How to rewire your brain so you DON’T pile the pounds back on after dieting or fat jabs: DR MAX PEMBERTON’S new book explains exactly how to avoid slipping back into all the bad old habits
Learning to eat when hungry and stop when satisfied may sound simple but for many of us it’s a skill we need to rediscover. If you’ve struggled with your weight for years, you’ve probably lost touch with your body’s natural hunger and fullness signals.
Maybe you’ve spent so long following strict diet plans or calorie counting that you’ve forgotten how to listen to your body’s natural wisdom. If you’ve used food for emotional reasons, physical sensations of hunger can become confused with other feelings.
Rules and advice we’ve all heard over the years also colour our view of hunger. Many of us fear feeling hungry – perhaps having faced food insecurity as a child or being encouraged to always finish your plate.
While it’s normal to occasionally eat preventatively – for instance before a long meeting that will straddle lunchtime – constantly eating to avoid ever feeling hungry prevents you from recognising your body’s natural signals.
Instead of seeing hunger as the ‘enemy’, try to use it as a helpful signal and part of your body’s sophisticated communication system evolved over thousands of years to keep you alive and thriving.
An inability to connect to hunger and fullness signals lies at the heart of why so many people struggle with their weight. All too often, as a consultant NHS psychiatrist, I see despairing patients who’ve lost weight – whether on a diet, using weight loss jabs or even bariatric surgery – only to put it back on again.
This is because these approaches focus on what people are eating but miss the main organ involved: The brain, which is responsible for making associations between what we eat and our emotions, between food and reward.
That’s why, along with chartered psychologist Dr Courtney Raspin, an eating disorders expert, I have designed a transformative psychological programme to help you understand the hidden mindset patterns that are sabotaging your weight-loss efforts so that you can step off this exhausting rollercoaster for good.
It forms the basis of our new book, The Weight Loss Prescription, which I’m sharing here with Mail on Sunday readers.
Today, continuing our exclusive series, I’ll show you how to identify when you’re really hungry for food and share tried-and-tested ways to beat emotional eating.
The hunger and fullness scale
This is a practical tool that helps you to reconnect with your body’s signals. The scale uses a common vocabulary to describe sensations and rate your hunger.
1 Ravenous: You may feel dizzy, nauseous, shaky or physically ill from hunger. This level of hunger makes it nearly impos-sible to make thoughtful food choices and can often lead to eating too quickly or too much. You are more likely to crave food that is calorie-dense or high in sugar and fat because your body can easily break this down into quick energy.
2 Extremely hungry: You’re very hungry and might feel moody or a gnawing emptiness in your stomach. You think about food a lot and feel you must eat right away.
3 Hungry: Your stomach is growling and you need energy. You’re definitely ready to eat but not desperate or uncomfortable. Your body is sending a clear message – it’s time for fuel.
4 I could eat: Your stomach feels slightly empty and eating food sounds appealing. If food were available, you could eat but could easily wait a bit longer without discomfort.
5 Neutral: You’re neither hungry nor full. You might experience this a few hours after eating a meal, when your body has had the chance to digest your food but isn’t yet signalling for more.
6 Mild fullness: You’re satisfied but not completely full. You could eat a bit more if something appealing were offered but you don’t need to.
7 Satisfied: This is the sweet spot. You feel comfortably full. If you eat more, you might feel uncomfortable. Your physical hunger is completely gone and you feel content.
8 Uncomfortably full: You feel slightly uncomfortable and might need to loosen your belt.
9 Stuffed: You’re very uncomfortably full after a big meal, like a holiday celebration. You may need to lie down.
10 Physically ill: Overeating has made you feel nauseous. This might happen after a binge eating episode, for instance.
Where to start and stop eating
Ideal starting point
The best time to start eating is when you’re at 3 or 4 on the scale. At level 3, you’re definitely hungry, while at level 4 you’re mildly hungry and could enjoy food. This ensures you’re responding to your body’s actual needs rather than to external cues such as emotions.
An inability to connect to hunger and fullness signals lies at the heart of why so many people struggle with their weight
Ideal stopping point
The goal is to stop eating when you reach level 6 or 7 – satisfied but not over-full. Level 7 is ideal. Many people who struggle with their weight tend to eat from a 1-2 (too hungry) to an 8-10 (too full). This pattern often develops because extreme hunger makes it very difficult to eat slowly and pay attention to fullness signals.
