Overeating is Not a Huge Mistake—Tomorrow’s a Second Chance
Weight management is tough.
We have so many forces working against us.
Food is everywhere, so whether you want to think about it or not, you are reminded of it just about everywhere you go.
Food has been processed to overexcite the pleasure center of our brain, creating overdesire for foods.
Food has been processed and packaged making it effortless for us to eat it so we are able to multitask and eat while doing other activities at the same time, resulting in mindless eating.
Food has also been processed so it can be eaten quickly with minimal chewing, and no cutting required, resulting in overeating.
Many of us have been working at managing our weight for most of our lives.
One of the biggest struggles for my clients is getting back on track after eating off of their food plan.
In their minds, this is clear evidence that they will always fail at weight management.
Through the years of weight loss and weight gain, they have developed stories about themselves relating to their weight journey.
Some of these stories look like:
“I will always be overweight.”
“I’ve been doing this work for so long, and I just keep failing—what’s the point in doing this work again, I’m just going to fail again.”
“Obesity runs in my family—I’m just meant to be overweight.”
Life Coach and author, Tony Robbins, talks about in his book, Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical & Financial Destiny!, the “power of story.”
Tony explains people do not take action because they have created a set of beliefs that they have tied to a story about themselves.
The story is about why something they truly want to accomplish ‘won’t work,’ why it ‘can’t work,’ and/or why it ‘only works for other people.’
Our minds love proof of how smart and right we’ve been, so humans have the tendency to seek out, interpret, and favor information that confirms or supports our own perceptions and beliefs…our stories.
This tendency is called confirmation bias.
This story becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As Tony explains, “You can use your story, or your story can use you.”
The truth is we always choose to eat food that is not on our food plan.
We have a thought like, “I want that,” and instead of honoring our food protocol, we give into the urge and eat the food.
This is good news—we are always in control.
You are choosing to eat the food on purpose because there is a gain—pleasure from the dopamine hit.
Eating off of your food plan doesn’t mean anything about you or your character.
Beating yourself up, or ruminating over, “if only….I hadn’t eaten the first bite of chocolate cake” has no upside.
You cannot make forward progress from a place of self-loathing.
Don’t let a misstep cause you to miss the present and path forward.
The future is wide open, and it is something you can impact.
Overeating isn’t a huge mistake.
You are not perfect, you are human.
Mistakes are a part of the deal.
What if you need the failures to get really good at weight management?
Tomorrow is a second chance.
Take responsibility for choosing to eat food you had not planned to eat in order to get high on dopamine.
This can be so powerful.
It lets you see that you’re not helpless--it is not beyond your control.
It’s not scary.
It’s a choice you’re making, and you don’t have to make it if you don’t want to.
Be curious about why you chose to eat off of your protocol.
The following are some questions you can ask yourself after eating off of your protocol.
With curiosity and compassion, answer these questions, and then recommit and move on.
1. What and how much did I eat that wasn’t planned?
2. What was the circumstance that triggered it?
3. What was the thought that caused the desire or urge?
4. Did I try to pause and allow the urge, or did I just react and eat the food?
5. What can I learn from this?
6. What will I choose to do next time?