How to Stop Eating When You’ve Had Enough [Ep. 154]

0:00 This is the well Think, well Live Well podcast. I am Lisa Salisbury and this is episode 154. How to Stop Eating When You've Had Enough. Welcome to eat well. Well, the podcast for busy women who want to lose weight without constantly counting, tracking, or stressing over every bite. I'm Lisa Salsbury, a certified health weight loss and life coach, and most importantly, a recovered chronic dieter here. You'll learn to listen to your body and uncover the reasons you're reaching for food. When you're not truly hungry, freeing you to focus on a healthier, more fulfilling approach to eating. All right. Welcome back everyone.

0:40 Today I am here with another episode answering a question from my 2025 Content survey. Almost every person that answered my survey ticked the box on this statement. It's hard to tell when I've reached enough while I'm eating a meal. So I wanna dive into that topic today. First, I just wanna point out that you are not alone if you are feeling the same way. Since it was a very common issue, and it also comes up with almost every client conversation I have. Recognizing when you've had enough to eat can be way more complicated than recognizing hunger. Now, notice I didn't say recognizing when you are full.

1:21 We'll talk more about why I don't love that word later. But the idea of stopping at enough is something so many of my clients struggle with even more than knowing when to. Start eating. Most women I coach are pretty in tune with their hunger signals. They know what it feels like to be ready for a meal. Like we know what hungry feels like, right? But stopping before things go too far, that is a whole different skillset. So let me give you an example. One of my clients, um, let's call her Rachel, told me I'm fine all the way through dinner. Until I'm not. One minute I'm eating and enjoying it, and the next I'm stuffed and frustrated And then she said, but I have no idea where that line was.

2:04 It's like it snuck up on me. So true. Right? So today I want to give you some practical tools to find that line to help you build awareness so you can leave meals. Feeling satisfied. Instead of overly full that, ugh, why did I eat that last part? Feeling? Okay, we're gonna work on avoiding that. So let's start with a quick refresher of the hunger scale. If you're new here, I teach this tool to help you tune into your body's signals. So I want you to picture a scale from negative 10. Two positive 10. Negative 10 is ravenous stomach growling, dizzy, shaky.

2:45 Zero is neutral. We're not hungry. We're not full. There's no food sitting in the stomach. You just feel this is, a lot of people just go, I just feel normal. Right? There's just no feeling of like, I've just eaten. But you're also not feeling any hunger level either. Positive 10 is stuffed. This is like Thanksgiving level fullness. Most hunger scales that you find online go from one to 10, and it's confusing as to where neutral is for me. I love thinking of that neutral, not hungry, not full feeling as zero because the comfort level and the discomfort level is the same regardless of which side of zero you are on.

3:26 So meaning negative 10, hunger is very uncomfortable as is. Positive 10 fullness. So we aim to stay around the middle of that scale. Most of the time you wanna start eating at around a negative three. When you're feeling lightly hungry and ready for food, but not desperate. That's when food tastes great. Digestion works well, and you're least likely to overdo it. But how do you know when to stop eating? The goal is to stop at positive three because that is equally as comfortable as that negative three hunger. It's like the concept of the opposite and equal reaction from Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

4:12 I think of that on the hunger scale, where comfortable hunger has an equal and opposite comfortable fullness. But this is where we often lose awareness, especially because your stomach takes time to communicate fullness to the brain. So like, thanks, right? Like if this were instantaneous, I don't think we'd even be having this conversation. But it can take up to 20 minutes even. So if you're eating quickly or distracted, you might miss that moment of enough, and I will say that. I, I don't wanna give you the impression when I say that moment of enough, I, I don't wanna give you the impression that it's like you, you're gonna miss it if you have a half a bite too much or a, or one bite too little.

4:54 Like, it's a range. So don't, you know, don't get too hung up on this, but, um, you know, you might hear me using that language, but I don't want you to get like, too super freaked out. So, okay. Today we're gonna introduce. The slow framework, SLOW. So this is just gonna help you recognize enough, and I've just put this together so that it's something easy to remember and let's go through it. So S is serve your full portion at once. Put everything you plan to eat on one plate. Not a little here, not a little more later, or a bite off someone else's plate. This helps your brain register the full amount of food and makes it easier to stop when you're satisfied.

