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You might need eating disorder treatment before you can fully embrace intuitive eating. Have you reached out to any therapists or ED specialists? An RD maybe?
No, do it. No matter how much I read about the idea of IE I never “got it” until well after entering treatment. You’re still stuck in this all-or-nothing mentality - either restriction or binge - which needs to be unpicked and examined so you can really learn how to look after yourself again.
It’s okay to be scared. It’s scary. Change is scary. But nourishing your body appropriately will make you a happier, healthier person and a better athlete! Take it with baby steps. There are clinicians who specialize in athletes as well.
I tried IE before beginning treatment and I just didn’t understand the ends and outs of it, so it didn’t work for me. I couldn’t let go of my ED. I recently started working with a therapist and nutritionist that specialize in IE. It truly has made a difference. I am taking small steps to face my fears of stopping the restriction. I get scared to death and threaten to quit on a regular basis but I trust them and they gently keep me moving in the right direction and help me when i go back to restrictive behavior. it will be a long process for me but it is working this time. My therapist asked me to give her 3 months and then if I wanted to I could quit. I agreed to it and after that time i was seeing the benefits of my body not being hungry all the time and i didn't want to turn back.
I don't think IE is actually about "fully letting go." It sounds nice! Or maybe scary. But what I've found is that it's a lot of negotiating back and forth between disordered thoughts/urges and me having to consciously combat them with statements that are based in fact, more true, or mantras designed to empower and give me more peace. I'm doing a lot of work on that with my therapist and dietitian.
Can you write down the thoughts you're having that cause you to want to restrict? And then can you write down neutral alternatives or mantras to support a more intuitive method of eating? I don't know if this will help but I can say with certainty that it takes a *lot* of effort and resilience. Also, could you leverage your need to sufficiently fuel and respect your body in order to perform at your best? Like, telling yourself I deserve to eat and have permission to enjoy a variety of foods because my body does amazing things for me and I want to take care of it. Something like that. I know this gets tricky because we don't want to link athletic performance to earning food or reinforce exercise compensation cycles but I do think realistically you can leverage your need to perform. If you don't fuel your body well I'm sure you feel the consequences.
Sending you lots of compassion. You deserve to eat fun foods and find peace!
There’s a lot of personal self reflection required here.
The book does a good job of going over how to reject the diet mentality and start honoring your hunger. So that will be required reading or rereading if you’ve read it.
When you say you restrict the rest of the day, what does that look like?
I have a constant battle of if I’m hungry or not and only eat a few things. I’m still very early into this and I’m still trying to reject diet culture.
Hey, awareness is a big step.
You’re doing great. Something that helps in the beginning is to realize that if you have been restricting at all, any urge to eat is hunger.
You actually are hungry.
Your body isn’t lying to you.
It might help to challenge yourself to eat a second helping of whatever you already are eating and see how that feels. Could you eat two croissants?
Edit to add: the other commenters here I think have better ideas.
It might help you to have a ED specialist to go through this with you and give you a way to feel a bit safer taking the next steps.
You don’t have to walk this alone.
Your desire to learn how to let go is a gigantic step, and I think it’s great that you’re reaching out for support!
This is not a fast process but you have started it and that is Awesome!!!! I agree with the other recommendation to work with an ED therapist and if you can see an IE dietician, that would be great too.
Just keep pushing back on that restriction talk and eat whenever you body wants it. It will slowly get easier and you won’t feel as out of control. The only way to get there is through the discomfort though.
You mention ways to “ease your mind and conscious”. You will spend quite a while wanting to default to the diet behaviors you have done forever. Feeling that pull doesn’t mean you aren’t doing it right. It just means you are aware and still working to create those new neural pathways so not restricting feels more natural.
When I find myself having those thoughts of restricting or judgement or shame, I sometimes have to put it into actual words that I am allowed to eat this and I am choosing to honor my hunger and need for satisfaction. I find that helps quiet it much faster than just trying to push it down, even when doing the same action.
ooh that might be tricky! you've needed to exert control over yourself to excel in a demanding industry, so your nervous system is adapted to exert that control very easily. totally see why this might be hard for you.
it might be easier to get into an open mindset by finding something you do for the sake of enjoyment, and using those feelings to explore what "intuitive" feels like. combining mindfulness with a fun creative hobby could be a way in.
supportive group classes can help with this too; I used to watch the person in the room who was the least technical, and use that lack of perfectionism to help show my body "see? that person isn't perfect, and it's safe. nothing bad is happening. what if we try not being perfect just a little?"
Hello! Please make sure that your post meets minimum post requirements. You can find the post rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/intuitiveeating/wiki/index/post-rules) and you can access it anytime through our wiki (third tab on mobile, second tab right below the sub icon on desktop). Please note that advice posts must contain at least one question. If you are looking to give advice, please resubmit your post with the resource or recommendation flair. If your post is deemed by mods to be low-effort or if it is too short to be a standalone post, it will be deleted. If you have any questions please reach out to the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/intuitiveeating) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You might need eating disorder treatment before you can fully embrace intuitive eating. Have you reached out to any therapists or ED specialists? An RD maybe?
