Intuitive Eating
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I should add that I'm skeptical that humans naturally ate until they weren't hungry and maintained that way. It doesn't surprise me that only a minority of humans in the situation of plenty that we are in today are good at it.
Over most of human history it wasn't an issue--scarcity was. When there was excess food letting it go to waste because not hungry would have been a bad idea. Sure, we learned to preserve food, but we also were flexible in our eating schedules, likely feasting in some seasons and on some days and fasting (or eating much less) on others.
Even in more developed societies where food was more consistently available people tended to control food consumption through culture--regular eating times and developed ideas about when and how and what to eat--and not simple instinct. That to me is more consistent with how human beings are about all sorts of things than this idea that we just naturally should regulate our eating perfectly.
So it doesn't really bother me or make me think there's something wrong with me (vs. a "naturally" thin person) that I have to be mindful of my food choices.
I do think it's interesting how people differ on whether they are driven by hunger/satiety more strongly or not. I have mentioned this before, but I have two cats--and yes domesticated cats who are fed aren't really in a natural environment--and one of them regulates his eating perfectly. He seems to have hungry days and non hungry days, and he also seems to get super active before mealtimes, as if he is simulating hunting. The other one (who struggles with his weight, which of course means we struggle with trying to keep him from being obese) loves food and will overeat if given an opportunity. He also seems--could be imagining this, but I don't think so--to eat when stressed/upset, and if you feed him less he becomes less active. Sigh.0 -
When I was thin, I did not eat when hungry and stop when full. I ate at my assigned meal times and if I liked the food I ate it, if I didn't, I just didn't eat. Instead, I'd eat at the next meal.
Pretty much this, too.
"Naturally thin" people have a very, very different relationship with food than "naturally obese" people. They eat because it's mealtime. They eat about what they think, mentally, they SHOULD eat. If they don't like what's there, they'll just..not eat for a while. And it's no big deal.
I usually lost 2-5lbs at summer camp every year because I didn't much care for the food.
Watching "naturally thin" kids versus "naturally fat" kids is interesting.
Two extremes:
My daughter (a "natural thin") was holding her belly today and looking dejected. I asked, "What's wrong? Is your tummy upset?" "No. I'm hungry, but I can't think of what to eat!" Now, the house is full of stuff she LIKES to eat just fine. She just couldn't think of anything at that moment that was worth the effort of getting up and getting it out and eating it despite the fact that it was 2pm and she hadn't eaten all day. I made her a grilled cheese sandwich, and she went on her way, but to her, being on the lighter side of "naturally skinny" in terms of her attitudes towards food, the cost of physical hunger was less than the cost of going to the effort of eating something she was less than enthusiastic about.
To her, food is an inconvenience in life that you have to put up with, aside from the occasional treat. Even with unlimited access to treats, though, the excitement quickly wanes.
In addition, my kids will never walk if they can run or skip. They'll choose the outdoor thing before the indoor. They even turn TV into a cardio event.
The neighbors have a "naturally fat" kid. He LOVES food. Everything to him--every trip, every event, everything--is centered around what he can eat there. Taking him to a potluck is horrific because he literally spends the entire time shoveling as much food into his body as he possibly can, and if he's restricted, he tries to sneak food. He lies about what he's eaten. He rummages in neighbors' pantries. He hides food. He'll wake up super-early to get in an extra breakfast before anyone else is awake, go back to bed, then wake up and pretend he hasn't had anything. He'll get three slices of pizza and with each one will loudly proclaim that he hasn't eaten ANYTHING ELSE that day (even though he just finished a full meal less than half an hour ago).
To him, food is the most important thing in life. It's more important than friends, family, games, trips, absolutely anything. If he has one love, it's food.
In addition, he will never run when he can walk. He will always choose to be inside rather than outside. He sits in front of a TV or video game like a zombie.
My "naturally thin" kids are not only allowed free range of the kitchen, they get yelled at regularly for not eating when there is something more fun to do, and they are FORCED to stop playing and put some food into their bodies. They are in the 25th to 40th percentile on BMI for their ages. (5th to 84th is healthy range!)
