I was an overeater and I didn’t even know it.
Before coming to this realization, I was a grazer. I snacked all throughout the day, eating anytime I felt the slightest urge of hunger come on. The foods I would eat were healthy and nutritious and usually within some diet or protocol, like keto or paleo. I had heard that eating often would help to balance blood sugar. Since I had PCOS and insulin resistance, I figured this was the best way for me to eat.
I felt like the healthiest person I knew, and also the heaviest. I felt like there was something wrong with me. How could I be so health conscious and continue to gain weight year after year?
One day I heard my mentor say to another student, “If you are overweight, you are overeating.”
I’m not gonna lie, I was so triggered by that comment. “She’s so naive,” I thought. She obviously doesn’t know anything about PCOS or insulin resistance. And I brushed it off.
As I continued to research insulin resistance, I kept finding articles and studies stating that longer breaks without food significantly help to reduce insulin.
This went against my original theory, but I decided to give it a try. I thought I’d start out by stopping all snacking, and eating 3 meals a day.
It was on the first day of this plan that I realized something shocking: I had been an overeater. I figured this out because I’d find myself unconsciously walking over to the pantry anytime I was tired, bored, procrastinating, stressed, overwhelmed. I would open it up only to remember that I no longer snack anymore. It was so hard not to eat anytime I wanted. The inner rebel in me would throw mini tantrums over it!
But I began to see my pattern clearly. The desire to snack wasn’t coming from physical hunger, it was coming from emotion.
As I began noticing and allowing that emotion to be there without giving in to food, I began to distinguish the difference between emotional and physical hunger. Physical hunger is MUCH less urgent than emotional hunger.
So my mentor was right all along, I was overweight because I was an overeater.
I am so grateful for this insight because I now see why I was gaining weight all of those years, even though I had been eating healthy foods. I was just eating more of those foods then my body actually needed!
It allowed me to see what the missing link to my weight loss was, which has been the greatest gift! I no longer feel like there’s something wrong with me. I have since learned how to let go of the overeating pattern and have started releasing weight with grace and ease.
Can you relate to this? Do you believe that you might be an overeater? If you’re interested in exploring this further within yourself, sign up for a free mini-session with me here and we’ll dive in!
In Health & Happiness,
Love,
Jamie
