Unlock Success:
Gain Awareness from Every Overeat
Hi my friend,
In the past, when I would overeat, my first thought was to avoid thinking about it and, in my mind, move on from the event as quickly as possible, and try to forget about it.
I would feel shame, judgement on myself, berate myself for not being able to control myself and promise myself I would do better next time.
I want to make a case for pausing, being curious, and willing to explore what is happening each time you overeat a little differently.
Every time you overeat is an opportunity!!
First, I define overeating or an overeat as any time you eat when you’re not physically hungry.
So it could mean eating before you sense hunger signals in your body, or it could mean blowing past “enough” when you choose NOT to stop eating.
The bottom line is this. You will lose weight EASILY if you only eat when you are physically hungry.
Any time outside of that, you are choosing to eat for an emotional reason.
Even if you don’t consider yourself an emotional eater, you’re eating to create excitement, to avoid boredom, to create comfort.
All of those are emotional reasons.
So I invite you to embrace curiosity instead of judgement after you choose to overeat more than your body needs.
And here’s the GREAT news…
I lost 80 pounds and have maintained my weight in my weight range for the past 3 years and still overeat from time to time. Losing weight does not require perfection, but it does require courage.
The best tool in my arsenal for dealing with an overeat is my Overeat Exploration Sheet. (see below for PDF)
Many times I have a hard time uncovering the real reason for my overeating. I know it’s most often because I’m trying to avoid a feeling, but very often I have a hard time figuring out what that feeling is.
Typically I’ll take some time at the beginning of my day when my mind is freshest.
Decide what time works best for you.
The first step in the process is simply to separate out the facts. The first question on my sheet is simply what was I eating? It’s important to be as detailed as possible. ALL the things.
I will say, most times, just seeing the items listed on the paper will fill me with calm.
For some of us just the fact that we ate without control fills us with shame, and that shame doesn’t allow us to remember accurately what we actually did.
So this process of just simply noticing what you actually ate very often is all you need to see to help you get your arms around the “why” did I do that? - it’s almost always not as terrible as I’m telling myself.
Here are my steps:
Step 1 - write down the food
step 2 - bring yourself back to the moment
step 3 - examine why it made sense that you chose to eat
step 4 - hypothesize what emotions you were trying to avoid.
Try out different ones until you find one that seems right.
step 5 - Give yourself compassion
step 6 - Ask yourself - “What can I learn for the future?
What do I need to watch out for, next time?
The ultimate goal….. and I’ve seen it happen - is to catch yourself in the moment - BEFORE the time you choose to eat when you’re not hungry.
Be patient. This work takes practice, courage, and compassion.
You’ve got this!
Amy
