Edited to add: Please be sure to check out my guest post on A Dash of Meg today, also about my experience with the Intuitive Eating Challenge and learning to love myself just as I am, right now!
As most of you know, on April 1st I started Jamie’s Intuitive Eating Challenge. I explained my dieting/eating history and why I wanted to join the challenge. After spending years stuck in various degrees of a restriction/bingeing cycle, I forgot what it was like to just eat without thinking; to eat when I’m hungry, stop when I’m full, and not have so many “rules” surrounding food. That is what Intuitive Eating is all about – slowly learning how to let go of all the rules and to embrace yourself and your life in that moment.
I know the phrase “intuitive eating” has been making its way around the blog world recently, receiving criticism from some as a “new fad” and just another way of over-thinking what you eat. I want to reassure you all that’s not what intuitive eating is at all and that maybe some bloggers have misconstrued it that way, or they’re in a point of their journey where they need to make a consistent conscious effort before they’re able to get to a point where they don’t need to think so much.
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Jamie’s challenge is 21 days long and on each day you receive an e-mail with a certain “challenge” or lesson for that day. Usually it’s something to try and incorporate into your life, or something to reflect upon. Each e-mail ends with some questions or prompts to get us talking in our Facebook group. The challenge is done by a group of women each month, all of whom come from different backgrounds but many of whom have very similar stories. We are able to use the Facebook group as a way to ask questions, get opinions, seek support and boast accomplishments. I found myself checking the group a couple times a day, always interested in what the other women had to say about that day’s challenge or how they were doing in their Intuitive Eating journey.
Along with the daily e-mails and Facebook group, we also had the constant support of Jamie. We had three scheduled phone calls with her throughout the challenge, each 15 minutes long. The first call was a way for her to get to know us and our stories and to help prepare us for the challenge. The second call occurred halfway through and was a way to check up on how we were doing. This call was especially helpful to me because she gave me some great insight into my own habits and ways that I can change some things that I do in regards to putting myself first.
Our last call is after the challenge, which has yet to occur for me (tomorrow!), so I’m looking forward to checking in with Jamie again about how I’m doing.
So the big question: was the challenge worth it? Was it helpful?
I certainly think it was. Do I still binge? Absolutely. Do I still get down on myself? Of course. Twenty one days isn’t enough to change a lifetime habits and ways of thinking, but it is enough to give me ways to make those changes. Participating in this challenge has given me a start and the tools that I need to move past rules, binge eating and self-abuse. It has taught me to focus on me, to stop and think about how I’m feeling rather than covering that with food.
My intention from here on out is to regularly reflect on the e-mails and things that I learned from the challenge and continue to try and implement them in my daily life. I know that this is something that will take time; old habits are hard to break and it takes time to change the way you think about your life and yourself. But I’ve finished this 21 day challenge optimistic about the future and much better off than I was at the start.
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What do you think of the concept of “intuitive eating”?
Have you ever worked health coach or done some sort of online program?
Please feel free to email me (peaceloveandoats@gmail.com) with any further questions about the challenge or anything else!
I havent worked with an online coach—but am so so so open to it and hunting 🙂 for an online career coach.
it just feels as though it would FIT my needs and schedule.
That’s one thing I love, I don’t have to schedule an appointment with plenty of time to travel to and from someone’s office!
I know that there has been a lot of talk of IE from both sides, being a life savor, and also being called another form of restriction. I personally think that it can go either way, but that it’s best to err on the side of caution. From what I can see from your IE challenge Katie this is really working for you and you are following the principles the way they were intended. Sadly I cannot say that for all who are supposedly following the concepts of “intuitive eating” but I do hope they get the help they need and find the healthy balance that everyone deserves to know!
I totally agree, people can take it in very different ways, which makes me sad because it has been so helpful for me!
What a great challenge! After losing weight 2 years ago, I, too, struggle with the binge/restrict cycle a lot of the time. This sounds like an interesting idea. Me, myself, I’ve been working on eating for “balance” since New Years and have ditched the scaled but every few weeks. My weight has maintained and I’m makin progress. It’s slow though and old habits for hard! 🙂 thanks for writing!
