Kuchisabishii: The Japanese Word for Mindless Eating
I was with my Japanese friend Takahiro, who was visiting Lisbon from his hometown of Yokohama.
We had just spent the morning strolling through Feira da Ladra—Lisbon’s most famous flea market—before heading to a coffee shop to watch the FA Cup Final. Beers in hand, Crystal Palace v Manchester City on the screen.
(And as a Palace fan who jokes about mid-table mediocrity every year… I was living.)
Midway through the match, he turned to me and asked:
“Kuchisabishii?”
If you don’t know the term, “kuchisabishii” (口富しい) loosely translates to “my mouth is lonely.”
It doesn’t mean hunger. It means:
You’re seeking comfort or distraction
You’re not craving anything in particular
You just want something to chew on
Not for fuel. Not even for flavour.
Just out of boredom.
And honestly, I’d forgotten the word even existed until he said it. But the second I heard it, I went, yep—I know that feeling.
We both laughed. I said, “Yeah, go on then,” and ordered a Pastel de Nata for each of us.
Sometimes kuchisabishii is just that—a small, human response. You’re in a moment. Your team’s winning. You’re sharing a memory with a friend who you haven’t seen for ages.
But I couldn’t help thinking about how many of my 1:1 online fitness members struggled with this exact thing before we started working together.
They’d say:
“I don’t know why I eat so much at night.”
“I wasn’t even hungry, I just grabbed something.”
“I snack when I’m bored, not when I’m hungry.”
And here’s the thing:
Once in a while? Fine.
But if it’s daily—and you’re also feeling stuck in your fat loss journey, hiding in photos, tugging your top down, avoiding mirrors… then yeah, this might be what’s holding you back.
That’s why one of the most important chapters in my book Your Fat Loss Journey Starts Here is all about environment design.
If you want to change the outcome, you have to change the setup.
That might mean:
Keeping low-quality snacks out of the house
Prepping high-protein meals ahead of time
Keeping fruit in plain sight
Removing your phone from your bedroom to sleep better
You don’t need to demonise kuchisabishii. But you do need to decide when it’s harmless, and when it’s also quietly ‘stealing’ progress.
If this resonated with you, and you're ready to build better habits without relying on willpower alone, my book Your Fat Loss Journey Starts Here is packed with mindset shifts, tactics, and systems that work in daily life.
You can find it on Amazon now, and it’s available on Kindle, hardcover and paperback.
Speak soon,
Leo
