Help! My Hunger/Fullness Meter Is Broken
After years of dieting and restriction, hunger and fullness cues can be difficult to recognize. People conditioned by diet culture to ignore their hunger might ask, what does comfortable hunger feel like? Others experiencing a constant hunger from food restriction fear that honoring their hunger is like swimming into a tsunami - losing all sense of control.
Intuitive eating recommends eating when we’re comfortably hungry. That’s when we initially notice our hunger, which may be perceived as a thought about a food, a mood shift, or a dip in energy or ability to focus; everyone is different so this takes practice.
Comfortable hunger allows us to ask ourselves, “What do I want to eat, and what would feel good in my body?”
By contrast, waiting too long to eat causes dizziness, fatigue, and obsessive thoughts of food, among other powerful signals our bodies use to keep us from starving. When we finally allow ourselves to eat, foods that provide quick energy are the most appealing, and we’re more likely to eat to a point of being uncomfortably full.
If you’re recovering from a period of dieting and food restriction, your body may be in a constant state of hunger, even soon after eating a meal. Weight Set Point Theory helps explain this.
One client recently asked me, "How do I know when to stop eating?" A busy mom of three young kids, she struggles with eating until she’s uncomfortably full. Here’s where curious awareness and getting more connected to internal cues comes in. In the middle of a meal pause and ask -
How does this food taste and am I still enjoying it?
What are my hunger and fullness levels right now?
If you’re losing interest in the food, that’s one cue that you’re approaching a level of comfortable fullness. Learning to identify hunger and fullness levels is hard at first, but the more regularly you practice checking in, the more attuned you'll be, and eating an amount that feels good in your body becomes easier.
For those times you eat too much, practice not dwelling in shame and self-criticism. Notice, learn and move on.
