Ep 120- Why Intuitive Eating Made You Gain Weight
May 28, 2026
When I first tried intuitive eating, I gained 20 lbs. I was overeating, craving sugar, and feeling out of control around food when I thought intuitive eating was supposed to do the opposite.
Today I’m covering…
- What is intuitive eating?
- The 4 reasons why intuitive eating fails and can lead to weight gain
- Does intuitive eating actually work for binge eating?
If you're here right now, I know you’ve probably tried everything to stop overeating. Calories, fasting, cutting carbs, cleanses, “being good” during the week and starting over on Monday. That was me too.
So when I found intuitive eating, I thought maybe the answer was to stop dieting completely and just “listen to my body.”
But honestly? It made things worse for me.
I kept eating past fullness, craving sugar constantly, and feeling more out of control than ever. Sometimes giving myself permission to eat certain foods helped temporarily, but then the cravings came back even stronger later that day.
I remember eating birthday cake at lunch and still wanting more cake that night. It felt like eating the food awakened the craving instead of satisfying it.
Eventually, I gained 20 pounds trying to heal my relationship with food and felt completely hopeless.
But the problem wasn’t that I was broken. The problem was that intuitive eating wasn’t the right tool for where I was at.
What Intuitive Eating Gets Right
There are things I still agree with:
Diet culture is harmful
Restriction can lead to binge eating
Hunger and fullness cues matter
Learning to trust your body is important
But many people try to rely on those cues too early.
Why Intuitive Eating Can Fail
Your hunger signals might still be dysregulated
Years of restriction and binge eating can completely throw off your hunger hormones. So trying to “just listen to your body” can feel impossible when your body is sending confusing signals.
You might:
Feel hungry all day long
Never feel hungry at all
Eat a ton and still not feel full
Feel overly full after a few bites
That doesn’t mean your body is broken forever. It just means your body needs stability first.
There’s often not enough structure
Intuitive eating gives principles, but not much personalization. And binge eating is deeply personal.
There’s usually a reason why nights feel hard, why stress triggers eating, or why certain foods spiral into binges.
Generic advice often isn’t enough to change those patterns.
Habitual urges still exist
Even if you stop restricting, your brain may still crave binge eating simply because it became a habit.
Every binge reinforces the same loop:
Urge
Binge
Temporary relief
Eventually your brain starts running that pattern automatically.
The modern food environment matters too
A lot of ultra-processed foods are designed to keep us wanting more. Added flavorings, processed sugars, and highly rewarding foods can make moderation feel much harder.
That doesn’t mean you can never eat those foods. But it does help to understand why they can feel so hard to stop eating.
There’s a Middle Ground
Healing your relationship with food doesn’t have to mean rigid dieting or completely chaotic eating.
You can:
Have structure without obsession
Care about nutrition without fear
Eat in a way that supports your body
Feel calm around food again
That’s the approach I teach now because it’s what actually worked for me long term.
Need Help With Binge Urges?
If binge urges feel overwhelming, I created the Urge Audio specifically for those moments when your brain feels loud and food feels impossible to stop thinking about.
It helps calm the urge in real time and teaches you how to stop the binge cycle before it starts.
Click here to download to the Urge Audio and start feeling more in control around food again.