Have you asked WHY you overeat?

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  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
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    I think the better question would be, "why can't I stick to my weight loss attempts?"

    Like most people, I gained weight for a myriad of reasons. I stopped being as active as I was, changed jobs to a desk job, started eating out way more frequently with no thought to calorie intake at restaurants, I would overeat because I was bored, liked the taste of food, was feeling poorly, etc.

    I tried to lose the weight many times before too and would give up because I would be super restrictive about my diet. The key to success for me was realizing I couldn't change overnight. I started off with a modest goal of losing a pound a week although I was 60+ lbs overweight. Best thing I could've ever done. It allowed me to change slowly and get used to not eating nearly as much food.

    I also made some simple rules. Among them was I wouldn't eat unless I was hungry, which took care of my overeating out of boredom, feeling poorly, etc. problem. I knew I didn't really know the difference between being hungry and not being hungry at that point so the idea was if I wanted something to eat inbetween meals I had to a) have the calories for it and b) wait thirty minutes to an hour to see if I still wanted something to eat. Nine times out of ten no I didn't.

    I think also you have to be ready to lose the weight. I sat on my behind being fat for a long time wanting to lose the weight but being content stuffing myself like a sausage casing until I realized I was almost at my highest weight ever and that scared me into cleaning up my act.
  • red99ryder
    red99ryder Posts: 399 Member
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    well im thinking i like food and can eat more than i need ..

    good luck
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    I overate because the food was there, or something tasted good, regardless of whether I was hungry or not. Now I still overeat beyond hunger at times because I say to myself "I have x calories left, what else can I have? " I'm trying to break this habit.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »
    newheavensearth wrote: »
    I overate because the food was there, or something tasted good, regardless of whether I was hungry or not. Now I still overeat beyond hunger at times because I say to myself "I have x calories left, what else can I have? " I'm trying to break this habit.

    If you dont already do this, prelogging helps, i plan my day ahead of time, if my struggle was eating because i had so many calories left i would just make my meals and adjust the size of things until i had little to no calories left..

    Thanks! I do prelog, but what throws things off are my high activity days and all those extra calories. I only use half to a quarter. I'll try your suggestion. :)
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    Well that's my homework for the weekend! Lol!

    Thanks for the advice. If you don't mind, I'd like to add you. You're very knowledgeable.
  • zheeduh
    zheeduh Posts: 25 Member
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    A lot of reasons:

    1. Eating feels good. It releases that reward sensation in the brain.
    2. Eating relieves boredom (or gives me a distraction from work).
    3. Eating is a social thing. When I'm with friends or family, it's hard to not eat as much as they do.
    4. Sometimes, I'm just really ravenous, even though my body doesn't technically need that much food. Usually this happens after doing a lot of cardio.

    Here's an article about how to prevent overeating, hopefully it helps: http://kegtosixpack.net/2017/02/02/5-smart-ways-to-avoid-overeating/
  • FitOldMomma
    FitOldMomma Posts: 790 Member
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    Boredom for me! When I'm really busy doing anything I never think about food or eating. I have to remind myself to take time to eat if I'm involved in something. But the minute I'm just sitting around, oh man- eating becomes foremost in my mind. Even more so since I quit smoking 2.5 yrs ago. Before I'd grab a smoke, now I think of grabbing a snack. :-/ At least I'm aware of this, so most times I can control the urge/craving and opt for something healthy. Most times, lol!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    red99ryder wrote: »
    well im thinking i like food and can eat more than i need ..

    good luck

    That's pretty much it for me, no deep dark reason other than if something tastes delicious i eat more than my body needs.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,998 Member
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    I understand that for some people emotional eating or comfort eating is an issue.

    For me though I really dont think it was a factor.

    I just gradually put on weight because I like food too much and it was too available and and I gradually had become less active over the years - leading to the typical "middle age spread"
  • jrowden0711
    jrowden0711 Posts: 136 Member
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    Boredom is reason #1 for me. As long as I keep my mind occupied I am okay. To counteract the boredom I have started an adult coloring book, increased my reading time and started exercising at home. I'm a third shifter so am up at night a lot by myself so boredom is more common at this time. It has definitely helped to acknowledge this is why I overeat and do something about it.
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
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    Yes for me it is boredom of the hands and brain, needing something to keep the hands/brain busy.
    The food itself is completely irrelevant, but such as life is it happens to be often calorie dense when it is in front of a TV or doing nothing.

    So I just make sure I be busy doing something else or have my hands full busy - Can be various things - from going for a walk (I can't walk and eat), reading a book, knitting, writing, cleaning really anything, but those hands/brains need to be occupied.
  • caimay10
    caimay10 Posts: 6 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    I thought I was an "emotional eater", and I thought I was a sugar addict, and I thought I just had bad eating habits. Now I think it's part physiological, part emotional, part environmental, plus lack of insight. I am gaining insight day by day. Threads like this one contributes greatly :)

    I grew up with way too large portions. I believed "full" meant "stuffed". I believed I had to eat that much, because I could eat that much. I believed I was "big boned", so I needed a lot of food. I used sweets and snacks to "rebel" and to enhance the effect of feeling sorry for myself (a perversely enjoyable activity). I would eat to ease anxiety, or eat instead of doing what I really should be doing, or to pass time, or just because I could, and I could as long as I had something, and I made sure I always had something.

