Intuitive Eating

I can say this much, "intuitive eating" is the reason I'm now a member on this site.

Have you read the book "Intuitive Eating"? It completely changed the way I look at food! Highly recommend it
Intuitive eating is my ultimate goal - I always seem to under eat, stress eat, mindlessly eat, etc. because my body's hunger signals are weird

mrsgoodwine wrote: »

Exactly, Kalikel. I would like to be able to do this naturally without having to count all the time. The app is really nice and a good "training" tool but how freeing it would be to do this without having to log.

The app is great. I love it. It shows me where I need work and helps me improve my health by improving my diet.

It is a pain in the butt to weigh EVERYTHING and write it down and then log it. I'm willing to put the work in (most of the time) to get the information I need. But once I'm confident in my ability to eat a normal, healthy diet without assistance, I'll be done with logging, for sure.

I guess it depends what kind of intuitive eating it is. A salad and chicken or a milkshake and cookies? Lol

I do that somewhat. I'm not logging or weighing my food. But I do have a good idea of what calories are in most of my food. But, I do not eat more if I'm not hungry even if I know I haven't had low calories for the day, and I don't go hungry if I know it's been a high calorie day. I more or less trust both my body and my intellect for weight loss.

So far, I'm down a little over 6 lbs in about 1.5 months. Looking to lose about 20-25 more.

I feel like our body's become accustom to our habits. So if you are used to eating too many calories, your body will be hungry for too many calories. I think the idea is good - but it's pretty hard for most people to do. I have gone through phases with MFP and once I hit a new "normal" I can not calorie count and maintain my weight. Obviously I keep in check by getting on the scale and put into practice my new habits (not eating out all the time, etc). So during those phases I would say I was "intuitively" eating......*shrug*

esjones12 wrote: »

I feel like our body's become accustom to our habits. So if you are used to eating too many calories, your body will be hungry for too many calories.

I think this is true. I'm generally not hungry when it's not mealtime now, but I overate without feeling like I was stuffing myself before. I'm skeptical about the value of intuitive eating for me, for a couple of reasons. First, I know that for whatever reason my own hunger response can be messed up. I can quite easily not be hungry when I probably should be (I expect everyone is this way), for example if I'm involved in something. More significantly, I perceive hunger when it's really something else and even though I can get better about it I know it can easily come back. (On the other hand, and I think related to this, I also don't really struggle with hunger when I reduce calories, even when I was doing 1200, and when I was dieting and hadn't started logging yet I was eating too low without realizing it.) Second, I don't actually believe that the highest natural state of humans is to eat to hunger. Historically we ate when we had food, and, later, we ate somewhat ritualistically, in ways that culturally determined when we tended to be hungry. So I think it's perfectly normal to eat to meal times, which is what I do.

I don't think this means I have to log forever, or when it stops being fun. I think it means I have to continue to eat mindfully, and largely to mealtimes--no snacking whenever someone at work shows up with some amazing goodies (unless it's worth it and I keep in mind I ate more earlier that day than usual), no 3-course restaurant meal 3 times a week without expecting any consequences, no "maybe I'll eat something" instead of acknowledging I just want a break, etc. I have maintained in the past based on an understanding of what the right way to eat (essentially the right mix of foods, the right serving sizes) is for me to avoid gaining weight, and I screwed that up initially by going from very active to sedentary quite abruptly and without adjusting sufficiently. I think I could continue to lose or maintain now without logging, although logging makes it easier.

Unfortunately (or not, it doesn't bother me much), I don't think I can ever just rely on eating to hunger.

Thats how i started at first and lost a good 20lbs that way. its basically just portion control, eat when you are hungry but know how much you need to eat until you actually feel full. You dont need to eat until you feel full at the table, you can eat way less and usually feel full like 10 minutes after eating.

I only started using myfitnesspal because i find tracking stuff enjoyable but using this hasnt changed my habits at all.

The more you eat whole unprocessed foods the easier it is to not have to track calories. Trying to eat intuitively while consuming calorie dense low nutrient foods is very difficult

I love food too and don't restrict myself either. There's a huge difference between eating "indulgent" foods guilt free on occasion and stuffing yourself with treats on a daily basis.

I'm more of a mindful eater than an intuitive eater and that works very well for me.

I don't track calories / macros etc, weigh food or the like but I do try and consciously manage portion size, keep snacking to a minimum, ensure I eat plenty of fresh fruit, fibrous vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds, lean meat and so on.

If I eat at a restaurant I will choose whatever I like and if I have a piece of cake I will ensure it is the size of my face. That said if I feel my overall consumption is creeping up I will purposefully try to rein it in.

I keep active and do the things I enjoy in this regard.

It takes work but has many benefits. That said if I had a specific physique related goal (rather than fitness related goal) I would probably go with calorie counting.

I intuitively think I'm hungry all the time. This would not bode well for me.