Baby Steps

[Guest guest]

Hi guys -

Thanks so much for all the feedback. I've recently started to try to respond to

my hunger a little sooner than I was before, and eat smaller portions so that I

get hungry more often throughout the day. This seems to be helping me get

reliably hungry more often, and also helps keep me from eating past full since

I'm not starting out a meal starving. I've also been keeping an IE food journal

for a few weeks, writing down every time I eat, how hungry I was before I ate

and how full I was after, and how well I matched my hunger to what I ate. Seems

to be helping as well. I'm hoping this eating every few hours thing will keep me

from reaching a " starving " level while I'm at work, which is part of what I was

worried about in my previous post about " pre-emptive eating. " But I think I'll

try bringing some snacks with me just so I won't be stressed about it.

Also, unfortunately I'm still pretty stuck on losing weight - I've been able to

get out of this " I must lose weight " mindset before, but right now it's

something I really want to do and it actually seems like it might be possible. I

don't think I look horrible right now, and I really don't think I beat myself up

too much about my weight, but there are a variety of reasons why I would like to

be thinner so I think I'm gonna stick with that goal. As part of that, I think I

am going to keep my binge foods out of my house for now, until I get more

settled in with IE. I do agree that binging is an emotional event, not about

food at all, but since it seems that certain foods make it so much harder to

resist binging, I just don't want to tempt myself with that right now,

especially since it often seems like any setbacks (including binges) make it

much harder to continue with any sort of change in eating lifestyle. I would

definitely like to work on legalizing all foods in the future, though. Complete

freedom around food would be a great thing. I'm just hoping that I can do it by

taking baby steps, and that it's not something that has to be done all at once.

Thanks again, I'm so glad you guys are here to talk to

- Liz

[Guest guest]

Liz,The great thing about IE is that there are no rules... you do it the way it feels right to you! And that may change over time.If you don't feel comfortable keeping your trigger foods at home, I think that's okay. Legalizing these foods can be really difficult, and scary, too. Eventually, hopefully, you will feel safer around them. 

I do encourage you to honor a craving if you have one that is persistent, as I have found that when I resist, I am more likely to overeat when I finally do give in. But that doesn't mean you have to keep that food at home... as long as it is readily available, I think that's fine. But if you go somewhere special and turn down a favorite food that you can't get easily another time... sometimes that can spell trouble in the future.

About weight loss... I think many, if not most, people who do IE want to lose weight. A goal of weight loss is not incompatible with IE. I think the thing to remember is that prioritizing the weight loss goal over truly intuitive eating can mean that you are sliding into the " intuitive eating diet. " I am definitely prone to this myself. For some people, even this much of a diet is enough to trigger binging. In this case, it's sometimes best to focus on the process and just try to forget about weight loss for a while. I also think that learning to completely accept yourself the way you are right now, even if you do want to lose weight (accept in the sense of loving yourself, and not hating your body, even if you would like to change it) tends to actually accelerate the weight loss in the long run. What were the reasons that dieting didn't work for you in the past? What brought you to IE? How is IE different for you than a diet?  

Only you will know if this is the case for you... just something, for now, to be aware of. Good luck with your endeavor!And your food journal sounds great! Great work!

Best,Abby

 

Hi guys -

Thanks so much for all the feedback. I've recently started to try to respond to my hunger a little sooner than I was before, and eat smaller portions so that I get hungry more often throughout the day. This seems to be helping me get reliably hungry more often, and also helps keep me from eating past full since I'm not starting out a meal starving. I've also been keeping an IE food journal for a few weeks, writing down every time I eat, how hungry I was before I ate and how full I was after, and how well I matched my hunger to what I ate. Seems to be helping as well. I'm hoping this eating every few hours thing will keep me from reaching a " starving " level while I'm at work, which is part of what I was worried about in my previous post about " pre-emptive eating. " But I think I'll try bringing some snacks with me just so I won't be stressed about it.

Also, unfortunately I'm still pretty stuck on losing weight - I've been able to get out of this " I must lose weight " mindset before, but right now it's something I really want to do and it actually seems like it might be possible. I don't think I look horrible right now, and I really don't think I beat myself up too much about my weight, but there are a variety of reasons why I would like to be thinner so I think I'm gonna stick with that goal. As part of that, I think I am going to keep my binge foods out of my house for now, until I get more settled in with IE. I do agree that binging is an emotional event, not about food at all, but since it seems that certain foods make it so much harder to resist binging, I just don't want to tempt myself with that right now, especially since it often seems like any setbacks (including binges) make it much harder to continue with any sort of change in eating lifestyle. I would definitely like to work on legalizing all foods in the future, though. Complete freedom around food would be a great thing. I'm just hoping that I can do it by taking baby steps, and that it's not something that has to be done all at once.

Thanks again, I'm so glad you guys are here to talk to

- Liz