Overeating

lwag1990
lwag1990 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am beating myself up because I’ve had a horrible 3 days of overeating. Wanted to stop but just continued. Any tips on how to overcome the guilt?
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Replies

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,162 Member
    edited January 2023
    When there's godlike technologies in our midst that our Paleolithic brain isn't hardwired to deal with it becomes an existential risk/threat in developed Countries, which in the context of food has created a world wide overeating problem that is manifesting toward obesity and many other metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Basically modern technology has hijacked our limbic system. It's a tough one for sure, no doubt about. Can a person wait for a more virtuous reward if they reframe from immediate gratification, might be one way to battle this threat. Cheers.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    neanderthin wrote: »
    When there's godlike technologies in our midst that our Paleolithic brain isn't hardwired to deal with it becomes an existential risk/threat in developed Countries, which in the context of food has created a world wide overeating problem that is manifesting toward obesity and many other metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Basically modern technology has hijacked our limbic system. It's a tough one for sure, no doubt about. Can a person wait for a more virtuous reward if they reframe from immediate gratification, might be one way to battle this threat. Cheers.

    The latest Half Size Me podcast, #569 with Karolina, mentioned the "lower brain" frequently, but mostly in passing.

    #568, with Shauna, seems like it might be good for the OP:

    https://www.halfsizeme.com/hsm568/

    In episode 568 of The Half Size Me™ Show, Heather talks with Shauna about strategies to tackle impulsive eating, plus
    • why you should only introduce habits you’re willing to do for the rest of your life
    • how using paper and pencil to track can help
    • how to use delayed gratification
    • and more!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,342 Member
    neanderthin, soooooooo esoteric, :lol:

    To the original point - log it, move on. Guilt is over-rated.

    Just as a point for thought: are you trying to eat too little in general? That can/will lead to a binge or a big over-feed. Under-eating and over-eating are both problematic. Try for a more balanced approach with enough calories and enough protein, fat and fiber every day.

    If you cut calories too low, your body is going to make it difficult, and it doesn't need to be that way. Choose a rate of loss that's as comfortable as possible and it's easier to stick with it till the end. :)

    cfpqwo9vvrsi.png




  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,162 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    neanderthin, soooooooo esoteric, :lol:

    To the original point - log it, move on. Guilt is over-rated.

    Just as a point for thought: are you trying to eat too little in general? That can/will lead to a binge or a big over-feed. Under-eating and over-eating are both problematic. Try for a more balanced approach with enough calories and enough protein, fat and fiber every day.

    If you cut calories too low, your body is going to make it difficult, and it doesn't need to be that way. Choose a rate of loss that's as comfortable as possible and it's easier to stick with it till the end. :)

    cfpqwo9vvrsi.png



    cmriverside wrote: »
    neanderthin, soooooooo esoteric, :lol:

    To the original point - log it, move on. Guilt is over-rated.

    Just as a point for thought: are you trying to eat too little in general? That can/will lead to a binge or a big over-feed. Under-eating and over-eating are both problematic. Try for a more balanced approach with enough calories and enough protein, fat and fiber every day.

    If you cut calories too low, your body is going to make it difficult, and it doesn't need to be that way. Choose a rate of loss that's as comfortable as possible and it's easier to stick with it till the end. :)

    cfpqwo9vvrsi.png




    Hahaha, well, someone has to be. Cheers.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,162 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    neanderthin wrote: »
    When there's godlike technologies in our midst that our Paleolithic brain isn't hardwired to deal with it becomes an existential risk/threat in developed Countries, which in the context of food has created a world wide overeating problem that is manifesting toward obesity and many other metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Basically modern technology has hijacked our limbic system. It's a tough one for sure, no doubt about. Can a person wait for a more virtuous reward if they reframe from immediate gratification, might be one way to battle this threat. Cheers.

    The latest Half Size Me podcast, #569 with Karolina, mentioned the "lower brain" frequently, but mostly in passing.

    #568, with Shauna, seems like it might be good for the OP:

    https://www.halfsizeme.com/hsm568/

    In episode 568 of The Half Size Me™ Show, Heather talks with Shauna about strategies to tackle impulsive eating, plus
    • why you should only introduce habits you’re willing to do for the rest of your life
    • how using paper and pencil to track can help
    • how to use delayed gratification
    • and more!

    Yeah, it's not unknown, just not well understood and lets face it, what you don't know, you don't know.

    When I mentioned godlike technology it's in reference to what we have been evolutionarily adapted to. For example homo sapiens have been around for a couple of hundred thousand years and our hominid precursors have been around a few million years and all that evolutionary adaption was fit for hunter gatherer environments and we were evolving reward circuits that were relevant to that hunter gatherer environment and to their particular populations which generally didn't exceed a 100 people, so these where particularly important to them for the calories and of course for taste and ultimately for survival.

