Overeating is one of those things that most of us struggle with at some point,
enthusiasm for doing anything but sitting around and eating.
But there's also a physiological reason why you might be prone to overeating,
because not getting enough sleep increases your production of the hormone
ghrelin and ghrelin increases your cravings and your appetite.
And that obviously leads to overeating. And not getting enough sleep also
decreases your production of leptin,
and that's the hormone that tells you that you're satisfied and full and don't
need to eat anymore. Generally,
the best strategy with sleep is to make sure that you go to bed a bit earlier
because it's often quite difficult to know exactly when you're gonna be
able to get up.
Or maybe you know that you have to get up and it's super early in the morning.
So trying to go to bed even half an hour earlier can be really helpful in terms
of increasing your energy levels during the day. I also recommend that an hour
before bed, you cut down on all those screens.
The blue light that comes from your computer screen or your smartphone can interfere with your production of melatonin and that can disrupt your sleep.
So even though you may be getting enough sleep,
you may not be getting the good quality sleep that you need.
You could also be overeating because you're bored.
And that's a common one that I see. It just becomes a habit, "Oh, I'm bored.
Let's get something to eat."
So part of what you need to do is find other things to do when you're bored.
So you can have a go-to thing for whenever you're bored.
For some people it might be a particular app or maybe reading a little bit
from a magazine,
or maybe just getting up and walking around and doing something other than
grabbing food off the shelf. But the other thing that can be helpful is setting
up your environment. So when you become bored,
you don't start reaching for that food.
And research has shown that if you've got something in front of you,
a jar of candy, I think is what they tested,
you're more likely to eat more of that candy than if the candy was hidden
somewhere a little bit further away.
So keep those high calorie treat foods out of reach, out of sight,
out of mind, and you're less likely to eat them. When you do get bored.
Maybe you're overeating because you're eating too quickly.
A lot of us just gobble things down and then don't realize what we've eaten.
It doesn't give your stomach enough time to send signals about being full,
and that means that you might just continue eating or you're not satisfied by
the meal, and then you keep eating other things afterward. Along the same lines,
eating mindlessly. So not paying attention can also be an issue.
I've probably said this in the past,
and a lot of people will give this guidance.
Don't eat at the computer and don't eat in front of the TV.
Don't eat while playing with your phone. I mean,
I do all of those things to be honest. It's just part of my routine.
Sometimes I'm going to eat while I'm doing work occasionally, but for me,
overeating isn't an issue anymore.
So it's not something that I'm concerned about.
If you do choose to eat in front of the TV or in front of your computer,
it's a good idea to at least have things portioned out.
So don't eat from a bag and just keep going.
So you'll be mindlessly watching TV and then you're not gonna notice
how much you eat.
But if you already have a certain portion size and you know that that's gonna be
within your calorie intake for the day, then you don't need to worry. However,
if you're not satisfied because you ate your food mindlessly and then you go
looking for other things that are gonna add more calories to your day,
that's when you're gonna run into a problem.
Not having the right balance of nutrients early on in the day can set you up for
overeating later on in the day, whether it's the afternoon or the evening.
So it's really important to get in enough protein and some fat in order
to manage your appetite.
You shouldn't feel like you need to eat a couple of hours after eating a decent
size meal. It should keep you satisfied for several hours.
So keep protein in each of your meals and that can help you manage your
appetite over the course of the day.
And let's talk a little bit about timing as well,
because if you wave too long between meals,
you may find that your appetite really builds up over the course of the day.
Then you want a big meal that's going to hopefully
satisfy all those food desires that you've been having.
If you get yourself really hungry,
you're probably not gonna make the right choices.
So I generally recommend not going more than five or six hours without food.
That means that you can keep that appetite at a manageable level when you get
to your next meal,
and you don't have to worry that you're just gonna consume everything that
you've been thinking about all day in one massive meal because that's not a
great way to eat. Have you ever felt stressed and reached for food?
A lot of us do that.
