One of the limiting factors to people when they are on a fat loss program is their relationship and behaviours towards food. We all know that people may eat too much (you may possibly do this yourself), but people in my experience are not aware they may eat too fast or they may not even eat enough food to lose weight (the latter always gets some confused faces in my direction, but it is true).
So here is a little task you can set yourself for a day. You are going to eat what you feel is a “typical” meal and then observe how you feel immediately after finishing and every hour then afterwards.
After you eat a meal you may feel like this:
Immediately after a meal…
You are probably still a little hungry. It will take roughly 15-20 minutes to get a sense of satisfaction from a meal. If you are a fast eater then wait a little between before mouthfuls…
One hour after finishing a meal…
You should still feel satisfied with no desire to eat another meal…
Two hours after finishing a meal…
You may start to feel a little hungry, like you could eat something but the feeling isn’t overwhelming.
Three hours after finishing a meal…
You should feel like it is time for the next meal. Your hunger should be around a 7 or 8 out of 10 (where 10 is the hungriest you’ve ever been and you would eat your own arm), but may be more or less depending on when you exercised and what your daily physical activity level is.
Not really hungry yet? You likely had too much food at your previous meal.
Four or more hours after finishing a meal…
You are quite hungry, like nothing is getting between you and the kitchen or the nearest junk food shop. You are at 8 or 9 out of 10. This is when the “I’m so hungry I could eat anything” feeling rattles your brain and stomach!!
If you are at this stage then it is very highly likely you have made poor food choices previously…time to learn from your mistakes and think to yourself how can I do things differently in the future??
Two Tips for you in the future…
1. Eat scheduled meals/snacks. Avoid getting too hungry…
2. Resist urges to eat when you are not hungry. Stop at 80% full…
3. Eat your meals a little slower, this is surprisingly very hard but try it. It is good practice…