    If we take these reward circuits and apply them to food then fat, salt and sugar create a stronger dopaminergic process than green cellulous material for example. In this environment we didn't have a lot of salt, fat or sugar. Sugar for example was seasonal and the fruit back then wasn't like the fruit of today, mostly fibrous and seedy and certainly not as sweet, but nevertheless it was sought out and the more caloric density you could get the better chances of surviving for example for you and the tribe, and the same with fat and salt and evolutionarily stimulating our dopamine system which is part of the limbic system.

    Today modern processes and food manufacturing with the understanding of our physiology extracted these particular foods and have structured them in a way that is engineered to be highly palatable and which our limbic system really has very little defense against, of course they know that, and when you can stimulate the pathway of addiction then it was inevitable to happen, lets face it money is money and money is power. This evolutionary godlike technology can be attributed to porn as well for example and social media's obsession with likes, followers ect. I find it a pretty interesting field. cheers
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,283 Member
    LiveOnceBeHappy wrote: »
    Guilt about past eating is not helpful or needed. Determine your "why" again and move forward. Every single day is a chance to begin again. The best we can do is to dust ourselves off and move forward. Looking back will not help.

    Well ya beat me to it.

    Every day is a new day.

    Choose to begin anew or drown yourself in sorrow and never overcome. It’s pretty simple when you get down to it. Just took freaking decades to figure it out, lol.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,136 Member
    You shouldn’t have guilt about 3 days of fun. If it makes you feel better, just take a few days of lower than normal calories. In the big picture a 3 day binge means nothing as long as it isn’t something done on a regular basis.
  • LifeChangz
    LifeChangz Posts: 456 Member
    edited January 2023
    regarding bingeing followed by guilt and correction after - over time, that dynamic of binge and eating less to offset/correction can lead into a binge and purge pattern of disordered eating and further down the road to eating disorder bulimia (binge and purge) - people do many things to offset binges which can be calorie restriction/skip meals/fast/cleanses or up the energy burn with extra (excessive) exercise. Some use diuretics or manipulate insulin...

    so, a healthy approach would be to set aside the guilt. look at what happened, get up, dust off and just go more, back to a regular routine, eating and movement approach. If you are generally eating to lose weight, the binge has effectively slowed down reaching the goal, but as a person goes back to practicing a nourishing and normal eating approach, the good is reinforced and the problematic behavior is lessened. it's kind of like crash, try, crash, try, crash and try more - hopefully with practice, the binges and guilty remorse ease, become less frequent, less in duration and are replaced with intentional, sustained helpful approaches and habits that have been tried and practiced.
  • LifeChangz
    LifeChangz Posts: 456 Member
    @lwag1990 ~ how's it going?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 33,792 Member
    I'm going to echo a lot of the others.

    Food isn't a sin, it's just food. You need some. But you ate more than you strictly needed. What purpose does guilt about that serve?

    Guilt doesn't burn any extra calories.
    Guilt feels icky.
    Does guilt make you more likely to have a different response to similar triggers in the future? It doesn't do that for me.

    Overeating is a practical problem to solve, not a sin to be expiated. IMO, guilt is a waste of energy.

    My vote would be to spend maybe 10 minutes thinking about what triggered the overeating, how you might respond to similar triggers in the future in a way that better promotes your long term goals, rehearsing that new plan vividly in your imagination (like a mini-movie, so it sticks in your mind) . . . then let it go. Get back on a more productive track.

    So, what triggered it?

    If the trigger wasn't true hunger or need for fueling/nutrition, the best solution isn't food. Better to address the trigger more directly (stress reduction, less aggressive calorie deficit, better sleep, distracting hobby, new strategy for social events, whatever).

    I know that "making oneself feel differently", such as putting aside guilt, is a challenge. Behaving as if one feels differently is a way to start. Using that energy on analysis and problem solving is one way of behaving differently.

    The overeating happened. You can't change it. It's in the past. Focus your energy on how you move forward, improving your plans or tactics instead.

    Yes, it isn't easy. But you can do it. Gradually better as time goes on - that's plenty good enough.
  • mrsmeteor
    mrsmeteor Posts: 36 Member
    What's done is done. Guilt accomplishes nothing. Was there something that triggered you to overeat? If you can identify it maybe next time you can deal with it differently. Other than that I'd say just to move on, maybe try to come in a bit under your daily calories for a few days if it makes you feel better but it's not necessary. You'll recover from it as long as it doesn't happen all the time!
  • refactored
    refactored Posts: 445 Member
    edited January 2023
    As others have said guilt will accomplish nothing. Turn it into an learning opportunity. What will you do the next time you think you might overeat? For me, I need to put a little distance between the thought to start overeating and proceeding to overeat. So I will start a timer for 10 minutes and grab a cup of tea. I tell myself I can do it but I need to wait. While I am waiting I look at a collage of quotes and photos that I use to help me focus on my goals. The trick works well for me but everyone is different. It might be worth planning a strategy to try the next time you are vulnerable to overeating.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    I like this article on binging which was recently quoted in another thread. (Ignore the headline and tagline - most likely an editor, not the author, wrote it for clickbait.)

    Step 3 is very similar to the Addictive Voice Recognition Technique that I learned in Rational Recovery when I was self medicating with alcohol in the 90s.

