Stress can have a large impact on your feelings of hunger by either ramping it up or depressing it. This disconnect with your typical hunger patterns could lead you to go from not hungry to starving in a matter of seconds, giving some people the unfortunate ‘hangry’ nickname. Luckily there’s a handy tool called the hunger scale designed to help you better navigate your cues.
What is the Hunger Scale?
The Hunger Scale is a numerical rating scale. It has two primary purposes. First, to help distinguish between physical and psychological hunger. This ensures you’re eating to nourish your body instead of soothing emotions. Second, to understand and respond to your own individual hunger cues. This allows for a more mindful approach to eating.
You’ll see different variations of the tool – but most commonly, it ranges from 1-10. One indicates severe hunger – think starving, weak, and dizzy. Ten indicates overly full, aka feeling very stuffed and even sick. Here’s a visual below for you to take a look at.
How to Use the Hunger Scale
The overall goal is to stay between 4-7. Here’s how to do it.
For Hunger:
You’ll want to eat something when you’re between a 3 (hungry) or 4 (slightly hungry).
It’s important to recognize slightly hungry signs, such as beginning to think about food. This is an indication that you’ll need to eat soon. Acknowledging your hunger, at this point, can help you to make smarter, more balanced food choices because you’ll avoid that hangry feeling or impulse food choices.
Pro Tip: Make it a priority to keep nutritious snacks available each week. This will help satisfy your hunger until your next meal. Some ideas include protein shakes, whole fruit, nuts, hard-boiled eggs, chopped veggies, or yogurt.
For Fullness:
Aim to stop eating when you’re at a 6 (slightly satisfied) or 7 (satisfied).
This range is when you’re satisfied but could eat a little more or are full but not uncomfortable. Leptin, also known as the hunger hormone, is the hormone that helps indicate satiety. Be sure to check in with your scale rating during meals, too. This way you’re basing fullness on your cues versus what’s on your plate.
Try This: Eat slower by engaging all of your senses – taste, smell, touch.
What to Avoid
Eating when you’re a 1 (nearly empty) or 2 (really hungry) can lead to making quick or impulsive choices that may not be the healthiest. At this point, your body is craving energy and calories – and fast. So thinking logically or spending time prepping food won’t come as easily.
Related Reading: 5 Foods to Make Meal Prep Easier
Another consequence of eating at a 1 or 2 is that it often tips you to the other end of the scale. You might end up eating until you’re a 9 (very full) or 10 (stuffed). This tends to happen because you’re likely eating faster and more than you might typically consume (or need), which can lead to weight gain.
Eating until you’re uncomfortable, extremely stuffed, or even nauseous is not a good habit to get into. This could indicate you’re going too long between meals and need to build in a snack or are eating for psychological reasons instead of true physical hunger.
Make a Change: Watch the clock or set an alarm to check in with your hunger/fullness throughout your busy day. This will prevent you from skipping meals because of snoozed hunger signals. You won’t need to do this forever – just until you get better in sync.
Connecting the Two
One crucial step to overcoming stress eating is getting back in touch with your hunger cues. The hunger scale can give you something tangible to do just that. It helps to better gauge why you’re eating. To answer the questions – are you hungry, or are you trying to distract from stress with food?
Want to record your ratings within the Lose It! app? Use our notes feature!
Related Reading: How to Stop Stress Eating
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