Paul McKenna's Hunger Scale
sugarlips1980
Posts: 361 Member
Hi
I remember reading Paul McKenna's Think Yourself Thin book years ago and was thinking about it recently.I think it's really important for weight loss and maintenance so thought I'd share.
The scale goes from 1 to 10, with 1 feeling physically faint with hunger and 10 feeling stuffed to the point of nausea.
He says you never allow yourself to get to 1 or 2 where you're ravenously hungry, nor stuff yourself silly. So eat when you feel you're at 3-4, fairly to slightly hungry, and stop when you get to 7, full but not uncomfortably so (and of course it can take your brain 20 mins to register you're feeling full).
My experience is that I have to feel some hunger to lose weight. I had a successful weight loss year in 2012 and then last year I hardly lost much but maintained, despite eating quite healthy and exercising like mad at times. I simply wasn't eating at a deficit and feeling much hunger! I was trying to not feel too deprived by feeling too hungry because I know from past experience that starts me yo-yoing.
A great rule to stick to, if you're always between 3 and 7 then you're following normal, healthy eating patterns for life.
It's explained here: http://www.changeyourmindnow.com/weight-control/the-hunger-scale/
I remember reading Paul McKenna's Think Yourself Thin book years ago and was thinking about it recently.I think it's really important for weight loss and maintenance so thought I'd share.
The scale goes from 1 to 10, with 1 feeling physically faint with hunger and 10 feeling stuffed to the point of nausea.
He says you never allow yourself to get to 1 or 2 where you're ravenously hungry, nor stuff yourself silly. So eat when you feel you're at 3-4, fairly to slightly hungry, and stop when you get to 7, full but not uncomfortably so (and of course it can take your brain 20 mins to register you're feeling full).
My experience is that I have to feel some hunger to lose weight. I had a successful weight loss year in 2012 and then last year I hardly lost much but maintained, despite eating quite healthy and exercising like mad at times. I simply wasn't eating at a deficit and feeling much hunger! I was trying to not feel too deprived by feeling too hungry because I know from past experience that starts me yo-yoing.
A great rule to stick to, if you're always between 3 and 7 then you're following normal, healthy eating patterns for life.
It's explained here: http://www.changeyourmindnow.com/weight-control/the-hunger-scale/
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Replies
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Meh... I know my macros, I know my calorie requirements. Sometimes I'm absolutely stuffed, sometimes I'm ravenous, doesn't mean I'm not hitting my goals (and I'm hungrier maintaining/bulking eating 2500+ calories a day than I was losing weight at 2000 calories a day)
In all honesty, hunger is a very poor signal of whether you're eating enough or too much.0 -
I politely totally disagree! I think hunger is the VERY BEST signal of whether you're eating enough or too much! And the key problem for most overweight people is that they've not been listening to their body's hunger signals for years!0
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Or you could just weigh your food and stick within a sensible calorie goal. Much more accurate considering a lot of people with weight problems have them due to mixed up hunger signals
My experience is that I have to feel some hunger to lose weight. I had a successful weight loss year in 2012 and then last year I hardly lost much but maintained, despite eating quite healthy and exercising like mad at times. I simply wasn't eating at a deficit and feeling much hunger! I was trying to not feel too deprived by feeling too hungry because I know from past experience that starts me yo-yoing.
A great rule to stick to, if you're always between 3 and 7 then you're following normal, healthy eating patterns for life.
It's explained here: http://www.changeyourmindnow.com/weight-control/the-hunger-scale/0 -
Or you could just weigh your food and stick within a sensible calorie goal. Much more accurate considering a lot of people with weight problems have them due to mixed up hunger signals
Yup, I do weigh my food and stick to a calories goal here on MFP. Listening to your body's needs is still important within that. Mixed up hunger signals can be about emotions - feeling you're hungry when you're really stressed, upset etc. This scale theory is about trying to get you to listen to your TRUE hunger signals.
And the point of this is that while some may plan to always calorie count even for maintenance, not all of us will calorie count forever after we've lost the weight. So listening to your body's signals will be even more key then.0 -
I am unable to rely on hunger signals if I want to maintain my weight while continuing to exercise.
I think I might be able to rely on them if I stopped exercising.0 -
I politely totally disagree! I think hunger is the VERY BEST signal of whether you're eating enough or too much! And the key problem for most overweight people is that they've not been listening to their body's hunger signals for years!
Absolute rubbish. You get used to a certain intake so you can be eating far too much and be famished or far too little and not be hungry at all.0 -
I politely totally disagree! I think hunger is the VERY BEST signal of whether you're eating enough or too much! And the key problem for most overweight people is that they've not been listening to their body's hunger signals for years!
