This is a common issue and so many people I have spoken to ask me in desperation, “Why can’t I stop eating?”
There are two reasons.
The first is that you may be eating foods that are triggering a craving for more, or you may not have let go of certain behaviours around food that are triggering a craving for more. Typical foods that seem innocuous but can trigger terrible cravings are zero sugar diet drinks, sugar-free chewing gum, cereals, added sugar, and bread. Among the behaviours that can blur the lines between freedom and relapse are picking as you cook, finishing off what the kids have left on their plate, not making mealtimes a priority, and not having clear boundaries on your food plan. I suggest having three meals a day and nothing in between, avoiding sugar and sugar substitutes, and I also suggest making boundaries around quantities of food eaten at each meal. Setting these boundaries is very difficult alone, so I help people to set these boundaries.
The second is to do with accepting that we have a problem. No one is going to go to the lengths necessary to change if they don’t think their problem is sufficiently bad. The cost of continuing to eat in a self-destructive way must outway the benefits that it is providing. It is only when we are really sick and tired of carrying on as we are that we will be willing to change.
In this video I talk a little more about this…