You know you’re overweight, and you also know you’re eating too much. But how to control overeating? It’s not as simple as just telling yourself to stop, and will power doesn’t work.
But if you approach this problem is a structured way, you can beat it.
Why Are You Overeating?
Your reason for overeating may be different to someone else’s.
Over the years some people develop a habit of eating too much. This can show itself by doing things like always eating 3 meals a day, or having supper every night, even if you’re not hungry. I know someone who ALWAYS has a mid-morning snack – hungry or not. It’s just something she does now, without even thinking about it.
Some people are addicted to food, often without realising. This shows itself as really strong cravings and it’s nearly always for fast-release carbs and sugars, e.g. bread, potatoes, carby snacks.
Emotional eating is a massive issue for a lot of people. You might be eating out of boredom, stress might trigger it, or you might think you need a reward after a hard days’ work.
Once you’re clear on why you overeat, you can make a plan to sort it out. This sometimes takes some unpicking which is why I get a lot of questions about it from my Uber Slim clients.
What Do You Want Instead?
At the heart of how to control overeating is knowing what you want instead.
You have a goal seeking part to your mind and it’s programed a little bit like a satnav. At present it might be programed with ‘I eat supper every night because it brings me pleasure’.
Unless you put a different program in, your mind will keep taking you to ‘I eat supper every night’. Just like a satnav will keep directing you to the same place unless you reprogram it.
This is another area that I spend a lot of time one with my Uber Slim clients, because it’s not as simple as saying ‘I don’t eat supper every night’, because doing it that way brings will power into play – and that doesn’t work for long.
You Need A Plan
Once you know why you’re overeating and you’ve decided what you want instead, you can make your ‘how to control overeating’ plan.
If you realise you have a problem with food addiction you could plan to learn how that’s happened, and then how to deal with it. It’s not hard, but it’s going to involve getting educated about nutrition. I cover all of this in Uber Slim.
If you have a problem with emotional or comfort eating – check out the links below for some tips.
How To Control Overeating
How to control overeating doesn’t mean just trying to tell yourself to stop doing it – you’ll have tried this, and it doesn’t work.
You need to look under the hood and find out why it’s happening. A mechanic won’t know the correct solution without knowing what the problem is. Likewise when it comes to how to control overeating.
When you’ve identified your specific reason, you can begin formulate a plan. For most people this will involve seeking more information to fill in their knowledge gaps, and perhaps some help from an expert too.
I give a lot of attention to this in my book, and you can read the first pages by clicking here.
Have a great week.
Dr Julie