Intuitive Eating

IsabeausRose
IsabeausRose Posts: 129 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I was wondering what people’s thoughts were on this whether they think it’s good or bad. Listening to your body’s own hunger and fullness cues and by doing so let your body settle to a weight that it finds it functions healthiest at.
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Replies

  • maureenkhilde
    maureenkhilde Posts: 850 Member
    The one and only time I heard of this. Was when I had a very picky toddler who really never seemed to want to eat meals on a schedule. And her Pediatrician stated that if parents would let children eat on their own schedule opposed to forced meal times. There would be more healthy children with less eating issues. But because of society values we have assigned eating times think breakfast, lunch, dinner. That we normally eat at. So often children are given food then, and then food when they ask for it. When they are actually hungry, and so the cycle starts. Of the snacking, overeating and so on. Not for everyone, but for many.

    I think there it is a low percentage of people who follow this, and do it well. But if you are one, go for it.
  • allisonlane161
    allisonlane161 Posts: 269 Member
    Up until the past month, this never would've worked in my life--that's why I got fat. After a few years of tracking what I'm eating, measuring and weighing everything, and taking care of myself fitness wise, I've begun intuitive eating. It's working for me now, so far, and is way less stressful and time consuming. I still measure much of my foods, but haven't tracked it all for about a month. If it stops working, I'll do something differently.
  • mazurkiepolish
    mazurkiepolish Posts: 363 Member
    I personally cannot intuitively eat. If I was trying to maintain my weight I might be fine with it, but with losing it’s too hard and too easy to over eat.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    It works for some not others. Some people can learn after time logging, others can't. Some are somewhere in between, where they might stop logging but come back to it when needed. You have to find what works for you.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited September 2018
    I don't think eating an appropriate amount comes "intuitively" for most people. I believe it's our natural instinct to over-eat, since back before modern day, people (and animals) did not know when they would be able to have another meal. I think maintaining a healthy weight takes conscious effort for most people, especially in this day and age where the majority of people are extremely sedentary and aren't "hunting and gathering" anymore to survive. It is possible to maintain a healthy weight without counting calories of course, and I think learning portion sizes and how to eat a varied, nutritious diet, as well as staying active, all play a role in that, but those are habits you must learn. For me, this all takes effort and doesn't come from my intuition.
  • IsabeausRose
    IsabeausRose Posts: 129 Member
    Ty all. I know I can always come here for sound advice and information. I am realizing that there is a difference between what I “need” and what I “want”. That we as humans may actually be programmed to overeat to prepare for possible famine. That may have been why I’ve put on 17 pounds. I think that MFP nudges us toward healthy eating and gives us guidelines of what we actually need to maintain a healthy weight. I do eat healthy, whole grains and lots of fruit and veggies and lean protein, dairy and dairy alternatives. With the occasional treat because that’s what makes it live able.I’ll be watching my macros and calories again.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    It *can* work, but probably not for everyone.
  • TrishSeren
    TrishSeren Posts: 587 Member
    Personally doesn't work for me because I wildly underestimate how much I am actually eating.
  • Zoejohnse91
    Zoejohnse91 Posts: 227 Member
    I think the rub here is that eating when your body wants to eat is great but most of the time our heads get involved and tell us to eat all the things we shouldn't. So if we ate when our body wanted to and stuck to healthier more nutrious food this might work out well 😄
  • elsie6hickman
    elsie6hickman Posts: 3,864 Member
    I'm intuitive about a lot of things, but I cannot trust my body to tell me when it is hungry, for real. Being hungry means that you would eat anything, but most of the time, my emotions are talking, not my body.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    meagan8376 wrote: »
    I don't see anything bad with intuitive eating, it shows that you have a good relationship with food and better habits now.

    When you state an opinion you should make it obvious. I don't think there is any good reason to aspire to eat intuitively. Calories are easy to track these days so why resist it and risk becoming one of the large percentage of people who gain weight or regain weight?

    Feeling superior isn't a good enough reason for you? :tongue:

    To answer the original question, intuitive eating doesn't work for me. After losing 65 pounds and regaining 40 'intuitively' I'm ok with logging, at least loosely, for the for foreseeable future.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    meagan8376 wrote: »
    I don't see anything bad with intuitive eating, it shows that you have a good relationship with food and better habits now.

    When you state an opinion you should make it obvious. I don't think there is any good reason to aspire to eat intuitively. Calories are easy to track these days so why resist it and risk becoming one of the large percentage of people who gain weight or regain weight?