My neighbor's "naturally fat" kids are supposed to eat no more than what is in the meal plan at certain times a day. One kid is obese, and the other is within spitting distance of obese.
Some of these behaviors were entirely trained into the kids by their parents. The other family puts a HUGE emphasis on food and usually constant rewards preschoolers with food and encourages them to eat non-stop. They substituted food for attention in the kids' early years. Both parents are obese, and neither value athleticism for its own sake, nor do they hold activity in any particular place of importance. Their recreation is ALWAYS sedentary.
We put extremely little emphasis on food. When we travel, we normally pack or make 2 out of 3 meals. We always carry a cooler so we can have "our own" breakfasts and either lunch or dinner (depending on the vacation). We also pack our own "healthy-ish" snacks--we don't make a big point of them being "healthy", but they're things that won't make us feel sick (from eating more fats than our bodies are used to) or sluggish (from being so calorie-dense that they upset our stomachs). Our vacations are ALWAYS centered around physical exertion of some sort. Even if we're seeing a city, we do tons of walking. We consider that a normal part of a vacation and not something in need of an extra reward or an extra rest (which is what the neighbors do).
I routinely modify recipes by doubling the veg and slashing the fats. Our "desserts" are most often smoothies with fruit and a tiny bit of sugar or honey, if we have them, and if we have something more, the adults trade off dinner calories for dessert calories--"Remember to leave room for the XYZ!"
The neighbors, when they modify recipes, add more fats and sugars. They have a lot of dessert on top of their meals more days--and it's a pure addition. They say things like, "Butter is natural and margarine is not" or "Yeah, it has a lot of oil, but it's olive oil, so it's a healthy oil" and emphasize making "good food" from scratch. They eat only a few vegetables and never add more.0 -
I've been 6'9" and 180 pounds and I've been 6'9" and 335 pounds. I am naturally thin or naturally obese?MamaBirdBoss wrote: »When I was thin, I did not eat when hungry and stop when full. I ate at my assigned meal times and if I liked the food I ate it, if I didn't, I just didn't eat. Instead, I'd eat at the next meal.
Pretty much this, too.
"Naturally thin" people have a very, very different relationship with food than "naturally obese" people. They eat because it's mealtime. They eat about what they think, mentally, they SHOULD eat. If they don't like what's there, they'll just..not eat for a while. And it's no big deal.
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No one is "naturally thin." Their relationship with food and activity level is, as you said, just better than those who are or have been overweight. I'm in maintenance and I don't count calories. I also recognize that because of a period in my life when I didn't have enough to eat, I can't leave food on the plate. So for me, its not really about eating until I'm full and stop. I just make pretty good decisions in what I choose to eat and how I fill my plate and it all seems to balance out. I've been around the same weight range for almost 2 years and am very active. You don't have to count for the rest of your life.
That's good to hear. I usually never leave foodon my plate. I have to also learn to just put enough on my plate to satisfy me.0 -
I sortta do that now, but I still log to make sure I'm on track. Do I go over sometimes? Yes, especially when we have a special dinner. Which is why I still log. It's not 100% accurate, but it gives me an idea where I am and where I can go for the day, and keeps me from eating too much most of the time. Is that intuitive eating? I dunno, I just know that this what works for me. What works for you might be something different. The trick is to retrain your brain and body, which is still something I'm working on!
I think retraining is the key because right now I also eat fast. I have been learning to eat slower.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »I should add that I'm skeptical that humans naturally ate until they weren't hungry and maintained that way. It doesn't surprise me that only a minority of humans in the situation of plenty that we are in today are good at it.
Over most of human history it wasn't an issue--scarcity was. When there was excess food letting it go to waste because not hungry would have been a bad idea. Sure, we learned to preserve food, but we also were flexible in our eating schedules, likely feasting in some seasons and on some days and fasting (or eating much less) on others.
Even in more developed societies where food was more consistently available people tended to control food consumption through culture--regular eating times and developed ideas about when and how and what to eat--and not simple instinct. That to me is more consistent with how human beings are about all sorts of things than this idea that we just naturally should regulate our eating perfectly.
So it doesn't really bother me or make me think there's something wrong with me (vs. a "naturally" thin person) that I have to be mindful of my food choices.
