Eating ONLY What You REALLY Want and TRULY Hungry!!!

[Beeb]

I decided this week to stop the madness that dieting and restricting was doing to me! It's been a long, hard and frustrating road back from an ED of Night Eating Syndrome and I had found that any type of dieting or restrictions with food was causing my problem to get worse and worse!

I now just eat what I REALLY want and only when I'm truly hungry. I give myself 10 minutes to think about what I REALLY want to eat if I think I'm hungry and I don't eat just because it's breakfast, lunch or dinner, snack time, or because I have to eat in some "eating window" or need to eat more calories, etc.

I give it 10 minutes and I'm finding this amount of time is just right and is working well. Usually if I'm really, truly hungry I can figure out what I want right away, but if I still don't know what I want after that 10 minutes, and with me looking around at my food choices then I just don't eat, I figure I'm truly not hungry and I'll have something to drink instead! This seems to be the "magic" for me!

AND I only eat as much I as need to feel full; 4 bites or the whole meal, whatever amount works when I'm eating. I don't "finish" my plate if I truly don't want to, and I WILL eat as much as I want when I do think I need to. I'm finally listening to my body signals again, with no help from restrictions in food choice, time windows, or calorie limits at all, just Linda's body calling the shots again like it did during my thin years!!

I have no idea how many calories I'm eating, how many carbs, fat, protein, whatever, but I must be eating less because I'm losing weight at a wonderful rate and I'm not hungry all the time with food as my only thoughts morning, noon and night!! The only rule I have it I won't eat anything after 8 PM at night to keep the endless night eating that my ED causes under control.

Someone said this was "intuitive eating" and maybe it is but whatever it's called it's working like a charm for me and my relationship with food! At last, food is NOT a priority anymore and I truly think it's because I'm not on any kind of diet anymore and don't NEED to think about food and choices, times, limits, etc. anymore!!!

[jiggles]

Sounds like Paul McKenna's 4 Golden Rules, which is like intuitive eating. So glad to hear you found something that works for you and that you've got that dang binge monster under control. One day I hope to follow in your footsteps. Very inspriring!

[Beeb]

Originally Posted by jiggles

Sounds like Paul McKenna's 4 Golden Rules, which is like intuitive eating. So glad to hear you found something that works for you and that you've got that dang binge monster under control. One day I hope to follow in your footsteps. Very inspriring!

Thank you! I will look into Paul McKenna's 4 Golden Rules!!

[Beeb]

Well, my "plan" does have a name! Paul McKenna's 4 Golden Rules and it's working like a charm!!!

[jiggles]

I think I'm going to try to focus on this type of eating again. It's the way I'd like to eventually eat anyway so why not start now? I may still throw in some 5:2 if I have days I overeat, but overall I'd rather just be able to eat when I'm hungry, just not overeat. I keep going back and forth between this and 5:2 (because I feel like I have to get this weight off NOW) but even 5:2 feels like a "diet" to me. Anything that tells me I can't eat even though I'm hungry feels like a "diet" and can be torture. I don't know that I could continue that way forever even though I know there are benefits to it.

I'm usually pretty good during the week while I'm at work because I only bring with a limited amount of food. Dinner and evenings is usually my problem. I'm going to start by cutting my dinner portions in half. If I'm still hungry I can always eat a little more. And I'm going to work hard on not snacking in the evening if I'm not hungry.

I think I'll pull out Paul's book and read that again also.

I really need to work on exercising though. I'm such a slacker in that department. I need to keep reminding myself that it's okay to start out slow. I always feel like if I don't go hard it's not worth it (probably because I always hear my exercise freak coworker always saying "What's the point if you're not working hard?") so I end up not working out at all. Well, it's still better to work out at a slower pace than sit on the couch all the time.

[CoffeeCat]

Hi everyone! I'm new here.

A bit about how I found myself here and why I've chosen this thread for my first post.

I was doing a google search on JUDDD - saw the acronym somewhere and was curious as to what it was, so of course I searched for it. I found myself on this forum reading and reading and reading, but when I got to this thread I really sat up and took notice.

You see, I am an intuitive eater. Have been for awhile now. I just got really tired of gaining and losing the same 25 lbs over and over again. I'd learned about this concept quite some time before I ever actually implemented it, but when I did, there was no going back for me.

I don't weigh on a regular basis, so I'm left to use how my clothes fit as a measure of whether or not I'm losing anything. I have about three different sizes in my closet. I would guess that I've lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 lbs over the last 5-6 months or so of practicing IE. I know that doesn't sound like a lot of weight, but if you consider that I eat whatever I want and I no longer have that constant worry about calories or any other measurement of intake, I feel like that's pretty good. I'm probably about another 10-15 lbs from where I'd like to be, but I'm not sweating it. My body will decide where it wants to land.

