What is the best way to neutralise overeating?

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BeutyAlexandra
BeutyAlexandra Posts: 5 Member
in Food and Nutrition
What do you think is the best way to neutralise overeating? Or should you refuse of parties, dinners? Or you can afford and compensate harm of overeating and overdrinking somehow? I understand that it's better not to overeat and not to drink at all but if you have a lot of trips, you have dinners for business, you are invited for birsdays and it is at least once or twice per week? What to do? Is there any practical advices? And if you say that everything inside of your head and you need to be motivated then how you stay motivated if you refuce of some pleasure in the life?

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  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    I think you just have to make the best choices you can each day.
    You can certainly look at your calories over the full day and the full week and if you know you are going out for dinner have a lighter breakfast and lunch or cut back a bit next day.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    You have to find a balance. Yes, you may have to refuse some pleasure. No, you're not supposed to forgo all pleasure. Eating out and birthdays used to be "special occasions". But if you are eating out several times a week, you have to treat those occasions as normal occasions, eat like you would eat at home. Most meals should be normal sized portions, plenty of vegetables, and baked meat/fish, not fried. Focus on the social aspect and less on the food.
  • BeutyAlexandra
    BeutyAlexandra Posts: 5 Member
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    Thank you, it's important to know that there is no magic pill to eat and burn at once all calories from the dinner :-) What do you think about not eating next day?
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    plan for it.
    work out.
    bank calories during the week to help allow for it.
    eat at maintenance those days and know the weight loss will be slower, but still there.

    plenty of ways to deal with it....
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Not eating at all for a whole day? I think that is a bad idea, if you do it to make up for eating too much. But some people routinely fast for 24 hours, and thrive on that. We humans are more resilient than we tend to believe.

    No, magic pills only work in our imagination :)
  • TheDJTC
    TheDJTC Posts: 7 Member
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    I tried having smaller plates and waiting a while before getting another plateful of food... I really can't tell if it does anything.

    I know after discovering eating a bag of goldfish was like 800 calories I stopped buying it as often. I also don't do "save for later" cuz later tends to be "tonight" LOL

    Another thing I had to check is the "eating cuz bored" thing. It's a bad habit that honestly I didn't notice until recently.

    The last thing I have to deal with is stuffing my face because depression, which I don't think there's anything I can do about that. Depression is just one of those things you have to deal with and trying to fight it just makes it even worse.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    YMMV, of course, but I've found that journaling what I'm planning to eat before I eat it (as opposed to after it's eaten) helps loads. I want to point out that I've also tried to be 'real' about it. Example: I attend synagogue regularly on Saturdays. After services, they have a 'kiddush' (i.e. enough refreshments to count as a luncheon, except it's not a sit-down): fruits, veggies & dip, pastries, cholent, and potato kugel. I knew that I wasn't going to just load my plate with cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, and melon balls. So, I literally asked myself "what do you need to eat so that you can enjoy yourself, not feel the pastry platters calling your name, not realize that you're one bad day away from taking in 1500 calories in ten minutes and spending the next two days beating yourself up over it, etc.?" And my answer was '2 pieces of kugel and a frosted cookie. If I can have that, I think I can stick to fruit and/or leave the hall satisfied.' (Note: this is breakfast. I then go home and put out a lunch spread.)

    So, I sourced that, figured out that with the size of the portions, it's likely coming in at around 400 calories and a bit more fat and sugar than I'd usually have at one sitting... but workable. And almost 3 months into MFP, it's been working great! I have that treat, stay within my daily totals, and feel good about it. Whereas in the past, I'd be more like, "I can't believe I had the kugel. I was going to go home right after services. Now, I've probably eaten back everything I took off this week and I may as well just keep going..."

    Same for restaurants. If you can figure out the menu ahead of time, even if that specific restaurant isn't listed in the database, you can look at similar entrees that are and get a general idea. If most of the 'grilled veggie and hummus wraps' come in at 320 to 420 calories and the one you're going to has a 'sauted veggie and hummus wrap', figure about 60 calories for 1/2 tbsp oil (likely won't be that high, but maybe it could be), figure the average is around 370 and log it as 430.

    Once I realize that a treat isn't by definition a cheat, it can be easier to relax, enjoy the meal, and NOT have the inner monologue about how I'll be paying for this on the scale later.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
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    BeutyAlexandra wrote: »
    What do you think is the best way to neutralise overeating? Or should you refuse of parties, dinners? Or you can afford and compensate harm of overeating and overdrinking somehow? I understand that it's better not to overeat and not to drink at all but if you have a lot of trips, you have dinners for business, you are invited for birsdays and it is at least once or twice per week? What to do? Is there any practical advices? And if you say that everything inside of your head and you need to be motivated then how you stay motivated if you refuce of some pleasure in the life?

    To me, being healthy, fit and a normal weight brings me much more pleasure than excess food. You just have to decide what is important to you.
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
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    When I want that "extra" food...I ask myself if I am hungry. If the answer is yes then I eat.

    If the answer is no then I walk away.

    If I am not sure then I think about my goals...will having this "extra" food help get me there.

    This works for me part of the time when it doesn't is when I eat mindlessly without thinking about it. I am trying to work on that part of being mindful of what I am eating...such as what, when and where.

    I tend to snack in the afternoons so I preplan a reasonable snack. I am also trying to break the habit of snacking while I am on the computer. Something about the computer takes my mind off of what I am eating and will consume way more than what I intended.

