Relying on instinct as your guide?

N

Northmont

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Hi all,

After reading several threads here on both weight loss and weight training I have found so many contradictions (don't count calories, count them, more protein, you get enough protein, the list really is endless...). Anyways, I was wondering what other people think of the idea of simply relying on your natural instincts to lose weight/get fit? I think it's pretty reasonable for at least a semi-educated person to do so...

In terms of weight loss...
- If food tastes too good, it's probably too many cals.
- If that walk/run seemed too easy, it probably was.

Now from experience in life I realize some people are simply incapable of relying on their natural instinct to guide a healthy life as society and whatnot have fed so much into their brains about doing this, doing that, not doing this, not doing that, etc... at times even I find it overwhelming and I tend to resort to the concept that if I feel I'm doing good than I must be! I'm very interested in some other members comments. THANKS!
 
especially when regarding food intake, most people seem to over/under estimate their calories and/or the proper proportions of food. That is why (especially when beginning)...it's better to keep to a bit more structured. This goes with training as well...it's much more efficient (usually) to keep your workout progressions structured than to go by your gut. Now, here's the tricky part...after you have been eating clean and training for quite some time, you get more of a feel of how your body acts/reacts to subtle changes, in my opinion...this is the only time where going by instincts can be applicable. But only after seeing the results and going through the motions with something a bit more structured. Because, bottom line...working out and eating a bit better of course makes us all feel better, it just doesn't mean you're reaching your goals in the most efficient way possible.
 
Very true, which is probably why I am on these forums right now. After a big lifestyle change in eating over the last 5 months I think I got a pretty good grip on things. What do you think is a good timeframe for a structured diet/fitness plan? one year, two...?
 
Northmont said:
Hi all,

After reading several threads here on both weight loss and weight training I have found so many contradictions (don't count calories, count them, more protein, you get enough protein, the list really is endless...). Anyways, I was wondering what other people think of the idea of simply relying on your natural instincts to lose weight/get fit? I think it's pretty reasonable for at least a semi-educated person to do so...

In terms of weight loss...
- If food tastes too good, it's probably too many cals.
- If that walk/run seemed too easy, it probably was.

Now from experience in life I realize some people are simply incapable of relying on their natural instinct to guide a healthy life as society and whatnot have fed so much into their brains about doing this, doing that, not doing this, not doing that, etc... at times even I find it overwhelming and I tend to resort to the concept that if I feel I'm doing good than I must be! I'm very interested in some other members comments. THANKS!
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I prefer counting calories because I want to be sure that my body is taking in the right amount of calories. How I distribute my macros is based on my goals and workouts.

I myself am incapable of relying on my natural instinct. I like to know how much I'm eating. I do think people have to have the right MENTALITY to be successful in transforming their physique though. If you don't truly want to make a lifestyle change, then it's just going to continue to be a cycle.
 
For me personally I think it depends on what your goals are. I don’t have aspirations to have a body fit for the cover of Men's Health magazine....I just don’t have the desire or the motivation. I just want to be fit and healthy.

At this stage, I don’t count calories at all. I am conscious however of what I eat and makes sure that I eat well 90% of the time. If I go out for a greasy meal or for a few beers with friends I don’t beat myself up about it. I just make sure that everything is done in moderation.

I know if something is high in calories and make sure that I limit my intake......but how many calories I eat per day I have no idea.

However, I do make sure I exercise 3 times per week which includes cardio and resistance training.

By doing this I have lost about 7kgs (15.4 pounds) in the last couple of months. My start weight was 105kgs (231 pounds) and I am 6" so I guess there was a bit there to lose.

I also feel that by doing it slowly and not depriving myself totally of the things I enjoy, it will be a much more long term achievement. I am still losing weight using this method and hope to get down to around 190 pounds.

Cheers,

Jarrod
 
I get your point Northmont.
I believe people have gone on this website for answers not for 2thousand threads saying "follow your instincts".

People just need to be sensible about there questions before asking them.
 
stroutman81 said:
Didn't even realize that. I only look at "new posts." I never dig into the various corners of the forum.

Still an interesting topic.
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right. and i completely agree with your response.

I'm eating a damn good pice of chicken right now.. that doesn't mean it's bad lol
 
I must have missed this post first time around!

I don't like the idea of relying on instinct, I think it gets you to the point of 'average' and not beond. If you could rely on instict to train then why have football coaches? Why have PT's?
If I left my training to instinct I'd still weigh 160 lbs doing bicep curls every day. I'd never have guessed how my body really works, I had to learn and then apply.
 
I think combining your instincts with a set goal is very important. What works for one doesn't always work for another. Of course, you're never going to reach that goal if you instead order the #5 without super sizing it because your instincts tell you that it's less food. But I think having a good instinct on what is healthy way of eating can be a good thing. Like saying to yourself, "instead of eating chicken tonight, I want salmon." Saying to yourself that some thing is only good if it tastes bad, then your instinct would be wrong. I personally hate the taste of ice cream, but does that mean since it tastes bad, that if I ate the whole thing I would be eating healthy?

