While it’s so exciting to start a new health and wellness journey, unfortunately sometimes follows an unhealthy relationship with food.

Have you ever found yourself counting calories and tracking macros only to ALWAYS crave food?!?! This could be a sign you’re not eating enough or something isn’t quite right with your current program.

For many years, when I found myself restrictive dieting, I’d eventually over-stack my plate, shoveling food in my mouth until I was too overstuffed to walk, only to feel like 💩 for the next two weeks.

While many may blame this due to temptations, I think it’s important to take full credit and acknowledge that most people who are dieting have not trained themselves discipline around so-called temptations.

Diet-culture focuses so much on what can you remove that you go most of the year rarely ever having sight of certain foods because it is easier to not have them around than to condition yourself around them. So, when you’re finally surrounded by foods you deemed “so bad” that you couldn’t have around through the year, you don’t really know how to react other than constantly think about them and overindulge until you’re overstuffed.

And if you’ve felt this way, year after year, here are some tips to help you create a game plan for conquering the Holidays and whole avoiding overeating this year.

Make Sure You’re Eating Enough Protein

On top of playing the role of the building blocks of our body, protein also helps keep you satiated for longer. This is because protein takes much longer to break down and digest. The average person should be consuming about 0.8g of protein per kg of body weight, but this can change based on many factors (including your activity level, training intensity, genetics, etc.).

If you aren’t sure how much protein you should be eating for your specific body and goals, let’s chat.

Eat Slowly & Mindfully

As I’ve said, time and time again, the basics are important. No matter how specific you portion your food and move your body, if you are eating past satiety, you are overeating.

That being said, ensure you’re chewing slowly, being mindful of your hunger and satiety cues, and stopping eating when you’re full.

Your body needs roughly 20 minutes to identify satiety and signal to the brain that you are full. The slower you eat to reach this 20-minute mark, the more in-tune you will be with your body to identify fullness.

Eat When You’re Hungry; Don’t When You’re Not.

This sounds simple, but I want you to pause and ask yourself: When was the last time I snacked or grazed when I wasn’t actually hungry?

This tip really does require you to build on mindful eating and truly understand what your hunger and satiety cues really feel like.

One of the most common reasons, I’ve heard from clients, as to why they continue eating past satiety is because they “don’t want to waste food or hurt anyone’s feelings” - especially in social environments. They’re scared to break their Mom’s heart because they didn’t want another serving of pancit canton, or that their Nona will be very upset that “they didn’t like their lasagna”. Social relationships truly do play a role in our relationship with food, but it’s important to remember this is your journey.

Take what you can eat, do a hunger check, and decide:

I am still physiologically hungry: Eat More Food
I am pretty satiated: Don’t Eat More Food

Remember: You Can Always Come Back For More

We’re very privileged that Christmas dinners are family feasts. If you are still hungry, you can always come back for a second helping.

It can be very tempting to just want to over-stack your plate with all of the delicious foods on the table spread, but if you struggle with understanding your hunger/satiety cues and cannot stop when you’re satiated, you’re going to overeat. It’s inevitable.

When building your plate, take a little bit of everything that calls to your soul (kind of like you’re food sampling) then come back for as many servings as you’d like. This isn’t a race and a scarcity food mindset definitely creates a lot of food fear that leads to compulsive overeating.

Take your time, truly taste, and enjoy the food on your plate, and if you’re still hungry, you can always come back for more!