Definition
腹八分目 literally means “belly/stomach 80%” and indicates to stop eating food when you feel 八分 (80%) full, not 十分 (full/100%).
* 十分 (じゅうぶん) also means “enough”, and 十二分 (じゅうにぶん), which literally means “120%”, means “more than enough/sufficient”,
Usage
In Japan, it is widely believed that 腹八分目 is good for your health, which is reflected in the saying, “腹八分目に医者(いしゃ)いらず” meaning “You don’t need a doctor by exercising 腹八分目”. Therefore, lots of people try to stop eating when their stomach feels 80 % full, but apparently, this is one of the things that is easy to say but hard to do.
Meaning of 分 (ぶ/ぶん) in Japanese
As used in 腹八分目, the word “分 (ぶ or ぶん)” means “10%”, e.g. “五分咲きの桜” means “cherry blossoms in 50％ bloom”.Confusingly enough, however, 分 can also mean “1%”, especially when it is used with another unit 割 (わり) meaning “10%” and/or 厘 (りん) meaning “0.1%”. These units are often used to describe sports stats, especially a batting average in baseball (e.g. ３割５分２厘 means “0.352”). And as you may already know, 分 also means “minute” and reads “ふん” or “ぷん”, e.g. ２分 (にふん) and ３分 (さんぷん) mean “2 minutes” and “3 minutes”, respectively.
Example
腹八分目の食事(しょくじ)を心(こころ)がけよう
Keep it in mind to stop eating when you feel 80% full.
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