When One Bite Leads to Many (The “Domino Effect” of Overeating)

Can you relate to The Domino Effect of overeating?

And by Domino Effect, I mean when one bite leads to another bite, which leads to another plate, which leads to eating allthethings.

(This is not a scientific phrase by any means, but it certainly fits, right?!)

Like when someone brings home some cake — and you’re trying to be “good” by avoiding sugar — somehow, despite our best intentions, one small slice leads to another small slice, which leads to another small slice, which leads to eating the rest of the leftover cake by midnight anyway.

It’s the worst! So, why do we do it?

I personally think The Domino Effect is caused by restriction.

We start with a small slice because we don’t FULLY let ourselves have it to begin with, and we DEFINITELY don’t let ourselves have more.

And it can lead to frustration and resentment with ourselves because we end up eating more and more anyways. And this self-directed frustration does NOT help our relationship with food nor our relationship with ourselves.

So… when each small slice leads to more, why not just START with more?

And did your brain already sputter something like, “Because if I start with more then I’ll end up eating even more!!!” Yeah, I feel that.

But as Geneen Roth once said, it is only when we give ourselves permission to eat that we can give ourselves permission NOT to eat.

This is the premise of my old YouTube video on “how to do a binge right.” It’s about embracing the impending binge, and by embracing it, we lessen the net effect.

I think it’s a great video to revisit if you struggle with night eating or just overeating in general:

(I’m more rambly than usual, especially for the first two minutes, so feel free to skip forward a bit!)

If you can give that video a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel, I’d really appreciate that! Your support helps my little baby channel grow : )

Leave me a comment on the video, below this post and I’ll get back to you!

This post was originally sent as an email to my community on May 25, 2021. Get on the list by downloading my free ebook below!