Intuitive Eating Is Not About Weight Loss

Bear in mind that, intuitive eating isn’t about weight loss. Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach to eating designed to help people recover from chronic dieting. You certainly may be tired of all the diet programs promising you will lose weight in two weeks, or perhaps you did lose weight, only to gain it back after a while.

If this is why you have searched for a new way to manage your weight or to find an answer as to why most diets don’t work for you, that’s great. Intuitive eating is also intended to help you build a healthier relationship with food by getting in touch with your body’s internal signals rather than external diet rules.

What Happens with Intuitive Eating?

If you are being honest, you probably want to try intuitive eating because you still want to shed those unwanted pounds. Well, it can happen.

However, it’s not about weight loss because you may also gain weight or stay in your current size. That’s why it is important to set the right expectations from the beginning. If you don’t you could get disappointed if you keep weighing yourself and don’t see the change you want through the scale.

Remind yourself that intuitive eating is all about the following:

• Appreciating your body whether you are slim or on the cuddly side.

• Eating more nutritious food.

• Enjoying the food you eat without feeling guilty afterward.

• Getting more motivated to move your body, and enjoying any physical activity you do, rather than dreading exercises you don’t want to do.

• Avoiding binge eating.

• Improving your health and wellness.

Common Misconceptions About Intuitive Eating

If you learned about intuitive eating on social media, chances are you’ve got a shortened version of the definition of what it truly is. There are common myths you might have encountered.

Myth No. 1 - It’s A Hunger or Fullness Diet

It’s not. It’s more than recognizing when you are hungry and stopping from eating when you are full. Instead, it is getting more accustomed to when you become too hungry or too full and learning from those situations without feeling guilty or ashamed.

Myth No. 2 – It’s About Eating All The “Forbidden” Foods Anytime You Want

Initially, it can feel like you’ll just eat ice cream or chocolates whenever your intuition signals for food. That happens if you did deprive yourself of many “forbidden” foods during your dieting days. But eventually, that restricted food will become more normal and less idealized.

Myth No. 3 - It’s Just A Fad Diet

Much of the confusion around intuitive eating is because of the term “non-diet approach” which is often perceived as being a fad diet. Intuitive eating is about making healthy lifestyle changes for general wellness, chronic disease management, and improved energy. The ‘Non-Diet Approach’ also covers mindful eating.

What Is A Set Weight?

Why intuitive eating isn’t about weight loss is because of your set weight. It’s the weight point that your body wants to be for it to function optimally.

Based on the set weight point theory, if you honor your eating intuition, your body will return to its set weight, where you’ll feel best physically and mentally.

It’s about letting go of the food rules, starving yourself, or feeling deprived of the food that you want to eat, and forcing yourself to exercise excessively.

Therefore, you might notice some weight gain during the early days of your intuitive eating, but over the long term, you could lose weight overall.

Why Weight Loss Shouldn’t Be Your Goal in Intuitive Eating?

Weight loss shouldn’t be your ultimate goal for practicing intuitive eating. Basically, anything that is targeting weight loss results is a form of dieting, so it defeats the purpose of practicing the principles of intuitive eating, if that’s your ultimate goal.

Intuitive eating allows you to follow your body’s intuition on what you want to eat and when you have fed yourself sufficiently. If you have been dieting chronically, intuitive eating is your recovery plan.

That’s why, if you are intending on using intuitive eating to lose weight, you shouldn’t be. You need to follow all the principles of intuitive eating. You can’t just choose one or two principles and call it intuitive eating.

In Summary

Intuitive eating isn’t about weight loss, and if that’s your main purpose of trying this ‘non-diet approach’ you will more than likely be setting yourself up for disappointment. You may not get the results that you want. Intuitive eating is getting freedom from diet rules and instead taking cues from your body.