Intuitive eating

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

dieselbyte wrote: »

My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...

I'm not convinced of that. I think NOT listening to the body's signals and eating with abandon is more likely the cause.

I agree with this-I did alternate day IF for my weight loss phase and it did a really good job of teaching me to listen to my body's cues and understand what real hunger was vs eating because of habit (computer time used to automatically also mean snack time for me etc), because the clock said a certain time, because of boredom etc. I have such a better understanding of how my body works and what it needs now, compared to before I started this whole thing.

OP-I've eaten pretty intuitively for the last two years, since I transitioned into maintenance. And I've stayed pretty on target with my maintenance range. But, there's no way I could have done that when I was losing the weight because I hadn't learned the things that I know now. So yes, I do believe someone can be successful eating intuitively, but I think it's a more advanced skill that will come into play further along into the process

dieselbyte wrote: »

girlviernes wrote: »

dieselbyte wrote: »

girlviernes wrote: »

dieselbyte wrote: »

My guess is "intuitive" eating is what got most people here in the first place...

Well your guess is misguided. Intuitive eating is about paying close attention to your hunger and satiety signals and definitely does not include overeating. Most people who are here are regularly taking in more food than the body is signaling for.

I like intuitive eating as a concept a lot. I'm not convinced it is the best way to lose weight, however, because the body is designed for homeostasis so those hunger and satiety signals are most likely to keep you maintaining your weight rather than losing weight. I do think it is helpful to pay attention to those signals and use them as another source of information.

No, my guess isn't misguided. "Intuitive" eating is the latest buzzword, nothing more. Hunger signals are a poor cue to determine whether you need to eat, or stop eating for the matter. Dependent on weight, leptin and ghrelin hormones will be out of whack, and provide even worse hunger cues. And your bolded statement serves to do nothing but invalidate your initial comment.

Not at all. There is a big difference between maintenance of weight and weight loss. One is a process of homeostasis and the other is a process of change. I will agree that there can be hormonal dysregulation especially with excess visceral fat - again, that is a state where weight is already elevated and the goal is weight loss. The average healthy person can maintain a remarkably stable weight through intuitive eating.

Reading comprehension and context seems lacking. The OP posted this in a weight loss thread. My initial comment was about intuitive eating and weight loss. You are arguing maintenance of weight. Again, your statement does nothing but invalidate your argument that my guess is "misguided".

LOL, thanks for the critique of my reading comprehension.

You stated that your "guess" was that intuitive eating is why people are here in the first place. Thus, you are blaming intuitive eating for people becoming overweight and obese, i.e., you were saying that intuitive eating leads to weight gain. I stated that generally speaking people are gaining weight because they aren't following hunger and satiety signals properly (the opposite of intuitive eating). I also stated, however, that it might be hard to lose weight through intuitive eating because those hunger and satiety signals will generally support staying at around the same weight.

maillemaker wrote: »

I see calorie counting as a way back to intuitive eating, reminding me how much food I actually require for my ideal weight, how much hunger is normal, what portions will realistically sate me.

Yup. It is staggering how little food you really should be eating, and you won't know this until you start weighing and counting calories.

I used to eat nuts for a snack. I'd open a jar of them and eat probably 5 or more handfuls as a "snack". Each handful was probably 300 calories. I was eating nearly my entire day's calories as a "snack".

Most people have very poor intuition for how much food they are eating. See this video:

This. One of the biggest, if not the biggest surprise I had when I started counting calories was the expense of nuts. I guess I thought they were magically low on calories because they were good protein sources. I know, stupid. I would eat whole bags of wasabi almonds thinking how healthy I was being. Now I know, and it has become natural to have 15 or so along with a fruit for a medium snack. It would be great if I someday had all foods down to memorization or intuition, but I will be safe for now and use a tracker. There is always surprises like salad dressing that you would think would be low on calories, but is not.

I used intuitive eating to recover from disordered eating. It works...I didn't lose any weight, but I was able to maintain easily, and it helped me tremendously to change the negative ideas I had around food, dieting and weight loss. Now I'm back to keeping my food log so I can lose some weight in a healthy way (we moved to India in December, and with a lifestyle change came some major eating/drinking changes). I do still let my hunger guide my eating, I just try to make a healthier choice mite often (some fruit instead of chocolate, for example). intuitive eating is also really useful when I go out for meals, or to a party...it means I can still enjoy foods/drinks that may not make it into the day to plan, but I don't go wildly overboard and end up face down in the cheese dip!

I bought a book by Josie Spinardi... and it was a revelation. Although I don't think I can trust myself to 'inituativley eat' it's made me a lot kinder to myself and I've stopped thinking that starving is the key to bring slim.

This thread has been so interesting to read. I thought I was the only one with issues with eating intuitively.