5:38 I'm a big fan of not having seconds because first of all, typically one plate will be plenty of food, and second, it makes it difficult to judge exactly how much you've eaten, which. We wanna know for future reference because this is a learning project, right? I said at the beginning, this is like going to be a new skillset you're learning. So you wanna get familiar with what is the amount of food that helps you get to enough, and it's hard to tell when it's in several different portions in first, second thirds or in grazing while you're making dinner, and then a plate of food and then grazing some more when you're putting away leftovers.

6:19 So this also doesn't mean you have to put a tiny little bit on your first plate. Just put the entire portion that you are going to want for that meal on at one time. And this is obviously just a guess at this point, again, since we're like working on this. But try, try to serve your whole portion at once. So that's the S Serve. Serve your full portion. L is listen to your hunger before starting. So I want you to ask yourself, where am I on the hunger scale right now? Am I actually hungry or eating? Because it's just time. Um, we want to aim to start eating at that negative three, as I said, but. If your hunger level is different than that and it can be based on other factors that are, could be more important to you.

7:06 For example, it's very important for me to eat dinner with my family every night. Like family dinner is a huge deal for me. And so if I have made not as great choices during the day and like, well, I'll give you today, for example, I didn't end up eating lunch until three o'clock, so am I gonna be ready to eat dinner at six o'clock? I mean maybe, but I might not also be quite a negative three hunger, so that would be a reason I'm going to eat. That is not just out of habit. It's not just like, oh, because it's time, but I'm also going to pay attention. Like, okay, I'm not quite as hungry as I typically am at dinnertime because I had a late lunch, but I'm choosing to eat now because relationships are important to me.

7:50 So there's lots of reasons that we might eat. When we're not at that negative three hungry, so we want to listen to the hunger before starting, and also it might be a clue as to how much food you're going to put on your plate in the S serving up your portion. Okay. O is observe your pace and body signals mid meal. Okay. Halfway through. Pause. This is a good time to put your fork down if you haven't already. Okay, check in. How am I feeling? Where am I on the hunger scale right now? Would a few more bites satisfy me or push me over? Just, just checking in? Observe. It's, it's a great idea to put your fork down far before the midway point, but, you know, Use this observe really throughout the meal, but definitely create that pause at least midway through.

8:41 And W is actually ww, but we're just gonna use one. It's weight and walk, or imagine walking. So I want you to ask yourself, could I comfortably go on a short walk after this meal if you're too full to move? That's a sign you may have passed enough. So we first wanna just give ourselves a little wait time before we maybe finish the plate, wait a little bit, have conversation with the people at the table. Hopefully you have people there. If you don't, that's okay. If you're eating on your own, just give yourself some pause and just wait a little bit and then ask, could I imagine myself walking for 10 minutes this after dinner walk idea, or lunch or breakfast, whatever you're eating.

9:26 But wait and walk and see if. That would be a clue for you. Um, this is one of our best clues if you are too full to go on a 10 minute walk. Not only is that walk like amazing for digestion, which is like a total side note, but it's also just a clue of where your enough is. Okay, so this framework can help you slow down. See what I did there? It's called the slow. Uh, it helps you slow down and stay present because the truth is your body is talking to you as much as you are like, I don't know. I don't know where my enough is. There are signals if we are, if we quiet our brains enough to listen.

10:08 So do you need to do this at every meal, the slow framework? No, you don't. This is a practice session to help you become more mindful. In fact, I would encourage you to try this framework first when you are eating on your own, rather than at that family dinner table full of school aged kids or worse angsty teenagers. You're just trying to get. A single word out of when you're stressed at the dinner table because of everything else that's going on. It's not really the time to practice a new framework. Once you get it down, once you've practiced a little bit on your own, it will help you in those more chaotic meal times as well, because it will start to be automatic for you to slow down and pay attention to your own body regardless of what else is going on.

10:57 Okay, let me just say here that, um, if you are a GLP one user, you might have a little bit of a different experience. So if you're on a GLP one medication, so this is like the semaglutide. Tirzepatide is, are, those are the. Uh, generic names we're talking about ozempic, wegovy that bound, those kinds of things. So if you're on one of those, or if you're thinking about one of those things might feel a little bit different. Hunger may be reduced, which is really what you're looking for with those medications, but. In addition, you might not get the same strong fullness signals, so that doesn't mean your body doesn't still have, um, that point of enough. You might just need to use other cues to find it.

