How to Stop Dieting: 10 Evidence-Based Steps for Honoring Your Body Without Food Rules

Evidence-Based: 23 Sources Cited
how to stop dieting: 10 ways to listen to your body & embrace intuitive eating

Learning how to stop dieting is the path to true freedom—where you can enjoy food without guilt and feel at peace in your body. It’s not about giving up on health but about embracing a more balanced, sustainable approach that honors your body’s needs.

As we learn more about why diets don’t work due to their negative long-term effects—like a slower metabolism, cardiometabolic health risks, and diminished psychological well-being—learning how to stop dieting is becoming increasingly important.

That said, giving up dieting isn’t as simple as it might seem. Abandoning food rules without building essential skills can actually increased anxiety and undermine your ability to heal your relationship with food.

To help you get there, we’re going to unpack the reasons why diets don’t work, what “normal eating” means, and 9 evidence-based steps to help you navigate this highly personal journey.

Why Should We Stop Dieting in the First Place?

While diets may offer short-term weight loss, studies show they are ineffective in the long term.[1] Restrictive dieting triggers psychological and metabolic changes, making sustained weight loss difficult even for the most disciplined person.[2]

When caloric intake is severely restricted, metabolism slows, causing the body to store more energy and eventually regain weight. A randomized controlled trial in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that dieters who cut calories by 25% experienced increased appetite, leading to rapid weight regain—a survival response that makes dieting unsustainable.[3]

In fact, studies show that one-third to two-thirds of the weight lost on a diet is regained within a year, and almost all of it is regained within five years.[4] This cycle of weight loss and regain, often referred to as yo-yo dieting or weight cycling, can worsen metabolic health.[5]

Additionally, the psychological toll of yo-yo dieting is significant—research published in PLoS (Public Library of Science) One found that frequent weight cycling is associated with increased depressive symptoms, often driven by internalized weight stigma.[6]

The research is clear: restrictive dieting causes unwanted side effects that make it all the more important to learn how to stop dieting while honoring your body’s needs. Shifting toward a more balanced approach to eating is key, focusing on what normal eating really looks like and practical steps to get there.

What Exactly Does It Mean To ‘Eat Normally’?

Normal eating is a flexible and balanced approach to food that emphasizes nourishment, enjoyment, and responding to your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. It means eating a variety of foods without rigid restrictions, while being mindful of your health, but not obsessively so.

Unlike disordered eating patterns that can be overly fixated on controlling food choices or body weight, normal eating allows for flexibility—sometimes eating more, sometimes eating less, and sometimes choosing food for pure pleasure.

A study published in Nutrients found that individuals with “normal” eating behaviors lacked obsessive-compulsive tendencies around food, experienced minimal emotional eating, and had a healthier relationship with body image, avoiding restrictive diets and psychological distress.[7]

Another recent study published in Nursing Standard highlights that “normal” eating behaviors are generally free from preoccupation with food or weight.[8] In many ways, this is the opposite of dieting, which increases thoughts about food.[9], [10]

Therefore, for optimal health and well-being, it’s important to learn how to stop dieting in ways that reduce food preoccupation, tackle emotional eating, and improve body image. Now, let’s explore how.

How to Stop Dieting and Listen to Your Body Instead

Learning how to stop dieting involves much more than ditching food rules. There are many steps that go into this complex and highly personal process. At every turn, listen to your body and do what’s right for you and your well-being.

Here are 9 evidence-based steps for learning how to stop dieting and start healing your relationship with food:

1. Get Back In Touch With Hunger Signals

Dieting often dulls our natural ability to recognize hunger and fullness cues. Fortunately, the ability to feel your hunger again is a skill that can be sharpened with practice.

For instance, one study found that “hunger training”—which involves constantly measuring blood sugar levels and eating only when levels are low and hunger is present—helped participants gradually become more aware of their physical hunger cues.[11]

You don’t need to measure your blood sugar levels every time you want to eat, though. By simply paying attention to your hunger signals—whether or not you can feel them yet—you can train your brain to get back in touch with those signals over time. Be patient with yourself and the process.

