# Four Axes of Hunger

[exfatloss recently](https://www.exfatloss.com/p/satiety-graphed-and-the-horsemen) wrote about the difference between being satiated and being full, and not experiencing satiety until their 30's. Thinking about this made me realize that there's at least four axes of hunger (**pangs**, **appetite**, **fullness** and **emotional state**), and some interesting edge cases. These hunger feelings are correlated, but don't always occur together, and sometimes they even point in opposite directions.

Having shared terminology to discuss this might help prevent people talking past each other when discussing hunger.

The Axes
========

Hunger Pangs
------------

There's a physical feeling of pain near my stomach that occurs when I'm hungry. This usually comes on at my normal meal times and sometimes goes away on its own, even if I don't eat.

Appetite
--------

There's a feeling of *needing* to eat. I think the opposite of this is what exfatloss calls satiety. I associate this with binge eating and [Pringles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suai1lU4x-g).

Fullness
--------

Fullness is what it sounds like—sometimes it feels like my stomach is physically full. Weirdly, this one is backwards from the others, and fullness or bloating feels bad, although it can 'take the edge off' if I have other hunger feelings.

Emotional State
---------------

I'm not sure if it makes sense to call this one axis or many, but when hungry I can experience things like:

*   Shorter temper ("[Hangry](https://www.health.com/nutrition/what-is-hangry)")
*   Inability to focus
*   Difficulty with motivation[^8pbaqwtzcpe]

**Weird edge cases**
====================

The "standard" form of hungry is that your stomach is empty, you experience hunger pangs, you feel a need to eat, and you feel tired and angry. The more interesting cases (to me) are when these signals don't match, or where they point in different directions.

Hanger
------

Let's go right back to being hangry. The prototypical example is someone who's unreasonably angry, and then they notice that they need to eat something because they're actually hungry.

The weird thing here is, how would you not notice the hunger pangs and desire to eat? I propose that many hangry people are not experiencing the other aspects of hunger.

![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/7bb6a65e6aca5a8ecb21a6520c35b7cc740c4df09ecf8c83.png)

Hangry graphed on a 2D projection of hungerspace

Rice Diet Fullness and Heavy Cream Emptiness
--------------------------------------------

When eating low-calorie-density foods like rice, potatoes and fruit, it's common to feel uncomfortably full while still having an appetite and wanting to eat more. In my experience, I don't experience hunger pangs in this situation. I'm not sure how it impacts emotional state.

On the other side, exfatloss describes their heavy cream diet as extremely satiating but not filling.

![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/88c2b6d7875e642db5ffd27fa2d5a6943f53707381f57f75.png)

Rice and cream fullness graphed on a 2D slice of hungerspace

Hard Exercise
-------------

When doing hard exercise, my body wants sugar, and consuming it improves my motivation. The weird thing is that I don't get hunger pangs or an appetite. I mostly just want water and find that I feel better if I put sugar in that water.

![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/c3a487ac762ddc6d4f1b7f455b9dcdd9053a4803c3d9ed16.png)

Hard exercise points in hungerspace

Around an hour *after* I stop exercising, I experience a strong appetite and sometimes hunger pangs.

Going to Sleep Hungry
---------------------

I'm not sure how common of an experience this is, but I try to stop eating by 5 pm because I sleep better. Most days, I don't experience any discomfort from this, but sometimes I do experience mild hunger pangs. The weird thing is that I don't feel much of an appetite (it's easy to just ignore the hunger pangs). I don't think this affects my emotional state.

![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/e3fe64e8ce9ca666622833961df229f33b5d458da5470f01.png)

Late night hunger with and without a snack

Strangely, if I start eating at this point ("just a snack"), this very rapidly causes the mild hunger pangs to go away, but replaces them with a much stronger appetite.

Putting It All Together
-----------------------

I'm not sure if this is all of the axes (or if my experiences with them are universal), but hopefully this is helpful. I think when discussing diets and hunger, keeping in mind which type of hunger (or [tabooing the word](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WBdvyyHLdxZSAMmoz/taboo-your-words) "hunger") might make the conversations more productive.

[^8pbaqwtzcpe]: Is this why semaglutide gives people more willpower? They're just not hungry constantly?