Starting an Intuitive Eating practice can be an exciting thing, but it can also feel REALLY REALLY SCARY! The fear of the unknown might even hold you back from getting started. I want to calm those fears and manage your expectations. If you are starting an Intuitive Eating journey without the support of a professional, some of the following may occur and leave you wondering, “Oh no I am doing this wrong?!” I’ve compiled this list so that you can know what to expect as you go through this process. This list was compiled based off of both personal experience and feedback from clients. You may experience some or all of the following:

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1) You will probably still hope it will result in weight loss

Intuitive Eating (IE) is a weight neutral model - meaning weight is not the focus. Your weight could go up, down or stay the same, and it’s all morally neutral. Even if you know this, there is likely a part of you that secretly hopes it results in weight loss. That’s totally normal - I initially hoped it would too! You're probably starting IE because you’ve dieted for a while, which means you’ve likely been trying to lose weight for a long time. Our culture teaches us that losing weight is good and gaining weight is bad. So it’s normal to hope that this will help you achieve that. Don’t feel guilty if you have that desire.

2) You’ll fear you’ll never stop eating and will continue to gain weight forever

Everyone has the following fear: “If I listen to my body/give myself permission to eat, I’ll just eat cupcakes all day long and never stop”. Valid, considering something similar may have happened in the past. But with this process we are losing food rules (and therefore guilt), as well as changing the way we take care of ourselves. This process is about tuning in to the body and figuring out what feels good. You have to go through a “honeymoon phase” (as you’ll see next) and although initially there may be an uptick in your food consumption, as you start to get back in touch with your hunger/fullness cues, and figure out how food feels in your body, this tends to balance out.

3) You’ll probably go through a “honeymoon phase”

The third principle of IE is making peace with food. In this principle we get rid of the good food/bad food labels and work to put all foods on the same playing field. It’s likely you’ve had a bunch of off-limit foods for a while. Now, you are being told you have unconditional permission to eat whatever you want. With this new found freedom, you’ll probably go through a phase where you are eating a lot of the foods you used to restrict. You might also eat a larger quantity than you are used to. This is totally NORMAL. You have to go through this experimentation phase. First of all, it helps to build trust in your body. Your body will no longer fear a famine is around the corner which helps to diminish the mental preoccupation with food. Secondly, it allows you to go through a process known as “habituation” which is basically exposure therapy. The more we allow ourselves to have certain foods, the less of a big deal they are. Lastly, you’ll learn how different foods feel in your body and start to make your food choices with that in mind.

4) You will feel like you’ve got numerous voices in your head

As you start to reject the diet mentality and challenge the food police, you are going to feel like you have two different voices in your head. The new IE voice will say something like “It’s okay to eat this” and then that food police voice will pop up and be like “No it’s not - it’s so high in __” . You will feel like you are arguing with yourself in your head. Prior to starting IE, most people only have a food police voice, which is strong from years of dieting. Then suddenly we awaken the IE voice and it’s super weak because it’s never been used. You’ll start to feel like you have two voices in your head for a while, but the more you practice strengthening your IE voice, and challenging the food police voice, over time the latter will weaken and fade away (for the most part).

5) You feel like you’re on a kiddie rollercoaster

As you start to learn and implement the principles of IE, you are going to go through different phases. Some days you’ll feel like you’re crushing it, other days you’ll feel like you’re doing it wrong. Remember though, there is no doing it wrong! Every single eating experience is an opportunity to learn something about yourself. I say it’ll be like a kiddie rollercoaster because, hopefully, you won’t experience the intense HIGHS and LOWS that comes with dieting, restricting and living by the scale.

6) You might feel hyper-focused on food and your body

For so long, you relied on rules of your diet to tell you when, what and how much to eat. It’s going to take some time to hear and respond to the cues of your body. You might feel like you are always questioning “How do I feel?” “Am I actually hungry?” “What the heck does comfortable fullness feel like?” Eventually you’ll do most of this pretty effortlessly, but in the beginning, you’ll have to give it a lot of conscious attention and thought.