2. Reconnect with Fullness Signals

Naturally, reconnecting to what fullness feels like is the next step. Some dieters know what fullness feels like and often yearn for it because restrictive diets make it difficult to feel full. At the same time, people who struggle with overeating (and therefore are drawn to dieting) tend to feel full often, sometimes so frequently that they can’t differentiate hunger from fullness.

Just like hunger signals can be lost and reconnected with, fulness signals are the same. Pay attention to how you’re feeling, bite by bite, and assess your fullness as you go. Even if you can’t feel anything at first, keep practicing and allow this innate skill to slowly resurface.

If you’re someone that struggles with overeating, doesn’t know what hunger and fullness feels like, and still wants to learn how to stop dieting, it’s very important to take this process at a pace that’s right for you.

3. Address Emotional Eating

For some people, it can be incredibly difficult to stop at fullness, even if you can feel your fullness, because of eating behaviors like emotional eating, compulsive eating, or uncontrollable eating.

In my own journey, both as an eating psychology coach and someone living in recovery from compulsive eating, I’ve found that learning to stop at fullness goes beyond food itself. It requires emotional tolerance—the ability to sit still with uncomfortable feelings without reaching for a coping mechanism like food.

This is where my Stop, Drop, & Feel® technique comes into play:

The Stop, Drop, & Feel is a mindfulness-based practice that encourages pausing when you feel the urge to eat emotionally, dropping into your body, and allowing yourself to feel whatever emotions come up. This process helps you develop the skill of emotional tolerance over time.

According to a study published in Eating Behaviors, low distress tolerance and difficulty regulating emotions are linked to loss-of-control eating.[12] This shows how crucial it is to build emotional resilience when addressing overeating and learning how to stop dieting.

4. Familiarize Yourself with the Stages Of Giving Up Dieting

Understanding the stages of giving up dieting can be incredibly helpful because, while everyone’s journey is unique, knowing how the process generally unfolds can provide reassurance and clarity. The process of learning how to stop dieting is not linear and highly personal, and your body will respond differently than others based on your past experiences and current relationship with food.

Here’s my YouTube video where I explain the 5 stages of giving up dieting, based on my personal experience as a coach and someone that has been there:

the 5 stages of giving up dieting

The second stage, often referred to as the “rebellion binge” phase, is where many people find themselves bingeing on foods that were previously restricted. Understanding this second stage is crucial because it often brings up fears of weight gain, which can be deeply ingrained due to years of dieting and restriction. This leads us to the next step of learning to cope with those fears in a healthy way.

5. Navigate Any Fear or Anxiety About Potential Weight Gain

Navigating the fear of weight gain is a critical part of learning how to stop dieting, and it’s completely normal to have this fear, especially after years of dieting and restriction.

If the fear of weight gain ever feels overwhelming, one helpful strategy is to focus on mastering the skill of stopping at fullness first. The Stop, Drop, & Feel® can be a supportive tool during this time—and beyond—because it helps foster emotional tolerance, a skill associated with reduced loss-of-control eating. When you have more control over your behaviors around food, you’ll feel more confident on the non-linear path of learning how to stop dieting.

It’s also important to remember that while intuitive eating doesn’t promise weight loss, its real goal is to improve your relationship with food and your body. Studies show that intuitive eaters have better health-related behaviors even five years after adopting the practice[13], and that it predicts better psychological health and lower rates of disordered eating behaviors over time.[14]

How to Stop Dieting—The Finer Details

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork for learning how to stop dieting—from getting reacquainted to your body’s cues to navigating the process at your own pace—let’s talk about some specifics about ditching diet culture.

