Re: has anyone lost weight on here?

[Guest guest]

I really don't know.. I have been doing the intuitive eating process for about four months now and though I am recovering from food obsession and I am freed from the chains that have binded me, I have also gained almost 30lbs. It is horrible. Sometimes I question if it is worth it to be heavy and mentally stable with food or if having an eating disorder and being skinny is the way to go. I haven't figured it out yet. Subject: has anyone lost weight on here?To: IntuitiveEating_Support Date: Friday, February 26, 2010, 7:35 PM

Although the book talks about weight loss with IE as commonplace, it seems like most on here seem to have stayed the same or gained. I know this is not the most important thing...but still. Whose lost weight and how did it come about?

[Guest guest]

I have lost weight. It took a long time though and a lot of work on myself. I first gained about 50 pounds when I started IE but I had been dieting and depriving myself for many years. Then my weight pretty much stabilized for a few years...it would go up and down 10 pounds or so. It wasn't until last summer that I really started losing...and I have no idea how much I have lost because I don't weigh myself. But I am wearing smaller sizes and I can see the changes in my body.

So yes, weight loss may happen but it may take a long time. This isn't a quick fix by any means. And I don't think it will happen until you stop focusing on losing weight. I know, I didn't believe it either but you really do need to love your body as it is and stop obsessing about losing weight.

Kipkabob

(Intuitive eating since September 2006)

To: IntuitiveEating_Support Sent: Fri, February 26, 2010 8:35:46 PMSubject: has anyone lost weight on here?

Although the book talks about weight loss with IE as commonplace, it seems like most on here seem to have stayed the same or gained. I know this is not the most important thing...but still. Whose lost weight and how did it come about?

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[Guest guest]

In high school before I formally tried IE, I was overweight and I decided just

to stop worrying about it. I wasn't formally exercising, except for dancing in

rehearsals for plays, and I ate what I wanted. Soon, I found that life was more

exciting than food, and I spent more time with friends and less time stuffing my

face. I kept this attitude for about three years and I easily lost fifty pounds.

I've gained a little back because serious life changes and hormonal issues got

me into eating emotionally, but I think the secret is to choose life over food.

It's really hard to do, but I remember that it works for me.

That's the closest thing to an intuitive eater I've been since toddlerhood.

>

> Although the book talks about weight loss with IE as commonplace, it seems

like most on here seem to have stayed the same or gained. I know this is not the

most important thing...but still. Whose lost weight and how did it come about?

>

[Guest guest]

One thing to realize is that many of us here haven't been doing IE very

long, and are still in the learning stages. This isn't a quick fix and

really isn't about weight loss at all. I don't expect to see any kind

of positive changes in my body for months. I think looking at IE from

a weight-loss attitude rather than just "getting healthier" is kind of

sabotaging yourself into looking at it as a diet

Sohni.

Kayla wrote:

Although the book talks about weight loss with IE as commonplace,

it seems like most on here seem to have stayed the same or gained. I

know this is not the most important thing...but still. Whose lost

weight and how did it come about?

[Guest guest]

i always just think about " what's the alternative? " i could go on another diet, and drive myself crazy, and most likely end up gaining weight in the long run... or i can learn to step off the merry go round of dieting, and accept that it's going to take a while to learn new behaviors. it's common to gain weight at first, especially if we have restricted food for a long time, and either hurt our metabolisms or our emotional responses to food. 

i think it's our behavior most of us need to fix, not our eating. when we learn to stop using food as a coping mechanism, many of us will lose weight. many, but not all. if you knew that you couldn't lose weight this way, lets say you could maintain but not lose, would you go back to dieting? weight loss is sometimes a " symptom " of successsful IE, but it's not the purpose. of course you may still desire it, but it can't all you think about.  

in the past i have used McKenna's system to lose weight successfully, and I am now trying it again. for me, it dovetails very nicely with IE, though for others, the " rule " that you can only eat when hungry is too diety. for me, i dont see it as a rule, but as learning to decipher between emotional needs and physical hunger... it's the only thing i've ever tried that i dont rebel against. the fact that it stopped working for me and that i gained weight shows that my coping mechanisms for dealing with an overwhelming amount of stress gave out, and i reverted back to eating for comfort. i hope that this wont happen again, so i will continue to work on learning better coping mechanisms -- ie therapy, yoga, meditation, breathing exercises -- that are not related to eating nor to not eating. 

i am hoping for the best in terms of weight loss, but every day i feel happy because i am working on feeling good about my body the way it looks RIGHT NOW, which is also a big part of the PM system, as well as IE. being mean to yourself never helps anything!

i hope this is helpful.abby

 

One thing to realize is that many of us here haven't been doing IE very

long, and are still in the learning stages.  This isn't a quick fix and

really isn't about weight loss at all.  I don't expect to see any kind

of positive changes in my body for months.  I think looking at IE from

a weight-loss attitude rather than just " getting healthier " is kind of

sabotaging yourself into looking at it as a diet

Sohni.

