How can you stop overeating in social situations?
If it sounds impossible to you, listen up. There are all kinds of reasons that you might overeat in social situations and I know we can’t cover all of them in one podcast episode, but I’m going to cover the basics and give you some tools to get started so that you can address your thoughts and beliefs about social eating and make some positive changes.
This episode will walk you through some different scenarios and how to handle them and leave you with three questions to ask yourself about your relationship with social eating.
If you want to stop overeating in social situations, tune in.
Listen To The Episode Here:
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In Today’s Episode, You’ll Learn:
- Different scenarios where you might eat socially
- Addressing your thoughts about social eating
- Why it’s okay not to eat if you don’t want to
- How to take the pressure off of social eating
- Letting go of things you can’t control
- Creating a plan for your future self in social situations
- How to stop using food to manage your emotions in social situations
- Enjoying food without overeating
Whatever your feelings are towards food in social situations, don’t feel bad about them! If you want to change them so that you can have more peace and freedom, I can help you with that, but you have nothing to feel bad about. I hope this episode reassures you and brings you closer to the results you’re looking for!
To learn more about how the Weight Loss for Doctors Only coaching program can help you stop overeating in social situations, go to katrinaubellmd.com/info!
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Get The Full Episode Transcript
Read the Transcript Below:
Welcome to the Weight Loss for Busy Physicians podcast. I’m your host, master certified life and weight loss coach, Katrina Ubell, M.D. This is the podcast where busy doctors like you come to learn how to lose weight for the last time by harnessing the power of your mind. If you’re looking to overcome your stress, eating and exhaustion and move into freedom around food, you’re in the right place. Well. Hello there, my friend. Welcome to today’s episode. I’m really, really glad you’re here with me today. The day that I’m recording.
This is the day after daylight savings has shifted in the US. Whew! Man, I even tried this past weekend. I tried something to to try to mitigate the effects of this spring forward. I don’t think it really worked at all. Just in case you were wondering, I tried going to bed earlier, tried to adjust everything. Took me half an hour to fall asleep last night. I yeah, I’m feeling it this morning. Feeling it this morning. And that’s okay. Because guess what? We make it through every year. My whole life, every spring we’ve done this, we figured it out. Those of us who struggle with it, what is it? Maybe one week and then we’re okay. And I have to say, today is a beautiful sunny day. I’m literally wearing like a spring dress, kind of a spring summer dress. It’s a real treat to be able to, you know, really feel like it’s spring so early in the year where I live up in the cold in the north.
[00:01:41] So there are some good things that are happening here. So today I’m going to talk to you about social situations and eating. And as I prepared this, this was something that someone requested, I realized this is a pretty involved subject. I think I knew that, but I was thinking like, how can I sum it up? I do think I have something for you here where I’ve I’ve summed it up to a certain extent at least, given you several questions, like three questions to think about. I think this is a good entry point into thinking about social eating and how to get a hold on that, and how to stop overeating in social situations.
But there are so many different potential factors or situations that could be at play. And I realized, you know, in weight loss for Doctors only my coaching program, we deal with these on individual case by case basis. Some of you really struggle with, you might really want to consider getting some coaching to figure out the real route for you in these specific situations, because also, it could be that, you know, you eat socially in lots of different scenarios, but the reasons why and the way to approach it are each different. So not to overcomplicate things, because I don’t like to think about it like, oh my gosh, you have you know, here’s your list of 152 things you have to work on yourself so you can stop overeating.
[00:02:56] I don’t like to think about it that way. In general. It’s kind of a few bigger picture kind of issues, but it could be that you’re overeating in one situation because you feel bad about yourself comparing yourself to these other people. Then in another social situation, you could feel like super awkward or socially anxious or something like that. And that’s a totally different situation. And those are all things to work through. And the Weight Loss for Doctors Only program, we have a whole supplemental resource about events and travel.
So I was like, yeah, how did I think I was going to sum this up on one short podcast? But I’m going to give you a good start today. Some things to think about, and hopefully this will help you move forward. Like help you, you know, start tackling it, at least for those first couple of steps. I think sometimes with these kinds of situations, with social issues, we just kind of feel like we don’t know where to start. We feel like it just happens to us and we feel bad about it afterward. And so I think having some good steps to start with will be really helpful for you today. So I really want to focus on true social eating really when we’re with people.
