When I talk to people who are struggling with overeating at night or on the weekends, or feel like they’re emotionally eating, one of the reasons why it’s happening is because they aren’t eating enough.
But how can that be? If you’re overeating, how can the problem be that you’re undereating?
Well… the overeating is actually a side effect. It’s a byproduct of what happened in the hours, days, or even weeks before the unwanted eating event.
If you look at the time periods preceding most overeating events, you’ll see a pattern – they all include periods of lower calorie intakes… usually trying to eat “good”, or trying to lose weight.
This is why dieting sets you up for failure. It pushes you into arbitrary calorie restriction.
Yes, if you want to lose weight you do have to be in a deficit, but that deficit can’t be forced.
But when you set 500-1000 calorie deficits, that’s exactly what you’re doing – you’re forcing yourself to eat less.
This results in feelings of restriction and deprivation. The physiological and psychological pressures build. And you eventually overeat.
It’s a common and a predictable occurrence, yet most people continue to put themselves into this position because they don’t realize there’s another way.
Like I said before, losing weight very well might still require you to eat less.
But this eating less, in order for it to be something that is easy to do and sustainable, must be a natural consequence of you healing your relationship with food.
That’s the key in all this. You can eat less and not feel restricted. You HAVE to if you want to succeed.
Just forcing yourself to eat less is called dieting, and you’ve heard it a million times – it doesn’t work.
Healing your relationship with food is the answer – along with your relationships with body, exercise, and mind.
That’s when you effortlessly eat an optimum amount of food, achieve your healthiest weight, and keep it there.
Talk soon…