Absolute rubbish. You get used to a certain intake so you can be eating far too much and be famished or far too little and not be hungry at all.
Listening to your body signals to see whether you're hungry or not is "absolute rubbish"?? Oooooh okay then. Good luck!
Nothing wrong with debate, but I guess there's always going to be people on being rude here and talking nonsense like it's fact!0 -
I agree with the OP. I am near maintenece and have never been particularly overweight or suffered with messed up hunger signals. I use my hunger levels to regulate my eating. If I've met my calorie goals but I'm still hungry i will eat something small and healthy, maybe go back for seconds if I'm still hungry (almond butter on celery is favourite) . If I've not met my calorie goals and I'm not hungry- I don't eat any more. I've heard of people eating cookies before bed even though they are full, just to reach thier calorie goal. That's not something I'd do.0
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I politely totally disagree! I think hunger is the VERY BEST signal of whether you're eating enough or too much! And the key problem for most overweight people is that they've not been listening to their body's hunger signals for years!
Absolute rubbish. You get used to a certain intake so you can be eating far too much and be famished or far too little and not be hungry at all.
Listening to your body signals to see whether you're hungry or not is "absolute rubbish"?? Oooooh okay then. Good luck!
Relying purely on hunger to tell you whether you're eating the right amount is indeed rubbish if you have a messed up relationship with food, which many people do. The same number of calories can be satiating or not depending on the composition.
And I don't need luck, dear. I've successfully achieved my weight loss/size goals (can't quite cope with the idea of being a UK size 6, so decided to stick at an 8) and gone from a complete weakling to a budding powerlifter with a respectable total (always increasing).0 -
I agree with the OP. I am near maintenece and have never been particularly overweight or suffered with messed up hunger signals. I use my hunger levels to regulate my eating. If I've met my calorie goals but I'm still hungry i will eat something small and healthy, maybe go back for seconds if I'm still hungry (almond butter on celery is favourite) . If I've not met my calorie goals and I'm not hungry- I don't eat any more. I've heard of people eating cookies before bed even though they are full, just to reach thier calorie goal. That's not something I'd do.
Exactly, it's a crucial skills for us all to learn because we might not be calorie counting forever. I can understand why people try to reach their cal goal even if they're not hungry, I guess that's personal preference. I try my very best to stay within the cal goals but one day I might eat a little under and the next a little over, I listen to my body.0 -
I politely totally disagree! I think hunger is the VERY BEST signal of whether you're eating enough or too much! And the key problem for most overweight people is that they've not been listening to their body's hunger signals for years!
Absolute rubbish. You get used to a certain intake so you can be eating far too much and be famished or far too little and not be hungry at all.
Listening to your body signals to see whether you're hungry or not is "absolute rubbish"?? Oooooh okay then. Good luck!
Relying purely on hunger to tell you whether you're eating the right amount is indeed rubbish if you have a messed up relationship with food, which many people do. The same number of calories can be satiating or not depending on the composition.
And I don't need luck, dear. I've successfully achieved my weight loss/size goals (can't quite cope with the idea of being a UK size 6, so decided to stick at an 8) and gone from a complete weakling to a budding powerlifter with a respectable total (always increasing).
My post isn't saying throw out the food scales or stop calorie counting. Just putting something useful out there about listening to your body. And some people (unlikely to be on this site) don't calorie count and simply adapt their eating using this strategy of listening to their hunger signals and that works for them. It's like you're saying if people have had bad relationships with food they're doomed to always be like that..this theory is about changing that relationship. Honestly this isn't that controversial!!
Congratulations on your success. Doesn't make you qualified to be deciding this is "absolute rubbish" though.0 -
Following hunger signals can be very deceptive. Some people get hungry when they really just need to drink water. Or they think they are hungry and eat out of boredom. Cravings can be mistaken for hunger.
I personally wouldn't go with it unless my perception was pretty well fine tuned and I was disciplined about my eating habits. I do listen to hunger signals sometimes but I don't think it should take the place of tracking what you eat.0 -
I agree and disagree. Given MFP's sometimes completely loopy calorie recommendations, I have to listen to my body and up my calorie intake when I'm STARVING. But sometimes, I'm stressed and FEEL hungry, even when I'm not.
So, I think it's a good starting point slash reminder to have that scale, but not as an endallbeall kind of thing
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Following hunger signals can be very deceptive. Some people get hungry when they really just need to drink water. Or they think they are hungry and eat out of boredom. Cravings can be mistaken for hunger.
