Finding my own style... my "eating personalities"

I have issues with aspiring to eat like other people.  Not necessarily real people, either.  This probably comes from reading so many food blogs and watching way too much TV. 

I struggle between wanting to eat like the Gilmore Girls and wanting to eat like Angela from Oh She Glows.

Two extremely different eating styles. 

On the one hand, if I could eat like Lorelai or Rory Gilmore, I could eat copious amounts of fast, frozen, and/or junk food any time I was hungry for it and stay healthy and beautiful.

On the other hand, if I could eat like Angela Liddon, I could cook all of my meals and snacks from scratch and eat it any time I was hungry for it and stay healthy and beautiful.

These are my two different eating personalities.  And yes, I do think that when it comes to eating, I have multiple personalities.  And my eating personalities can change a few times a day sometimes.

Mostly though, I want to be able to eat whatever I want and still stay healthy and beautiful.  That seems to be the only simularity between the two styles.

I still love eating junk food.  I eat chips, snack cakes, and pizza often.  "Food".

But I also LOVE eating healthy food!  I love to cook!  I love to experiment in the kitchen!  I love it when I discover new healthy and whole foods that I enjoy.

It is my belief that the only way that I can continue on this combined path (junk food PLUS healthy home-cooked food) without gaining weight is to track my calorie intake. 

The only problem with this scenario is that I want to some day be an intuitive eater, meaning that I eat ONLY when actually hungry and stop when satisfied and never track my calories.

Which means that one day I will no longer eat junk food regularly, thus saying goodbye to my Gilmore Girls eating personality entirely. 

For now, the eating style that I choose is all my own.  I am eating junk food daily, plus cooking healthy meals regularly and eating it daily.  I track my calories on My Fitness Pal.  I try to only eat when actually hungry, but still have issues stopping when satisfied.

And I'm healthy!  And I'm happy with myself.  And I'm strong.  And I'm losing weight and inches (weighing in monthly or less, because it's not about the scale anymore).  And this is working for me.

I hope that I can stop trying to eat like someone who I am not...  I'm Leah, and I eat like Leah, and that's a pretty cool person to eat like.

A Shout-Out to "Oh She Glows" and my thoughts on switching to the Simply Filling Technique.

I stumbled upon this blog (click on the picture to see it yourself) a few days ago, thanks to one of my commenters mentioning it (Thanks, Lizzie! ).

WOW. This blog really speaks to me! Angela has a story simular to mine. She has a history of eating disorders and a history of not loving herself.

She found a way to say "goodbye" to dieting forever. I hope to do the same some day.

For now, I will continue with Weight Watchers, and will probably stay on it until a few months after reaching my goal weight. Then... I will be going back to something so scary-sounding to a chronic dieter that I hesitate to mention it on this blog: Intuitive Eating.

It's how I want to eat. I dream of the day that I can just listen to my hunger signals, eat healthy and whole foods to satisfaction, an occassional vegan cupcake, and maintain a healthy weight forever.

And after reading some of "Oh She Glows", I realize that my dream is not so impossible. If she can do it, so can I! :-)

I'm going to start the BIG SWITCH from counting PointsPlus for everything to the Simply Filling Technique.

I'm starting right now by eating mostly Power Foods and trying to listen to my hunger signals.

I plan to go fully SFT in March, and to give that method 100% for the entire month.

It just sounds like so much freedom, being done counting PointsPlus!

Here's how the Simply Filling Technique works:

Choose food from the Power Foods list. All of those foods have no PointsPlus anymore. You no longer have a Daily Points target to get to, all you have is your Power Foods and your hunger signals.

You do still have your 49 Weekly Points and any Activity Points. All of these can be used for foods that are not on the Power Foods list. For me, that would be: chips, pizza, tortillas, redvines, oreos, and chocolate. These are all foods that I already eat in moderation, so I am starting to really believe that I can handle the Simply Filling Technique!!!

The only problem is listening to my hunger signals. But if I want to eventually be an Intuitive Eater (not count PointsPlus/calories for anything, just listen to hunger signals and cravings), I have to start somewhere. The Simply Filling Technique seems like a great stepping stone.