Living Large- An Intuitive Eating Roadtrip!

One of the things I’ve found most interesting in my IE quest is the concept of chewing.

I’ve been trying my best to chew each bite of food of mine at least 20 times. I’ve found that this has allowed my body time to realize when it is full and has reduced the amount I eat by a third and sometimes even by half, especially with rich foods.

It also allowed me to really taste and savor food, and sometimes, it has even led me to realize that a food that I thought I used to like, I don’t really care for anymore now that I taste it without inhaling it.

Try chewing each BITE OF FOOD 20 times and let me know how it goes. Then compare the amount of time it takes you to eat a food now, compared to how you used to chew it back when eating unconsciously. Here are some fun ones to try:

1. Indiviual bag of chips: Next time you open up a bag or doritos, corn chips or whatever, try chewing each chip 20 times and waiting until you have swallowed that one chip before you reach into the bag for another. It’s amazing how I would just pop a chip in my month, grab for another or handful before I swallowed and often put new chips into my mouth before I swallowed the first one I ever even put in. It’s no wonder I used to eat whole bags of chips in one setting.

2. French Fries: Try chewing each fry 20 times before picking up the next one and popping it in your mouth. Much like the chip popping phenomenon.

These are just fun foods to try. In other blogs I’ll explore how I do this 20 chew thing with pudding, ice cream, soup etc.

When I first started trying to chew my food 20 times, sometimes I couldn’t do it. So I started off chewing my food 5, 10 or 15 times. It doesn’t have to be 20. The point it slow down enough to taste what you are eating and giving yourself a chance to get full.

Hugs!

Rachelle

I saw this on a post or blog or message board somewhere, so I can’t take credit for it. But when practicing IE, it if all else fails, ask yourself:

“Am I really hungry, or do I want to eat something to change how I feel?”

xoxo,

R

Hello all. I am so glad that I have a definite moment to blog.

I feel like I have traveled down a significant path thus far on my IE Road Trip. I’ve been at it since Sept. 7. Here are some highlights and lowlights of the journey. So far, I have lost four pounds over the last six or so weeks.

The journey thus far:

1. I weighed myself two weeks after starting, because I couldn’t resist the scale temptation. On that day, On Sept. 28 I had gained two pounds. I was OH SO SAD, but no matter how much I wanted to, I could not bring myself to diet.

For those of you thinking about IE or starting out, one of the most HARDEST, yet essential things is giving up the ritual of using the scale. For some of you that might mean you have to wean yourself from weighing daily to weekly, or whatever that might be. For me, I used to weigh myself weekly, so I told myself that I would wait at least a month before I weighed myself.

I can see the wisdom in this, because like I said, after that Sept 28 day, I waited until yesterday (Nov 17 to weigh myself). That is give or take 6 weeks. Now, if you divide a weight loss of four pounds over 6 weeks, that comes out to something like a a quarter or half a pound a week or less.

SO, had I weighed myself every week, I doubt those small loses would have registered on the scale. And if they had, I would have been like, “I am not losing weight fast enough. Forget it, I am either going to go on a diet or eat because I am mad and frustrated.”

Therefore, by not weighing myself weekly, those little loses accumulated to a pleasing number. Still, giving up the scale is something I struggle with, especially now that I have seen a loss and want to continue seeing it…(haha…don’t you just love human nature?)

2. Weight loss with IE is S-L-O-W.

Now, back in my diet/ww/I-must-lose-weight-at-any-cost days, I would NOT be pleased. Four pounds over six weeks? No way would I have been satisfied with that. But here is where IE is different:

IE IS NOT JUST ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS. IT IS ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD.

Let me tell you, even though it took a long time, this was about the most pleasant four pounds I have ever lost. I ate Jack in the Box. I went on vacation and ate Hawaiian pastries. I went out on three engagement dinners at fancy restaurants. I baked cookies and I still go out to lunch with my friends.

I don’t count points anymore, and I don’t look at calories. But here is why I think I’ve been successful.

I really, really ask myself, am I hungry? And if I am hungry while I am eating, I constantly ask myself, am I full? I also chew each bite of my food 20 times, AND when I am chewing my food, I put my fork down and wait to swallow before I load up my fork again with the next mouthful. This is very different from the days when I used to put food in my mouth, load up my fork and put another bite in before I even finished the other bite. This has probably led me to decrease the amount of food I eat by 1/3 or or 1/2.

Also, when I do go to fast food restaurants, I ask myself, what do I really want here from McDonalds? Do I really want the entire meal with nuggets, fries and a drink? Or do I just want the nuggets? Or just the fries? Or just the drink? Or if I want all three, I will get the whole meal, but I will wait to eat again when I am full. There are some nights when I have eaten a big fast food meal early in the afternoon, but been so full that I have not been hungry, and therefore not have eaten until the next day. Some days, I have eaten a fast food meal and was hungry at a normal interval of time afterwards and forced myself to eat, trying to avoid the guilt trap of thinking “oh, I ate fast food, so now I have to punish myself and make up for it by starving.”

That is why intuitive eating is called “intuitive,” I’ve realized. Because you have to listen to your body and honor it, no matter what the diet police are telling you.

3. When I first started this process, there is a step where you legalize all your foods. That means eating things that you previously put off limits and learning to do so without guilt. I felt crazy doing it, and like I said gained weight doing it. But I needed to do it and I’m glad I got through that first part.

4. I finally realized, that my body knows what it is doing, if only I give it a chance. The hardest part of trusting my body is listening for what it tells me, and then following through.

That’s all for now guys! It’s good to be back in the blog world!

xoxo,

Rachelle

Hello my chickadees! Sorry it’s been awhile, but I just got back from Hawaii, took two geology tests and had a job interview. But today, I woke up this morning and had a feeling that today was the day I was going to step on the scale.

