How to Eat Intuitively?

jldx2in2000

jldx2in2000

Cathlete
So I came to a realization yesterday that I am sick and tired of counting calories. I came to this realization when I was weighing my piece of bread and then cutting off a small sliver of it just to get the nutritional value down to fit into my daily needs. :eek: I figured that I could eat 87.5% of the slice, so I measured the slice, multiplied the number of grams in the slice by .875 and then proceeded to cut of small slivers until I reached that number!!!! Is that crazy?!?!

I have been tracking every morsel I put in my mouth for the last 2 1/2 years! :mad: I know it has helped me lose weight and stay healthy but I don't want to live like this anymore. And I shouldn't have to!

I know there are people out there that can intuitively eat what their body needs when they need it and maintain a healthy lifestyle in the process. All while not over doing it!!! My question is how do they do it?!!

If anyone has gone from a calorie counter to being able to eat intuitively without undoing their health, please share your tips with me!!!

I have ordered Intuitive Eating from Amazon but that won't be delivered until next week.

I am just fed up with spending so much time trying to count my calories and figure out what size portions will work within my daily budget. I feel like I am missing out on life! I actually estimated that I probably spend at a minimum 6 hours a week making sure that I am setting my daily budget appropriately based on my weight and then figuring out a weekly plan that will work with that daily budget. That is almost 1 hour a day that I could be spending with my family but instead I am obsessing over whether I am getting enough or too many calories, am I getting appropriate amounts of protein, carbs, and fat, am I making sure that I am eating 5 times a day and is the calorie breakdown of those 5 meals staggered appropriately to fit my workout schedule.

This is not healthy and I am probably causing myself more harm by stressing about these things then if I could just learn to listen to my body.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!
 
Two Fit Chicks and A Microphone podcast has a couple episodes on this topic that you might find helpful.
 
IOWL podcast. inside out weight loss. we arent going to be perfect everyday. we can only improve a little each day. our ancestors, people in asia and africa, dont know what carbs are and they still manage to live their lives at healthy weights, assuming they have enough food. its a life style. we may always struggle with this, but we can learn from our experiences.

hth, take it a little at a time. try to enjoy your journey.
 
jldx - I could have written your post. I'm so sick of counting calories that I quit doing it about 6 months ago. And I've put on 6# in the process. :mad: I think I was being so strict with myself that when I finally tried to relax and just eat healthy, all my knowledge of how to eat right went out the window. I'm so sick of bland foods and have been making sensible tasteful dinners for myself and now I have to deal with the weight gain.

I was thinking of getting that book as well, although I doubt it would help me because I'm hungry 24/7. My intuitive eating tells me to eat all the time. LOL!!!

There has to be a happy medium for us. I just find that if I don't live, eat and breath the bodybuilder lifestyle, then the weight starts coming on. :(
 
Great in theory

Intuitive Eating is a great theory, but I've seen too many example of trying this method & not having it succeed on these forums to put much stock in it. People who are accountable with their eating, such as with counting calories or points or some other method of food journaling are more successful, sorry to say for all those who are "sick of it."

Please check out the "Thin for Life" books by Ann Fletcher for methods that work.
 
Might a hybrid method work?

For myself, it is effective to combine my GoWearFit, keep a loose estimate of calories, periodic weighing/tape measure to 'keep an eye on things', and relatively careful calorie counting a few times a week. I no longer measure as my eye is pretty good nowadays! This takes me less than five or ten minutes a day even on the careful days - on the estimate-days, I keep a running total of my calorie "guess" in my head and simply use that to guide later meals. If I'm underestimating calories eaten my clothing gets snugger, and if I'm not eating enough my workouts aren't as effective and I feel tired/weaker - there's a built in double check.