6. Incorporate Foods that You Find Enjoyable and Satisfying

Diet culture has shamed many people out of eating foods that they enjoy, causing a loss of self-trust. Dieters often make pleasurable, enjoyable foods—like low-nutrient “junk foods”—completely off-limits because they fear overeating. Yet, a scoping review published in PLoS One found that eating pleasure facilitates healthy eating habits.[15]

The truth is, we can’t cut out enjoyment and pleasure from our diet without consequences. When we don’t eat foods we enjoy, it negatively impacts our well-being. A study published in Eating Behaviors found that pleasure associated with eating plays a crucial role in moderating the relationship between restrained eating and poor psychological health, with greater restraint and less pleasure leading to higher anxiety.[16]

Simply put, enjoying the food you eat is associated with greater well-being.[17] As restrained eaters learn how to stop dieting, incorporating foods that are enjoyable and pleasurable is a key step.

7. Let Go of the Food Rules

Letting go of external food rules is a crucial step in learning how to stop dieting—and I’ve listed it here in the finer details because it’s important to take this step at a pace that’s right for you.

External restrictions like “carbs must be limited” or “avoid all sweets” often backfire by intensifying cravings, which lead to overeating, once the restriction is lifted. A study published in Appetite found that restrictive rules, compared to suggestions, induced psychological reactance, leading to more unhealthy food consumption when participants were allowed to eat freely later on.[18] This highlights how rigid food rules create a cycle of deprivation and overindulgence.

Instead of relying on external food rules, tuning into your internal hunger and fullness cues allows you to rebuild trust with your body’s natural signals. This approach isn’t about eating whatever you want without limits, as some might misconstrue; it’s about honoring your hunger by eating what appeals to you and stopping when you feel comfortably full. The focus is on balance, where food choices are guided by your body’s needs, not rigid rules.

8. Destigmatize Body Fat and Free Yourself from Internalize Weight Bias

Destigmatizing body fat means challenging and dismantling harmful societal beliefs that associate body fat with negative traits. This is a critical part of learning how to give up dieting because internalized weight bias often drives the desire to diet in the first place.

A growing pool of clinical evidence shows that BMI is a poor indicator of health.[19], [20], [21] Furthermore, a study from Eating and Weight Disorders found that internalized weight stigma significantly affects both mental and physical quality of life, showing just how important it is to address these biases.[22]

Here are some ways to shake free from internalized weight bias:

  • Educate Yourself About Body Positivity and HAES: Understanding concepts like Health at Every Size (HAES) and body diversity can help dismantle the belief that weight equals health or worth.
  • Challenge Negative Thoughts: Pay attention to the critical thoughts you have about your body. When negative thoughts arise, question their validity. Are they based on societal expectations rather than personal well-being? Replace them with more compassionate, body-neutral or body-positive thoughts.
  • Diversify Your Social Media Feed: Surround yourself with images of diverse body types to help normalize body diversity and reduce the pressure to conform to thin ideals.
  • Practice Self-Compassion: Treat yourself with kindness, especially when negative feelings about your body arise. Research shows that self-compassion can reduce the impact of body-related shame, guilt, envy, and embarrassment, helping to lower dietary restraint and promote healthier eating habits.[23]
  • Engage in Joyful Movement: Shift your mindset from exercising to lose weight to moving your body in ways that feel good and enhance your physical and mental well-being.

By shifting focus away from weight loss and toward accepting your body as it is, you can break free from the dieting cycle and create a healthier relationship with food and your body.

9. Embrace Food Freedom

Many assume that giving up dieting will immediately feel liberating and joyful, like shedding a heavy burden. While it certainly enhances physical and emotional well-being, it also brings with it feelings of uncertainty and groundlessness. Without the rigid structure of food rules or diets, there’s no false sense of control to fall back on, and this can be unsettling at first.

It’s natural to feel vulnerable as you learn to trust your body and make choices based on internal cues, rather than external restrictions. Over time, though, this sense of groundlessness transforms into a deeper trust in yourself, creating a more authentic and sustainable relationship with food.

quotation mark

“When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment.”

