The Official Hunger Number Chart

Have You Been Ignoring Your Body's Hunger Signals?

We've all been there - staring into the fridge or pantry, hoping some snack will magically satisfy a craving we can't quite put our finger on. Maybe you're fresh off an emotional eating episode, stuffed but still seeking something to numb or comfort yourself with. Or perhaps the opposite - you've let yourself get so ravenous that you just inhaled a whole bag of chips without really tasting them.

If any of those scenarios sound familiar, it's likely because you've fallen out of touch with your body's innate hunger and fullness cues. In our fast-paced, food-obsessed society, it's incredibly easy to disconnect from our eating intuition and get stuck in unhealthy patterns of overeating, undereating, and using food for every reason except true physical nourishment.

But I'm here to tell you - that debilitating cycle can be broken! You can rediscover eating as a pleasurable, comfortable experience by simply relearning to recognize and honor your hunger signals. It starts with knowing your "hunger numbers."

What Are Hunger Numbers?

Your hunger number refers to a numerical scale from 1 (starving) to 10 (Thanksgiving stuffed) that allows you to quantify your precise level of hunger or fullness at any given moment. Here's a breakdown of what those different hunger levels feel like physically:

Here is a detailed description of each hunger number on the Hunger Scale:

1. Starving: You feel extremely hungry, lightheaded, weak, and may have difficulty concentrating. Your stomach may be growling loudly, and you may feel irritable or shaky.

2. Extremely Hungry: You feel very hungry and irritable. You may have difficulty concentrating, and your hunger is becoming distracting. Your stomach is growling, and you may feel a bit fatigued.

3. Very Hungry: You feel significant hunger pangs and stomach growling. You may feel slightly shaky or lightheaded, and your hunger is becoming a primary focus.

4. Slightly Hungry: You feel the first signs of hunger, such as a growling stomach or a slight headache. However, you can still function normally, and the hunger is not yet distracting.

5. Neutral: You don't feel hungry or full. Your stomach feels comfortable, and you're not preoccupied with thoughts of food.

6. Slightly Full: You feel the first signs of fullness, but you don't feel uncomfortable or stuffed. You could likely eat a little more if desired.

7. Moderately Full: You feel comfortably full, but not overly stuffed. You may feel satisfied and have no desire for more food.

8. Very Full: You feel quite full and may have a slightly distended or heavy feeling in your stomach. You may feel slightly uncomfortable, but not painfully stuffed.

9. Uncomfortably Full: You feel overly full and bloated. Your stomach may feel tight and distended, and you may feel sluggish or lethargic.

10. Stuffed: You feel painfully overstuffed and may even feel nauseous or ill. Your stomach is likely distended and uncomfortable, and you may feel regretful for overeating.

The goal of Hunger Mapping is to learn to recognize your hunger and fullness cues and aim to eat when you're around a 3 or 4 on the scale and stop when you reach a 6 or 7.

Seem familiar? Maybe some of those descriptors ring a bell for how you've felt at different points while eating. The problem is most of us go through our days completely ignoring those inner signals about whether we're truly hungry, satisfied, or overly full.

Instead, we let outside cues like clocks, cravings, packages sizes, or emotional stresses dictate when and how much we eat. We overeat when we're bored or sad. We restrict when we're anxious or following diets. We eat past comfortable fullness because the food is there or others are still going.

Tuning Into Your Hunger Numbers

But what if you could start truly listening to your brilliant body again? What if you had a way to quantify and get back in touch with those subtle (or blaring) hunger and fullness signals?

That's where the power of Hunger Mapping comes in. By learning to pay attention to and identify where you currently fall on this 1-10 hunger scale, you can make more mindful decisions about when to start and stop eating.

For example, if you know you're at around a 3 or 4 on the scale (very hungry but not ravenous), you might decide to have a nutritious snack to curb your hunger before your next meal. But if you're at a 7 or 8 after a meal and get a craving for dessert, checking in with your hunger number allows you to realize you're likely just wanting to eat for emotional reasons beyond true physical hunger.

Over time and with practice, hunger mapping retrains you to only eat when you're in the 3-4 range of actual bodily hunger, and stop when you hit that comfortable 6-7 level of satisfied fullness. No more starving, no more stuffing - just inhabiting that pleasant equilibrium of eating without deprivation or discomfort.

Ready to Rediscover Intuitive Eating?

It all starts by getting reacquainted with your hunger number reality. So memorize the chart above and start noticing where you currently land at different points throughout your day. Don't judge, don't change anything yet - just observe.

In the next post, we'll dive into strategies for how to start implementing your hunger wisdom into your eating habits. But for now, simply begin awakening to the guidance your body has been trying to give you all along.

Your brilliant inner eating coach has been there all this time, patiently waiting for you to finally tune in. It's time to lend her your full attention.