This approach has helped me continue to improve my body composition and build muscle, while staying the same size or smaller, for over three years since originally losing 50 pounds of mostly fat on sparkpeople. Portion control combined with eating relatively clean is the key for me - I still have rich desserts from time to time, or or higher calorie meals. And of course I work out hard with an emphasis on strength training :D It isn't time consuming - I spend far less time on this than on planning out my weights for my next workout :)

Intuitive eating may work for people who have balanced lives and a regular schedule, but that's not my situation - I'm either on travel with hotel food, working in an office and hardly moving, or at home on a country property doing all kinds of physical labor to keep it running. Calories burned range from 1400 and below, to 3000. My poor intuition would have to work overtime to keep up if that was all I could use to figure out what my body needs! A little measurement goes a long way.
 
I'm sick of counting, too. So I gave it up. I lost 40 pounds on weight watchers rather quickly, and it all came piling back on. I've discovered since then that if I focus on fitness, rather than every morsel I put in my mouth, I automatically eat much more healthfully. I do have to be mindful, though. I still write down (in a notebook) what I eat, even little bites, but I don't write down the calorie, fat, or carb content. Though, from years of struggle and counting, I've got a pretty good idea of how many calories I'm taking in. Plus, it's pretty hard to eat a row of Oreos if I know I have to write it down later.

Since I've stopped counting, I've been losing weight. Not necessarily every week, and definitely not as fast as when I used to count, but I feel that this is better for my psychological well-being, helping me to get over my all-or-nothing mentality. I can live this way forever, and I never really felt that way while counting. I'm much more comfortable with my day-to-day life, and don't feel like I'm "white-knuckling it" and might lost my grip at any moment.
 
I couldn't agree with you more. Counting calories, points, whatever just plain sucks. It actually really stresses me out. After years of doing it, I stopped several months ago. Intuitive Eating is a good place to start. Gives a really good explanation of the reasons diets fail and why you should stop doing it.

Another book that is really good is Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel. She gives alot of practical real-world tips on how to eat what you want and get (or stay) thin. Love her or hate her, this book helped me alot. I don't weigh myself much anymore but I know I've lost weight because my "skinny" jeans fit now and I have to wear a belt with other pants. I never count calories anymore and I don't feel stressed or deprived. I'm also able to partcipate in social gatherings involving food without guilt or anxiety. Giving up counting calories was one of the best things I've done for myself in years and I'll never go back to that again. Good luck.
 
This won't work for everyone, because it can get boring I guess... but I eat the same thing every day, except two, where I change (Thursday and saturday! :D)... this means I only have to do budgeting once, or twice in this case. I figure out what will be in my 'budget' and I no longer need to measure, because I get so used to the amounts I need, because I eat the same thing everyday. It sounds boring, but it makes me happy. I get to eat food that's healthy AND food that I love, every day :) ....as long as chocolate doesn't stare at me... I go weak at the knees if a chocolate's gaze is one me! :eek:

I also have decided that I don't LIKE calorie counting: I look at the nutritional labels on everything, but never at the energy. If it's high in simple carbs, I won't eat it. If it's high in fat, I won't eat it. But if it's got lots of that golden stuff: protein, i'll gobble it up without a second thought! :)
 
The biggest change I made in diet followed watching the original "You are What You Eat" on BBC channel, around 2007, don't know if it's still on (no cable, there is a website, Gillian McKeith) but it focused a lot on whole food replacements for processed foods, simple recipes. The part that helps me the most is having good stuff around...frozen vegetables, whole grains, fruits, yogurt & 1/2 dozen to a dozen sure fire quick, delicious recipes that can get you through when you've gone off track. You should feel good about the food you make, and how much of it you eat.

The other thing if you don't eat well in the morning, doesn't mean you can't clean it up by lunch or dinner......it's a cumulative effect over time....the key for me is to make many more good choices than poor ones, to not let things go off track for days at a time....and have those quick solutions when I know it's time to pay attention. portion control is way easier than counting calories.