As far as exercising, I think people need to stop relying on "sweating" as a method to tell how hard you are working and when you had enough to call it a day. There has to be a goal, like 20 minutes of running while keeping your heart rate at 165. But your instinct could say, "Hey today, I'm going to go with 25 minutes, and aim at 168." Little things like that will help, I believe.

Of course, you should keep a journal of everything you eat and do. It'll help determine if you are doing too little, imo.
 
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Let's not forget that we haven't evolved much since pre-historic times. Sure, we look a little different, but that's about it. We are still "pre-wired" for survival.

We've had a sporadic food supply longer than we've had a continual food supply.... on whole as a human race. Excess food was not an issue and humans had to develop the ability to survive periods with low to no energy.

Our bodies want to store excess energy as fat, since it's easily stored and energy dense. When early-man found a stash of food, he would stuff himself. Gain a little fat. This way, when periods such as winter rolled around and food was scarce to non-existent.... he could survive.

Since caloric overconsumption was never really an issue back then, humans have a good drive to eat, meaning, they had hormonal systems that notice when they ate less, which attempted to drive food intake upwards. Again, we are pre-wired to survive.

Fast forward to today. These physiological survival mechanisms and adaptations are still in place. However, we've not had a constant, endless supply of food before. Worse yet, much of this abundant supply of food is processed, energy dense, garbage.

And because over-abundance of food is a relatively new concept in the grand scheme of things.... the physiological detection mechanisms for overconsumption are weak. '

So what does natural instinct tell us?

Eat dammit.

LOL.

That's why I wouldn't rely on natural instinct alone.

And that's why our country, and eventually our world, is predominantly fat.
 
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I think what is trying to be said is that your natural instinct can tell you if you had enough or too much. I think the TC was pointing out that the "natural instinct" of today's man is clouded by the "dos and dont's" of society that it's nearly impossible to tell if what you are doing is truly good. Our natural instinct is to eat, but our natural instinct also tells us when enough is enough and too much is too much. It seems people today don't rely on their natural instinct, rather they rely on their natural tendency to overeat and justify their exercising by not by how much they worked, but how they feel (which differs from your natural instinct in my opinion). For example, you can get the 5 for 5 deals at Arby, and guess what I see people walking out of there with? Bags of food, and they'll probably eat it all since they don't want to waste it, and on top of that, they're probably going to eat more than that by the day's end.

Also, in my current gym, I seen people come and go and I've been a member for only 2 1/2 months now. I seen people large and small who just run extremely fast on the treadmill for 1 minute, then call it a day because they're out of breath. Guess what? These people aren't there any more, because I'm guessing they relied on the fact that they were out of breath, so that means they worked out, and they lost or gained nothing so exercising must not work. Of course, if they had relied on their natural instincts, I believe they would have stayed longer and tried harder instead of doing 1 minute extremely fast.

Edit: Also, I believe the partial reason why more people are large is simply because of the abundance of energy rich food that would otherwise not be available. This problem doesn't occur in America alone. Heck I think the world's heavist man resides in Mexico and he's like 1000+ pounds. And isn't Mexico like the worst in terms of fast food and stuff? And guess what this guy eats... no fast food, no nothing. He eats natural food, and a heck a lot of it. It came to me as a surprise, because number one he can't cook for himself so he relies on others, and he always eat naturally made food from the market. So I think the assumption that relying on your natural instinct is good, but not relying it all by itself. Have a goal and I think you can reach it. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not 1 year, but someday.
 
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I do believe that our instincts are clouded by constant sources of conflicting information, and modern society as a whole.

Our bodies are capable of determining what is and is not good for us, but have been conditioned not to.

Humans used to eat and work to survive. Survival is the least of the reasons we eat now, and we have to create artificial environments in which to work our bodies (gyms) and actually designate time to do it b/c our lives are so devoid of effort.

Can you be a bodybuilder based soley on instinct, probably not. However, if we still knew how to access our natural instincts better, then there would probably be more healthy people and less obese ones dying of heart disease.

Our bodies do tell us when we've had enough to eat, whether or not what we've eaten is very good for us, and whether we are getting enough rest or exercise ---- we just don't listen anymore.
 
Our bodies do tell us when we've had enough to eat, whether or not what we've eaten is very good for us, and whether we are getting enough rest or exercise ---- we just don't listen anymore.
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That is a very interesting statement.

I believe an instinct can be "honed" for lack of a better word through education. As you learn more and more about training, nutrition, and the body in general, your basic instinct changes.

Anyone who is an experienced fitness person should be able to look back and see how they have "trained" their instinct.

- Think about how you "listen to your body" today as opposed to 5 years ago when you started training.

- Think about what "your gut tells you" today about how you should plan your workouts compared to what you did in the beginning.

- Think about your diet. In the beginning your instinct might have been to stop at the drive through and get some chicken nuggets. Now your instinct might be to head home and make something on the grill.

- Think about any basic behaviors that you have changed. The things that you do now "without even thinking about it" Heading to the gym at certain times, or what your routine is upon waking in the morning. Completely different than in the beginning of a training career.

This is why it is easy for an experienced person to say "just listen to your body." Because they know more about what to listen for. That advice simply does not work for a beginner because they have no past experience to base their "listening" on.
 
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