I do think it's interesting how people differ on whether they are driven by hunger/satiety more strongly or not. I have mentioned this before, but I have two cats--and yes domesticated cats who are fed aren't really in a natural environment--and one of them regulates his eating perfectly. He seems to have hungry days and non hungry days, and he also seems to get super active before mealtimes, as if he is simulating hunting. The other one (who struggles with his weight, which of course means we struggle with trying to keep him from being obese) loves food and will overeat if given an opportunity. He also seems--could be imagining this, but I don't think so--to eat when stressed/upset, and if you feed him less he becomes less active. Sigh.
That's interesting. Growing up, I ate what we had, which wasn't much at times and wasn't overweight. Only when I had access to more food did I eat more. I don't know if it's learned or what. I know though, that I can relearn and change my ways.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »
I've been 6'9" and 180 pounds and I've been 6'9" and 335 pounds. I am naturally thin or naturally obese?MamaBirdBoss wrote: »When I was thin, I did not eat when hungry and stop when full. I ate at my assigned meal times and if I liked the food I ate it, if I didn't, I just didn't eat. Instead, I'd eat at the next meal.
Pretty much this, too.
"Naturally thin" people have a very, very different relationship with food than "naturally obese" people. They eat because it's mealtime. They eat about what they think, mentally, they SHOULD eat. If they don't like what's there, they'll just..not eat for a while. And it's no big deal.
You can't tell from someone's weight, if they are in a healthy range, what their attitude toward food is. They might be a "constant checker." My husband has TERRIBLE food habits learned from his parents (and was once obese for his race while not even realizing that he'd gained 30lbs in 9 months!), and that's how he stays lean. He checks himself in the mirror and against his clothes every night and adapts his food plans for the next week accordingly.
I'm calling "naturally thin" people who stay in the low part of the healthy range without any conscious restriction of diet.
I'm calling "naturally obese" people who gain quickly when they are not conscious about what they are eating or pay close attention to the fit of their clothes or the scale.
I have quotes for a reason. These are all based on learned and adopted behaviors, not inborn metabolic differences.
Most people are neither "naturally thin" nor "naturally obese" to either extreme. Most are habituated eaters with slight hedonistic but not exaggerated tendencies. And MOST people gain weight predictably over years as their activity levels drop, their lean mass declines, and their intake stays just a little too high.
When I workout a lot, I lean a little toward "naturally" thin, meaning that can eat "whatever I want" and be slim then because I just don't want eat that much. But I also have never had the "meh, food, who cares?" attitude that people who don't ever gain weight tend to maintain. And on low levels of activity, I get quite fat!0 -
whether or not this would work would depend on the individual, I suppose. I, for example, can probably count on one hand the number of times I've actually felt hungry and have often actually forgotten to eat for days at a time when I've been so busy that I would have needed to feel hungry in order to remember I've gone without food for an extended period of time. I also very rarely ever feel full, regardless of how much I've eaten. I'm a bottomless pit at weddings and buffets. I've reached the point where I looked like I was about 7 months gestation and had to change into a different dress so I'd have room to be able to dance after the dinner at a wedding reception. I didn't feel any different, though. I think my "feelers" are broken. I wonder if there could be some connection to the fact that I don't seem to feel pain like normal people either (for example, at no point would I rate my kidney donation surgery/recovery experience as causing anything beyond VERY mild discomfort about on par with stubbing one's toe). Anyhoo....I think if i didn't count calories for the sake of remembering to eat enough on most days (since buffets and weddings are few and far between, i don't care much if i overdo it on those days) and just tried to rely on eating when hungry, I'd probably end up not so healthy. Sure would be more convenient, though, so I hope it works for you!0
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So kind of the opposite of "natural."MamaBirdBoss wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
I've been 6'9" and 180 pounds and I've been 6'9" and 335 pounds. I am naturally thin or naturally obese?MamaBirdBoss wrote: »When I was thin, I did not eat when hungry and stop when full. I ate at my assigned meal times and if I liked the food I ate it, if I didn't, I just didn't eat. Instead, I'd eat at the next meal.
Pretty much this, too.
