Has anyone succeeded with 'intuitive eating' after hitting their weight loss goal?
vpeaches
Posts: 31 Member
MFP has been a great tool in reaching my goal, but I certainly don't want to live the rest of my life logging and minding every single calorie I intake. I have also had a history with disordered eating, so logging isn't something I try/want to be doing obsessively. (I am at a better place with my ED now and have been for years, but I'm weary of doing things that could potentially trigger me.)
After reaching a healthy weight years ago, I find that my journey of logging and reducing my intake has ultimately resulted in me naturally desiring smaller portions, which is great! Nowadays I don't log my food nearly as frequently (maybe twice a month just to check in and confirm that I'm, on average, eating at maintenance). My weight fluctuates around the same 10 lbs or so depending on time of year and my activity level.
However, I have been struggling a bit with 'intuitive eating' during this pandemic, and evidently have been snacking a lot more often than I used to. I weighed myself for the first time in about a month and a half, and have found that I am up nearly 12lbs since my last weigh-in, which means I'm at my highest weight in nearly 5 years. I am a little bit mortified as I was feeling pretty good about my nutrition/portions until seeing that number. It made me realize I need to be a little more honest with myself about whether my intuition is a craving or actual hunger.
I was wondering if anyone could share their experience with intuitive eating, how they manage/keep their weight in check, or whether or not they've found that it either does/doesn't work at all in the long term?
After reaching a healthy weight years ago, I find that my journey of logging and reducing my intake has ultimately resulted in me naturally desiring smaller portions, which is great! Nowadays I don't log my food nearly as frequently (maybe twice a month just to check in and confirm that I'm, on average, eating at maintenance). My weight fluctuates around the same 10 lbs or so depending on time of year and my activity level.
However, I have been struggling a bit with 'intuitive eating' during this pandemic, and evidently have been snacking a lot more often than I used to. I weighed myself for the first time in about a month and a half, and have found that I am up nearly 12lbs since my last weigh-in, which means I'm at my highest weight in nearly 5 years. I am a little bit mortified as I was feeling pretty good about my nutrition/portions until seeing that number. It made me realize I need to be a little more honest with myself about whether my intuition is a craving or actual hunger.
I was wondering if anyone could share their experience with intuitive eating, how they manage/keep their weight in check, or whether or not they've found that it either does/doesn't work at all in the long term?
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Well...when I hit my 70 pound weight loss goal I tried not logging. I gained nearly 20 pounds in six months.
So I went back to logging to lose that 20 pounds THAT I HAD ALREADY LOST ONCE - GRRRRR. I did lose it, but it was not an easy process.
I quit logging again.
Then I stayed pretty steady weight wise for a couple years without logging consistently. I would log if I got more than five pounds heavier and I would try stopping again, but I was near the top of my healthy weight range and I wanted to lose another 15 pounds so I went back to logging daily, using my food scale and the whole thing.
Since I've gotten to my ultimate goal weight I've continued to log. I'm have much better nutrition and I feel more centered when I know the numbers.
For most of the past 14 years I've logged and it's easy and makes my life so much more manageable. For me. There are a few intuitive eaters who are still on this site and in long-term weight management. Only way to know is to try it yourself.
You can always go back to it. 3 -
cmriverside wrote: »Well...when I hit my 70 pound weight loss goal I tried not logging. I gained nearly 20 pounds in six months.
So I went back to logging to lose that 20 pounds THAT I HAD ALREADY LOST ONCE - GRRRRR. I did lose it, but it was not an easy process.
I quit logging again.
Then I stayed pretty steady weight wise for a couple years without logging consistently. I would log if I got more than five pounds heavier and I would try stopping again, but I was near the top of my healthy weight range and I wanted to lose another 15 pounds so I went back to logging daily, using my food scale and the whole thing.
Since I've gotten to my ultimate goal weight I've continued to log. I'm have much better nutrition and I feel more centered when I know the numbers.
For most of the past 14 years I've logged and it's easy and makes my life so much more manageable. For me. There are a few intuitive eaters who are still on this site and in long-term weight management. Only way to know is to try it yourself. You can always go back to it.
