Introduce yourself here!

Replies:

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• by
  • JoyaDeeW
  on Dec. 19, 2007 at 1:50 PM
• Hi there! I'm a 31-year old working Mom of a 2 year old princess. I work overnights as a writer in Los Angeles and I stay home through the day with my daughter.
  
  I've been working to embrace the Intuitive Eating principals for about six months now. When my daughter was first born, I did okay with my weight loss. (at the time I thought it was awful, but hindsight is 20/20) I was a bit heavy when I got pregnant, so I had some extra to lose. When she was four months old, we had some heavy blows to our everyday life. My mother-in-law passed away. She was also my husbands employer, making things even tougher. I have not been able to bounce back since then, in terms of my weight. It was a year and a half of diet/binge/diet/binge as I tried to get through the stress of my life. I found IE 6-months ago and have embraced so much of it. I've seen some real positive changes in my attitude and choices. What I am having real trouble with right now is the fact that I have not lost anything. In fact, I've gained nearly 20lbs. I know thats part of it, and its also my lack of exercise... I have always been so active and for the first time in my life, I'm going weeks between workouts. Its awful and I feel so guilty, yet its hard to make time for it. I'm just looking for some fellow Mommy support...
  
  As for books... I just ordered this: If Not Dieting Then What? by Rick Kausman, but haven't gotten it yet.   I also love The Diet Survivor's Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating, Acceptance and Self-Care by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel, which mirrors a lot of what Intuitive Eating says. But the writing is so easy to relate to. I highly recommend it.

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• by
  • DomesticRckstr
  on Dec. 23, 2007 at 2:31 AM
• Hello,
  
  My name is Angie and I am a sahm to four beautiful children (ds-8, ds-5, ds-3 and dd-7 1/2 mnths).
  
  I read Intuitive Eating two summers ago and it really clicked! I went on to lose 20 pounds that summer!:) I then found out I was pregnant,  I ended up having to be on a very restricted diet for gestiational diabetes and then after the baby was born, again I had to follow a pretty restrive diet (no milk, cheese, eggs, peanuts, spicy, etc) since I was breastfeeding.
  
  I am now to the point where I am still nursing but the baby is tolerating more things now,  I want to get back on track with the IE lifestyle.  I got so off track having to follow these very restrictive diets that its been hard on me.  For the past month I have been vowing to "start weight watchers or do something" but I know in my heart that the only thing that is going to save me is Intuitive Eating.  It is the only thing that I have ever followed, felt good about, and accomplished actual weight loss with. 
  
  Plus- it was difficult at first but eventually, when you get going and "allow" yourself to have things, your eating really does taper off! It is the way everyone really SHOULD eat!
  
  I am not kidding myself, I probably should reread the book and probably have alot to learn yet but I feel so happy and proud to change my lifestyle to include IE!  Merry Xmas Everyone!
  
  

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• by
  • HavenWood
  on Dec. 31, 2007 at 11:59 AM
• Hi, I am Stacie, a 30-year old mother to my 8-year old son whom I homeschool.
  
  I have never read the book, but I plan to.  I stumbled across this group and thought, "This is for me."  I am intuitive, and very in tune with my body.  The problem is, I rarely listen to it.
  
  I am not overweight, but I am unhealthy.  I struggle terribly with acne, stomach discomfort, headaches, fatigue, hyperactivity, and much more.  Intuitively, I know these are all due to my poor diet.  I am a MAJOR sugar addict!  That is my biggest problem.  I also eat portions that are too large, snack on too many "white" foods, and  don't eat enough veggies.
  
  I am ready to make a change.  I bought a juicer.  I am slowly cutting back on the sugar.  This is the year of my health.  This is the year I get rid of my acne, enjoy radiant energy, and vibrant health!
  

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• by
  • anniekelleher
  on Jan. 8, 2008 at 8:24 AM
• hi - i am annie - i am a wahm and have been for about five years now.  i tend to either forget to eat all together or eat high calorie snacks.  writing makes me really really hungry and really really tired.  i tend to drink too much coffee, but at least its not soda! i found this group through my friend stacie.  
  
  for years i was obsessive about my weight.  my mother has huge food issues and mine are just as big - you just dont see them.  up until seven years ago i was running seven and a half miles a day five days a week and working out at a gym with a trainer for three hours  a week.  then i got sick of beating up on my body and i just let myself go.  literally.   i walk and stay reasonably active cleaning and tending the house but i've put on twenty pounds over hte last years and i'd like to take some of it off. 
  
  im not 25 and i don't expect to look 25, i don't want to be mean to myself or deprive myself.  i want to learn how to be better to myself.  im good to myself in a lot of areas - but i know nuitritionally im not as good to myself as i could be. 
  
  i have ordered the book from amazon and i look forward to reading ti.  thanks to stacie for leading me here ! :)

  ...read my blog! .....http://anniekelleher.blogspot.com

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• by
  • Angela_P71
  on Jan. 9, 2008 at 12:04 AM
• Hello. I'm a "SAH"M (as if we actually spend much time at home!) with a wonderful almost 3yo daughter who is a fertility treatment miracle. We're also starting to prepare to adopt internationally (right now at the stage of selecting a local agency to work with).
  
