How To Stop Overeating

It’s pretty well-established that the primary cause of weight gain is consuming too many calories.

AKA - overeating.

Overeating is the main cause of weight gain, as well as lack of weight LOSS.

There are certainly other factors that may contribute, but the overarching cause is always going to come back to overeating or overconsumption of calories at the end of the day.

Now that’s great information to know, but it doesn’t really help someone who has a problem with overeating, solve their problem.

So how do you stop overeating?

Well, I have a few different tips/tricks that can help prevent you from overeating.

All of which I have watched work wonders for clients in my online coaching program (LINK).

I'm going to outline each in this article, AND explain why each is effective.

All right, that’s the intro, let’s get into it…

The FIRST tip is…

SLOW DOWN

Okay, I know this sounds absurdly simple…

But the pace in which you consume your food plays a huge role in the volume of food that you consume.

There is a scientific explanation here, related to hunger signaling.

Basically when you shovel food into your mouth as fast as possible, you don't feel full until you're suuuuuper full. At this point you’ve probably overeaten.

Think about it this way.

When you’re hungry as shit, and someone sets an entire pizza in front of you, if you try and eat as fast as you can until you feel full…

You are going to eat WAY more than you would if you tried to make each slice last half an hour by taking your time, putting the pizza down between bites, and chewing up all the food completely.

So what I typically recommend to people who have a tendency to overeat, is to work on slowing down.

A great way to do this, is to put your fork or the food down between bites.

Take a bite, chew, swallow, all that good stuff, but then take a minute or so before you go to have another bite.

You don't need to necessarily do this forever, but it can be a very eye opening experience.

And if nothing else, it will show you the effect of slowing down your pace of eating, and the hope is that it will make a lasting impact.

EAT TO 80% FULL

This is a MAJOR mindset shift for a lot of people.

Growing up, a lot of us are told to keep eating or get more if we’re still hungry.

And a lot of us are told to always clean our plate.

We need to forget both of these as adults, and I’ll explain why. 

“Still hungry,” is very difficult to quantify. Are we ACTUALLY still hungry or did the food just taste really good?

And depending on how much food is on that plate, cleaning it completely might not necessarily be the best choice.

This is where eating until you’re about 80% full is incredibly helpful.

We all know what 100% full feels like, and on Thanksgiving we all know what 200% feels like.

80% is that area before 100% (obviously) where you feel kinda right in the middle typically.

You’re not really ‘hungry’ necessarily but you likely wouldn’t call yourself ‘full’ either. 

A word that I’ve heard a lot people use is ‘satisfied.’

So, don't eat to the point where you want to unbutton your pants…

Eat to about 80% full, and you’ll notice you consume a lot less overall.

MEASURE OUT SERVINGS

This one’s fairly self-explanatory…

But if you’re just eye-balling all of your servings on a daily basis, you are VERY likely to overeat.

I can GUARANTEE you, that there’s at least one thing that you eat that you consistently overestimate what a ‘serving’ is. 

One serving is typically less than we think it is.

Measuring servings doesn’t have to be a permanent thing (I promise), especially if you typically eat the same or similar things on a weekly basis.

But even just a month of measuring servings can be very helpful in reminding you exactly what a serving looks like…

And this can help you avoid overeating in the future.

PUT EVERYTHING ON A PLATE 

This one is a relatively similar concept to measuring servings…

But if you’re constantly eating things out of a bag, or a box, or a package of any sort, you are much more likely to overeat.

Whatever it is, take it out of the package and put it in a bowl or on a plate of some sort.

This is more of a psychological thing, but it’s just way too easy to overeat out of a package.

When something is on a plate, there is a set amount that you are planning on consuming.

Versus, when eating out of a package, the only serving really is the entire package.

I can’t even tell you the amount of times I’ve opened a bag of chips or something, lost track and ate half of it, then looked at the label to see that the bag was supposed to be like 5 servings.

What WAS supposed to be 100 calories, is now 250.

So, whatever you’re consuming, put it on a plate, in a bowl, or in some sort of serving dish.

Trust me, it makes a difference.

EAT MORE PROTEIN/FIBER

Now this one is more of a solution to overall hunger…

But it can definitely be helpful if you typically overeat. 

Protein AND fiber are very satiating.

So filling your plate with foods that are either high in protein or high in fiber will make you feel more full.

And because of this, you are less likely to overeat. 

So to wrap this up…

If you are someone who typically overeats, I would HIGHLY recommend giving at least one of the above strategies a try.

I have watched each and every one of these be effective with my online coaching clients (LINK)…

And I think they’ll be effective for you as well :)

If you have any questions, or are struggling and need some words of encouragement, please feel free to reach out!

Thanks so much for reading!

I hope this article helps you and if you have any follow up questions (or any other questions) please don’t hesitate to reach out! 

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