Thank you all for being here...

[Guest guest]

Thank you Gillian for creating this Group and to Katcha and Eva who

help keep it going in her absence.

I have been doing IE now for four months and I don't think I could

have stuck with it without the daily messages I read via this group.

You are all struggling with the same things I do - we are trying to

love ourselves and care for ourselves better, learning that there are

other ways of coping with anxiety than just stuffing ourselves with

food.

I just want to take stock of all the changes I am noticing in my life:

I no longer fear food. A buffet used to be a terrifying experience -

now it is a wonderful thing to be able to take small bites of things

that interest me, and know I can go back for more.

I am more choosy about what I eat - I will wait for the Starbuck's

espresso brownie, because I know that chocolate-colored Play-Doh

thing they call a brownie in the vending machine is just not going to

satisfy me!

I need to exercise regularly. I sleep better and my anxiety level is

much, much lower when I take my walks. If I go too long without my

activity, I get antsy. I savor my walks, thanking Mother Nature for

everything around me, and feeling good about moving my body.

I am getting better at loving myself today RIGHT NOW, THE WAY I AM.

Too much of my life has been spent saying - " Well, when I lose X

pounds, I'll .... " I have been buying clothes that fit, and if they

don't look fabulous on me, I put them back on the rack. No sense

punishing myself anymore with ill-fitting, shapeless clothing.

I no longer view compulsive eating as a disease that I will have to

control. Rather I see that it was a way of coping that I am slowly

outgrowing. I appreciate that I used food to cope, because I really

didn't know how else to soothe myself, and not because I was a weak-

willed or too needy.

I don't obsess about the scale anymore - it reports a number, but

that number is not the whole of me - just as my bloodtype is not me,

or my height, or my IQ. It doesn't measure my worth.

I have gained weight since I have been on IE, but not the 1000's of

pounds that I feared, and I haven't gained back all that I lost with

OA before I started Intuitive Eating either. Being able to sit with

the weight gain and not panic, just keep on feeding myself

intuitively is marvelous.

Best of all, I am much nicer to be around, because I accept myself

and my foibles as part of the natural process of things. Diets told

me that I couldn't be trusted, that I needed someone else to tell me

what was right for me. But, it never helped to clamp down and try to

control everything that went in my mouth - I just rebelled. I am

better able to take life as it comes, and not trying to " white-

knuckle " my way into controlling my appetite, other people, etc, etc.

Thank you all again for your honest posts and your supportive

messages!