my plan to get back on track

I like what you have to say, in fact I bought a book (that so far I haven't read!) called Intuitive Eating. here is the author's blog, I think they might have forums somewhere, too.

intuitive-eating.blogspot.com/

 I never tracked and it seemed to work.
 
like everybody says, it's what works for you. and we don't have to do all one thing or another, we can pick and choose what we need to do and change with the seasons if that makes sense for us. 

I am thinking one of the reasons I am doing so well not skipping my exercise is because it's Spring and I'm getting more daylight. might need to tweak things for the dead of winter, or at least be aware it will be harder.

you are the first to say this to me . so if you never tracked how were able to manage to lose the weight ..
i'd like to know your experience
thank you :) for the blog's link .i'll definetely benefit from it

it's a long story but, in brief!

got fat by yo-yo dieting and always putting on more than I had taken off then sometime in my 20s I decided to stop dieting as it didn't work. I also started reading Geneen Roth books and realized I had binge eating disorder. I worked on the stuff (eat when hungry, stop when full!) and felt like it didn't work because I didn't lose weight. but now I feel like a lot of that stuff sank in and actually helped.

I tell you this  because when I had WLS in my late 40s my metabolism remained good, unlike being broke as so many people's are. I know some of this might be luck but I believe some is that while I overate and binged, I not only didn't purge I didn't follow binging by going on a diet. so for a couple decades I gained weight but slowly.

post op my restriction was very very much tighter than most (because I'm short? had a lot of swelling?) so to get in enough protein I was mostly doing syntrax nectars with water and tiny amounts of food.

I started tracking but was only able to get in about 400 calories for the first few months so I just stopped doing it. over time I was able to eat more and more and I also binged and maybe stretched my sleeve, I don't know. however, I have not had much of a problem with gain and now that I exercise regularly and am dealing with the binge eating I feel I can eat sort of normal, with some tweaking.

in general most people track but I've met a few who don't just like most people eat low carb but, same thing, some don't - by this I mean some of us can eat fruit & complex carbs.

guess I could have been more brief - ask if you want to know more. I love talking about myself!

i am readiing gennen roth too as well and it's from where i got this idea as i am seeking to break free from emotional eating .. but the thing is i hate dieting and i am not to be trusted with myself  anymore..
there is no point of denying that inorder to lose weight you have to follow certain rules .. there is no way out of it..and it's a higher level when you can recognize what your body only wants to eat from healthy food and not from junkie food.most people who have reached to our level would find that very confusing because we are simply food addict ..

i know some people like you who have had good restriciton and were able to lose the  weight the first year
 my problem is i am two years out and i am already feelling like i am facing the yo yo dieting again..

i just cannot eat most my food protien .. i do not like to eat so much protein and i do not want to diet because this is just a waste of time for me.. and i am really confused and worried that by following what my mind tells me to do is that i will end up failing and wasting more time .. and the end result will be frustration..

so i am back again to ground zero i guess and i really hate it .. i keep telling myself i just want this scale to move downwards instead of upwards and i want this now because i need to feel better.

:) well i ended up talking about myself instead of asking you more questions
but thank you so much for listenning

hey, it helps me too!  the more I read others with similar experiences the more I think about this stuff, the better.

I hope you can learn to trust yourself. I do know for sure that all this tension and stress is not good for you.

can you just maintain for awhile?  work on other things to take care of yourself and relax instead of trying to lose weight right now?

instead of

i want this now because i need to feel better

you need to feel better first, IMO.

as far as what you are eating, what do you mean about the protein? you don't like it or can't get as much in or what?

i do not like eating alot of protein and it's a bit of an effort sometimes getting in enough ...
but it's me to blame because i always take the easy way out and eat what is easy on my tummy
i guess my mind up til now is not adjusted to the small portions so i go for sliding food to feel more satisfied..
i am a self destructive machine :( doing everything the wrong way

what kind of protein do you eat? I still have a Syntrax Nectar every day, sometimes twice. 23 g of protein and it tastes good!

actually i only try to eat protein from food i am not so in to protein powder i just do not like the taste but i will look in to it .. i was actually thinking to find a chocolate protein powder to have something tasty yet full of protein .
it's going to take some effort to reach to the protein goal and i will have to use all options

well, if you are struggling to get in enough protein you can experiments. I hated most protein drinks except for Syntrax Nectars (some of the fruit flavors, not the tea)  and Whey Gourmet.

MacMadame is right: I think Intuitive Eating is pretty advance and you may need to start with rules, first. see what works for you.

sound like you really need to find more sources of protein that you like.

Intuitive eating is fine if:

(1) your body doesn't lie to you
(2) you don't lie to yourself

For me, I tried it and I'm just not ready for it yet. That doesn't mean I won't someday be ready but that day isn't today.

When I read your initial post, I saw a lot of red flags where I think you are trying to excuse behavior that you know isn't optimal and that's exactly when intuitive eating doesn't work. So I am concerned for you.

FOR ME, wanting to eat intuitively is actually completely an excuse to not do what I know I need to do. The problem is IT SOUNDS SO GOOD AND HEALTHY. So you sound like you are doing the right thing but you aren't. (You being a generic you, not anyone in particular.)

I see this in addicts all the time, btw. They talk themselves into doing things that they *know* will lead to a relapse but they make it sounds so logical.

So what I am doing is what worked for me from day one --- pick ONE thing at a time to work on. Just one. Right now, I'm working on not eating to the numbers while still tracking. I do this by keeping my food log in one place and my calories burned in another and then I only transfer calories in to the calories out log a few times a week. If I can do that for a while and learn when my body signals are being interpreted correctly and when they aren't, I might try not logging the food at all again.

But I think it's going to take a while because *right now* not logging is when I start eating more and stuff I really shouldn't and not enough of what I should. Always.

It sucks, but it's the way it is for me right now.