Why am I here blogging?

The first week I started intuitive eating I found that I overate a lot. I put on weight and I didnt feel good. But I needed to do that because it allowed me to accept that I wasnt going to starve myself anymore. I had to accept that not losing weight was a strong possibility and so I had to blow any misconception out of the water that by eating intuitively I was going to lose weight. So I ate. I felt great about giving up on the dieting. I felt like I had let myself out of the dieting prison that so many of us have been trapped in before. 

My second week I decided that I needed to learn to acknowledge when I was hungry. This too was very important. I didnt know what hunger felt like. Usually I would eat before I reached that stage. So for this week I would wait untill I felt the first signs of hunger and then I would eat whatever I wanted. I would feel a little nervous when I went for a period without eating but I would calm down when I realised that I could eat how much and whatever I wanted just as soon as I was hungry. During this week I began to realise what hunger felt like and also how I would crave foods even when I was full. But I continued to eat a large amount of food when I could eat. This was important because it allowed me to continue to trust myself that I wasnt going to starve. But I felt like I was overindulging and I would feel full and bloated after each meal. I also started to feel quite unhealthy. 

In the third week the same approach applied. I could eat whatever I liked, and how much I liked but I had to chew the food slowly and untill it turned into liquid in my mouth. This meant I basically chewed the food about 40 times. In addition, I had to take small bites. This meant that everytime I got something to eat I wasnt thinking I had to get a huge amount because I knew it would take me forever to eat a large portion. So quite naturally I started getting smaller meals. But I felt quite satisfied because the meal itself would last a long time, much longer than if I was eating a bigger meal but in my normal fashion. I would leave the meal feeling absolutely content and satisfied. I wouldnt feel bloated and nor would I feel hungry. I was in the perfect middle ground. Foods that I usually thought were ok became extremely tasty. It is at this time I realised what it was like to eat a perfectly cooked meal. 

This next week I aim to stop eating when I am full. I will always leave some food on my plate even if it is a bite. I will go into more detail about the steps and progress I have taken, in order that other people may follow my steps. This is not about weight loss. This is about learning to eat normally after years and years of dieting.