    In other words...

    Maybe the first step is to take note of when you are the most snackiest...

    Oooops...I went back and read your OP...it wasn't about snacking it was about what to do at parties, dinners etc etc. Sorry about that.

    You can go to dinner, parties or happy hours maybe to begin with just eat half of your dinner (you can take the rest of it home. At parties or happy hours get the smallest plate and only half fill it or just put 2 or 3 things on it at a time. Wait a set length of time before you go back for more.

    Of course...if you are drinking then that kind of throws the plan off somewhat...time seems to be lost after a few drinks.

    My son has the same problem. He eats well at home but there are office luncheons, breakfasts, happy hours, some travel along with a social life. It can be difficult at times. What he is trying to do is to eat well when these things aren't going on. He also incorporates a few low carb dinners in to his plan to help save calories for all those occasions along with being more active. His weight loss is slower but this way he can still enjoy those events.
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
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    Dinner parties, restaurants, treat days, picnics, going out for drinks...there is always opportunities to go overboard in calories.
    Sometimes its a sacrifice to say, I am only having one beer, and I am going to grab a plate full of veggies instead of potato chips. Sometimes its saying...today I am going to overeat because I deserve it. Everyday is different and consistency is the key.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Look at your weekly goal, and make appropriate choices.
  • Docbanana2002
    Docbanana2002 Posts: 357 Member
    edited January 2017
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    You might not need to give up pleasure, but you might need to rethink a few things...
    --How much your life centers around pleasure in general, and pleasure from food specifically. People who spend their life in pursuit of constant immediate pleasure (whether it be from food or sex or drugs or alcohol or shopping or adrenaline junkie risky behavior or whatever else) are often NOT the happiest people. They are continually chasing a jolt of pleasure from something that is fleeting, often bringing themselves longer term pain (or preventing longer term joy). I'm not advocating asceticism, but maybe just a middle ground? Enjoy some birthday cake now and then, but realize that if you center life on the constant pleasure of all the cake all the time you are closing yourself off from the more meaningful long term pleasure that comes with good health and accomplishment of weight related goals. So maybe you should think about it as which pleasure is more important to you? The pleasure of immediate gratification from cake or the pleasure of accomplishment of meaningful health goals over the long term?The reality is that healthy people get that way via not always indulging every desire to eat whatever they have the urge to eat and not always indulging every urge to be lazy and skip the gym. It requires self discipline. (Unless they are the rare person who is blessed with desires that are always perfectly in line with what is healthy, that is). So...you have to pick what is important. You can't have it both ways, always eating what you want and also meeting all your health goals. As for me, I have found a balance I can live with: I eat less (and better)now in order to keep the pleasure of no longer being morbidly obese, plagued by GERD, and dealing with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. But I'm content to maintain on the heavy side of normal because my health is good and being leaner isn't as important to me as being able to maintain at a higher TDEE. You have to decide your own set of priorities.
    --You might need to find pleasure someplace beyond high calorie food. I actually have come to enjoy and take pleasure from nutritious and lower calorie foods. Tastes can be retrained over time. I enjoy the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables that have been cooked/seasoned well, and especially like the way it makes me feel when I eat a nutritious diet and take care of my body.
    --When you do enjoy high calorie food, be a little bit choosy. Once I accepted the reality that I couldn't have a large portion of everything on a buffet and still achieve my weight goals, I began to get change my mindset to "What are the best foods here that I don't want to pass up and what can I forego because I can eat something just like it any other day of the week?" I just choose a moderate portion of what looks good (keeping in mind that the nutritious stuff, if done well, is good), then taste test my plate to verify what is best. If not good, I leave it uneaten on the plate. The best stuff I will savor--not shovel into my mouth like I did before--and maybe even go back for seconds if I am still hungry.
    --Make room in your day/week for higher calorie meals here and there by eating less at other times. I think your suggestion to fast for a day seems extreme...I have done it before when I really really blew it but I didn't in any way see that as a normal life strategy....that was a desperate effort to clean up a mess created by lack of self control. Sometimes cleaning up messes by fasting can set me up for another binge later, so it is a bad cycle for me to get in. By "eat less" I just mean have a light dinner after a heavy lunch (or light breakfast or lunch in anticipation of a heavy dinner), or maybe just a normal breakfast/lunch but cut out extra snacks between meals because you want to save the calories for some dessert at a party.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,979 Member
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    Typically if I know something is happening one evening I will eat lighter earlier in the day. I will enjoy myself at the event but try to have smaller portions than I used to. If I do overeat them I may eat less the next day, but only because I may not be as hungry. If I am hungry I will eat up to my calorie goal like any other day.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,526 Member
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    BeutyAlexandra wrote: »
    What do you think is the best way to neutralise overeating? Or should you refuse of parties, dinners? Or you can afford and compensate harm of overeating and overdrinking somehow? I understand that it's better not to overeat and not to drink at all but if you have a lot of trips, you have dinners for business, you are invited for birsdays and it is at least once or twice per week? What to do? Is there any practical advices? And if you say that everything inside of your head and you need to be motivated then how you stay motivated if you refuce of some pleasure in the life?
    Leave HALF of everything on the plate.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • BeutyAlexandra
    BeutyAlexandra Posts: 5 Member
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    I thank everybody for comments. Please add me as a friend. I will be a good one. I start learning to be a better verison of myself. I need to learn to love myself.

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