[00:04:01] So I’m not going to be talking about like later in the day after the office party when there’s still like food laying around and you’re going in there and eating stuff by yourself, like, that’s what I’m talking about. That’s not a judgment or an accusation. You know me. I’m the first to admit I’ve done all of those things. Or like after a party when everyone’s left and now you’re eating everything. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about when the people are around the actual social part of it. You’re around other people and you find yourself eating.
So that’s what I really want to focus on today. And so I started first by thinking about like, well, what are all the scenarios where we’re eating socially and there are so many in a work setting, it really can depend, you know, there’s so many different factors in every office and every work environment is different, but sometimes it’s something to do with the actual people you work with. So it could be like an office potluck or like someone’s birthday party. I know some offices they’ll do just like every month. They’ll do, you know, an event party type of thing to celebrate all the birthdays that were that month. If there’s enough people in the office, sometimes different people will bring in lunch or food or, you know, sometimes they would take a whole Starbucks order for everybody.
[00:05:12] Sometimes, you know, it would be like the local radiology group and they’re sending in treats or things like that. So whether it’s a pharmaceutical rep or another kind of rep or the office manager from some other physician who wants us to refer to them or something like that, there were lots of opportunities where food was brought in and were expected to eat socially. So in my experience at the culture at my office was if someone went through the trouble to bring the food, then as the doctor, you were kind of expected to go in and at least, you know, sort of show your face and spend a little time with that person.
I have to say, you know, like years out, I felt less and less obligated to do that. I think now with maturity and coaching and understanding my thoughts and all those things, I mean, that definitely was something that it was a story that I told myself that I believed, and I think it was probably a bit of an expectation, but so what? You never have to go and talk to anybody or eat anything that you don’t want to or isn’t a good fit for you. So just recognizing you really can just not be available. That’s okay too, for some of those things, but for some things you really want to be able to be there or, you know, maybe you don’t want to do it, but it is the right thing to do.
[00:06:24] So that’s a little bit different. And then for home life or personal things, you know, all the birthdays, the anniversaries, things with family, things with friends, it can be a lot. And even if it’s not a lot, it could be that just like pops up from time to time. And those are things that you struggle with. They could just be the regular, you know, going out to eat or ordering in the way you get together with people that you like to spend time with is centered around food, potentially. I mean, it can be watching sports, it can be you name it, you can eventize anything, right? And it can be hosting parties as well. So maybe you like to host.
Maybe that’s just something that you enjoy. Maybe, you know, by the time you have different graduation parties or this thing to celebrate and that thing to celebrate, you’re finding yourself hosting things, you know, the end of the kids sporting season, and you’re inviting everybody over to have a party at your house. You know, those things can start to feel like, wow, we do this pretty frequently. So what it comes down to with social eating is what our thoughts are about it and what we believe to be true. So I mean, beliefs are thoughts. They’re just thoughts that we think are true. It’s kind of like a spectrum is the way I think about it.
[00:07:38] Like a thought. We’re usually like, oh, that’s one way to think about it. Here’s another way to think about it. Sometimes we’re less committed to those thoughts, whereas with a belief it’s what we think is true, it’s a thought that we’re very committed to. So I made a little brainstorm of some thoughts that I think can be beliefs for a lot of people, and they can be ones that we think are true, and they’re also ones that tend to lead us into overeating. So, right, like there’s all these people will talk about all these different. Ideas and hacks and whatever tips and stuff for what to do at a social, you know, gathering.
I remember in Weight Watchers they would talk about like eating before you go, make sure you’re not hungry. Like all those things are a good idea. Like, I’m not gonna poo poo any of those if they’re super helpful for you. Amazing. You’ve probably heard them before, and I concur. Like showing up, starving, you know, feeling extremely hungry. And, you know, there’s a whole spread like that might be harder. But, you know, when you’ve gone through this work, like even that, like, none of that should really end up being a problem if you’re at a place where you have peace and freedom around food, it shouldn’t really be a problem. None of this stuff should really be a problem.
