Is anyone else REALLY bad at intuitive eating?

I start every day saying, "Today I'm going to try my hardest to only eat when I'm hungry." And then I get to work and immediately demolish my allotted snacks. Same thing at lunch and after work.

Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone successfully overcome it?

Actually, I think just about EVERYONE else here has that problem. The "naturally thin" people of the world are good intuitive eaters. I think it is possible to become one...practice, practice, practice at eating well. For the most part garbage tastes really good though, so it's easy for it to slowly sneak back in to our diets if we're not consciously paying attention.

I am absolutely terrible at it and that's what i miss most about being younger. When your young, you have a cookie. You may have another cookie and some milk. Your full so you stop. You know there will be more cookies later if you want them so why would you keep eating because you will just feel sick and that's not fun. But now it's sort of like, well i better eat as many cookies as possible at this moment because i am not suppose to be eating them so if i don't eat as many possible now, i won't get any more for quite some time. THAT is what sabbotages my happy eating and stemmed from my ED. I never knew when i would be eating again so if i got into that "i'm going to stuff myself stupid" mode, i would eat until i was literally sick, not because i was hungry but because i never knew when i would allow myself to eat again (sorry a bit off topic).

I don't think i necessarily eat all my allocated snacks in one go, i tend to eat at the exact same "snack" times each day whether i am hungry or not. But this is ok i think because i find that if i don't eat at snack time, i will get hungry 30min later and want to eat everything.

Maybe you could put your remaining snacks in a harder to get place (if possible) so your making a conscious effort to go get them and you may realise your not really hungry during that time.

I think it's fine to eat when your not hungry though because as i said, you may find your hungry 30min later and you don't want to wait to prepare something so you just eat anything/all the snaacks you have for the day.

I have no sense of intuitive eating. I can't figure out what I want to eat when I'm hungry and other times I just eat anything I see when I'm bored and not hungry. Maybe someday my mind will be able to understand what my stomach needs, but I keep trying every day.

Yep..I have trouble with this too.

Hmm...

such a huge problem for me as well...especially when I'm studying chemistry or my FOOD classes (I'm a dietetics major) I Try and get a grip and I have developed quite an Orbit gum habit as I chew a piece of that or I make a cup of tea. Still breakdown sometimes though...

I think the problem is that you are telling yourself you are going to eat X Y & Z... you cant think about it all the time because then you are just going to get overwhelmed when it comes to meal time, feel deprived and eat whatever your heart/stomach is craving! 

rainbowjelly you hit the nail on the head!!!  I feel like I wrote that!  It's like this all or nothing better get it while I can thing. Why is that????  It's not like I'm going to starve to death if I don't eat those 10 cookies.  I didn't grow up in a huge family where you had to fight for the "good food".  When I'm eating something that is really good my first thought is "this is so good, I think when I'm done, I'm going to buy more".  I usually talk myself out of it but why can't I just be satisfied with a normal portion?  I have never done a conscious effort at intuitive eating but at this point I would probably say I have no clue when I'm hungry and when I'm not.  It's confusing because some diet experts tell you to graze all day so you don't get hungry and intuitive eating tells you to eat only when you are hungry-which I would think would lead to overeating?

I seem to be a more of a three square meals a day person.  I don't get hungry between breakfast and lunch and I'm usually busy enough at work from lunch to dinner.  However, unless I have something ready to eat as soon as I get home from work look out.  I've tried keeping fruit or nuts in my car so when I get off the bus and in my car at the park-n-ride I can munch on something on the way home but it doesn't seem to help.  I'm a ravenous lunatic when I get home.

Anyone else like this?

my problem is that i ALWAYS seem to be hungry, but i try to ignore it when i know that i shouldn't be hungry since i just ate. it gets harder at night though. right now, i'm trying to gain a bit of weight, but i'm also trying to slow the weight gain a little since i'm nearing my goal weight. that's why i want to learn how to be an intuitive eater, so that when it comes time to maintain, it won't be so much of a struggle.

i do agree that thinking about an allotted amount of food is a culprit though, but i don't really see any way around it...

