How to Stop Overeating

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Even though I skipped last week’s weigh-in results (week 189), I lost three pounds last week.  I’ve lost a total of 130 pounds and currently weigh 214.2 pounds.

The two weeks prior, I gained a total of nearly ten pounds.

Some were shocked by such a large weight gain, while others were understanding of how such a gain was possible.  The fact is, it’s easy to gain or lose 3, 5, or even 10 pounds quickly — it just requires you to do one or two simple things.

Losing weight quickly usually requires excessive perspiration (and dehydration), a large bowel movement, and little calories consumed over a day or two.  Of course, any weight loss acquired through one or more of these means is usually short-lived.  I hate that I have to even advise against this, but I know I do:  you shouldn’t starve yourself or take laxatives to lose weight.  Only a calorie deficit over a prolonged period of time will bring “permanent” weight loss.

When it comes to gaining weight quickly, overeating is almost always the culprit.

Overeating is easy.  It usually just requires a little bit of stress or a little distraction in our lives.  And by a little distraction, I mean a late meeting at work, or just a television show that grabs our attention while you eat the rest of the potato chips in the bag.   You’ll have to find out what thoughts, events, or people cause you to overeat, but we all do it, and once you do, here’s how you stop it:

Forget you overate.  It’s in the past.  It doesn’t affect your future choices.

Overeating, at the end of the day, builds upon itself.  The more you do it, well, the more you do it. You eat one cookie, then a second, then a third.  By the fourth, you think, “Why stop now?  I already ate 400 calories in Oreos — what’s another 400?”

Eventually, those 800 calories in Oreos and that poisonous mindset carries over to your next meal.  “Well, I already ate 800 calories in Oreos today, I might as well get the bacon/chili/cheese fries for an appetizer.”   This overeating (and maybe even binging) pattern can continue for hours, days, weeks, or even months.

For me, it lasted a couple of decades.

The way to stop overeating is in your head.  The second you realize you’re starting to overeat, stop.  Push the food away.   Realize that yes, perhaps some “damage” is already done, but those 400 calories you didn’t intend on eating does not have to turn into 4,000. If you don’t pay someone to physically take food away once you start to overeat, it’s going to be up to you to take control of your portions.

Break away from the state of mind that “the damage is already done,” which is at the heart of overeating.  It’s your body.  Take control of it.