Intuitive Eating Principle #6: Feel Your Fullness

Have you ever said, “I feel so fat”?

Let’s unpack this together. Please know that one, you are not alone. Two, leave all guilt and shame at the door and give yourself grace.

Fat is not a feeling. 

Fat is not an emotion.

Let’s explore the definitions of fat and emotion.

Fat: a natural oily or greasy substance occurring in animal bodies, especially when deposited as a layer under the skin or around certain organs.

Emotion: a conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as a strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object or situation and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body.

Diet culture can encourage us to label ourselves as “bad” or “fat” when we are truly feeling full.

“Feeling fat” is a scapegoat for how you are actually feeling and places the blame on you. This comes back to how diet culture affects us as a society.

So what are you really feeling?

You are most likely feeling uncomfortable in your body. 

The word “fat” portrays a negative connotation moralized by our society. Attaching morals to the word “fat” is associated with shame, disgust, disappointment, guilt, or another negative emotion.

Let’s redirect and reframe the thought “I feel so fat”.

F: Find the function

What challenges might I be dealing with right now? Am I anxious about something right now? What vulnerabilities have I been facing today?

A: Access your values

Who am I? What do I care about? What do I believe in?

T: Take a pause

When our minds run in circles it can be hard to think clearly. Give yourself space to slow down!

Feeling your fullness is involved with navigating both your hunger and fullness cues. Remember, when it comes to your fullness, you may only easily identify the feeling of being uncomfortably full. This is a completely normal part of many people’s journey with intuitive eating because of diet culture encouraging years of restricting.

The Keys to Feeling Your Fullness:

• Loop back to Principle #2 Honor Your Hunger and Principle #3 Make Peace With Food. 
• Recognize what comfortable satiety feels like.
  • If you do not know what it feels like, how can you achieve it? 
• Practice conscious awareness eating by becoming a neutral observer at meal time. 
• Learn to stop eating once you are biologically fed.

There are also many factors that influence how full you may feel:

• The amount of time that has passed since you last ate
• The kind of food you eat
• The amount of food in the stomach at the time of eating
• Initial hunger level
• Social influence

If you begin to feel full or uncomfortable, there are several steps you can take to regain pleasure from eating.

1. Pause in the middle of your meal/snack
   1. are you enjoying it? 
   2. What is your fullness level? 
2. When nearing the end of the experience, assess where you are on the hunger/fullness scale 
3. Don’t feel obligated to leave food on your plate or to clean your plate. 
4. Say “no”
   1. Food freedom is not saying “yes” to all food all the time 
5. Remove the guilt & shame from food so you can listen to your body 
6. Pull in the ideas from Principle #5: Discover the Satisfaction Factor

Fullness is a normal biological cue.

Fullness is a sign that your body is nourished.

Fullness is your body communicating with you.

If you enjoyed this blog post make sure you check out our post “Intuitive Eating Principle #5: Discover the Satisfaction Factor” here!

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