Gratefull,

Welcome to your new life, which is natural eating according to your hunger/fullness signals!  Say goodbye forever to the craziness!  It will no longer haunt you, unless you decide to return to dieting. But you sound like you’ve been around the dieting block quite a few times, enough to know it is not practical, and the weight loss is never permanent.  Plus there’s that lovely constant struggle with trying to deny your body food, while it is calling out for lots of sugar and fat due to being deprived of food, and your body most likely won’t take no for an answer—so you give in.  That amounts to feeling hopeless and defeated, and only trying to be stricter next time around!  Problem is, next time doesn’t get any better….

I will be turning 50 in August, and am ecstatic to be 50, and Naturally Thin AT THE SAME TIME!  As Jean has said before, there will always be problems in life to deal with; but eating doesn’t have to be one of them, now that we are practicing Naturally Thin eating.

Your testimony above will help other new readers, reading this forum, know that ALL diets are nothing but misery and dead ends!

Thanks for sharing,

Swan

Thank you Swan.  I have been reading many of your posts and find them very helpful.  It is difficult to do this program in some ways because I want to feel thin.  Eating enough and feeling satisfied keeps me feeling heavy and it is tempting to go back to some of my diet tricks, such as eating lots of veggies and salads for fullness.  Perhaps this is O.K. some of the time, just for good health purposes but not to lose weight or diet.  Tonight I had lasagna and ate all of my serving at a restaurant but left half my salad covered in cheese and didn’t eat the garlic bread they served me.  It wasn’t that I couldn’t have had them, I was just nicely full and we then went out for a scoop of ice cream (just one scoop).  I know I’m to limit pleasure foods, but I hadn’t had anything sweet for several days and it was just one scoop.  I don’t think I will lose weight eating this way but I’m willing to wait to stabelize and then trust my appetite will lessen over time.

I’ll keep reading and posting. 

God bless,

Grate-full

Dear Grate-full,

I’m so glad you mentioned your weight and height and that you realize that they are just about right.  I think so too.  My daughter, who has been naturally thin her whole life is 5’5” and weighs 147.  Everybody thinks she’s so thin!  Well, she is naturally muscular (although she doesn’t work out or exercise in any formal way) and at 30 years old her body just keeps her in the middle 140’s.  That’s how she knows it’s the “right” weight for her. 

You have struggled for so long and it’s time to let your body manage your food intake.  It will take so much stress out of your life and you will experience the relief that cooperating with your body brings.
Congratulations!

Sincerely,
Jean

Thank you Jean for your kind words of wisdom.  I got a little too hungry tonight because I went out shopping with my sister after I had a snack at 3 p.m. of a couple handfulls of raw almonds and about 2 T. dried cherries, along with some cheese (about 3 oz.)  For breakfast I had a sugar free soy protein shake with 20g. of soy protein and coffee.  For lunch I had about 1 c. of low fat cottage cheese and about 1 c. pineapple.

Dinner was late 8:30 p.m. and I ate two oranges huredly, upon walking in the door, then two slices of Ezekien toast with butter and jam, and aroung three scrambeled eggs.

I was really hungry at 3:00 and was surprised because I had the cottage cheese and pineapple at 1:00 p.m.  It was only two hours and I was hungry again. 

Does what I ate today sound like a lot or a normal amount for someone coming off binging and restricting?  My last eating program was so rigid, I really don’t know what is a normal amount of food for someone my height and weight to eat.  I’m trying to re-learn letting my body tell me, but not listening or feeling hunger/fullness for so many years, I’m afraid it will take some time.  I went to try on some clothes today at Penny’s and I am creeping up, size-wise.  It’s scary because it was so hard for me to lose those 42 lbs. around 3 yrs. ago.  I have for the most part kept the weight off but it has not been without intermittant binging.  I really want that to stop.

Thanks to all and I’m still reading past posts here. 

God bless,

Grate-full

Hi Grate-full,
Welcome to the forum!  It’s great to have you here.

I’ve been thinking this week that I needed to jump back on here and remind myself what have been the top five tips that have helped me stick with it.  You’ll read a lot of my past posts.  I’m a long ways from fully “getting it” but I haven’t given up.  As Swan often says, I’m too far in to go back.  I spent too many years hungry and I don’t want to do that anymore. 

So, off the cuff, let me see if I can come up with my top five tips:
1.  If you need to lose weight, ONLY eat from the high quality food list.
2.  Eat enough high quality real food through out the day so my last meal at 5-6:00 p.m. is the last food I eat for the day.  It’s really beneficial to go to bed a little hungry.
3.  Limit or eliminate the scale.  (I haven’t gotten away from it totally, but only weigh myself once per month.)
4.  With every bite ask myself if the next bite would taste really good.  If not, skip it.  (No more CPC - clean plate club for me if I’m full.)
5.  Be sure to eat enough “good fat” throughout the day or the cravings for sweets will not go away.

