Day 17: Stop Overeating Part 2 | 30-Day Weight Loss-athon
Welcome to Day 17 of the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon.
All tasks in the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon are adapted from the 52 Weight Loss Missions program.
Read the steps first, then take 10 minutes to think about them and take action. Ready?
What You Need:
- Your thinking cap.
Step 1
Yesterday we took action to help reduce portion sizes and avoid mindless eating.
Sometimes though, overeating stems not from prodigious portions, but from other, more insidious mind tricks that cause you to eat when you’re not really hungry.
These tricks of the mind include:
- Habit – you always eat that much
- Timing – the clock says it’s time for lunch/dinner/a cocktail
- Politeness – someone offered it to you
- Cost-effectiveness – you’d better eat it all to get your money’s worth
- Waste avoidance – the starving children will be annoyed if you don’t finish it
- Preventative eating – you don’t want to be hungry later
- Advertising – you saw an ad and now you have to eat it
- Because it’s there – the kids left it so you might as well eat it
- A desire for a reward – you’ve worked so hard and you deserve a treat
- A desire for comfort – you’ve had a crappy day and eating will ease the pain
- Childhood hangovers – clean your plate or else!
We all surrender to some of these tricks some of the time. I tend to eat to a timetable because that helps my productivity, and I’m a slave to comfort eating if something has upset me.
But if any of these are causing you to consistently eat food you don’t want or need, then it’s smart to stop this form of automatic eating and save your calories for the good stuff.
So as our first step, consider which of these automatic eating patterns are a concern for you.
Step 2
Next, let’s think of ways you can turn off the automatic response.
Here are some suggestions:
Eating out of habit
- You may just be in the habit of piling too much food onto your plate and then finishing whatever’s there. Review Day 16: Stop Overeating Part 1.
Eating because the clock says it’s time
- If you’re not hungry at mealtimes, it may be that you’ve eaten too much at the previous meal. Experiment with eating a little less at each meal, but eating more regularly.
- You may need to play around with your schedule to find a routine that works well.
Polite eating – to make someone happy or to avoid offending someone
- Be honest so that your sincerity comes across.
- Say something like:
- Thanks so much, but I’m still full from breakfast/lunch/dinner
- I’m not hungry now but it looks so good – could I take some home?
- I couldn’t fit any more in – I filled up on your [something else yummy your host prepared]
- It looks/smells amazing, but I’m focused on losing weight/getting healthy/losing the baby bulge so I’ll have to say no thanks.
- If you’re pressed, say no thank you with a smile and change the subject.
Cost-effective eating – getting your money’s worth
- If you’ve had enough and your plate is still half-full, that’s fine. You’ve got your money’s worth from the company, ambiance, being out and having fun. That’s what you paid for and it’s money well spent.
Eating so it doesn’t go to waste
- If you’ve had enough it’s already wasted – the choice is whether you store the waste in the bin or on your body.
Preventative eating – to forestall later hunger
- Keep a goal-friendly snack (one that’s consistent with the actions you chose for Day 4: Tweak Your Diet) in your bag, in case you get hungry later.
- Eat regularly and don’t go too many hours without food.
Eating because you were enticed by an ad
- Become aware that you’re being manipulated, and decide to choose for yourself.
- Remember Pavlov’s dogs? We can become aware that the bell is making us salivate, and choose not to eat the food.
Eating to reward ourselves
- Look for other ways to reward yourself – taking a bubble bath, reading a novel for 30 minutes, playing a game on your phone or computer, going for a walk, listening/dancing to music, calling a friend to chat, meditating, etc.
Eating because you feel you must clean the plate
- You’re a grown up now. It’s okay to leave food on your plate.
- Make a habit of leaving some food on your plate to break this automatic eating pattern.
Bonus Step For 52 Weight Loss Missions Members
Emotional eating – eating because we’re upset, bored, feeling down, feeling happy, etc.
- See Mission 43: Address Emotional Eating – Part 1 and Mission 44: Address Emotional Eating – Part 2.
Step 3
Decide which of these strategies will you use – and use them!
Check in!
And you’re done!
Be sure to leave your comment below to check in and stay accountable. If you’re reading this by email or in a reader then please click here to leave your comment.
See you tomorrow!
After consideration, I think my biggest problem is emotional eating. It seems I want a bite of something that will make me feel better. Then I feel bad that I ate it. It is a vicious cycle once it starts.
I definitely have bad eating habits that need changing. I’d like to think that I don’t overeat, I’m just “under tall”. However, given the fact I can’t change my height and have a slow metabolism my eating habits have to change.
Thoughts: 1) Yeah, that advertising “what a great deal” can be a trap I have to watch for. (“It’s cheaper to add the fries and get a combo” “No thanks” – I did that today @ ChickFilA) 2) I can still get caught in the I Deserve It thinking so I have to be careful.
