I have been playing around with the idea of doing intuitive eating. Tracking your food intake can be very beneficial and I have been tracking my calorie intake and expenditure for a while. Even though I do not want to part with the habit yet, I have been incorporating intuitive eating into my diet.
You see, I have started working out more and have been pushing myself during my exercise sessions. I want to build some muscle and lose fat. This is a challenging thing to do and will take longer than just focusing on either losing fat or gaining muscle, but I do believe that body recomposition is a goal worth the wait.
The thing I have been struggling with is figuring out how much to eat every day to help me achieve my goals. I tried setting strict calorie goals, but then on some days, my body will feel depleted and it feels like I need to give it a little more fuel. Some days, I have a lot of energy and might feel like I don’t need to eat as many calories as I initially planned on eating.
And so, I have been letting my intuition guide me day by day. I still track my meals and calories, so that I can make sure I eat enough calories and that I don’t severely undereat or overeat.
At each meal, I have also been trying to consume protein, fibre, and fat, which feels like an easy goal to make a habit. But I don’t try to make a set meal plan or plan how many calories I want to eat days in advance.
Since my main goal is currently body recomposition, this feels like the perfect time to do this experiment of letting my intuition guide my calorie intake for the day.
Some days, I might be in a calorie deficit. Some days, my calories might end up around maintenance calories, and some days, I might eat just above maintenance calories. But since I’m trying to build muscle, I’m hoping any extra calories will go straight to my butt.
I really do like the idea of combining food and calorie tracking with intuitive eating. Who says you have to choose?