I'm familiar with Paul McKenna's book - I checked it out of the library. His basic tenets are sound, but I really just skipped over the various exercises he had in there. I made up my mind I was going to make this as simple as possible.

The best book I've ever read about IE - and I don't think he calls it that, but I might be wrong - is Rob Steven's The Overfed Head. You can google "The Overfed Head pdf" and the pdf of the book will come right up. You can buy it on amazon but I don't know why anyone would. It's right there for the reading.

I see that the last post here was 4/2/13 so if there is a lack of interest in this subject please just ignore my post. But I wanted to share with you what has finally worked for me, after years of yo-yo dieting.

CoffeeCat

[Beeb]

Originally Posted by CoffeeCat

Hi everyone! I'm new here.

A bit about how I found myself here and why I've chosen this thread for my first post.

I was doing a google search on JUDDD - saw the acronym somewhere and was curious as to what it was, so of course I searched for it. I found myself on this forum reading and reading and reading, but when I got to this thread I really sat up and took notice.

You see, I am an intuitive eater. Have been for awhile now. I just got really tired of gaining and losing the same 25 lbs over and over again. I'd learned about this concept quite some time before I ever actually implemented it, but when I did, there was no going back for me.

I don't weigh on a regular basis, so I'm left to use how my clothes fit as a measure of whether or not I'm losing anything. I have about three different sizes in my closet. I would guess that I've lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 lbs over the last 5-6 months or so of practicing IE. I know that doesn't sound like a lot of weight, but if you consider that I eat whatever I want and I no longer have that constant worry about calories or any other measurement of intake, I feel like that's pretty good. I'm probably about another 10-15 lbs from where I'd like to be, but I'm not sweating it. My body will decide where it wants to land.

I'm familiar with Paul McKenna's book - I checked it out of the library. His basic tenets are sound, but I really just skipped over the various exercises he had in there. I made up my mind I was going to make this as simple as possible.

The best book I've ever read about IE - and I don't think he calls it that, but I might be wrong - is Rob Steven's The Overfed Head. You can google "The Overfed Head pdf" and the pdf of the book will come right up. You can buy it on amazon but I don't know why anyone would. It's right there for the reading.

I see that the last post here was 4/2/13 so if there is a lack of interest in this subject please just ignore my post. But I wanted to share with you what has finally worked for me, after years of yo-yo dieting.

CoffeeCat

Hi there!! I forgot about this thread and so glad I found you here! I am still IEing, but some days are harder than others, it seems.

I would love to listen to what you have to say on this subject and it would be wonderful if you could start a thread about IE for others to see! I'm going to see about the Overfed Head pdf and see what it has to say, but I always think experience is the best teacher and will be awaiting any info you have on this subject!!

(Think about that new thread I mentioned above, would love to see it on here and I'm sure others would, too! )

[Beeb]

OMG! I started reading the ebook you suggested above and I haven't put it down! It's truly amazing and reminded me AGAIN on how I use to eat! I have always been thin until recently and now I remember why; I only ate when I was hungry and never ate beyond the amount of food that took my hunger away. I didn't even know what being "full or stuffed" meant because I never got to that point! I just ate until I was no longer hungry and went on my merry way AND I ate whenever I was hungry, truly hungry and NOT because of the time of day or where I was!

I'm going to read and re-read this book over and over until those "memories" of how I use to eat become my NOW reality!

[CoffeeCat]

Originally Posted by Beeb

OMG! I started reading the ebook you suggested above and I haven't put it down! It's truly amazing and reminded me AGAIN on how I use to eat! I have always been thin until recently and now I remember why; I only ate when I was hungry and never ate beyond the amount of food that took my hunger away. I didn't even know what being "full or stuffed" meant because I never got to that point! I just ate until I was no longer hungry and went on my merry way AND I ate whenever I was hungry, truly hungry and NOT because of the time of day or where I was!

I'm going to read and re-read this book over and over until those "memories" of how I use to eat become my NOW reality!

I'm so happy to hear that! I love that book. It really opened my eyes.

Since I'm so new I'd rather not start an intuitive eating thread. I think this one is fine, but if you feel another one is better and want to start it I'll be more than happy to contribute.

CoffeeCat

[Beeb]

Originally Posted by CoffeeCat

I'm so happy to hear that! I love that book. It really opened my eyes.

Since I'm so new I'd rather not start an intuitive eating thread. I think this one is fine, but if you feel another one is better and want to start it I'll be more than happy to contribute.

CoffeeCat

I think we should start another one with the right title. Going to do that and link from here also for anyone coming on here! See you on the new Thintuition thread and hope others join us soon!!!

Here we go!! Thintuition Way Of Eating