Weighing and measuring food is a pain, wouldn’t you agree?

It’s also not aligned with intuitive eating. We know what we should eat, but we usually don’t make that “should” food our go-to when we are hungry. Why?

Because comfort foods don’t come in the form of carrots & leafy greens.

What types of foods do you crave when you are tired, stressed, anxious, etc? Usually not a huge helping of steamed veggies with a side of lean protein!

Weighing and measuring helps us to be able to identify a couple of things:

*It holds us accountable to what we are actually consuming

*It helps us identify a portion size or to learn what 4oz of protein looks like, for example

*It shows us we probably need to eat a little more of the leafy greens (they don’t weigh much!)

Think of weighing, measuring and logging food as training wheels on a bike. Those tools are there to help you learn just like training wheels are there to help a child learn to ride a bike. Eventually, though, the training wheels have to come off before the child can ride freely!

Just the same, you can’t carry your food scale with you everywhere (well, you can, but you probably shouldn’t if you are trying to learn to eat intuitively). Eventually, a vacation happens or a celebration and there are all kinds of foods that are of unknown calories and nutrients.

This is where the training wheels come off.

Will you wobble a little? Probably. If you crash and burn face first into a pizza, you will know you might need a little bit longer with the training wheels on. But if you stumble a little, then get back on track, you will know that the training wheels have done their job and you are ready to eat freely without weighing, measuring and tracking!

Once in a while, you may consider coming back to it simply to check in and see how you are doing. Especially if you start to notice weight creeping up or pants fitting tighter but not in a good way.

But if your goal is intuitive eating, you need to use the tools to get there first. Use your training wheels, there’s no shame in that! Take off the training wheels and see how you do. Re-evaluate if needed and continue on your way.

Creating healthy habits is just one part of the journey. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and patience.

You got this!