"Naturally thin" people have a very, very different relationship with food than "naturally obese" people. They eat because it's mealtime. They eat about what they think, mentally, they SHOULD eat. If they don't like what's there, they'll just..not eat for a while. And it's no big deal.
These are all based on learned and adopted behaviors, not inborn metabolic differences.
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MamaBirdBoss wrote: »When I was thin, I did not eat when hungry and stop when full. I ate at my assigned meal times and if I liked the food I ate it, if I didn't, I just didn't eat. Instead, I'd eat at the next meal.
Pretty much this, too.
"Naturally thin" people have a very, very different relationship with food than "naturally obese" people. They eat because it's mealtime. They eat about what they think, mentally, they SHOULD eat. If they don't like what's there, they'll just..not eat for a while. And it's no big deal.
I usually lost 2-5lbs at summer camp every year because I didn't much care for the food.
Watching "naturally thin" kids versus "naturally fat" kids is interesting.
Two extremes:
My daughter (a "natural thin") was holding her belly today and looking dejected. I asked, "What's wrong? Is your tummy upset?" "No. I'm hungry, but I can't think of what to eat!" Now, the house is full of stuff she LIKES to eat just fine. She just couldn't think of anything at that moment that was worth the effort of getting up and getting it out and eating it despite the fact that it was 2pm and she hadn't eaten all day. I made her a grilled cheese sandwich, and she went on her way, but to her, being on the lighter side of "naturally skinny" in terms of her attitudes towards food, the cost of physical hunger was less than the cost of going to the effort of eating something she was less than enthusiastic about.
To her, food is an inconvenience in life that you have to put up with, aside from the occasional treat. Even with unlimited access to treats, though, the excitement quickly wanes.
In addition, my kids will never walk if they can run or skip. They'll choose the outdoor thing before the indoor. They even turn TV into a cardio event.
The neighbors have a "naturally fat" kid. He LOVES food. Everything to him--every trip, every event, everything--is centered around what he can eat there. Taking him to a potluck is horrific because he literally spends the entire time shoveling as much food into his body as he possibly can, and if he's restricted, he tries to sneak food. He lies about what he's eaten. He rummages in neighbors' pantries. He hides food. He'll wake up super-early to get in an extra breakfast before anyone else is awake, go back to bed, then wake up and pretend he hasn't had anything. He'll get three slices of pizza and with each one will loudly proclaim that he hasn't eaten ANYTHING ELSE that day (even though he just finished a full meal less than half an hour ago).
To him, food is the most important thing in life. It's more important than friends, family, games, trips, absolutely anything. If he has one love, it's food.
In addition, he will never run when he can walk. He will always choose to be inside rather than outside. He sits in front of a TV or video game like a zombie.
My "naturally thin" kids are not only allowed free range of the kitchen, they get yelled at regularly for not eating when there is something more fun to do, and they are FORCED to stop playing and put some food into their bodies. They are in the 25th to 40th percentile on BMI for their ages. (5th to 84th is healthy range!)
My neighbor's "naturally fat" kids are supposed to eat no more than what is in the meal plan at certain times a day. One kid is obese, and the other is within spitting distance of obese.
Some of these behaviors were entirely trained into the kids by their parents. The other family puts a HUGE emphasis on food and usually constant rewards preschoolers with food and encourages them to eat non-stop. They substituted food for attention in the kids' early years. Both parents are obese, and neither value athleticism for its own sake, nor do they hold activity in any particular place of importance. Their recreation is ALWAYS sedentary.
We put extremely little emphasis on food. When we travel, we normally pack or make 2 out of 3 meals. We always carry a cooler so we can have "our own" breakfasts and either lunch or dinner (depending on the vacation). We also pack our own "healthy-ish" snacks--we don't make a big point of them being "healthy", but they're things that won't make us feel sick (from eating more fats than our bodies are used to) or sluggish (from being so calorie-dense that they upset our stomachs). Our vacations are ALWAYS centered around physical exertion of some sort. Even if we're seeing a city, we do tons of walking. We consider that a normal part of a vacation and not something in need of an extra reward or an extra rest (which is what the neighbors do).
