Apply the hunger scale, solve your weight issues
If you can learn the hunger scale and be willing to apply it, you will solve your weight issue.
Many of the women I coach are not in tune with their bodies and have been taught to ignore their body’s signals. They begin coaching with me feeling completely out of control. To get started, I give them some structure that will automatically get them in touch with their hunger cues and learning the hunger scale.
If I tell them to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full, they have lots of questions. It seems like a simple thing to do—but you and I know that it isn’t.
Hunger Scale: From starving to stuffed
The hunger scale is a tool that helps you get back in touch with your body and what it is trying to tell you. It’s just like the fuel tank in your car, except that it’s the fuel tank for your body.
Do you know what hunger feels like? Not the crazy, starving hunger that screams at you when you have gone many hours without eating. Rather the whisper that you will need to listen to really hear your body’s wisdom. This whisper is faint and subtle and is often ignored.
Let’s break it down so there is no mistake when you are feeling it.
Sensation of hunger or feeling of hunger?
The sensation of hunger is a biological and physical reaction caused by the lack of fuel. You will need to spend a lot of time getting to know what this really feels like. It’s a connection to your body that tells you on a physical level where you are on the hunger scale.
An emotional feeling of hunger can be very similar, but it’s harder to locate in the body. Many times, emotional hunger is felt more in the chest and the heart. It’s not accompanied by a sense of lightness or emptiness, but more of a heavy emptiness. It’s heavy and dull.
You will have your own distinctions, but you must learn the difference. When you want to honor a hunger signal and listen to your hunger emotion, you need to know the difference so you can treat each one with the proper tools and actions. Too often we are eating from emotional hunger and filling our stomach when we need to be filling our hearts.
Understanding your personal physical and emotional hunger signals
One exercise you can do to understand the difference is to make a list of what it feels like when you are physically hungry for food and what that feels like in the body. On the other side of the page, write down what emotional hunger feels like. As you work on implementing these tools, you will become more and more in touch with what each feels like, and there will be no question about the difference.
Remember: the sensation of hunger is satisfied with fuel
the emotion of hunger is satisfied with self-love.
This is the hunger scale used for physical hunger only. It runs from -10, which is starving, to +10, which is stuffed.
If you can learn this one tool and be willing to apply it, you will solve your weight issue.
It is the most challenging practice because when you stop at 2, your feelings and beliefs will surface and feel very uncomfortable at first. You will learn throughout this book how to use these feelings and beliefs to make your life richer, but for now you must understand the truth: stopping at 2 on a regular basis is the first indication you are truly connected to yourself and your body.
If you look at the scale, you can see it is a very small range right in the middle that I am suggesting you stay within. It is about the size of your stomach (which is about the size of your fist.) As you get to know your -2, you will realize it is just a little whisper from your body that it is time for a little fuel. It doesn’t scream or interrupt you with a loud growl. It is a very subtle emptiness with a little gentle growl. You need to be in the present moment and connected to hear it. At this point, you have enough time to prepare a small meal or snack and eat.
As you are eating, you will slowly notice your body moving from -2 to -1 to 0. Then, you will feel your stomach filling up and moving to 1, then 2. As you arrive at 2, you will need to stop eating. This means that if you are right in the middle of a meal, a sandwich, or a protein shake—stop. In the beginning, I suggest being hyper-vigilant here. This is very important in terms of retraining your body that you trust it and that you are listening. This is not a time for justifications or rationalization. Do not judge your body for its opinion. Just get to know it.
You will be shocked at how quickly you get to 2. For some, it takes very little food. It is amazing to eat so little and not feel physical deprivation. By the very definition of being at 2 on the hunger scale, you will feel satiation and not physical deprivation.
Other times, diet flashbacks and worry will come up. Just let those feelings surface and remember that you are truly physically satiated at this point. As you might have guessed, by eating according to your body and its wisdom, you will be eating more often throughout the day. This usually requires some planning to have food with you and available so you won’t go beyond -2. You will feel comfortable stopping at 2, knowing you have more food available for the very next time you get hungry.