14 years, wow!!! Nice commitment! That sounds nuts to me, but I suppose once you make it part of your routine it must be second nature to you by now! Do you find yourself going over your daily allowance often, or does your lifestyle mean that you are always planning meals in advance?0 -
I have been at maintenance for around six months and I see myself logging food for the near future. I’m not 100% strict with it like I was when losing weight, but it keeps me honest with myself. If I lie or don’t log something, it hurts no one but me. It only takes a couple minutes a day for me, so I will just keep doing the only thing that has worked to help me lose the weight.3
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My thinking is that, if I could "eat intuitively," I would never have gotten to be the size that I am. Maybe someday I'll have successfully retrained my brain and gut to eat reasonable portions, but I don't feel like that's something I can count on or reasonably aim for, so I'm not doing that. I'm planning to keep logging as long as I need to, and if that's forever, well, so be it. Maybe someday I can dispense with the food scale and writing down every gram of every ingredient in every dish I cook, but at the same time, maybe not - so my thinking is that it's better not to make that the goal, since I have no intention of losing 100 lbs again. Once is enough, thank you.7
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I would LOVE to be able to do this at some point, but I'm just not there. I actually got the Intuitive Eating book maybe 10 years ago, and the Mindful Diet book a year or 2 ago. Never finished them, but did try to implement some of the techniques.
I was never officially diagnosed, but definitely struggled with binge eating and sought out therapy for it, even attended Overeater's Anonymous meetings for awhile. Mine started from a very restrictive diet as a teenager, and came and went, especially as I tried to restrict myself. So, I can definitely relate to the idea of tracking food regularly as triggering disordered eating and thoughts about food. I was on MFP about 9 years ago and successfully lost weight, but didn't want to track forever, either. My weight would go up and down, and I did try to eat more intuitively and mindfully, and overall make healthier choices most of the time . My weight started to creep up, so while I didn't go back on MFP, I did try the Body Reset diet (which worked).
When COVID hit, I knew I was eating and drinking more than I should have, and my weight was going to be headed upwards again if I didn't do something. I actually wanted to see if I could reach (what I thought at the time) was my "ultimate" weight goal (a loss of about 8 lbs). However, the thought of tracking my food, measuring, etc., started to make me anxious based on my previous restrict/binge cycles. I've been successful, and have even lost more weight since then. I don't do things like measure/weigh food all the time, because for me personally, that may cross over into obsessiveness.
Truthfully, I don't know if I'll be able to be both an intuitive eater and the weight I'd really like to be. I think I could eat intuitively and still be within the normal BMI range, albeit at the higher range. What I would still like to really work on, though, is becoming a more mindful eater. Tracking was actually one way to help me do that, but I'd like to learn to slow down and savor my food a lot more than I do now.1 -
I'm still trying to lose the last few pounds (less than 10) and know that I'll be logging for at least the rest of 2021. I don't know what is intended by intuitive eating but I ate whatever I wanted and was never overweight up until about age 50-51. But since then I've lost weight several times times and promptly gained it all back because I stopped logging and weighing regularly. An alternative is to do a weekly weigh-in and if you're in your preferred range don't log. But as soon as you end up over your max number in the range then start logging for a few weeks to get back on track. I'll probably end up doing that at some point but not until at least 2022.
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I can't eat intuitively but I have maintained for years by eating thoughtfully without logging food.
Don't ignore the middle ground between calorie counting and eating completely intuitively, there's more choices than that.
I realised many, many years ago that as regards food my wants exceeded my needs so I have to exercise a measure of restraint. An experiment with intuitive eating confirmed that - quickly hit my highest ever weight with no sign of the rate of increase slowing down.
But by watching my weight trend and having an inner dialogue about how much and what I eat I can maintain within an acceptable weight range or make slow adjustments downwards if necessary. Being more active and doing far more exercise definitely helps as I get to eat much closer to how I would like.
But I doubt I could manage my weight this way without monitoring it and setting an upper limit that triggers action. To manage my weight I need to know my weight.
