so ~ starting in January I began intuitive eating and a month later i wrote a post about my struggles and successes with intuitive eating, but since I have been going for almost 7 full months now, I figured it was time for a follow up post.
Struggles:
There have been MANY days where I've looked down at my stomach and been not pleased with myself. Especially because Facebook and Google like to remind me that I was 10-15 lbs lighter a year ago.
I have thought about restarting dieting multiple times throughout this process because I know I could do it and diet my way back to the weight I was previously.
but that's not the point of intuitive eating, it's supposed to be food freedom, not a weight loss gimmick. which is definitely a shift in reasoning from how I was eating before and it's something I'm working on changing my brain around on regularly.
Honestly, most of my struggles with intuitive eating has been with my own body image and weight . Which is an ongoing struggle, and I don't think it's gonna be fixed in 6 months. And even when I'm doing well with this all the time, there will still be bad days. Body image isn't something that's fixed overnight. But I do think that I am starting to have slightly more good days than bad days. Which is something.
Successes:
Most of my experience with intuitive eating has been good though! i have really enjoyed the freedom around food that I've had. And to be frank, my eating didn't drastically change. I eat a lot of the same foods because I like those foods.
But, i have also added more into my diet! I have tried new marinades, I've baked more, I will have hella carbs and not stress about it, and I enjoy eating foods that I used to feel guilty about.
I know I'm eating more than I was a year ago, but I feel like I'm fueling my body better.
I am SO much stronger than I was a couple years ago or a year ago or even 6 months ago. And that's largely due to my strength programming but I know a contributing factor is the fact that I'm not in a caloric deficit so I'm able to build muscle.
And its really nice not too feel guilty around food. Some days that's not the case, but most days I can eat the foods that make me feel good even it has carbs or sugar or chocolate or fat or whatever.
Beyond the food things, I know I mentioned the weight gain but it hasn't been a huge gain. It does feel like it was a lot, but when I started onto this whole intuitive eating thing I was coming off an entire month of illness so I was at a lower weight than I had typically been, so it's about 8-9 lbs since then but probably only 3-4 lbs realistically. And I don't think I've gained much of anything over the past few months (though I haven't been weighing myself regularly to be sure).
Another great success I've had has been with figuring out my hunger a lot better. I'm slowly getting more comfortable with eating when I'm hungry and then actually stopping before I'm so stuffed I feel terrible and just stopping when I'm satisfied.
So a lot of positive things coming from from intuitive eating, and honestly it gets better as I get more practice with it.
honestly, if you're interested in trying out intuitive eating I would give it a shot. It's been a process and it's not easy but the benefits of intuitive eating are many and learning how to really fuel your body in the way your body wants & needs to be fueled. If you have questions and/ or need support feel free to reach out to me at my Facebook page, Instagram, or in the comments below!