Have you ever encountered a “hunger scale” before? I had seen it before, but never really understood the full use for this until last year.  What I’ve learned about the hunger scale in the past year has been revolutionary.  This can change your entire relationship to food!  First, the hunger scale is a horizontal line with a zero in the middle.  Zero is neither hungry nor satiated.  It is feeling completely neutral in relationship to hunger or fullness.  To the right size of the zero is 10 increments of +1, +2, +3, and so on up to +10.  Plus 10 is Thanksgiving dinner (if you celebrate that holiday).  For me, it is the feeling of needing to get out of my clothes into something elastic/ blousy; like a Kaftan.  It is the feeling of need to just lie on your back.  If you eat another taste of anything, you will surely burst.  That’s +10.  Have you been to +10 before?

The other side of the zero on the hunger scale to the left is 10 more increments from -1, -2, and -3 on up to -10.  Minus 10 on this side of neutral is completely empty body – no food left in the system whatsoever.  You haven’t eaten for 2 days.  The closest to a -10 I’ve ever been was being in intensive care and not on solid food for 10 days.  Even then, I was getting nutrients via IV.  Maybe closer was when I fasted for nearly 36 hours.  Those were close to -10.

So those are the extremes. Where you need to be is more in the very middle of this scale, so you notice when you first start to get hungry.  Most of us miss these signals.  We don’t know we are hungry until we are ready to rip the refrigerator door of its hinges.  I used to either eat before there was any hunger there at all (because I was emotional, because it was lunch time, or just because there was an apple Danish on the kitchen counter). Probably you are completely “deaf” to your body’s signals because you’ve told your body to shut up so many times in the past.  Think about the diets, the times your body was very hungry and you thought, “Oh, make that stop – I can’t eat right now.  I’ll ignore this empty feeling and have food later.”  You ignore your body enough and eventually you stop noticing it all.

It takes practice to notice when you start to eek just past zero to -1 and then to -2.  I finally discovered that for me, it was actually a feeling of being slightly weak – a little drowsy and then maybe even a little edgy.  It was not anything I had ever associated with a need for food in the past.  By the time you hit -2, you might have the tiniest bit of tummy growl.  You will learn to begin to fix/seek food when you just start to feel that weak drowsiness.  If you get that little growl, it definitely time to get food in.  You can stretch it to a -4 on the scale and still be in control when you sit down to eat.  But if you go past -4 (and probably you mostly have let yourself get to -6, -7 in the past), you will become so hungry that you end up trying to compensate by overeating.  If you eat at -2, you can pay attention and stop yourself at +2 on the scale.  If you eat at -4, you can easily find +4 and stop.  But if you get hungrier than that, you are going to overeat.

So how do you know when you are at +2? Remember, zero is neutral.  You will no longer have hunger in your body, but still want another bite.  A couple more bites – two or three – should get you to +1.  You’re beginning to feel satiated.  Maybe a couple more bites and bang, you are at +2.  You find that you can walk away from your plate.  The only difference between +2 to +3 and to +4 is only a couple of bites between each.  You may be very surprised at how little food you actually need.  Do not despair!  If you stop at +2, you are going to start to be hungry again in about 3 hours and you will get to eat again to +2.

Eating from -2 to +2 is where I started because it was the best measure to start getting me in tune with how much in my tummy took me to that place on the scale. I would know if I nailed it by how soon I was feeling hunger again.  If you are truly stopping at +2, you will want food again in about 2-1/2 to 3 hours.  If you are not hungry for another 4 to 5 hours, this means you probably ate to +4.  Not eating until -4 means you are going to begin to feel hunger in your stomach.  Not ravenous, but hungry.  Eating to +4 is about 3 to 4 bites past +2 and should keep you satiated for 4 to 5 hours.  If you are not starting to feel ready for food again in 5 or more hours, you’ve probably overeaten.

So begin to closely pay attention to your body’s signals. You’ve been ignoring your body’s signals for so long it is going to take careful tuning in to start catching that faint start of hunger or exactly how each bite of food feels and where it takes you.  But this is SO worth the investment of effort.  You are going learn so much about your body and how it wants to be nurtured.  You’ll begin to view your meals very differently!  Reach out to me in the comments section below if you have questions.  I know many questions will come up around this idea of using the hunger scale, and I’m happy to answer them!