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/never-binge-again/201901/how-stop-binge-eating-in-three-unusual-steps

    "...STEP ONE: Understand and Confront the Forces and Myths in Our Culture That Keep People Fat.

    ...We think a large part of what happens when you "lose control" or change your mind about your diet in the face of a tempting treat is that survival mechanisms in the reptilian brain have been mistakenly activated and misdirected towards the treat. This is why people feel like all their best-laid plans go out the window at the moment of temptation. Those plans are in their higher brain, but the reptilian brain is taking over...

    STEP TWO: Make at Least One Clear Food Rule.

    STEP THREE: Separate Your Constructive vs. Destructive Thoughts About Food

    OK, now here’s the weird part. The last and most powerful part of this strange method involves deciding that all your destructive, impulsive food thoughts no longer belong to you. Instead, they belong to a kind of inner enemy associated with your reptilian brain. (You can call it your "Food Monster" or "Binge Lizard" or anything else that’s not a cuddly pet.)
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,162 Member
    edited January 2023
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I like this article on binging which was recently quoted in another thread. (Ignore the headline and tagline - most likely an editor, not the author, wrote it for clickbait.)

    Step 3 is very similar to the Addictive Voice Recognition Technique that I learned in Rational Recovery when I was self medicating with alcohol in the 90s.

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/never-binge-again/201901/how-stop-binge-eating-in-three-unusual-steps

    "...STEP ONE: Understand and Confront the Forces and Myths in Our Culture That Keep People Fat.

    ...We think a large part of what happens when you "lose control" or change your mind about your diet in the face of a tempting treat is that survival mechanisms in the reptilian brain have been mistakenly activated and misdirected towards the treat. This is why people feel like all their best-laid plans go out the window at the moment of temptation. Those plans are in their higher brain, but the reptilian brain is taking over...

    STEP TWO: Make at Least One Clear Food Rule.

    STEP THREE: Separate Your Constructive vs. Destructive Thoughts About Food

    OK, now here’s the weird part. The last and most powerful part of this strange method involves deciding that all your destructive, impulsive food thoughts no longer belong to you. Instead, they belong to a kind of inner enemy associated with your reptilian brain. (You can call it your "Food Monster" or "Binge Lizard" or anything else that’s not a cuddly pet.)

    Thanks for the link.

    In reference to our inner enemy, can we somehow control the compelling urge to binge. In my original post here I talked about the possibility of a person waiting for a more virtuous reward if they reframe from immediate gratification. I had a study in mind when I said that and it's a study out of Stanford in the early 70's, pretty famous actually and it's called the Stanford Marshmallow Study.

    Basically split boys and girls into groups and were told they could either have1marshmallow immediately or have to 2 if they waited and the doctors left the room and then 15 minutes later returned. They followed these kids until adulthood and depending on their selection made for some pretty interesting data. Anyway, it's not like we have a choice, these kids selected what they did which was inherent and learned behavioral traits (diet) from their environment but if a person decided that if they delayed the action or the compulsion to act and transformed that into something that also feeds our reptilian brain (dopamine) with a more positive personal outcome, it could help.....certain foods are compelling there's no doubt about that. cheers.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,342 Member
    I really like the way this thread has progressed. It seems some of you who argued against food addiction-like-behavior being real are starting to come around. That's a very good thing, even though some of us have been making this argument for over a decade and being shouted down for the most part.

    There is a definite malfunctioning of the reward system for some of us around certain foods just like some people have a problem with alcohol and drugs, but not everyone who tries them does go on to have a serious problem. If you're not one of those people, please allow for the possibility that it exists and thank the Universe you've been spared this issue.

    I'm glad the mainstream press/science/literature is coming to understand food-addiction-like behavior is not a psychological issue that can be solved by teaching ourselves to eat one cookie or one carefully weighed-out portion of chips.

    As. If.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,162 Member
    edited January 2023
    cmriverside wrote: »
    I really like the way this thread has progressed. It seems some of you who argued against food addiction-like-behavior being real are starting to come around. That's a very good thing, even though some of us have been making this argument for over a decade and being shouted down for the most part.

    There is a definite malfunctioning of the reward system for some of us around certain foods just like some people have a problem with alcohol and drugs, but not everyone who tries them does go on to have a serious problem. If you're not one of those people, please allow for the possibility that it exists and thank the Universe you've been spared this issue.

    I'm glad the mainstream press/science/literature is coming to understand food-addiction-like behavior is not a psychological issue that can be solved by teaching ourselves to eat one cookie or one carefully weighed-out portion of chips.

    As. If.

    One cookie at a time is a slippery slope for a lot of people, but it's certainly a decent working hypothesis.

    Personally, I can eat something like pasta, carbonara for example that is calorie dense and I feel quite satisfied and have no desire to eat more than what I put in front of me, and sometimes it's been a lot and when comparing that with say 1oreo cookie, I find myself wanting to eat another one and it's has nothing to do with being hungry but more about the chemical reaction in my brain. Cheers

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