Re: Hi! I'm new to the group...

December 15, 2006

Welcome, I think the fears that you talk about are quite common. I

know I was totally afraid at giving up the diet rules that I had

made for myself. It takes time and desire to get past those fears.

I think when you say that you have hit " diet bottom " , that you

definitely have all the desire that you need. Now, you just need to

give yourself time and be patient with yourself as you learn to

learn and pratcie the principals of intuitive eating.

I have been successfully with just reading a book, websites, and

online forums. So, I think that is fine for you to give it a try

first. If you feel as you go along that you need more help, you can

look for more support then.

Enjoy the book!

Amy

>

> Hi! I'm 23 years old and I've recently come to the realization

that

> I've hit " the diet bottom. " I've been dieting since the age of 15

> and I can't take it anymore. I even went to an internal medicine

> doctor and she put me on a no carb 1200 calorie diet. It worked

and

> I lost 18 pounds in 2 months. I then got burnt out and I've put 7

> back on in 1 month. I also binge eat which is followed by feelings

> of worthlessness, failure, and anger. I feel like my relationship

> with food is becoming an obsession and one of hatred. I can't keep

> doing this for the rest of my life and I feel like it is consuming

> me. I now realize now from the book that my feelings are a result

of

> dieting. Frusterated and feeling hopeless, I started researching

> cognitive behavior therapy for weight loss because I've recognized

> that my relationship with food is not a healthy one and I stumbled

> upon the Intuitive Eating book 2 days ago. I read up until

principle

> 5 last night and everthing the authors have talked about until

this

> point I keep finding myself agreeing with everthing they are

saying

> and that I can totally relate to the stories of the different

people

> in this book. However, my concern is, I'm sort of feel scared to

> start. I feel like I might be out of control if I start to " not

> diet " for the first time in 5 years. Like how did you know you

were

> doing the right thing or following the suggestions of the book in

> the right way? If anyone can offer suggestions as to what they did

> when they began reading this book I'd really appreciate it! Did

you

> sit down and read the book in it's entirety? What did you do

first?

> Should I just keep reading? I guess I just felt weird that if I

read

> this book and became an IE I would have no one to discuss it with

in

> terms of a counselor, but I guess I now can utilize this peer

group!

> Thanks for listening...

>

December 17, 2006

Hey! i'm 21 and your story sounds alot like mine, i dieted many many

times, and once lost 15lbs on a 11-1200 calorie a day diet.

Then I gained it all back in a month from binging uncontrollably.

That was when I went to the nutrionist for help and started on the

road to IE. I read Intuitive Eating and Overcoming Overeating as

fast as I could. But i did not fully understand the whole concept

and had many questions at first and alot of things were unclear to

me. This was December of LAST year.

So, to make a long story short, for a whole year I would try IE for

a few weeks at most, and the rest of the time I would be counting

calories and dieting and also binging eating regularly.

Now, a year later i am FINALLY giving IE a real try, now that I have

truly given up every kind of dieting (counting calories, looking at

nutrition labels, etc) because thats what was keeping me from IE all

these months. It took a long time to get to this point where I am

fully ready to commit to IE. Seeing the nutritionist once a month

and going to therapy has helped me stay on track this time around,

and also this message board because i dont know any IE in person.

So, the best advice i can give you is the blindly believe everything

the book says, and do everything it says and be committed. dont fall

into the dieting trap, thats what I did and i lost alot of time and

gained more weight from it. i wish I had just stuck to IE from the

get-go

If you have any questions, i'll be happy to help, b/c i had so many

when I first started and a year later i finally think i have figured

it out

>