What to do when you feel like you overindulged

Don’t panic! Follow these 6 tips.

Between the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day, it's totally normal if you've eaten more food and consumed more alcohol or indulged in richer foods and treats than you typically would.

Despite what you may think, this is not a problem. It is going to be fine. 

If your instinct is to beat yourself up, talk about how "bad" you or your food choices were, or "make up for it" by restricting calories, doing a "detox," or putting in extra time at the gym, please don't. 

Here's what I recommend you do instead:


1. Pause, take a breath, notice what you're feeling. 

Do you feel physically uncomfortable from overeating? Do you feel bloated or sluggish? (All normal, btw.) Getting back to your regular eating and movement routines will help.

Or are you feeling fine physically but you're having some guilt or negative thoughts?

If that's the case, before you jump to drastic measures, examine why you're feeling that way. Where did you learn that eating certain foods was "bad?" What do you mean when you say a certain food is "bad"? 


2. Before you describe yourself or your food choices as "bad," remember that food does not have moral value.

Foods are not "good" or "bad." Foods are all comprised of different ratios of macronutrients -- carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Because of the varying amounts of macronutrients, some foods will have more calories than others. That's not "bad." Remember, calories are just units of energy. They're neutral. We're the ones that make them mean something more based on what we've learned from society. There are no universal "good" and "bad" foods, because we all need different things at different times for different goals. 


3. Get back to your regular eating habits.

Even if you ate a lot yesterday or you think you're going to indulge tomorrow, you still need to eat. Remember, your body needs calories aka energy just to survive. Eat protein. Eat vegetables. Smaller portions if you're still feeling full, but try to get back into a "normal" routine right away. 

Our bodies are incredibly smart and resilient, and they really and truly do not need us to do anything weird or drastic to "reset" after one (or several) indulgent meals. Organs like the liver and kidneys are designed to "detox" our bodies so as long as yours are functioning, there's no need for a cleanse or detox...and if they're not functioning, please seek actual medical attention, not a cleanse or a detox. 


4. Rehydrate.

If you drank alcohol or ate salty or fried foods, you might be feeling a little off. In addition to eating protein and veggies, water (or other hydrating beverages) is going to be your friend, ESPECIALLY if you're planning to get a workout in. 

The majority of the times I've had to help someone at the gym when they started feeling a little dizzy or woozy, it was because they A) hadn't eaten anything and/or B) they'd been drinking the night before and still hadn't really had any water. It doesn't have to be water. Just get hydrated. 


5. Get Moving.

If and when you overindulge, it's a good idea to get up and move around, even if it's just taking a short walk or doing some stuff around the house instead of sitting on the couch. That's going to help aid digestion and alleviate discomfort from overeating. 

Just keep in mind that while yes, energy balance is theoretically "calories in vs. calories out," it's not a precise mathematical equation that we can calculate in our trusty little apps, so please don't try to tally up all the calories you ingested and then hop on the treadmill until it tells you that's how many calories you burned. 

When we eat, the energy (calories) we take in are used for many different processes in our bodies. It's not automatically "burned off" as soon as we exercise, nor is it immediately stored as fat. The best thing you can do, no matter how much you feel you overate, is to get moving and then hit your next workout at intended (unless you are still hungover and/or dehydrated, then please hold off!)


6. Avoid the scale. 

I could write a whole email just on this, but if you are a person who weighs yourself and you know that whatever number pops up is going to affect your self-image and your mental health one way or the other, this is not the time to step on the scale. Just don't do it. 

Bodyweight scales are never super helpful because they don't give you much useful information, and weighing yourself after a big meal when you've eaten a lot and might be retaining water is not a smart play.

If you already weighed yourself this morning and you're unhappy with what you saw, remember that daily weight fluctuations are normal, and the amount of body fat you carry does not just skyrocket overnight. Any sudden increases in scale weight will likely even out in a couple days, once you've gone to the bathroom a few times and gotten back on a normal eating and drinking routine.