Re: hey-newbie :)

[Guest guest]

Welcome so glad to have you with us it is a period of adjustment for your body you have to give it time it will happen your body will adjust itself. The struggle will always be there though and that is okay and normal that is why I like to call IE normal eating because that is what it is some days you struggle and some you don't but it has made me a much happier person. Eva

Hey everyone, I'm a college Junior whos just getting started truly Intuitive Eating. It all started my freshman year, when I left home for the first time and become SEVERELY depressed and had a lot of anxiety. I didn't recognize the symptoms (my whole body went numb, I had rashes on my neck, not being able to sleep) but I began to lose weight-quickly. It was odd to me, I'm 5'4" and had always been about 125 without trying. I had an extremely healthy relationship with food, although my older sister has a long history of eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia and all that stuff. I saw what she went through and vowed to never let food control me like that. And it didn't. By the end of my first year I was down to about 105. (!?! crazy I know) It was insane-I couldn't keep weight on no matter what I did. Eventually I was put on antidepressants and started seeing and therapist and got through my depression. The main thing that concerned me then was the fact that although I had gained some weight back, I was still only 110 at 5'4"-and I knew that wasn't how I was supposed to be. So I got nervous all over again and tried to gain weight to get back to 125. WELL... gain I did. And then some. By the summer after my sophmore year my high was about 140.So here I am now, trying to get back down to 125 (i'm about 129 now) and am meeting some roadblocks. I've read Intuitive Eating and know that thats exactly how I used to be!!! It's so frustrating, especially because I'm trying so hard to lose weight in a healthy way, when all I wind up doing is bingeing anyway because I'm depriving myself. So todays my second day of giving up on the food fight haha. Except I find myself wanting to eat ALL THE TIME and am finding it sort of alarming. Do any of you have advice on how to stay with it? I'm just scared I'll wind up getting back up to 140 and having to start all over again. How long did it take you guys to become Intuitive Eaters?------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

,

Welcome! You wrote: " I find myself wanting to eat ALL THE TIME and am

finding it sort of alarming. " Say more about this. Do you know what's

triggering the eating (e.g., what emotions or pressure)?, How do you

know that you want to eat? Do you know what your true biological

hunger signals are? Have you been able to wait for your hunger

signals? Are there specific foods that you want to eat? Are you moving

regularly? Are you tasting your food when you eat it? There are many

questions that will help bring some clarity. I believe that IE helps

us become more clear about what's going on in our life so that we can

care for ourselves better and then eating comes back into balance

naturally. Wanting to eat all of the time sounds exhausting to

me...eating takes some effort. If you can, find some ways to RELAX and

let go.

I've been practicing IE since January of this year. My intuitive

eating sense has come through more clearly in the last couple of

months...yet I'm sure it varies depending on the person that you ask

because everybody's process is different. Though working with the IE

practices had an immediate positive impact on my life in the very

beginning too. I lost 80 lbs my freshman year in college after being a

high of 255 lbs in middle school. I lived with the fear of gaining

that weight back during my 20's. I realized the other day that the

fear was valid because I had no real concept of how to stay in

balance...I knew how to lose weight quickly through massive exercising

and a specific diet and I knew how to gain weight quickly by eating

due to intense emotions and being sedentary. When I read the IE book

in January, it felt like coming home to myself. I knew that making the

principles a part of my life would help me experience balance. I

started out focusing on 4 principles: honor your hunger, respect your

fullness, cope with emotions without using food, and exercise-feel the

difference. If I had known about and been practicing just these 4 IE

principles in my 20's, I don't think I would have had any fears of

gaining the weight back.

Latoya

find myself wanting to eat ALL THE TIME and am finding it sort of

> alarming. Do any of you have advice on how to stay with it? I'm just

> scared I'll wind up getting back up to 140 and having to start all

> over again. How long did it take you guys to become Intuitive Eaters?

>

[Guest guest]

yeah the first few days i was " eating intuitively " i said i was

alarmed because ALL i wanted to do was EAT!! but its been a week now,

and i'm much more in tune with my body's signals. it used to be that

i'd wake up, go on a half hour run (begrudgingly)-and i'd HAVE to eat

breakfast as soon as i got back. now i wait until i'm hungry. then

exactly 4 hours later i'd HAVE to eat lunch-and it would only be a

salad with tuna and a slice of bread. then at 3 oclock i could have a

snack that was less than 200 calories. then i'd come home at 5, be so

anxious and i'd scarf down a dinner, which was usually salad. then

i'd run to my room to prevent myself from bingeing. it was like

clockwork-almost every night i'd run back and forth to and from the

kitchen grabbing granola bars, bowls of cereal, peanut butter, honey,

everything i " couldn't eat " . and all during the day i'd weigh myself

to make sure i never went over a certain poundage lol. obviously by

the end of the night i'd be way over my limit and then i'd feel

terrible about myself (besides the fact that i felt like CR@P! what i

found most interesting during this process is that when i was 'on a

diet' i was afraid to be hungry. i ate to squelch the feelings of

hunger before it even started!! i could honestly say i never felt

hungry, but was ALWAYS wanting to eat! now that i'm on the path

toward becoming an intuitive eater, i'm listening to myself. hunger

isn't anything for me to be afraid of anymore i haven't been

weighing myself at ALL either-which is a huge step. i honestly can't

believe how free i feel-its mind boggling to go from being so

obsessed over food and weight and all that stuff to just LIVING. it's

great