Wednesday, April 11, 2007

A Hunger Scale of my very own

Since I started my intuitive eating journey I have been trying to figure out my own personal hunger scale. I have researched the hunger scale on the Internet, read the one in the IE book and talked to a number of people; I never seemed to find one that fit me and my thoughts on being hungry/full. So, I talked to Mon about it and asked what she thought of me developing my own. She thought it was a great idea so I forged ahead with developing my own.

The reason that the ones from other sources never seemed to "fit" was because none described both the thought process AND the body/stomach sensations. I am sure I am not the only one that has both :) I really starting listening to my body and most importantly I started listening to the things I would say out loud to someone I might be with when my stomach/body/mind was talking to me. That seemed to really help me with figuring it out.

So here it goes:

The Hunger Scale of ~C~ (the goal would be to stay between 2 and 7)

10: OMG, I ate way too much, I think I might puke and then take a nap/Bloated and very uncomfortable
9: I ate too much/Very Full and a bit uncomfortable
8: I think I ate too much/Full
7: I ate just the right amount, I feel comfortably satisfied/I *know* there is food in there
6: I think I am still hungry/Not quite satisfied...but almost
5: I am thinking of something other than food/Neutral
4: mmmm...food, what do I want to eat/A sense of emptiness but still OK
3: I am hungry and ready to eat/Empty
2: I am pretty hungry/Starting to growl
1: I am starving, my only thought process is food/Growling non stop, I may feel a bit shaky and probably irritable
0: Where am I, oh I must be in the hospital because I passed out /I have never made it this far so I don't know what it feels like :)

And that is what hunger/full feels like...to me.

I would love to hear opinions about how I feel vs. how you feel on your own hunger scale.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice Hunger scale! Mine is very similar, except I have to add something at the lower end. I get really grumpy when I get hungry, so I include a level I call "Evil B%&ch" My DH knows I better eat soon when she shows up. LOL

Anonymous said...

LOL has a bit of a giggle at your hunger scale - probably because I can relate to it so well

Marite said...

I LOVE your hunger scale! :)

Anonymous said...

Your hunger scale is just perfect for me! I hope you don't mind, but I copied it to a sheet that I printed out for my own personal use. :) THANKS!

wife2abadge said...

I think having a hunger scale of your own makes total sense. I may have to adopt the idea!