Do you have an issue with weighing yourself regularly?
If you do is there a proxy for weight that you could use instead - fit of a favourite pair of jeans or measurements perhaps?0 -
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I think @sijomial brings up a really good point by saying "eating thoughtfully" instead of "eating intuitively."
I think intuition is a really valuable skill in a lot of areas of life. But I don't like the idea that I can only rely on that and not go wrong. My natural inclination, in a lot of areas, is to luxuriate a little bit too much, be a little bit too indulgent, etc. I have the use of my reason, too, and I combine that with my emotions to come to good decision making. But as others have said, if I rely solely on intuition for eating - well, that's how I ended up overweight in the first place.
Maybe, once I have kept the weight off for a while, I will not have to use calorie counting in such an exacting fashion, because some of the habits may be more automatic and I will always be making use of them. That would be good. For me I think about it like a person who, having struggled with punctuality his entire life, decides to purchase a watch or a planner and set alarms to make sure he leaves on time. Maybe eventually he'll stop using the alarms. But it probably wouldn't be a good idea to throw out the watch.2 -
I'm not really logging at this juncture. I am however, as sijomial says, eating thoughtfully. I know roughly how many calories things have and how many I need now. I couldn't get those out of my head if I tried.
As a result I'm... still losing actually, albeit very slowly right now (I'm into vanity weight territory). My habits have legitimately changed in response to the knowledge and the result of THAT and knowledge is just all around sustainability with minimal 'accountability' from an outside source. I don't need the calculator in MFP because I know how many calories I need and roughly how many I ate. Am I likely entirely precise? Nah, but it balances out to a very small deficit and that's fine.
That said my bad habits that got me obese were pretty specific and not deeply psychologically or emotionally rooted (mostly - there was one thing but recognizing that was all I needed). They were just ignorance and apathy. I also have no history of loss and regain or other diets before MFP.1 -
Check out Paul McKenna-he has hypnotic gastric band cd and I can make you thin hypnotic cd0
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cmriverside wrote: »Well...when I hit my 70 pound weight loss goal I tried not logging. I gained nearly 20 pounds in six months.
So I went back to logging to lose that 20 pounds THAT I HAD ALREADY LOST ONCE - GRRRRR. I did lose it, but it was not an easy process.
I quit logging again.
Then I stayed pretty steady weight wise for a couple years without logging consistently. I would log if I got more than five pounds heavier and I would try stopping again, but I was near the top of my healthy weight range and I wanted to lose another 15 pounds so I went back to logging daily, using my food scale and the whole thing.
Since I've gotten to my ultimate goal weight I've continued to log. I'm have much better nutrition and I feel more centered when I know the numbers.
For most of the past 14 years I've logged and it's easy and makes my life so much more manageable. For me. There are a few intuitive eaters who are still on this site and in long-term weight management. Only way to know is to try it yourself. You can always go back to it.
14 years, wow!!! Nice commitment! That sounds nuts to me, but I suppose once you make it part of your routine it must be second nature to you by now! Do you find yourself going over your daily allowance often, or does your lifestyle mean that you are always planning meals in advance?
Well, gee, thanks for calling me nuts.
If you think THAT'S nuts, I also have an Excel workbook where I enter all kinds of things regarding food, my weight, health, exercise, net calories, and other thoughts. I've done that for six years every morning.
So I've maintained my weight at 21-22 BMI for nearly all that time. Actually, for about 12 of those 14 years I've been at that weight after having been a binge eater for many years. I've never been out of the healthy BMI in all of the 14 years except for that first six months when I first hit my weight loss goal. That's something that I would not be able to say if I didn't log. My portions tend to get bigger, I have more snacks - it just doesn't work.
I do still go over my calories, but at least I know it when I do it. When I eat too much ice cream, I can see it right there. 1000 calories over, and 41g of saturated fat OVER. The problem I had when not logging was that I'd just sort of ignore that and then I'd ignore that again next week and the week after it would be cookies or pie or some other thing. Now there's no lying to myself. I still have "over" days, but I don't let them become "over" for twelve days. It's easy to deny the problem when I don't actually see the problem.