Kayla wrote:

 

Although the book talks about weight loss with IE as commonplace,

it seems like most on here seem to have stayed the same or gained. I

know this is not the most important thing...but still. Whose lost

weight and how did it come about?

-

[Guest guest]

I have listen to everyone on their thoughts and feels. This is something I

would like to sharing with mine. For so many years I have had been yo-yo with

weights bounce over the years and the cost price I paid dear for my health

tolls. So, I stop diet altogether yet the doctors did mentioned that I should

diet. I told them that I have had hard time with diet because of my emotional

sides has not 100% heal from over the years as things has turn sour which I

rather not said aloud in this group at the moment.

Anyway I started IE for first time last April as I join this group for support

from time to time when I needs the most. As far as my health problems list goes

on long way. Yet as of last Nov. I moved to new place with new roommate (with

sister) and everything change completely to the point I have noticed I have been

more calm down than over stress daily basis. In 3 months as went to see

different doctor and I was on the weights. As I saw the weights I have lost and

was shock. 25 lbs loss in 3 months between the moving new place and settle

down. Did I ever once went on diet? Nope, never once did and either do I want

to. How did I do that? Excerises regular only when I want to and however long

as I feel like it without hurt myself. Listen to my body when hungry to eat. Is

it easy for me? Nope, it was not at first or when I am under heavy stress once

in while but now that change because I have no longer feel like being punished.

Eliza

[Guest guest]

This is it exactly.  Perfect!

Sohni

Abigail Wolfson wrote:

 

i think it's our behavior most of us need to fix, not our

eating.

[Guest guest]

Hi Jen,

I believe in intuitive eating principles. But my issue was I'd followed Overcoming Overeating, and my version of legalizing was very permissive, lol; I suppose I mean to say I did a lot of eating what I wanted BEFORE I started to nudge myself over to eating when hungry, so that initial misstep on my part caused me to gain a whole lot of weight.

But I really and truly think there's a way to have a balanced, healthy eating style that's more down the middle while applying the intuitive eating principles. For example, I absolutely refuse to restrict any types of food regardless of nutrition content or lack of, and if I really KNOW I have a strong desire for a food like cake or tira misu (sorry spelling) I'll have it. And it satisfies my taste buds and craving for sure. But what I also know about this kind of food is it does not satisfy my stomach as well as yogurt with museli and whole grain granola; this latter food, for some reason, just seems to give me greater sense of fullness in my stomach after a "normal" portion, whereas the tira misu or cake, while tasting absolutely wonderful, doesn't fill me; I could eat half a sheet before it would fill me the way the yogurt does. So basically I NEVER restrict anything but I do take these considerations into

mind. If I don't care whether I have the cake or the yogurt, then I often pick the yogurt for reasons of satisfying, full stomach feeling. The same thing happens with chicken parm; I love it and I had it tonight in fact, but I find that if it's all I have it simply won't fill me until I've had enough for two people, so I order it (delivery) and while I'm waiting for it to arrive, I have a salad (I love spring mix), and then when it arrives I make certain I DON'T have a portion that feels deprivational, but I do my best to have a portion that is what I view as 'normal'.

My problem with just going by internal full signals is if certain foods are in front of me in huge quantity, I really don't stop eating if I love them, and the other is my full signals aren't very obvious; I have them but they're very dim and weak really.

My problem is I love certain foods a whole lot and I really believe that food is meant to be enjoyed but I'd like to enjoy my foods in "normalish" amounts most of the time :.)

You asked about weight and I can't say I've yet lost weight from intuitive eating; I had "relapsed back into a very restrictive eating style a couple years ago and lost weight but have since put about 30Lb of that back on. I was losing a little weight on intuitive eating, but then I went through a period of super high stress, and sadly, I still overeat when the stress level is super high. I've not attained the ideal of never turning to food regardless of circumstances. I don't turn to food very much relative to how I was though.

