Sometimes it’s tough to tell when enough is enough with food. Babies know to push food away when they’re full, but it gets trickier for grown-ups. We don’t just eat for fuel, we do it for pleasure and comfort, too. And that makes it harder to gauge when we’re actually full, which can lead to overeating and sometimes weight gain, too.
But according to the experts at MyFitnessPal, there’s a simple tool to help keep you from eating more than you need. They say that visualizing a “hunger scale” can help you understand what your hunger cues actually mean.
- Just imagine your hunger on a scale from zero to 10, with zero feeling empty and 10 being stuffed.
- Think of “gentle hunger” as a four and “slight satisfaction” as a six.
- To use the hunger scale to help you avoid emotional eating, they say you need to first gauge your hunger before eating. If you’re overly hungry at a zero to two, pay attention to how fast you’re eating and slow down so you don’t eat past being satisfied without realizing it.
- Nutritionist Kristina LaRue says that if you’re satisfied and not actually physically hungry, but still feel tempted to eat, try to figure out what you really need.
- And instead of just eating your entire meal on autopilot, she advises checking in with the hunger scale halfway through your meal.
- Then if you notice you’re getting full, stop eating and save the rest for later.
- Feeling comfortably satisfied at the end of the meal means you’ve hit the sweet spot with portion size.
Check out the article at NY Post