I don't call it intuition though, it's more like guesstimation...recording my measurements and weight, progress on the Cathe calendar has kept things in check...often times I go 4-5 days within 1/2 lb. & I've been within the same 2 lbs. for a couple months after losing about 24-25 lb. I do record calories burned, HRM, workouts of course & goals.

yeah, it's time to quit weighing bread.:(

HTH
Linda
 
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i'm accountable to my 2 check ins. 1 for w/o, other for not binging. it starts with exercise for me. but everyone is different.
 
I'm like FitnessFreak. I understand the principle of intuitive eating, but I think my intuition has it in for me! If I don't plug everything in and look at things like macronutrient ratios, sugar grams, etc., I end up overeating. I HATE counting and calculating and all that...but it works. :) about it working. :( that I can't just eat cookies for every meal like my "intuition" tells me to...
 
jldx2in2000 said:
So I came to a realization yesterday that I am sick and tired of counting calories. I came to this realization when I was weighing my piece of bread and then cutting off a small sliver of it just to get the nutritional value down to fit into my daily needs. :eek: I figured that I could eat 87.5% of the slice, so I measured the slice, multiplied the number of grams in the slice by .875 and then proceeded to cut of small slivers until I reached that number!!!! Is that crazy?!?!

I have been tracking every morsel I put in my mouth for the last 2 1/2 years! :mad: I know it has helped me lose weight and stay healthy but I don't want to live like this anymore. And I shouldn't have to!

I know there are people out there that can intuitively eat what their body needs when they need it and maintain a healthy lifestyle in the process. All while not over doing it!!! My question is how do they do it?!!

If anyone has gone from a calorie counter to being able to eat intuitively without undoing their health, please share your tips with me!!!

I have ordered Intuitive Eating from Amazon but that won't be delivered until next week.

I am just fed up with spending so much time trying to count my calories and figure out what size portions will work within my daily budget. I feel like I am missing out on life! I actually estimated that I probably spend at a minimum 6 hours a week making sure that I am setting my daily budget appropriately based on my weight and then figuring out a weekly plan that will work with that daily budget. That is almost 1 hour a day that I could be spending with my family but instead I am obsessing over whether I am getting enough or too many calories, am I getting appropriate amounts of protein, carbs, and fat, am I making sure that I am eating 5 times a day and is the calorie breakdown of those 5 meals staggered appropriately to fit my workout schedule.

This is not healthy and I am probably causing myself more harm by stressing about these things then if I could just learn to listen to my body.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!
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I have to be honest with you when I say ever since I started my healthy venture with working out and eating right there were four things I vowed to NEVER do and that is: Weigh my food, Count Calories, do the Atkins Diet, and the No Protien Diet. I have been the same size and weight ( give or take five pounds ) ever since the year I started and that was 2001. I could not IMAGINE the amount of work it would take to weigh my food and count calories so I never did and still got to my goal weight and size with no problem. I watched fat grams a little, stayed away from refined carbs and loaded up on veggies, fruits, lean meats and really took in what the Eat Clean Diet said. To this day,, I still enjoy my wine, have treats now and then and if I want dessert,,,dammit I'll have my dessert. I think that if you stick to a vigorous work out routine and just be AWARE of what you are putting on your mouth, you should be just fine. When I am too strict with myself, I start to stress and when I stress,,, I get that mid-section innertube bloat that takes forever to melt off and it's not worth it. If I feel I have taken in too much during the day, I just hit up one of my DVD's like IMAX3, KPC, or BodyMax to help me melt it away ;) Just my two cents.
~Morgs~
 
I guess I've always been an intuitive eater. In fact, I do better that way, as opposed to watching everything so closely. I've tried tracking my food, being strict with fats, etc., although I've never actually weighed portions. When I do that sort of thing, I get irritated very quickly and lose my enjoyment of food. I don't like it one little bit when that happens. :eek:

To me, intuitive eating simply means using common sense and following a well-balanced diet. I think most people here know when they're eating more of one thing than they actually need, even though at the time the desire for it may be rather overwhelming. And sure, it's ok to eat a bit more than you "need" - I mean shoot, we don't want to get by on bare subsistence, right?

