Trick for Reducing Your Desire to Overeat
Last week we talked about how to reduce your desire to overeat and this week I want to share with you a simple trick that really helped me reduce my high desire to overeat certain foods.
It’s called the Desire Volume Match and it was taught to me by one of my mentors, Brenda Lomeli. She introduces this concept in episode 172 of her podcast, The Last 10 Pounds: https://thelast10pounds.libsyn.com/ep-172-desire-volume-match.
Imagine your desire is a dial that you can turn the volume up or down on, similar to the volume dial on a stereo. The volume dial ranges from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
Right now, your desire volume setting for overeating (all foods or maybe just certain foods) is turned up to the highest setting - a 10 on your desire volume dial.
What if you had the power to simply turn your desire volume down to a 2 or a 1 on the dial?
It’s 100% possible, but you first must understand that desire itself is just a feeling.
The actual dictionary definition for desire is, “A strong feeling of wanting to have something.”
It can also be called a craving, which you might connect with more.
Your thoughts cause your feelings, and your feelings drive your actions.
So, the way you’re thinking (thoughts) about the foods you overeat is literally what’s causing your high desire/craving (feeling) to have them.
And that feeling is what’s driving you to overeat them (action).
Here are some of my prior thoughts about certain foods (cake, pastries, pizza, french fries) that was causing my high desire to overeat them:
“They’re so delicious.”
“They make me feel better (emotionally).”
“I can’t wait to just relax, unwind, and eat a huge serving of them.”
“They’re so comforting.”
“Nothing is as good as them.”
“I want to have them.”
“I need to have them”
Do any of these thoughts sound familiar?
In order to turn down my desire for these foods, I had to change the way I was thinking about them.
I had to stop putting them on a pedestal and making them so important, pleasurable, and desirable in my mind.
I had to be honest with myself about how crappy I felt physically and mentally after I would overeat them.
I had to remember all the negative effects that overeating them was having in my life.
I changed my thoughts about them in order to lower the volume of my desire for them.
And this is exactly how I’m able to be around these foods now without feeling like I can’t control myself and overeat them.
It’s amazing, but my desire for these foods now is almost nonexistent. I rarely think about them, crave them, or want them at all.
And on the rare occasion that I do, I set my desire volume for them at around a 1 or a 2.
I’m able to enjoy just a single, normal serving of them without losing all control and overeating them.
You have that power too.
You are 100% in control of your desire because you are 100% in control of the thoughts you choose to think.
The truth is food is just food. It has no true power over us. Ever.
We always get to choose the level of desire we have for any food, and we always have the power to turn the volume down when our desire is higher than we want it to be.