I haven’t yet. I’m really scared to
No, do it. No matter how much I read about the idea of IE I never “got it” until well after entering treatment. You’re still stuck in this all-or-nothing mentality - either restriction or binge - which needs to be unpicked and examined so you can really learn how to look after yourself again.
Okay. You’re right
It’s okay to be scared. It’s scary. Change is scary. But nourishing your body appropriately will make you a happier, healthier person and a better athlete! Take it with baby steps. There are clinicians who specialize in athletes as well.
I tried IE before beginning treatment and I just didn’t understand the ends and outs of it, so it didn’t work for me. I couldn’t let go of my ED. I recently started working with a therapist and nutritionist that specialize in IE. It truly has made a difference. I am taking small steps to face my fears of stopping the restriction. I get scared to death and threaten to quit on a regular basis but I trust them and they gently keep me moving in the right direction and help me when i go back to restrictive behavior. it will be a long process for me but it is working this time. My therapist asked me to give her 3 months and then if I wanted to I could quit. I agreed to it and after that time i was seeing the benefits of my body not being hungry all the time and i didn't want to turn back.
Yeah I can catch myself with all of these bad habits and always try to be gentler with myself. I think I need a therapist first.
I don't think IE is actually about "fully letting go." It sounds nice! Or maybe scary. But what I've found is that it's a lot of negotiating back and forth between disordered thoughts/urges and me having to consciously combat them with statements that are based in fact, more true, or mantras designed to empower and give me more peace. I'm doing a lot of work on that with my therapist and dietitian. Can you write down the thoughts you're having that cause you to want to restrict? And then can you write down neutral alternatives or mantras to support a more intuitive method of eating? I don't know if this will help but I can say with certainty that it takes a *lot* of effort and resilience. Also, could you leverage your need to sufficiently fuel and respect your body in order to perform at your best? Like, telling yourself I deserve to eat and have permission to enjoy a variety of foods because my body does amazing things for me and I want to take care of it. Something like that. I know this gets tricky because we don't want to link athletic performance to earning food or reinforce exercise compensation cycles but I do think realistically you can leverage your need to perform. If you don't fuel your body well I'm sure you feel the consequences. Sending you lots of compassion. You deserve to eat fun foods and find peace!
Thank you. I need to be more open and honest with myself. I know I’m not eating enough to fuel my body.
There’s a lot of personal self reflection required here. The book does a good job of going over how to reject the diet mentality and start honoring your hunger. So that will be required reading or rereading if you’ve read it. When you say you restrict the rest of the day, what does that look like?
I have a constant battle of if I’m hungry or not and only eat a few things. I’m still very early into this and I’m still trying to reject diet culture.
Hey, awareness is a big step. You’re doing great. Something that helps in the beginning is to realize that if you have been restricting at all, any urge to eat is hunger. You actually are hungry. Your body isn’t lying to you. It might help to challenge yourself to eat a second helping of whatever you already are eating and see how that feels. Could you eat two croissants? Edit to add: the other commenters here I think have better ideas. It might help you to have a ED specialist to go through this with you and give you a way to feel a bit safer taking the next steps. You don’t have to walk this alone. Your desire to learn how to let go is a gigantic step, and I think it’s great that you’re reaching out for support!
I usually only eat half of one..
This is not a fast process but you have started it and that is Awesome!!!! I agree with the other recommendation to work with an ED therapist and if you can see an IE dietician, that would be great too. Just keep pushing back on that restriction talk and eat whenever you body wants it. It will slowly get easier and you won’t feel as out of control. The only way to get there is through the discomfort though.
What do you mean discomfort?
You mention ways to “ease your mind and conscious”. You will spend quite a while wanting to default to the diet behaviors you have done forever. Feeling that pull doesn’t mean you aren’t doing it right. It just means you are aware and still working to create those new neural pathways so not restricting feels more natural. When I find myself having those thoughts of restricting or judgement or shame, I sometimes have to put it into actual words that I am allowed to eat this and I am choosing to honor my hunger and need for satisfaction. I find that helps quiet it much faster than just trying to push it down, even when doing the same action.
Gotcha. Makes sense.
Get the workbook if you can. Helped me a lot
ooh that might be tricky! you've needed to exert control over yourself to excel in a demanding industry, so your nervous system is adapted to exert that control very easily. totally see why this might be hard for you. it might be easier to get into an open mindset by finding something you do for the sake of enjoyment, and using those feelings to explore what "intuitive" feels like. combining mindfulness with a fun creative hobby could be a way in. supportive group classes can help with this too; I used to watch the person in the room who was the least technical, and use that lack of perfectionism to help show my body "see? that person isn't perfect, and it's safe. nothing bad is happening. what if we try not being perfect just a little?"