  I have been above my body's natural weight most of my life, due to being raised within a "diet mentality" household. All things considered, I'm fortunate not to have developed a more severe eating disorder. At present, I think it's safe to say that I've recently begun my recovery from a lifelong addiction to diet cycling/chronic overeating. I have also just started meeting with an excellent intuitive eating specialist, who I sought out after having read the book Intuitive Eating -- I realized pretty quickly that it is just too drastic a change of mindset for me to do this completely on my own. I need guidance, and I'm delighted to have found someone to help me.
  
  I also need peer support. And that's what brings me here.
  
  Thanks for listening, everyone.
  
  Angela P.
  
  
  

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• by
  • Busybee771
  on Jan. 11, 2008 at 12:34 AM
• HI! I am a 37 year old mother of four children ages 11, 10 and almost 8 year old twins. I have been stuggling with diets since my twins were born and have gradually gained 15 pounds. Although it is not a ton of weight it is enough to make me feel bad about myself. Throughout my 20's I followed the intuitive eating principles (I read the book Thin Within) and remained thin and never had to diet. After the twins birth my life became hectic and felt out of control. Food became my comfort during times of stress. I am tired of feeling guilty everytime I eat. I don't want to count calories, points, or workout endlessly. So for the new year I am swearing off diets forever and trying to get back in tune with my body.

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• by
  • MrsD97
  on Feb. 5, 2008 at 1:14 PM
• Hello,
  
  My name is Sara.  I'm a 35 year old mother of two girls ages 6 and 3.  I've been married to my dh for ten years now.  I have struggled with my weight since my sophmore year of high school.  I gained quite a bit of weight between the ages of 16 and 22.  At twenty-three, I met my husband and we shared a love of food.  I gained more weight, cried about it, but did nothing about it. 
  
  I guess I really started thinking about my weight after I got married.  We wanted to start a family right away, but I had difficulty getting pregnant.  I blamed my years of using birth control pills and Norplant for the problems, but my doctor said that my excess weight was a contributing factor as well.  At that time, my church was offering a WeighDown Workshop class.  This is where I first became familiar with the intuitive eating idea.  I lost some weight in this class, but once it was over, I gained it back.
  
  Several years later, after having my first daughter, I decided it was time to try again.  I read Thin Within, and had some success, then got pregnant with my second daughter and gained back all the weight I'd lost.
  
  Well, fast forward nearly four years.  I'm at the weight I was when I got pregnant with my second daughter.  I've tried South Beach, considered Weight Watchers, read a book about the Glycemic Index Diet and jumped on the Mediterranian diet band wagon, all with no success.
  
  Intuitive Eating makes the most sense to me, so I am returning to this.  I do have emotional issues to deal with, so I'm planning to get help for that.
  
  I am looking forward to getting to know the women in this group.
  
  Love,
  Sara

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• by
  • mamakim6102
  on Mar. 26, 2008 at 5:14 PM
• Hi. I'm a SAHM of a 3-year old boy and a 16-month old girl. After having my daughter, I went straight back to Weight Watchers and was doing fine until I read Intuitive Eating. It took me a while to break the diet mentality after that, but I finally decided: No more dieting! My weight is not coming off, however. I have even gained. My main issue is that I don't eat consciously. I don't know how to make the time to sit and enjoy a meal. A busy schedule and needy kids make it hard to focus on my body and really listen to internal signals. So, I either end up mindlessly eating (e.g. picking food off my kids' trays), or gobbling something down in a hurry and, therefore, overeating. I'm hoping to get support and tips from fellow moms who can help me get back on track. Taking care of myself has been a challenge while my kids are this young, but I need to learn how to do it. I'm looking forward to the connections in this group.