[00:08:53] So I want to just let you know that you can get to a place where you’re not like having to micromanage all your eating like, oh shoot, I didn’t have a chance to eat. Like, what am I gonna do now? I’m gonna totally overeat this party. To me, that’s not peace and freedom around food. We want to get to a point in our lives and our relationship with food. And, you know, our bodies and our body signals and meeting our own needs that, you know, we can eat at the party. We can not eat at the party. It doesn’t really matter.
Like if we ate before the party, we’re not hungry. Cool. If we totally didn’t get a chance to eat cool, it’s just not a problem, right? That’s where we want to get to. That’s where I wanted to get to. I feel like I’ve gotten to that place. I’d love to help you get there, too. I just think that some of those other skills and tips and things I was talking about, those can be very helpful on the path to getting to where you want to be. I don’t see them really as like a permanent solution, because it just ends up still feeling like a white knuckling, like a, like a need to control when that feels like it’s tiring and requiring a lot of energy that doesn’t feel peaceful or free to me.
[00:09:58] You know what I’m saying? That’s the difference there. So let’s talk about these thoughts that we often either really just think are true. Or you may find like I don’t actually think that like consciously, but yes, that is going on for me, at least on a subconscious level. Right. Because there’s the things that we’re thinking. We’re just like, oh, look, there’s my friend Susie over there. I’m going to go say hi to her. Right. Like that’s maybe what you’re consciously what you’re aware of what you’re thinking. But these thoughts may be going on more on a subconscious level.
And so our opportunity here is to bring them from that subconscious level to a conscious level, so we can become more aware of them and understand how they create problems for us, and then recognize that we have the option to think differently if we want to, to create a different result. So the number one thing that I think really just doesn’t even matter what the situation is, but the number one thought or belief is, I have to eat this or I have to eat here. You know, this idea that like, I’m expected to eat. And so therefore I must and I will. And you might be like, no, but there are these expectations. And like, people look at me weird and then they say all these things. And if I don’t write like all those things, and I totally get all of that, but you never have to eat anything, ever.
[00:11:16] Like if you were just recovering from the stomach flu, you would probably think differently about it, and everyone else there would too, if you told them that, right? Like if you totally had an upset stomach, if you were not feeling well in some other way, you’d probably have a different thought about it. And so sure, there’s that different situation, but really ultimately it’s the same thing. It’s like if your body doesn’t feel well now, let’s not put a bunch of food in it. But if you put a bunch of food in it and you don’t feel well later, that’s somehow okay. That doesn’t actually track. It doesn’t really make sense. So it’s like, I have to eat this or I have to eat here. These are also combined with thoughts like, it would be weird not to eat.
You know, people are going to say something, look at me. Weird. It’s going to be a strange situation. It can also be something like, I’ll just eat to avoid the attention I would get if I didn’t eat. So some of us love attention, not me. Some of us really don’t want everyone’s attention on us. That’s me. But I know that there are both groups of people listening to this. So whichever one you fall into, if you’re like me and you really don’t want the attention, you know, just recognizing that we’re eating to try to control other people, like, that’s interesting.
[00:12:36] Is that how we want to approach this? And if you do want attention, you’re probably not looking for that attention through what you’re eating. Although it could be that you like the praise that you get if you eat. So this could be in specific family types of situations. You know, maybe it’s your grandmother who totally gives you a hard time if you’re not eating enough or like, you know, some cultures it’s like you could be stuffed if you don’t eat more, it’s considered disrespectful or the family member is upset or whatever. It could just be like, this is just means to an end.
Like, I better just eat this because it’s like the easiest path and in the moment it might be the easiest path. But in the long tum, it’s definitely not the easiest path. When you are struggling with overeating, struggling with weight, struggling with feeling like food controls you not feeling good in your body. Right? So I like to just back it all up and zoom out and realize you just never have to do anything. Like if you want to stay out of jail, you need to pay your taxes. What else do you need to do? Very little you really don’t need to do. I mean, you could just not pay taxes and go live in jail. Like you really don’t have to do anything.