I routinely modify recipes by doubling the veg and slashing the fats. Our "desserts" are most often smoothies with fruit and a tiny bit of sugar or honey, if we have them, and if we have something more, the adults trade off dinner calories for dessert calories--"Remember to leave room for the XYZ!"
The neighbors, when they modify recipes, add more fats and sugars. They have a lot of dessert on top of their meals more days--and it's a pure addition. They say things like, "Butter is natural and margarine is not" or "Yeah, it has a lot of oil, but it's olive oil, so it's a healthy oil" and emphasize making "good food" from scratch. They eat only a few vegetables and never add more.
Wow. I saw myself in some of your description of the naturally fat kid.0 -
No, I totally agree with you. There will be times when there is too much food on the plate. I've run across this already and ended up eating it all. Then I'm uncomfortably full and have to make adjustments elsewhere.AnnaBellQ14 wrote: »I agree. Unless you want to weigh every little bitfor the of food for the rest of your life, which some people do but I really do not, you will have to learn how to eat without the scale at some point. Why not now?
I haven't read any Intuitive Eating books, but from what I read here it sounds like this is, "Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full," which makes sense to me. A lot of people have mentioned that they do it and like it.
I go a day without checking calories and then log everything at the end of the day or the next morning. I can usually tell by how I'm feeling if I was way under, under, over or way over the goal, but am still working on single days. I find that I'm still focusing on the portions and calories as I dish stuff up. Hadn't planned to, but it's hard to stop, lol. This transition - tougher than I'd imagined! I'm glad I started early and have time.
The plan is to stretch these no-logging periods out further and further so that when I'm done losing I am not saying, "What do I do now?!" but am prepared to live my life, having learned to eat without the crutch of the scale. Like intuitive eating.
I don't know about leaving food on the plate, lol. I always ate all the food because I was chowing. Now, I eat all the food because if I'm counting those calories, I'm sure as hell eating them! I am going to have practice leaving food on the plate. Thanks for bringing that up!
I don't really give my hunger numbers, but I started paying attention to eating when I was hungry around the time I began all this, so I kind of have that part down.
The vast majority of people are not weighing food. They're no smarter than I am. I can figure this out, too.
Maybe I can start earlier, I have to think on this. I want to be also ready for the transition. You don't necessarily have to leave food on the plate, but I think that's part of the process.
Learning to leave food is a thing, for sure. I'm glad you brought it up. I needed to think about it! I just don't know how I'll go about it. Maybe "Put down the fork" is the best advice, lol.
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AnnaBellQ14 wrote: »I sortta do that now, but I still log to make sure I'm on track. Do I go over sometimes? Yes, especially when we have a special dinner. Which is why I still log. It's not 100% accurate, but it gives me an idea where I am and where I can go for the day, and keeps me from eating too much most of the time. Is that intuitive eating? I dunno, I just know that this what works for me. What works for you might be something different. The trick is to retrain your brain and body, which is still something I'm working on!
I think retraining is the key because right now I also eat fast. I have been learning to eat slower.
Yeah, eating slower will help. I learned to eat fast because my dad was in the Navy, and military eating times are very short, so you have to eat fast! It's something I still have trouble with, but I've had time to retrain my brain into seeing what a normal portion is, so now it's not so bad if I eat a little faster because I've given myself a normal portion of food, and when I'm done, I normally don't go back for more. It takes time, so you'll have to be patient and not beat yourself up over an occasional off day. If you screw up one day, it's ok. Log it and start fresh the next day. Once I convinced myself of that, it became much easier!
@MamaBirdBoss: Totally agree! Growing up, my parents did put emphasis on eating healthy, every dinner had to have veggies as well as meat, and while it wasn't always the healthiest of meals, it was balanced. My dad planted a garden to help save money, so we ended up eating lots of fresh veggies, as well as had to help in the garden. Plus, we spent a lot of time outdoors, especially in summer. To us, playing inside was when you did when the weather was bad, and that didn't include TV. My sister and I would play pretend in the den, play music and make up dances for it, reenact favorite movies, and so on. Because we were so active, the fact that we didn't have perfect diet wasn't a problem. We didn't demonize foods, but cakes and candies were for special events, not everyday things. Eating out was an occasional treat, not every night. Yes, holidays included a lot of food, but again, those were special events. The problem I had as an adult was when I stopped being as active but didn't cut back on the amount of food I ate. So a lot of it comes down to how your family views food and eating, and what you're taught as a kid.0 -
AnnaBellQ14 wrote: »I know though, that I can relearn and change my ways.
