Intuitive eating - share your experience!

[Anonymous]

I'd love to hear from anyone who has learned and implemented intuitive eating as a longterm practice and been really pleased with the results. I've been reading a lot about it and it makes so much sense to me, and seems to have been longterm transformative for many people. Would love to hear some firsthand accounts, if there are any around. (It's possible that no one who practices intuitive eating is here in a "diets" forum, but asking in case...)

[Anonymous]

OK, not everything is A Thing. This is just life for many of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, not everything is A Thing. This is just life for many of us.

Yes, this.

I eat, usually two meals a day, sometimes three, occasionally a snack. I'm mindful of what my parents taught me about eating, which is to eat more fruits and veggies (I prefer veggies, DH prefers fruit, so sometimes we eat the same meals, sometimes different).

[Anonymous]

Well I would hope “intuitive eating” made sense to you. The problem is if you need to diet your intuition around food is what’s led you here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, not everything is A Thing. This is just life for many of us.

Yes, this.

I eat, usually two meals a day, sometimes three, occasionally a snack. I'm mindful of what my parents taught me about eating, which is to eat more fruits and veggies (I prefer veggies, DH prefers fruit, so sometimes we eat the same meals, sometimes different).

Your hormones that control hunger and satiety are likely different than OPs. Imagine being hungry a lot and needing more food than your similarly sized friends to satisfy that hunger. It can be very stressful. I love salads, fruits, raw and cooked vegetables, beans—all the healthy foods. I also don’t drink many calories and barely drink alcohol. But I can’t have a cup of yogurt for breakfast and be satisfied until lunch like my best friend. So it’s great that you have this easily and naturally. Yes it’s your upbringing, but it’s also your hormones and body composition that are involved in the process, so please don’t be so quick to judge those that can’t just do it like you.

[Anonymous]

I just looked this up online. This some Oprah like, love yourself nonsense? So, I intuitively ate a whole strawberry short cake and I should feel ok with it? I mean every bite was great? Is there no limit to insanity here? BTW, I feel the same about dieting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, not everything is A Thing. This is just life for many of us.

Yes, this.

I eat, usually two meals a day, sometimes three, occasionally a snack. I'm mindful of what my parents taught me about eating, which is to eat more fruits and veggies (I prefer veggies, DH prefers fruit, so sometimes we eat the same meals, sometimes different).

Your hormones that control hunger and satiety are likely different than OPs. Imagine being hungry a lot and needing more food than your similarly sized friends to satisfy that hunger. It can be very stressful. I love salads, fruits, raw and cooked vegetables, beans—all the healthy foods. I also don’t drink many calories and barely drink alcohol. But I can’t have a cup of yogurt for breakfast and be satisfied until lunch like my best friend. So it’s great that you have this easily and naturally. Yes it’s your upbringing, but it’s also your hormones and body composition that are involved in the process, so please don’t be so quick to judge those that can’t just do it like you.

No one said otherwise.

Learn the difference, though, between truly eating to satisfy hunger/genuine craving and emotional eating, social eating, etc. Whether you have a hard-boiled egg or a full plate of Moons Over My Hammy, if you are truly listening to your food voice and stopping at the point of satiation, you're eating intuitively.

No one said intuitive eaters = eating perfectly or small portions or small meals every single day. So don't put that in the conversation when it wasn't there.

[Anonymous]

My gut is telling me to eat the whole Trader Joe's large chocolate milk bar right now. You know the 2lbs one. I shall take the intuitive approach and feel I am losing the weight while eating it.

[Anonymous]

This worked very well for me to chill out, stop dieting, and lose 20 lbs in my early 20s, when i also took up running.

Now that I have a sedentary job with a longer commute and baby 10 years later, I've put on 10 lbs from lifestyle change, i have very little sweet tooth anymore, don't snack much, and intuitive eating helps me not stress over food...but I haven't found kyself intuitively reducing portion sizes enough to counteract no longer walking to work and running half marathons....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My gut is telling me to eat the whole Trader Joe's large chocolate milk bar right now. You know the 2lbs one. I shall take the intuitive approach and feel I am losing the weight while eating it.

Deliberately obtuse.

The point is that you can go ahead and start eating a chocolate bar if you are truly craving it. But once you hit that point where you feel full or the enjoyment starts to wear off? You stop. You don't keep plowing on because it's there, or you're stressed, or you "may as well" finish it, or the diet starts tomorrow...

[Anonymous]

Another poster interested in this topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My gut is telling me to eat the whole Trader Joe's large chocolate milk bar right now. You know the 2lbs one. I shall take the intuitive approach and feel I am losing the weight while eating it.

Deliberately obtuse.

The point is that you can go ahead and start eating a chocolate bar if you are truly craving it. But once you hit that point where you feel full or the enjoyment starts to wear off? You stop. You don't keep plowing on because it's there, or you're stressed, or you "may as well" finish it, or the diet starts tomorrow...

I am not obtuse, I am mocking OP.

[Anonymous]

never heard of this - But now that I think about it, it makes sense if you're a healthy eater to begin with - and NOT an emotional eater.

I love vegetables and fruits. I prefer beans to means, but while I seldom crave meat, I do crave protein. So I'll eat lentils or beans with cabbage!

I hate carbs for breakfast. I prefer egg white omelets with veggies instead. It's what my body craves. So I go with it.

snacks? nuts, pretzels, granola bars . . .

I do love white wine and often drink a glass while cooking dinner.

[Anonymous]

As illustrated on this thread - this kind of eating is for people who already have a good intuition about their food intake. Maybe it can be trained and practiced and accomplished after many years of staying within normal weight.

[Anonymous]

Does this go both ways, as in, I eat when I am hungry and don't when I am not? That seems hard to do with family meal times. I often don't get hungry until 12 or even 2, can't eat until 2:30, then am not hungry for dinner. That's not really sane (and I am not stick thin) but I try to listen to my body on these days.