Good morning friends!
Thanks for coming back for the second edition of Wednesday Whereabouts. I received so many positive comments and emails and I truly thank you for your support. Many of you have followed me through my history of blogging at other sites and mentioned that in this blog, you were missing the element of “me”. I wanted to address those comments and emails again, in a more public way, because it is important for me to share how I feel about my new blogging space. In my heart, I know what I was put on this earth to do. I know that I am here to write and the topics that appeal to me abound. But in the end, the one that I want to write most about is food and this space does that for me. I can’t explain to you the thrill that I feel when I discover that I have created a new recipe to share or that I have stumbled on a restaurant or chocolate bar to write about. It brings me immense joy to have a healthy relationship with food and to be able to embrace it in this way.
With all of that said, I do still enjoy writing about my path and think that these weekly summaries are the best way to do that. I am also ready to share the wisdom that I have gained on this wonderful, emotional roller coaster and have found a venue online to share my writing. At the bottom of each weekly update, I will include links so that you can read the ones that interest you and leave the rest behind. Who knows which topics will strike me to write about but I hope that you will enjoy reading it all as much as I enjoy writing. Also please know that your feedback and ideas on what you would like to see me write about is always welcome.
All of that brings me to some very exciting news that I am been patiently waiting to share with you! I will be participating in a two year intuitive eating study that started on August 1st. I am so excited to participate and am ready to start this new chapter in my life. The study is designed for intuitive eaters that are already embracing principles 9 and 10 of the intuitive eating book. For those who are unfamiliar with the book, principle 9 is “Move your Body – Feel the Difference” and principle 10 is “Honor your health – gentle nutrition”. Both of these principles are what I would call more advanced principles because if you work on them too early in your path to intuitive eating, the diet mentality can start to creep in and that is not the intention of either of the principles. There are no set rules and your body is still in charge. The premise is that if you are really listening to your body, you will naturally embrace whole, real foods and regular exercise. I have found this to be true and have slowly but surely, without conscious decisions, moved towards that. I still eat plenty of play foods and take plenty of rest days but in general, this is where I am at.
If you are interested, you can read about the ins and outs of the study on the blog “The Big Fat Lie” and you can read my intention for the study here. I will be a contributing author of the blog and will be writing about the process of the study and how it is affecting my life. Each month, we will have a new focus and I will be sharing my insights along the way. I will probably be mentioning the study here but my full recaps will be there so I hope that you will stop by from time to time and check out what is going on.
Finally, the last topic of discussion for today is feeling my fullness. For the last week, I have really been experimenting with all levels of fullness and think I have nailed down what feels best to me. I would qualify it as being between a 5 or 6 on my hunger scale. For a long time, I thought that eating to a 6 was too little and that 7 was just right but I am reevaluating that and will re-publish my hunger scale once I have it all hammered out. Anyway, what I discovered is that feeling the food in my stomach is actually uncomfortable and I don’t like the feeling. Consequently, I have been eating less at “meal times” and instead, eating more frequently throughout the day. I still have not pegged “the signal” that my body sends to get me to this point but I feel certain that by continuing to tune in, I will discover what it is. So, this week, I plan to keep honing in on my fullness signal skills and will let you know how it goes.
That is all of this week. I hope you have enjoyed this week’s edition of Wednesday Whereabouts and hope that you will keep following my progress.
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This weeks writing:
Gather Article: How to stop emotional eating
Gather Article: Get dinner on the table…fast
Yea!!! The study began. I know how excited you are to begin this.
I am really interested in your “hunger scale” and fullness scale. It is so hard for me to either get too hungry and not realize it until me stomach is growling angrily OR I eat too much and get so full it is uncomfortable. I think I will start to use the same scale you are using–it will help me gauge everything.
I am sorry if posting about thisiswhyyourfat.com offended you. I wrote about it because it offended me too. I love your blog and get some much encouragement from all of your honesty and your great recipes–the last thing I would want to do is offend one of my favorite blog authors! :)
That is so exciting that you will be participating in the study! I just started reading “IE” and it’s very intriguing. I will be honest – it’s also a little scary. I’m not sure if I’m 100% ready to do everything they say, but I am trying SO hard to listen to my hunger cues. It’s a little sad that it’s probably been since early childhood that I actually only ate when I was HUNGRY. I’m anxious to see your updates!
that is so awesome, and I can’t wait to see and hear about this study :)
I have recently come to understand my “hunger scale” more over the past couple of days. Like you, I don’t really like to be FULL and heavy. Smaller meals throughout the day is what I have done the past couple of days and has been working GREAT!!
