerned with.
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    Although not the most engaging speaker I've ever seen on TED, she did have some good data and presented it well. The problem with her approach is that it's not congruent with today's "immediate gratification" culture. Meaning her approach is sound, but it most likely won't be adopted by those who need it most because the results are based on a long-game, not a "lose 10 pounds this weekend" strategy.

    For myself, I'll be paying more attention to when and how much I eat, based on this, and won't beat myself up over less-than-I'd-like weight losses. I'll keep in mind that I'm improving my health, even if my dress size isn't where I want it to be, because in the long run, my health is what I should be most concerned with.

    I agree people are too focussed on quick fixes. Sometimes I think they just want to be trendy. Lets try this pill or this diet...but why?....because everyone else is.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    IMO it wouldn't work, because I could eat a 1000 calorie bar of chocolate, and be hungry 2 hours later... then have a 300 calorie croissant, be hungry 1 hour later... you catch my drift.
  • FlowerFairy493
    FlowerFairy493 Posts: 182
    IMO it wouldn't work, because I could eat a 1000 calorie bar of chocolate, and be hungry 2 hours later... then have a 300 calorie croissant, be hungry 1 hour later... you catch my drift.

    I get what you mean, however Intuitive eating is assuming you eat healthy nutritious food most of the time and treats in moderation. :smile:
  • penny0919
    penny0919 Posts: 123 Member
    I think it is 100% possible to get to and maintain a healthy body weight through intuitive eating. The hard part is doing the work in the beginning. You have to be very patient with yourself and practice the art of mindfulness (which is VERY difficult for most of us in our fast-paced culture).
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Not every gurgle is hunger. Sometimes a gurgle is just a gurgle. Hunger is hunger.

    There are lots of paths to weight loss. Eating healthy food when you're hungry and not eating when you aren't hungry is one way.

    Try what you want to try. If it doesn't work for you, try something else.

    You'll find what works for you! :)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Intuitive eating didn't and doesn't work for me.

    I maintained fairly fat but healthy and fit for twenty years around 190 - 196lbs purely by watching my weight and cutting down portions when my weight got higher than what I deemed acceptable at the time.
    The one time I got completely fed up with watching my weight and decided to eat intuitively I quickly ballooned up to 210lbs.

    Now I'm maintaining at 164lbs but what feels intuitively a reasonable amount of food/calories is in fact a daily surplus of about 300 cals. If I paid no attention to intake or went by hunger signals I would easily over-eat by 500 cals and not feel I was eating excessively. Maybe it's a coincidence that calorie calculators also give me a higher allowance than I actually need.

    During spells of heavy exercise I comfortably compensated for increased calorie expenditure with increased appetite.

    So my maintenance plan is eating my "reasonable level" six days a week and having a massive deficit one day a week which I find far preferable to eating what feels a low amount every day. I'm slightly jealous of those that can maintain intuitively but I know that I will have to be watchful for life.

    I've always eaten "healthy nutritious food most of the time and treats in moderation", I didn't exclude any foods to lose weight, just the changed the amount.

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