Depends. You seem to be focused on this idea that you can teach yourself to rely on hunger signals. Maybe you can, but that assumes that hunger signals are closely linked to what you actually should be eating to maintain your weight, and I see no reason to assume they are, in everyone or even most people. (In some, yes, they seem to be, but I don't think that's learned.)
What I think you can learn is how to recognize what an appropriate size is for you (depending on what you are eating). But I'm not sure that's properly called "intuitive eating" and for many I suspect it's not much about hunger. In fact, my hunger is strongly habitual. When I'm used to eating at a particular time I am hungry at that time. When I don't expect food at that time, I'm not hungry at that time.
Anyway, I find it interesting how people differ on this.
Like DeguelloTex I'm skeptical about this "naturally fat" and "naturally thin" thing as in periods of my life I've been fat and in periods thin or average, without thinking much about it. Re:Most people are neither "naturally thin" nor "naturally obese" to either extreme. Most are habituated eaters with slight hedonistic but not exaggerated tendencies. And MOST people gain weight predictably over years as their activity levels drop, their lean mass declines, and their intake stays just a little too high.
I tend to agree, at least at first blush.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
So kind of the opposite of "natural."MamaBirdBoss wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
I've been 6'9" and 180 pounds and I've been 6'9" and 335 pounds. I am naturally thin or naturally obese?MamaBirdBoss wrote: »When I was thin, I did not eat when hungry and stop when full. I ate at my assigned meal times and if I liked the food I ate it, if I didn't, I just didn't eat. Instead, I'd eat at the next meal.
Pretty much this, too.
"Naturally thin" people have a very, very different relationship with food than "naturally obese" people. They eat because it's mealtime. They eat about what they think, mentally, they SHOULD eat. If they don't like what's there, they'll just..not eat for a while. And it's no big deal.
These are all based on learned and adopted behaviors, not inborn metabolic differences.
LOL. That's why the quotes. If you want to use another word, you can, but I'm trying to actually describe the differences that lead to people honestly observing that others simply don't fight food the way that they do. Unconscious? Automatic? You can pick.
I'm actually keeping a bit of a hawk's eye on my daughter because she has a weight-obsessed friend (who herself is in a VERY healthy weight, BTW) who is constantly acting jealous of my daughter being thinner, and it makes my daughter think that thinner=better a bit. Since she is SOOOO indifferent to food, she could get into anorexia pretty easily.
During my weight loss, I'm constantly emphasizing my FITNESS improvements to my daughter. And our daughter gets praised all the time for doing physical things well--her first chin up, her push ups, how far she can walk, how fast she can run, etc. We entirely ignore her weight--never mention it at all. She'll dress up in toddler clothes because that impresses her friend (that they fit in the waist in torso), and I'll just say, "Oh, that's so funny, but your own clothes make you look so much nicer!" And she gets told she looks "pretty" when she brushes her hair well and smells nice, LOL, and is in clean clothes.0 -
No, I totally agree with you. There will be times when there is too much food on the plate. I've run across this already and ended up eating it all. Then I'm uncomfortably full and have to make adjustments elsewhere.AnnaBellQ14 wrote: »I agree. Unless you want to weigh every little bitfor the of food for the rest of your life, which some people do but I really do not, you will have to learn how to eat without the scale at some point. Why not now?
I haven't read any Intuitive Eating books, but from what I read here it sounds like this is, "Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full," which makes sense to me. A lot of people have mentioned that they do it and like it.
I go a day without checking calories and then log everything at the end of the day or the next morning. I can usually tell by how I'm feeling if I was way under, under, over or way over the goal, but am still working on single days. I find that I'm still focusing on the portions and calories as I dish stuff up. Hadn't planned to, but it's hard to stop, lol. This transition - tougher than I'd imagined! I'm glad I started early and have time.