If you are taking GLP-1 medications, you may notice you rarely experience levels 1-3 any more as the drugs affect the brain pathways that regulate appetite. However, your body still requires regular fuel – the goal isn’t to eat as little as possible, it’s to eat appropriately while using the respite from food noise to rebuild your relationship with hunger and fullness signals. If you practise using the scale while on the drugs, it will give you the confidence to know how to quantify hunger signals when you stop taking them.
How to use the hunger and fullness scale
Use the scale to note what number you are on before meals, how you feel while eating and afterwards. After a few days of ‘just noticing’ and honestly assessing where you are on the scale, start looking for patterns. It can be helpful to write things down. Ask yourself what numbers you tend to start and stop at, what situations or emotions affect your ratings, how accurately you can predict your fullness level at the end of the meal, and whether your perception changes during or after eating.
Halfway through your usual portion, pause and check in with the scale. Are you still at 4-5 or are you approaching 6-7?
This can help you gauge whether you really need the rest of your planned portion.
It’s important to act on what you observe. If you check in and realise you’re at 7, try stopping there even if there’s food left on your plate. If you’re at 3 and there’s another hour left before your meal time, consider a small snack. The goal is to trust and respond to your body’s signals rather than follow external rules.
Try eating more slowly. It takes around 20 minutes for your brain to register fullness signals from your stomach (this may be less for those on GLP-1s, as the drugs can speed up fullness signals). Eating quickly makes it easier to overshoot your target and end up at an 8 or 9 when you were aiming for a 7. Try putting your fork down between bites, chewing thoroughly or having a conversation at meal times instead of bolting your food.
Recognise different types of hunger
Although the scale tells you how hungry you are, it’s equally important to understand why you want to eat. We now know that hunger isn’t just one sensation. It comes in different forms – learning to recognise these can help you to respond appropriately to what your body and mind actually need. Here are some of the commonest types:
Stomach hunger is physical – it’s your body’s signal that it needs fuel. This builds over time and it is the type of hunger measured by the fullness scale. Signs include a growling stomach, emptiness, difficulty concentrating and low energy. It goes away when you’ve eaten enough.
Mouth hunger is a desire for specific tastes or textures, often triggered by seeing or smelling food. You might have just eaten a meal but still fancy dessert, for instance. It’s about wanting the sensory experience of a particular food rather than needing fuel. The key is recognising whether you’re eating for taste or fuel – and making a conscious decision about it.
Heart, or emotional, hunger is driven by your emotions and can be a way of seeking comfort or distracting yourself from difficult feelings. It can feel very similar to stomach hunger – a gnawing sensation in your stomach – and in fact both activate some of the same areas of your brain.
Mind hunger comes from eating because of thoughts and rules, rather than physical hunger. These might include thoughts like: ‘It’s lunchtime, I should eat,’ or ‘I shouldn’t waste food.’ It’s often connected to deep-rooted social conditioning about when and how much we ‘should’ eat.
Learning to use the hunger and fullness scale and recognising different types of hunger are about rebuilding trust with your body.
Use it as a foundation for managing your weight as well as overall health and wellbeing.
Run, jump or punch a pillow to keep your mind off food
When cravings strike, you can’t just grit your teeth and stare at the clock as ten minutes tick slowly by. You need a distraction. This works best if you have a physical reminder – such as a list of activities on your phone – that you can dip into, as you would a cookie jar, when food cravings strike.
Physical activity, such as going out for a ten-minute walk, is one good way to release the tension created by an urge. Squeezing a tennis ball can be a way to occupy your hands.
Match intense emotions with more vigorous movements: Sprint for 30-second bursts, do jumping jacks until you are breathless or punch a pillow – any of these will help you to expel the feeling from your body.
Food is an emotional soother because it engages many senses at once – including taste, smell, temperature and texture. But you can engage these senses without food. Try an alternating hot and cold shower, snuggling up to a comforting, warm hot water bottle or rubbing essential oils on your body – lavender, in particular, is calming.
You could also try turning to a puzzle book or listening to a podcast. A colouring book and pencils can be calming, as repetitive strokes soothe the nervous system.
Another helpful technique is to call or text a friend about anything other than food or what is bothering you – ask about their day or just chat about a shared hobby.
‘Playing the tape forward’ is a useful trick that invites you to connect with the consequences of giving in to cravings. Yes, the food may taste good in the moment but what about an hour later or tomorrow? The thought of what comes next may be enough to help you make different choices.
The first few times you try, these suggestions will feel hard. But it will get easier as you are building new neural pathways and habits.
