Eat Slowly & Stop At 80% Full

Of course, there’s no way to know exactly how full you are, but use this as a guideline. When you look at your plate, decide how much might make you feel full, and then estimate what 80% of that amount would look like. Perhaps it’s two-thirds of the food on your plate. Your goal is to feel satisfied and not hungry anymore, rather than full.

Another factor we need to think about is speed. Our brains are 10- 20 minutes behind our stomachs, so it usually turns out that when you believe you are 80% full, you’re already full. When we eat to 100% full, we are generally overindulging. So slow down eating and give your body time to register how much you’ve eaten. Chew your food, limit distractions like TV and get in touch with how you feel while enjoying your meal.

Before you even sit down at the table assess why you are eating. Are you eating because you are physically hungry or just because you are stressed or bored?

Try taking 15 minutes to eat a meal and ask yourself, am I still hungry? Then wait another 5-10 minutes before getting any second helpings and check-in with yourself one more time before proceeding. By checking in, you will get a better sense of hunger and satiety cues plus detach emotions from food.

If you have stayed within your portions and put meals together appropriately, then you really shouldn’t be hungry after 20 minutes. In case you are though, use this timeline to assess hunger along with a rating scale. After you have eaten a balanced, nutritious meal your hunger should be at 0 on a scale of 0-10. Over the next 3-4 hours, stop and assess your hunger cues.

• Empty stomach

• Stomach growling

• Headache

• Light-headed feeling

• Grumpiness

• Lack of energy

• Shakiness/weakness

Here are some of those cues: Don’t wait until it is a 9 or 10 to start eating. At this point, you will likely make poor choices and overeat. Instead, when your hunger reaches an 8, sit down to eat and practice the 80% habit. Remember that your goal is to feel satisfied and not hungry anymore, rather than full.

Just by building this simple habit, you can naturally decrease your caloric intake, improving your health and wellness. Please be patient with yourself, experiment a little, and really check in to what your body is trying to tell you. Understanding your current diet will help highlight what you need to work on to get you to your goals. Any lifestyle change needs to start with creating better habits. Throughout the course, we will be setting you mini targets and goals to achieve but the 80% habit is the one we want you to consistently put all of your effort into.