We might just feel a little anxious about a work deadline or
something's going on with your kid that's upsetting you,
and food maybe for your entire life has been what you've used
to cope with those stresses. That can be a difficult thing to deal with.
Often you need to find an alternative.
Sometimes it's exercise that's a great alternative,
but that might not be practical if you get stressed at a particular time,
you can't just exercise. Sometimes it's just about breaking things up,
finding something else that releases stress for you.
Maybe it's just going for a very short walk or reading something that makes you
feel happier or listening to some music.
Some people like meditation as a way of reducing stress.
Learning to manage your stress is an ongoing process.
We're not trying to eliminate stress.
It's about separating stress and food as your coping mechanism.
And I worked with quite a few of my clients to do this over time.
It's not generally something that happens overnight.
It can take months or years. And then sometimes you'll regress too.
Like I generally don't use food when I'm stressed. But you know,
once in a while, all the right circumstances put together, yeah,
I might want some food when I'm stressed, and that's okay too.
The idea is just to manage your stress better.
You could also just be feeling sad or down in some way.
And I'm not talking here about clinical depression,
which also can be associated with food issues.
If you do have an issue that you think is clinical,
it's best to reach out and find a therapist to help you with that.
But if you are just in that normal range of, Oh,
I feel sad and I'm used to having some comfort foods,
the things that maybe I really enjoyed as a kid,
or things that I've been enjoying over the years that I just really like and
make me feel good. So for me, that would be ice cream for sure.
So if you feel sad, Ben and Jerry's can make you feel better.
Or at least that's the thinking that's going to lead you into overeating that
particular food. Food should be a source of pleasure.
Food is not just fuel.
Food is part of our culture and our social experiences,
not as simple as just saying,
Eat what your body needs to keep itself going throughout the day.
You cannot entirely separate how good it feels to eat a
delicious food with your family.
I know I love having ice cream with my son on a hot summer day.
I'm not trying to take that away,
but when it becomes negative and you feel guilty about it afterwards,
another thing that can be really dangerous,
then it's something that you want to find an alternative for.
Can you find a way to fulfill those needs that you have with something other
than food?
You might have already recognized some of these reasons why you might be
overeating,
but for people who are trying to lose weight and are already dieting,
one of the reasons you could be overeating is because you're being too
restrictive with your diet. People often choose a particular diet that limits
certain foods that they can't have. Clean eating is a very good example.
It discourages you from having any of these treat foods,
that's what I call them anyway, that you probably really enjoy.
So chocolate or chips or french fries,
and you're not supposed to have those on this particular diet.
So what happens is that people end up overeating those foods,
or they might even overeat the other foods like the ones that are considered the
healthy foods because they're trying to satisfy themselves with that food
instead of with the food that they really want. Let's say the chocolate,
because I think a lot about chocolate.
They end up eating too much food because they're not getting the satisfaction
that they want. And I've experienced this myself.
Anytime I've tried to get rid of my favorite foods and just completely cut them
out of my diet,
I found that I really end up craving them. And that means that when I
eventually give in and have those foods, I'm having way too much.
I solve this for my myself and for my clients by saying, Hey,
you can include those foods in small quantities and fairly regularly too.
I do eat chocolate and or ice cream nearly every day,
and as a result, I don't have strong cravings for it.
I don't overeat them because I know that I don't need to.
I can satisfy myself with the amount that I want today and know that tomorrow
we're the next day, I'm going to have another small amount.
So I don't need to eat the entire tub of ice cream.
But if you wanna avoid overeating,
it's important that you're satisfied with your meals and you don't make them
completely boring all the time.
You're just trying to lose weight with chicken and broccoli. Of course,
you're gonna end up binging on your favorite treat foods later on.
So I recommend including those treat foods that you really enjoy.
That way you can lose weight cuz you're still eating less and you're not gonna
drive yourself to overeat.
And if you're curious about the popular weight loss advice that I think you can
ignore and still get results, check out this video here.