Rate Your Hunger

Jul 22, 2010

Last night at dinner, I asked my kids if they were full.  I started wondering about what message I was sending to them or teaching was I providing to them.  What am I really asking them?  What is full?  Or, more appropriately, are you satisfied?  What is your own definition of "full" for yourself?  Have you ever rated your hunger?

Many people define "full" as being unable to eat anything more.  If that is our definition of full, then we are overeating and overfilling our pouches.   For many of us, the feeling of being full at Thanksgiving dinner is our overall identification of full.  Eating once or twice a year of Thanksgiving full filling might be okay for some, however, eating close to the Thanksgiving full feeling most days will pack on extra pounds.   We are not meant to eat to the maximum capacity of our pouch every day or even for the majority of days. 

Consider your vehicle's gas tank.  You might want to fill up your vehicle's gas tank but not your own body's fuel tank.  Would you fill your vehicle's gas tank to the brim and then allow gasoline to pour out of the tank's spout on the ground?  No!  Your vehicle doesn't need or even want that much fuel; neither does your body.

Think of your stomach or pouch as a container such as cup or tank marked with levels 1 through 10.  Let's define 10 as the full from eating a Thanksgiving dinner.  Your container's level 1 as very hungry with feelings of physical hunger and discomfort.  A healthy definition of "full" is to approximately a 7 or 8 level.  Eating to between a 7 or 8 will allow for you to feel satisfied for a number of hours yet get hungry again at appropriate intervals throughout the day.  If you like to eat three medium sized meals a day with two planned small snacks, a 7 (or 6) level might be best for you.  If you prefer to eat three meals a day, eating closer to an 8 could be an alternative. 

Play and experiment with your physical container levels of 1 to 10.  Check in with your body as to how you feel, how your body feels and at what level it functions the best.  Don't get discouraged as it sounds easy but identifying your own personal levels of hungery and maximum body efficiency can be difficult.  We aren't used to checking in physically with ourselves.  You don't need to get hung up on the numbers.  Get used to how your body feels at a 6, 7 or 8 and eat to that level.  Many times we eat according to the clock and not our own bodies.  We don't fill up our vehicle's fuel tank because it is 5:00 p.m.

For me personally, I don't eat to full.  I don't even associate my hunger scale with full.  When I ask myself, and now my kids, I use "satisfy" rather than "full".  Satisfied is the level 6, 7 or 8, as in "I've had enough, I am satisfied, and I don't need any more right now."  Full is the level 10 as in "I'm stuffed, I don't feel very good."  Do you want to be full or satisfied?  Satisfaction is the key to healthy weight loss and maintenance.  To feel satiated is the goal!

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