Hunger Mapping Reveals Your Poor Eating Patterns - How to Unlearn Them for Long Lasting Weight Loss
- Susan Armstrong
- Apr 1, 2024
- 3 min read
Unlearning ingrained behaviors like emotional eating can feel like an uphill battle. Our habits are deeply rooted, often driven by subconscious triggers and patterns we've

reinforced over years. However, there is a path forward - a mindful approach called "Hunger Mapping" that can help you navigate this journey.
Hunger Mapping is all about raising your awareness of your body's true hunger and fullness cues. It teaches you to distinguish emotional hunger from physical hunger, so you can make conscious choices about when and why you eat. By mapping your hunger patterns, triggers, and responses, you shine a light on the automatic behaviors you want to unlearn.
The process begins by tuning into your body's signals with mindfulness. Notice how true physical hunger feels - the gnawing, emptiness, low energy - compared to emotional hunger like cravings, boredom eating, or mindless snacking.
Log your hunger levels throughout the day along with the thoughts, feelings, and situations around your eating.
As you map your unique hunger landscape, you'll identify routes you want to take and ones to avoid. You'll discover alternatives to emotional eating that truly nourish you. And you'll cultivate new habits aligned with eating intuitive, mindful meals.
Unlearning emotional eating won't happen overnight, but Hunger Mapping provides a structured approach to listen to your body's wisdom. With patience and practice, you can replace emotional eating patterns with intuitive ones. The journey allows you to forge a peaceful, joyful relationship with food once and for all.
Hunger mapping will:
1. Increase self-awareness:
The first step is to become more mindful and aware of your overeating patterns that need to be unlearned. Pay close attention to the triggers, circumstances, and thought patterns that lead you to eat when you are not physically hungry.
2. Replace with a new habit:
It's easier to replace overeating with a new habit rather than trying to eliminate it entirely. Find a healthier alternative behavior to substitute when you have the urge to overeat, such as going for a walk or calling a friend.
3. Remove cues and triggers:
Identify and remove any environmental cues or triggers that prompt you to overeat. Modify your environment to make it more conducive to mindful eating habits.
4. Practice mindfulness:
Engage in mindfulness practices, such as meditation or deep breathing exercises, to increase your ability to observe your thoughts and urges without automatically acting on them and overeating.
5. Use reminders:
Set reminders or visual cues to help you stay mindful and focused on your goal of unlearning overeating. This could include sticky notes, phone alarms, or even a rubber band on your wrist.
6. Get accountability:
Share your goals with a friend, family member, or support group. Having an accountability partner can help you stay motivated and on track with breaking the overeating habit.
7. Embrace discomfort:
Unlearning ingrained overeating patterns can be uncomfortable, as you're breaking familiar habits. Be prepared for and accept some discomfort as part of the process.
8. Be patient and persistent:
Unlearning overeating takes time and consistent effort. Don't get discouraged by setbacks; instead, view them as opportunities to learn and recommit to your goals.
9. Celebrate small wins:
Recognize and celebrate even minor successes along the way, such as resisting the urge to overeat or stopping when you're full. This positive reinforcement can help you stay motivated.
10. Seek professional help:
If you're struggling to unlearn overeating on your own, consider seeking help from a therapist, dietitian, or coach who can provide guidance and support.
The key is to approach unlearning with patience, self-awareness, and a willingness to persist through the challenges. With time and consistent effort, you can successfully unlearn unwanted behaviors and replace them with more positive habits.
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