As far as planning in advance, no. I usually know what I'm having for dinner after I've had breakfast, but I have about 20 different rotating dinners and I know they are between 400 and 600 calories. I have them set up as Meals on MFP so it's a one-click deal. Same with my breakfasts, they're set up as one-click Meals of 400-600 calories BUT I have to know the portions of them either in my head or look at the screen...so there's that. It takes me no more than 2-3 minutes a day.5 -
@cmriverside , do you happen to have templates for any of those spreadsheets? 1
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@penguinmama87
No.
I change formulas and columns frequently. Right now I have Weigh-in Weight, Calories, Exercise Calories, Net Calories, Running Average (of daily calories,) Deviation from daily goal, Weekly Calorie Total, and Weekly Goal Deviation. Then notes. I don't do graphs, I'm not that into it.
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cmriverside wrote: »@penguinmama87
No.
I change formulas and columns frequently. Right now I have Weigh-in Weight, Calories, Exercise Calories, Net Calories, Running Average (of daily calories,) Deviation from daily goal, Weekly Calorie Total, and Weekly Goal Deviation. Then notes. I don't do graphs, I'm not that into it.
That's helpful! I could easily figure out how to track a lot of those myself. I have been keeping track of calories and weigh ins, but I do like to do deep dives on data collection. It's my nerd version of fun!1 -
penguinmama87 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »@penguinmama87
No.
I change formulas and columns frequently. Right now I have Weigh-in Weight, Calories, Exercise Calories, Net Calories, Running Average (of daily calories,) Deviation from daily goal, Weekly Calorie Total, and Weekly Goal Deviation. Then notes. I don't do graphs, I'm not that into it.
That's helpful! I could easily figure out how to track a lot of those myself. I have been keeping track of calories and weigh ins, but I do like to do deep dives on data collection. It's my nerd version of fun!
It's been immensely helpful to me to go deep in the data collection and review. By doing so I've learned I can easily eat 500 calories per day OVER my allotted goal every day. I also know that if I push that to 800-1500 over one day a week it's not a big deal.
Logging food makes me make sure to eat Enough, not just watching to not go over.
I think all people in recovery from EDs could benefit a lot from learning to eat Enough every day. It stops that binge/restrict unhealthy cycle. The idea that logging food is stressful or obsessive is just part of the Addictive Voice, in my opinion.2 -
I lost 60 lbs two years ago, have kept it off but still log very loosely. I weigh high calorie items such as meat and sweets, but only use guesstimated measurements like cups for low calorie items such as most greens and other low calorie vegetables. By keeping track, although loosely, it gives me peace of mind when I see the scale move up a couple pounds on my daily weigh-ins, I know it's just water and I have not truly gained weight. This has seemed to work for me.
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I'd love to say I can but I can't. Unfortunately, chocolate and I are inseparable. Logging allows me to enjoy a small but reasonable amount of dark chocolate each day. Without being held accountable for my sweet treat, well . . . . let's just not go there, okay?
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Yes and no. I did great for a year-ish. Then depression happened, so 2 years of weight gain. Was getting better. And then covid happened. Now I'm back.2
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A big fat no from me. My intuition wants to eat an entire packet of cookies and a share bar of chocolate. Tried it once after my first year of maintenance - never again!1
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Does everyone feel that intuitive eating and tracking are mutually exclusive? I'm definitely trying right now to "eat to hunger" as an attempt to finally stop the slow weight loss I've been in since entering maintenance a year ago. But, I still track my food in MFP. Tracking to me has a lot of additional benefits - like nutrition info, history for GERD symptoms, etc.
It's like I would still track my spending even if I won the lottery and didn't need to "budget" at all, just because I like having the data and records that tracking spending gives me.4 -
@bold_rabbit I think the problem is that intuitive eating have turned into "eat whatever you want when you want it" instead of the actual sitting down and examining your own hunger singnals and relationship with food that it was supposed to be.
