Home › Blogs › Amy Hendel's blog ›

Do You Know What Hunger Feels Like?

in

Understanding and feeling hunger can be a huge step towards helping you to lose weight. Knowing when you are really hungry and when you feel full will also help you to maintain that weight loss. We often eat to manage our emotions, a surefire way to lose the battle of the bulge.

So here’s a hunger assessment scale with a tank metaphor from Dr. Oz’s book, You on a Diet, to help guide your perception of hunger:

Zero Tank– you are so empty you feel like you haven’t eaten since junior year of high school – really hungry
Half tank- You’re OK, not desperate
Three quarters tank- satisfied, not really hungry
Full tank – full and comfortable – like you feel after a moderate sized meal
Overflow – level S (stuffed) – You could have stopped two snacks ago
Overflow – level OS (over-stuffed) – you are groaning in discomfort
Overflow - level BP (button pop/explosion) – you feel actually ill

Working on eating when you feel like zero and stopping when you feel like ¾ to full tank is the goal.