The Hunger Scale
 

I got asked about what this was in a separate thread, and I thought it would be a good idea to start a new one for it since some of you might want to refer to it.

While I was getting a pedicure last week I was reading a back issue of O magazine (Oprah's mag). I found this in an inspirational article about weight loss for life. It's the Hunger Scale and you can use it to determine whether or not you should eat. Here it is:

The scale goes like this:

10: Stuffed. Approaching nausea.
9: Very uncomfortably full. Need to loosen clothing.
8: Uncomfortably full. Bloated.
7: Full. A bit uncomfortable.
6: Perfectly comfortable and satisfied.
5: Comfortable. More or less satisfied but could eat more.
4: Slightly uncomfortable. Beginning to feel signs of hunger.
3: Uncomfortably hungry. Stomach is rumbling.
2: Very uncomfortable, irritable, and unable to concentrate.
1: Weak and light-headed. Stomach acid is churning.

Greene says we should eat only when we find ourselves feeling 1, 2, 3, or 4. He instructs us to put our forks down at 5 and 6 and wait for our next scheduled meal. For those trying to lose weight, he says stop eating at 5. This is the point at which you're eating less than your body is burning.


Hope this works for you ladies. It certainly works for me... Every time!;)

That is so freaking good :) I like very very muchly!

Thank you so much!

by the way - I love your hair, it's so preeetty :)

That is definitely an eye opener. I can see where I went wrong while I was at school. Then I was bouncing back and forth from #2 to #8. Now I'm generally between #5 and #4.

Oh, I love this! I'm printing it off and putting in on my fridge.. and pantry... and cupboards.. and... HA! Thanks for posting! :flow2:

I wonder how you would incorporate that into snacks?
I've been trying to eat: breakfast, light snack, lunch, light snack, dinner
but obviously I wouldn't be starving by the time that roles around

and on a side note, if I only ate when I was noticeably hungry I'd probably eat twice a day :/

For ppl that aren't eating very schedule-ly (eating disorder for example) then probably they won't notice. But if you start to eat about 3-4 times/ day for a while then you can easily notice when you're hungry.

Thanks for posting! This is amazing! Even without reading this, I've found myself mentally adhering to it lately..glad to know it's meant something.

I normally go to 5, I never go overboard anymore...but the thing is, people always assume I have an eating disorder because I'd say 90% of my food intake is after 3pm. It's mostly because I workout early morning normally (6am), then go back to bed for a bit. Wake up, and head straight to work, work then come home, I'm still not too hungry, so I snack, then I eat dinner around 6pm then have my last snack about 8pm. I don't think most days I get past 1000 calories, which again sounds bad but I'm just honestly NOT hungry and I fill up fast (1 bowl of grapes can fill me up for 4-5 hours).

Thing is - with snacks - if you were only eating to level 5 - you would probably find yourself at a sufficient hunger level within the 3 hours it takes for snack time to come anyway?

When I'm exercising and trying to be consistent with my eating I do get hungry - really easily! But i just eat small things til Im satisfied and still have issues making it past 1000 calories a day!

this is very interesting

thanks Fairy Sarah! what a nice compliment :)

I am glad to help guys!

I have been using this for 2/3 weeks now, and I must say I never drop below a 4, sometimes I get to 3 but I don't think I have often experienced a 2 or 1. I think before my weight loss challenge I was eating at 6 all the time. Now that I stop at 5, I feel so much better. It's great for any time you see something scandalous like french fries or ice cream and you want to have some. First off I tell myself "NO NO NO, eat something else you like that is healthy but wait... ARE YOU EVEN HUNGRY?" I do a little hunger scale check and low and behold I am at 5 or 6. Even if I stopped eating at 5, that slight desire to eat again goes away and after 20 minutes I am truly fine and satisfied. I think it must be the body adjusting and calming back down again. Must be something with your metabolism.

As far as fitting it in with snacks I think you would either just stick your plan (if you're on a special diet), or if you don't have a plan but think you should have a snack ask yourself...Am I hungry? What's my #? And base your decision on that.

The Intuitive Eating or Paul McKenna's "I can make you thin" uses this "trick"... and Fairy Sarah is right. You may have planned to eat one cup of rice, for example. If you truly follow it, you will end up being satisfied before you finish the one cup. So you are eating less at meal times, and you will get hungry in about 3 hours or so...and you eat again. But of course, until you are satisfied and then stop. To me, trying to eat 6 meals per day sometimes doesn't work because...it's like "ahhh snack time..but i'm not even hungry yet...but gotta eat snack. sigh...i'm going to be stuffed now" type of thing... With this intuitive eating, it's perfect. :D

However, we all have experienced when we eat something so fast that we don't realize how much we ate and we can't even breathe after we are DONE eating. One tip for those who would like to try this is to eat very consciously. Try to eat really slow. One tip McKenna gives is to put down your fork after each bite. Put one bite in the mouth, put down the fork, chew chew chew consciously. Then pick up the fork and back to eating again. This may seem silly but try and see how less food you eat. My portion went down so much by doing this. You eat slow, you will be able to feel satisfied while eating...because you are giving yourself time to feel the satisfaction, instead of "slurping" your food down and not giving yourself time to feel how full you truly are.

Yes the Paul McKenna stuff really works really well! I use it with the hunger scale and it works.

