Intuitive Eating

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mrsgoodwine
mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
"Intuitive eating is a nutrition philosophy based on the premise that becoming more attuned to the body's natural hunger signals is a more effective way to attain a healthy weight, rather than keeping track of the amounts of energy and fats in foods."

Anyone doing this? If so, have you been successful? Lost weight, maintained weight? What has been your experience? I get tired of logging sometimes...
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  • Mycophilia
    Mycophilia Posts: 1,225 Member
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    I can say this much, "intuitive eating" is the reason I'm now a member on this site.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    edited December 2014
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    You can do both. Eat when you're hungry and then log it. :)

    My long-term goal is to eat a healthy diet without requiring an app. I plan to be able to eat on my own. Not eating when I'm not hungry is part of that. :)

    I get tired of logging, too. When I am, I take a break. I eat the same way, I just don't log it. It helps me practice what I'll be doing later on, so works out well for me.
  • mrsgoodwine
    mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
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    Lol, I can appreciate that Mycophilia. Although "intuitive" can sometimes be "mindless" and mindless is what gave me 20 pounds to lose.
  • mrsgoodwine
    mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
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    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. :)
  • radiatingkayla
    radiatingkayla Posts: 37 Member
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    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
    mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
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    Hi Radiatingkayla, I have not read it but I do plan on getting a copy. I do notice that I get hungrier when I am stressed. It calms me to eat but I know I need to find better ways to calm myself. I am trying to stop and ask myself questions before I do the mindless thing. I guess it's going to take a little more practice :)
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    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. :)
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    Mycophilia wrote: »
    I can say this much, "intuitive eating" is the reason I'm now a member on this site.

    Lol, yup. "intuitive eating" only worked for me when I "ate clean" because I was eating very low calorie without even realizing. Once I stopped eating clean but still ate the same volume, yeah... didn't work.
  • mrsgoodwine
    mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
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    Kalikel wrote: »
    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. :)

    ^ this all the way....
  • mrsgoodwine
    mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
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    ana3067 wrote: »
    Mycophilia wrote: »
    I can say this much, "intuitive eating" is the reason I'm now a member on this site.

    Lol, yup. "intuitive eating" only worked for me when I "ate clean" because I was eating very low calorie without even realizing. Once I stopped eating clean but still ate the same volume, yeah... didn't work.

    Yes, I've been there as well. Sometimes I have that "all or nothing" mentality and that does not really work with intuitive eating. Need to retrain my brain!
  • Alyjacck
    Alyjacck Posts: 43 Member
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    I guess it depends what kind of intuitive eating it is. A salad and chicken or a milkshake and cookies? Lol
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    Intuitive eating is what got a lot of people in the situation they're in right now.
  • mrsgoodwine
    mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
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    That whole eating what you want but stopping when you're full - it's the stopping part that gets me every time. That's what I need to work on - recognizing when I've had enough without a food scale or a measuring cup telling me. Maybe I just need to eat slower...
  • MamaJ1974
    MamaJ1974 Posts: 443 Member
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    mrsgoodwine, I'm on the same journey. It's taking time but I think I'm getting there. Are you familiar with Geneen Roth's books at all?

    I'm able to lose weight when I track but there always comes a point when I'm too busy to track or just feel like I'm becoming obsessed with food in an unhealthy way. And stopping when you're full -- that's a sticking point for me as well. I find it easier if I eat with no distractions, but for some reason it's very hard for me to want to eat without distractions.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
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    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.
  • Turning_Hopes_to_Habits
    Turning_Hopes_to_Habits Posts: 103 Member
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    I've been doing that for over four months now. I log everything very carefully, but most of the time I try to let myself eat until I'm not hungry and not eat when I'm not. I'm okay going under or over, but my two iron-clad rules are that I have to come in at or under my weekly calories (failed that for the first time last week, but I'm okay with it once in four months) and record everything. I also use the notes section to document anything out of the ordinary so I can track trends. Do I eat more at a particular time of month? Do I have any kind of particular cravings? Did I get into an argument with someone I love, or have I been putting in extra long hours at work? How's my stress? I'm trying to figure out what makes me hungry and what makes me not hungry. I expect I'll be counting calories for at least two years if I continue being successful, because I think it will take me that long to be able to trust my intuition when it comes to food. It's really surprised me how I'll think I binged when the calories weren't that many, or how I think I'm just having a little extra snack but when I add it all up, that "snack" ended up doubling my day's calories.

    I'll also say that the people I know who are naturally thin and always have been have also always paid attention to their weight. They aren't obsessed at all, but they are aware. They get on the scale regularly and measure, and they have certain weights at which they cut back what they're eating until they are within their range again. But so many of us resist the idea of doing that, as though it means we'd be obsessed or something. We as a society seem to put a negative connotation on being thin and actively working to stay that way. It's okay to be thin and not make any effort (like I used to be in my teens and twenties), it's okay to be overweight and make effort, it's okay to be thin and exercise to stay in shape. But to be thin and count calories seems to be frowned upon, like you're too vain or shallow. Is that just my imagination?

    Anyway, sorry I rambled on. The question got me thinking, and I think with my fingers. :smile:
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    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*
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Yes, I lost the first 35 intuitive eating. I lost the middle 10 with counting. I lost the last 15 by eating intuitively and occasionally logging for macro checking only. I now log occasionally for a macro check. I've been maintaining for over a year with intuitive eating. I was a calorie counter since grade school and it triggered a life-long cycle of restriction and binging for me. I was advised by my eating disorder counselor to stop counting and work on learning to eat intuitively and finally I'm free. :) I know a lot of people don't know much about nutrition, but for those who do, I think learning how to eat intuitively is awesome. It does take work...you have to learn how to stop before you are full, understand portion sizes, and have a good feel for some good foods (like veggies and lean proteins) to build the *bulk* of your diet around (you can have treats while intuitively eating).

    It freed me. Counting did not work for me for 30+ years. I just restricted and binged. Different things work for different people. I love it.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    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.
  • Slacker16
    Slacker16 Posts: 1,184 Member
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    mrsgoodwine wrote: »
    Anyone doing this? If so, have you been successful? Lost weight, maintained weight? What has been your experience? I get tired of logging sometimes...
    I've tried it a few times and it never worked long term. I could maintain for a year, maybe two, but inevitably ate more and more as time went by and got fat.

    When I'll have maintained for a good long time, I'll log less often (i.e. just enough that I can notice trends when they happen) but I don't think intuitive eating will ever work for me.

    YMMV, of course.

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