Behind intuitive eating there is much more than just a new approach to losing weight. In fact, it’s not necessarily about weight loss at all, but rather about finally feeling comfortable in your own body.

Intuitive Eating – the principles at a glance

Intuitive eating is the opposite of dieting, the solution to many problems, and at the same time the most natural way of eating. If you want to understand what lies behind it and how you can practice intuitive eating, then take a look at the following principles.

Principle 1: Identify all your diet beliefs and throw them overboard

The media is full of them and basically we all know them: recommendations and “good advice” from the diet industry on how to lose weight. Some of my favorites include: “Carbs make you fat”; “No carbs in the evening”; “Low-fat: fat-reduced foods make you slim”; “Three meals a day are optimal”; “Five meals a day are ideal”… I could go on forever. Have you ever asked yourself what you actually believe when it comes to food?

>> Tip: Take a sheet of paper and write down all your beliefs and convictions. In your everyday life, try to actively identify the behaviors connected to them and gradually let them go, because carbs don’t make you fat; only you yourself know how many meals are right for you; and fat doesn’t make you fat either. Convince yourself.

Principle 2: There are no “bad” foods – unless they’re spoiled

Closely connected to these beliefs is the so-called red list. It is often an imaginary list of foods that are actively avoided because they are considered bad, fattening, or unhealthy. This usually includes sweets of all kinds, sugary products, fatty snacks, and convenience foods. But none of these foods are actually as terrible as we often assume.

>> Tip: Dismantle your list in order to make peace with food. What’s on your red list? Choose one “forbidden” food and consciously integrate it into your meal plan. This could be a piece of chocolate after a meal or an ice cream in the afternoon.

Principle 3: Honor your hunger and eat what your body is craving

Being hungry is not something bad or dangerous. On the contrary, it is the most natural thing in the world. Notice your hunger instead of ignoring it, and satisfy it instead of postponing it. Ask yourself what you really feel like eating and allow yourself to have it. You will see: your body will thank you, and your cravings will reduce significantly.

>> Tip: Eat at the first signs of hunger, for example when thoughts about the next meal start to increase, and not only when your mind shuts down and your stomach is growling so loudly it feels like it’s hanging behind your knees. Because by then, it is often already too late.

Principle 4: Pleasant fullness instead of overeating – eat until you feel good in your body

Do you know the feeling of being pleasantly full? That moment when you feel content in your body because you know your last meal was complete? That is exactly what this is about. You should and are allowed to feel good, after every meal.

>> Tip: While eating, take short pauses to take one or two conscious breaths into your belly. If possible, close your eyes and at the end of your exhale feel into the area of your stomach, directly behind your belly button. Do you notice a slight pulling sensation or a feeling of fullness? If yes, stop eating for the moment until you feel hungry again. If not, continue eating and repeat the same exercise after a few bites until you feel pleasantly satisfied.

Principle 5: Intuitive movement – move, but the right way

Do you force yourself to exercise in order to burn calories, or do you move because it brings you joy? I often experience that many people move excessively and overdo it, with the result of gaining weight or experiencing more binge-eating episodes.

And no, it’s not always muscle that makes people heavier. Exercise that creates additional stress can lead to an increased cortisol level, the stress hormone, which can cause the body to become stubborn and store additional weight.

Choose a form of movement that you genuinely enjoy, from start to finish. It should challenge you, but enjoyment should not be lost. Don’t move to lose weight, move to feel good, and intentionally include breaks so that your body can recover.

Intuitive Eating and weight gain – my experience

The topic of weight gain also comes up again and again with clients in my coachings or workshops who supposedly eat intuitively. Naturally, this is frustrating, because they assumed they were giving their body exactly what it needs. The conclusion is often: “Intuitive eating doesn’t work.”

A few years ago, I myself was close to condemning the highly praised concept of intuitive eating. After months of intuitive eating, the number on the scale clearly increased, and that even though I was overweight at the time.

At the beginning of my transition away from constant dieting toward intuitive eating, I had expected more. After all, promises like “10 kg weight loss in just a few weeks” were supposed to be the norm. But looking back, I now see plausible reasons why intuitive eating initially backfired for me.

I believed I was eating intuitively. In reality, I was eating uncontrollably and for the wrong reasons

When I switched to intuitive eating, I was just beginning to explore the concept of emotional hunger. I had understood that I used food to numb unpleasant feelings such as boredom, anger, or loneliness. However, I lacked the necessary know-how to distinguish between the different types of hunger. The tricky thing about emotional hunger is that it feels just as real as physical hunger.