It’s very hard to kick old habits, I stopped weighing myself completely a few months ago and I feel so much more free and relaxed!
Even if you binged or had a bad eating day, you had success if for at least one meal each day you ate intuitively. Congratulations!
Thank you, Alyssa!
i know i need to be more mindful when i eat. itz easy to say, but hard to do!
Very, very true!
I’ve never worked with an online coach, although your experiences with Jamie make me want to! I’ve struggled with restrictive eating for so long now that it’s so hard for me to tune in with my body and not only figure out what it wants, but to also give that to it. I’m definitely going to check Jamie and her challenge out!
It’s definitely worth looking into, I’m sure if you shoot her an email she’d be happy to answer any questions you have!
i’ve gone so back and forth on the whole IE thing – and it depends completely on the people i hear reviewing it, so i’m so glad that i got to read your post/email with you about it because i feel like i am in a similar boat to where you were a while ago and it’s nice to hear that you had a good experience with it. i obviously do not intend to knock anyone’s experience but i am not sure some people are really ready for it when they take it on. i’m proud of you for finding such a good place with it and you really give me SO much to think about.
I definitely think people are taking it differently and I know it makes people hesitant about the whole IE thing. I agree that not everyone is really ready for it, I know it came at the right time for me because I was in a good mindset for it.
So glad to hear that you have benefited from the challenge! I have never worked with a health coach, and the closest thing I did to an online challenge was the Elf for Health program sponsored by Lindsay and Elle last year (which was a lot of fun!).
I heard that was a fun challenge!
Glad that the program worked well for you! I am a tad weary of IE, because although I do like the general concepts (I’ve read through the book more than once and found it helpful) I do worry that some bloggers/individuals misconstrue and warp certain ideologies, claiming that their listening to their ‘intuition’ when it’s really a disordered voice telling them what to eat. It’s a great idea, but I think you need to be at a certain point in your life for it to work…and I think a lot of people are too disordered in their eating habits for it to really work properly.
That being said, I think that you’re one of the individuals who has really benefited from the program (and not used it as an excuse to fuel a hidden eating disorder), so I’m glad you gained so much from the experience.
I agree that some people have misconstrued the concept of IE, or have just turned it into a new way of disordered eating with the “veil” of IE.
Thanks, Katie, for a great post on Meg’s site! I’m unsure if you will be checking her comments, so I wanted to make sure that I posted on your site as well.
I just wanted to say that I truly admire your determination to overcome poor habits and make peace with your body. That is something that I struggled to overcome myself, and I want to give you a warm congratulations for doing so. I know that it is not an easy process.
After seeing all of these great posts from you, Meg, and Heather at Kiss my Broccoli, I’m thinking that I would like to participate in the IE challenge too. Being a college student myself, I tend to neglect certain aspects of my diet. I do not want to do that any more!
I can honestly say that, although I am happy with my current self, I do tend to knit-pick. I do however know that knit-picking is a normal thing, but I just want to stop it entirely! With the love and support from all of you awesome women, I know that I can do it. Thanks for all the love and support. You’re making me realize why I fell in love with blogging all over again. Xoxo
It’s definitely worth trying, and helpful in all aspects of your life, not just eating! Thank you so much for all your kind words, Brittany, I really appreciate you commenting!
Hi Katie,
Congrats on the challenge! I have worked with a coach in the past and found it to be very helpful. It actually motivated me to become a licensed wellness coach (I have a background as a psychotherapist) because I wanted to work more specifically in the areas of women with eating disordered behaviors and women with gastrointestinal problems (often overlapping). I think once we start talking about these isssues, and find creative strategies to manage the behaviors, people see really good results! We get into trouble when we start shoving our issues under the rug 😉 Keep up the good work!
That’s great that you’ve become a wellness coach, something I’ve considered, and probably need myself! Haha lots of GI Issues…
i loved reading this. i feel like you & i are a lot alike with our eating habits! congrats on finishing the challenge. i’ve never worked with a health coach, on-line OR in person, but i feel like i would benefit from one. i’m finding how uneducated i am about nutrition, my body, fitness, all of it.
I think it’s really helpful, even if you just meet/talk to someone once!