[00:13:46] So anytime we’re telling ourselves we have to do it, or like if I just eat, then it somehow makes the situation better. I mean, you know, maybe we have evidence for that, but still, you don’t have to eat like you’re not responsible for other people’s thoughts and emotions. As much as we like to believe that we can control them and manipulate them with what we do and say, we can influence them, but we can’t make people think or feel anything, right? So we think, well, I’ll just eat so I don’t get the attention that I would get if I didn’t eat.
Also, it could just work through that attention issue. We could work through the person who’s giving us that attention we don’t want. We could work through how to respond to that, how to maybe set a boundary with that person. There are other options, is what I’m trying to say here right? Deciding like what is weird? What is not weird to eat or not eat completely. A thought you might be like, you know, I go to the office potluck and then if I don’t eat, then everyone’s like, oh, are you on a diet? What are you doing? Like, are you eating this or are you eating that? What are you you know, like all this attention on that. What I’ve learned is, like, you don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to talk about.
[00:14:50] If you don’t want to talk about what you’re eating, you just change the subject and you ask that person something about them. You can be like, oh yeah, I’m just not that hungry right now. I’ve talked before on this podcast about ways of shifting the attention and, you know, just kind of being evasive so you don’t have to get into every detail of what you’re doing, because often it’s just really none of somebody’s business who’s asking you about it. But you can totally just be like, oh, so tell me about your next vacation you have coming up, or tell me about the vacation you just had, or. Oh, I meant to tell you about this thing about that, you know, patient we have in common or something.
Just completely change the subject. It’s really works very, very well. You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to talk about. Okay? So let’s shift it a little. Now, sometimes we’re like, oh, but this is my chance to have these foods, you know, like in a social situation. Like I normally don’t eat this stuff, but this is my chance, you know, like sheet cake from the grocery store, you know, that people get for birthday cakes and stuff. People are like, oh, girl. So it was just sheet cake. I’m like, I love sheet cake. Gosh, I’m trying to think, when was the last time I had sheet cake? I can’t remember, I’ve not had it in a long time, but I’m always like, I like a sheet cake.
[00:15:53] It’s good. Right? So normally I wouldn’t ever go buy myself a sheet cake, but then, oh, there’s a party and there’s. Cake. Oh, this is my chance to have these. Like, normally I wouldn’t eat that. Oh, but this is my chance to have this. Which is kind of funny because I could go to the grocery store literally any day of the week and buy a cake if I wanted it and plan for it, but we don’t do that right, because it’s not that good. That’s the funny part, right? It’s not so good that I’d go spend, you know, $10 on it, but if it’s there, then I have these thoughts like, this is my chance to eat it.
I think a kind of a corollary to this that we know logically doesn’t actually make sense, but subconsciously we have these sets, like a little bit of magical thinking, like it doesn’t count if I eat in a situation like this. Like normally I’m, you know, I’m not eating sheet cake. We’re just going to pick on sheet cake. Now, normally I wouldn’t eat that, but oh, but now I’m at this event so I’m going to have some because it doesn’t really count when I’m here, even though we know it does count. But we’re kind of like, yeah, but if I think it doesn’t count, maybe it doesn’t, you know, like, I’ll just try to forget that it ever even happened like, or to erase it from my consciousness and then it doesn’t count anymore.
[00:17:00] So that’s interesting. If we figure out that we that we think about it that way. Okay. Now let’s shift gears again. Okay. I feel awkward or anxious in these social situations. So then when I eat, I’m doing something. I’m keeping myself busy. Could be that like then I don’t have to talk. Like I don’t have to find someone to talk to. Because if I’m standing there eating, that’s an appropriate, acceptable thing to do rather than just standing there alone. And this is something that I’ve personally experienced myself as well. And so this is more of that social awkwardness, social anxiety, feeling like you don’t know what to say, feeling really uncomfortable.
And so going and getting food and eating it and drinks can be a big part of this too, gives you something to do. So again, there can be baby steps here, right? Like there’s ways that we can try to work through. Like, you know, bringing a friend or bringing a partner with or, you know, there’s things that we can do to try to make it better. Um, but also what we can do is work through that feeling of awkwardness and anxiety and also come up with some good life skills, some good tools.
