Psychological Mechanisms Of Overeating

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

To have a slim figure and maintain a stable weight, you need to eat right and exercise. To exercise regularly and eat right, you need desire, built-up intention, willpower and an understanding of your own mechanisms of overeating.

Because otherwise, all attempts to become slimmer will lead to breakdowns and the return of lost weight. I affirm this as a psychologist and as a person who has gone through food addiction. During the study of this issue, I identified the following aspects of female obesity:

Bad eating habits

When you eat, nothing should distract you. Watching TV, a computer, listening to the radio, a player leads to the fact that you cease to control the amount eaten, eat faster and do not feel full. And you eat more than you need

Greed and fear to say no

Learn to convey information to your loved ones so that they do not have a desire to overfeed you or treat you harmful. When you visit relatives, you fall into a trap: you do not want to offend your relatives with a refusal

In addition, it is very difficult to refuse when there are so many different dishes, and completely incompatible: sausage, fish aspic, caviar, bacon, pies, vinaigrette. And all this on one table! From greed I want to try everything

Take care of your body lovingly first. Is it more important for you to be “good” or to be slim and healthy?

As for the desire to try everything, limit yourself at least to the choice of meat or fish types of delicacies

Survival syndrome

Our loved ones and people of the older generation have gone through a lot and carry the memory of the terrible hungry past. Therefore, it is so important to set a wide table and thereby demonstrate abundance. Therefore, so many homemade preparations are still being made. Canned food is something that in times of war, famine, crises can always be put aside, stored for a long time and buried in the ground. Genetic memory is very strong

From that on the table - literally all types of sausages, cheeses, meat, fish, salads, pies. All the best

The stomach is not ready for this. And you know that

Lack of energy

If there is a regular lack of sleep, there is no regular physical activity, then the lack of energy is compensated by overeating and caffeinated drinks

Caffeine-containing drinks (tea, coffee - any) dehydrate the body, and the charge of vivacity is enough for a very short time

Drink plenty of water and get enough sleep

Lack of grounding

Grounding is any practice aimed at bringing your attention back to the body in the here and now. It is a way to feel confident, calm, relaxed and at the same time focused

To ground yourself, you can meditate, play sports, dance, walk in the park, be in contact with nature. You can eat root vegetables and red vegetables and fruits

Or you can go for a massage or just pat yourself on the body

If such methods are not practiced, then the body begins to demand grounding artificially: through overeating, alcohol, drugs, nicotine, caffeine

Manipulation through advertising

Marketers around the world have worked hard to get you used to starting your day with a cup of coffee or tea, and ordering dessert in the afternoon

Such "anchors" are so deep in our heads that it is quite difficult to refuse. Feelings of disappointment from a lack of a favorite habit are stronger than the skill to diversify your life

Separation

If an adult woman has not passed the stage of separation from her mother, then the connection between them remains. And then the woman does not live her own life, but consciously or unconsciously remains an obedient child of her mother, following her lead

I read a story where a girl, returning in the evening, after fitness, had a hearty supper, since her mother was always waiting for her and cooked, and her daughter could not refuse

Ideally, both physical and psychological separation are needed. That is, an adult lives separately from his parents and independently makes life decisions, withstanding the criticism of parents and not following their lead. Until this happens, a woman will inevitably strive for solidarity with her mother

• In some cases, it is permissible not to leave with your parents. But it is extremely important to psychologically mature to learn to say “yes” and “no” when there is a need for this.
• According to transactional analysis, we have a Child, an Adult, a Parent inside us. The child is responsible for our desires, emotions. Parent for criticism. Adult - makes decisions. The Adult must always dominate in harmony. And if this is not the case, then the inner Child can take over. And your desire to eat the second, third ice cream is the desire of the Child inside, which should be closely monitored.
• Gestalt views overeating as broken contact with his own body. If you are overweight, then you lose body sensitivity and no longer know when you are full. You don't keep track of how you physically feel when you've eaten enough. And understanding occurs when several times more than necessary has already been eaten.

When I have no contact with the body, I do not understand what motivates my desire to eat. Am I angry, annoyed, or sad? Or am I just thirsty? Or am I stressed and just need to chew on something all the time?

Also, from a gestalt point of view, food addiction is a person's way of fulfilling a need. This need cannot be satisfied in any other way, and the habit of doing it through food is formed. Or there is no knowledge that there is this need and there is no knowledge that there are different ways to implement it

I may want lightness and fun, laughter. And go chat with friends. Or I will choose the usual way - to eat a cake

From the point of view of psychoanalysis, obesity can be the result of unsuccessful initiation, a transition to a new state from girl to girl. When sexuality is not recognized and accepted. In Marion Woodman's book When the Owl Was the Baker's Daughter, there is just such an example of a girl who began to overeat precisely during the transition, with the onset of the menstrual cycle

According to family systemic therapy, the family is a single interconnected organism. If all women in the family have extra pounds, then further weight gain by a young girl may be the result of solidarity between the system and the mother. I am complete, which means everything is correct, I just continue to feed the family system and support their choice. I am slim, which means I am not so, which means I am against the system and against my mother. And you can't betray your mother - this is once again about the unsuccessful separation

Hellinger family constellations help us understand birth trauma. Once in the Family, an event could have happened that made a woman hate men. These were such intense fear and pain that they were passed down through the Family. And then obesity became a defense mechanism. The more I weigh, the less sexually attractive I look. The less the likelihood of any contact with a man

Whatever the reasons for excess weight, it is worth remembering that awareness works wonders, the power of intention makes it possible to realize long-term goals. Good luck!