Re: Re: Is This from IE?

[Guest guest]

When I started with IE, I decided that I was really tired of how much

restriction had pushed me into the perfectionist mode--if I didn't

record everything just right, then it was my fault I didn't lose

weight, blah, blah, blah--so I made a conscious decision that if I

couldn't do it my loosey-goosey way, I wasn't going to do it. And so

far it's been OK. I have a real tendency to get obsessive and then

overwhelmed about things like this, and I know if I let myself get that

way, IE is not going to work for me. So I try not to get hung up if I

can't eat just what I want when I want it, or if I can't eat mindfully

every single meal, and so forth. You're right, any way you do it is

hard work. After years and years of not thinking about food except how

to either avoid it or get mass quantities of it, this stuff is pretty

foreign. It does get easier as time goes on, though, thankfully!

Sohni

I really identify with what you are saying PJ. I too am a

perfectionist and am new to IE and this is a VERY hard thing to do

perfectly. Since it's not like a written diet where you follow very

specific rules I'm not even sure I will ever feel like I did it

perfectly. Everyday I tell myself that I am starting over, when to be

honest I never really quit. It's just that I always feel like I'm not

doing it right. Does that make any sense? I am definitely doing better

and I have meals when I feel I am really following the principles of IE

but I still feel I don't really have this down yet. I read WF & G

(LOVED IT) and started this about 3 weeks ago but trying to figure out

what I want to eat instead of what I need to eat is so foreign to me

that it is causing me a lot of anxiety. Then I started reading Geneen

Roth's earlier book "Breaking Free from emotional eating" and she said

that if you can't deal with trying to figure out what you want to eat

all day long start with just one meal a day and work your way up to the

entire day. That advice really helped me. It is so hard for me to not

have concrete, very rigid rules and be able to follow them perfectly

but I am learning. It is hard to break out of that diet mentality and

not jump on the latest greatest diet to get rid of these last 20lbs

fast especially now that summer is here. I used to be very overweight

and had kept the majority of the weight off for 10 years but there are

days that I still feel like I did at my heaviest. I know it "the voice"

that I have to quite in my head and that it isn't who I am. I know

logically that I am loved the same even if I am not at my ideal weight.

I realize the shame I feel isn't about my weight. THIS IS HARD! There

are times that I just want to eat and not have to think or feel but one

you know something you can't un-know it so there is no going back. If

nothing else WF & G made me not be able to binge without realizing

what I am doing which was half the reason for it.

Robin

> >

> > Hi, all,

> >

> > First, thanks to catlady for posting the Roth podcasts. I'd

heard two of them, but the other two were new to me.

> >

> > Today was a very good day for me--IE made perfect sense for

the first time and didn't feel alien at all. I waited until hungry to

eat and ate exactly what I wanted and not more than I needed. I went

for a walk tonight because I wanted to, not because I felt I had to,

and I enjoyed every minute of it, taking more than an hour to finish

walking. As I was waiting for one light to turn before crossing over to

Lake

>