It is okay to play around with the food scale and eat only a few bites to get you to -1 to hold you over for an upcoming dinner or a planned event. Be careful to not let yourself ever get too hungry. Keep yourself fed before you get past -2 so you won’t be in such a hurry to eat everything in sight. When you get too hungry, you set yourself up to eat convenient foods and not necessarily what your body needs. Stop eating at 2 so you can feel light and not feed your body more than it needs.
Listening to your body and honoring its signals is one of the true forms of self-love
This is a practice and a way of life. It requires you to invest your time and energy into your relationship with your body. It requires you to respect it. It requires you to listen to it. In the middle of a meal at a restaurant, you will need to connect to yourself and listen. For many of us, it is not in our programming to stay connected, so it will take some effort at first. If you really work at it, eventually you will get used to having a light feeling in your stomach and an intimate communication with your body. It becomes a natural way of being in your own skin.
You get to the point where overeating is akin to shoving more food in the mouth of a child who has said he has had enough. You start listening to your body with the same respect you would give that child. By gently laying your fork down, you are telling your body you are listening.
Observe naturally thin people
Naturally thin people who have not been subjected to diets do this without thinking. If you watch thin people eat, you will notice that they don’t order large quantities of food and they regularly stop when they have had enough. They may stop in the middle of a meal or lose interest halfway through a dessert. To many of us, this is astounding. We cannot imagine stopping in the middle of a dish that tastes so good. To a naturally thin person, it does not make sense to continue feeding a body that isn’t hungry. To them, it would be like overfilling the gas tank of a car. Even if it is the highest-grade gasoline and the price is ridiculously low, there is still no reason to fill a tank past full. It doesn’t take effort or forethought; it seems incredibly obvious to stop when full.
You and your body are on the same side. You need to keep it that way if you want your body to cooperate, and you can work together to achieve your goals. If you are fighting against your body, you will be in a fight that will never end.
Five guidelines to accompany the Hunger Scale protocol
Generally, the body gets hungry for a small meal about every two to three hours. If you deliberately eat this way, you will start to notice that, when you eat small meals at an interval of about three hours, your stomach will be at -2 again. If you need a little more structure getting started, here are some guidelines that will get you get back in touch with their bodies. Remember, these are not guidelines to be followed without regard to the body. If you find your body has a different plan, your body wins! But this will help get started:
Eat six small meals a day about every three hours (two of these meals can be a high-grade nutrition bar or protein shake).
Eat a serving of fuel carbohydrates and a serving of fuel protein at each meal (more information on fuel foods later).
Make sure at least three of the meals have a serving of vegetables.
A serving size is the size of your fist (this is the actual size of your stomach).
Drink an 8-oz. bottle of water every two hours.
The hunger scale promises you are never too hungry or too full . . .
This eating pattern automatically has most people eating when they are hungry and stopping at just about a 2 on the hunger scale. When you eat small meals all day long you stay within the range, never getting too hungry and never getting too full. Not everyone needs to follow this type of structure, but it’s a very good guideline that delivers a steady stream of energy throughout the day, keeps you within a sensible range on the hunger scale, and is in line with what most bodies need. I start my clients on the hunger scale eating in a -2 to 2+ range. Depending on their weight loss progress, we do change up the protocol to 3 meals a day eating -4 to 4+ on the scale.
Once you have a clear understanding of the hunger scale and you start to apply it, you will notice that there are many times when you are not hungry and you still want to eat. It may be when you are in the middle of a meal and you have reached 2, but you want to keep eating. Or, it might be in the middle of the day and you have no need for fuel, but you have a strong desire to eat something because it happens to be in front of you. Do not panic when this happens. In fact, this is not always a bad thing. If you are willing to pay attention to what is going on with your eating, you will have a window into your emotional life. Any time you want to eat for a non-fuel reason, you may have an opportunity to learn something. So, I recommend you look forward to this happening.
If you are interested in this approach, which is so different than typical, popular weight loss programs contact me (link) and I’d be delighted to answer any questions you have about it.
