As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I've been giving a lot of thought to intuitive eating. The last month or so, I've stopped trying to control my macros (ensuring I get the right mix of fat, carbs and protein with every meal) and my food groups (3-5 servings of fruits and veggies, limited sugar, etc) and have instead only been trying to make clean choices and eat when I'm hungry, and to weigh myself less. About ten days ago, I stepped on the scale to see what the damage was, and I was shocked to see that I'm about 2 pounds down from my lowest weight since high school (I hit this point while on WW in January, and while DEFINITELY feeling like I was on a diet). So what has led me to this point?
I have struggled with my weight my whole life, but didn't do much about it until high school. While in high school, I became active in marching band (lots of practices = lots of calories burned and less mindless snacking), discovered yoga (the first exercise I had ever enjoyed enough to do consistently) and took on a part-time job (which also cut down on the mindless snacking). As a result of these three lifestyle changes, I ended up dropping a lot of my baby weight and hitting a low, but healthy feel-great weight.
In college, my love of yoga temporarily took a back burner, and my love of hanging out with friends, campus dining, and, yes, alcohol took its place. As a result, I gained about 20 lbs over the course of 4 years. It was a slow and steady gain and a direct result of too large of portions, too many empty calories, and too little exercise. I never beat myself up too much about the high calorie intake because I figured the ~2 miles I walked everyday on campus made up for any extra indulgences.
After I graduated college last August, I realized how much control I now have over my schedule and my eating habits and decided to make a conscious effort to drop some weight. To do this, I turned to Weight Watchers. I found it easy to keep track of my eats and not too restrictive if the points were spread out evenly over a week. However, I also found myself eating as little as possible during the week so that I could save my points for the weekends and enjoy indulgent environments with friends and family.
After about 3 months and about 8 pounds lost, I got a little sick of WW back in January and felt like it wasn't a sustainable lifestyle for me. Although I was seeing consistent losses from week to week, going hog-wild on Friday and Saturday nights left me feeling awful every Sunday night. Around this same time, I read the book "Master Your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels and began to incorporate the concepts of "clean" eating (limiting processed foods, high amounts of sugar, and chemicals) into my diet. As recommended in the book, I tried hard to get in all of the recommended food groups, but still had a tough time giving up sweets and treats entirely. I tried to follow the adage to have "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper", but would usually end up throwing in "dessert like a rock star" somewhere after 8pm each night. During this time, I created a calorie surplus of (mostly) clean, healthy options, and about half of the 8 pounds I had lost on WW came back over the course of two months.
About a month ago, I took a serious look at my food intake and realized that I was trying so hard to follow the rules that I forgot to listen to my body. For me personally, I don't tend to get hungry for a big breakfast and would rather drink a bottle of water and eat a piece of fruit than eat a 300 calorie meal when I first wake up. However, after I get home from work, I am usually famished and easily eat half of my daily calorie intake after 5pm. While this might not be ideal according to "the rules", it is what works for me. In terms of exercise, I would rather take a 60 minute walk around the neighborhood or do a long, slow yoga practice after work than do 20 minutes of a high intensity workout...and sometimes I would rather get 8 hours of sleep or a little R&R after work than work out at all! Since I've started to really listen to my body and make changes accordingly in my daily life, my body is choosing to drift back to its happy place, and I'm embracing it! I just can't believe it really
is that simple!
Questions:
Do you track your calorie intake daily or follow more of an intuitive eating approach? Which do you prefer?
