Re: Re: First Steps?

[Guest guest]

Hi Judi,

Here are a few pointers that helped me to get started. I stopped weighting myself slowly, from every other day to once a week, then I put the scale in the garbage after 2 weeks. I made a list of my forbidden food and woked on it one at the time, until they loose their power and became boring. Dress myself up to feel good, and even if I don`t really like my body, I have decided to accept it and do the best I can with it. Eat when hungry, stop when you are full, even if it means being a food diva and not eating the good for your health dinner you made for your family and decide to open a can of ravioly and eat it with a side of vinegar chips with a beer (can you believe I did that, refusing to eat the stir fry I made?). Guess what, that was quite ok and I think I ended up eating less calories that trying to eat that stir fry without satisfaction.

Post often, this group is so helpful.

Nat

Subject: Re: First Steps?To: IntuitiveEating_Support Received: Sunday, September 14, 2008, 10:53 PM

Hi Judi and welcome!I'm Dawn (dawnz) and pretty new here too. When I read your post, itactually sounded like something I would have posted a month or so ago.I was absolutely freaking out. Worried that I would "mess this up too"and then there would be no options left (I was just coming off atrain-wreck of weight watchers, followed immediately by South Beach).But you know what? I'm still here and I'm learning little by little. :)I think the first thing to do is to dump all your diet books and tapesand whatever junk like that you have in the house. Delete all thosememberships too. And lose the scale. Permanently. Then take a deep breath and realize you are about to begin the rest ofyour life. And it will be fine. :)Next, start talking to yourself. A lot. Tell yourself gentle thingslike, "it's going to be ok", "baby steps, baby steps", "I amlearning", "this is a journey, not a

sprint"...all things that youwill need to begin to hear in order for this to really sink in. Don't worry if you go crazy eating for a bit. You've deprived yourselfso long, that it's going to take you a little to realize that youtruly CAN have whatever you want when you are hungry. Try to aim forlistening for your hunger just once a day at first. Don't beatyourself up if you can't get even that in the beginning. Realize thatif you just start to truly listen to yourself, it WILL come. Hope this helps a little. Come here for support. It's an awesome groupof people, all walking along together and learning as we go. :)dawnz>> I'm new to IE. I've spent 45 years dieting. I've been thin for

shortperiods> and loved it and me, too, then.> But hated how my thoughts and life revolved around the calories, fatgrams> and/or points of whatever got me to thin. It totally took over my life.> Now I want to come from within. I hope I getter thinner. But most ofall I> want to trust myself (and love myself).> Right now I'm reading everything I can lay my hands on about IE.> I'm bingeing on info about IE.> Like bingeing on food, I been gulping down books and articles andemails.> None of it is digesting.> I'm overloaded and I'm so afraid of not getting it right. Of failing. Of> judging myself as bad.> I'm kinda in muddle right now and can't think/feel my way out.> Those of you who have been down this path, can you advise me whereto focus.> What should I do first?> Where, from your experience, would you recommend I start?> I'd

appreciate some pointers.> Thanks.> judi>

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[Guest guest]

Katcha,Thank you so much for your advice and encouragement.Your words made my heart sing.I love idea of picking what appeals me to work on. In that one suggestion you redirected me back to myself and away from the rules of the books, which is one of the goals of IE for me -- to trust myself. I think was making IE another diet with steps to follow and rules with which to judge myself as good or bad .

I've decided my first step is to focus on the taste and pleasure of the foods I eat. To eat without fear.I usually wolf down my food, afraid I'll notice what I'm eating and yell at myself, afraid I won't let myself have this food ever again, afraid of the food itself and the power it seems to have over me.

This morning I ate my breakfast quietly and slowly. With each mouthful I whispered in my own ear reassuring comments, like I would to an upset child. " It's okay. You deserve this food. You can have it again whenever you want. Enjoy the taste and texture. It's okay. " It was a new experience and felt wonderful.

I left for work quietly beaming.For me the best part was that this was something I " intuitively " came up with. I feel like my journey has begun.Thanks,judi

Judi, I look at IE as a 'feast' - you can try and stuff as much into

you mouth as fast as you can manage to do that, but mostly like you

wouldn't be happy with how you feel if you did that. Same thing with

IE - there is SO MUCH there, but you really can't 'take in' all of it

at one gobble. So what I do is to choose ONE thing/aspect of IE and

play around with that until I am comfortable with that practice. Then,

if I feel I can and am ready, I do another IE practice/suggestion.

Baby steps may frustrate us at first because we do want to RUN with

IE! But its like the turtle and the rabbit - slow and steady wins the

race.

Diets are about 'suffering' - depraving, shame and guilt abound. IE

suggests that eating is a necessary PLEASURE, and that is so foreign

to anyone who has followed the 'rules' of dieting. With IE YOU choose

and discover your own guidelines. And being gentle with one's self

during this process helps bunches too. If you had to choose just ONE

IE thing to do, what would it be? Take that thought and tip-toe into

that choice to see what it brings to you.

BEST to you, Katcha

IEing since March 2007

>

> I'm new to IE. I've spent 45 years dieting. I've been thin for short

periods

> and loved it and me, too, then.

> But hated how my thoughts and life revolved around the calories, fat

grams

> and/or points of whatever got me to thin. It totally took over my life.

> Now I want to come from within. I hope I getter thinner. But most of

all I

> want to trust myself (and love myself).

> Right now I'm reading everything I can lay my hands on about IE.

> I'm bingeing on info about IE.

> Like bingeing on food, I been gulping down books and articles and

emails.

> None of it is digesting.

> I'm overloaded and I'm so afraid of not getting it right. Of failing. Of

> judging myself as bad.

> I'm kinda in muddle right now and can't think/feel my way out.

> Those of you who have been down this path, can you advise me where

to focus.

> What should I do first?

> Where, from your experience, would you recommend I start?

> I'd appreciate some pointers.

> Thanks.

> judi

>