Make no mistake; intuitive eating isn’t about weight loss. Intuitive eating is a non-diet method to help people recover from chronic dieting. You may be tired of all the diet programs promising you will lose weight in two weeks, or perhaps you were able to lose weight, only for it to return after a while.
If therefore, you have searched for a new way to manage your weight or to find an answer as to why most diets don’t work for you, that’s great. Intuitive eating is also intended to help you build a healthier relationship with food by contacting your body’s internal signals rather than external diet rules.
What Transpires with Intuitive Eating?
If you are being honest, you probably want to try intuitive eating because you still want to shed those unwanted pounds. Well, it can happen.
However, it’s not about weight loss because you may also gain weight or stay in your current size. That’s why it is essential to set the right expectations. If you don’t, you could get disappointed if you keep weighing yourself and not seeing the change you want through the scale.
Remember that intuitive eating is all about the following:
- Appreciating your body, whether you are slim or on the cuddly side.
- Eating more nutritious food.
- Enjoy the food you eat without feeling guilty afterward.
- Getting more motivated to move your body, and enjoying any physical activity you do, rather than dreading exercises you don’t want to do.
- Avoiding binge eating.
- Improving your health and wellness.
Widespread Misunderstandings About Intuitive Eating
If you learned about intuitive eating on social media, chances are you’ve got a shortened version of the definition of what it truly is. There are common myths you might have encountered.
1. It’s A Hunger or Fullness Diet
It’s not. It’s more than recognizing when you are hungry and stopping from eating when you are full. Instead, it is getting more accustomed to when you become too hungry or full and learning from those situations without feeling guilty or ashamed.
2. It’s About Eating All The “Banned” Foods Anytime You Want
Initially, it can feel like you’ll eat ice cream or chocolates whenever your intuition signals for food. What happens if you deprive yourself of many “forbidden” foods during your dieting days? But eventually, that restricted food will become more regular and less idealized.
3. It’s Simply a Fad Diet
Much of the confusion around intuitive eating is because of the term “non-diet approach,” which is often perceived as a fad diet. Intuitive eating is about healthy lifestyle changes for general wellness, chronic disease management, and improved energy. The ‘Non-Diet Approach’ also covers mindful eating.
What Is a Perfect Weight?
Why intuitive eating isn’t about weight loss because of your set weight, it’s the weight point your body wants to be for it to function optimally. Based on the set weight point theory, if you honor your eating intuition, your body will return to its set weight, where you’ll feel best physically and mentally.
It’s about letting go of the food rules, starving yourself or feeling deprived of the food you want, and forcing yourself to exercise excessively.
Therefore, you might notice some weight gain during the early days of your intuitive eating, but over the long term, you could lose weight overall.
Why Weight Loss Should Not Be Your Goal in Intuitive Eating
Weight loss shouldn’t be your goal for practicing intuitive eating. Anything that targets weight loss results is a form of dieting, so it defeats the purpose of practicing the principles of intuitive eating if that’s your goal.
Intuitive eating allows you to follow your body’s intuition on what you want to eat and when you have fed yourself sufficiently. If you have been dieting chronically, intuitive eating is your recovery plan.
That’s why, if you intend to use intuitive eating to lose weight, you shouldn’t be. You need to follow all the principles of intuitive eating. You can’t just choose one or two rules and call it intuitive eating.
Intuitive eating isn’t about weight loss, and if that’s your primary purpose of trying this ‘non-diet approach,’ you will more than likely be setting yourself up for disappointment. You may not get the outcomes that you want. Intuitive eating is getting freedom from diet rules and instead taking cues from your body.
Last update on 2024-04-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API