I'm doing it! I'm eating intuitively!

I am SO proud of myself!!

I had a few binges in the past few weeks- each one felt horrible, like I was hitting a bottom. So I ordered a few books on controlling compulsive eating, and they came in the mail on Monday. I read just the first 25 pages of Breaking Free from Emotional Eating, and I already feel like it's saved me. I didn't think a food journal would be helpful, and I was reluctant to be logging my food twice (on here and on paper), but it turned out to be a quick way to evaluate if I'm really hungry by rating the physical symptoms of hunger, and then holding myself accountable.

I'm not perfect yet...I have been low on calories/protein the past few evenings, so I ate when I wasn't hungry. I'm working on spreading out my food more evenly across the day and making sure I get more protein earlier. Also, I think sometimes I convince myself I'm more physically hungry than I really am because I want to eat.

But...YAY!!!

Well done working on your eating patterns.  Regular meals & snacks spaced evenly throughout the day is a very good habit to get into.  It helps to remember that a 'big hunger' can be met with a 'small meal' and that sometimes you don't have to be feeling starving hungry to 'fancy' something... that's 100% normal.

Good luck

Wow, congratulations! :)

I just wanted to second something that Gi-jane said: "fancying something."  I tried intuitive eating a few days ago and gosh, I just really wanted a donut.  But I didn't let myself have one because I wasn't physically hungry, I just was craving it.

Little did I know that that's something normal people do, too!  One of my naturally slim friends (and I mean really naturally—her diet consists mostly of regular Coke, pita chips, and buttered pasta) said the next day, "I want some ice cream right now."  And I said, "Are you hungry?"  And she said, "Nah, I just want some."  And so she went and got some ice cream.

I guess it might not seem like a big deal to some people, but this idea of eating just because you want food is pretty big to me.  Obviously you don't want to overdo it and eat all the time when you're not hungry, but it is totally normal to be "fancying" something.  Well, good luck on your intuitive eating!  Keep it up! ^^

I once read some kind of statistic to do with people that eat 'normally' and their reasons for doing so.   Most of the time, say 50-60%, they ate because it was a mealtime.  Less often, th ey ate because they were hungry... that was about 30% of the time.   But the rest of the time - about 10 - 20% -  their reason for eating was 'they just fancied something'.

Next time enjoy the donut...

My problem now that I'm more aware of my physical signs of hunger is stopping when I'm full. I actually WANT to stop for once, but I still end up cleaning my plate because a) I'm poor right now and can't afford to waste food, and b) eating it all is easier than figuring out what proportion of the food I ate so I can log that and then log the leftovers when I eat them later.

After doing this for a few days, I'm now eating intuitively about half of the times I eat. I'm aiming to get a little bit better every day, and trying really hard not to beat myself up about when I mess up...I'm trying to focus on the times I DO wait.

Also, I'm trying to eat what I want to eat, not what I feel like I should eat...which is hard when I feel like I have to eat certain foods so they don't spoil and go to waste.

Great Job Emily!

Whats the name of the book that you are ready? It sounds really helpful and interesting.

EDIT: Nevermind. I really need to start reading more carefully.

If you don't want to be in that position, measure out what you want to eat before you prepare and cook it.... Then you won't waste any.

Original Post by gi-jane:

If you don't want to be in that position, measure out what you want to eat before you prepare and cook it.... Then you won't waste any.

 Yeah, I only cook single servings and try to estimate how much I'll want, but with all of this paying-attention-to-my-body stuff, I seem to want less than usual. I'm just going to have to get better at that. Plus, I want to learn the skill of not cleaning my plate when I don't have control over how much goes on it (e.g., at a restaurant).

The book is called Breaking Free from Emotional Eating.