No-diet diet is working.
Ever since I gave up the idea of "being on a diet" and just started listening to my own appetite to dictate how much food to eat I’ve been having a much easier time staying clean and avoiding junk. I don’t count calories and try not to pay too much attention to how much is in something. This doesn’t mean I’m just eating whatever the hell I want, I still eat clean healthy food and avoid things that would ruin a diet, but if I eat a meal and still feel hungry afterwards, I’ll find some more food and eat until I feel like I’m really done. I don’t stuff myself to satiation, but I just eat until I feel like I’ve had enough. It goes the other way too, if I’m eating and I feel like I don’t need to finish the meal, I throw the rest away or save it for later. I stick to the 5 or 6 meal a day plan, eating a meal every 2 to 3 hours. So basically I’m eating like a dieter, but I’m not on a diet, and I don’t freak out about how many calories are in something.
The results: success! I feel great, I have energy, and I feel like I’m getting back into a great relationship with food. I don’t have nearly as many cravings and at night time I don’t feel like eating very much. That’s big for me because whenever I’m thinking like I need to cut calories to trim body-fat, I get really wicked night-time sweet cravings, and they usually win (I’m only human), but now I don’t feel like that at all. And I let myself have my deserts once in a while, but now that they don’t come as often I can enjoy them more for what they are: an occasional treat.
I haven’t even mentioned the best part. The workouts are feeling much better and more energetic. I’m really outperforming myself on every workout. I’m done with cutting calories to try to drop some BF%, it doesn’t work for me. It gets inside my head and screws with my cravings and makes me want to eat ****. I’m better off with the more natural approach, I have a pretty good connection with my appetite and can listen to it when it’s telling me to eat more or less. And that works a lot better for me than any calorie schedule or macronutrient break-down. I can even feel when I need to eat more meat for protein, more carbs, or more fat. Who knew our brains and bodies were so good at controlling the intake without any food scales or measuring cups?