[00:18:09] You know, a little while ago, I was asking one of my clients who is, I wouldn’t say has like the most out there personality, let’s just say super lovely person, but a little bit more on the reserve side. And she was like, yeah, I totally love talking to new people. Like it’s not a big deal at all. And I was like, so tell us everything. Like, tell us how you think about it. I want to know how you think about it. And she just at a conference doesn’t know anybody like completely. Just goes up to people, starts talking to them, doesn’t feel like she’s stuck talking to them.
Knows how to let them, you know, kind of transition away, talk to the next person. These are skills that you can learn. You can really learn how to interact with other people in a social manner, in a way that’s more comfortable for you. So you aren’t relying on food so much. But I think it’s kind of a combination like, can you learn how to do things so that it doesn’t feel so bad? Yes. Also, can you learn to be with the uncomfortable emotions and not need them to go away? Yes, you can do both. And I think both of those are really things that can be very helpful to work through. How about this? I feel bad about myself. So here’s comparison, right? Like feeling whoever you’re with or whatever is just somehow your thoughts about their life versus your life or what they have versus what you have, it makes you feel bad about yourself.
[00:19:25] So you’re feeling bad about yourself and there’s lots of food available. So let’s use it to distract to get that dopamine hit to feel better. Those are other reasons. Another set of reasons why we’ll sometimes eat in those social settings. So if this is like a friend kind of a situation and you’re like, you know, whenever I get together with this group of people, I feel bad about myself. I mean, it’s an opportunity to really consider, first of all, do I want to stay friends with these people? Not like it’s necessarily their fault that you have thoughts about them.
Sometimes we just realize, you know what? I don’t think that this is something that’s actually positively contributing to, you know, my life right now. So maybe I need a break, but also not necessarily right. Like we have to be responsible for the thoughts that we have about comparing ourselves to others and then how we feel bad about it. That’s not their fault. It’s again, it’s situational and, you know, case by case basis, but recognizing, oh, I’m eating because I feel bad about myself when I’m with these people. That’s something to really become aware of, can really help you when you notice yourself overeating in these social situations.
[00:20:29] And then the final thought belief that I came up with has to do with when you’re hosting. And that thought is, I want everyone to have a good time. And it sounds so good, doesn’t it? You know, sounds like, what’s my goal for this? I want everyone to have a good time. I don’t think it’s there’s nothing inherently wrong with that thought or that belief, but if it makes you feel stressed, if it makes you feel pressured, if it, you know, makes your experience of it something where you need to eat. Or find yourself over eating, then maybe it’s not a great one.
You know, maybe you’re like, well, I’m having such a good time with everybody and everyone’s eating and I want to take part in that too. But we have to understand that it’s not the actual chewing of the food and swallowing that makes us have a good time. It’s the interacting with people, right? It’s the way we think that makes us feel good. It’s not what our taste buds are sensing. Really, really important to understand that. So could you envision a scenario where everyone’s having, you know, let’s just say everyone’s having a good time and you let go of the grip that you have on how good of a time they’re having. I mean, whether they have fun or a good time or not has a lot. I mean, it really, you’re just setting up the situation for them.
[00:21:43] But there are so many other factors in their life that can determine whether they’re having fun or not. It’s really not your responsibility. I think a better way of thinking about it is, is this the way that I want to show up as a host? Have I created an environment that I feel proud of? If you have, that’s your whole responsibility and then what everyone else does with it, that’s on them ultimately. Right. So just recognizing that that, you know, sometimes the pressure and the stress that we put on ourselves when we host can make us feel pretty depleted or sometimes, you know, feel like I should be having more fun. Look at everyone having fun. Why am I not having more fun? I should probably eat too. So interesting, right? Interesting.
So I want to make a note. I haven’t even talked about alcohol, but alcohol just increases the intensity of all of this and can make it harder for you to be properly managing your mind. Just some more alcohol that you have, so just keeping that in mind as well. So I have three questions for you to ask yourself as you’re approaching a social situation where you either anticipate that it’s going to be challenging or, you know, from, you know, past experience, it probably is going to be challenging. Or if you’re just like, you know, I sometimes the magical thinking, seriously, I’ve had experiences where I’m just like, yeah, I’m just not going to do what I normally do with that thing.
