The One Mental Shift You Need to Make to Stop Overeating

The One Mental Shift You Need to Make to Stop Overeating
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Have you ever woken up and gone into your day with an intention to eat well, stick to your workout routine and be 'good'?

Probably. I've done it too.

It's the right thing to do.

Right?

Until you take that one wrong step--a colleague walks in with a cake; your mother-in-law pops by with a ginormous tray of lasagna topped with melted, oozing cheese; you walk past a Cinnabon store and find yourself walking in and ordering 6.

You take that first bite, and then another, and then another. Somewhere in-between those bites, you think to yourself "Ah, what the hell. I've already mucked up so I might was well give up today and start over with being good tomorrow."

Before you know it, you've stuffed your face with enough lasagna to feed 4 people and half a cake, all in one go.

Fast forward to the following week, where you're right smack in the middle of that 'good' streak, but...you end up giving in to temptation and start overeating, AGAIN.

It feels like you're trapped in a deep, painful valley of bingeing and frustration that you keep trying to climb out of but find yourself losing your grip and tumbling backwards the moment you almost reach the top.

So what can you do about it?

Here's something I'd like to invite you to consider: What if you could stop yourself from overeating with a simple mindset shift?

Think about it. Thoughts of being 'good', staying away from foods that you're 'not supposed' to eat or are 'bad' all come from a place of restrictive eating. In other words, you're stuck in a diet mentality that's constantly putting yourself in a place of 'lack', guilt, deprivation and 'good' versus 'bad'.

The problem with this mentality is that they all leave you wanting MORE. This means that we're unconsciously setting ourselves up for failure, repeatedly.

But what if...what and how you eat, comes from who you ARE?

As in, you choose to say no to the cake and pasta because you don't believe in abusing your body with sugar.

Or that you feel a strong conviction to not eat meat because you don't believe in eating other living beings.

Or that you choose to eat foods that allow you to live your life the way you want to.

Or that you want to eat foods that let you feel free, lively and happy in your own skin.

What I'm getting at is this: What if what and how you eat becomes a deeply ingrained part of your identity?

Would you still want to binge on that cake if you no longer believe in hurting your body with it with your heart and soul?

Would you still choose to eat that entire pizza if you no longer believe that it would allow you to live your higher purpose?

If this is resonating deeply with you, I'd like you do one thing for me this week: Find out who you want to be around food.

This underused (and often underestimated) but powerful challenge is the first thing I get you to do when you join my FREE Lose 4 Pounds Without Going On A Diet email course.

Then, I help you heighten your awareness of how you're using the foods around you by identifying your binge triggers. I've included the tools that empower you to do this in the same course.

The shift won't happen overnight or in a week, but I want you to know that if you stick to building it one day at a time, I promise you that it will help keep you from tumbling back into that dark, painful valley.

This article originally appeared on michelelian.com

Photo credit: Morgan Sessions

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