At any sign of hunger, whether physical or emotional, I did the following: I ate as soon as I felt hunger, whatever I felt like eating, and as much as I wanted.

The problem is that emotional eating does not lead to satiety, and people often only stop eating when their stomach is already painfully full. And that was exactly my mistake. I believed I was implementing intuitive eating one-to-one, but I regularly reached for food for the wrong reasons and in excessive amounts, which ultimately led to my weight gain.

Before you dive headfirst into intuitive eating, first familiarize yourself with the topic of emotional hunger and learn techniques that help you distinguish between the two different forms of hunger.

I ignored the principle of well-being

Eating intuitively means reaching a state of inner well-being through the intake of food and drinks. And this was exactly the point I kept ignoring, because I definitely did not feel good after every meal. Feelings of fullness, tiredness, and general discomfort were still part of my daily life.

You have to understand that, from your body’s perspective, food has only one function: to supply your body with energy so that your organism can function optimally. And it does so best in a state of general well-being.

As soon as you take in more than you actually need, the situation tips, and you become lethargic, because a large part of your energy is now used to digest excessive amounts of food. Typical signs of this are tiredness, lack of drive, or a feeling of heaviness.

Therefore, always pay attention to your inner well-being. It serves as your compass to make intuitive decisions in alignment with your body.

Don’t let yourself go! Intuitive eating is not a free pass for excessive eating

Let’s be honest: if I eat two bars of chocolate every day for dessert, then I eat two bars of chocolate every day for dessert. And the fact that I can gain weight from that is not surprising. Whether I approach this “intuitively” or not doesn’t change that.

Of course, there can always be exceptions, for example cravings in the days before your period, but normally such excess is rather unusual in the long term. The only real exception is the so-called transition phase. Especially at the beginning of the change in eating behavior, your body may reclaim what has long been forbidden.

And that is completely okay, because it needs time to adapt to the new “rules of the game.” What matters, however, is not missing the moment when such excess turns into a mindless habit, because then it no longer has much to do with physical hunger.

The body reclaims forbidden food – but not endlessly

Be aware that your body will not reclaim everything that was once forbidden for the rest of your life. As a rule, it learns quite quickly that it will now receive everything it wants when it is actually hungry.

I often see that, especially at the beginning, many intuitive-eating beginners “let themselves go” and consume everything that crosses their path, because: now you’re allowed to.

Try to avoid this mistake by critically observing your eating behavior and exploring the reasons behind certain recurring cravings. Refer back to the aspect of well-being mentioned above and repeatedly question whether you truly need that much chocolate or similar foods.

Intuitive Eating ≠ diet: It’s not about losing weight

If you started this path with the intention of losing weight, let me tell you one thing clearly: intuitive eating is not a diet.

As soon as we define a way of eating as a diet, a subconscious expectation arises. We expect this new concept to move us closer to certain goals. But with a mindset that still chases weight loss, it becomes difficult to truly follow the body’s real needs. This quickly leads to categorizing foods and excluding certain foods, which can then result in overeating or compensating.

If you gained weight through intuitive eating, especially reflect on this aspect. Let go of sneaky combinations like “calorie counting and intuitive eating” or “clean intuitive eating.” Do it fully or not at all, because half-intuitive simply does not work.

Conclusion

Although I personally experienced several detours, highs, and lows on my path with intuitive eating, I am deeply convinced that this most natural form of eating is the only true way.

If you truly engage with the fundamental principles described above, you will see that this concept can only work. And if it doesn’t, it is often because it has not (yet) been implemented correctly.

So: stay with it. It’s worth it.

Frequently asked questions about Intuitive Eating

Question 1: I’m afraid I’ll gain endless weight if I start eating what I really feel like. Is this fear justified?

The biggest hurdle is letting go at first, so your body can get used to being nourished. Whether the fear of weight gain is justified can be answered with both yes and no.

Yes, your fear is justified: I personally gained weight at the beginning of my transition to intuitive eating. But was intuitive eating itself the reason I gained weight? Certainly not. Rather, I was in a transition phase, so to speak “out of the eating disorder and into intuitive eating.” At that time, I was still reaching for food for many different reasons and by no means only to satisfy my physical hunger.

