Stephanie Fein MD [00:00:00]:
Hello, fabulous Dr. Stephanie Fein here with.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:00:03]:
Weight Loss for Fertility and welcome to.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:00:07]:
The Hunger Scale Handbook series. Over the next seven weeks, you're getting a deep dive into the nitty gritty of the number one tool for sustainable weight loss, and that's the hunger scale. In this compilation of past episodes, you'll be reminded of the how, why and exactly what of this versatile tool that'll have you connecting to your body and hunger the way you did when you were a baby, when you had no food issues, getting back to your factory settings before diet, culture, well meaning parents and social media had you doubting yourself, starving yourself and getting in the habit of overeating in direct response. The hunger scale is the best place to start to lose weight permanently and safely when you're trying to get pregnant. It can be used now and even in pregnancy and beyond. I'll be referring to this series for years to come. Listen, practice and refine over the next weeks. Feel free to ask me any questions that arise.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:01:11]:
I'm always looking for ways to communicate the nuances of the hunger scale better and better. There is so much to glean from this valuable tool. Find me on Instagram @StephanieFeinMD DM me or contact me on my website, StephanieFeinMD.com and now, the Hunger Scale Handbook Series. Week three.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:01:41]:
Negative two. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are deep in the hunger scale today. As a reminder, the hunger scale is a simple, powerful tool that helps us stop overeating and lose weight permanently. And there is no feeling of restriction or deprivation. Instead, we give our bodies everything it asks for, everything it needs. It's the opposite of restriction and deprivation and that's why it lasts. So last week we talked about positive two on the hunger scale and when you get a chance, go back and listen to that one.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:02:21]:
It has like background about the hunger scale and why it's important, all that stuff. And of course, it's the companion to this one. So positive two is satisfied, not full. And I go into detail about that. That's episode 69. And today we're examining negative two on the scale, which is just hungry. Tagline for negative 2 is just hungry. Just like the tagline for positive 2 is satisfied, not full.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:02:54]:
Ideally, what we're doing all the time is eating at negative 2 and we eat to positive 2. From just hungry to satisfied, not full. And that's a meal size. That food ends up being the meal size. Of course it matters if there's protein in there or whatever that's separate. There's so much Here. That's why I love the hunger scale. But we're just going to be talking about negative two right now.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:03:23]:
So one of the main reasons we overeat is because we get over hungry. Now, of course, the problem with overeating is that then we are gaining weight. We're eating more than our body needs. That's what overeating is. And so when we're trying to lose weight or not gain, we want to reduce any chances or any incidences of overeating. So one of the main reasons we do overeat, there are a few reasons, but one of the main ones is because we get over hungry. Over hunger is negative 2, negative 4, or negative 5 on the hunger scale. So anything past negative 2, the most common scenario with over hunger is when we skip breakfast and or lunch even though we're hungry for them, okay? So that's the big difference.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:04:19]:
We're not skipping meals if we're not hungry for them, okay? But what a lot of people do is not eat the whole day and they skip meals even though they're hungry by keeping or being very busy. Like it may be your job is very busy or that you keep yourself busy so that you sort of can easily ignore the hunger signals. The other way is if you have lots of cups of coffee, because caffeine is an appetite suppressant, so it can sort of mask the hunger signals. They're not eating through the whole day. And then on our way home, we are ravenous for dinner. I mean, on fumes, cranky, sort of feeling desperate about food. And we're not only desperately hungry, but once we start eating, we feel like a bottomless pit. We just keep eating and eating, and we don't even really feel full until all of a sudden we sort of awaken from this coma and we notice that we're stuffed and that we did it again.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:05:31]:
And that's a setup. That's what happens when we're not listening to our signals. Our body ramps up the desperation, and that's what can happen. Now, the thing is, we often blame ourselves and we think, oh, I just don't have any control. I'm here to tell you that if you are at a negative five, it's very, very, very hard to stop at a positive 2. In fact, what happens is you get to a positive five, it's, you know, a mirror image. However hungry are, you will eat to that amount. And that's partly because of the hunger hormones, the way they work in our body.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:06:11]:
So over hunger is a problem that leads to overeating and that's why it's so important to learn our negative two, just hungry. So it's not that you have no willpower. You willed yourself not to eat all day long. But the powerful hunger hormones catch up with us by the end of the day. And those signals create the perfect storm for overeating. The answer to this issue of over hunger and overeating is to work with your body and its hunger, not against it, not ignoring it, not wishing it away. And that's why it's important to know negative two, which is just hungry.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:06:55]:
With.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:06:55]:
Knowing it and responding to it, by the way, not just knowing it, but we have to deal with it. That's how we prevent over hunger and therefore overeating. It's such an important concept. When we discover our negative 2, it's so much easier to stop at positive 2. It's really hard to do one without the other. So this is why minus 2 is such an important number on the scale to figure out for your body. So remember, it's just hungry, not really hungry or very hungry or really, really hungry, which is. That's the negative five.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:07:39]:
This is, like ravenous. It's when you know you're hungry, you've just gotten hungry. But it's not the first whiff of hunger that would be negative one. It's when you know you're hungry. Okay, so how do you know when you're hungry, just hungry? For some of us, it takes time to discover this, especially if we're used to the skipping. And the skipping ends up happening because of this, of the way sort of diet culture tells us, restricting and calorie counting. And we figure if we don't eat any calories all day, we must be good and we deserve a huge dinner. And, you know, we save calories, all that sort of thing.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:08:18]:
It does not work. That's not the way bodies work. So that's why that part doesn't work. So for some of us, if we've purposely trained ourselves to not listen to hunger cues, it's a very different thing to start listening to hunger cues. It's not a problem. It just takes some time. It's retraining. So everybody is different.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:08:43]:
Like, you feel different things for negative two. So some people have their stomach rumbling, some people have a mood change. Maybe they're a little cranky. Some people are lightheaded. Now some of these, like, lightheadedness, that could actually be a signal of, like, negative 3, negative 4, negative 5. So we want to be careful with it. But you want to tune in what is yours. Decreased focus, brain fog can sometimes signal just hungry, even sort of a weakness.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:09:18]:
Again, that's often over hunger. But check in, you'll know for yourself. A feeling in the stomach. There's lots of different ways that it can show up, and you get to discover that for yourself. In fact, it's important that you do. The only way we find out is by experimenting. That's it. There's no other way.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:09:39]:
No one can tell you this from the outside. I can give you, like, suggestions, you know, like, check out this, check out that. But only you will know, because you're the only one in your body. No one can tell you what it is. If one person says, oh, it's my stomach grumbling, and you say, oh, that must be it. But your stomach never grumbles, then that won't be your negative too. This is such a good point about it, is that it's only you. It's only up to you.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:10:07]:
You are the only one that can tell yourself what just hungry is. For some people, that's really easy, and for others it's tricky. And so you just keep practicing. You can get a timer if that helps, because checking in frequently is the best way. Getting curious about what your signals are and checking in, that's the first way we do this. So sometimes you can set a timer to just check in something that goes off every 15 minutes or half an hour or whatever. This will not be forever. But as you're learning for yourself, that's it.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:10:45]:
It's just asking. So especially for those who drink a lot of coffee or who have that pattern of not eating all day, it's the checking in which is going to be challenging because we've taught ourselves to ignore, right? So checking in, that's why a timer or some other way of checking in. And the way you do that is that you get still for a moment. This does not take long at all. In the beginning, you may want to close your eyes just because you're really sort of checking in. But as you get still for this moment, you ask yourself, am I hungry? And then, where am I on the hunger scale? Now you can start with just am I hungry? But then you can, you know, decide, sort of put that feeling, whatever's going on in your body, give it a number. And remember, we have the scale from minus five to positive five. And you can check out episode two, but also episode 69, the one before.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:11:47]:
I go into more detail about that. So you can assign it a number. If that number is negative, 2, then it's time to eat a meal. And if you're asking yourself frequently enough, especially like in the beginning, you'll get a bunch of zeros or negative ones or positive ones, which is so great because you get to know that number and what your body feels like when it's not hungry. And it makes knowing when you are hungry that much easier. So this is why checking in frequently in the beginning is so good. And then of course checking in after your eat. How long does it take me to get to just hungry? Usually it's three, four hours.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:12:27]:
That's a meal from negative two to positive two. So you could be checking all that time. You can be checking each hour, you know however you want to do it. But checking in is the way that you're going to notice the numbers and be able to make a scale for your own self. And a note about timing. The difference between negative 2 and negative 3 is not very long. It's like 20 to 40 minutes. It depends how active you are, you know, whatever how your body is.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:12:55]:
So once you get the negative 2 signal, it's a good idea to get prepping or ordering your meal. And actually depending on the amount of time it takes to get a meal ready or order it or you may need to do that earlier. So you may need to know you're closer to negative one. Because if it takes an hour to walk to some place and order or call and it takes them a long time, then you want to make sure you're eating at negative two. So you'll take that into account also. Well, the numbers that are hours is negative 2 to positive 2 is just how long you eat. Hopefully that's around. That's again around 20 minutes of the actual eating.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:13:38]:
Slower is even better if you can because then you're checking in and noticing. But the hours is from positive 2 to negative 2 after you've eaten, like I said, takes around 3, 4 hours. Different for everybody. But that's how long that takes. The difference between negative 2, negative 3 is short and negative 3 to negative 4 is short and negative 4 to minus 5 is short. So it's not that you can put it off an hour. You will get over hungry if you do that. This is another huge bonus to bringing a lunch to work.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:14:34]:
You are ready to go when you notice you're negative two, there's not a big lag time. So you can just wait for your -2 and then you can eat. Same with breakfast, same with dinner. If you have them ready. If you know what you're going to eat. It saves so much time and you can respond in a more direct way to your minus two. That's a really good point. You start to see that as you're checking in.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:14:58]:
If you start to notice that you know you're minus two and then it just takes so long, then you'll notice that you get to negative three and it may be hard to stop at positive two. So you'll start to this is why using the scale so important and it works so well because you start to notice your patterns. So this is a very good place to stop in terms of explaining negative 2 and for you to start. You have enough information to go on now to change your relationship with food and your body. This is the start and a bunch of other episodes of the Weight Loss for Fertility podcast. Get into those nooks and crannies even more about how to use the hunger scale and lose weight in a safe and kind way. And really, the other episodes, even the ones that aren't direct Spotlight episodes, are here to support your work as you're learning to eat when you're hungry, stop when you're satisfied. A lot of them are on kindness to yourself, not judging yourself, noticing when those negative thoughts come in and how they impact your ability to use the hunger scale on a regular basis.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:16:18]:
So there's a lot of good info for you. So go back and listen to those. Okay, let's recap, shall we? Over hunger leads to overeating. Overeating leads to weight gain or the inability to lose weight. So if we're trying to lose weight, overeating is the thing we need to solve for. One of the ways we do that is by not getting over hungry. So getting to know your negative 2 and plus 2 on the hunger scale is vital to sustainable weight loss. It takes practice and a willingness to check in with your body to learn your numbers.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:16:59]:
That's it. That's negative two. You have what you need to start right now, but if you want help with this, I am here for you as always. We can work together. I can support you. And if that sounds like a good idea, then go to my website, stephaniefeinmd.com and click the Lose Weight with me button. Or reach out to me on Instagram @StephanieFeinMD. I'm always there, happy to talk with you, answer any questions until next week.
Stephanie Fein MD [00:17:30]:
I am sending you so much love.