Really proud of you Katie, you did it 🙂
Thank you, Emma!
I just became a certified health coach, and I love working with people on making healthy habits easy and enjoyable. I’m so glad you’ve had a positive experience with your coach and group! Sounds like it was a great start towards your goals.
That’s great that you’re a health coach, it sounds like a very rewarding career!
we are actually thinking of doing more with becoming health coaches in a way, so we can help people not only workout but help them make better food choices 🙂
That would be great to be health coaches, it’s something I’ve thought about as well! Haha although a serious shift for me so I’m not sure about it.
I love that quote! It’s so true. Congrats on completely the challenge!
Thank you, Charlotte!
I’m so glad you found the IE challenge helpful! I really want to read the book, I’m definitely curious about it!
I’ve heard a lot of great things about the book!
I am so happy that I joined the IE challenge. It has really help me check in with my emotions when I eat and if I am eating because I am hungry or because I am sad, tired etc. Im glad that it was helpful for you. Thanks again for all the info you sent me 🙂
I’m glad you joined it too, although it’s helped you already? Don’t you start at the beginning of May?
I start in May but I started looking into it by googling some IE principles and I have started prematurely on those. I start in may. 🙂
I’m really happy you did this review, it’s great to look at this challenge from all sides. I too have had bingeing/restricting/calorie counting/emotional eating issues and If there is any way for me to become a “normal” eater, then I am willing to try it. I do agree with your point about how 21 days isn’t enough to change a lifetime’s worth of habits, but it’s a step in the right direction!
I think it’s so worth it, I was anxious about doing it but the 21 days flew by and I came out much better than I started!
I don’t completely believe in intuitive eating – I think there are far too many things in our food system that mess up what would be a natural approach to eating – even things like advertising! I have found myself feeling like eating a chocolate cake after seeing a commercial, that’s not intuitive no matter how much my body and mind wants it. I do think there is a balance though, somewhere between intuitive and thinking about everything you eat – I think that’s where I got to with my 21 day conscious living experiment! And of course I’m all for health coaches me being one of them!
Haha I guess I don’t have a TV so I don’t get influenced by food commercials, but I think things like that definitely trigger cravings. And I don’t think you can eat whatever you feel like, part of intuitive eating is knowing what foods make you feel good and I know anything that upsets my stomach, like gluten, doesn’t make me feel good so I avoid it.
Thanks for this refreshing, honest, and real review, Katie! I think the Inuitive Eating Challenge sounds like a great way to begin re-learning how to rely on our physical cues rather than our emotional cues to determine when and what to eat. I read Intuitive Eating several years ago, and tried implementing the 10 principles into my lifestyle, but I wasn’t yet at a place where I was ready to do so. Now that I’m more comfortable with my body and myself, I practice a modified version of intuitive eating, which I like to call “planned intuitive eating.” I eat what I crave, and the amounts I want (most of the time–of course I slip up every now and then), but still eat on a loose schedule. It works really well for me because it’s flexible, but also ensures that I’m able to eat well and give my body what it needs. 🙂
I think IE works best when we are able to be comfortable with who we are and love ourselves just as we are. And I think that’s great that you’ve made it work for you and your goals!
[…] you missed it, be sure to check out my final review of Jamie’s IE Challenge, as well as my guest post on A Dash of […]
I definitely think you have come a long way. And so happy hearing your perception of if a binge happens its not a failure but simply part of the process of recovery. big hugs!
[…] I mentioned in my review of the Intuitive Eating Challenge last week, I’d yet to have my final phone call with Jamie. As I picked up the phone, I was […]
The term “intuitive eating” is hardly new, nor can it be seen as a fad. Intuitive eating was coined, I believe, by Evelyn Tribole, a dietitian who has been around since before you were born. She has a book called Intuitive Eating, check it out..
I love intuitive eating and don’t consider it a fad at all. It’s completely natural. It’s the way ‘naturally’ thin people eat, and the way most children eat. It’s the way I ate back in my thin days. 😉
[…] Live Intuitively. As I learned through Jamie’s Intuitive Eating program, it’s important to not only eat intuitively, but live intuitively. Listen to your body, as well […]
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