A common question that I’m asked by my clients who have started the intuitive eating journey is, “How can I tell when I’m satisfied??”

This is a short and straight-to-the-point question. But often so difficult for someone to figure out. When eating a meal, it can be hard to determine when you’re satisfied to stop eating.

If you’re someone who has dieted for quite some time, then likely you’re also struggling with not being able to hear your fullness signals. The mere act of dieting causes your signals to atrophy.

Why? Because you aren’t using them!

You stop your meal when the diet plan tells you that you have had enough. You’re pushing the plate away when it’s empty. You’re putting your fork down based on a limit imposed on you by an outside source. An external source, not your internal signals, is guiding your eating.

Remember, you were born an intuitive eater. You were born knowing when you are hungry to start eating, and when you are satisfied to stop eating. You didn’t need to ask this question because it was just a feeling you had.

And, you TRUSTED it, because you knew no other way but to trust your body.

All these years and oh so many diets later, you no longer feel those signals. And, you don’t have that trust in yourself either.

Which makes it so difficult to know when you’re truly satisfied enough to stop eating.

Okay, so now what?

I’m not going to tell you how to feel your signals. This is something you need to relearn. And it IS POSSIBLE, with the right support, as you travel down your intuitive eating journey.

But I will share some beginning steps that you can take.

5 Steps to Saying Goodbye to Dieting

1. Make the commitment to never diet again.

This may sound like an easy step, but it’s actually the hardest. Make that first decision to throw the dieting handbook out the window and listen to your body.

2. Re-affirm this commitment to never diet again.

Dieting has become so ingrained in our culture it may take a few times to fully release yourself from the rules of dieting.

3. Stay strong in this commitment.

This can be challenging as you are surrounded by diet culture and its harmful messages (and family and friends that might be dieting and want some company).

4. Forget the scale.

Move away from determining success on your journey based on a number on a scale. You are more than a number.

5. Re-affirm your commitment to never diet again.

Look at all the progress you’ve made thus far and celebrate it!

You see, if there’s any part of you that is still holding on to “maybe that will help me lose a few pounds”, then you will turn intuitive eating into the hunger-fullness diet (aka ‘The Intuitive Eating Diet’).

I’ve seen this happen way too many times. So, check in with yourself and ask yourself if you’re truly ready to leave your dieting habit and the scale behind.

Can you believe that in less than two weeks, the flags will be soaring high as Memorial Day is celebrated throughout the country?

Memorial Day Weekend for many signals the start of summer! Sunshine, beach days, swimming, biking, relaxing, vacations…this is what I think of when Memorial Day Weekend rolls around.

But for you, the chronic dieter, thoughts of overeating at the BBQ, the dread of putting on a bathing suit, and the anticipation of wearing shorts are flooding your mind. You are probably thinking right now that right after this weekend you will start a diet so you will feel better about your body by July 4th.

Sounds about right?

You’re tired of having food fear and body fear.

You’re tired of saying no to social invitations because there “won’t be any food there that I can eat on my diet”.

You are tired of throwing in the towel time and time again saying, “I’ll just enjoy myself today and start again tomorrow.”

How can you start living life as an intuitive eater as we approach the holiday weekend?

Here are 3 Tips to Celebrating Memorial Day as an Intuitive Eater:

1. Ditch the List

Recognize that no one food has the power over you to make you thin or fat. That’s right. Go into your Memorial Day BBQ this weekend without a list of good and bad foods you can and can’t eat. Ask yourself what you really want to eat, then go get it, put it on a plate, sit down, and eat slowly and mindfully, savoring every bite. No guilty feelings, no worries, just enjoy every bite.

2. Stay Fully Present and Aware. 

It’s very easy to get distracted when in a social situation and not pay attention to what or how much you’re eating. Remind yourself that you will make conscious decisions around your food choices and will remain tuned in while you eat. Check-in periodically as you’re eating and remember, if you are satisfied, stop eating. You can always eat that burger another time.

3. Don’t Eat to Please Others. 

Your host worked hard to put together a wonderful time full of food, drinks, and desserts. Great. You ate, and you enjoyed it. And now you’re satisfied. If your host starts to pressure you to eat more (“Look how much I have left over!!”), just politely tell them how delicious everything was, but you cannot fit another bite in your belly. Stay true to yourself!

Come on over to our Facebook group for support through the weekend and beyond.