Intuitive eating is just what normal weight people do, the problem for me is that I've trained myself to want the wrong kind of food. When I think about dinner the first thing that flashes in my mind is pizza. That doesn't mean my body needs pizza or that I feel good after eating an entire pizza.1 -
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bold_rabbit wrote: »Does everyone feel that intuitive eating and tracking are mutually exclusive? I'm definitely trying right now to "eat to hunger" as an attempt to finally stop the slow weight loss I've been in since entering maintenance a year ago. But, I still track my food in MFP. Tracking to me has a lot of additional benefits - like nutrition info, history for GERD symptoms, etc.
It's like I would still track my spending even if I won the lottery and didn't need to "budget" at all, just because I like having the data and records that tracking spending gives me.
That would be an interesting comparison - I believe many people who win the lottery end up not much better off financially over time (I think especially if they opt for lump sum payment.) In some ways that's different than weight loss because a person who loses weight generally has some kind of plan - but the plan is sometimes only good for short term loss and isn't adaptable to lifelong maintenance, so they gain it back.
@meeppeepneep I think that's important to remember! I think too though that we need to take into account natural strengths and weaknesses, like the punctuality example I mentioned upthread. I've never really had a problem being on time or, say, being neat and organized, but lots of wonderful people I know struggle with it. They have to do consciously what I can pretty much do subconsciously. But it's not hard for them to just eat until they're satisfied and then stop. And I have a hard time with that. I think I've gotten *better* with it, but I don't think I'm ever going to reach a point where I don't need the tools. It also seems kind of foolish to throw them away when they've worked so well. (Also, I still use things like clocks and a planner and I have a cleaning schedule. I've used it long enough that I have it memorized...but I still have it!)
I think we can kind of make a god out of the notion of "intuitive eating," not realizing that for pretty much anything humans want to get better at, we collect data and analyze it. Even people who are naturally skilled in certain areas often want to improve and don't settle. Not everyone will want to use every tool or find it useful, and that's fine. But even hundreds of years ago it was very common for both men and women to keep journals of their everyday activities to document them, see patterns, make changes based on how they wanted to improve themselves. I don't think at all that we should consider it a shameful habit or weakness to need tools for weight maintenance. In some ways I think maybe the real discipline is being willing to keep on measuring, to some extent, to avoid falling back on bad habits.2 -
Outside of 2020 I've more or less maintained for 8+ years. I put on a good 20 Lbs in 2020 with COVID and being home all the time and everything being closed...some of that was just being bored and overeating, but a big part was that I was just a lot less active than I usually am. I've lost 10 of those Lbs since Feb and took a bit of a diet break in April and will be working on that other 10 in May and June.
I'm not a big believer in "intuitive eating"...I'm not even really sure what that means. I eat well for the most part and value quality nutrition and I'm mindful about eating in general. I typically don't have a whole lot of issue maintaining my weight when I'm active (which I normally am)0 -
An absolute no from me. I intuitively love to eat sweets, especially things like Red Vines that are empty calories. If I don't fit them in and log them, I can easily eat 500 calories/day. If I eat it, I log it. I expect that since I am back to lose weight that I lost 7 years ago, I'll be logging well into maintenance for a while.1
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bold_rabbit wrote: »Does everyone feel that intuitive eating and tracking are mutually exclusive? I'm definitely trying right now to "eat to hunger" as an attempt to finally stop the slow weight loss I've been in since entering maintenance a year ago. But, I still track my food in MFP. Tracking to me has a lot of additional benefits - like nutrition info, history for GERD symptoms, etc.
It's like I would still track my spending even if I won the lottery and didn't need to "budget" at all, just because I like having the data and records that tracking spending gives me.
I personally don't think intuitive eating is compatible with tracking IF you are still weighing and measuring everything with the goal of losing weight or keeping it in check. However, I do think it is compatible with mindful eating, which share some similarities, but I don't think are the exact same. Actually, tracking my food (even though I don't measure and weigh everything), is a way to keep me more mindful, and like you said, make sure I'm getting all the nutrition I need. This is something I have really been trying to get better at--eat more slowly without distraction, savor the food, pay attention to fullness signals, etc.