Rebuilding Self-Trust by Giving Up Dieting

When you finally let go of dieting, it’s not just about the food. It’s about reclaiming your mental and emotional freedom, stepping out of a cycle that’s made you question your self-worth and second-guess your body’s needs.

Sure, it feels a little wobbly at first, like you’re walking without a crutch you’ve leaned on for years. But over time, that uncertainty is replaced with confidence. You’ll start to realize that your body knows what it’s doing, and that you don’t need food rules or restrictions to honor your health and well-being.

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Some say ‘feel it to heal it’ but this workbook takes it a step deeper and helps you ‘see it to heal it.’ If you’re the kind of person who logically knows how to live a healthy lifestyle but you compulsively do the opposite, this workbook will illuminate what’s standing in the way. Then, you know exactly where to focus your energy.

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39 thoughts on "How to Stop Dieting: 10 Evidence-Based Steps for Honoring Your Body Without Food Rules"

  1. Lorelei Goldsays:

    Thanks for the great read. I just have a question. I’ve tried intuitive eating for a few weeks and I found that I only hit about 1300/1400 cals a day which is waaaaay under my BMR (1480) and TDEE (2000). Should I try and get my cals up to par before intuitive eating?

    Thanks!

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Loreli! These are great questions, you’ve clearly done your research! Keep in mind that I am not a dietitian and I am not qualified to give advice about what to eat. It is my personal opinion that you can get started with intuitive eating now. I would bet that, as you deepen your practice, you will naturally start to eat more. If this makes you nervous at all, I would hold off and focus your attention on the Stop, Drop, & Feel. I hope this helps! Again, I am impressed by the thought and research that you’ve clearly already done!

  2. Felipesays:

    Hi Kari,
    Great post, I enjoyed it very much. I wanted to share with you that I’ve been dieting for two years now, and developed a binge eating disorder because of that. I’ve lost a lot of weight succesfully, but gained it again and even more.. this cycle happened 2 times. Recently I stopped counting calories because I went on vacation with my friends, and could mantain my weight. But now I wanted to cut a little bit more and ended up bigeing like 12 days in a 3 week period. My issue is that I’m actually working as a model and I’m afraid of gaining too much weight. But today I binged again and decided I had enough, as for tomorrow I will eat whatever I want and until I’m full. Just wanted to share my story, your story has inspired me.
    Thank you,
    Felipe

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Felipe! Thank you so much for your comment. I totally get you, and I have no doubt that so many other people relate to you too. The pressure to be thin when your job revolves around your looks can be really intense. You are very strong! Keep me posted on how the process of giving up dieting goes for you. I’d love to help support you in any way that I can.

  3. Lexiesays:

    Hi! I have a couple questions about learning how to eat when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. What if you aren’t sure how to do that? Are there certain steps/questions to ask yourself every time you eat? Are there certain signs? I’m not sure what hunger and fullness feels like and often times don’t know what in craving because of 10+ years of restricting and being unhappy with my body. I’m in the process of learning new skills and trusting myself again. I’ve made huge progress, but it’s just about fine tuning some areas of my life. Is there a food journal you recommend? I’m learning how to get to know myself again and just need some guidelines. All that you’ve written makes complete sense and resignates with me. I’m just wanting some tools to get me started. Do you recommend using a hunger scale? Thank you.

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Lexie! Thank you for your comment. It is SO normal to struggle with the sensations of hunger and fullness when giving up dieting, because dieting requires that we ignore it. I’ve written about hunger on the blog: https://karidahlgren.net/what-does-hunger-feel-like/ I hope you find it helpful!

  4. Ryansays:

    Hi! Sounds like we got off the dieting train around the same time. For me the most helpful trick was to srop weighing myself. Once I dissolved my relationship with the scale and thinking I had to be a certain number then suddenly I was able to stop focusing on calories and then I was finally anke to listen to my body. You are so right, the timeline should be forever and no looking back. If I could bottle up the deeling of freedom I now have and sel it I’d be a millionaire. Nothing compares to the diet free life! Love your blog!