I think I'm still doing intuitive eating, but I have to admit I've used a little "tough love" about the overeating for stress situation I'd had; I had to find a part of me that would be a little bit firm about not using food for comfort. I was not ever down on myself or beating myself up, but that level of stress was super high and I had to really get serious with myself about coping with it without food.

Laurie

To: IntuitiveEating_Support Sent: Sat, February 27, 2010 12:56:30 AMSubject: Re: has anyone lost weight on here?

I really don't know.. I have been doing the intuitive eating process for about four months now and though I am recovering from food obsession and I am freed from the chains that have binded me, I have also gained almost 30lbs. It is horrible. Sometimes I question if it is worth it to be heavy and mentally stable with food or if having an eating disorder and being skinny is the way to go. I haven't figured it out yet.

From: Kayla <ghassemball@ yahoo.com>Subject: [intuitiveEating_ Support] has anyone lost weight on here?To: IntuitiveEating_ Support@yahoogro ups.comDate: Friday, February 26, 2010, 7:35 PM

Although the book talks about weight loss with IE as commonplace, it seems like most on here seem to have stayed the same or gained. I know this is not the most important thing...but still. Whose lost weight and how did it come about?

[Guest guest]

Hi Abby,

Your email was so interesting; I had just finished writing that the stress in my life was too overwhelming to not turn to food. It's true that I can handle a lot of stress without food, but I did hit my breaking point I suppose.

And now I'm attempting to shift that 'breaking point' higher so I can handle even more stress without food.

I'm attempting ways to reduce stress; exercise, green tea, meditating, massage, etc.

It seems like we're in similar places right now.

I think I'm also taking the eating when hungry to heart because I had to do a bit of tough love on myself to jumpstart my desire to cope without food. The way I see it right now is, what's wrong with McKenna so long as we don't seek absolute perfection? If we apply the eat when hungry "rule" and then just achieve that aim when we can and decide, ahead of time, not to berrate ourselves if we eat when not hungry once in a while, what's wrong with that? Right now I need some structure, and something to aim for, and while it's not weight loss, it certainly is eating like a normal person which means eating when hungry a good percentage of time.

Laurie

To: IntuitiveEating_Support Sent: Sat, February 27, 2010 6:10:34 PMSubject: Re: has anyone lost weight on here?

i always just think about "what's the alternative?"

i could go on another diet, and drive myself crazy, and most likely end up gaining weight in the long run... or i can learn to step off the merry go round of dieting, and accept that it's going to take a while to learn new behaviors. it's common to gain weight at first, especially if we have restricted food for a long time, and either hurt our metabolisms or our emotional responses to food.

i think it's our behavior most of us need to fix, not our eating. when we learn to stop using food as a coping mechanism, many of us will lose weight. many, but not all. if you knew that you couldn't lose weight this way, lets say you could maintain but not lose, would you go back to dieting? weight loss is sometimes a "symptom" of successsful IE, but it's not the purpose. of course you may still desire it, but it can't all you think about.

in the past i have used McKenna's system to lose weight successfully, and I am now trying it again. for me, it dovetails very nicely with IE, though for others, the "rule" that you can only eat when hungry is too diety. for me, i dont see it as a rule, but as learning to decipher between emotional needs and physical hunger... it's the only thing i've ever tried that i dont rebel against. the fact that it stopped working for me and that i gained weight shows that my coping mechanisms for dealing with an overwhelming amount of stress gave out, and i reverted back to eating for comfort. i hope that this wont happen again, so i will continue to work on learning better coping mechanisms -- ie therapy, yoga, meditation, breathing exercises -- that are not related to eating nor to not eating.

i am hoping for the best in terms of weight loss, but every day i feel happy because i am working on feeling good about my body the way it looks RIGHT NOW, which is also a big part of the PM system, as well as IE. being mean to yourself never helps anything!

i hope this is helpful.

abby

On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 5:39 PM, jeanniet58 <jeanniet58gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

One thing to realize is that many of us here haven't been doing IE very long, and are still in the learning stages. This isn't a quick fix and really isn't about weight loss at all. I don't expect to see any kind of positive changes in my body for months. I think looking at IE from a weight-loss attitude rather than just "getting healthier" is kind of sabotaging yourself into looking at it as a dietSohni.

Kayla wrote:

Although the book talks about weight loss with IE as commonplace, it seems like most on here seem to have stayed the same or gained. I know this is not the most important thing...but still. Whose lost weight and how did it come about?

-