    I agree. If a person feels that tracking isn't a good fit for them, and is able to manage their weight by other means, that's what they should do. But it doesn't signal a better relationship with food over a person who tracks, or sticks to a specific diet, or manages their calories any other way. I could probably maintain my weight eating intuitively, but I would be in a constant state of anxiety over the potential for back-sliding into regaining the weight I lost. I spend a few minutes a day tracking, and have no anxiety about it. I don't demonize any food or stress over nutrition (I can check on my goals any time), and have a perfectly healthy relationship with food. I consider having learned to monitor my calories my best habit.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    meagan8376 wrote: »
    I don't see anything bad with intuitive eating, it shows that you have a good relationship with food and better habits now.

    My mom struggles to stay out of Underweight with intuitive eating.
  • debtay123
    debtay123 Posts: 1,327 Member
    I can not do this because I will usually over eat- I do better to track and log- it is just what I need to do right now and possible for good-
  • stephanieturner0122
    stephanieturner0122 Posts: 18 Member
    At least 60% of Americans are overweight or obese. They are addicted to fat, sugar, and salt, and completely out of touch with what foods are healthy. They do not understand appropriate portion sizes. Intuitive eating for anyone who is overweight makes about as much sense as intuitive drinking when you're an alcoholic.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    Intuitive eating is what led me to being overweight to begin with. Now I suffer from PTSD and am always restless and forcing myself to eat when I am not hungry more often than being hungry so would most likely lead me to undereating. If it works for you then that is great. I just don't think it would work with many, as shown by high obesity levels in western society.
  • allisonlane161
    allisonlane161 Posts: 269 Member
    VUA21 wrote: »
    I can intuitively eat at maintenance (took a good 6 months to teach myself how to).

    I cannot intuitively eat for weight loss, I tend to reduce my calories too drastically. Therefore, I use MFP to help me so that I can remain a proper (.5lb/week or ~250 Cal/day) deficit for a healthy fat loss.

    Most people are on MFP because they cannot eat intuitively for thier goals (weight loss, maintenance, or gain). There's nothing wrong with that as MFP is simply a tool to help make our lives a little easier. No different than any other tool we use in our lives.

    THIS. Intuitive eating is great for me for maintaining. I cannot do it for losing. I truly find I think about food less when eating intuitively, and I like that. I recognize it is a mind game. I learned a lot of tools over the years from WW and MFP, and it's nice being able to employ them without thinking about it while maintaining.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    I would love to be able to, and maybe someday I will. Right now, I doubt that could do it.

  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    Our body's hunger and fullness cues developed when food was scarce and we were spending all our time looking for food and the most caloric of it too thousands of years ago.
    I wouldn't trust them with my life.
  • amyepdx
    amyepdx Posts: 750 Member
    elsie6hickman wrote: »
    I'm intuitive about a lot of things, but I cannot trust my body to tell me when it is hungry, for real. Being hungry means that you would eat anything, but most of the time, my emotions are talking, not my body.

    This! I intuitively ate 3/4 of a box of Wheat Thins Monday night.
  • Basilin
    Basilin Posts: 360 Member
    edited September 2018
    Hm, it seems nuture is being downplayed quite a bit for the role in learning to eat intuitively. It is not entirely in our nature to eat poorly - I hope that would be obvious.

    Intuitive doesn’t mean on impulse. However, learning to interpret your body’s signals is a skill that only becomes intuitive with habit and experience. Many people have not been taught how to interpret these signals in a way that promotes health - or, in my more paranoid view, some of those skills have actively been destroyed in the American psyche to promote consumerism (reading J.R. Galbraith’s The Affluent Society is enlightening).

    I find it interesting how Americans have a prejudice about “cleaning the plate”, or at least many of us grew up that way. A study I read once compared American and French eaters in how they decided to stop eating - a bowl of soup constantly filled as they ate it, and the study measured how much was consumed. Americans ate much more, and in a questionnaire told the researchers they knew to stop eating when the bowl was empty, where the French participants said they knew to stop eating when they were full.

    http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23449358/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/stop-when-youre-full-you-must-be-french/

    This is just one example, but I believe much of our eating habits are culturally determined, not just biological. I feel lucky that my parents did well in teaching me good eating habits, and my weight issues are much less severe than many of my peers, despite being subject to much of the same pressures of overconsumption and many, many incentives and opportunities to make poor decisions about food.

    Eating intuitively to me means being able to know what I need without requiring external input - whether that leads to a poor food decision or a good one depends on how attuned I am to my body and previous experiences with food.

    I feel maybe 80% confident in my intuitive sense about food, and that 20% of doubt has to do with all the unknowns about a different way of living because I am entrenched in my habits. Even when I try to break and form new ones, I am surprised how many options I am blind to, or would never believe as possible.

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