(copied straight from my ww.com blog)

Things are going very well on my intuitive eating plan. I don't weigh in until Monday, so I'm not sure of the weight results, but I'm having a great time with it.

Things that I've learned about myself:
-If I eat intuitively, I don't eat as often or as much as I used to.
-If I listen to my cravings and hunger signals, sometimes I will crave things like lean protein and vegetables!
- I don't even really like Little Debbies that much. If I eat one, slowly and mindfully, the flavor is just not that great.
-I still have issues with pizza and chips, it's very hard to eat those slowly. I will try again, but no time soon (unless the craving is HUGE, because I am allowed to eat anything)
- I like coffee. (okay, has nothing to do with intuitive eating, but something that I discovered this week, so I thought I'd throw it in)

Here is what I've eaten today:
-1 whole wheat bagel with a thin spreading of reduced fat peanut butter (didn't measure it, but it had to be less than a tablespoon)
-1/2 grilled cheese sandwich with about a 1/2 cup of tomato soup
-piece of birthday cake (surprise from the girls at the office)

Normally by this time of day I would have eaten tons more than that and would be feeling pretty bloated and gassy by now. But now I'm feeling satisfied, and not guilty at all about the one (small-ish) piece of cake.

My exercise this week has been good, I finally got around to adding in a weights routine. I've been doing 15 minutes of weights and 30 minutes of cardio every day. A couple of days I added 15-20 minutes to the cardio, but I'm not worried about it. I am listening to my body, and my body is loving the exercise, especially the weights. I feel the squats and lunges especially today.

Yesterday's Food Journal

10/15/09
7:30 a.m.- ate a bag of mini quaker delights. Was still hungry, ate a fiber plus bar. Satisfied.

10:00 a.m.- ate two mini 3 musketeers bars from office bowl. Was very hungry before, satisfied after. Thinking about adding a protein to my breakfast, or eating half before work and half around 10.

11:30 a.m.- feeling kind of hungry. Looking at my past choices and seeing no “real” food. I need some protein and vegetables or something whole for lunch… maybe then my hunger will be conquered for several hours. I’m drinking water, not sure if this is real hunger or not.

11:45 a.m.- ended up eating another packet of quaker mini delights to satisfaction.

12:30 p.m.- home for lunch. Was craving meat and vegetables, so I ate some leftover meatloaf and some green beans. Wanted something sweet and was still hungry, so I ate another packet of quaker minis, which makes me think that those are addictive, since I’ve now eaten 3 in one day! Feeling very satisfied with my lunch. I’m planning on drinking another liter of water before work is over.

5:30 p.m.- hungry after work. Went to Mom’s house and ate a couple of cheese sticks, then a bowl of reduced fat wheat thins with some salsa. Very satisfied!

7:30 p.m.- Mom and Dad ordered pizza and I ate 2 slices. Too full, should have stopped after one.

7:50 p.m.- None the less, I ate a third slice quickly before going home. Bad IE.

I'm not going to torture myself about why on earth I ate a third slice of pizza after I was already full... Moving on, and tomorrow will be another great new day!

Intuitive Eating, Day 3

Okay, so one thing that I have definately noticed that is different about my eating habits: When I eat for hunger, I'm only hungry about 3 times a day. Isn't that INSANE?! Of course, that is not going to be made into a rule now, because that would completely go against IE. I have been involved in way too many diet plans that have encouraged not only what I should eat, but how often. And the majority of them told me to eat every couple of hours, to "keep my metabolism going". It turns out that when I listen to my true hunger signals, not only am I eating less, I'm eating less often. Crazy, isn't it?

This morning, I was only a little hungry and ate a pack of quaker mini snacks. Delicious! Very small "meal" so I may get hungry again before lunch, but I have a pursefull of snacks so I should be okay.

I need to go fill up my water bottle. I am trying to stick with the weight watchers GHGs, but I'm not focusing on it too much during the first couple of weeks of IE. I need to first get used to the ideas that I can eat anything, that there are no "good foods" and "bad foods" just "foods". And also to the idea that I can eat only when hungry, and MUST STOP when satisfied. Those are really difficult ideas to me, but it's worth being able to eat anything.

I must say that I still have "trigger foods". I discovered that on monday, when I sat down to eat some pringles, fully planning on stopping when satisfied... yeah that didn't happen! So I hope that eventually I won't have any "trigger foods" and that I can really eat ANYTHING to satisfaction, knowing that I can always go back for seconds if really hungry.

