Re: Hunger scales: When to Stop Eating

[Guest guest]

I think the answer to your question about whether to stop eating when you no

longer feel hungry or when you feel food in your stomach, depends on how often

you want to eat. If stopping at 'no longer hungry' means you get hungry again in

2-3 hours AND you like eating many small meals, rather than 3 larger meals, then

stopping at 'no longer hungry' would fit your eating style and preference. If

stopping at 'slight stomach distention' or 'feeling food in your stomach' means

you don't get hungry for another 4-5 hours and you like eating fewer meals, then

that style would better suit your preference.

I believe we need to experiment with different levels of fullness until we find

what works best for our own preferences, eating style and schedules. Above all,

DO NOT follow someone else's notion of 'fullness' if that does not fit your

eating schedule or preference. Of course, we want to avoid getting either

'famished' or 'painfully full', but exactly where we choose to stop eating after

we start depends on personal preference and lifestyle.

In my experience as long as most of the time I stop at comfortably full, no

matter where on the hunger scale I begin eating, I can easily maintain my ideal

weight. That approach allows me to do some emotional eating, some mindful

overeating at special meals and some undereating when I don't have time to eat

much or just don't like the food available and eat just to stop the hunger.

I appreciate all the posts about WHEN to start and stop eating (HOW MUCH),

because many IE newbees focus only on WHAT to eat.

SUE

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> I recently read " 7 Secrets of Thin People " . They mention a 2-5 scale. Eat

at a two and stop at a five. They describe the five as being not hungry, not

full, comfortable, and can't feel food in your stomach. Back several years ago,

when I was really trying to find my way with this stuff, I was eating until the

hunger was gone and stopped. I ended up going to a nutritionist that said I was

only eating to a neutral point if I eat to the place of no longer feeling hungry

and that I needed to eat to the point where I feel food in my stomach. I was

needing to eat probably every two hours and she was saying that I need to eat

more and be able to go longer during meals. I had gotten a little obsessive

about eating to no longer feeling hunger, and was anxious about eating to

feeling the food in my stomach. So today I still have some questions about

that...eat til feel the food, eat til the hunger isn't there. Not really sure.

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