The plan is to stretch these no-logging periods out further and further so that when I'm done losing I am not saying, "What do I do now?!" but am prepared to live my life, having learned to eat without the crutch of the scale. Like intuitive eating.
I don't know about leaving food on the plate, lol. I always ate all the food because I was chowing. Now, I eat all the food because if I'm counting those calories, I'm sure as hell eating them! I am going to have practice leaving food on the plate. Thanks for bringing that up!
I don't really give my hunger numbers, but I started paying attention to eating when I was hungry around the time I began all this, so I kind of have that part down.
The vast majority of people are not weighing food. They're no smarter than I am. I can figure this out, too.
Maybe I can start earlier, I have to think on this. I want to be also ready for the transition. You don't necessarily have to leave food on the plate, but I think that's part of the process.
Learning to leave food is a thing, for sure. I'm glad you brought it up. I needed to think about it! I just don't know how I'll go about it. Maybe "Put down the fork" is the best advice, lol.
My husband will eat my food until he's sick if I leave it. We just eat off TINY plates (8" and 6.5" square), and I go back for a little more if I'm actually hungry!0 -
The satiety scale wouldn't work for me. I've had a lifetime of pretending to myself that I've not eaten too much! Since you're happy to slide into goal slowly why don't you set your calorie goal to the amount you'd be allowed for maintenance if you were already at your goal weight and eat at that rate (might even be similar to what you're eating already at your current deficit) and then you'd have this last year actually eating the portion sizes you need to learn for maintenance once you're done. You could always boost loss with extra exercise if it's coming off too slowly doing that. I think the temptation must be to sneak in what we'd consider 'non-diet foods' a bit too frequently once we consider we've finished.0
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That's why the person put quotation marks around the word.DeguelloTex wrote: »
So kind of the opposite of "natural."MamaBirdBoss wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
I've been 6'9" and 180 pounds and I've been 6'9" and 335 pounds. I am naturally thin or naturally obese?MamaBirdBoss wrote: »When I was thin, I did not eat when hungry and stop when full. I ate at my assigned meal times and if I liked the food I ate it, if I didn't, I just didn't eat. Instead, I'd eat at the next meal.
Pretty much this, too.
"Naturally thin" people have a very, very different relationship with food than "naturally obese" people. They eat because it's mealtime. They eat about what they think, mentally, they SHOULD eat. If they don't like what's there, they'll just..not eat for a while. And it's no big deal.
These are all based on learned and adopted behaviors, not inborn metabolic differences.
The whole point is that people who appear to be naturally thin or naturally fat only seem that way because of behaviors, not that their bodies work differently.0 -
Lots of thin people worry about calories. I was thin for the first 35 years (m/l) of my life. While I didn't count calories, I did pay attention to them. And when I put on a few pounds, I cut back to get them back off. This is actually how everyone I know who was/is thin stayed/stays thin. They nip weight gain in the bud quickly.
I'd bet there are actually very few people who are thin and never think about calories.0 -
Except that that's done by putting quotes around the odd usage, not the whole thing. "Naturally" obese. "Naturally" thin. Thin and obese are used in their normal sense.
That's why the OP put quotation marks around the word.DeguelloTex wrote: »
So kind of the opposite of "natural."MamaBirdBoss wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
I've been 6'9" and 180 pounds and I've been 6'9" and 335 pounds. I am naturally thin or naturally obese?MamaBirdBoss wrote: »When I was thin, I did not eat when hungry and stop when full. I ate at my assigned meal times and if I liked the food I ate it, if I didn't, I just didn't eat. Instead, I'd eat at the next meal.
Pretty much this, too.
"Naturally thin" people have a very, very different relationship with food than "naturally obese" people. They eat because it's mealtime. They eat about what they think, mentally, they SHOULD eat. If they don't like what's there, they'll just..not eat for a while. And it's no big deal.
These are all based on learned and adopted behaviors, not inborn metabolic differences.
The whole point is that people who appear to be naturally thin or naturally fat look that way because of behaviors, not that their bodies work differently.
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intuitive eating got me to 250+ pounds LOLOL
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