Re: Principle 5 - Feel Your Fullness

[Guest guest]

I had a similar experience of clear biological hunger/fullness

signals going on for me last night. I'd been sick for a day or so,

could hardly eat anything and indeed had simply no desire for food at

all. Eating would just make me feel queasy - no thanks. So I

honoured my health, knowing my body was saying NO to food for a

reason. Then last night, I was feeling better and my appetite came

back with a vengeance. I think my body was trying to catch up on the

nutrients it had missed over the last 48 hours. I had my usual size

portion of dinner, but my stomach said MORE PLEASE. I was a little

surprised, but listened to my hunger and had almost a second dinner -

and didn't end up overfull at all, just satisfied. I'm glad I

listened, didn't ignore those biological signals, and stayed tuned in

so I could eat consciously and meet my needs.

If only my body's signals were that clear the rest of the time

(without being sick)! Finding and respecting my fullness is the

aspect of IE I think perhaps I have the most trouble with. The

recommendations of eating without distraction (hard!!!), pausing for

a check in or time out, finding that Last Bite Threshold ... these

are things that haven't become automatic behaviour for me yet, I

still have to remain " hyperconscious " (as the authors say) to

practise these elements. I do eat from biological hunger on most

occasions, but stopping from biological fullness is something I'm

still working on. It's often in the back of my mind ... " was that

really enough, or am I going to be hungry in an hour's time again? "

And yes, I could eat again in an hour, but oftentimes that's just not

convenient (workwise or socially).

When I find my genie in a bottle, I'm gonna wish for my tummy to have

a little light globe which goes on with a happy *ding!* when I reach

level 7. <sigh>

Sig

.... I had a couple days this week when I was really very hungry. I

ate a

> lot for breakfast on Friday and the day just kept going that way.

> Saturday was pretty much the same thing. I was wondering if I was

> eating for reasons other than body hunger, but I just kept coming

> back to, " I'm hungry " . So I ate quite a bit, but on Sunday it just

> went away. I'm glad I didn't panic about it and try to control

it.

> I think this quote speaks to this situation. " Clearly, there are

many

> factors that influence how full you feel from eating. With so many

> variables that exert influence on your eating, it can and should be

> no surprise, then, that the amount of food you desire to eat can

and

> will fluctuate. A big key is to stay tuned in and to eat

> consciously. "

[Guest guest]

This principle is definitely a challenging one for me. I do feel for

my fullness automatically now and yet many times I'm still questioning

whether I'm really full and should eat something else...at the end of

a meal it's like I'm topping myself off...like some people do with

their gas tank. There's a part of me that's concerned about getting

hungry again quickly. So, I know that there's some more letting go

that I need to do. I've not used the fullness discovery scale cause it

didn't seem like the right method for me. I have done the last bite

threshold occasionally though.

This principle hasn't yet fallen into place for me. I'm still working

on getting clear on what this principle actually means in my everyday

experience. You know what, I wonder if I really have to feel full most

of the time...what I've been drawn to is working with the satisfaction

factor which is the next principle. Sometimes, I feel full and

sometimes I just feel satisfied and sometimes I feel full and

satisfied and sometimes neither. Feeling fullness is a good principle

because it's one indicator. Though sometimes, when I'm busy...I've

eaten a snack for fuel and that's been fine and I didn't get " full " in

the sense of my stomach feeling full enough.

It's kinda like recognizing that I eat for different reasons...because

of different needs...when it's just for fuel...I don't care about

fullness...when it's more as a experience of pleasure, fullness and

satisfaction are more important. And, like the book reveals...I've

recognized my " air foods " which I love like popcorn and cheese

curls...it's almost impossible for me to feel full off of these. I

just realized that " satisfied " occurs by the number 7 on the discovery

scale, I know empty and ravenous, and " neutral " - 5 is what I go to

when I eat for fuel...so maybe I've been working with it in some

intuitive way.

Does anyone know what " set " means on the discovery scale?

