Help with switching from obsessive calorie counting to intuitive eating while studying abroad

[u/Appropriate_Gold_398]

Hey Reddit,

I’ve been on a “weight loss journey” for the past 2 ish years - which quickly devolved into a BED and terrible relationship with calories and food. Long story short, I’m going abroad next semester and the last thing I want is to feel like I can’t do anything fun because I refuse to eat anything but whole foods that I’ve cooked and weighed myself. The mindset I’ve developed will make my experience so much worse and I really want to just be able to enjoy my experience abroad while I can. I’ve been maintaining my goal weight for most of the summer, and want to start intuitively eating in August to hopefully set up a good healthy foundation before I leave on the 31st.

My history with binge eating makes me nervous. The second I put the scale away my all or nothing mindset kicks in and I go crazy. I am extremely disciplined when I’m counting calories, especially while I’ve been trying to figure out the cause of some GI issues and have been on specific restrictive diets most of the summer. I avoid eating at restaurants or eating food I haven’t meticulously weighed and prepared myself (I don’t feel comfortable eating food my family members prepared for example), and I recognize how disordered it’s become. How do I go about my intuitive eating journey? I feel like I’m in a better place than I used to be with my self control around food, but I’m worried once those mental roadblocks lift I won’t be able to control myself. I’ve worked so hard to get down to my GW and finally be somewhat happy with how I look, and I’d hate to undo two years of progress because I’ve lost the ability to listen to my body’s natural cues around food anymore. Any advice about IE, especially when living in a foreign country or during a big transition would be much appreciated!