Intuitive Eating, Day 2

I'll be honest: Last night was some very non-intuitive eating. My boyfriend had some little debbies in the house, and I ended up eating three. Okay, I was actually hungry, but I still think that I should have chosen something healthier. However, Intuitive Eating has taught me to not judge any food as better or worse than any other food. It's so hard, after years and years of "dieting" to accept that if I'm hungry and really want a Little Debbies instead of an apple, that I can. I still think that I should have stopped after one, but it's a lesson learned. I cannot control myself around boxes of Little Debbies. Not yet, anyway.

Today so far has been okay. I did eat both pop-tarts for breakfast, and had a hamburger with french fries for lunch. Okay, not the healthiest meals so far... but again, I'm learning this intuitive eating thing, and I only ate when hungry and stopped when satisfied. So that much is good. No overeating, but I could be making better choices.

This week's exercising schedule, backtracking to Monday:

M- 45 minutes stair stepper
T- 40 minutes stair stepper
W- either 60 minutes of kickboxing at the gym or 60 minutes stairstepper
Th-45 minutes stair stepper, or 60 minutes at the gym on cardio
F- 45 minutes of anything.

I have been having issues with the gym this week, as you can see. I planned every day so far to go to they gym and have ended up exercising at home on my stair stepper. I wish that I had my own elliptical machine...

Book Review: My Life in Orange, by Timothy Guest

I didn't know what to expect with this first book. It is a memoir and I am not accostomed to reading memoirs. As soon as I started it, the book was very hard to put down. It was not only well-written, but very interesting.

It documents the childhood of Timothy Guest, who grew up on Indian communes that were under the guidance of a guru named Bhagwan. His selfish mother is the character that most sticks out in my mind; on a journey towards self-discovery, she loses touch with being a mother almost completely.

I won't give any further details, because I highly encourage you to read this book! It was great, and I got it from amazon.com for a penny (plus $3 s&h, but still).

Next up: The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. I started this one last night, and I can't wait to see what happens! It's over 700 pages long, so it may be a while before my next book review.

Intuitive Eating, Day One

Today is day one of my intuitive eating study. Basically, I eat what I want, when I want, always. The only trick is that I can only eat when I'm truly hungry, and must stop eating as soon as I'm satisfied. It's pretty exciting for me, it feels like true freedom. I'm still going to incorporate WW into this, trying to get in the GHGs and everything like that, but no more counting points. (this is an experiment, so if I gain on this or feel unhealthy in any way, I will go back to counting points).

When I woke up, I wasn't hungry. I drank my coffee with some milk, grabbed some poptarts for when I did get hungry, and was off to work. Usually I would inhale the poptarts/cereal/yogurt and fruit as soon as I woke up, hungry or not. Or eat it quickly in the car on the way to work. Today I realized that I was just not hungry when I woke up. I ate one poptart, slowly, around 10:30. This was after drinking a lot of water and making sure that I was really hungry. It was very satisfying and I ended up being able to put the second pop tart down... huge accomplishment for me!!!

At 12:30, it was time for lunch. I ate a wrap with some cheese and deli slices in it. One wrap, and I was satisfied. Okay, it was only two hours since I ate breakfast, but still, big accomplishment for me. Usually it would be two wraps and some triscuits, because I had the points for it. Or a lean cuisine with an entire bag of ff popcorn, again, because I had the points for it.

I am planning on going to the gym right after work for at least thirty minutes. Dinner will have to include a lot of GHGs, since I haven't been hungry for those yet, except the dairy and lean protein. Oh wait, deli slices don't count as lean protein, do they? Hmmm... Anyway, I'm not sure what dinner will be, but it will be delicious and nutritious!!!

So far the best part of eating this way is that I haven't been bloated and/or overstuffed all day. Usually I have a tummy ache after my big lunch. Not today! I feel satisfied. And if I get hungry before work is over, I have that second pop tart, which I will eat without guilt. I will let you know how this intuitive eating affects my weight on Monday.

BTW, this is all advice from the book "Intuitive Eating" by Evelyen Tribole and Elyse Resch. Great book for people who have issues with binge and/or emotional eating, like me.

About me!!!

Hello, my name is Leah. I'm 25 and live in Memphis, TN. I am an administrative assistant for a small engineering firm, but aspire to go back to school to become something better. Also aspire to live in New York City before I'm 30.

The point of this blog is to document my weight loss journey along with other things. I made some New Years Resolutions on October 7 (my 25th birthday) :

-lose a lot of weight
-learn to cook 12 meals (one cooked meal a month is huge for someone who considers heating a can of soup cooking)
-read one book every week
-take at least one class at the community college for the spring 2010 semester

This blog will tell you how I'm doing on all of these!

But mostly it will be about how I'm incorporating Intuitive Eating and Weight Watchers into my life.