My downfall is the comfort eating. I have recently bought the 52 lessons on my kindle just haven’t got around to reading it yet. Looks like I better go straight to Mission 43 and 44. I know this is where my weight keeps coming back on with the comfort eating. I just need to get on top and this and then I will be like Michelle and be able to stay thinner in a world of chocolate 🙂
Cost effectiveness/waste avoidance is a big one for me. Also cleaning my plate and eating what my kids left. I’m also a big emotional eater, so eating for comfort and reward are also problems. Wow, so much to be aware of! I think, at least for me, being aware of what I’m doing and why will be half the battle (the easier half, probably).
Eating so it doesn’t go to waste.
?If you’ve had enough it’s already wasted – the choice is whether you store the waste in the bin or on your body.
I love this! I guess I never thought of it like this…I would much rather trash the garbage bin, than my body! I will work on this one! Thanks again, for all your wonderful tips…I have 49 days left, before my 30th wedding anniversary, and I need all the healty tips I can get! So I can look and feel better, by then! <3 : ).
Wow. I’ve eaten for all of the above reasons, but emotional eating is my biggest problem. I am learning to try to define why I’m reaching for the (whatever food happens to fit the craving, usually ice cream). My head knows that eating will not soothe the emotion, but I have a hard time making myself stop. I am looking for other ways to deal with emotion, especially since I will have to write down all I’ve eaten and I’m embarrassed to see that I’ve eaten like that.
Hello to everyone: Congrats you’re on the right track to a healthier you. Did you make it to your fist size for food portions? If not, you have the willpower to do it. Are you eating healthy snacks and fruit instead of junk food? If not, keep up the will power and you will make it. Learn to politely say no if someone offers you junk food and deserts. You can do it. You can be healthier and happier with yourself by exercising and proper nutritional foods. I’m proud of all of you. Please continue to post to be accountable. Good Luck!
OMG where was this when I was working! POLITENESS! People were always saying, ‘ I made this just for you’. I would say, ” oh, I think you meant for ___ (my husband).” it did not matter HOW many times I explained that I couldn’t, it was like I was hurting their feelings. (I was even taken aside and told that they were afraid that I was wasting away to nothing, at 175 lbs?!?) Soooo glad that I only have to deal with MY willpower and not other peoples’ needs now.
I wish I had done my homework for today before 11:30, had I , I would not have been faced with overeating today. My husband came home with two trays of fruit and lunch meats, I will admit that I kept it to 2 pieces of cheese and two pieces of meat with a tsp of horseradish. Before this I would have ate until I was stuffed and feeling sick most likely. He also came home with some homemade heath bar and I tried to refuse but he says take it. So I did then now I am feeling really guilty but now as I write this and look back at what we have learned in the last 17 days, I need to change my thinking and I am actually feeling positive that I didn’t each until I was stuffed and I only ate 1 piece of the heath bar. In the future my plan will be to say let me save it for later because tonight I have already eaten and you know how much this means to me to lose weight. Thanks for the great tips, they are really helping. In the past I would feel depressed and go right back to snacks and finish them off! 🙂
Being a life long grazer, having children just feeds into that so easily. I’m forever finishing thing the kids did not. However, since I’ve started a diet that just simply doesn’t allow me eat many of the things they are, the only leftovers I can eat are veggies. I have also been feeding them first recently so by the time I’m eating, they are finishing and I get to start them into that lovely habit of scraping their own dishes. My next feat will be getting those dishes rinsed and in the dishwasher…TAAA DAAAA.
Ohh God! I am caught in all of them, habit in the constant snacking, reward and comfort eating are my worst nightmares. I will start making a list of possible alternative things I can do instead and find healthier ways to reward or comfort myself. This is a hard one for me!
knitting while watching tv- great idea.I must get back to that.plus it is relaxing to do and I knit squares for charity blankets.I will try the No, thanks I am still full from… but that it is very difficult for me to say no as I do enjoy eating…automatic response to just accept and eat.I need then prepare myself BEFORE the situation, like visiting friends, visualise myself saying no and then follow through…
Oh comfort food, it’s time to go!
If it is around I will eat it, so I am attempting to keep only healthy snacks around the house 🙂
“If you’ve had enough it’s already wasted – the choice is whether you store the waste in the bin or on your body.” Love this!
I am a boredom and a stress eater. So far, exercise has been a great substitution for both of those.
“Habit” and “Because its there”………………really need to work on these two!
Dear Lord, help us ALL!
I have a hard time walking past the food in the break room at work. I just need to remind myself that it might look good on the table but it WON’T look good on my butt. 🙂
I’ve gotten better about this, but my biggest drawbacks are wasting food and the childhood hangover. This will be a challenge, but we will get this done.