Oh No! I Have Eaten More Than I Should Have!

Something I know I have said many times before and probably will many times again!

When you are trying to be goal orientated, it can feel like you have ‘undone’ your hard work and that the only way to ‘restore balance’ is to reduce calories more than your planned targets and do some extra cardio or try and squeeze another session into the gym.

I understand your thinking, I used to think and do the same thing!! logic tell you ‘I ate more, so I must burn more’

But what ended up happening was that I would feel guilty that I had eaten more than I had intended to, I would over restrict my calories afterwards for at least a day or two and do some extra cardio to ‘burn it off’.

What I didn’t realise is that I was damaging my relationship with food and exercise, almost punishing myself for enjoying a meal.

Over time this cycle continued, until instead of enjoying my meals, I was inhaling food, any food I could lay my hands on and stuffing myself past the point of fullness. I was binge eating. What had seemed to innocent at the start, a way to stay on track and make sure I achieve my goals. Had escalated over time and my body was paying for it, I was unhappy and constantly preoccupied by food. My body didn’t feel good, my energy levels were low and I constantly felt sluggish and bloated. I learnt the long way and the hard way.

You have the power to take control and not fall into the same over-eat/restrict cycle that I did. I am not saying it will be easy, it will be challenging at times. There will be times where you ‘mess up’ and there will be times where there was something you ‘could have done differently’ but this is how we learn and grow.

Next time you over-eat, instead of thinking about how you can ‘burn it off’ by doing extra cardio or restricting food intake. I challenge you to draw a line under it and get back to the rest of your day/week as planned.

That means not skipping your next meal. Prioritise having some protein and veggies, eat your meal slowly and put your fork down between bites. This will allow you to keeping checking in with your fullness cues and stop when you are feeling satiated.

This also means not planning in more time in the gym or an extra run, we are continuing with your week as it was planned.

Of course this is going against everything you feel you ‘should’ do, but what this will do is stop you from associating the feeling of being overly full with feeling guilty. It can also help to break the over-eat restrict cycle and allow you to consume the foods that you usually find that you over-eat and eat them slowly and enjoy them. It is a tough cycle to break, but the more consistent you are with your efforts, the easier it will become.

It will be easier to stop eating when you feel full.

It will be easier to eat those calorie dense foods, enjoy them and not feel guilty afterwards.

Your relationship with food will improve and you will no longer label certain foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’

You will be able to enjoy life without being fixated on food.

I may now eat a little too much here and there, but the way that I feel and how I handle it is completely different. I no longer feel guilty, I don’t restrict, I don’t add in additional exercise. I draw a line under it and I carry on as normal.