Hi!

[MommyShay2]

Hello everyone!  It looks like the last post to this group was in July, so I don't know if anyone is still active, but I thought I would give it a shot.  My name is Colleen, and I am a 28 year old SAHM to two wonderful children, Jonathon, 2.5 and Caitlin, 1.  I've been dieting on and off for the last ten years, never really finding that magic bullet.  For the first time in three years I finally have my body to myself, I have been either pregnant of breastfeeding continuously for the last 3 years and three months!!  I feel like I am rediscovering how my body responds to food and hunger because I only need to support myself, not one or two other little people!!  A friend mentioned intuitive eating and explained the basics, and just that little conversation opened my eyes to a different way of living.  I'm so tired of depriving myself, and definitely have found myself binging as a result of deprivation.  Since I have decided that I will feel my body when it's hungry, and not deprive myself of anything I have maintained a healthy comfortable weight and it feels great!  I don't really know all the details of intuitive eating, I don't have the book, but I've read some things on the web site and am interested in meeting others who subscribe to this lifestyle.    

[Angela_P71]

Hi Colleen,

I don't know how many others are still active, but I'm still around anyway. I wouldn't say that I'm totally "there" with Intuitive Eating but it's a work in progress. I'm well outside the diet insanity -- I still have to sit through diet discussions among friends & family at times, but these days it sounds like sheer lunacy. I feel relieved that I no longer put myself through that kind of bizarre behavior. You know, the labeling of foods as "good" or "bad," the intense cravings for the "bad" foods, the bargaining to allow a little "cheat" of a "bad" food. The slip-ups, the guilt, and self-punishment.

I am still at a higher weight than I would like to be, but now I realize that dieting will not make that better but worse in the long run -- I am NOT going to be one of the 2% who "keeps it off." I have had conversations with those 2%, and they have said that it's a lifelong struggle that requires constant vigilance. I can't spend the rest of my life that way. 

I also realize that in the past, I had attempted IE as an excuse to give up on a diet and then given up on the IE when I refused to tolerate the initial weight gain. Now I think it's important to stay committed to the philosophy for the long term, otherwise IE simply becomes an excuse for the refeeding phase of weight cycling.

I can really relate to your feelings about having your body back to yourself again. I have one daughter 3 1/2, and we are in the process of adopting another child (will be somewhere between 12-42 months). My 3 1/2 yr old nursed for a loooong time, and even now gleefully tells me how much she enjoys cuddling against my "mommy milks." As if we didn't get enough breast-worship from the men in our lives! :)

Anyway, welcome to the group. I look forward to sharing the journey with you. :)

- Angela P.

KG, VA