I personally wouldn't go with it unless my perception was pretty well fine tuned and I was disciplined about my eating habits. I do listen to hunger signals sometimes but I don't think it should take the place of tracking what you eat.
Good point, they do say try drinking water first to see if you're really hungry. I'm not presenting this as an alternative to calorie counting, just saying I think it's worthwhile to take note of this especially for if/when a time comes you're done with calorie counting.0 -
I think it totally depends on the person. Some people have reliable hunger signs, some do not. I would agree that eating to the point of being physically ill is generally not a good idea and that (now that I eat sensibly) I rarely get to that point, except maybe on holidays.0
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Following hunger signals for people who have never been overweight might work, but for overweight people, absolutely not. I'm guessing most people who have been obese (or underweight, really) have messed up hunger signals.
Plus you can eat 400 calories of something (like bread) and be hungry an hour later... but if you eat those 400 calories of veggies, you'll be full for hours... How in the world can you rely on hunger then?0 -
Following hunger signals can be very deceptive. Some people get hungry when they really just need to drink water. Or they think they are hungry and eat out of boredom. Cravings can be mistaken for hunger.
I personally wouldn't go with it unless my perception was pretty well fine tuned and I was disciplined about my eating habits. I do listen to hunger signals sometimes but I don't think it should take the place of tracking what you eat.
Good point, they do say try drinking water first to see if you're really hungry. I'm not presenting this as an alternative to calorie counting, just saying I think it's worthwhile to take note of this especially for if/when a time comes you're done with calorie counting.
The OP did put it as though you were suggesting exactly that.Following hunger signals for people who have never been overweight might work, but for overweight people, absolutely not. I'm guessing most people who have been obese (or underweight, really) have messed up hunger signals.
Plus you can eat 400 calories of something (like bread) and be hungry an hour later... but if you eat those 400 calories of veggies, you'll be full for hours... How in the world can you rely on hunger then?
And this is a far less inflammatory way of saying what I've already said.0 -
Following hunger signals can be very deceptive. Some people get hungry when they really just need to drink water. Or they think they are hungry and eat out of boredom. Cravings can be mistaken for hunger.
I personally wouldn't go with it unless my perception was pretty well fine tuned and I was disciplined about my eating habits. I do listen to hunger signals sometimes but I don't think it should take the place of tracking what you eat.
Good point, they do say try drinking water first to see if you're really hungry. I'm not presenting this as an alternative to calorie counting, just saying I think it's worthwhile to take note of this especially for if/when a time comes you're done with calorie counting.
I do think something like that can be a good tool if it can help someone determine whether or not they are REALLY hungry and need to eat, or if it's just something else.
I'm at maintenance now, haven't figured out to what extent I will stop counting calories (counting and fine tuning right now!) Might take breaks once my daily allowance is fine tuned, weigh regularly, but start counting again when the weight creeps up.0 -
Interesting article. Thank you for sharing it.0
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The OP did put it as though you were suggestin exactly that.
Absolutely nowhere does my post say I think people should listen to hunger signals and not calorie count at all!!!!!!
And I think it's pretty poor of you to be deciding that anyone who's had a messed up relationship with food can never learn to listen to their body again - please noone listen to this naysayer and think you can't change habits!
Anyway bored of this now. Hope the majority find this useful.0 -
The OP did put it as though you were suggestin exactly that.
Absolutely nowhere does my post say I think people should listen to hunger signals and not calorie count at all!!!!!!
And I think it's pretty poor of you to be deciding that anyone who's had a messed up relationship with food can never learn to listen to their body again - please noone listen to this naysayer and think you can't change habits!
Anyway bored of this now. Hope the majority find this useful.
And where did I say they couldn't rectify their relationship with food? You can indeed change habits but it isn't instant and relying on hunger signals alone won't do it.0 -
It's a very good post OP. I know for myself, my problem isn't malfunctioning hunger signals. It's simply the clearing the plate habit; eating out of boredom; being complacent about my food choices; being inactive and being polite in a society where people are easily offended if you refuse food.
I remember one person who was absolutely livid because I preferred water when she offered me some sort of sweet drink. Hilarious, now that I recall it, but I encountered this attitude often enough to take the easy way out and paid the price with weight gain.
It certainly will pay off for me to pay closer attention because I won't always have access to MFP and I must be able to cope when I don't.0 -
Hunger is caused by hormones which can be tricked depending in your stress levels and the type of workouts that you do.
For instance, hiit and tabata style workouts can cause a significant decrease in hunger. I know that when im consistently doing sprint work I can very easily only eat 300-500 calories a day if I didn't set reminders to eat0 -
At first I thought this would be about him:
then I remembered his name is Patrick, not Paul.
