Intuitive Eating Before and After: How Ditching Diets Changed My Life (and Waistline!)

I love talking to people who are already sick of dieting. 

Because I spend so much time trying to show most people the facts about how dieting is actually more likely to lead to weight gain than weight loss.

So when I talk to someone that is truly already fed up with dieting, it’s a massive relief, because the biggest hurdle is already overcome!

However, in this same conversation, there is often a feeling of despair that when you give up dieting you also have to accept the weight that you are now. 

And accept that if you are to become an intuitive eater, then you can’t lose weight.

But what if this wasn’t true. What if you could lose weight with intuitive eating?

Thankfully, giving up on dieting doesn’t have to mean giving up on losing weight.

And I have proof; me!

Let me share my story of before and after intuitive eating.

Intuitive Eating Before and After: The Pre-Dieting Days

I absolutely loved food as a kid. But somewhere along the way, I developed a bit of an obsession with “naughty” foods.

I always struggled to just have a bit of chocolate or stop when I had eaten enough of my main meal. Unfortunately, this only got worse over the years, particularly as the comments started coming in from other kids and even adults about my weight. 

Being told when I was only 10 to “suck in my gut” for a family photo is a lasting memory that I unfortunately will never forget. I wasn’t even a very overweight child at all, but the comments still came and the issues only got worse.

The Dieting Days Before Intuitive Eating

Unfortunately I fell into the trap of trying to diet to lose weight. The first time I ever tried to diet was on the Atkins, after a friend had lost some weight on that diet.

It sounded so simple as well, just stop eating bread and carbs and you will lose weight. And I did lose a little bit of weight initially, but unfortunately it was the start of a long and ugly road of yoyo dieting. It was two decades of restricting foods, counting calories, cleanses and even fasting where at its worst I didn’t eat anything for an entire week. Not fun I can tell you! Plus a good way to mess up your metabolism!

And the result of all that dieting was only for my weight to initially go down on each diet, but then I would always regain all of my weight, plus more every time when I ran out of willpower and overate all of the delicious food that I had been missing out on!

Thankfully, through my studies in Public Health when I was researching sustainable and effective solutions to lose weight, I came across intuitive eating. If you don’t know, intuitive eating is basically reconnecting with your natural hunger and full cues to eat when you are hungry and not eat when you are full.

Intuitive eating has been completely life changing for me. I’ve lost a lot of weight, but also now feel so much more comfortable around all foods. 

Finding balance with Intuitive Eating

Although I am certainly not perfect with eating now, thinking about intuitive eating before and after is like night and day to me.

To show just how not perfect I am still now, I did have some chocolate sauce after breakfast this morning! Intuitive eating is sometimes a delicate balance of progress and allowing yourself to be where you are at. Currently, things are a bit unsettled in my life, and that does have a big impact on how easily I find it to tune into my true hunger and full signals.

But even when I have moments like this morning, and the last week or so if I’m being honest where I have found myself craving sweets and chocolate more, I know that it will all resolve itself and there are other external factors that are causing me to crave these foods more. Again, stress definitely increases cravings for junk food. It doesn’t make it impossible to resist those cravings, but I admit it does make it more difficult.

However, the best thing you can do during these times is to hang in there with eating intuitively and try to reduce the stress as much as possible. 

Developing a good routine, which includes exercise to improve your mental health and connecting with friends and your community are excellent ways to help fend off cravings and resist the urge to binge eat.

Intuitive Eating & Metabolism

I often get a look of disbelief when I tell people how I have lost weight.

Because so many people still believe that you need to move more, eat less and diet to lose weight.

Now I’m the first to admit that my body isn’t “perfect”. But something must be going right when you lose well over 20kg (or maybe 25kg, I’m not exactly sure!) whilst eating whatever you want.

But when I try to explain about intuitive eating, which to be fair I can’t always be bothered to do, people don’t believe that it’s possible to lose weight without restricting or dieting in some way.

It’s kind of funny when you think about the fact that there are people who never diet or restrict themselves, yet don’t have any weight issues. Do you ever wonder why they are able to stay trim?

Perhaps you think it is because of their metabolism. It is partially true, but not for the reasons you think. Because what happens when you diet is that you affect your metabolism. Your brain perceives a diet as a time of famine, and as an automatic survival response, it slows down your metabolism to try and preserve energy and maintain your weight. Exactly what you are trying to avoid!