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• by
  • luvmydoxie
  on Apr. 2, 2008 at 4:13 PM
• Hi!  I'm 40 years old, I work full time for the federal gov't, and I have 2 son's.  One is 18 and in the Army, my youngest is 14.  My issues with my body started years before I actually became a professional yo-yo dieter and subsequently bulimic.  All through high school, my weight stayed between a curvy 135 and 140 (with a 28 inch waist!!).  At 5ft 8 with a large frame, 140 pounds was actually just about right.  But all my friends were stick girls, and I wanted to be a stick girl too.  Thus began the negative self talk, and self loathing that has lasted most of my life since then.  Back then, I constantly moaned and complained about how fat and ugly I was.  I started gaining weight slowly and steadily after high school.  I wasn't nearly as active, and involved, and moved around a lot less.  It was only natural that I would pack on some pounds.  When I entered the military at age 19, I weighed 155.  Still not "over weight", but you couldn't have told me that.  2 years later when i got pregnant with my first son, i weighed 170 pounds.  by the time he was born, i weighed 190, and over my allowable weight limit for the military.  I crash dieted and lost 15 pounds in 3 weeks to pass my weigh in, but i was still over weight.  When he was 2, I went on a diet (severly restricting calories) and lost 35 pounds in two months.  and then slowly proceeded to gain it back.  Since then I have gained and lost the same 40 pounds 4 times.  Dieting caused my bulimia, my obsession with food, and did no good for my negative self image.  Today, I weigh about 187.  But I told myself, "I CAN NOT go on another diet!!"  I remembered someone mentioning IE at a diet website i was a part of for awhile.  and during a boring down time at work,  i did some research on it.  What I read was amazing!!!  You mean, I can actually eat the foods I love, and still loose weight and be healthy??  It was completely freeing. and motivating.  So I bought the book.  I also bought Thin Within.  I was starving (no pun intended) for all the info I could find on IE, and success stories, and connecting with people who live the IE lifestyle.  I have been slowly applying the principles of IE over the last 3 months.  I'm not perfect, but I am eating on scale about 60% of the time.  As it is, I've lost about 4 pounds.  I've also done a lot (tons!!) of research on the diet industry and read quite a few studies on dieting and weight loss.  What I learned made me vow to never diet again.  The weight loss industry has dupped us, and they have many health care "professionals" on their band wagon.  IE has also helped tremendously with my bulimia.  But I've got a long way to go.  I've come to the decision that I'd rather be heavy, than go on another diet.  Glad to have found this place, really want to connect with people who are traveling the same road.
  Thanks for listening, I know it was long.  And there's so much I even left out.
  Melissa

• 
• by
  • Flanders
  on Jun. 28, 2008 at 11:19 PM
• Hello!
  I'm a 41 (soon to be 42) mother of an 8-year old child and i don't know how i ever became this old! I have had weight issues for a while but being a generally very practical person (I would think throwing up after eating was more of a waste of food before i considered it bad for my body) and being a lover of sports i stayed pretty much the same weight i was when i graduated from high school until 5 years ago. Granted i was never thin, but i was a very fit pear-shaped woman. Over the years i learned trim my diet in order to keep my high school weight (135 lbs, but realistically closer to 138; and this is on a 5'3" body). I don't like soda, i can resist fatty things (mostly), rarely drink juice, actually like skim milk, and i love vegetable in any shape and form. Again, though the problem of GETTING OLDER has hit me and a slowing metabolism. I started to gain weight a couple of years after having my son. I kind of ignored it, but when my typical attempts at trimming the fat failed (like my two-week, exercise for an hour every day trick) did not achieve the 5-lb drop, i started to get nervous. Now i am 10 lbs over my high school weight. In addition, my husband and I made a radical change in our lives 5 years ago and both switched from working full-time to both getting a graduate degree. i have been, in short, reading or writing for the last 5 years . And when i do have a break, i don't remember what it is to think exclusively about myself. I've been looking into dieting (weight watchers, weightlossresources, The SWISS Diet, healthy living, wellness, etc. but it all seems a bit endless. I refuse to indulge in a practice that would not be healthy for the whole family (imagine a child eating vegetable and fruits all day), would cost a lot of money, or one which requires a lot of time in the kitchen steaming, dicing, or whatever. Hence how i found IE.
  
  Anyway, it is nice to go on like this (not very literary though i must say). Perhaps we can all share and find common ground here. I want to be a fit, happy and healthy 40+ year old and I want to be free to concentrate on things that really matter, my son, my marriage, the world, being a good friend. Does anyone else struggle with being past her mid-thirties and a really slowing metabolism?
  
  [By the way, my picture represents how i feel right now about being a woman during difficult times, we are flowers that are at risk of being devoured both by our demons, by a traditionally male-centric society, by our fears]
  

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