How long does it take to become an intuitive eater?

I wish I could tell you, but it really depends on a lot of things. Our society is geared up for quick fixes, fast results, easy solutions. Unfortunately, becoming an intuitive eater is none of those. Intuitive Eating can be life changing, but often requires changing life-long habits and beliefs, which can be challenging to navigate and takes time and perseverance.

There is also no particular ‘end point’ to it, where you can say: Now I have reached my goal!

It is an ongoing way of living and learning, confronting and exploring. There are, of course, factors that can influence how long it will take you to get to a place where you feel comfortable with your body and the food you eat.

Let’s have a look at them:

Your history with dieting

Long-term chronic dieting, yo-yo dieting and obsession with counting calories and macros, or restricting foods will take their toll on your ability to perceive internal cues. That means your hunger signals might be on mute, you eat for emotional reasons more than you don’t, you don’t really know when to stop or you don’t even know what foods you like anymore.

It will take some time to reawaken those signals, to explore what hunger feels like for you and to find out which foods bring you joy and taste great for you. It also means unpacking some of the emotional reasons you turn to food for; looking at what you are really hungry for.

Eating disorders

If you have suffered with an eating disorder, you may find that your beliefs around food and your body are very distorted and negative, and that your anxiety around food is high. To address this you will need to explore your belief system and its origins. This can be challenging as it will often require a lot of unpacking in terms of emotions, and is best done with a professional. This work goes deep, but intuitive eating is a wonderful way to heal and recover from an eating disorder. There really is no way of knowing how long that road is going to be because everyone is so different.

Commitment

It’s quite simple: the more you commit to making changes and working on incorporating the principles of intuitive eating into your life, the sooner you will feel like you are making big strides to food freedom! But that is often easier said than done. I always encourage my clients to go at their own pace: as long as you commit to the process and are happy to spend time really exploring the aspects most relevant to you, you will move in the right direction.

Willingness to change and openness to new ideas

As with everything, you need to be willing and ready to change. If you aren’t quite there yet, you may half-heartedly start reading about intuitive eating and that way likely making it into another set of rules or the ‘hunger and fullness diet’. As intuitive eating and the aligned concepts of weight-inclusivity and Health at Every Size ® are very different from most diet- and nutrition-related concepts, embarking on this journey also requires being open to new and potentially challenging ideas. You will also need to be willing to let go of old beliefs and thoughts because they will no longer serve you and make you feel stuck. I came across this analogy recently: Learning to be an intuitive eater can be like learning to navigate monkey bars on the playground – you firmly hold on to one bar, but to get to the next and move across it you need to take a leap of faith and let go of the bars behind you.

Progress is not linear

Whatever place you start from, you will need to understand that progress in intuitive eating is rarely linear. There will be ups and downs, good and bad body image days, days when you feel you ‘cracked’ it, and days when diet mentality rears its ugly head and makes things difficult. Going back to the monkey bar analogy from the previous point: you may move forward on the bars, but then slip and fall down. But next time you start you will find it a lot easier to swing across the first few bars and have gained more confidence in tackling the rest!

Support and community are key

You can try to do this on your own, but it will be so much better if you explore intuitive eating and weight-inclusivity as part of a group. There is an ever-growing community of like-minded people out there who are happy to welcome you into their midsts. Knowing others that are also fighting back against the oppressive nature of diet culture and learning how to become intuitive eaters, as well as having a supportive network among your nearest and dearest can be super helpful to keep you going. And of course, working with a trained professional might make your journey a lot smoother and give you the tools to navigate through the ups and downs.

So, going back to the question of how long it takes to become an intuitive eater: it depends! If you see it as a journey rather than a destination, and aim for getting to a place where you feel comfortable with your body and the food you eat, you are likely to be happy to continue learning and growing within your new-found freedom.

If you are ready to make a change and find food and body freedom book a free discovery call!