How to stop from overeating

It is a total mental thing. You just have to decide. It has nothing to do with what your body wants, it's what your mind wants.

I wish I knew. I stopped drinking and stopped using snuff, but food is the one thing that is controlling me. I guess I have issues.

Portion out any snack food into single serving bags. Weigh or measure everything. Best investments you can make is a food scale, measuring cups and measuring spoons.

Get enough to eat! Fill up on high fiber and high protein foods earlier in the day to minimize cravings later. It does wonders to help you maintain control. Starving yourself will only make the tendency to overeat worse!

Break away from emotional eating. Stop yourself before you eat and ask, am I really hungry or am I looking for something else to alleviate other symptoms? Eating due to depression is a major problem for me. It's why I keep gaining weight back. It's a very hard thing to break. Emotions have to be felt to be dealt with. Eating will never help them, and you'll never be satisfied.

Start out by always leaving 1 bite of food on your plate. No matter how much you want it. Leave it behind. It will help you break the emotional ties to food, and will help you when you start eating smaller portions. You'll learn to be satisfied with less over time. It's a life-long project! But it can be done!

Understand how your body works. When you feel hunger and/or have cravings, it's your body's signal that it is lacking nutrition it needs for fuel. By eating the right foods - whole, natural foods, and getting a variety of colors in your diet, you fuel your body with the nutrients it needs and hunger or cravings go away.

Fuel your body with junk food, empty calories or food the is lacking decent nutrition - think fast food, prepackaged/preprocessed foods, and your body doesn't get what it needs even tho your stomach is full so it keeps sending the signal that you're hungry.

If snuff is anything like smoking your appetite will raise when you quit, mine did after I quit smoking two years ago (after smoking for 18), it is part of the reason I gained the weight I did. The other part was just being stupid with what I ate.

What works for one may not work for another. I firmly believe it comes down to a personal conviction or revelation to CHANGE. There isn't a magic trick or switch to make your bad habits disappear.

I got fed up with my bad habits and had enough. I was motivated and convinced that I needed to change. I stopped all my drinking, and that eliminated a LOT of overeating and late-night snacking. Drinking made me HUNGRY.

I also signed up for an online meal and recipe planner. I was able to cook meals with specific portions and that has helped me practice healthy portion control. It works like a charm for me, but that doesn't mean it will work for everyone else.

I got my husband on board with me. He eats what I eat (it's good stuff anyway), he knows my struggles, and he helps me make wiser decisions because I want him to. I asked for his help.

I motivate myself with short-term goals and rewards for progress.

I keep bad foods out of my house, for the most part. I don't believe in an "all-or-nothing" mentality. I fail when I eliminate everything I love to eat.

Like crazytreelady said: It's true! Eventually you will adjust and adapt and feel full with smaller portions.

I have an article on this topic from Time, I'll post it here when I find it.

Found it! I hope this helps some!

http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/19/5-tips-to-overcome-emotional-eating/#emotional-eating

I'm having this problem RIGHT NOW, as I speak. I'm at work so I don't have a lot of options to eat, besides...I just ate my lunch.

I have the same problem, an emotional eater. The day after my binge is over, I get back to my diet...I feel like sometimes my body needs the junk to keep me sane! Most of the time I am good, but there are days where I'll have 3 rice krispie treats in a row and/or Cheetos and/or Domino's Brooklyn Style pizza....it's all mental for me! You just gotta get right back on it!!

Eat more protein (0.5 gram per pound of weight) and fiber. Both have you feel full, and eat them at every meal.

Cut back on the simple carbs, your body absorbs them quickly and you get hungry again.

You said you're often depressed, so it might be helpful to see a mental health professional. They will be able to help you with your depression (which will help combat overeating) and will probably be able to help you confront the overeating itself, as well.

If you don't want to or are unable to see a therapist, you could try some other things to stop overeating. Think of the activities you do and places you go where you overeat. Now stop doing those things and going to those places, if possible. For example, when watching TV I always have to have a snack in front of me. Now I pretty much don't watch TV anymore. When you make a meal where you know you will have leftovers, or go out to a restaurant, immediately put half of it into a container and put it away, before you even start eating.

To help when you're feeling depressed, you could try exercising (especially walking or yoga), journaling, calling a friend or family member, or distracting yourself with a book or game.

I found a checklist to determine real hunger vs. emotional hunger from here: http://elitebootcamptraining.com/real-hunger-vs-emotional-hunger/

Real Hunger
-Builds gradually
-Strikes below the neck (e.g., growling stomach)
-Not compulsive
-Occurs several hours after a meal
-Goes away when full
-Leads to feeling of satisfaction after eating

Emotional Hunger
-Develops suddenly
-Hits above the neck (e.g., a “taste” for ice cream)
-Results in an urgent need to eat
-Is unrelated to time since last meal
-Is specific, often for a particular food or brand
-Persists despite fullness

When you are hungry, before you eat anything, determine which type of hungry you are. When you have real hunger, eat something filling and healthy. When you have emotional hunger, try to determine what it is that is making you emotional, and do something else besides eat.

I had the same problem when it came to me gaining weight "overeating". My problem started due to me having a child. During the beginning of my pregnancy I was constantly sick and started to loose significant amounts of weight so I was instructed to eat whatever I could. Shortly after, I got better but still continued to eat whatever, and once I gave birth i chose to nurse and was informed I needed make sure I ate so that my calorie intake would be enough to support my milk supply and child. Now during that time I honestly ate healthy....alot but healthy-lol, because she could not tolerate any fast food or junk food that I ate. Once i weened her off I became so use to eating so much that I kept doing so. While pregnant i got up to 238 once I had her and nursed i dropped down to 186 within 3months and once i stopped I was up to 208 in less then a month and it kept increasing due to my overeating. When i got on the scale on saw 224 i knew it was time to go speak to a professional,and i did! She prescribed me a drug to suppress my appetite, and it has worked. I would honestly suggest going to speak to your doctor like i did, but remember if you are prescribed the suppressant make sure you work out and eat healthy when you do it or else once you stop taking it you will fall back into your old habits.

This may sound dramatic, but at restaurants if I want to keep myself from picking at food I don't plan to take home or eat (i.e. a bun I took off my burger, etc), I will put a dirty napkin, pour water, or pour salt on it. It only takes 1 second of self control/motivation to stop yourself in the future.