Have a wonderful celebration this Memorial Day Weekend.

Have you skipped a meal because a “diet” told you to?  Have you replaced meals with shakes or avoided entire food groups?  Do you restrict your favorite foods or force yourself to eat foods you don’t like because your “diet” says you should?

You may have fallen prey in the past to the many fad diets out there, but no more!

Diets are filled with restriction, deprivation, and cravings, which may lead to bingeing, emotional eating, and guilt.  This can move you further away from having a healthy and balanced life.

Diets cause you to ignore your internal hunger signals that your body naturally gives you for when and what it wants to eat.  This can lead to an altering ability to recognize these signals and affects how you feed yourself.  The change in mindset also alters the “brake” system your body has in place to avoid “overeating”.  If you restrict, you are more likely to binge.

Remember, a diet provides you with a set of rules about what you can or cannot eat.  They are a short-term strategy to reach long-term goals.  Fad diets, diet products, and the way body image is portrayed in the media are detrimental to forming healthy eating and lifestyle habits. Body discrimination can be seen all around, from advertisements showing off thin models to the current “fat acceptance” movement which is quite the opposite and celebrates curves while shaming smaller physiques.

Here are 3 tips to help you break the never-ending diet cycle:

1. Become an attuned eater.

Choose foods based on an internal sense of hunger, appetite, and satisfaction. This will help you learn more about what your body craves and help avoid overfilling.

2. Eat without distractions.

Chew thoroughly and enjoy what you’re eating.  Listen for the internal cues your body will give you as you reach satiety.

3. Do not deprive yourself.

Instead, eat what you want and savor it.  Avoiding deprivation will help limit the temptation “avoided foods” have.

Remember, dieting is about restriction which can lead to feelings of guilt and ultimately alter your relationship with food and your body.  Stop the diets by accepting your body where it is now.  With acceptance comes admiration and you will naturally feed your body better and avoid restricting to provide your body with all the nutrients it needs.

Celebrating and appreciating your body is the drive behind much of the work I do. Rather than restricting yourself, focus on nourishing yourself. I stress this to all my clients. Self-care and loving yourself go together. Please stop comparing yourself to others! Embrace your uniqueness and celebrate your body.

Many people come to me with the same question: “Am I allowed to plan out my meals in advance and still eat intuitively?”

This may seem like a straightforward question with an easy answer, but it’s not. Many diets have rules attached to them such as what you can eat and at what time. Even meal prepping can be very restrictive and almost like a diet if you are diligent about sticking to what you have planned out, not allowing for any wiggle room. This is one way that you can describe structured eating, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

One of the major differences between intuitive eating and diets is autonomy. When it comes to intuitive eating, it’s all about listening to your body and its needs. If you have packed your lunch, but your work company decides to treat everyone that day, it’s being able to change your plans on the whim and order something! Or you can eat your lunch and order something to eat later.

You can still have meal structure and be an intuitive eater.

When planning out your structured meals there are two questions that you want to ask yourself:

1. What is your definition of structure?

Arranging your eating pattern for the day into meals plus ‘as needed’ snacks would be putting a structure to your eating pattern. It’s basically laying down some guidelines for yourself so you have a basic idea of what you will eat for that day. If these are foods that you love and feel good in your body, then what you are doing is planning. And my motto is, “planning is smart living”.

You plan vacations, you plan your children’s activities, and you plan work tasks. You plan many different areas of your life. Why wouldn’t you plan your meals?

However, if you break out in hives because your plan does not pan out, and you have difficulty being flexible with it, then this meal plan structure is just another diet.

2. Do you still possess a diet mentality?

As stated above, if the meal plan structure you’ve created for yourself leads you to feeling deprived of foods you didn’t include in your plan because you think they aren’t “nutritious” for you and this leads to overeating or bingeing on these foods when you “just can’t take it anymore,” then this structure is doing you more harm than good.

Therefore, the first step on your intuitive eating journey must be shifting your mindset. It requires you to acknowledge all the damage that dieting has done, biologically, health-wise, psychologically, and emotionally! And not just acknowledge it. Really get down deep to understand why you will never ever diet again. This step takes time. You must not rush it.

Is it scary to no longer diet, and not have a meal plan to guide your eating? Absolutely, this is what you’re used to. But it might just take you having a leap of faith in this journey back to a place of body trust.