Re: chapter four: Awakening the Intuitive Eater: Stages

[Guest guest]

Hi, IEers,

Sorry I'm so late in responding: We got in a new rescue ie on Friday, and things have been hectic all week! My answers are below.

Laurie

>

> 1. What stage are you at? Any others? Do you go back and forth as

> they mention, for instance? Do explain!

>

I would say I'm at stage 2 in many ways. I totally identified with the statement "The more satisfied you are when eating, the less you will think about food when you are not hungry--you will no longer be on the prowl."

This is the most amazing thing for me about IE so far, that my obsessive thoughts about food are for the most part GONE (which the chapter says is a sign of stage 3).

Other places where I think maybe I'm progressing out of stage 2 are: (1) I'm perhaps eating larger quantities than my body needs sometimes, but this is definitely less, not more, than I used to eat. I find I am HUNGRY in the morning, which is a clear sign that my night time eating has really diminished. I used to eat so much at night that I wouldn't be hungry until early afternoon. (2) I'm not eating foods that are heavier in fat and sugar, mostly because, being a permitter, I hadn't much "deprived" myself of those foods before IE, so they are not major crave items. (3) I'm not really "hyperconscious" about my eating anymore. I feel calm and natural about the process...very nice feeling.

> 2. The second paragraph of the chapter states that "your journey back

> to Intuitive Eating depends on" the following questions that I'll ask

> everyone.

>

> a. How long have you been dieting?

>

Since I was around 13 or 14, when someone my age (and who I wanted to emulate) mentioned that she was "dieting,", and I started thinking I probably needed to stop eating so much. I was afraid of becoming obese like my mother.

> b. How strongly entrenched do you feel your diet thinking might be?

>

This is hard for me to answer. I was most often in my dieting a permitter, a failed dieter, so my faith in diets has been spotty at best all along. I think diet thinking gets ramped up for me when I "feel fat."

> c. How long do you feel that you've been using food to cope with life?

>

I think I've been doing this since I was a teenager, and since I'm 59 now, that means it's been 40-some years. I've been aware I was doing this, but never aware of what kind of emotions I was trying to numb.

> d. How willing are you to trust yourself? Truly self-examine here...

>

I'm only half-willing to trust myself, because for so long I made excuses for myself, and sometimes I think IE is just a sneaky way of letting myself eat irresponsibly.

> e. How willing are you to make weight loss a secondary goal and

> Intuitive Eating a primary goal?

This is hard for me, but at the same time I'm delighted that I haven't (I think) gained any weight, which used to be what would happen the minute I quit dieting.

> 3. What do you think of the diagrams on p. 33? Does it disappoint

> you to think that the process won't be linear? Have you come to a

> level of peace that recovery goes back and forth a bit?

I'm ok with it not being linear. During my last diet, my one and only stint with WW, I kept my own chart and only marked progress down, so that I was always looking at the lowest weight I'd attained, not the ups and downs. I told myself if I could get down to that weight, I could get lower than that weight eventually. This sort of reset my thinking about the losses and gains you see if you're watching your scale-number so closely.

> 4. Finding out if you're a good candidate for weight loss:

>

> a. Have you routinely eaten beyond your comfortable fullness level?

>

Yes. I wasn't aware how much until I tried WW for the first time last year, and got a feeling for what it feels like NOT to be so full all the time. Before the WW experience, I'd say I only had two modes: overeating to discomfort, or dieting and being hungry most of the time. Terrible way to live, both modes!

> b. Do you routinely overeat when you're getting ready for your next

> diet, knowing there will be a lot of foods you won't be allowed to

> eat?

I never really did that particular thing, but I was always overeating, so anytime I started a diet I would not atypically overeat beyond that--but I was always eating foods that weren't allowed on diets, to excess.

> c. Do you overeat as a coping mechanism in difficult times?

>

I'm doing this rarely now, but I used to do it all the time.

> d. Do you overeat to fill up time when you're bored?

>

Sometimes used to, but I'm not one who gets bored much.

> e. Have you been resistant to exercise?

>

Again, I swing to extremes: either I'm overexercising, or I'm not exercising at all. I'm striving in IE to find a way to exercise that's something I enjoy, but not something I'll overdo.

> f. Do you only exercise when you diet?

>

No, I've sometimes in the past exercised without dieting, always though hoping that it would help me lose weight.

> g. Do you skip meals or wait to eat until you're ravenously hungry,

> only to find that you overeat when you finally do eat?

>

This is pretty rare for me, and if it happens, it's usually by accident, i.e., that I've been so wrapped up in something that I didn't stop to eat. When this happens, it's harder for me to stop when I'm full.

> h. Do you feel guilty, either when you overeat o r when you eat a

> "bad food" which results in more overeating?

>

I feel guilty sometimes if I overeat, but not many foods are still "bad foods" for me anymore. I have restricted some foods (sodas are one example), but I've done this out of a health choice, and I don't really want those foods anymore.

> 5. Are you ready to focus on HOW YOU FEEL as the goal, rather than

> weight loss? How does that make you feel now? Any reservations?

>

When I see myself in a mirror or photograph, I do have some reservations, but I am trying hard to focus on the fact that I feel so liberated, it's worth it to go slowly.

> 6. Anything else you want to add about the stages? Have your

> insights changed as you answered these questions?

Looking forward to moving forward. I think I want to reread about Stage 3 and maybe make a list of hallmarks of that stage, so I can review it from time to time to give me a feeling of going forward. Sometimes I can't see the progress unless it's dramatic, and I think it might help me to look over the next stage from time to time.

>

> As always answer what is comfortable and omit what is not. Opening

> up may help your fellow Intuitive Eater-in-Training feel comfortable

> in their process...some personal questions here but worth it!

>

> Cheers,

>

>