What does ‘eat to satiety’ mean?

[MooBoom]

If you’re new to keto, people are probably telling you to ‘eat fat to satiety’ a lot.

If you’d like a bit more info around what that means, the below guide can help, I’ve certainly found it to be enormously beneficial and it’s helped me to attain a far healthier relationship with food (prior to keto I was a compulsive overeater/emotional eater/binge eater).

Eating to satiety means reaching a 6-7 on the scale (preferably a 6 but ain’t no one going to judge a 7 here or there!).

Granted, this all assumes your satiety cues are in functioning order. And one of the reasons you might be doing keto is because that’s NOT the case. If that’s you, paying attention to your keto macros (wise folk will tell you to set your calculators to ‘maintain’ not ‘deficit’) can help you to stay on track. You probably have other tools you use which help you from overeating- if so please share them in the comments so others can learn from your wisdom.

Another thing that can help is to eat as slowly and mindfully as possible, and adopt the plate divide method. Serve your plate of food, visually divide that plate in half, and slowly and mindfully eat one half. Take time to chew and enjoy the flavours.
Pause for 5 mins. Check in with your hunger level as per the guide above. If you’re at a 6, time to put down the fork and save the rest until you are experiencing true hunger again.

Not at a 6 yet? Repeat the plate divide (your remaining half is halved, eat one half, wait 5 mins and check in again). Keep doing this until you hit the 6. You might end up putting more food on your plate some days, on other days you’ll be putting half back in the fridge for later.

Hope this helps!

[mtncntrykid]

So I am only 5 mo. Keto and still seem to hit the 7 or 8 mark. Is this something that will get better (more to the 6 level) as time goes by?
I sure hope so!

edited to right numbers.

[MooBoom]

Hopefully someone who’s experienced that can chime in @mtncntrykid, I have certainly seen it referenced positively (that keto does help heal satiety cues) in this forum a number of times.

It’s not been my n=1 (solely because I’m blessed with fully functioning cues- which I just chose to ignore for decades ).

[Anniegirl9]

You know how they say fasting is like a muscle that can be strengthened and increased with practice?

I found it similar with satiety. In the beginning I would eat what was on my plate, regardless of how much food it was. Often overeating. My satiety signals were all messed up after long years of periodic binging.

I did have to watch calories for a while. The trick was to set my calculations to maintain and then go slightly over that. Thus probably putting myself in 7 with most meals.
After a couple weeks doing that consistently, I now know what that feels like and can do it without tracking. Well, I still track, but I can do it after the meal and am always pretty good.
And I think I’m now getting more in the 6 range.

[TANSTAAFL13]

Thank you for this!! I was just pondering this very question.

[hedleylo]

Yes and no?

I think there was a point where I felt satiated. Then I kept losing weight. Now if I stay up too late at night I get some hunger signals (which may be false signaling). Getting a minimum of 7 hours sleep is important to me, so I take these signals as a sign I need to go to bed. Depending on how much coffee I have in which morning I typically have no issues making it to my 1pm eating window.

I’ll add the disclaimer that if I keep to my Keto macros I don’t notice any difference in the scale if I do go over my calories. CICO is only relevant to some, but not all. It does not seem to apply to me as long as the extra calories come from fat. I snack on butter, or cream cheese, or 100% unsweetened chocolate if I have cravings later in the evening.

[Anniegirl9]

I wouldn’t call them “false signals.” Being awake take more energy than sleeping. Your body wants to fuel the extra need.

[hedleylo]

Unfortunately learning real hunger signals from boredom hunger is a difficulty for many. I understand being awake requires more energy, but I give my body plenty of energy for its needs. At the end of the day when I’m normally in bed, it’s incredibly possible my body is giving false hunger signals out of boredom.

[Anniegirl9]

I’m just saying the body senses a change and sends out the signal for more fuel.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t ignore that one and go to bed anyway. All you would have to do is shut down the need for the extra fuel (by going to sleep) would cause the body to abapt again and stop sending out hunger signals.

[MooBoom]

Definitely possible. In my experience hunger doesn’t pass, but boredom hunger does. I usually drink a big glass of water and do something else for 20 mins. If it’s false hunger the hunger signals will abate or pass, if genuine, I’ll eat a bit of fat.

[PaulL]

Mon, I love your graphic, but for me in my sugar-burning days, level 10 was “You are extremely uncomfortable and may wish that you could be physically ill to relieve the discomfort, but you are ravenously hungry.”

For me as a ketonian, level 6 is “You are satisfied. You have plenty of room in your stomach, but the thought of more food holds absolutely no interest. You stop eating, even though there is still plenty of food on your plate.”

[MooBoom]

Perfect! I like your re-write very much

[Roy_D_Rushing_Jr]

For me it’s literally been just eat until I don’t want any more. As long as I’m keepin my carbs in check I have no worries.