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hey Ryan! Thank you so much for the awesome comment! I am super happy for you. Quitting dieting is a huge accomplishment 🙂

  5. Kamisays:

    Okay here goes. I completely buy into the idea of intuitive eating. Mindfulness is so important in everything we do. My question is, as a mom and wife who works full time how do I make the logistics work. If what my body is telling me to eat, is not something I currently have in the kitchen….then what? I know eventually I will learn my body and I imagine it will fall into a routine, but what do I do until then. I know this seems silly but I need some sound advice as I embark on this journey. Thank you so much for you blog. It’s exactly what I have been looking for.

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      These are great questions Kami! To answer your first question, intuitive eating does require more frequent trips to the grocery story.

      Although, instead of having dietary restrictions around allergies, it sounds like you may have restrictions around time.

      Your second question is trickier, so I emailed you some follow up questions 🙂

  6. Melissasays:

    My biggest problem is I actually get anxiety while I eat. Doesn’t matter if it’s “diet” approved or a binge food. How do I control the anxiety while I am attempting to eat intuitively? It gets so bad that after one meal, I won’t feel hungry the rest of the day, the anxiety lingers and I feel sick and bloated all day. I can go 3 days without eating and not “feel”hungry. Just bloated and sick. I’ve been attempting the intuitive eating for about a year and every time I go back to the carb counting, but now even that is causing anxiety when it used to alleviate it. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Melissa, this is a tough one. I know what anxiety is like, and unfortunately the advice here will actually make your anxiety worse… until you build up your emotional tolerance and it will start to go down. Getting started can be really tough but I have no doubt that you have the inner strength to weather the storm. xoxo

  7. Annasays:

    I just loved your post! So great, and it arrived to me at the exact moment I needed it.
    I feel like i have been binge eating my entire life. Or at least since I was a teenager, when my body started to change. I have always been ‘big’ and I assumed (as a lot of us women in this society) that I will always take care of what I eat not to get even bigger. Since then, I have been always worried about what I eat and that turnes out in incredible weight fluctuation. Living like this is so stressfull and so frustrating. These days i have been eating a lot and feeling like crap. Promissing me to start all over in a tomorrow that never arrived. Finding your article blew my mind. I will try your method and hope it works for me. Thank you so much!

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Anna! Thank you so much for sharing this. You seem like a courageous person!

  8. Sydneysays:

    Hi Kari! I love reading your newsletters. I’ve been dieting since I got out of high school (about 5 years) I lost the weight and kept it off for about 2 years but I always felt like I was white knuckling it a little bit and would “slip” at times and go a little crazy. I developed bingeing along the way because I had an all or nothing mindset. I’ve recently been trying intuitive eating and it’s been HARD. It’s only been a couple weeks but I feel like my binges have become worse and more frequent which makes me want to go back to a diet even more (especially because I feel selfconsious about my weight and want to lose). I have fears that I will never lose the weight and get back where I want. I want to have food freedom but I think I get impatient. I tell myself “I should lose the weight and THEN find peace with food”. Any advice???

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      I tooootally get this. I think we ALL get this. The whole “wanting to lose weight FIRST and THEN find peace with food” is an understandable desire, but it can be a sticky trap. The peace with food HAS to come first. I would encourage you to look at the deeper psychological blocks to giving up dieting to begin unraveling this conundrum. You can reference my blog and especially my emails if you want to dig deeper. I hope this helps!

      1. Sydneysays:

        This really did help, thank you SO much!

  9. Jennifersays:

    This has made more sense than anything I’ve ever read about eating. I’ve had a complicated relationship with food my entire adult life and I’ve just started to realize during an acutely stressful point in my life that I resort to binge eating when times are toughest. My mind recently started to go to the place of planning a restriction of some sort to “fix” the damage done by recent binge eating. In searching for a healthy method, I found your site. THANK YOU!
    I’m terrified to try this “feel my feelings” thing, but I also know I have to do it if I’m ever going to heal.