I recently have just started losing more weight than I wanted to, so have even debated about whether or not I should stop tracking for a few weeks. There is still a mental aspect of it for me when I see I am "close" to target calories. However, I've been tracking now for over a year, so don't want to lose that streak . 1 -
@Speakeasy76
Yesterday, I decided to set my calories on MFP, instead of using their calculation, which is too low. I was concerned that MFP would then change my calorie numbers from Fitbit to compensate (similar to changing activity level would), but I'll need more than one day of data to determine if it does (although yesterday seemed like it didn't).
This hopefully will allow me to keep tracking with a "zero" average deficit goal, but, fingers crossed, no more weight loss.1 -
My intuition tells me that it is much wiser to use MFP and track, measure and stay accountable 🧐😁3
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My experience has been no. (This is going to be a novel I’m sorry.) I lost over 100lbs and then gained 30 back with a second pregnancy. After that time I was so tired of dieting that I turned to IE and legit gained everything back.
It made a lot of sense and I thought that how I ate before going on a diets wasn’t how they set it up so it should bring me to a good weight if I follow it.
Not only was I just as obsessed with food doing IE as when I logged food but it was so much more consuming. Am I hungry? Do I really want this food? Am I restricting if I chose not to eat it? Do I like this? I’m stopping half way through every thing I eat am I am 8? What does a 3 feel like? Did I get too hungry? What is my body craving? Cookies? Do I really want cookies? Is it wanting oatmeal?
That was basically my brain every single day. The issue with IE is it’s great for people who have had a restrictive ED and need weight restoration. It’s great for people who have always been a normal weight and maybe wanted to be smaller for vanity and are okay with being their before weight or slightly higher. For everyone else, it doesn’t seem to be the best.
I’m not sure how big you were or are. I’m just using people like me because that’s what I know. So when your obese you actually make a lot of leptin which is the fullness hormone. You basically become resistant to it. So right off the bat your body isn’t responding to fullness signals. When you diet your body ramps up hunger hormones and lowers fullness hormones it’s true. If you have a lot of fat stores, you produce a lot of leptin.
So a person who say loses 100 lbs has a lot of deflated fat stores. These fat stores still signal the brain to make hunger signals as they want to be filled up again. So people who lose a lot of weight do tend to be a lot more hungry then people naturally of that weight.
That hunger is what led me to IE. I didn’t want to feel like I was so hungry I could eat my arm off. And trust me. I did everything correctly. Had enough protein, complex carbs and fat. Lots of volume with veggies. Strength train. Every trick in the book and I was still starving. Even after a binge when my stomach would be in agony, I would still feel so hungry.
Even when I felt I was doing IE to the best of my ability, I did stop gaining but I never got under my old start weight. I even stopped eating processed foods for a number of months and still was able to maintain my very obese weight with whole foods.
I found out almost a year ago that I have NAFLD. Which I did not have before IE. I think it was a combo of rapidly gaining a huge amount of weight and also the first year of IE, I mainly ate junk food.
Anyway. No. I don’t think IE will allow people to stay at their dieted down weights. I think almost everyone would gain most or all back. I think there are so many factors that are left out in IE. not everyone can afford a therapist or a IE dietician. Modern foods are literally made to be as yummy and not filling but feel addictive as possible. I could go on all day.
You could be different from me of course. This is jut my actual experience doing it. I am losing my IE weight now to help my liver. And honestly I wish I don’t know anything about the body or IE. It was so much easier when I just knew CICO and didn’t know any doom statistics on how many people fail. I’m already super hungry which is annoying but I’ll have to learn to be a little hungry if I want to be healthy.
Logging takes ten minutes at most for me and I don’t have to spend all day wondering if I am at a 3 or a 7 on the hunger scale.
Some might have a different experience. From why I’ve seen in all the IE groups I was in, very few people lost any weight or didn’t gain rather.
I think if you only have to log a few times a month and are keeping your weight in a ten pound range then awesome, keep doing that! When I was maintaining before getting pregnant I didn’t log every day and I was fine. That was probably as close to “IE” as I could get tbh!
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