The causes of overeating can be quite different from person to person. What causes overeating for me, for example, may have no effect on you, and vice versa. When you are trying to find the exact cause of overeating in your life, there are several different categories that need to be evaluated.
Situational or Social Overeating
Some of the causes of overeating are dependent on where we are and who is with us at the time. You see the same thing among people who would never drink on their own, but drink heavily when they are with their friends. This can be an effort to fit in and be accepted, to smother feelings or thoughts of inadequacy, or it may be little more than peer pressure.
On the other hand, it may be the situation that we are in that causes us to overeat. You may be at the grocery store buying something and happen to see cookies for sale. You figure that you might as well, so you buy a package. Then, before you know it, you have eaten them all. You may also have a food trigger brought on by what you are doing. For example, you may feel that you are hungry when you start watching a movie because you always have a snack while watching movies.
To counteract situational and social causes of overeating, you need to be firm in your stance to eat a balanced diet and control your environment as much as possible in order to reduce your opportunities for overeating.
Emotional Reasons for Overeating
This is where many of us, myself included, have serious problems. To put it simply, many of us overeat simply to feel better. We may feel lonely or depressed or like there is a huge void in our lives. We may have had an argument with someone we love, or we may have had something hurtful said about us. Emotional reasons actually make up the majority of the causes of overeating. What we end up doing is filling that void in our lives and hearts with food.
The problem with this is that it is nothing but a bandage. It does not solve the underlying emotional issues that are causing us to overeat in the first place. No matter how much weight you lose, if you do not resolve whatever issues caused you to gain weight in the first place, you are at high risk for gaining it all back again later on.
Physiological Causes of Overeating
There are also physiological reasons that we might overeat. The first one is low blood sugar. If you skip meals, you are going to be that much hungrier later on, and that can lead to binge eating. This is why it is so important that you make sure that you eat three meals per day, especially breakfast. If you don’t eat breakfast, you will be ravenous by lunchtime. Some medical conditions, such as diabetes, will also cause overeating.
The reason for overeating can involve many different triggers and aspects of your life. The next time you feel that you are overeating or have overeaten, take a step back. Ask yourself, “Why am I eating so much?” and try to identify what you were thinking, feeling, and doing before you started eating. Try doing the same thing when you start reaching for something to eat and you may be able to prevent binges before they start. Until you resolve the causes of overeating in your life, all the weight loss tips in the world won’t help you keep the weight off for long.
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