That 'you're full stop eating' switch

Only answer I know of is to eat slower, it's pretty easy to go past full before your stomach alerts you that you're actually full.

Eat slowly, eat half of what is on the plate, wait five minutes, if not feeling satisfied (as opposed to feeling full) eat one half of the remainder of what is your plate...wait another five minutes and so forth.

Alternatively, use a small plate to dish or bowl to dish up your meals...eat slowly...wait 5 to 10minutes (but do something to distract you in that time) and if still not satisfied dish up a small 2nd serving.

FWIW, my switch takes a lot longer, sometimes even 40 minutes.

some people don't have a switch - subclinical damage to the hypothalamus can cause that, i.e. never knowing how much to eat - for someone with this problem they need to count calories, possibly for the rest of their life

that said, the above is quite rare - for most people it's just a habit, i.e. they're so much in the habit of overeating and ignoring their body's signals that they have to relearn how to do it. The following may help:

1. eat slowly and chew your food

2. wait a few minutes before taking a second serving - sometimes it takes a while for the signals to get through

3. make sure you're adequately hydrated - some people confuse thirst and hunger

4. practice - if you plan your meals based on your calorie goals, and don't worry about hunger signals for the time being, you can actually relearn what a normal size meal is and get back into the habit of eating normal sized meals - after a while you tend to find that the size of meal you're giving yourself (so long as the total number of calories you eat in a day is adequate for your body's needs) makes you feel full and you find that you start to get "stop eating now" signals after eating that size meal.... lots of people who started off doing calorie counting as their main diet method find that by the time they get to maintenance they don't need to count calories again as they've relearned what an adequate portion size is and relearned how to listen to their body's hunger signals.

5. avoid undereating - if you undereat for a few meals, you get to a point where your body doesn't switch off the hunger signals after you've eaten a normal amount, it actually amplifies it. This is because as far as your body's concerned it's still the stone age and if you eat too little, it's because there's a lack of food, and it will amplify your hunger signals when it thinks more food is available because it doesn't know where the next meal is coming from, so as far as it's concerned your best chance of survival is to eat as much food as you can while it's available... in ancient times this stopped people starving to death... in modern times it leads to binge eating. So avoid undereating like the plague because that's a major cause of seriously messed up hunger signals (i.e. messed up for the modern world - but they make sense in the ancient world)

I eat all of my meals ( where possible) with a tea spoon and do the old 20 chews per mouthful trick. My portions have massively reduced.
Good luck hon, you will get there.

I went out and bought all new plates, which were small and got rid of the big ones. That helped. I drink a lot of water and chew my food much better than before. No more just mindlessly shoveling it in.

Works just fine for me on meat, veggies, and foods I'm not too crazy about. It's broken as far as sweets, bread, and pasta are concerned. Oh, also broken when it comes to meat and veggies between two pieces of bread. I have to watch it with burrito shells, too. And cereal. Very broken when it comes to cereal.

Adding a portion of dense raw vegetables to my meals helps me. Something like raw broccoli or celery, where decent sized portions are less than 50 calories and they take for.ev.er to chew. Perhaps it helps me slow down, maybe it's all the chewing, but it helps me feel like I've had enough and don't want to eat any more.

My switch is broken .

I was sat eating dinner last night and as I was starting afresh today I didn't bother paying attention to how much was on my plate, I figured I would use it as an experiment to notice that little switch that tells me I'm no longer hunger. It just didn't hear that switch at all. I felt hungry all the way through and then knew I'd eaten too much afterwards.

How do I kick the switch back into working?

it's not a sound; you don't "hear" it.

You eat a rational amount of food. You savor it. You notice it. You enjoy it.

Then you go take a break and give yourself time to see if you're full or still hungry. If you decide on the spot the answer is always I'm still hungry. You gotta wait a bit. You feel how you feel, you dont' wait for a sound or flick any switch. If you feel actual hunger you eat more. NOT oh i could put away more i have more room NOT oh that tasted good i want to have that taste some more. Actual hunger.

for some ppl this seems to be broken. at least the boards make it seem this way. if that's the case. make ur foods eat them and walk away. don't rely on your feelings.

What you want is what John Walker calls an "eat watch" in The Hacker's Diet (free online at: http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/).

His book is well worth reading. I'm not as pessimistic as he is about one's ability to readjust the sense of having eaten enough and being full, but there's a lot of wisdom in his writing, and a fair amount of humor too.

Use a smaller plate to fill up

1. Use a small plate.
2. Wait 20-30 minutes before getting seconds to make sure you're actually hungry and aren't just eating more because it tastes good or because of habit.
3. Only eat until you are 80% full or until you've hit your calorie limit (whichever comes first). A lot of us tend to eat until we feel (100%) full or even overeat until we cannot put any more food in our stomach without feeling nauseous (120% full).

The way I 'retrained' mine was to just portion everything out. I felt hungry at first, but I knew that's all I could eat and kept envisioning how awesome I'd look and focus my attention to thinking about the workout I want to do in the morning as opposed to dessert. It also helps to allow yourself to snack frequently. I will eat a big bowl of cantaloupe or strawberries if I am dying for some dessert after my dinner. Fills me up, not many calories, and not too much sugar!