Rejecting the Diet Mentality - Day 4

Another reminder to ENTER THE BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!  Only 10 people have entered so far, so everyone's chances are pretty good.  Especially those who have 6 entries, which is the max you can get.  I'm pretty excited about my blog's first giveaway, makes me feel like a "real" blogger.  ;-)  So go on over and enter the giveaway.  You won't only be entering for a chance to win an amazing book (all books in the giveaway have been critical to my weight loss journey), you'll also be making this blogger's day.  And who doesn't want to do that? 

Okay, time for some more thoughts on Intuitive Eating!

Once again: So far, so good!  I'm loving eating this way.  I'm still not a full-fledged Intuitive Eater quite yet (if there is such a thing!), as I'm only focusing on the first principle 100%, with some mild focus on the second one. 

The first principle is "Reject the Diet Mentality".  I've been 100% focused on doing just that.  One thing that I've noticed since starting this IE adventure:  I'm not eating a big dinner.  Instead, I'm eating several snacks between work and bedtime.  These snacks most likely add up to the same amount of calories/PointsPlus as my old dinners did (I'm trying really hard to not count!), but they keep me much more satisfied.  I think it's because I'm eating what I want, and not worrying about anything other than "Am I hungry?" and "Is this what I really want to eat?".  It's freedom.

Last night, for example, was not the healthiest.  But I ate to satisfaction and I ate what I wanted. 

Here's what I ate yesterday:

breakfast: oatmeal with applesauce, banana, and almond milk

lunch: oatmeal with black beans, tomatoes, evoo (oats twice in one day!  Only because I forgot to make brown rice or barley the night before!  Come to think of it... I didn't make any last night, either...) a couple of wasa crackers

snack #1: Lara Bar and craisins

snack #2: peanut butter and banana

snack #3: (at the movies with my little cousin!  Bridesmaids was funny but not worth $10 IMHO)- The following was snuck in and shared with my cuz- redvines and air-popped popcorn with added oil THAT I DIDN'T MEASURE!!!

When I woke up this morning, I was really hungry.  I think it's because I didn't eat much last night.  But last night I wasn't hungry for anything else.  IE is definately interesting!

I'm kind of concerned about tomorrow... It's usually my weigh-in day, but I'm tempted to skip a couple of weigh-ins as I get used to IE.  No, I'll probably still weigh-in...  I'll let you know!

Another thing that concerns me about IE vs WW: On WW, every weekend I went through most of my WPA, with very little concern about hunger signals.  I was "allowed" to do that, you see.  I could eat an entire pizza and a whole bag of chips if I wanted to (and often did).  On IE, the point is that I can eat anything and not measure or count calories/PointsPlus, BUT... in exchange, I must only eat to satisfaction.

This will be pretty challenging for me!  Tomorrow, Stacey and I are FINALLY going to the new vegan restaraunt in town!  It's called "Imagine Vegan Cafe" and it sounds soooooooo goooooooood... I've been dreaming about going there since it opened in April, and stuffing myself silly and just counting it as "all WPAs gone now".  Now that I'm on IE, I will have to watch it.  I'm not going to be too concerned about it, since right now I'm focused on "rejecting the diet mentality" more than "honor your hunger".

Isn't that funny?  In one way, WW was more freeing than IE is.  But I truly believe that IE is the way that is better for me in the long run.  I have been meaning to get a grip on what I call "controlled binge-eating" that I allow myself over the weekends.  IE will help me learn to do that!

I'll keep on sharing my food on here just to let you all know how IE is working for me.  Thanks for all of your support, and as soon as Blogger is working correctly, I will start commenting on your blogs, too.  For some reason, Blogger is not allowing me to follow any new blogs or to comment on any blogs that I already follow.  Anyone else having this issue?

HAHA, I just realized that if you are having that issue, you won't be able to comment and let me know.