Today I just started the Fat Smash Diet, and so far my breakfast of banana and almonds and lunch of a huge assortment of veggies in a salad style is keeping me really full. I must admit I am shocked that I am not hungry after eating only 1/2 this salad thing I have created. I am at 5 on the scale right now, and I did in fact eat in a Paul McKenna style....lol

Have any of you tried the Fat Smash yet?

Great post. Thanks for sharing.

I haven't even heard of it, is it through a book or a website?

that is great and so true too ! .. tonight (my second night dieting ) I planned to eat only my suggested serving sizes .. and stop and not eat anytihng else after dinner ... and I was exactly at #5 after eating dinner and I was soooooooooooooo tempted to eat more but I stayed strong and kept telling myself " I ate the perfect amount" I litterally even measured my serving with measuring cups my hubby was giving the funny looks! lol..... thanks for posting! Im going to print it out and put it on my fridge :D

He's a very famous British hypnotist. They actually just had a show called "I can make you thin" by him on TLC not that long ago. His US website is www.mckenna.com. There should be enough information and you can join the site for free and you can watch video and stuff, too... I can tell you basics about it but I think it'd be better if you go there and read it yourself. It sounds very simple, too simple, but it WORKS. =)

Yeah, Paul McKenna is the man! Haha. He really helps you put into perspective your eating habits, and teaches you how to eat consciously.

I find that every time I get sick I get so full so fast, and due to the fact that I cannot smell or taste my food I am not really that interested in it. It makes you wonder how emotional and mental eating really is. If i we did it purely for survival, than I think all of us would be eating at a 5 all the time and not really have to worry about our weight.

the Fat Smash Diet is a completely separate thing. I think there is a section for it on this site, so if you want to scope it out you totally can. Basically it is a book written by the nutritionist from VH1's Celebrity Fit Club. He helps you reprogram how your body takes in food, and what you really need to survive and maintain happiness for the long run.

Simply put here is how it goes...

For the first 9 days you detox your body so you only eat whole foods and consume dairy that is low fat and only in small quantities. This way you give your body simply what it needs, and not what your imagination would like to have that day! Lol. the whole foods cleanse your body so you go to the bathroom a lot and remove excess toxins from your system. this is a completely vegetarian stage (however, not vegan).

That is Phase I. In the next 3 phases you slowly add meats and other dairies, and by Phase 4 you are allowed to eat anything you want, but within reason, and you should make the base of your diet staples from Phase I. I mean, you can still have french fries, ice cream, meat, seafood, milk during the course of your life, but you just have to do it within reason. The diet goes for 90 days, so by the time you are finished you should be reprogrammed so that you prefer to eat more whole foods, and you have better judgment as to when you eat unhealthy of "fun foods".

OH! and PS it is not abnormal to lose 10 lbs within those first 9 detox days especially if you stay true to it and have some water weight to lose. :)

I was just listening to a podcast "Inside Out Weight Loss" by Renee Stevens (great podcast!) and she talks about the hunger scale.

She discusses naturally slender people and how they eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full, and most likely they eat for what will make them feel best.

When you think about food and eating (when food is offered, when you see food, when it's "lunch time") you should put your hands over your stomach, put your head slightly down and think of how hungry you are. After that you should imagine what it would be like to eat that food you're craving or what is offered (donut at work, pizza from an ad etc) and how it will make your body and stomach feel, not just how it will taste in your mouth.

She mentions the average person eats a meal in seven minutes - no wonder we all are overweight!

We need to ask ourselves "What should I eat that will make me feel best over time?" Then we need to imagine the portion we want and the portion we should eat and how it will effect our stomach and body.

She mentions a national weight control registry and how there are so many studies on what people DO to keep X amount of weight off for over a year or more. What they don't study and report on is what they THINK while they are losing weight and keeping it off. To be able to complete weight loss and keep it off, we need to change how we think, and make eating like a slender person as natural and as easy as possible.

That's me too...Hunger is never really an issue. I generally eat for meals and when I'm bored. If I really focused on hunger alone, my overweightness wouldn't even be an issue.:kickcan:

Nicky, I am starting Fat Smashing Diet today. I got all the goodies for it, full of veggies, and fruits, and brown rice, too. :P Did you start it yet? If so, let me know how it's going. If not, I will let you know how it goes. ;)

Hey targettingthin!

Yes I started it on Friday. It's actually not that bad. i am enjoying it because my innards feel so fresh and so clean clean (sorry Outkast reference) LOL.
Yeah, so eating brown rice and brown rice products isn't so bad. It's great getting such a variety of fruits and veggies. I go out to eat often (it's really a lifestyle thing with my job... and largely why I am so overweight :(...) so, I have been ordering things like "vegetable soup" or when out for Indian I ordered "chickpea masala". Although, most meals I am eating carrot sticks, strawberries, boiled egg whites, hummus, etc... Just certain things listed in combination so that I don't go hungry. I love eating every 2-3 hours I feel like I am always in store for something good. If I ate at 11am and don't want to eat until 2pm, but at 1pm I am hungry I refer to the hunger scale. If I am at 4, then I wait it out, if I am at 3, then I eat and just push my next eating time to 4pm. Then dinner at 7pm, and night time snack at 9pm, and so on....