Thank you to the group!

[Guest guest]

Hello IE friends,

I rarely post on here, but I read the recent posts about once a week or so, and

it never fails to encourage me. Often I think about responding to certain ones,

but I am a frazzled, single mom of two preschoolers and there is so much I never

seem to get around to doing!

Today I am feeling reflective so I would like to share and hopefully encourage

someone else. I converted to Intuitive Eating over a year ago and found this

forum, and I would like to thank all of you in this group. Reading the

struggles, questions and advice here has re-enforced this concept and kept me on

track so many times. THANK YOU!

I am certain that IE has been one of the best decisions of my life. Even if I

had gained 50+ pounds after adopting the IE mindset, I still would have been

healthier than I was before. I've shared in other posts, but I found IE while

going through a long divorce and struggling with depression, and I believe IE is

a huge reason that I can say now that I am no longer depressed. Sure, I have

bad days, but I no longer feel that hopelessness. Because of the IE book and

Women, Food and God, I have found other ways to manage my stress, accept myself

and my life and allow myself to FEEL my emotions instead of burying them with

food. Also, I have rather recently given up the destructive habit of binging

followed by laxative abuse. Ironically, IE is what convinced me to make that

change when other arguments never worked. I was never addicted to laxatives,

but I wonder if IE would help others with eating disorders? The self-love of IE

really is a stark contrast to so many self destructive habits.

So many other healthier things followed that I haven't expected. I found forms

of excercise that made me feel good and I did them because of this and focused

on this. In the past I always did crazy killer workouts the same day I started

my diet so I was underfed and over worked and MISERABLE and that lasted two

weeks at most. I can say now that I have consistently but mildly moved my body

for the past year because I enjoy it. This has actually become a way to relieve

stress and feel good, instead of something torturous. I have lost weight since

starting all this which wasn't even on purpose. I don't know how much because I

got rid of my scale. The one time I stepped on a scale in the past year at

someone else's home really had a negative impact on me and so I really avoid

them. I think the main reason I lost weight is quite simply because I stopped

binging FINALLY. My previous routinue honestly was that I would count calories

all week and then lose control and eat 20,000 calories in a weekend. When I was

in an All-U-Can-Eat weekend, I could never get full. Now, I can feel

satisfied. It's really wonderful.

I love chocolate and now probably eat it every day. I have frozen chocolate

bars that I break off a piece, and I savor it. Yesterday, I was at a bbq at my

sister's. I knew I wanted dessert, so I had half a cheeseburger and half a corn

on the cob and smaller other helpings, and so I fully enjoyed the carmel pretzel

Klondike bar that I had been craving. Sure, some people made a comment about me

not eating a full burger but I said, " If I am still hungry, I'll eat the other

half. " They couldn't really argue with that logic. This is such a difference

compared to how I used to take family bbqs as an opportunity to pig out and feel

guilty later.

This process has been far from easy and has had many ups and downs, but I just

wanted to share the progress I have made and how today I see so clearly how much

healthier IE has made me!

I have another question for the group, but I think I'll put that into a separate

post.

Thank you all again