OA

[Guest guest]

I was wondering if anyone has experience combining Intuitive eating with OA? If

so was it positive and helpful? I'm seriously thinking about going to OA. I went

a couple times in the past and for me it was like a diet club. Which is the last

thing I need. I have been focusing on IE but would like to find some support.

[Guest guest]

hello Kathy,Yes, I have been combining OA & IE for 3 months. It has been working for me. I have lost my (probably) final 18 lbs in those 3 months & it has been pretty easy. It was hard at first because I started with OA only, got a sponsor, got my abstinence by emailing her my menu every morning & phoning her every night. That went on for a month until I realized that I was OK with that part of it. The cravings were gone & I was ALWAYS hungry by meal time. Then my mom died suddenly & it didn't affect my abstinence because I was willing to allow myself to feel ALL of the grief that came up so I didn't have to bury it in food. Then I got Geneen's book. At that point I had been studying IE for some time & I had

belonged to this IE group for a while, too. I was still in OA but I was willing to NEVER go on another diet again. My abstinence did not limit me from any particular foods, I allowed myself a small square of chocolate after my dinner & I ended every lunch & dinner with lemon yogurt because I LOVE IT. If I had a "craving" come up between meals I would tell myself "I will have it at my next meal". Well, I rarely ever even thought about that thing at that next meal because, as Geneen says, when the body is hungry it doesn't want cheesecake. For the last month I have been consciously trying to follow 6 of the 7 guidelines. Couldn't do the eat when you are hungry one because I didn't trust myself to know when I was hungry, YET. For the last 2 days I have been working on THAT & it has been working well. I am actually eating a lot less food that I did when I was doing 3 meals only. When I think of it, I sometimes

have to remind myself to check in on my body to see if I am hungry. THAT is a completely NEW phenomena to me. LOL.I am certain that if I keep doing IE, I will be able to do it all of the time but for now I still need to go to OA because I like my sponsor & I want to keep working on the steps. But that may change, too, the more I go inside & really listen to my body & pay attention to what it wants the less I will need to rely on outside forces to help me..Sorry this wound up being so long mjTo: IntuitiveEating_Support Sent: Sat, July 17, 2010 2:31:16 PMSubject: OAI was wondering if anyone has experience combining Intuitive eating with OA? If so was it positive and helpful? I'm seriously thinking about going to OA. I went a couple times in the past and for me it was like a diet club. Which is the last thing I need. I have been focusing on IE but would like to find some support. ------------------------------------