The difference between hunger and wanting to eat

I always feel the need to finish my meals so for the past few weeks I have been eating off the same size plates as my kids it really reduces portion sizes and you feel strangely full clearing the plate good luck :-)

appetite vs hunger...

appetitie for me means I want something specific....ie Toaster strudel vs greek yogurt.
Hunger means anything will do....plain couscous so I don't fall over and faint.

Eating out of boredom, anxiety or stress is different from even "wanting" to eat it's a coping mechanism..find something else...get a hobby, go for a walk, brush your teeth....

Hunger is a biological mechanism that requires you to get food into your body to fuel it or else suffer the consquences...which could be as little as being tired to an extreme of fainting...it sends cues...just wait for those cues..and if you aren't sure what they are for you...stop eating because you want to just for a day...you'll figure them out.

I find that sometimes I eat out of boredom or my body thinks its hungry when I am really just thirsty

My solution: A water bottle. I always have one at my desk and at home. Usually when I want to snack or eat when I know I am not supposed to be hungry, I drink about half a bottle of water. If I am still hungry after that, then I'll have a snack. But most times I just need to re-hydrate and I am good to go. I've had it there so long that I don't mindlessly go to the snacks anymore, but to the water bottle.

Good luck!

If you measure your portions and keep them within your macros, you won't worry about cleaning your plate, it will be fine if you do. That's solved my clean plate club problem. I even measure and weigh my snacks.

As for true hunger versus wanting to eat, I try to listen to my body. Is my stomach growling? Do I actually feel it in my gut, or am I just imagining how good a particular food will taste? True hunger is in the stomach, and any food will do, emotional hunger is in the mouth and wants a very specific kind of food.

I also plan out my entire day--I pre log, as they call it--and build in snacks.

As Jkn921 said, exercise helps a lot. I find after I exercise at the proper intensity for me, my appetite is pretty much gone for a while.

Identify the times when you're most likely to eat due to boredom or anxiety and find ways to keep so busy then that you don't have time to eat.

I really struggle to tell the difference as well. Even if I know it's fake hunger, I'll often give in anyway, so it's important to tackle the problem from other angles too.

One of my battles has been trying to avoid or mitigate the triggers. For example, I know that feeling stressed makes me want to eat. Instead of trying to force myself to ignore that desire when it comes (which is very hard if I'm already stressed), I try to avoid getting stressed in the first place. That means the discipline is largely about my thought patterns and working habits, long before the desire for food comes along.

Another area I've had to work-on has been changing my day-to-day eating choices. I'm cooking for myself a lot more than I have done for a long time, and throwing loads and loads of vegetables in. Sometimes I also use low-carb noodles (e.g. Zero Noodles) to bulk the meal without adding many calories. The result is that I can let my hunger run rampant, eating a massive and fairly healthy plateful of food, and it's only 300-400 calories (as opposed to 1500 if I had a pizza or something).

There are books on intuitive eating.

I think one good tip is ask yourself if vegetables sound good. If you're hungry, they should.

Also, don't be afraid to let yourself get hungry and see how your body tells you it's hungry. The cues are a little different.