[00:23:00] And that’s the amount of thought that I’ve put into it. And then I get there. And of course, I do exactly what I always do, because that’s not really enough of a plan. You have to actually put together a real solid plan to make sure you’re not doing it. So the first question you can just anticipate, especially if you’ve never been to the thing before, you might not really know what to expect. Or maybe you’ve done it a bunch of times and you have a good idea of what to expect. But regardless whether you know well or not, ask yourself what is food or alcohol going to do for me in this social situation?
And, you know, it’s somewhat a rhetorical question, but also not it’s a question where you have to really think if this is a dinner, like what a food is doing for me is it’s, you know, meeting my body’s need for fuel could be part of it, right? Or it could be like, it’s entertainment. It’s a part of the entertainment of the party. I get to choose what parts of the entertainment I take part in. You know, I always think is interesting, like particularly when it comes to alcohol, is for people who struggle more with that.
[00:24:01] It’s like the idea of not having alcohol is so foreign to them or be so challenging. But we see this time and again, particularly with women who become pregnant, that they have no problem giving it up. You know, it’s like, so okay, so you can have fun without it or say your designated driver or something. You’re like, yeah, no, I totally can have fun without it. But if you don’t have that reason to not have it, then your belief is I need to have it. It’s just good to question all of it. And just to notice, like the inconsistencies in your thinking, to notice when what you’re thinking ultimately doesn’t really make sense. It’s kind of like poking holes in it, which is of course, what we do with coaching is just to go like, wait, so how does that make sense?
Like, you know, not in a judgmental way, but in a truly like, really understanding, oh, the way I think about this is the problem. And if I want a solution, I need to change the way I think. That’s the permanent solution here. Okay. So number one question what is food or alcohol doing for me in this social situation. Might find out. You know what it’s distracting me from? You know, the stress that I feel from the pressure that I feel some people find I feel my belief is like if I’m going out to eat, it needs to be extra special.
[00:25:11] If I’m going to spend the money, it needs to feel really, really, really amazing. So more food, more alcohol. It’s kind of like, hey, if it hasn’t been amazing enough yet, if I don’t feel like I’m getting my money’s worth, I better have more to try to get to where, you know, this, like, really just made up level of pleasure like that bar has been reached. Or at least I’ve gotten close to it. Now, the problem that we often find is we don’t actually reach that bar, or we bypass the bar, you know, and now it’s actually getting worse. We’re feeling worse because we overeat or we over drink. Okay. Number two question what kind of relationship do I want to have with food?
What I mean about that is, you know, I often talk about like we really want is that, you know, food is nourishment for our body, for ourselves, gives us energy, meets our body’s physical needs with some occasional pleasure. But most people are going to want to have some food that arguably is not particularly nourishing from time to time, because that’s just one of the pleasures of life. Now, do we need to have it all the time? Do we need to have it in excessive amounts? You know, that’s what we get to decide. Maybe we don’t, but so if that is something that you’re aiming for, then you can understand the difference between occasional pleasure, you know, occasional joy in my life from this food and using food to try to manage my emotions, because that’s the part that we really want to try to separate out from.
[00:26:34] And I think it’s where a lot of people end up finding themselves kind of sucked in. In those social situations. It can be challenging, particularly in the beginning, to really be able to stay connected and enjoy the heck out of the food that you’re eating, so that it truly is occasional pleasure. When there’s all this stuff going on or you’re talking to other people, there’s, you know, all this activity, a lot of distractions away from that connection that you have with your body. Now, can you learn? So this becomes so automatic that it isn’t something you have to focus on so much. Absolutely. I feel quite confident if I went to your, you know, say you’re hosting a party, I went to your party, I really wouldn’t be worried about it. It would be totally fine for me.