    Whenever I got fat, I tried to compensate by restricting food. I would eat diet food, but the lack of taste and pleasurable mouthfeel made me overeat. I would wait as long as I could to eat, and then eat large amounts of boring food. I lost my appetite for food, while appetite for sweets skyrocketed. I thought the ideas of "meal schedule" and "portion control" sounded "restrictive".

    Then MFP to the rescue :D
    This has evolved through time, but basically: I decided to only eat food I like, to eat regular meals at proper intervals, to eat real food and only eat at meals, to wait until I'm hungry before I eat, and eat appropriate portions. I'm no longer afraid of "fat, sugar and salt" - I use what I need to make tasty meals. I sit down and enjoy my meals. Sometimes I eat just because I want to (not hungry), or overeat by mistake, or just because it's so damn good, but I don't just eat because there is something left, or because I'm offered, or because I'm bored or upset.

    Two years into maintaining a healthy weight now, the longest time ever (as an adult).

    I can relate SO much to this. I think I've dieted so much now, even doing it the healthy way, i.e. focusing on 3 meals and 2 snacks, lean protein, vegetables, whole grains...that the smallest amount of restriction feels too much. The way you eat now seems like it could be a good way forward for me, too.
  • caimay10
    caimay10 Posts: 6 Member
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    paperpudding wrote: »
    I understand that for some people emotional eating or comfort eating is an issue.

    For me though I really dont think it was a factor.

    I just gradually put on weight because I like food too much and it was too available and and I gradually had become less active over the years - leading to the typical "middle age spread"

    I assumed this was my issue. But then I figured there had to be something more to it when I tried to restrict the type of food I was eating and the amount and for the life of me just couldn't.

    Did you encounter any problems when you started to eat less? or was it relatively plain sailing?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Honestly? Because food is good, and eating is enjoyable and doesn't require any effort. It's as simple as that and really doesn't take a psychology degree to figure out IMO.

    Now, the 'naturally thin people' just enjoy what comes from being fit/slim more than they enjoy the food. That's the key right there to staying thin - whether it's vanity or being able to run, or just wanting to stay alive to see their children get married... that just matters more to them than having another brownie. So the key to losing weight is just finding other priorities that come with having a normal weight... and that's what people need to work on... and why the whole 'I need motivation' stuff is completely pointless.

    The whole 'trying to distract yourself if you want to eat something' is just a temporary bandaid if you ask me, it will never work long term (but yeah, it can make things easier short term).
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    edited February 2017
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    caimay10 wrote: »
    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    CafeRacer808 wrote: »
    Tracking food intake and matching that with your feelings or behavioral patterns is a good idea. I know I tend to snack when I'm bored - especially at night - so I try to keep myself busy at night. "Idle hands..." and all that.

    I agree with this.

    It took me years to untangle my reasons for overeating. The problem was that even after I did all that I was still in the habit of overeating and had messed up hunger signals. So getting to the bottom of my issues only got me so far in that it only helped me to stop from mindlessly eating. I still overate.

    Ultimately, I've found that eating pretty much to a schedule helps along with having learned to eat slowly.

    Interesting. So, getting to the underlying reason is probably a good first step, but work still needs to be done. I was thinking earlier that even while I'm working on the mental side, I still need a solid plan. But the way I see it, working on the emotional/habit stuff will ideally make sticking to the plan easier.

    Yes, the main thing I was trying to get at is that it's ... okay, I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here about diet gurus. You know what really annoys me about them? All of them try to find one single reason why people are obese and it just makes me laugh.

    Having come out the other side of having been overweight after struggling with weight issues for 40 years and realizing how fracking complicated my issues with food are -- how very dare ANYONE with half an ounce of intellect try to insist that the issue with obesity is as simple as one common factor?

    I don't even think that the issues are the same from person to person.

    Oh sure, the one thing we all have in common is that we overeat, but the reasons why we overeat are varied, and how we go about dealing with that will vary and the resources we need to cope with delving into those issues and the strategies we need to adopt to compensate will vary as well. The new habits we'll need to form to compensate will also vary because what suits me best might not suit someone else.

    So I flip a big bony middle finger to every diet guru who likes to blame xyz for the obesity crisis. Anyone who does that is an automatic idiot in my eyes.

    Sorry for my rant. My main point is that the whole issue is even more complex than getting to the bottom of your issues. You have to, after doing that, compensate with new habits. At least that was my experience. Yours, as I said, might vary.

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