11:40 So for GLP one clients, I suggest you pay a close attention to more subtle signs, like a little bit, little bit of losing interest in food. Sometimes my clients will say like, I just, I'm just done. Like, I just put my fork down and I'm just kind of done. With the food, um, you might notice a deep breath or a sigh. Actually, non GLP one users might notice this as well, where your body kind of goes like just kind of a deep breath during the meal. Watch for that. It also is assigned that you're reaching that enough point and then, um, you might also notice that just a gentle shift in your energy, or like I said, that desire to continue eating. You just might notice like that.

12:21 That's just enough, like. It's, it can be something where your brain is actually telling you. You'll notice that if you are a GLP one user, this enough is gonna come a little bit more from your brain. And if you're not on medication, it's gonna come a little bit more from your body. So because the appetite is suppressed with a medication, sometimes we don't get to the act of eating for emotional comfort. But the urge might still be there to have some food to like, you know, suppress some emotion. So that's important to notice too. You still wanna eat intentionally and stop when the body says, or the brain says, that's enough.

13:05 Okay, let's talk about some common mistakes that make it hard to find your enough. So number one, tip top, number number one. And pretty much this, I mean, okay, I'm gonna give you a list, but really it's number one, eating too fast. You are not giving your body time to register fullness. If you finish your plate in five minutes, you're likely past the point of enough without even realizing it. So eating too fast is the first and foremost thing we want to attack. If you are feeling like you can't find your enough. So like I said before. Putting your fork down is really important. I would encourage you if you're trying to slow down, putting your fork down between every bite and putting your hands in your lap, and thinking about chewing and letting that bite get all the way down into your stomach before going for your fork Again, I am.

13:59 Honestly the worst. I eat so fast and sometimes it's like embarrassingly fast, especially when I'm really anxious. If there's a lot of people around, it becomes worse and I sort of shovel my food in so. It's like a double fold. Like it's embarrassing and I am like anxious about, uh, eating in front of other people sometimes, and then I eat too fast and then it makes me even more anxious. So definitely something that I also practice, but I, I can feel if my anxiety is rising, like just putting my fork down, putting my hands in my lap can really help. Okay. Number two is eating distracted. So we do this a lot.

14:40 You know, scrolling on your phone if you're by yourself, it's hard not to, I get that. But scrolling on your phone, watching tv, these things disconnect you from your body's cues. You might look up and realize your plate's empty and you. Barely remember eating it. This not only disconnects you from your body signals, but it also can reduce the satisfaction of what you did eat because you don't really remember eating it. So I, again, I know this can be really hard not to pull your phone out when you're eating lunch by yourself, but as you're practicing this slow framework, I would encourage you to give it a try. While you are practicing. Okay, number three is servings in waves or grazing.

15:23 So going back for bites here and there. Grabbing a few of your kids' fries, nibbling while cleaning up. It's easy to overeat without awareness when your food isn't all in one place. Another issue with this one is the grazing. While you're making dinner, I am. All about tasting the dish that you're making if you are the primary cook in the home and or just for yourself, if you are the one making the food and you wanna taste it for salt or seasoning along the way, I'm, I'm all about that for sure. Do that, but do make those like tastes right, like you're tasting for salt is a really small amount, but we wanna avoid. Is having a full snack, is having like the chip bag open while you are making the tacos and having a full serving of guacamole and chips while you're making dinner.

16:12 Okay? That's what we wanna avoid Okay. And number four is using the word full as the goal. Like I said earlier, full feels like you've filled the tank all the way to the top, and that is not our aim. We wanna feel satiated. It's a comfortable, easy feeling of being done. So let's reframe your language and help your brain to adjust to these expectations. So my favorite words here are enough and satiated. Those are my two favorite. Enough is really my top satiated is a good one. And then even if you just call it positive three, since your brain knows that that's your aim, that can also be a good reframe.

