Intuitive Eating: Can You Really Lose Weight Without Counting Calories?

Free yourself from diets, not counting calories in every bite, and at the same time feeling better about your body — sounds too good to be true? But that's exactly what intuitive eating promises. Instead of strict control, there's care, instead of prohibitions, there's attentiveness to your own needs.

Together with nutritionist Tetyana Lakusta, we'll figure out how intuitive eating works, who it's suitable for, and why it doesn't always lead to weight loss — but that's not the main thing.

What is intuitive eating?

Intuitive eating is an approach in which a person learns to trust their body's signals: to eat when they feel hungry, to stop when they feel full, and to distinguish between emotional and physiological eating — that is, eating in response to emotions and eating in response to physical hunger, the nutritionist explains:

— This is gradual work with eating behavior that takes into account a person's emotions, habits, and physiological needs.

Intuitive eating is based on 10 principles developed by nutritionists Evelyn Tribol and Alice Resch. It is based on the rejection of strict dietary control, respect for hunger, pleasure from food, and body awareness, that is, attentiveness to the signals and sensations of the body.

Is it really possible to lose weight without counting calories and forbidding yourself from "harmful" foods?

According to Tatyana Lakusta, losing weight on intuitive eating is possible, but it is not necessarily successful, because it is not the main goal of this approach. Intuitive eating does not involve deliberate weight control, since the main thing is not losing weight, but restoring a healthy relationship with food and the body.

When a person stops living in a regime of prohibitions, strict control and food anxiety, over time sensitivity to hunger and satiety signals is restored. A person begins to distinguish between emotional eating and stops it, the frequency of overeating decreases. As a result, weight can stabilize at a biologically inherent level – that is, the weight that the body maintains without excessive dietary restrictions and exhausting training.

Research also shows that intuitive eating provides better long-term weight loss results than extreme calorie restriction diets. It helps reduce compulsive overeating, improves body image, and helps normalize metabolism.

This is the main goal of intuitive eating – not weight loss at any cost, but maintaining physical and psychological well-being.

How to understand when a person eats because of emotions and when because they are truly hungry

The nutritionist emphasized that physiological and emotional hunger have clear differences that help distinguish them.

— Physiological hunger occurs gradually. After eating, several hours pass, and then a gradual desire to eat appears. Each person recognizes it by characteristic sensations in the body and changes in behavior. For example:

• a feeling of emptiness in the stomach appears,
• "sucks under a spoon",
• rumbling in the intestines,
• an unpleasant taste appears in the mouth,
• concentration of attention decreases,
• more thoughts about food arise.

At the same time, a person usually does not care what to eat – they are ready to eat any food that is at hand. This is a sign of physiological hunger.

Emotional hunger , on the other hand, comes on suddenly. It is often a reaction to some other unmet need—psychological or emotional. A person may be upset, tired, bored, stressed, or sleep deprived, and out of discomfort, they begin to crave a specific food—usually the one they love the most.

Unlike physiological hunger, emotional hunger is often associated with cravings for certain "comfort" foods – for example, sweets, fast food, pastries, etc. Some people feel guilty or ashamed after eating such a meal. However, many do not. And this is important: emotional hunger in itself is not a pathology – it periodically occurs in everyone and is a normal reaction.

It is advisable to determine the difference between "normal" and "abnormal" emotional eating based on additional criteria – for example, the frequency of episodes, the amount of food eaten, and how much it affects a person's quality of life.

What to eat on an intuitive diet when you want to lose weight and what to eat when you want to gain weight

— Intuitive eating is not about changing your weight. The founders of this approach, Evelyn Tribol and Alice Resch, do not set a goal for people to lose or gain weight by switching to intuitive eating. It is not a method of weight control, but a way to establish a relationship with food, the body, and hunger.

If a person already lives by the principles of intuitive eating — or, even better, has never lost this ability since childhood (which, unfortunately, is often disrupted by the influence of diet culture) — then the main focus is on:

• mindful food consumption,
• feeling full during and after meals,
• minimizing "automatic" or emotional overeating.

It is important to learn to choose more satisfying, but not necessarily high-calorie foods – rich in fiber (vegetables, whole grains) and protein (meat, legumes, dairy products), but at the same time not to exclude your favorite foods . Prohibitions often provoke breakdowns, and therefore food anxiety is something that should be eliminated first, – explained Tetyana Lakusta.

