Okay, Sinnie, here goes!
Sinnie wrote:All comments above resonate with me. I really want to do this, but being a calorie counter has gotten me used to eating whatever I want, whenever I want, kind of like intuitive eating.
Sinnie, there is absolutely nothing wrong with counting calories. Does this shock or surprise you? Remember, weight/fat loss is ALL ABOUT REDUCING CALORIES. There is no getting around it. The more calorically aware you are, the better. Being aware of the calories you eat is a good thing, and you shouldn't blindly shove the knowledge aside or try to ignore it. Reducing calories is the KEY to weight/fat loss, so being aware of the calories in the food you eat is wonderful! Don't regret it.
And there also is absolutely nothing wrong with Intuitive Eating (IE). I think IE has really gotten a bad rap. I mean, honestly, unless you have a life-threatening medical condition, all food should be okay/legal for you to eat, at any time. There is nothing evil about sugar, carbs, fat, or protein. All food should be enjoyed. But any diet plan--including NoS, Intuitive Eating, Carb Addicts, etc.--ultimately has you eating less calories in order to lose weight. With IE, depending on your food preferences, that will mean eating less volume of calorically dense foods, but not eliminating them entirely. IE's problems come from people taking the "Eat whatever I want" to extremes by wolfing down tremendous quantities of high-calorie food, then wondering why their weight soars.
So when I feel hunger or snacky, I just totally don't care at that moment and decide this doesn't work for me, I'm better off counting calories and getting to snack when I need it etc.
Sinnie, try to get out of the "fail" or "doesn't work" mindset when it comes to eating. I'll explain later what I mean, but your eating shouldn't be judged. Just use your innate intelligence and common sense to make adjustments based on how much you eat, and you will succeed at weight/fat loss.
Any great tips for when your mood is just sour/you're hungry/overwhelmed etc? What do you do if you are just exhausted and realllly want a snack to help you unwind, knowing you could technically just "make up for it later"?
So many thanks!!!!!
You know what you do? Eat now, and adjust/"make up for it" later! It's really as simple as that. It goes against all the pearl-clutching advice on the Internet from diet/food gurus, but it works for me, and I'm right where I want to be weight and body fat-wise. To illustrate, I'll give you an example from one of my days in the recent past:
I came home from a rather intense day a little after lunch, felt exactly as you described above, and really just wanted to lay into some food. And I did! I had some cinnamon toast with butter, some panettone with butter (from Christmas), some nuts, some candy, and some cookies. When I finally ate my fill, I didn't consider it a "binge," "Red Day," "fail," or any other judgmental term. What I DID do was intelligently look at the amount of food I ate, and decided that it was enough to count for my lunch and dinner for the day. Simple. When dinner came, I skipped it. No harm done, and the food I ate all at once easily became my second two meals of the day. I then made sure to weigh myself daily to make adjustments if needed the next few days to get the weight/fat back down.
Honestly, Sinnie, it's that easy. I wouldn't say it worked if I hadn't utilized this strategy. And I wouldn't say it worked if I was still struggling with losing fat/weight.
^^This is how I stay slim, on plan, and continue to maintain and improve. Be flexible, be intelligent, make adjustments when needed, and weigh yourself daily, if your main goal is weight/fat loss. You will succeed!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
~Jimmy Dean
The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet