Introduction

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone! My name is Liz, and I have been doing IE for about a month now.

I am halfway through the book and am really enjoying the insight on every single

page.

Here's a little about what brings me to IE. I have pretty much been on a diet

since I was 12. For periods in high school, I would eat nothing but rice and

broccoli for weeks on end, desperate to be as thin as my friends, only to

finally succumb to secret binges that would undo all the " progress " I had made.

I have gained and lost the same 30 pounds or so over and over again, but my

weight really skyrocketed when I got pregnant. A second baby came along soon

after, and by the time he was born I had gained 100 pounds. I made a solemn vow

to myself that I would lose the weight no matter what, and by golly I did it.

It took me two and half years of meticulous eating and intense exercise to lose

115 pounds.

Oddly enough, I was as unhappy with my body at this new " thin " weight as I had

been over 100 pounds heavier, but I told myself if I could lose 10 more pounds,

then I would be happy (yeah, right!). Suddenly, though, I started gaining weight

even though I was still following a strict diet and exercising 6 times a week.

I was exhausted all the time, and my hair started falling out. In desperation,

I started binging heavily, which only helped the weight pile on. Eventually, my

husband convinced me to go to the doctor, and I discovered that I have

hypothyroidism. As I started medication to get my thyroid working, the fatigue

and other symptoms melted away, but I could not get past the binging. I would

start a new diet and last a few days, then be right back to nightly sprees of

manic overeating.

I was ready to give up and accept that I would regain all of the weight when I

saw a mention on a blog about the Eat.Move.Love.Project. From there, I started

reading about IE, and I honestly feel like IE saved me. I think I understood

that I could not go back to dieting, but I had no idea there was another option.

I am having so much fun cooking again (something I had pretty much given up in

favor of frozen diet meals and salads), and I am working on cultivating that

nurturing inner voice. I still overeat a lot of days, but I am just going with

it because I understand that it is a natural transition from deprivation to

natural eating. The most amazing change has been that I no longer feel the

constant guilt I have carried my whole life about my relationship with food. I

am happy to have found this board, and I am excited (though rather nervous)

about this journey!