I definitely remember when I told one of my friends about how slowing down has led to me losing so much weight. We were having a steak lunch together for his birthday. I was about a third of the way into my steak and still had most of my chips and salad left by the time he had eaten everything. Even though he had mindlessly plowed through his food and still felt hungry, he couldn’t believe that I would be full just by slowing down, even as I did it right before him.

Because there is so much information out there trying to demonise foods and compare healthy food and junk food. 

The truth is though that you can eat whatever you want and lose weight without exercise or dieting through intuitive eating.

Before and After: The Proof

So the proof in my case is that I have lost somewhere between 20-25kg. That figure depends on the week and depends on where I actually started and actually am today. 

Because usually I don't know my current weight, and I don’t know exactly how high my weight ever got. Plus I am now working out more, particularly with weights, because I enjoy feeling strong and the endorphin rush from working out. So it’s hard to know exactly how much weight I have lost. But I know that I have definitely lost at least 20kg.

Beyond the exact figures on the scales, the real wins are being comfortable around all foods and fitting into my clothes again. Because who knows how much anyone else weighs, what is important is that you feel good in your own clothes (and skin). Then knowing that you can eat delicious food and not worry about fitting into your clothes I think is the biggest win.

Yes there is some vanity that kicks in here. Who doesn’t want to look good on the beach in summer, of course. And whilst I wouldn't mind having a six pack, what is amazing for me personally is just being comfortable with hanging out in my boardshorts and enjoying the beach without stressing or worrying about what I look like. The main thing is just being able to enjoy that moment without having to feel anxious or stressed.

How you can lose weight eating intuitively

Eating intuitively is all about reconnecting with your natural hunger and full signals. It’s about eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full.

There are a few simple tricks that you can focus on that can help you to make sure you are only eating when you are hungry;

1. Allow all foods

It can sound counterintuitive to allow all foods. You might worry that by allowing all foods you will end up binge eating. But studies show that by allowing all foods, you are actually more likely to lose weight! Because when you try to restrict certain foods, all that you do is put them up on a pedestal and it can lead to more intense carvings for those foods, then inevitably overindulging on that same food that you were trying to avoid. It’s much better to allow all foods, then use the below techniques to enjoy them.

2. Slow down

Slowing down is another great way to reconnect with your natural hunger and full signals. When you eat quickly, it is difficult to know when you have eaten enough. Maybe you’ve already experienced this, when you feel hungry whilst still eating, only to be completely overfull later. That is your stomach taking a little longer to register when it is full, and why studies have shown that eating slower will likely make you eat less.

3. Remove distractions

Do you often eat in front of the TV or whilst working on your laptop? You might want to change that habit, as studies show that you are more likely to eat more food if you are distracted.

4. Get happy and connected

There are times when I am leaner and eat a bit better with this approach. It definitely helps when I am doing things I love more often, in particular surfing. Because surfing and being in the ocean makes me feel so happy! Doing it with friends is absolutely my favourite thing in the world, though it doesn’t unfortunately happen often enough at the moment. 

Feeling happy and connected has been associated with lower rates of addiction. For example, studies show that people who joined a community gardening program were more likely to overcome their addictions.

Now you might not feel addicted to food. But it is a useful comparison, when you think about struggling with cravings even though you know the negative effects of overindulging. This is a very similar situation to the definition of addiction, which is feeling out of control around something even though you know there are negative consequences.

Next steps and troubleshooting

I know intuitive eating and only eating when you are hungry can sound overly simplistic, and its concept really is quite straightforward. 

The main difficulty comes in when the stresses and realities of life get in the way. Perhaps you are stressed or unhappy. It can definitely be harder to work out whether you are hungry or just bored, lonely or feeling a bit down about things. But focusing on the above steps can help you to stay connected with your natural hunger signals, even if life is throwing you curve balls.

Having someone to help you to apply these steps to your personal situation is the best way to achieve weight loss with intuitive eating. As an intuitive eating coach, I help people like you to develop clear and simple strategies that are personalised for you, then help to keep you accountable. The first call is on me, so book your free discovery call now. Plus I can fill you in on my weight loss without dieting guarantee.

—-------- About the author: James Hay

Hi, I’m James, an intuitive eating weight loss coach. I teach people how to lose weight without any dieting or restrictions.

My clients lose weight whilst eating all of their favourite foods.

I’m qualified in Public Health and also a certified nutritionist and health coach. I have personally applied what I teach to lose over 25kg and can help you achieve similar results without dieting. Let’s talk