Overeating Happens: How to Bounce Back and Stay on Track with Weight Loss

Article posted in: Food & Nutrition

Even with the best intentions to make healthy eating part of our daily lifestyles, we all stray from the plan from time to time. Occasions like birthdays and holiday celebrations are usual culprits for overeating, with the sheer abundance of high-calorie, high-fat foods that make it easy to go overboard.

But eating too much, too often can quickly derail your health and weight loss goals. Whether you’ve gotten off track and overindulged for a meal, a day or even a week (say, summer vacation?), the good news is there are easy steps you can take to get back to your routine and begin making progress toward your goals again.

The bottom line: Overeating happens to all of us, but that doesn’t mean your weight loss progress is undone. Use these helpful tips to move forward and get back on track with your weight loss goals.

 4 Simple Steps to Get Back on Track After Overeating

1. Refocus: Make Your Next Meal Count

If you overeat at one meal — say, you grabbed a doughnut (or two) from the office break room midmorning, after eating your breakfast — it might be tempting to skip lunch to account for those additional calories. While you should still listen to your body and hunger cues, don’t feel like you need to forgo your next meal to “make up” for your earlier actions. Instead, plan to get back on track at your next meal, and enjoy a healthy, satisfying lunch or snack when hunger calls.

2. Boost Digestion and Mood with a Post-Meal Walk

Sustainable weight loss typically includes a combination of diet and exercise. Although exercise may be the last thing on your mind after eating a little too much, getting some simple movement, like walking, could be just what you need to get back into a healthy mindset.

Studies show that getting out for a stroll about 15 minutes after a meal may aid with blood sugar control. A post-meal walk may also help with digestion.

3. Why Quick Fixes Don’t Work: Choose a Sustainable Approach

A juice cleanse or fad diet may seem like a quick way to bounce back after overeating. But the reality is they’re not healthy or a sustainable weight loss solution.

Taking extreme measures to lose weight quickly isn’t just unsafe; it can also set you up for weight regain. Avoid the gimmicky detoxes and stick to eating a balanced diet filled with a variety of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and whole grains.

4. Sleep It Off: The Secret to Resetting After Overeating

Sleep deprivation can impact certain hormones like ghrelin and leptin, which are responsible for regulating your appetite. Research shows that not getting sufficient rest may be associated with an increased desire to eat less-than-stellar food options to help keep your energy levels up.

If you’ve happened to overeat after a night of unrestful sleep, try turning out the lights a little earlier than normal to help your body reset. There are many other positive benefits to good sleep, too, like boosting your immune system, reducing your stress levels and supporting your weight loss.

Smart Strategies to Avoid Overeating Before It Starts

It can be tempting to forget your healthy meal plan for the rest of the day after overeating. However, getting back on track is one of the best ways to support your weight loss efforts.

Pause and reflect on the progress you’ve made so far toward bettering your health. Then, focus on making your next choice a healthy one. If you’re at home, head outside for a walk; if you’re at a restaurant, ask your server to box up the rest of your meal.

Here are some of our top tips to help prevent overeating.

1. Stay Satisfied: Why Balanced Meals Help Prevent Overeating

We get it: mornings can be hectic. But skipping breakfast or lunch can set you up to overeat later. If you’re not eating enough during the day, it’s easy to become extremely hungry, which may lead to overeating at night.

There’s a good reason to avoid late-night snacks and large meals: it may increase your susceptibility to weight gain and other health complications. To prevent this cycle, ensure you’re eating balanced meals throughout the day. Jenny Craig recommends eating six times a day, three meals and three snacks, to help you feel satiated and balance blood sugar levels.

2. Drink More Water to Curb Cravings and Prevent Overeating

Not only is staying hydrated important for your overall health, but it may also prevent you from overeating at your next meal. One small study found that people who drank two cups of water 30 minutes before a meal ended up consuming fewer calories and tended to feel fuller than the control group who did not drink water.

3. Social Media Detox: Stop Food Cravings Before They Start

Your Instagram feed is likely filled with images of delicious-looking food, either from accounts you follow or sponsored posts. Ever seen a photo of a decadent dessert, and suddenly felt the urge to eat something sweet — even if you weren’t previously hungry? That’s because simply seeing appetizing foods can influence cravings for them.

The fix: Try to minimize your scroll time during times of the day when you may be more easily influenced to reach for unhealthy snacks (like the “afternoon slump”). If you’re in the mood for a snack, grab a healthy alternative like an apple with a teaspoon of nut butter or some carrot sticks with a tablespoon of hummus.

And if you need a break — try listening to a podcast or reading a chapter from your favorite book instead of picking up your phone.

4. Mindful Eating: How to Manage Emotions and Prevent Overeating

Beyond hunger, other emotional factors can prompt us to eat: stress, boredom or loneliness, to name a few. If you think your emotions may be influencing your food choices, try to monitor your thoughts and feelings to identify reasons you may be inclined to overeat. A great way to do this is to try food journaling.

Take note of how you are feeling before, during and after each meal. Try to see if you notice any trends: do you tend to snack on candy at the office when you’re bored? Perhaps you regularly enjoy ice cream while watching television out of habit. Try journaling for a week to see if you can identify any habits that aren’t serving your health.

Overeating happens, but it doesn’t have to thwart your weight loss efforts. We hope these tips help you stay on track with your healthy eating habits.

If you need help creating healthy meal plans you can stick with, Jenny Craig can help. Get started today!