There is one key word in your post that points to the source of your failure - allotted.  There shouldn't be allotted anything.  You should always be prepared, but never plan.  Bring some healthy snacks to work like fresh fruit, string cheese, yogurt, single serving cottage cheese, triscuits, fresh veggies, etc.  Listen to your body.  If you are hungry, go to the fridge and grab whatever will fill your craving.  If it's something salty, grab a cottage cheese or triscuits and celery or, if you feel like something sweet, fruit or yogurt.  Don't set an allotted amount of anything.  I've lost 13 lbs since September simply by listening to my body, being prepared and eating only when I'm hungry.  It IS possible.  You just have to change the way you think about food.  I don't keep a food diary or count calories.  I just eat when I'm hungry and reach for healthy foods when I do eat.  When you plan, you constantly think about food.  You're always thinking of your next meal even if you just ate.  Don't plan and you won't be constantly be reminded of your "allotted" snacks.  Just feel safe knowing they are there if you really need them. 

I dunno, but I can't live the way Fallingstars does... I have a tendancy to binge eat, over eat, and be in total denial about everything going into my mouth. I really think that some of us are just equipped with some kind of weird food amnesia and we just can't comprehend how much we're actually eating.

Okay. so about 6 years ago I decided to try the whole "eat when hungry"  and "listen to the body" thing. In a way it was good for me because it took away the effort and worry. But I ended up gaining weight. Even when I was actually feeling hunger pangs and giving myself what seemed to be reasonable portion sizes and NOT eating to where I felt overly full, I ended up gaining about a hundred pounds over about four years to top out at 235 pounds.  I was mystified because I felt that my food intake was "normal" and not more than other people's.

 Weeellll.... in hindsight and after actually sitting down and calculating, I was consuming a good 3000 to 3500 calories per day, sometimes more, sometimes less, but I swear it didn't FEEL excessive!

I do think that some of us HAVE to count calories and will need to do so for life, because when we eat intuitively- even with an idea of weight control and health firmly in mind- we still eat too much! I was not eating a lot of junk food at that time. I was eating healthy foods and I actually felt pretty good. Now, according to folks like Kelly Bliss, this is just where my body wants to be and as long as I choose healthy foods and engage in some exercise, there should be no problem with that. Thing is, I don't WANNA be 235 pounds, but the only way I can NOT be 235 pounds is if I count calories religiously and exercise vigorously. Simple as that.

So... short answer? Yup. I suck at intuitive eating and I think a lot of other folks do too, else we would not have such a problem maintaining our weights.

Original Post by fallingstars27:

There is one key word in your post that points to the source of your failure - allotted.  There shouldn't be allotted anything.  You should always be prepared, but never plan.  Bring some healthy snacks to work like fresh fruit, string cheese, yogurt, single serving cottage cheese, triscuits, fresh veggies, etc. 

That's exactly what I do. I bring several healthy snacks to work, and tell myself I'll eat them when I'm hungry and I don't HAVE to eat them, but then they're gone within the first hour. Every. Single. Day.

I've tried really hard to just listen to my body, but it just doesn't seem to be something I'm capable of doing successfully.

this obviously does not apply to everyone, but for those of you who replied and are UNDERWIGHT, then yea, youre always hungry bc thats your body yelling at you for more food, EVEN if you just ate.

agruskin,  not all of us who re ounder weight or that have eds were born with them,  I have never been able to tell when i am hungry,  now i am recovering from ana and it is even worse, i have no idea what fills me up,  iam i have no idea what my body wants.  everyday is difficlt with guilty feelings over feeling out of control,  my life would be so much eisier if i just was able to eat when hungry....stop when full.  wow imagine it.  i am finding now that i am not even hungr untill 10mins after i finish eating a full days worth of food when i was not hungry...that is frustrating

often, when recovering from an ED, you do not have the luxury of eating according to your hunger cues.  if youre underweight and need to gain, you need to eat mechanically-according to a set schedule w/ a set calorie goal.  your hunger cues are not accurate after having an eating disorder.  if youre underweight and hungry, it may be bc youre not eating enough.  ofcourse nothing is absoulte and for everyone...

Have you thought about trying Overeaters Anonymous, or check out Geneen Roth's "When Food is Love".  I believe we can be addicted to food, just as an alcoholic is addicted to alcohol.  There is help for this and amazing support groups out there!