Member-only story
Why I’m not ready YET for intuitive eating
I can’t let go of my desire to lose weight
“The problem isn’t you, or even the diet you tried- the problem is that diets are DESIGNED to be temporary, which means as soon as you stop dieting and go back to your old ways- hello weight gain.” — Shawna Norton in Looking For Permanent Weight Loss? Stop Dieting.
Twice, I’ve lost 30+ pounds with Weight Watchers. The first time, I kept it off for over five years by continuing to track my food for that long. The second time, I kept it off for only just over one year. WW preaches “lifestyle change rather than dieting”, but even the maintenance version is still a diet. The third time I lost weight was only 20 pounds, and I used the Lose It app. The key to maintaining was to weigh, measure and track for the rest of my life with a larger calorie budget.
Now, two years later, I’ve regained half the weight. Along with the weight gain came the realization that I had zero desire to follow the “maintenance version” of any diet. I’m experimenting with intermittent fasting and intuitive eating.
My problem with intuitive eating is that I’m not even close to letting go of my desire to lose weight. Inflicted by half a century of “fat phobic” psychology has a lot to do with that. I’m not yet sure what it means to let go of the “diet…