Latoya

Practicing IE since Jan '08

[Guest guest]

I am becoming more aware how feeling my 'fullness' remains a challenge

to me. I've pretty much booted the diet and food police out of my

life, but having my own internal feedback working for me is something

I continue to work on.

Here's what I'm finding at this point in time -

1) FULLness is an 'old friend'. And the problem with that is that I'm

so used to feeling FULL, as in stuffed, that I can and often do eat

more than probably would have served me, just because I'm so used to

that FULL feeling.

2) Fullness does not mean satisfied. Eating 'more' can be seeking what

I haven't gotten up to that point. I find, mainly in retrospect ,

that often when I've eaten to the 'stuffed' point, it was because I

didn't eat what I really wanted to?

3) Past 'training' still kicks in - its dinner time - eat now.

Besides, its a long time until breakfast (evening snacks not counted!).

Yep, feeling fullness and satisfaction continue to elude, not to

mention frustrate my efforts to re-discover these too. But I'm not

giving up or in either! Each mention about them here helps to remind

me of my own quest

Katcha

IEing since March 2007

[Guest guest]

I have a very hard time time telling when I'm full. I used to restrict food (dieting/starving) and now I think I'm full pretty much whenever I'm not hungry. I've been try to use the fullness scale, but 5 to 8 seem the same to me!! I experience fullness almost as soon as I'm not hungry anymore. I've always been afraid to feel too full.

I was talking with my nutritionist about this (she teaches IE) and she suggested being patient with myself, keep observing my physical feeling as I eat, and just keep trying to "tune in" to my fullness queus. So that's what I"m doing. I feel very confident that my body will continue to give me it's signals - eventually I will be able to "hear" them!

Kim

IE since Aug 08

Subject: Re: Principle 5 - "Feel Your Fullness"To: IntuitiveEating_Support Date: Thursday, September 11, 2008, 9:14 AM

This principle is definitely a challenging one for me. I do feel formy fullness automatically now and yet many times I'm still questioningwhether I'm really full and should eat something else...at the end ofa meal it's like I'm topping myself off...like some people do withtheir gas tank. There's a part of me that's concerned about gettinghungry again quickly. So, I know that there's some more letting gothat I need to do. I've not used the fullness discovery scale cause itdidn't seem like the right method for me. I have done the last bitethreshold occasionally though. This principle hasn't yet fallen into place for me. I'm still workingon getting clear on what this principle actually means in my everydayexperience. You know what, I wonder if I really have to feel full mostof the time...what I've been drawn to is working with the satisfactionfactor which is the next principle. Sometimes, I feel

full andsometimes I just feel satisfied and sometimes I feel full andsatisfied and sometimes neither. Feeling fullness is a good principlebecause it's one indicator. Though sometimes, when I'm busy...I'veeaten a snack for fuel and that's been fine and I didn't get "full" inthe sense of my stomach feeling full enough. It's kinda like recognizing that I eat for different reasons...becauseof different needs...when it's just for fuel...I don't care aboutfullness...when it's more as a experience of pleasure, fullness andsatisfaction are more important. And, like the book reveals...I' verecognized my "air foods" which I love like popcorn and cheesecurls...it's almost impossible for me to feel full off of these. Ijust realized that "satisfied" occurs by the number 7 on the discoveryscale, I know empty and ravenous, and "neutral" - 5 is what I go towhen I eat for fuel...so maybe I've been working with

it in someintuitive way. Does anyone know what "set" means on the discovery scale?LatoyaPracticing IE since Jan '08

[Guest guest]

Sometimes I think this is my biggest challenge. I still like that " FULL "

feeling even though I wish I didn't. I also tend to eat more than is

good for me just because the food tastes so good.

Regards

s.

[Guest guest]

Styxia, I understand that too. It seems to me that FULL is an old,

long time familiar feeling that has become 'comforting' too? And taste

hunger can be stronger than body hunger signals too.

Katcha

IEing since March 2007

>

> Sometimes I think this is my biggest challenge. I still like that " FULL "

> feeling even though I wish I didn't. I also tend to eat more than is

> good for me just because the food tastes so good.

>

> Regards

> s.

>