7) You will have a bunch of “Aha!” moments

As you explore your beliefs around food and your body, you’ll likely have a few have “Aha!” moments. Maybe you realize that you always finish all of your food because growing up you were forced to finish your everything on your plate, regardless of your fullness. Or perhaps you realize a loved ones’ criticisms have had a bigger impact on your behaviors than you previously realized. Further along in the process you’ll also have “Aha!” moments where you realize “Wow I’m not thinking about food as often” or “I finally know what comfortable fullness feels like”.

8) You will want to expedite the process

You will feel like you’ve made progress but you’ll likely want to be further along than you are. If you follow IE accounts on social media, you might have moments where you think “Why am I not like that yet?”. Many of us have dieted for YEARS and regardless of if you’ve dieted or not, we live in a society where disordered eating is quite normalized, so it’s GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME. Be patient with the process and trust that it will all fall into place.

9) You’ll have the urge to check the scale

It’s so important to put weight loss on the back burner during this process. You will probably step away from your scale for a few weeks or so. Then you’ll start feeling really good and suddenly you’ll just want to “check” on the scale…..you know…….just to see if it’s moved at all. A few things can happen. Obviously the number will go up, down or stay the same. Depending on which happens, you may be excited, or bummed, which may lead to celebratory eating or further restriction. This keeps you externally regulated (basing how you eat off of external cues). Either way, you are giving your power to a piece of plastic and metal. That scale does not determine your worth or decide how much you're allowed to eat.

10) You’ll struggle to explain what it is to people

People might ask what you’re doing and you’ll realize you don’t have the language to articulate exactly what it is. “You know it’s like listening to your body……or something…….” Intuitive Eating is a complete paradigm shift in how we think and most people just don’t “get it.” So until you have the personal experience to combat skepticism, it’s best to just say something like “It’s a framework for eating that teaches you to heal your relationship with food and build trust in your body. I’ll let you know how it goes”. If they want to know more about it, feel free to send them here.

11) You’ll have moments where diet culture tempts you

Diet culture is super pervasive and there will be moments when it pulls you back in. Perhaps you see a weight loss transformation photo on Instagram. Or maybe a family member tells you how much weight they’ve lost with ____ . Diet culture will tempt you, especially as you are just starting the strengthen your amor. Reflecting back on all of the ways diet culture has impacted your life and how the weight loss was never long term, can keep you focused. If and when diet culture tempts you, it’s ok!! Acknowledge what is happening and get back to your IE practice.

12) You’ll realize a large majority of the population has an unhealthy relationship with food

As you start to heal your relationship with food, you’ll come to realize that almost everyone around you kindaaaaaa has an unhealthy one. You’ll start to see how it is most “lifestyle changes” are just another fancy way to diet.

13) You’ll realize it’s about addressing self-care, boundaries, and bringing more presence to your life

Intuitive Eating gets to the core of what is going on. Unlike a diet that just tells you what to eat, IE dives into WHY you eat. You will learn how to set boundaries, address your self-care and bring more mindfulness into your life. You’ll realize that it usually isn’t about the food and that whenever we feel like there is something we need to “fix” with our eating, that it’s usually an indication of something else going unaddressed.

14) You’ll wonder where intuitive eating has been your whole life!

As you start to see how life-changing IE is, you’ll wonder why no one ever told you about it! You may feel mad or frustrated that you spent so much time, effort and energy on diet culture, but you’ll be relieved to know you will never have to diet or worry about food ever again. You’ll realize you finally found something that you can sustain for the rest of your diet-free life!

I hope this helps to clear up any confusion or worries around Intuitive Eating. If you only take one thing away from this long post, it is that YOU CANNOT DO INTUITIVE EATING WRONG. It is ALL AN OPPORTUNITY FOR LEARNING AND GROWTH! Be curious and compassionate with yourself.

If you are ready to start your own Intuitive Eating practice and would like additional professional support, you can click here to apply for 1-on-1 coaching. Not sure if you’re ready to dive in just yet? Want to get your toes wet first? Check out The Feel Good Mentality Workbook. For $16, this introductory workbook will help ease you in to the Intuitive Eating process by shifting the way you think about food and your body.

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What To Expect When You Start Intuitive Eating