The IE Journey and Rethinking the Hunger Scale

It feels to me like I’ve come a long way in a short time.  Eating at a less urgent level of hunger has changed things so much for the better.  Fast eating, frankly, has become a non-issue.  I just don’t scarf down food so fast when I’m not half-cracked with starvation when I choose to eat.  In fact, I CHOOSE to eat.  I don’t wait until I’m so hungry that there is no longer a choice and I’m walking into the kitchen like a restricted zombie trying to find the biggest fat and sugar payload to combat urgent hunger. 

I’m noticing lots of other neat changes… like, desserts just don’t taste as good as they used to.  I used to be able to live on dessert-type stuff and made the effort to get other foods into my diet, cuz I knew it made me feel better…. but, there was hardly ever a time when something mainly made of sugar wouldn’t taste really good to me.  Since I know most other people aren’t like this, I’ve always wondered WHY this was for me.  I now wonder if it had something to do with letting myself get so hungry.  I find myself craving a more balanced diet… which makes eating one a whole lot easier.

Now that I don’t let myself become so terribly hungry before I eat – food just tastes different.  It tastes better.  I didn’t expect that.  Anyway… today breakfast was a bunch of peanut butter cups.  My period is around the corner, which normally causes more sweet cravings – especially chocolate.  OMG… divine.  I don’t think they have ever tasted so good to me before in my life… perhaps because I ate exactly what I wanted at a non-extreme level of hunger.  Perhaps eating at this less extreme level of hunger allows me to taste what I eat far more clearly than before?  I am not sure… but it is all pretty darn neat! 

It is still shocking to me to realize that I have spent so many years waiting way too long to eat… and delving into far too deep into extreme levels of hunger.  I honestly had no idea that I was going that far into hunger.  I had no idea what I was doing to myself by making myself wait to eat so darn long.  I didn’t feel hunger until it was “extreme” anyway.  I am so grateful that I was willing to try eating at the very, very, very first and even subtle sign of hunger… because it doesn’t take very long after that point before I’m desperately hungry. 

Actually, something that Vesta said in another post really struck me as something I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY relate to…. she said:

My hunger signals are still so messed up from all the dieting and the WLS that there are times, if I don’t eat as soon as the minor hunger hits, it goes away, and then I’m in big trouble. I get shaky, nauseous, and a major headache that won’t go away even if I do eat, unless I eat massive (well, massive to me) amounts of protein with a few carbs thrown in…

I’m noticing that this is the case for me as well.  It is best for me to eat at the first signs of hunger… otherwise, I am going to wind up in trouble as well… But all those years, I had used this hunger scale BS that was messing me up… for example, here is a hunger scale I pulled off of Oprah’s Best Life Diet website…

10: Stuffed. You are so full you feel nauseous.

9: Very uncomfortably full. You need to loosen your clothes.

8: Uncomfortably full. You feel bloated.

7: Full. A little bit uncomfortable.

6: Perfectly comfortable. You feel satisfied.

5: Comfortable. You’re more or less satisfied, but could eat a little more.

4: Slightly uncomfortable. You’re just beginning to feel signs of hunger.

3: Uncomfortably hungry. Your stomach is rumbling.

2: Very uncomfortable. You feel irritable and unable to concentrate.

1: Weak and light-headed. Your stomach acid is churning.

Oprah’s advice is to: “You should eat only when you’re feeling 1, 2, 3 or 4.”  Really?  No cautionary advice about eating at too deep a level of hunger?  None, indeed… interesting…  This is very similar to the hunger scale that I have been beating my head up against for years.  There was no warning about waiting too late to eat.  I particularly remember one diet book explaining that by the time you’re losing coordination and becoming irritable that this is a good time to eat.  I have searched the internet and am not finding scales that recommend waiting to eat until this point…  Am I the only one who has seen this before?  Anyway… whereever I read this, I took it as the gospel.  I thought that if someone was suggesting that you should only eat at the point of irritability and slight lack of coordination that it must be normal to experience this level of hunger for other people… and that it must be no big deal to them.  I started to wonder why it was so torturous for me, if it was just run-of-the-mill for everyone else.  Anyone else been there? 

Anyway… if I was “fat”, then I “should” dive into the deeper ends of the hunger-scale anyway, right?  *headdesk*  It’s not like what I was reading was cautioning me against it – because it wasn’t and I obviously didn’t think of this myself. 

In my hunger scale searches today, I came across this scale that makes so much more sense to me…

HUNGER – SATISFACTION SCALE (HSS) 

10: Stuffed to the point of feeling sick (Thanksgiving full!)
9: Very uncomfortable, tired
8: Uncomfortably full
7: Feel you have eaten just a little bit too much
6: Comfortable, satisfied [stop eating]
5: Just noticing the first signs of hunger [slow down, if eating]
4: Hungry, ready to eat [Eat at this point]
3: Very hungry
2: Extremely hungry, irritable
1: Starving, can’t concentrate, dizzy

 

On this scale, when you feel hungry – you eat.  It’s that simple.  You don’t wait until you’re shaking or having trouble concentrating or anything else.  Hungry?  Eat.  How refreshing! 

I wonder how many other people have hurt themselves over trying to wait until a level of hunger that isn’t healthy or realistic?  I wonder how many people have been using unrealistic versions of the hunger scale to guide their eating?  Have you been there?

Frankly, at this point, I don’t wanna go near any hunger scale with a 10 foot pole.  😉  I’m realizing that what Vesta said is a great guideline for me… as soon as I feel hungry, it is time for me to eat and that keeps me on a healthy and even keel.  I wish more mainstream health articles would address the fact that it is healthy for some people (many?  most?  I have no idea….) to eat at the first sign of hunger… not after sinking through level after level, looking for just the right level of hunger to eat at.  Thoughts…?

And, thank you, Vesta, for sharing your story!  When I read what you wrote, I was only just discovering that I also needed to eat at the first sign of hunger… and it was VERY validating and helpful to hear that I am not the only one! 

–AngryGrayRainbows