My approach is to eat whole foods and basically keep desserts out of the house. Easy for me, since I'm single! I enjoy dishes based on complex carbs, use oils and healthy fats, and don't really care about protein. Really. I know I get enough, and since my personal goals don't include building lots of muscle, it works for me. My weight stays pretty much the same, within a few pounds.
 
I think in order for "intuitive eating" to work, you have to only have "real" foods around: unprocessed foods that your body can recognize as food, so it gets the right signals.
 
If it helps, I read the China Study around the same time I was starting to eat more vegetarian/vegan foods, it pretty much cemented the idea that you may want to eat whole foods, less meat, for health reasons, as well as fueling workouts, etc. I don't know if you said, but as you get older, you tend to think more about healthy foods & habits, and maybe not as much about sizes or what the scale says.

Whole foods, fruits, vegetables, just make you feel so much better & make calorie counting less critical. :)
 
I don't worry about counting anything, I jnow what kind of foods to stay away from and what would be ok to eat. For example, I stay away from all boxed food items b/c of the sodium content. I stay away from all frozen dinners except for frozen veggies. I know grill and bake more for better nutritional value, but if you fry do it yourself b/c you know what's in it.

Those kind of things are what I do for my diet. I'm not vegan or anything as you can clearly see but know what to stay away from. I like meat but not alot of anything because I get bored. I don't count anything b/c it puts too much focus dieting and it would drive me crazy constantly thinking about it.

I do need to work on eating 6 small meals a day but many times that doesn't happen. I am working on endurance and stamina for my workouts.
 
Zozo said:
This won't work for everyone, because it can get boring I guess... but I eat the same thing every day, except two, where I change (Thursday and saturday! :D)... this means I only have to do budgeting once, or twice in this case. I figure out what will be in my 'budget' and I no longer need to measure, because I get so used to the amounts I need, because I eat the same thing everyday. It sounds boring, but it makes me happy. I get to eat food that's healthy AND food that I love, every day :) ....as long as chocolate doesn't stare at me... I go weak at the knees if a chocolate's gaze is one me! :eek:
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This is what I do too. For the most part my meals are the same every day. I do stray a bit on the weekend but not towards the unhealthy just different healthy meals. I read food labels all the time and stay away from sugar, high fat and simple carbs. I eat complex carbs, veggies, fruit, chicken, fish (sometimes lean red meat) and eggs. I allow myself one cheat meal or snack a week. On holidays and birthdays I have a free eating day. I know what a portion is. I hate numbers. I would go insane if I had to measure or count calories.
 
Thanks for all the great replies. I will check out the podcasts (I don't have an Ipod but I assume I can still use it on my laptop or Creative Zen MP3 player). I'll also check into the books suggested.

As far as eating clean and whole foods. I already do that!!! :D

I didn't several years ago when I was at my heaviest and began the dreadful counting of calories. I pretty much ate whatever I wanted without regard to whether it was overly processed.

In the last year or so, I have made significant improvements in choosing better for me foods. Not to help my waist line but to help my insides. I try to avoid packaged foods but in the few cases I do buy them, I review the ingredients carefully to make sure it doesn't contain anything I don't want in my body (for me that is anything artificial-sweeteners, color, flavor, preservatives, etc. as well as corn syrups and hydrogenated oils). I also watch my sodium intake. I think as I have gotten older I have put less emphasis on looking a certain way and more on feeling a certain way (sure I want to look good but I would rather be fit and healthy at 100-and able to take care of myself-than fit into a perfect pair of jeans).

I know how and what to eat to be healthy. I think my struggle will be to only eat when I am hungry and stop eating when I am full. That is the intuitive part that I will need to focus on. It might take me awhile to get there but I have confidence I will get there.

I think this is just mind over matter and if I can get my mind to engage my body to get through some of Cathe's workouts (Butts & Guts :eek:), I can engage my mind to learn to eat only when I need to and stop when I don't.
 
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