16:53 Okay, so those are some strategies, but what if you overshoot? Okay, let's say you finish a meal and you realize, shoot, I am stuffed, I'm uncomfortable. And on top of that, this is really frustrating. Now what. First, take a big breath. It's gonna be okay. This isn't failure. Let's use this as a learning moment because first and foremost, let's not punch yourself in the face and feel terrible in your brain while you are also dealing with your body not feeling so good. So just get curious, like when did I first feel done? Was there any point in that meal? I noticed that sigh, or that I noticed I was kind of pushing past and I didn't bother to put my fork down.

17:40 Was there a point where I kept eating even though the pleasure had faded? Was I just eating because it was there and it wasn't even tasting that good, but you're like, i'm a clean plate club girly, and so I just had to finish my plate. Um, and then check in like, was I distracted or stressed or rushed? Was I feeling anxious? So check in with some of the emotions that you are feeling. Use this info to adjust next time, not to beat yourself up in hindsight. Okay? We are in curiosity, not in punishment. So remember that your goal isn't perfection. You're not a robot. You're not going to eat the exact right amount for your body at every single meal for the rest of your life just because you've learned this framework.

18:27 Okay? We're looking for progress. So this slow SLOW framework is meant to be practiced, not to be mastered on the first go. Um, another question you might ask instead of judging yourself is. This was too much. You first, you just notice this was too much for my body this time. What can I learn and really take a look, and this is also another reason why it's helpful not to have a second plate or not to dish up seconds because you want to kind of think about how much food was that, okay? That volume of food was too much for me, especially if you started at a negative three. Hunger. And so it will help you in your future times of serving up your portion if you really can visualize the amount of food that that was.

19:14 Okay. So how you feel after a meal matters, if four hours past dinner, you're still feeling full. Like really full. That's also useful feedback. So again, next time you might just try serving up a little less. Okay, one last note here on sleep. That sounds random and out of the blue with this topic, right? But sleep actually plays a role in how well we tune in to hunger and fullness. When you are sleep deprived, your hunger hormones like ghrelin and leptin get out of balance and your body will push for more food, especially quick energy like carbs and fats and specifically carb fat combinations.

19:59 So if you've had a rough night, it's just a cue to you to be extra mindful. Stick to, and notice, I didn't say extra careful, like pay attention to your words. I said extra mindful. Extra careful. Sounds like diet. Right. Do you hear it? So be mindful. Stick to meal times. Avoid the constant grazing that can sneak in when your energy is low. Um, I'm hoping to have another sleep expert on soon, but you can look in the archives. I've done several episodes to help with this, but I will tell you that my current lifesavers in the sleep department. Are my magnesium and progesterone before bed and my bamboo sheets. So those are all really helping me. My bamboo sheets are cozy Earth.

20:41 They sponsored the podcast for a bit, um, and I love them because they keep me cool. So, um, anyway, you find your go-tos, but if you need some magnesium, hit me up. I can help you pick a good one. Okay, final thought. Learning to recognize enough is a skill. I just, I can't emphasize this enough, when, enough enough. Uh, but you know, like any skill, it gets stronger with practice. And so instead of just giving up and being like, gosh, it's so hard, I'm never gonna get it right. Really just start practicing this slow framework when you are on your own. And so you can give yourself some grace and pay attention.

21:23 And when you miss the mark, just stay curious and be like, okay. That's okay. and as you practice this, you are going to quote unquote, miss the mark. Fewer and fewer times, you'll start to notice your patterns. You'll feel more in charge of your food. Not because of diet rules, but because of awareness. And that's, that's just powerful. That's amazing. Right. If you want more support with this, especially if you're navigating appetite changes with GLP one Medications, I'd love to help you inside my coaching programs, you can always book a free consult call through the link in the show notes to make sure we are a perfect fit. You can download my What to do when you overeat free video course, as well as that will help with the aftermath of going past your F during mealtime if this continues to happen to you.

22:11 And if you're considering GLP one medication or if you are already on it, I have a brand new GLP one success. Starter Kit GLP ones are a great tool to assist with your weight loss. So I have developed a program that is specifically for people who are on these medications, so be sure to check that out. I will talk to you next week. And remember, it's not just about the food, it's about empowering yourself with choices that truly serve you. Have a great week and as always, thanks for listening and sharing the Eat Well Think Well Live Well podcast.