Compulsive Overeating Symptoms, Causes & Treatment
Why do people overeat?
Many people overeat because it serves a purpose. In the short term, it helps them:
Feel good
Find comfort
Reduce boredom
Manage stress
Cope with difficult feelings
Overeating often starts during childhood or the teen years. In the moment, eating one’s favorite foods reduces uncomfortable feelings like sadness, anxiety or shame. Over time, overeating can lead to serious health issues. [Hübel, 2021; Friars, 2023]
What is compulsive overeating?
Losing control over what you eat
A form of disordered eating
A warning sign of binge eating disorder
Caused by laziness
A personal failure
Something that can be controlled by willpower
Are you a compulsive eater? Take the quiz today.
Compulsive overeating symptoms
Do you overeat? Or are you concerned about someone you care about? Watch for the following signs:
Eating what most people think is an unusually large amount of food
Eating much more quickly than usual (or eating large amounts of food, slowly and consistently, throughout the day or night)
Skipping meals and eating most of your calories at night (see night eating syndrome)
Eating until you feel uncomfortably full
Eating alone due to shame or embarrassment about the quantity of food consumed
Eating impulsively
Feeling disgusted, embarrassed, depressed or guilty after overeating
Am I eating too much?
Overeating occasionally is common. Overeating regularly can be problematic. People who overeat regularly may have trouble telling when they are hungry or full. They may feel that they need more willpower to "eat healthy" or "stay on their diet." And overeating regularly is also tied to:
Other mood disorders
Anxiety
Substance use [Bray, 2022]
Overeating habits can be hard to break without professional support.
What causes compulsive overeating?
Some people overeat because they grew up that way; their friends or family members also overeat. Genetics can also be at play here. If you have a family member with an eating disorder, you may be more likely to struggle with food issues like overeating. And — if you have a history of dieting, it can make compulsive overeating worse.
Medical and physical health risks
Many people who compulsively overeat live in larger bodies. Years of overeating may lead to one or more of these serious medical conditions:
Metabolic syndrome
Heart disease
Stroke
Metabolic syndrome
Heart disease
Higher weight individuals may also be more likely to experience sleep disturbances [Amiri, 2023], pain that interferes with their daily activities [Allen, 2016], and other health risks.
Compulsive overeating treatment
You can recover from compulsive overeating, and we can show you how. Treatment can help you:
Normalize your eating patterns
Stabilize any medical conditions
Manage co-occurring mental health symptoms (depression, anxiety, trauma)
Improve your quality of life
Manage disordered eating thoughts and behaviors (like restricting food or laxative abuse)
CBT for overeating
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is often a therapy of choice for overeating. At the heart of CBT is the idea that if you change the way you think, you can change the way you feel. By using CBT in therapy, you can:
- Identify triggers that lead to overeating
- Change thought patterns that are keeping you stuck, anxious or depressed
- Develop new coping skills
- Make lifestyle changes to create the life you want
More people struggle with binge eating and compulsive overeating than you may realize. Whether you are struggling a little or a lot, treatment can help. You’ll feel less alone as you learn new coping skills, including how to manage shame.
Colleen Soldano
LCPC, Executive Director at Eating Recovery Center, downtown Chicago
Binge eating recovery meal plans
By pre-planning meals and snacks, you can reduce impulsive or emotional eating and food decisions.
Meal planning is an essential tool for overcoming overeating. Eating balanced meals and snacks at set times lays the groundwork for your recovery and:
Provides an organized approach to eating
Reduces difficult emotions related to feared, binged or purged foods
Ensures that nutrient needs are met
How does treatment work?
See why over 35,000 people have chosen to get care from our experienced medical providers, therapists and registered dietitians.
Eating Recovery Center (ERC) uses the CARE (consistent, attuned regular eating) approach in treatment. This provides structure, consistency and flexibility, offering many benefits:
Making eating less impulsive
Taking the emotionality out of eating
Leaving you less vulnerable to binge eating
Ensuring the eating disorder doesn’t take control of the steering wheel
Putting parameters around grocery shopping, leaving you less likely to make impulse buys
In our binge eating treatment program, our nutrition approach is structured yet flexible,” explains Kristie Simmons, MS, RD, CEDRD-S, nutrition director of virtual services at ERC. “We encourage an inclusive philosophy around food and provide guidelines to our patients. However, we avoid enforcing food rules, as that can look similar to a diet mentality.”
Find treatment near you
ERC offers multiple programs to help you address the causes of your overeating and create a peaceful relationship with food. This includes:
Compulsive Overeating FAQs
Have a question we didn't answer? Contact us
Constantly wanting to eat could be related to compulsive overeating or binge eating. It may be related to problems identifying the feeling of hunger or fullness. If you are experiencing problems because you constantly want to eat, help is available.
Yes, it is possible to stop compulsive overeating, but stopping compulsive overeating requires far more than willpower and self-control. Treatment for binge eating often involves reflecting on and processing past hurts or traumas.
It is hard to stop overeating without professional help, but overeating is a behavior that can be stopped just like any other behavior. An experienced treatment team can help you find new coping skills to help you stop overeating.
Eating too much can be a sign of binge eating disorder, the most common eating disorder in the U.S. People with binge eating disorder regularly:
Eat more than most people would
Eat rapidly until uncomfortably full
Eat when not hungry
Eat alone
Feel disgusted, sad or ashamed after the binge
If you struggle with binge eating, find professional help today.
It can be very hard to stop compulsive overeating, and many people find that food starts to take over their lives. Compulsive overeating can lead to unwanted weight gain. And living in a larger body can increase the risk for multiple physical and mental health concerns, including:
Metabolic syndrome
Heart disease
Stroke
Joint pain and mobility concerns
Insomnia, anxiety and depression
Our binge eating disorder program in Chicago specializes in helping diverse individuals overcome overeating.
Rehab for overeating is provided in eating disorder treatment clinics nationwide. ERC offers treatment for binge eating in multiple programs:
Reach out to our team to learn more by calling us at (866) 622-5914 or filling out this form.
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