Thoughts about 5…for me the real change in my thinking and results came when I began to evaluate “When am I no longer uncomfortable from hunger?” That helped me a lot. The truth is, in the past, I wanted to see how much I could eat *before* getting uncomfortable again. That was because I didn’t want to let go of food. It was that idea of that while I was avoiding sin, I was not hating it…so I tried to go right up close to the edge and *maybe* stop just before I had eaten too much. That phrase “how much can I get away with?” was true of me.

Now it is more “How little do I need?” No…not like the anorexic might do. If a person has that in her past, I would guess she would have to ask God to help her not to fall prey to that again…but for me it works well.

As I said before, Judy Halliday referred to 5 as being where you stop when you are energized and could get up and exercise without that “Oops, I ate too much” feeling! For me, after she said that, I tried it…I actually exercised after eating and found it really helped define it for me.

As I mentioned in chat, there is a range for me…from the minute I am no longer hungry, to what I used to call a 5….it is where I don’t feel the sensation of food in my stomach.

I asked my 14 year old son what a “5” feels like and he said “Nothing.” He has a point. It is a *lack* of a sensation and for me, that is satisfied. I think it is unusual to consider *nothing* “satisfied!” LOL! But frankly, when I feel food pushing on my stomach…or even settling against it…I don’t like that any more. So stopping before that IS satisfying. (I have to laugh…as I typed the above about my son, he announced from the table where he was eating a late dinner that he was STUFFED and that his hunger number was “12” and that he is going to be sick! Sigh!!)

Anyhow, if I add to this description, where am I comfortable (no longer uncomfortable from hunger) and energized so that I could exercise…well, that about sums it up for me! No erpy burpies…Yes!

I don’t know if this helps anyone else, but boy…it has brought clarity to me.