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Intuitive eating

3 replies

applepineapple · 22/06/2020 14:49

Not sure if this is the right place as it's more of an anti-diet but does anyone here follow intuitive eating? I've just started after losing about 20kg over the last 18 months through calorie counting. I still want to loose another 5 or so but sick of the mentality of counting. I've been binging hard since lockdown (out of my usual routine, around food more often, bored etc) and feel that this might be good for me to get a better relationship with food. Any advice appreciated! Grin

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applepineapple · 23/06/2020 10:27

Thanks @ohthegoats I've read up on the no S diet and it looks really good, def the sort of thing I'm aiming towards.

I know what you mean @Shedtheload I would definitely snack all day if I could, that really is my downfall in terms of just useless calories. I'm moving towards a more plant based diet anyway (my partner eats dairy/ meat so evening meals are not plant based) which helpfully cuts out a lot of the sweet items I liked before!

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Shedtheload · 23/06/2020 06:53

I think it works for some people but not for me because my instinct is to eat too much. I’d love to be one of those people who naturally self-regulates my food intake but have had to accept that will never be me. I also associate it with the HAES/BOPO movements and I think those can be quite harmful in terms of promoting obesity (they didn’t start off that way but are now). So for me, I just think it’s an impossibility and I need to actively make sure I put the right things in my body rather than asking myself what I fancy (which would no doubt be donuts and pizzas).

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ohthegoats · 22/06/2020 16:21

I've been following Laura Thomas and Eveyln Tribole for a couple of years, and have their books (including the work book). I've only got as far as the first bit, but filling in the workbook in terms of dietary history and stuff made me really angry. I can't believe I've wasted so much time and money and effort on it all.

18 months after doing that first section, I'm no heavier, but no lighter either - but if I score myself on all the things in the workbook, my relationship with food is much better. No 'bad' food and so on.

I've read around other options to sort of combine with this, because I still want to lose weight for health and aesthetic reasons. Laura Thomas reckons that for some people who have slightly messed up eating, you need some sort of structure to when you eat (rather than what you eat).

During lockdown I've done 16:8 as an attempt to not put any weight on - I never expected or planned to lose any, I just didn't want to lard up totally (which I knew I would). At the minute I'm within 100g weight of when lockdown started, so I've missed 80 something meals and stayed the same! Bit scary really.

So, next plan - sort of working within the ideas of IE is to do the NOS way of eating. Eat what you want, 3 plates a day, no Snacking, no Seconds, and on a day that doesn't start with S, no Sweet things either. I'm going to see what happens over the next month or so. Just three plates of food, no snacking. I could have done that with 16:8 too, because fasting has other benefits, but at the moment I just want to get back into a timetable almost of eating that fits around working.

I'm not going to be precious about what I eat for now, the meals contain cheese and bread and whatever, nothing is 'banned' apart from sweet things on weekdays. I don't see much hardship in that really. I also appreciate that to actually lose weight, something has to change significantly.

So, no advice but I'm giving a combo a go. I'm also going to move onto part 2 and 3 - so recognising (and allowing myself to be) hungry, and making peace with food. I think I'm there with the third principle to be honest, I just never give myself real time to be hungry... so part 2 doesn't work so much. 3 decent meals a day shouldn't result in loads of snacking, but should give me chance to get hungry and respond to that hunger with what I want to eat.

It's not a quick fix! But I'm mid 40s, and have had a messed up relationship with food for a long time. I've got awhile to 'play' with this a bit. What I know is that I'm never giving any money to the diet industry again.

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