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Thanks for the awesome comment Jennifer!! I’m glad you’re here 🙂 I hope you’re having good success with the “feeling your feelings” thing — it’s the game changer!

  10. Sandysays:

    Hi Kari,, I’ve been counting calories for a couple of years now and it’s become very tough with the restrictions I have on myself and anxiety towards gaining weight back. Your page really spoke to me! And I want to feel better around food. I was always a very slim athletic build and could eat however I wanted. Until a few years back when I quit my job for a few months and continued to eat unhealthy..I gained 40 lbs out of nowhere and it horrified me. I felt disgusting and unattractive. I stared calorie counting and over time brought my weight back down. At one point I gave up dieting and gained 10lbs back like nothing. So I panicked ran back to counting and have done it ever since while allowing myself one binge day per week. But lately I find it harder and harder to stay within the calorie count and the cravings are driving me nuts. I’m tired of this stress. But terrified of the scale. I weigh almost daily to ensure I’m not gaining weight back and I know me. I won’t be able to stop doing this. I’m mindful of how I look and feel daily. In a spiral and I don’t know how to proceed. I don’t know how to trust myself not to overdo it and get back to that horrible place where I wasn’t a decent weight. I could really use some guidance and reassurance?! Thank you!

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Sandy! I hope you’re doing better these days! I wonder if my article on how to stop obsessive calorie counting would help? And I definitely think the Stop, Drop, and Feel would help too. Send me an update if you get this. I hope you’re on my newsletter because I’m much easier to reach for questions that way.
      xo

  11. Candacesays:

    I am scared to eat intuitively, because I’m so used to so many “forbidden” foods. If I buy a box of Milano cookies, I will certainly eat the entire box, and then feel guilty and/or sick. How do I allow myself to keep those cookies or ice-cream in the kitchen, and not totally binge?

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Start with the Stop, Drop, and Feel before challenging yourself with forbidden foods 🙂

  12. Stephaniesays:

    Hi,
    It’s been two months since totally gave up dieting, I have been dieting for over 20 years and in the process lost and gained so much weight but came to a point my body was just done and won’t respond to any diets. I noticed with allowing myself to have anything I want, I don’t binge. However I finally gave in and weighed myself since its been two months and I was just so curious. I gained 12lbs in two months and I can’t help feel scared of just continuing to gain a lot of weight. I came off of being on keto for over a year so I knew I was gonna gain a fair amount because my body would hold on to carbs for dear life. please give me your insight on this. before I mind f____ myself into going back into dieting. I came so far to give up now.

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Stephanie! I think your thoughts are spot on. And my advice is to focus on developing emotional tolerance as best you can. When there’s so much noise with what to eat, it helps to focus solely on the feelings part, and let your body slowly get back to equilibrium. I am sorry I didn’t see your comment sooner, and would love an update! I hope you’re doing well.
      xo

  13. Sabisays:

    Hey,
    I’m 18 years old and I’m 5’1 tall and I weight about 37kgs or 38kgs. I eat everything but in small portions cause I’m afraid to gain weight. For the last 1 month I’m feeling so tired, dizzy and I can feel pain in my muscles and bones. I can’t play with my sisters they can run fast but I can’t.. And today I went to a doctor he said that I’m too weak and look like a stick.. And he gave me vitamins syrup and calcium supplements. And told me to eat more foods and also advice me to add some fried parathas to eat in breakfast with egg. But I’m afraid that I will gain weight. Please give me some advice. Btw I consume 850-950 calories a day..

