Re: Fear of Taking the Plunge

January 12, 2007

Hi Marguerite,

I really empathize with what you are going to as it is very familiar

to me. How about reading or rereading some books on IE? I think

hearing success stories and positive thoughts about IE help inspire me

to take chances.

I think you are already at an advantage for becoming a more intuitive

eater. You recognize the thoughts that paralyze you. When you are

consciously aware of these thoughts, you can do something about them.

You can decide that these thoughts are irrational and work to push

them out of your mind.

It is scary to make change, but you can do it!

Amy

>

> I am returning to IE after a short experience with it and find myself

> in the same place as I was when I left it: afraid. Mostly I'm not

> sure how to NOT eat " diet " foods or calculate WW points/calories in my

> mind when evaluating what I should eat next. This fear has become so

> great that at times I feel paralyzed and even depressed; the inability

> to determine what I should do makes me almost not want to eat.

>

> Also, I have been told recently by several doctors that I need to eat

> more than I had been. I am an active runner and lift weights. In the

> course of tracking WW points, I also calculated my daily caloric

> intake and realized that on most days I had been eating 1500 or fewer

> calories. This is not a lot when viewed against the 500-600 calories I

> was expending at the gym or running before even eating breakfast!

> Anyway, over the past year, I have seen a weight creep probably due to

> a slowdown in my metabolism, so I agree that I should try to eat

> more. I'm not sure how I should apply this advice and stay true to IE.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

January 14, 2007

It's definitely a process. Start small -- use real cream in your coffee or

buy 2% cottage cheese instead of nonfat. See if you like the real thing. You

may not. However, I found that sometimes I am satisfied with less of the

real thing. For example, no amount of artificially sweetened fat free yogurt

was enough to satisfy me, but a small amount of plain lowfat Stoneyfield

Farm yogurt mixed with real fruit is heavenly. Fake WW desserts -- I could

have eaten an entire box of those 1 point cakes and not been satisfied.

However, one homemade chocolate chip cookie is fabulous.

For me, eating intuitively meant a return to real food and an end to eating

manufactured food that I ate simply because it was low in calories. No more

fat free hot dogs for me! That doesn't mean I eat hamburgers and fries every

day (rarely, in fact). I eat food I like, but still keep the emphasis on

health. I don't want my or my family's cholesterol levels to be unhealthy. I

still cook mainly from " light " cookbooks, but I don't use fake ingredients.

I like Tribole's cookbooks, and Cooking Light's recipes. If I want

french fries every so often, I eat them.

> I am returning to IE after a short experience with it and find myself

> in the same place as I was when I left it: afraid. Mostly I'm not

> sure how to NOT eat " diet " foods or calculate WW points/calories in my

> mind when evaluating what I should eat next.

_________________________________________________________________

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January 14, 2007

It's definitely a process. Start small -- use real cream in your coffee or

buy 2% cottage cheese instead of nonfat. See if you like the real thing. You

may not. However, I found that sometimes I am satisfied with less of the

real thing. For example, no amount of artificially sweetened fat free yogurt

was enough to satisfy me, but a small amount of plain lowfat Stoneyfield

Farm yogurt mixed with real fruit is heavenly. Fake WW desserts -- I could

have eaten an entire box of those 1 point cakes and not been satisfied.

However, one homemade chocolate chip cookie is fabulous.

For me, eating intuitively meant a return to real food and an end to eating

manufactured food that I ate simply because it was low in calories. No more

fat free hot dogs for me! That doesn't mean I eat hamburgers and fries every

day (rarely, in fact). I eat food I like, but still keep the emphasis on

health. I don't want my or my family's cholesterol levels to be unhealthy. I

still cook mainly from " light " cookbooks, but I don't use fake ingredients.

I like Tribole's cookbooks, and Cooking Light's recipes. If I want

french fries every so often, I eat them.

> I am returning to IE after a short experience with it and find myself

> in the same place as I was when I left it: afraid. Mostly I'm not

> sure how to NOT eat " diet " foods or calculate WW points/calories in my

> mind when evaluating what I should eat next.

_________________________________________________________________

Type your favorite song. Get a customized station. Try MSN Radio powered

by Pandora. http://radio.msn.com/?icid=T002MSN03A07001

January 15, 2007

My 2 most recent diets before IE were WW and SB. I can really

related to your post. I still catch myself going to check the calories

of something I am about to eat and have to stop myself. I think the

most important thing to accept is that you will most likely gain

weight when you fully accept IE and that it is okay if that happens.

I have gained about 5 lbs since I started, but for the past month my

weight has maintained. I have faith that the scales will tip in my

direction at some point, but if they don't I accept that as well. I

know that the book recommends tossing the scale, but I haven't done

that. I still like to weigh myself occasionally, but the number it

shows doesn't make or break my day and it doesn't change what I will

eat. Not anymore and not ever again!

>

> I am returning to IE after a short experience with it and find

myself

> in the same place as I was when I left it: afraid. Mostly I'm not

> sure how to NOT eat " diet " foods or calculate WW points/calories in

my

> mind when evaluating what I should eat next. This fear has become

so

> great that at times I feel paralyzed and even depressed; the

inability

> to determine what I should do makes me almost not want to eat.

>

> Also, I have been told recently by several doctors that I need to

eat

> more than I had been. I am an active runner and lift weights. In

the

> course of tracking WW points, I also calculated my daily caloric

> intake and realized that on most days I had been eating 1500 or

fewer

> calories. This is not a lot when viewed against the 500-600

calories I

> was expending at the gym or running before even eating breakfast!

> Anyway, over the past year, I have seen a weight creep probably due

to

> a slowdown in my metabolism, so I agree that I should try to eat

> more. I'm not sure how I should apply this advice and stay true to

IE.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

January 15, 2007

I quit WW back in October. I had been on a plateau for months and

after some research I realized that my 20 points a day wasn't giving

me enough calories for my activity level. I haven't been counting

calories or anything since then. If it's any consolation, the extra

holiday eating put me 3 pounds over what I was the last time I weighed

in at WW. That's at the top of the range that I promised myself I

wouldn't go over. And, I think the biggest reason why my weight is at

the top of the range is that I didn't have as much time to exercise

during the holiday season. Last week was my first full week of

regular workouts, so hopefully the weight will go back down in a

couple of weeks. I'm not worried one way or another. I proved to

myself that I can eat without counting points or calories and not gain

back all the weight I lost last year.