#hungerscale

[trimthriving]

🍏 WEIGHT LOSS & DIET

why your hunger cues feel out of control (and how to fix it)

"Struggling with constant hunger? Learn why your appetite feels out of control and simple, realistic ways to fix it without extreme diets."

🔑 Inside this Article:

When your stomach feels like it’s running the show

First, let’s talk about why hunger feels so unpredictable

What actually works (no extreme diets required)

When stress is the real culprit

Read Full Article ➡️

[rowed2perfection]

Perspective | The most helpful healthy-eating tool: Accurately evaluating how hungry you are

Using a 1-to-10 hunger scale helps you check in with your satiety cues, which can stop overeating.

Sometimes it’s just easier to have a few simple rules to follow. The hunger scale is about as simple - and reliable - as it gets.  Regardless of how you choose to eat (Paleo, counting macros, counting calories, keto, intuitive, eat what you want when you want) you actually DO have a plan for how you eat.  Even the absence of a formalized “plan” is still a structure that guides how you decide what and when to eat each day, and when to stop. 

After years and years of testing different plans, lately I’ve been feeling that I want something really SIMPLE.  I’m sick of worrying about ratios of carbs to fat, or does what I’m about to eat have grains in it, or is it the right thing to eat before or after my workout, etc. 

PUTTING HUNGER ON THE SCALE

Maybe it’s everything else that’s going on in my super busy life right now but I just need my eating plan to be EASY.  

So it’s a nice coincidence that Ellie Krieger wrote up this column about the hunger scale.  This is exactly what I’m working on in Girls Gone Strong’s Strongest You Coaching: Waiting to eat until I’m truly hungry, eating slowly, and stopping when I’m satisfied, not full. 

The thing I love about this list is Ellie’s definitions of the various stages on the hunger scale, what she calls The Hunger Continuum.  Of course this scale isn’t new, you’ve probably seen versions of it a ton of times too. But I’ve never seen the times to eat and stop eating described quite this way: 

EAT when you are: Feeling strong feelings of hunger (vs. starting to get hungry or uncomfortably full) STOP EATING when you are: Comfortably full (vs. nearly full or very full)

I know when my stomach is rumbling consistently, when I’ve gone ahead of that “Hmmm, I could eat” feeling.  I also know when I’m aware that I’ve had enough, especially if I’ve taken my time to eat.  

GUIDE YOUR EATING WITH TWO SIMPLE QUESTIONS

I’m not saying these steps are effortless and will put you on weight loss easy street.  For me at least, it’s still work.  The nice thing is that they’re straightforward, and not a lot to remember.  

I just ask myself one question before I eat something: “Are you really hungry?” Or as my Strongest You coach Jen Comas likes to say, If you’re truly hungry, a piece of lean protein and steamed vegetables will sound good to you.

During a meal, I ask myself “Are you starting to feel like you’ve had enough?” If the answer is yes (more on how to tell in the next post), I take maybe one or two more bites -- sometimes I call these “goodbye bites” -- and put my fork down. Then I move on to the next thing as quickly as possible.  The next meal will come soon enough. 

Does this resonate with you? Have you ever tried eating this way? I would love to hear your stories of what’s working for you, or where you’d like help!