But I’ve also been doing this for many, many, many years, so it’s something you absolutely can learn. But at first it’s like, you know, you need to let yourself have some training wheels and so you can maybe understand for yourself, like, okay, you know what? When I’m doing the occasional pleasure type of thing for food, I probably not going to do it in a social situation for a while, because I’m still working to develop that connection that I have with my body, to be able to really have that pleasure and enjoy it, but also to know when I’ve had enough, when the pleasure has peaked and it’s on the downward trend.
[00:27:52] Because we want to stop right after it’s peaked, you know, right at that point of the peak. And that’s a skill that we have to learn. We have to practice. So it can just be helpful to understand, like, I want to eat here as this because I’m trying to manage my emotions. Is this because I’m feeling anxious? I’m feeling awkward. I’m feeling avoidant, like I don’t want to have a difficult conversation with someone or I know someone’s going to, you know, make a comment if I don’t eat.
And just really understanding more like, what is the food doing for you? Is it because you’re physically hungry? If not, let’s try to figure out. What you’re asking it to do for you. So at least you just understand that from that place, you can start to figure out what you want to do with, you know, next steps. And then the final question is, how can I stay connected to my body while I’m eating? And that’s what I was just talking about. Like, how can I practice doing that so that I can be in a social situation and still be connected to my body, myself, and know that I am not going to overeat? And I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again.
[00:28:51] I mean, you could have let’s just, you know, say like total junk all around and you haven’t eaten, I don’t know, in two days. You’re so hungry. Totally. Okay. But you don’t have to overeat that stuff. I remember back in the pandemic, people were like, what if there’s only Doritos in the grocery store? Like, cool. Then you’re eating Doritos, but you don’t have to overeat Doritos. Right. So it’s like you can have whatever the treats are that they have of the party, but you don’t need to overeat them if they have a whole big spread and lots of different things.
You don’t need to taste every single one if there’s so much more food. Always where that came from, like there’s always more delicious things to eat. Why does it matter so much to eat this thing right now? What is it about this thing? Is it that actually it’s this thing that I really need to eat? Or is it. I really am just trying to feel better. I’m trying to change my emotional state by eating something. That’s what we want to start figuring out. And so I feel like it’s when you’re actively trying to lose weight, you’re like, no, but tell me exactly how to stop doing this. Well, I mean, you can white knuckle it and just decide you’re not going to have anything.
[00:29:53] I mean, I’ve done that many times way back, you know, in my more dieting days, like lots of people do, that that’s one thing you can do. But if you’re thinking big picture and actually solving the problem, we need to understand more about why we do what we do so that we can effectively choose something else that satisfies that same need. And solves that problem for us. So that is the thing that can feel slower, but it’s permanent. And what I found is, you know, the white knuckling stuff, it’s just tends to not be permanent for most people. All right. Well, I’m going to wrap this up now. Like I suspected, it’s getting longer and I could say a whole lot more.
But like I said, if this is something you’d like to work on, we help our clients in weight loss for doctors only all the time on these things. And we talk about each person’s specific situation and scenario, which is so helpful for everybody else learning from those things as well. So rather than me, just kind of like sort of speaking in generalities, we can actually dig in with you. So that might be something that you want to consider in the future, getting some of that help from weight loss for doctors only. All right, my friend. Well, thank you for joining me.
[00:31:02] I hope this gives you at least something to think about when it comes to those social situations and times when you’re expected to eat socially. And I want to just let you know that you can work through this. Like this really is something that you can solve for. This can get better. If it’s something that you’ve struggled with a long time, it can start to feel like it’s hopeless or like, well, it doesn’t, you know, matter so much if those social events are rough, because the rest of the time you’re doing pretty good, you know? I mean, that’s, you know, I it’s one way of thinking about it, but I, I like to think about it. Just big picture.
Wouldn’t it be great if just no matter where you were or what was going on, you knew you had your back, you knew you’d stay connected to your body and you just didn’t feel like it was like such a thing in terms of, you know, eating, not eating, how much you eat and all of that. And that’s what I’m working on helping you to create.
All right. Well, I hope you have a great rest of your week. Thank you so much again for being here and talk to you next time. Take care. Bye. Ready to start making progress on your weight loss goals? For lots of free help, go to katrinaubellmd.com and click on Free Resources.Overeating in social situations