Most people go through a phase of testing and experimenting. A transition period in which, step by step, you relearn what it means to eat according to the physical needs of your body. And this means, more precisely:

No, your fear is not justified: As soon as you have learned to nourish your body appropriately, you will see that weight gain is no longer possible. You take in the amounts of nutrients your body needs in order to function optimally. Anything beyond that is simply not intuitive.

In short: weight gain can occur, especially at the beginning of the change in eating behavior (but it doesn’t have to). However, once the rebound cravings subside — meaning the phase in which you eat everything that was previously forbidden — you will see that a truly intuitive relationship with food is far removed from causing extra weight.

Disclaimer: This article refers to unwanted weight gain in cases of normal weight or overweight. If you are underweight due to an eating disorder, then weight gain is to be expected as a positive side effect of intuitive eating.

Question 2: I often don’t know what I intuitively feel like eating. What can I do?

Ideally, our body communicates quite clearly through “craving something” which nutrients it is lacking. However, after years of restriction and limitation in food intake, it is very possible that you have completely forgotten how to listen to your body’s voice.

If you find it difficult to figure out what your body truly wants, try to approach an answer step by step.

>> In this article, you can read more about the difference between hunger and appetite

As mental support, imagine the characteristics of different foods and decide by the process of elimination which foods are possible and which are not. The following characteristics will help you:

• Temperature: Should your next meal be a warm dish or rather a cold one?
• Texture: What should the consistency of your food be like? Soup-like, or would you rather have something to chew?
• Taste: Savory, sweet, sour, bitter, salty, etc.? What do you primarily feel like eating? Maybe it’s a combination.
• Color: It may sound strange, but color can also influence whether we want to eat a certain food or not. This is not without reason, because the color of a food often provides information about its ingredients.
• Smell: The smell of a meal also plays a role. Does your mouth water, or do you wrinkle your nose at the thought of a certain food?

Question 3: I find it incredibly difficult to listen to my body’s signals. How can I learn to perceive and interpret hunger and fullness again?

First of all: be patient with yourself. After ignoring your body’s signals for a long time, you cannot expect them to become accessible again overnight. It often takes quite a while for clarity around hunger and fullness to develop.

Hunger and fullness represent two extremes of a spectrum between which you move back and forth throughout the day. Here are tips to help you consciously perceive hunger and fullness:

Hunger: Many people often mention stomach growling, headaches, dizziness, or even nausea as the first noticeable signs of hunger. The fact is: with such pronounced signals, your body is already severely depleted, which ideally should never be the case. Don’t wait until your stomach is metaphorically hanging behind your knees. Instead, pay attention to more subtle signs of hunger, such as the first thoughts about your next meal.

Satiety: Satiety is also often misinterpreted. A feeling of fullness that almost forces you to loosen your waistband is simply too much. Get into the habit of taking small pauses while eating in order to feel into your belly. Does a slight pressure sensation appear under your belly button at the end of a conscious exhale? As soon as you notice this sensation, you can assume that satiety has begun. (Works with balanced meals, not with large amounts of liquid or with huge quantities of raw vegetables.) Try it.

Question 4: I find it difficult to combine intuitive eating with the mealtimes of other family members. I often get hungry much earlier but still want to eat together with them. Do you have a tip?

Eating intuitively does not mean that you must necessarily eat a large meal at the first signs of hunger. Since hunger and fullness, as mentioned above, form a spectrum, food intake can be adjusted perfectly to whether you want to eat again later in the day or not. In practice, it looks something like this:

For example, if you notice strong hunger in the afternoon but still want to take part in a shared dinner a few hours later, you can use this moment for a snack. Choose a small food that bridges your hunger until the next meal without making you overly full. In this way, the third principle of intuitive eating – “honoring hunger” – can be ideally combined with the mealtimes of others.

Question 5: I always finish my plate because I don’t want to waste food. At the same time, I often eat beyond my point of fullness. What would you advise?

Of course: most people are concerned about not wasting food unnecessarily. After all, people are starving in other parts of the world. The reasons seem understandable, but the conclusion that we must therefore empty our plates at all costs simply makes no sense. Honestly: which child in Africa is helped if you finish your plate even though your body no longer needs the calories?

Whether you throw the leftovers away or store the excess calories in your body in the form of extra weight makes no real difference in relation to world hunger. In both cases, hunger remains. Put bluntly, you are even turning your body into a trash can.

The real solution to the problem: learn not to fill your plate so full in the first place. Instead, get a second serving if you’re still hungry. You can apply this in restaurants as well. Most restaurants offer to pack up leftovers.