Is it Hunger or Appetite? A Crucial Weight Loss Skill

The ability to tell the difference between hunger and appetite is a crucial skill when it comes to reaching and maintaining a healthy body weight. Yet initially it may be difficult for you to make this important distinction.

Hunger can be defined as the signal your body sends out when it needs food for fuel and repair. If you go too long without food, you may actually begin to feel lightheaded or weak.

Appetite is the desire to eat apart from natural hunger and can be triggered by emotions, thoughts and circumstances such as location, other people and time of day.

You will succeed in weight loss when you eat primarily from hunger rather than appetite. So how do you tell the difference?

One trait of hunger is that it gradually builds.  This is where what may be called the "20 minute rule" can be helpful. If you get the sudden urge to eat,  ask yourself, "did I want to eat 20 minutes ago?" If the answer is no, then most likely appetite is at work.

Another way to figure out the if it is hunger or appetite is whether you are being picky at that moment.

Let's imagine a situation where you have a friend who is not all that fond of apples.

He says, "I am really hungry, do you have anything to eat?" so you offer him an apple and he replies, "nah, I don't want that, do you have anything else?"

At this point we can safely guess that he is mistaking appetite for hunger because someone who has been stuck on a desert island for a week without proper rations would grab that Granny Smith in a heartbeat! That would be real hunger.

With some practice you can learn to appreciate your body's natural hunger signals and learn to avoid the extremes of being ravenous or stuffing yourself to the point of being uncomfortable. This is one of the essential practices in healthy weight loss and something I cover with my clients. Enhanced awareness of hunger vs. appetite can enable you to come with effective strategies for situations where you previously got off track.

If you would like to learn more, please give me a call at (732) 714-7040 for a complimentary Life Enhancement Strategy Session or fill out the form and I will get back to you ASAP