I’ve spent so many years trying so hard to eliminate fat that I still struggle with that.  Right now, I still dream of the day when I don’t wish for a cookie or a dish of ice cream.  But I must say that on the days when I eat enough good fat I do not seem to want the sweets as much.

Keep reading the old posts.  There’s lots of good info on them!

Munch

Grate-ful,

You gave me important information. 

First, eat solid food for breakfast.  Liquids, even with protein, will not hold you like solid food.  And it is so important to eat as much as you need to be satisfied. 

Then always be prepared with a substantial snack (meal) between breakfast and lunch, whenever you get hungry again.  I recommend three meals before 1:00 pm as a guideline, as most people are hungry three times by then. 

Always be prepared for hunger signals at non-meal times by taking real food with you. This is how you can prevent famines which keep the cycle and the fat going. Often a “snack” is not enough between meals, so just go ahead and have a meal.  Don’t worry about “spoiling your appetite.”  You WANT TO spoil your appetite so you’ll be happy with a salad or something light and full of nutrients the next time you eat.  But often, you’ll be hungry again at mealtime anyway, in spite of the meal you had at 3:00, but you won’t be able to eat very much.  Isn’t this fun?

Try hard to eat your last meal earlier, say, by 6:00, so you can go to bed empty but comfortable. 

Don’t worry about amounts of food or measuring.  Let your body tell you via hunger/fullness signals when to eat and when to stop and what to have from real foods, and PAY ATTENTION to those signals!

Try to let go of expectations for now and concentrate on recovering from the insanity of undereating and binging.  Enjoy the freedom of eating the way you were designed to eat—freely and comfortably and responsibly.

Sincerely,
Jean

Thanks so much Jean and Munch. I’ll definiely put into practice what you have shared.  I added a banana and some greek yougert (Plain) to my breakfast.  Lunch was borderline because I was on the road.  Whopper Jr. and small order of fries.  I should have packed a sandwich for myself, to avoid those borderline foods.  Had a snack of mixed nuts and dried cherries at 3:30 and am not ravenous like usual in the late afternoon.  This is my bad time, usually but not anymore.  It’s amazing that I have stopped binging completely by staying full of healthy (mostly) foods during the day and I’m not craving at night.  This happened quickly too.

Dinner will probably be grilled chicken or baked fish, baked potato with butter, veggies and/or salad. Hubby gets home late so I may go ahead and eat although I’m not very hungry yet. I’d like to lose a few lbs. but I’m going to wait before trying to cut fats, etc.  Since my weight is 145 and I’m 62 and 5’5 1/2, I don’t have a huge weight problem staring me in the face but I definitelly have struggled with binging and fasting or restricting since I was a teenager.  I even went on a beer fast when a teen (18) and lost a few lbs. by not eating at all.  That didn’t stay off for long.  One other time I went on a 12 days fast and broke it by binging on candy bars…........not so good for my body, to say the least.  It’s great to be out of the crazy relationship with food.  So many peole believe the problem is rooted in childhood and that if we figure out how we began to rely on food to deal with emotions, we will get better.  I realize that wasn’t the real problem, although certainly a contributing factor.  The root of my problem was restricting i.e. (feasting and famining) my body, setting me up for a biochemmical and spiritual/psychological disorder with regard to weight loss and food.  It has been great to stop fighting my body, listening to and cooperating with my God-given hunger/fullness signals.  I am also praying that over time I will not need so much food and weight will slowly slip away, although I don’t need to lose much. 

God bless and I intend to stay in touch and keep reading/posting.

Grate-full

Hi Gratefull,
I am happy you are beginning to figure it out.  My husband has been working late a lot lately.  I am trying hard to not eat past 6:00 p.m. so I usually just eat without him but still make a point to sit down and visit with him when he eats so we have that quality “talk” time.

Keep trying to limit/remove the borderline foods when you can.  There are more and more good choices even at fast foods.  Two of my favorites at Wendy’s are their Oriental Chicken Salad or Chili and a baked potato (sometimes I put the chili on the baked potato).  I like that as a much better alternative to a hamburger and fries.

I’ve been limited in my exercise lately because of an injury to my foot.  So the other day I decided to try biking rather than walking as a form of exercise.  Last night I went on an 11 mile bike ride - and then a hot tub after.  It felt good.  I did have 1/2 banana before I went to bed as I was a little hungry and I knew I probably burned some calories on that bike ride.  I slept sooooo good!

Munch

Thank you Munchkin.  What a cute name.  I loved the Munchkins in the W. of Oz!  Anyway I just received “Breaking Out of Food Jail” and am voraciously reading it.  I wish I had had these books many years ago.  Anyway, I am leading a class beginning June 29 for women who have destructive relationships with food.  I’m looking forward to introducing them to Jean’s books and concepts.  I’m doing well although I still eat some pleasure foods occasionally but not to excess as I once was.  This is working for me after only a short time, since I understand the concepts fully and agree because I’ve lived it myself.  I am a Social Worker and want to help others to be free of this terrible burden.

Thanks so much,

Grate-full