Let's talk about overeating.  If I asked you, would you say that you overeat on a regular basis?  First, I want to tell you it's Ok.  This is a cycle that CAN be broken and you don't have to go on feeling like you're letting yourself down forever.  Every time you go through the cycle of overeating, beating yourself up and promising yourself that you'll never do it again - and then doing it again! - you lose trust and confidence in your ability to take care of your body.  The longer this cycle goes on, the longer it may take to break and the more important it is that you follow the steps I'm outlining below to put an end to it for good.

Now let's talk about why you might be overeating and what you can do about it (and what you shouldn't do).  Here are 5 reasons that you may be overeating: 

1)Your diet is too extreme. If you are limiting your calories super, super low, you're in way too much of a deficit, meaning you're just not getting enough calories every day, or you're eliminating entire food groups, you may be setting yourself for a regular binge eating episode.

When being overly restrictive with your food, you are bound to fall off the bandwagon and fall hard. Your body is going to fight you for survival and it's going to win.  It does not want to starve so it is going to overpower your self control and cause you to consume large amounts of food.  Not only is this rollercoaster of highs and lows discouraging, it's also to going to throw off your body's ability to regulate hunger and satiety and make it harder and harder for you to manage your portions and appetite. 

2)You're letting your emotions take control.

If I had a dollar for ever person that told me “I'm an emotional eater” I'd be rich.  It seems normal to eat when we're sad or stressed or worn out.  Movies show this a normal response and we embrace it.  There is actually a scientific explanation for this: when your body is releasing Cortisol, the stress hormone, it craves carbohydrates because carbs relax you and help to turn the Cortisol response off.  But, when we are feeling emotional, it's actually a horrible time to eat.  Those emotions are going to cause you to make bad choices AND that same hormone that's causing you to crave carbs will also cause the food to be stored as fat. 

3)You're using food as rewards and punishment.

This is a cycle that we really want to get away from.  Although the origins of this behavior are probably not hard to find - parents are often to blame for rewarding their child with sweets and junk food, so the child continues this behavior into adulthood.  I'm a parent, I get it.  No parent-shaming here.  But, now that we're adults, we shouldn't be using food as a reward and restricting it certainly should not be used to punish yourself!  Food is fuel for your body, for lifestyle, for exercise, for activity, for daily functioning and for health. I'm sure we can find better, healthier ways to reward ourselves - for me, it's a nap lol, but for you maybe it's time reading a good book, or getting a manicure or pedicure, going out with a friend, going for a walk - and these rewards lead to even more health benefits!  As for the punishment, this is not necessary AT ALL!  I cannot think of single action or behavior that would require the punishment of restricting food from yourself.  This is self-hate, the opposite of self-care and NOTHING good will come from it!  You will not achieve your goals and you will not be happy.

4)You're waiting too long to eat.

Are you one of those people that forgets to eat? I don't know anything about that.  But if you are one of those people that just forgets to eat, and you go throughout your entire workday with hardly consuming even a scrap of food, then can you blame your body for being ravenously hungry by the time you get home??? You start consuming chips and guac the minute you get home and then have a gigantic dinner on top that.  Undereating is really setting you up for overeating - big time.  Then, we feel bad about our choices but instead of taking action, we grab the bucket of ice cream to drown out our shame.  And the cycle repeats itself.

 5)You're relying on motivation

If you think that you are going to be consistently motivated to make the right choice every time you eat - and if you don't feel motivated, something must be wrong with you - you're cray cray.  You're setting yourself up for failure because motivation won't always show up when you want it to.  Everyone has moments when they lack motivation and when you're first getting started in healthier habits, the motivation is few and far between because your old habits were so comfortable and required no effort at all - they're constantly beckoning to you.  So motivation will take work AND habits/systems.  Even elite athletes lack motivation - if they do, then we average people definitely will!  And they implement systems and habits to keep them on track knowing that their motivation will fail.

Those are five reasons why you may be overeating. Here's some tips for breaking this cycle for good!

1)DO NOT PUNISH YOURSELF!  Stop the cycle of self-hate and start the process of finding a solution.  No starving yourself, no exercising as punishment.

2)Identify the reason for the overeating - it's not because you're a loser - decide which of the 5 reasons above applies

3)Make a plan to get ahead of the behavior - like prepping your lunch and snacks the night before you go to work to prevent you from not eating all day

4)Put a healthy habit between you and the binge - for example, drink 1 big glass of water before you can get a snack or do 5 mins of stretching or a quick walk around the block before you can partake of whatever you were going to eat.  This is not designed to stop you from eating, but to give you time to decide if that's really what's going to serve you best.

5)Get support! This can be a friend, significant other or a coach/counselor/trainer/nutritionist.  This step is a game changer!  Having an outside perspective on your situation can give you so much insight and having someone else believe in you - there's nothing greater! 

 I hope those tips helped you!  As a personal trainer, accountability coach and nutrition expert, my highest hope is to encourage you and empower you to make a better choice for yourself today and to do it because you love yourself!