It;s an interesting read, but I can't rely on stomach growling telling me when to eat because I don't always feel that sensation.0 -
too many numbers/rules..
no thanks...0 -
It's a very good post OP. I know for myself, my problem isn't malfunctioning hunger signals. It's simply the clearing the plate habit; eating out of boredom; being complacent about my food choices; being inactive and being polite in a society where people are easily offended if you refuse food.
I remember one person who was absolutely livid because I preferred water when she offered me some sort of sweet drink. Hilarious, now that I recall it, but I encountered this attitude often enough to take the easy way out and paid the price with weight gain.
It certainly will pay off for me to pay closer attention because I won't always have access to MFP and I must be able to cope when I don't.
Yes it's the 'clear your plate there's kids dying of starvation in Africa' thing. Me eating the whole contents of my plate isn't going to make any difference!! It can be difficult to not do, especially in a restaurant, you think you must eat everything you've paid for!!0 -
The OP did put it as though you were suggestin exactly that.
Absolutely nowhere does my post say I think people should listen to hunger signals and not calorie count at all!!!!!!
And I think it's pretty poor of you to be deciding that anyone who's had a messed up relationship with food can never learn to listen to their body again - please noone listen to this naysayer and think you can't change habits!
Anyway bored of this now. Hope the majority find this useful.
And where did I say they couldn't rectify their relationship with food? You can indeed change habits but it isn't instant and relying on hunger signals alone won't do it.
You said:
Relying purely on hunger to tell you whether you're eating the right amount is indeed rubbish if you have a messed up relationship with food, which many people do.
And you quoted this in agreeance
Following hunger signals for people who have never been overweight might work, but for overweight people, absolutely not. I'm guessing most people who have been obese (or underweight, really) have messed up hunger signals.
People CAN start listening to their hunger signals again. Where exactly did I say I my original post I'm suggesting this and NOT calorie counting???0 -
The OP did put it as though you were suggestin exactly that.
Absolutely nowhere does my post say I think people should listen to hunger signals and not calorie count at all!!!!!!
And I think it's pretty poor of you to be deciding that anyone who's had a messed up relationship with food can never learn to listen to their body again - please noone listen to this naysayer and think you can't change habits!
Anyway bored of this now. Hope the majority find this useful.
And where did I say they couldn't rectify their relationship with food? You can indeed change habits but it isn't instant and relying on hunger signals alone won't do it.
You said:
Relying purely on hunger to tell you whether you're eating the right amount is indeed rubbish if you have a messed up relationship with food, which many people do.
And you quoted this in agreeance
Following hunger signals for people who have never been overweight might work, but for overweight people, absolutely not. I'm guessing most people who have been obese (or underweight, really) have messed up hunger signals.
People CAN start listening to their hunger signals again. Where exactly did I say I my original post I'm suggesting this and NOT calorie counting???
You didn't say that, but Paul McKenna does.0 -
The OP did put it as though you were suggestin exactly that.
Absolutely nowhere does my post say I think people should listen to hunger signals and not calorie count at all!!!!!!
And I think it's pretty poor of you to be deciding that anyone who's had a messed up relationship with food can never learn to listen to their body again - please noone listen to this naysayer and think you can't change habits!
Anyway bored of this now. Hope the majority find this useful.
And where did I say they couldn't rectify their relationship with food? You can indeed change habits but it isn't instant and relying on hunger signals alone won't do it.
You said:
Relying purely on hunger to tell you whether you're eating the right amount is indeed rubbish if you have a messed up relationship with food, which many people do.
And you quoted this in agreeance
Following hunger signals for people who have never been overweight might work, but for overweight people, absolutely not. I'm guessing most people who have been obese (or underweight, really) have messed up hunger signals.
People CAN start listening to their hunger signals again. Where exactly did I say I my original post I'm suggesting this and NOT calorie counting???
You didn't say that, but Paul McKenna does.
Ah OK, you said I had said it. I guess he is advocating relying more on your natural instincts rather that calorie count I think I remember. He says it's the 'secret' of thin people. Each to their own and personally I feel I need a calorie controlled diet to reach my goals, but I'm picking up on this listening to your body thing to spread my food out during the day within my calorie goal. And i definitely think it's very important if/when you stop calorie counting which I'm sure many successful diets will one day.0 -
I think the hunger scale is a good idea for people like me that do alot of emotional eating. For example my office job is boring so I will eat just for something to do and I will eat my lunch bang on noon even if I am not hungry.
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