I look forward to hear more about the study : )
oh this is a very hard one for me. I find that sometimes I am definitely not hungry but I am eating… I need to take time to pay more attention
Hi, Christie,
Thank you so much for commenting on my blog! I feel great having someone who’s on the same path as I reading what I write. I’m grateful for the support.
I’m so glad that you find such joy in writing. I really do, too. And you write so well!
I’m so excited about the study! I will be following closely.
I’m so intrigued by the hunger scale. I know that I have no connection with it at this point. I’m looking forward to doing so, though!
Oh, and I lived in Richmond for a year for grad school. Small world!
Oh what a great study! I can’t wait to read more. Intuitive eating is def what I still struggle with. I’ve lost my intuitive eating due to my eating disorder and I want to recover it back!
i’m so glad you wrote about fullness. it’s so hard for me. i’ll be eating dinner with my boyfriend and we’re chatting and eating and the food is tasty and suddenly i realize i’ve eaten a lot and i wan’ts paying attention. i don’t realize i’m pretty full until i stop for a moment. or sometimes even later.
do you eat a smallish amount and then see if you’re still hungry? do you eat really slowly and mindfully?
i swear — babies know how to eat better than i do. that’s so weird
Do you find that when you stop at 5 or 5.5, you get hungry really soon afterward? Sometimes I get anxious because I find that I’m hungry again 1.5 hours later. I suppose that’s fine, right? It just means I can eat again! Yesterday I had a pretty filling lunch and finished feeling full (maybe a 6 or 6.5 on your scale, which I’ve totally stolen and copied into a notebook), but not overfull. I was amazed at 5pm to realize that for the first time in a looooong time I didn’t get hungry for an afternoon snack. I don’t know if it was because my lunch had a lot more fat than my usual lunch or ??? I’d eat to that fullness every day if I could go without a snack every afternoon, but I can’t figure out the magic lunch that will make that happen. I suppose that’s because every day is different anyway.
You are totally right that eating is soooo much more satisfying when you’re hungry (though not too hungry).
What a cool study!
I love the Wednesday updates. I am just starting out on the IE path, still getting my feet wet with it and trying to slowy incorporate the principles. I have found the same thing about hunger/fullness. I prefer to feel less full then I used to think I did and I eating when truly hungry is so much more satisfynig than eating just to eat. I also have found I prefer mainly the healthy, nutritous foods and left to my own devices I will pretty much “intuitively” eat about 90/10 or 80/20 healthy/play foods. That has been incredibly eye opening and reassurring for me.
Hi Christie! It’s been crazy here at this convention but I’m having fun right now catching up at least a little bit on blog reading. I really like the structure you’ve created with these posts. And I’m so psyched about the study! I’m waiting until after this trip and the next (a vacation, not work!) before diving into the work for the study. My head just isn’t “there” yet and I want it to be when I really sit down and put my intention down in words.
The coolest thing about IE is realizing how different we all are and how vital it is that we take the time to figure out what’s best for each of us. I have trouble being patient with this process and with myself.
I’m discovering that I actually like to get a little bit more full than I previously thought. I’ve been really enjoying the 3 larger meals I’ve been having on this trip and the fact I don’t get hungry much in between. I always thought I just prefered to eat less and more often as you described but maybe not. Maybe it changes and varies along the way? In any case, it’s fun to make these observations.
Thanks for inspiring me to think about this today!
Madison, thanks for responding to the website thing. I was not offended by you writing about it, I am offended by the website and it’s premise. It offends me because I am overweight because I have an eating disorder and people make so many assumptions about overweight people and it makes me really angry. It is important to me that these beliefs change and websites like that just make matter worse.
I Hate to Weight,
I believe that, for me, eating a small amount and then accessing how I feel is the easiest way to stay in touch with fullness. I also try to eat mindfully and really experience what ever it is that I am eating, it makes eating much more pleasurable and therefore, more satisfying. I admit, this is an area that I have always struggled with and had to really, and still have to, dig deep and find out why there is resistance. And, sadly, you are probably right about babies. We are born with hunger signals and society takes those away from us by teaching us to listen to things other than our signals. Like, parents telling their children to clean their plates and diets telling us that only a certain amount of calories is allowed. That is why we have to get back in touch with what we were born with!