Is intuitive eating a practical way to lose weight?

The term “intuitive eating” was first coined by the dieticians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. The pair developed the method to encourage people to eat based on their bodies’ responses to food. So, you stop eating when you feel full, and you prepare a meal to eat when you begin to feel hungry.¹

It’s not about calorie counting.

Improved mental health

Intuitive eating is much more than the food that you eat during the day. It relies on a shift in mindset.

The dieticians who created the concept encourage people to focus on respecting their bodies and leaving behind the mentality that leads to poor body image and self-esteem.

This means that intuitive eaters have a different relationship with food and themselves than people who engage in behaviours like emotional eating or restriction.^{2, 3}

Maintain a healthy weight

Even though intuitive eating isn’t about weight management, the people who use this approach may find it easy to maintain their weight.

Without using food as a method of weight control, they are more likely than people who overeat or restrict their diets to maintain healthy weights.

Habits like skipping meals or fasting can result in weight cycling (yo-yo dieting). This is a pattern of losing weight and regaining it. During periods of restrictive eating, your body might start to think that it is starving. So you may lose weight quickly but once you’ve reached your goal, you may also start to rapidly gain weight as your body tries to recover.

To lose weight safely, you shouldn’t make dramatic changes to the amounts of food you eat. Recognising when you feel full like intuitive eating calls for, can help you maintain the right amount of calories for your body. ^{2, 3}