I’m confident that I don’t need to explain what it feels like to over eat… surely we’ve all been there? Whether you have a few too many slices of pizza or decide to indulge in dessert after an already large meal out. What feels great at the time is often followed by a less than ideal, often uncomfortable bloated stomach. What’s worse is when those physical feelings are accompanied by emotions like guilt, shame and anger.
While overeating isn’t exclusive to the holidays, with Christmas fast approaching, and invites are being sent out for parties and meals out there is a good chance a little over indulging will be on the way for most of us in the near future.
Something to remember
Overeating happens to all of us! You might feel like it’s just you that has no control around food, maybe it seems like everyone around you can say no and stop eating once they’re full.
In reality, we all have our weaknesses. What one person can say no to, another may find hard to resist. You are not alone.
How to deal?
After it’s happened it’s important that we DO deal with it in a healthy way and DON’T make matters worse.
Don’t restrict the rest of your food or fast the next day.
A common response is to restrict calories the rest of the day or fast for many hours to make up for the extra calories consumed. Unfortunately restricting how much food we allow ourselves initially is often what causes overeating in the first place. We must be careful we don’t fall victim to a viscous cycle of restricting food to overeating to restricting again.
Do eat a healthy and satisfying meal when you’re next hungry.
Follow your hunger signals and eat a satisfying meal when you feel hungry again. Of course you don’t need to force yourself to eat if you’re genuinely not hungry but if you do get hungry you shouldn’t feel like you have to skip it.
Don’t head into the gym to burn the calories off.
Doing a workout straight after overeating will likely make you feel worse (physically) and may literally make you sick. Even if you wait till the next day, try not to force yourself to burn those calories off.
Do think of that food as added fuel and have a great workout.
If you were heading into the gym anyway then stick to it if you feel good and think of the food as extra fuel for your session. If you weren’t planning a gym session, don’t force one. Instead you could go for a walk. Walking brightens your mood and can helpfully get the digestive system moving a little more.
Don’t say screw it!
A common response from overeating once is to feel like the damage is done so you may as well go ahead and have a cheat day. This kind of screw it attitude is not helpful and often comes with a promise to start again the next day.
Do move on with the rest of the day.
The best thing you can do is move on and not treat it like you’ve blown it. Be mindful in the rest of your meals. Maybe have a smaller portion and focus on fibre rich foods and good sources of protein.
