Intuitive Eating for Weight Loss May Not Work but Could Even Lead to Weight Gain. A Psychosomatic Perspective

You may have heard about intuitive eating as a revolutionary approach to developing a healthier relationship with food and achieving weight loss. Proponents of intuitive eating claim that by listening to your body's natural cues and eating without strict rules, you can shed those extra pounds effortlessly. However, a psychosomatic perspective reveals a deeper truth — intuitive eating may not always be the magic solution for weight loss; in fact, it could even lead to weight gain.

Before we figure out why intuitive eating may not help you lose weight, let's briefly understand what psychosomatics has to do with it.

The Link Between Psychosomatics and Weight Gain

Psychosomatics suggests that the root cause of excess weight and obesity lies in our psychological realm. Internal conflicts or traumas can evoke emotions, disturb individuals, and generate internal stress. In response, our bodies seek relief from these negative feelings, often resorting to comforting delicious food, leading to fat accumulation as a defensive response. This sheds light on the difficulty of weight management and regaining lost weight, as unresolved internal conflicts persist.

What are internal conflicts?

Internal conflicts refer to the psychological struggles that occur within an individual's mind. These conflicts arise when there are opposing desires, beliefs, or emotions within a person. For example, a person may experience conflict between wanting to achieve a particular goal and feeling afraid of failure, or they may have conflicting beliefs about what is right or wrong in a given situation. And also, bad family relationships, an unfriendly work environment, the loss of a loved one, or breaking up, self-devaluation like "I'm not enough", "I'm ugly", or "I'm not worthy" and so on — anything can become an emotional trigger and cause internal conflicts.

Internal conflicts can create turmoil and tension within a person, leading to feelings of confusion, indecision, and emotional distress. Resolving these conflicts often requires introspection, self-awareness, and seeking professional help or support.

Understanding the Link Between Internal Conflicts and Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is a behavior where individuals use food as a way to cope with or manage their emotions and feelings, rather than eating in response to physical hunger. It involves consuming food in response to feelings of stress, sadness, anxiety, boredom, or other emotional states, as a means to find comfort or distraction from negative emotions.

So picture this: you find yourself in the midst of internal conflicts, those unresolved battles within your mind that leave you feeling distressed, anxious, or sad. Your body, ever the loyal ally, seeks protection from this discomfort, and one way it does this is through emotional eating. Your body gives you signals and intuition guides you to reach for that comforting slice of cake or a bag of chips, as if your body is defending itself against the turmoil within.

Intuitive Eating as a Double-Edged Sword

Intuitive eating emphasizes self-awareness and paying attention to your body's signals. While this can be beneficial for many aspects of well-being, it can become a double-edged sword when it comes to weight loss in the face of internal conflicts. Your body's intuitive response may lead you to eat in abundance, seeking emotional relief and pleasure from food as a form of self-defense.

Moreover, the food choices during emotional eating are driven by a desire for comfort or pleasure, leading to the consumption of high-calorie, sugary, or fatty foods.

The Vicious Cycle of Emotional Eating

As you indulge in emotional eating without addressing the root cause of your internal conflicts, a vicious cycle is formed. The temporary comfort and emotional release obtained from food reinforce the behavior, leading to overeating and potential weight gain.

While occasional emotional eating is normal, frequent and excessive emotional eating can lead not only to weight gain, but to difficulties in managing emotions, and potential negative effects on overall physical and mental health.

The unresolved conflicts remain untouched, and the emotional discomfort persists, pushing you back to food for solace again and again, and this becomes a pattern of your behavior.

Breaking the Cycle: Resolving Internal Conflicts

To truly break free from this cycle, resolving internal conflicts becomes imperative. Turning to food as a defense mechanism can only offer temporary relief, but the root issues will continue to gnaw at your emotional well-being. Seeking the support of a mental health professional, such as a therapist or counselor, is a crucial step toward addressing these conflicts and developing healthier coping mechanisms.

Real-Life Example of Losing Weight by Resolving Internal Conflicts

My mother has struggled with being overweight her entire life. She went through numerous weight loss attempts, but the pounds always found their way back. However, about a year ago, I decided to have some heart-to-heart conversations with her, delving deeper into her life. Though I'm not a professional psychologist, I've always been intrigued by psychology and psychosomatics.

During our talks, we unraveled a plethora of internal conflicts she didn't even realize existed, issues that had been haunting her for many years. Some of them were related to self-esteem and body image, resentment, and guilt towards her parents. For years, she turned to food as a shield against issues bothering her mind. While she knew what was bothering her, she never thought these conflicts could be resolved.

With each conversation, she experienced a gradual sense of relief. Over the course of less than a year, she astonishingly shed 13 kg (28 pounds) without resorting to any dieting methods. According to her, the intense craving for tasty treats gradually waned, although she undeniably adores delicious food. Nowadays, she might skip a meal entirely, not eating anything until noon, simply because she doesn't feel like eating. In the past, such an idea would have been unimaginable for her.

Even today, with many of her psychological issues resolved, I can still sense a few lingering unresolved conflicts. However, she now endeavors to eat intuitively, only when she genuinely feels hungry. This shift in her approach to eating has made a remarkable difference in her weight and overall well-being.

My mother's case is another proof that psychosomatics and therapy work, and that all our health issues originate in our minds.

Conclusion: Intuitive Eating for Weight Loss Is Not Good

Based on the above, we can conclude that an individual struggling to lose weight or get rid of excess fat, despite significant efforts, likely has unresolved internal conflicts. Intuitive eating may not be beneficial in this case and could even be harmful since in such a restless state of mind intuition guides the individual to get rid of unpleasant emotions and seek comfort not just in delicious food but in large quantities of food, resulting in the accumulation of excess fat.

How to Manage or Lose Weight Correctly and Effectively?

The first and most crucial step is to initiate therapy with a psychologist to address all the issues that trouble you. Successful therapy will lead to heightened awareness of the triggers behind your emotional eating behavior, bringing relief with each session as conflicts are resolved. Moreover, your perspective on life and various matters will undergo transformation.

In addition to therapy, modifying your diet is essential. I propose My Simple Diet for Natural Weight Loss.

Furthermore, for more effective fat loss, you can incorporate My Simple Yet Efficient Full-Body Workout routine.

As therapy takes effect, the combination of diet and exercise will accelerate the weight loss process, granting you peace and the ability to relish life to the fullest.

Remember, seeking professional support to resolve internal conflicts is just as crucial as intuitive eating in this journey of self-discovery and emotional well-being. Once your internal conflicts have been resolved, and you attain your desired body weight, you can venture into the realm of intuitive eating.

Intuitive eating might not be the magic cure for weight loss, but trusting yourself and your body, can lead to a further profound transformation in how you relate to yourself and find harmony in your mind, body, and soul.