Waiting for Hunger

[Guest guest]

Hello -

I've been following this group but haven't ever posted, but I just wanted to say

that I too have found that I have to wait much longer than expected to feel

truly hungry. When I first started IE a few weeks ago, I would reliably get

hungry about two or three times a day (seemed " normal " to me), but there were

several days in a row this week where I would only eat once a day (around noon)

and even then I wasn't truly hungry, I just ate because I had to go to work and

wouldn't be able to eat there. I wasn't hungry when I got home from work in the

evening nor was I hungry the next morning. Maybe just a weird phase with my

body, and in the next few weeks it will even out and I'll be hungry all the

time...who knows. Unfortunately, though, my not eating very much this week

triggered some diet thoughts - I felt like I had " earned the right " to eat

whatever I wanted whenever I wanted since I had taken in so few calories in the

last few days, so yesterday and today I haven't been doing very good at waiting

for my stomach to tell me when I'm hungry before I eat. Anyway, not an answer to

your question, Kate, but just wanted to let you know that I sympathize with you

- it's hard to wait to eat until your truly hungry when it takes so long to

actually get truly hungry! But my theory is that if we just stick with listening

to our bodies, our hunger signals will get used to the fact that we are

responding to them, and they will become easier and easier to detect.

Any thoughts, anyone?

[Guest guest]

Very good point, thanks for making it!

I forget this part because I had never gotten to where I couldn't feel hunger. But I think your strategy sounds perfect.

Best,

Abby

 

Hi everyone,I am new to the group and have been doing intuitive eating with the help of my nutritionist and I do not agree with waiting until hungry in the beginning of IE, because that could start feeling like deprevation and incite the diet thoughts to creep up again.  The way I understand it, in the beginning, you have to start with giving yourself unconditional permission to eat!  If you feel like having something, but not really hungry, have it!  But don't just devour it, really really savor it - smell it, look at the colors, the texture, truly taste it, etc...  Listen to your body signals and stop when you are satisfied.  Soon, you will notice when you are actually hungry and your body starts to find a rhythm.  Because you are probably coming off years of dieting, if you don't eat frequently or don't eat breakfast because you are not hungry, your metabolism could slow down as your body goes back into starvation mode and that could be why you are not getting hungry all day.

So in my experience, at least in the beginning, don't just wait until you are hungry and end up feeling deprived.  Give yourself unconditional permission to eat, eat foods you enjoy, truly enjoy them, and eat until you are satisfied.  Be patient and trust your body.

Remember, you have to be reliable about feeding yourself meals and snacks, but if you are not too hungry, just have a bite or two of something you feel like and enjoy them.  Soon, your body comes out of deprivation and starvation mode, your metabolism will get running and you will feel hungry a lot more often.

Hope this helps!>>  >> Hello -

> I...

[Guest guest]

For a while, I was doing very well with IE and lost about 20 lbs! I felt so

free and liberated from constantly obsessing about food and dieting. A great

part of the weight loss came about due to the fact that I stopped binging once I

gave up on dieting and decided to give myself unconditional permission to eat

and eat intuitively. That probably saved me hundreds of calories everyday! I

also started to move and do physical activities that I enjoyed. In the past, I

used to say: oh you have to do an hour on the treadmill, burn this many

calories, etc... and have very rigid workout routine because I was only

motivated by weight loss. Even though I loved exercise, by doing this, I made

myself hate to do it. So once I started intuitive eating and started to learn

to trust my body, I listened to my body and did the workouts and activities that

I felt like doing. Some days I would swim, some days if the weather was nice I

would get inspired and go out for a walk, other days, if I was feeling really

energetic and happy, I just put on the music and danced around in my apartment.

I found myself not only finding a taste for healthy foods, but also really

enjoying physical activity. I had never felt so good about myself and so happy

in my own skin. I didn't weigh myself until my doctor's visit and couldn't

believe that just living my life according to my terms and eating and doing the

things that I enjoyed helped me lose 20 lbs - I had never weighted this low as

an adult!

Sadly, I got very sick soon after (had nothing to do with IE or exercise) and

was out of commission for a few months and totally lost my balance. Now, I'm

fully recovered and trying to find my way back to that balanced, happy and

nurturing lifestyle.

> >

> > Hi Kate.....

>

> > From: Kate <t.kate87@>

>

>

> > To: IntuitiveEating_Support

> > Sent: Thu, September 23, 2010 9:14:43 PM

> > Subject:...

>