Why we reach for the biscuits when stressed
We’ve all been there. The moment when a stressful day at work leaves you reaching for the biscuit tin even though you’re not actually hungry. Awareness of why you’re doing this is important – and you also need tools to manage these moments differently.
There are good reasons why we turn to food when emotions get difficult – it’s always available and it works fast. When you eat, your body releases feel-good chemicals, your blood sugar rises and the physical act of eating distracts you from whatever is troubling you.
We’re also taught the connection between food and solace from childhood – a skinned knee gets a biscuit, for instance.
Stress plays a role, too. When you’re under pressure your body releases cortisol, part of our internal alarm system that readies the body to confront a challenge.
But cortisol in turn influences ghrelin, the hunger hormone, specifically driving cravings for high-calorie, high-fat foods.
There’s a good reason for this: Our systems were originally designed to protect us from threats from predators – such as bears and wolves – and if you’ve just escaped from a predator your energy stores will need to be replenished.
However, our brain hasn’t updated its software, so this same system now drives you towards the biscuit tin after a stressful meeting.
Eating pleasurable foods, particularly those high in sugar and fat, can also cause the body to release natural feel-good chemicals – endorphins – which are powerful painkillers and mood elevators. This is why such foods make you feel better in the short term.
But every time you respond to an emotional trigger with food, you are strengthening the habit loops your brain has formed. Eventually it becomes an automatic reaction.
Once these neural pathways are formed they never really go away, which is why emotional eating patterns are so hard to break. But here’s the hopeful part: Your brain isn’t fixed.
It’s capable of rewiring itself based on what you practise – a remarkable trait known as neuroplasticity. This means you can learn to create new neural pathways, decision by decision, effectively rewiring your brain.
The first step when you feel the urge to eat is to figure out if it’s physical or emotional hunger. One helpful tool is the acronym HALT (am I Hungry or am I Angry, Lonely or Tired?). Asking yourself other questions such as when you last ate, whether something has just annoyed you or how well you slept may help.
This exercise creates a pause between the trigger and your response. In that pause you have choice – you’re no longer on autopilot, reaching mindlessly for food, you’re making a conscious decision.
If you’re physically hungry, eat something to satisfy this. If you’re not, but nonetheless want to eat, move on to the section about dealing with cravings (previous page).
If you’re not sure, wait for ten minutes then try again. Emotional hunger often shifts or fades.
New body, same old you? How to adjust to your slimmer size
It’s easy to think that life as a lighter person will be what you’ve always dreamed of, but you may encounter other, rarely discussed realities about weight loss.
These include…
Loose skin: This is common after substantial weight loss. Your skin has stretched to accommodate a larger body, and while it still has some elasticity, it may not ‘snap back’ fully, especially if you lost weight quickly. You may find it hangs in ways you didn’t expect, you need to tuck it into clothing or underwear, or you may suffer chafing or challenges keeping the folds clean.
My advice: Give yourself time – skin can continue to tighten for up to two years post- weight loss. Focus on what your body can now do, rather than how it looks and consider compression garments for comfort and confidence. Connect with others with similar experiences. If it significantly impacts your quality of life, consider surgical options without shame.
Weight was your armour: Many people, particularly those with histories of sexual trauma, find that being in a larger body feels safer as the extra weight creates a barrier, making them less visible or less likely to attract unwanted attention.
My advice: Recognise that feeling vulnerable is normal and temporary and consider working with a therapist, especially if a history of trauma is involved. Practise setting boundaries – you don’t owe anyone access to your body, regardless of its size.
Weight became your identity anchor: You may have been the ‘jolly big guy’ for instance, for so long that losing weight feels like losing your identity. What role do you play in your friend group now?
My advice: Remember your value to others was not about your weight, it was connected to your personality, your sense of humour and your other capabilities. Give yourself permission to evolve – you don’t have to stay the same person you were before the weight loss.
Weight was a reason to avoid things: Carrying excess weight may have been your explanation for not dating or pursuing certain careers. With the weight gone, you’re faced with the reality that perhaps it wasn’t the only thing holding you back.
My advice: Explore who you are beyond your size. Remember you are not just losing weight but navigating a complex physical and psychological transformation. Consider therapy to explore other underlying issues.
© Max Pemberton and Courtney Raspin 2026
Adapted from The Weight Loss Prescription by Dr Max Pemberton & Dr Courtney Raspin (Thorsons, £16.99), to be published February 26. To order a copy for £15.29 (offer valid to 07/03/26; UK P&P free on orders over £25) go to www.mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937.
