Why Wait until Monday? The Intuitive Eating Challenge should start today! I weigh myself on Fridays (for no reason in particular) and realized I have lost 7 pounds since I first wrote the “About” page. Now, that’s not very impressive since I wrote it over a year ago, but I am not 17 pounds away from my goal, I’m only 10! I’m very happy about this 🙂
This Challenge is really just to myself to go through each of the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating week by week for 9 weeks. I am skipping the first principle of Intuitive Eating: Get Rid of the Diet Mentality. I have that one down.
So for the first week of the Intuitive Eating Challenge we have Principle 2 of Intuitive Eating = Honor Your Hunger
Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for re-building trust with yourself and food.
– from Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch
For me that means eating paying very close attention to what my body feels.Years of dieting have really messed up my hunger and fullness cues, so I cannot tell when I’m hungry or getting full! This is vital to becoming an Intuitive Eater. This week I will pay attention to my stomach, energy level, crankiness and overall feelings.
I’m going to pay attention to my hunger this weekend, and report back how my body tells me it’s hungry.
Friday Beverages should be cocktails and wine, but since I have to work I decided to get an iced coffee from DD to celebrate the end of the week! 
When I got to work I quickly went next door and picked up some cinnamon raisin bread to make toast. I have totall been craving this!!! I think I’m going to keep toast and PB at work so I can make this whenever I’m running late. Also, getting to work earlier has moved up my eating time and I want lunch at 11am! Breakfast part II may help with that.
I had to take phone pics of all of this stuff, so sorry that it’s kinda shady.
Lunch was a big salad since my veggies are on their way out! Spinach, a whole big tomato, mushrooms and broccoli. Hummus for dressing and a veggie burger for protein 🙂
Now I am eating cherries and kiwi for dessert.
I am so happy it’s Friday. I just have to get through today!
My weekend plans include…a long run tomorrow and hanging out with my family 🙂
Hey Monica! Great blog, it is so helpful. This is my first time commenting but I’ve been reading for a while. I struggle with food like you, and as it appears, some of the other readers. You inspired me to get the IE book and I read it earlier this week. It is indeed a challenge to implement all of the principles and I love the idea of this challenge and I will begin today. Thank you so much for your candid posts- your an inspiration and a great help to me in this area of my life. Oh, and congratulations on the wedding! I am so happy for you.
Well done on your seven pounds lost! That is really great and the best thing about it is that they will stay off forever because you have lost them slowly while eating normally! I like your IE challenge. I might try one of my own 🙂
congratulations on the seven pounds! I love this post and the comment from Laura too!!
I ate too much yesterday and I feel so bad about it … 🙁
Good luck with this week! And congrats on your 7 pounds so far! That is quite the accomplishment 🙂 I’m really looking forward to following your intuitive eating progress since i struggle with it too. You can do it!
7 pounds is a lot. And I find listening to my hunger difficult, too. It seems like something that should be so easy and i feel like most people don’t understand why it wouldn’t be, so I’m glad to find someone else who understands.
I love that you had Dunkin Donuts! I like iced coffee but the ones around me always mess up my order. I like lots of skim milk and most just give too little. I actually had one girl tell me that I didn’t want that much…HELLO!
Good luck with the IE. Sounds like a good program.
That was really such a great book. I love the ideas in it – though some can be hard to follow. I tend to eat too much for reasons other than hunger. That is a hard to break habit. And while I do know when I am hungry, it can be hard to stop when I know it’s been enough – really hard when it tastes so good!
Good luck with it! And YAY for being that much closer to your goal. 🙂
I’m in recovery from an eating disorder. In treatment they gave us this poem. I have it on my fridge now, it reminds me that just because I have snacked too much or eaten more then I liked that day, I dont need to beat myself up. Good luck!
Normal eating is being able to eat when you are hungry and continue eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it-not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to use some moderate constraint in your food selection to get the right food, but not being so restrictive that you miss out on pleasurable foods. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is three meals a day or four or five, or choosing to munch along. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful when they are fresh. Normal eating is overeating at times: feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. It is also undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.
In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your emotions, your schedule, your hunger, and your proximity to food
I hope that works for you … you seem to be doing GREAT so far ! Ten pound away from your goal – that’s fabulous. For me – I need to keep the diet mentality, because in my experience – and I am just saying this works FOR ME – I need to exercise portion control to lose weight. Portions or carbs – something needs to be limited. I am not intuituve at all – I am just an eater !!
I love intuitive eating – I think it’s something everyone can benefit from 🙂
i really like how youre not waiting until a monday to start this. i read somewhere that when you wait for “monday” or “the first of a month” or “new years” then you’re less likely to stick with it. but if you make the start of a program on a random day than it’s viewed as a thing that’s normal rather than a hyped up event. congrats on the weight loss and good luck with the I.E!
Lacey, most of the time I get what’s on sale too! But, I do try to buy ones that do have more protein. Veggie based ones (literally just veggies and rice or something) are more natural/cleaner, but I need the protein from veggie burgers since I don’t eat meat.
happy friday! i really love your blog’s emphasis on I.E. and hey you had the benefit to be a “student” of the author!!! so very cool. thank you for the bday+ good luck wishes 🙂
question: what are your favorite veggie burgers? i go through all sorts of them, usually what is on sale. i do notice the protein content varies greatly.
Intuitive eating is really a great book. It has helped me so much. The only problem is if you aren’t mindful you can easily slip back into your old habits. You can do it – keep up the good work!
This looks like such a good program! I definitely feel ya with the whole not knowing when you’re hungry or full. I can’t wait to hear all about how the changes make you feel! And congrats on the weight loss… Even if it is just 7 pounds, every piece you lose gets you that much closer to your goal!!! Good luck!