Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 2175 of 3212

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Hi everyone!

I usually am a lurker, but have decided to come out of lurk-dome to 
ask a question that has been bothering me for some time about hunger 
and fullness approaches to eating. BTW, I have had success using the 
No-S plan, and am convinced it is the most sane approach to eating 
out there!

There are some plans that advocate no calorie counting, portion 
control, etc., but instead say to rely solely on your own hunger and 
fullness signals to gauge how much you should eat. It sounds 
logical. Most of these plans state that we are born with the innate 
ability to know when and how much we should eat (usually using the 
newborn's demand feeding schedule as an example of this approach). 
It does sound more doable than most diets, especially the ones that 
require you to keep a journal of each and every thing you put in your 
mouth.

So why do they work for me at first, then seem to stop working? In 
the past, I would excitedly embrace these plans due to the "freedom" 

aspect they offered--"Forget counting calories, fat, carbs, proteins--
listen to your body! It knows best!" And for a while, they worked. 

But then, I would find that I would start to gain weight when 
the "hunger" would come more often and the "fullness" took longer 
to 
attain. Once again, something that in theory sounded so simple was 
no longer simple after all.

Any of you out there have similar experiences with hunger/fullness 
diets? What are your opinions/insights about them? I would also 
like to hear Reinhardt's take on why these approaches don't always 
work for people.

Thanks in advance! : )