If the goal is to gain weight (for example, if you are underweight):

• Listen to hunger signals and don't drown them out with water, coffee, distractions, or work.
• People with a tendency to be underweight can easily tolerate hunger, but that doesn't mean you should ignore it.
• It's important to focus on finishing your meals and eating more frequently. If you were previously eating three times a day, you can gradually move to eating five times a day.
• Choose high-calorie and nutritious foods, such as nuts and seeds, avocado, hummus, pasta with creamy sauces, and full-fat dairy products.

Don't be afraid of fatty or carbohydrate foods – they can be beneficial for healthy weight gain and weight stabilization.

Are there any foods that are best avoided even with an intuitive approach?

There are no forbidden foods in intuitive eating. The key idea is not to exclude food, but to make conscious choices based on your own well-being and physiological signals, the expert notes:

— The goal is not to completely eliminate a "harmful" product or an entire group of products, but to understand how different foods affect your body, emotions, mood, and overall well-being.

After each meal, it is important to ask yourself the following questions:

• How do I feel physically?
• Am I comfortable?
• What emotions do I have after eating? It's all part of the body awareness that underlies intuitive eating.

At the same time, it is important not to forget about the nutritional base:

• It is advisable to make foods that have high nutritional value — vegetables, fruits, whole grains, proteins, and healthy fats — the basis of your daily diet.
• And in addition to this – in moderate quantities – add processed foods that bring joy and satisfaction.

For example, a typical meal might look like this: a plate of buckwheat with fish and salad, followed by a cake for tea.

But if the basis of the diet consists exclusively of pastries and sweet tea, it's no longer about intuition, but about nutritional disorientation.

Who is not suitable for intuitive eating?

Intuitive eating is not suitable for everyone and not always.

— For example, professional athletes are forced to follow a strict diet when preparing for competitions. In such conditions, it is impossible to eat completely according to internal feelings, since nutrition performs a strategic function – it provides the energy, endurance, and shape necessary to achieve sports results.

The situation is similar for people with chronic diseases that require strict dietary control. These may include, in particular, people with type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, phenylketonuria, or other conditions where food directly affects well-being or vital signs. In such cases, nutrition is determined not by intuition, but by clear medical recommendations, so it is not necessary to talk about the full application of the principles of intuitive eating.

Intuitive eating is also not recommended during the active phase of an eating disorder. For example, if a person is in the process of untreated or newly started therapy for anorexia, bulimia, or compulsive overeating.

First, it is important to undergo structured work with a specialist, stabilize the psycho-emotional state, reduce the intensity of destructive behavior, get out of the exacerbation phase or reach remission. And then — or immediately before that — you can begin to get acquainted with the basics of an intuitive approach to nutrition.

Such a gradual transition reduces the risk of relapse and makes eating habits more stable and supportive in the long term, says Tetyana Lakusta.

Where to start if you want to switch to intuitive eating, but are afraid of losing control

Fear of losing control is an expected and completely normal reaction, especially if a person previously lived in a clear nutritional system: followed a diet, had clear boundaries and rules, says the nutritionist:

— On the one hand, such restrictions provide a sense of stability and control. On the other hand, over time, they become boring, exhausting, and difficult to maintain for a long time.

Switching to intuitive eating is not about losing control. It is about moving from external control to internal contact with your own physiology, with your body’s sensations, and your hunger and satiety signals.

I recommend reading the book "Intuitive Eating" by Evelyn Tribol and Alice Resch. It is a thorough work consisting of 10 chapters, each of which is a separate principle of intuitive eating. It will help you put everything "on the shelves" and better understand what I will tell you next.

It often happens that a person understands the advice, agrees with the logic, but cannot implement it due to food anxiety. In this case, a book can be a support. And if it doesn't help, it is better to turn to a specialist who will help to work through food prejudices, fears and barriers.

Here's where to start if you're transitioning to intuitive eating:

Establish a regular eating schedule. If you have been eating less than 3 times a day, start with a basic rhythm.

Stop dividing food into "good" and "bad." There are no forbidden foods. There is only the body's question: "What do I want now?" and "Why do I want this?"

Start tracking your hunger and satiety signals. Learn to distinguish between:

• physiological hunger (mild stomach discomfort, thoughts of food, loss of concentration),
• emotional hunger (sudden desire to eat "something tasty" without physical reasons),
• moment of satiety (feeling satisfied, but not overeating)

Allow yourself to eat with pleasure. Eating is not a "breakdown", but a return to taste, joy, and hedonistic pleasure.

Don't rush. Transitioning from one nutrition system to the opposite is always a process. There may be "kickbacks", doubts, hesitations – this is normal. The psyche adapts. You adapt. And over time, real, profound changes will come.