Intuitive Eating Not Working? This May Be Why — 7 Sneaky Signs You’re Still Stuck in a Dieter’s Mindset (and Simple Ways to Get Unstuck)

So, you’ve started exploring Intuitive Eating. You’ve stopped dieting, are allowing yourself to eat foods that used to be off limits, and you’re trying like heck to listen to your body. But something still feels… off. You’re not feeling the freedom and peace that Intuitive Eating promised. If anything, you might even feel worse than you did before. Because sure, you’ve stopped dieting, but now you just feel out of control, uncomfortable, and frustrated with yourself and your eating.

If this feels familiar, you may still have a hidden restriction mentality that’s so sneaky and normalized in diet culture you don’t even recognize it. It’s common for a dieting mindset to persist, even after you’ve sworn off overt forms of traditional dieting. While it may be disguised as caring about your “health” or having “discipline,” it’s one of many common stumbling blocks that can slow your progress with Intuitive Eating.

Here's a look at some examples, along with some simple steps you can take to move forward.

7 Signs You’re Invisibly Dieting

1. You’re constantly “shoulding” all over your food choices.

“I shouldn’t eat carbs at lunch because I had some at breakfast;” “I should have chosen something healthier;” “Now that I’ve eaten that, I really should do extra cardio.” If you catch yourself regularly second-guessing or stressing about your food decisions in this manner, it’s a sign you’re still wrestling with restrictive or rigid food rules.

2. You feel guilty about your food choices.

Food has no moral value, and guilt has no place on your plate. But if eating certain foods leaves you feeling guilty, ashamed, or like you’ve failed at something, you’re likely still viewing food through a distorted diet culture lens.

3. You’re still openly (or maybe subconsciously) counting, tracking, or measuring.

Even if you’re not using an app, mentally tracking calories, macros, or portion sizes can keep you in restriction mode, distancing you from feeling and trusting your body’s hunger and fullness cues.

4. You’re still measuring success by the scale.

Intuitive Eating is not a diet, which means success can’t be measured on the scale. If how “good” you feel about yourself still hinges on the number you see when you weigh yourself, that’s pulling your attention outside your body and its cues, making it more difficult for you to hear, respond to, and trust your body’s cues.

5. You’re still weighing yourself daily (or often).

The scale has nothing to do with how hungry or full you are, how food makes you feel, or which foods you do and don’t enjoy. While you may not be able to imagine how you’d keep your eating “in check” without that feedback, daily weigh-ins are a habit that keeps you focused on external validation instead of your internal wisdom. The scale can distract you from the deeper work of cultivating self-trust.

6. You still have off-limits foods (without a medical reason).

If you’ve given yourself permission to eat formerly off-limits foods but you’re also telling yourself you’ll “only eat a little bit,” only have them “occasionally,” or that you can only eat them if you go to the gym that day, I have bad news. Even though you may be eating the foods in certain scenarios, you’re still mentally restricting and the effects on eating behaviors are the same.

Mental restriction can still give the foods a “forbidden fruit” feel that prevents you from fully making peace with food and learning how to eat them in ways that feel good (and enjoyable!).

7. You still see food in black and white terms

Labeling food “good” or “bad” or “healthy” or “unhealthy” can create an all-or-nothing mindset that fuels guilt, shame, and restrict-binge eating patterns. Yes, some foods have more or less nutrients than others, but that doesn’t mean there’s no role for the fun foods in your life.

Simple Steps to Get Unstuck

I know it’s frustrating to realize you’re stuck in a dieting mindset when you’ve been trying so hard to move away from dieting. I created my guide, Uncover Your Invisible Diet, for exactly this reason. As we dig into Intuitive Eating, so many of my clients are shocked to discover they’re still following destructive dieting rules without realizing it. This free resource walks you through subtle, sneaky ways diet culture may still be shaping your choices—and it gives you practical tools to gently shift your mindset and food patterns towards a more compassionate, balanced approach to food.

Awareness is another powerful step of breaking old patterns. Simply reading this article and learning to recognize and name lingering diet thoughts moves you forward on the healing trajectory and allows you to begin shifting from judgment and self-criticism towards compassion and curiosity, two tools that are indispensable for healing your relationship with food.

If you’re still using it, I also highly recommend putting your scale away for now. It’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to fully engage with all the other principles of Intuitive Eating if you’re still focused on this external focal point and consumed with trying to shrink yourself. Removing the scale can create space for you to hear your body wisdom more clearly.

I also suggest you try to focus on adding in foods rather than taking them away. Instead of asking, “What should I cut out?” or “What do I need to avoid?” try asking, “What would make this meal more satisfying or nourishing?” It’s a small shift in attention that can make a big difference in how you approach food and nutrition.

If you’re curious what it’s like to work with an Intuitive Eating dietitian, I highly recommend looking into it. We understand and can help you anticipate the common hurdles you’re likely to face as you break up with diet culture and heal your relationship with food, and we can help you navigate them more easily. We can also offer you individualized nutrition guidance and feedback, which is extremely helpful when you don’t yet trust your own eating wisdom. We’ll also help you recognize and hold space for your healing—even when you may not be able to see your progress clearly for yourself.  

Ready for personalized guidance? Book a free strategy call to learn more about how I can support you. I’m in network with Cigna, Aetna, and United Healthcare and have many self-pay options available.

Finally, remember that Intuitive Eating is a process of unlearning—of peeling back the layers of diet culture, rewiring your beliefs about food and your body, and learning to reconnect with your body’s innate wisdom. If you’re feeling stuck, it doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It means you’re doing the work. You’re healing, and that takes time, grace, and a whole lot of patience.