So I did.

And I lost FOUR POUNDS! Yay! Can you believe it??? Four pounds in six weeks! At first, it doesn’t look like a lot, but given the fact that I haven’t been on a diet, I’ve eaten exactly what I wanted, when I wanted and have only exercised at the gym like 10 times in six weeks, this is great! Intuitive eating really does work! Granted the weight loss is slow, but now that the holidays are coming and I’ll be off from school, I can gently schedule more exercise into my schedule!!! I want to blog more but I have to go to work soon, so I’ll blog more later!

Thanks all for your thoughts, prayers, and support!!!

xoxo,

Rachelle

Sigh…

I am frustrated with myself…but I think I how I handle food is a small part of it.

I am stressed about money, school, work and my upcoming and yet to be determined date of my wedding. Although I have not been grossly overeating, I have not been as mindful as I have been with chewing slowly and taking pauses between bites.

*deep breath*

I think what is hard about IE, is that there aren’t “correct behaviors” or rules to adhere to, to verify you are on the path to weight loss. I guess because that is that weight loss is a secondary benefit of IE. The primary benefit of IE is to fix one’s relationship with food.

With an impending wedding (I”m thinking later next year) it is very hard to not want to go on a wedding diet. So to compromise, I have to keep on eating intuitively and I have to be steadfast about my exercise. I have to accept that if I want to fit into a wedding dress that I like, I do have to have a plan when it comes to working out.

The challenge now is how to be gentle with myself about it. I want to weigh myself but I don’t want to give my power to the scale. But sometimes, I feel like if I don’t weigh myself and know my number, then I’ll scare myself into thinking that I’ve gained weight when I actually haven’t. My clothes still fit the same or a little more loosely, so I’m not alarmed.

But, I do have to start checking in with my hunger levels again and start chewing more slowly. I am good about waiting until I am hungry to eat, but I am getting back to that wolfing things down mentality.

BUT, switching now to good news: I am going to Hawaii! Tomorrow! I actually think that my going to Hawaii is what caused me some stress! There was a cheap package deal from California to HI for 4 days and 3 nights for $500.00. So my friends called me this morning, and viola, the trip was booked by noon (taking advantage of this three day weekend here).

So I have a large amount of money saved, so I could totally afford it. What stressed me out is that I hate parting with my money unexpectedly, and you know that on vacation, I tend to spend more. But for awhile, I felt guilty for doing this whole unplanned purchase thing, than started to berate myself as a bad person, then started to wonder if I gained weight, then looked at my gut in the mirror, then looked at my messy apartment…on and on and on…

I’m glad that I stopped the snowball from forming. I had this immense desire to blog. And blogging helped so much. It’s just crazy that the snowball of negativity can get going that fast, that easily, and get that big!

In perspective, I am lucky and happy to be going to Hawaii. I have money saved so I can afford it, and the apartment isn’t that much of a wreck. In one respect, I didn’t turn to food to soothe me, but then I started berating how I ate at lunch (which once again in perspective is not that bad, and nowhere at all near the binge days…)

So my friends, I’ll be in Waikiki the next couple of days, practicing IE there. I’ll do my best and report when I get back.

Have a great weekend and remember to love yourselves just as you do others!

xoxo,

Rachelle

Aloha!!!

First off, I want to thank everyone for congratulating me on my engagement and the progess I have had with IE so far. Your responses are one of the reasons I keep writing, and it keeps me going through this journey.

In specific response to a comment from Artygirl, who reminded me to enjoy my special time and be gentle with myself during this new period of engagement hit the nail right on the head for me…because along with the engagement comes the wedding…which comes with the wedding dress…which comes with fitting into a wedding dress and entertainment of how one should look in the dress and pictures…*sigh*

The thing about IE is that since it is a process and not a plan, it does not gurantee weight loss in steps or intervals that traditional dieting does…but…*gulp*…I now have a deadline (though we haven’t had time to set an official date) that looms sometime in the future…

I don’t have time to get into it now, (at work hahah), but I am concerned about fitting into a dress. I’m already entertaining thouoghts of becoming a gym whore again, while continuting to eat intuitively…but that is another blog of goodness…

Any other future or former brides out there doing IE? Or anyone trying to fit into something for anything in fact? Prom dresses? Mother of the bride dresses? Reunion outfits? Share, share please!!!

Hey all! I’ve missed you guys! I’m off on a busy couple of days so I thought I’d update!

So, great news! I got enegaged over this weekend! My bf and I have been together for 8 years and he finally popped the question, and it was a total surprise because even though I knew he was going to do it because I designed my ring, I thought he was going to wait for another weekend!

Of course, with the ring, comes the wedding…and comes the need to lose weight for the wedding…but that is for another blog…hahaha…

And tonight, I get to work at the San Francisco Chronicle to help with the elections! A great thing for a young reporter, even if I am unsure whether or not I want to stay in journalism. I won’t actually get to write anything of course, but I get to help all the other reporters who work there full time! A newsroom is possilbly one of the best places to be on such a historical election like this, especially one of the three biggest ones on the West Coast!

And I’ve been doing okay with IE. There are some incidents I want to get into, (like how I turned myself into a comparison machine watching other people get food at breakfast buffet we went to this weekend) but I’ll have to get to those after Wedensday!

I hope everyone has a fun election day and night! Will write soon!

xoxo,

R

Hey everybody! Happy November! Just thought I’d post the links for various IE threads/groups here:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/IntuitiveEating_Support/

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145212&page=32

http://boards.msn.com/Healthboards/thread.aspx?threadid=39457

-Rach

I just wanted to thank all my blog readers again, especially for your comments on me fitting into my jeans! I love you all!

xoxo,

Rachelle