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Dearest Sabi, I am sending all my love to you. It sounds like you are really underweight and afraid of eating, and I think you would get so much out of working with an eating disorder specialist. It does not come with the stigma it once did, and ED specialists are so good at helping with non-judgment. Here’s a link to some resources: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/resource-center/ The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is awesome. xoxo

  14. Terisays:

    Kari, thank you. I knew there was Physcology behind my binge-eating (let’s face it, Physcology explains every reason why someone is how they are) but I feel like your blog has helped not feel ALOT! I LOVE eating healthy and exercising like crazy. I want to be healthy and not suffer with diseases that my family have from food and unhealthy living. Ive been on this binge way too long and I’ve even gone to counseling behind it. Writing always helps, and I am also using your “stop, drop, and feel” method and I even shared it with my CrossFit Ladies Only Facebook group! Had great feed back. Growing up I wasn’t allowed to play until I finished my food, my brother would also force me to finish my food bc he would guilt me saying that children in Africa were starving. When I get anxious I just shovel the food without tasting-that chocolate cake-it went straight to my thighs. I also love how you say that wasting food in your mouth is just as bad as putting it in the garbage! Thank you!!! I wish I had a support system, but the people that probably do have the same binge eating as I do I don’t think have the drive to fix it like I do. 🙁

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Teri! I toootally relate to the fear of wasting food. I even wrote about that particular type of guilt in my post on wasting food. No wonder you like my approach 🙂 as we are so similar! I am replying to you way too late, and I hope that you’ve found some support since writing this. I also hope you’re on my newsletter so that we can keep in touch that way.
      xo

  15. Garysays:

    Thank you for this helpful read!! I’ve been on and off dieting for quite a while now, and I have been consistently skipping dinner for a bit that now I don’t even really feel hungry anymore. I would like to boost my metabolism so that I can eat like I used to and not worry about gaining weight, but I am so scared to do so! Do you think it would help for me to go back eating three regular meals a day again? Would my body react to this change and start burning more calories? Thank you so much!

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Gary! Instead of trying to fit your eating into 3 square meals a day, try to eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. And let that take whatever shape it wants to take! Maybe some days it happens to be 3 meals. Other days might involve 6 small meals. Try to get back in sync with your body’s natural rhythm.

  16. Angiesays:

    I’m just trying to quit calorie counting after doing it for 9 years. I want freedom but now that I’ve quit I feel like I’m going to put on a ton of weight and I feel like I don’t even know what to eat anymore. My mind keeps yelling at me to go back. I hope the chaos calms down.

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Breathe, and don’t panic 🙂 you got this!! As long as you’re making the SDF your #1 focus, you’ll do great.

  17. Ambersays:

    This is me me me. I’m so tired of restricting, counting calories and having feelings of guilt. I would love any help you have to offer.

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Thanks Amber! I have tons of free resources on my blog and YouTube 🙂

  18. Venus Kapuaalasays:

    Hi Kari,
    I read your article yesterday and was amazed at the quick turnaround. And now that I’m relearning how to listen to my body for signs of hunger rather than eating my feelings away. I find I’m hungry late in the evenings. My question is how long do I wait before going to bed? A Google search suggests 3 hours but I’ve about given up on conventional wisdom and would be more inclined to listen to someone who’ve been where I am now.

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Venus! My answer would be, if you’re hungry then you should eat. If your goal is to stop eating a few hours before bed, then it might help to look at how much you’re eating throughout the day. Getting hungry late at night might imply you’re not eating enough throughout the day. Try paying attention to this and let me know if it helps!

  19. Astridsays:

    Hi Kari
    Thanks so much!! I’m truly inspired. I have one question though – I seem to be quite sensitive to gluten – i tend to get pains in my intestines, so I’ve stayed off gluten as much as possible and done fasting and keto – i LOVE bread though. Even if it makes me incredibly tired and gives me bloating.
    How to work around this in regards to opening up to eating anything I desire?
    Best, Astrid

    1. Kari Dahlgrensays:

      Hi Astrid! I’m so glad this was helpful. We need all the inspiration we can get while giving up dieting! I know how woozy and groundless it can feel. To answer your question, I’ve actually written about it on the blog before: intuitive eating and dietary restrictions. Let me know if it helps 🙂

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