How to Recover from Overeating or a Binge {BACK on Track Method}

I overate. Now what? Maybe it was a meal where you ate way past what you had planned, or perhaps it was a weekend or holiday season of overeating. Maybe it’s been months of being off track due to crazy circumstances.

That means you are normal. Food slip-ups happen to all of us.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for recovering after overeating or binging. We’ve included a free PDF printable to help you achieve your healthy eating goals.

Why Do I Keep Overeating?

You may feel like you’ve blown it with your diet. You are probably saying things to yourself like,

• I fell off the wagon.
• I went on a bender.
• I ate myself into a food coma.
• I cheated.
• I got off track.
• I completely messed up.
• I’m no good.
• I’m a failure.
• I’ll never lose this weight.
• I have no self-control.
• I lack willpower.
• There’s something wrong with me.

I used to say all of these things to myself and more.

The truth is there’s no wagon, and there’s no track. There’s just life. In life, there are no perfect eaters. All of us (even people who don’t have food issues) have times when we eat poorly or make food choices that we regret.

There are lots of reasons why people overeat:

• Genetic predisposition
• Emotional eating
• Our current food system with highly palatable, calorie-dense foods
• Habits
• Trigger foods
• Binge eating

While exploring why you overate can be beneficial (and we will explain how to do that in a productive way below), what’s more important is deciding what to do next.

At The Holy Mess, we teach the Back on Track method, an easy way to quickly return to healthy eating choices.

Plan for When You Get Off Track

Make a plan for falling off the food wagon because it will happen. Don’t pretend you will be the exception. This is a “when,” not an “if.”

When you have a plan in advance, it’s much more doable to manage.

This key difference set apart the final time I lost weight (which I have now been maintaining for twenty years).

During my 100-pound weight loss, I had weight regain. I hit plateaus. I had stalls. I got tired and burned out. I wanted to quit 1000 times. I binged. I overate at parties, at night, and on the weekends.

The weight loss journey felt too slow, too boring, and too hard.

I just kept getting back on track anyway. I kept doing the weight loss things even when they felt small and pointless, like going to therapy, tracking, and making healthier food swaps.

I got back on track thousands of times during my weight loss journey, and I still do today.

Get Back on Track FAST

Set a goal to get back on track fast when you get off track.

Set a goal to never eat two off-plan meals in a row.

Get back on track at the next eating opportunity or, even better – with the next bite.

Every healthy choice matters. There’s a huge temptation to think you’ve blown it, so you might as well have an all-out binge fest, but this is faulty thinking.

If you walk outside and see your car has a flat tire, do you think you should pop a hole in the other three tires? Of course not. Yet that’s the reasoning you use when engaging in this food behavior.

The Holy Mess BACK on Track Method

Here are the steps to the BACK on Track method for recovery after over-indulging, cheat meals, and food binges.

Remember the acronym BACK, which stands for Back track, Ask, “What did I learn?”, Compassion & forgiveness, and Keep your food plan the same.

B – Back Track

As much as possible, go back and track (or at least make note of) what you ate.

I call this ugly tracking, which means honest tracking.

For years, I tracked regularly…except when I didn’t. My food logs always looked pretty, nice, and well within my calorie range. So why was my weight loss not reflective of that? Easy – that’s not what I was actually eating.

When I was binging and overeating, I didn’t track it. I tried to pretend I made up for it since I was “good” most of the time.

While it was emotionally painful, when I started owning up to what I was eating during my off times (which was thousands of calories more than I thought it was), that’s when I broke plateaus and lost more weight.

You can’t fix what you don’t see.

A – Ask, “What Did I Learn?”

Many people miss this critical step. They tell themselves, “Oh, we all make mistakes. It’s time for a fresh start. La La, sunshine and rainbows, let’s start over on Monday.”

While it’s good to start over on Monday, you’ll be caught in an endless loop of losing and regaining the same five pounds for as long as you do this. You’ll stay stuck in the cycle until you start looking back at your previous behavior, learning, and trying something different.

During these times, step back from emotion and think like a scientist. Mistakes are teachers. Ask yourself, “What will I do differently next time?”

C – Compassion & Forgiveness

Self-flagellation (beating yourself up, putting yourself down, calling yourself names) works 0% of the time. If it worked, we would all be thin by now.

Humans avoid pain. We don’t like it. The more you beat yourself up about something, the more you’ll run away from dealing with it.

Instead, give yourself the same grace and compassion you would give to a good friend.

As a Christian, I recognize that my overeating is, at times, sinful behavior. I repent, which is asking God for His forgiveness and mercy. I accept His grace because of Jesus’s saving work on the cross.

If you’ve been through a time of overeating or binging, your mind and body have been through a time of struggle. You are tender and fragile. You need more love, care, grace, nurturing, and kindness.

K – Keep Your Food Plan the Same

Don’t compensate for a binge by fasting, skipping meals, or restricting. Just follow your regular food plan. Some people purge (vomit, take laxatives, overexercise) after binging.

Unfortunately, none of these behaviors work. They set you up to binge or overeat again, which continues the cycle that many of us stay stuck in for years.

Plan a Recovery Meal

An additional helpful concept is a recovery meal.

A recovery meal is a nutritious meal that you enjoy, which feels good to eat as part of getting back to healthy eating. The food needs to be easy to prepare, and you can keep the ingredients on hand.

Your recovery meal is a gift you give yourself, not a punishment.

Example recovery meals:

• Vegetable omelet
• Frozen chicken breast, steamed vegetables, instant brown rice
• Frozen stir fry mix with shrimp
• Any meals from the Holy Mess 3-Day Diet.

Get Support

Finally, get the support you need. We have a Holy Mess Facebook Weight Loss Support Group and a Christian Weight Loss Facebook group.

No matter what, don’t go it alone. Binging and overeating often happen in secret, but healthy weight loss happens in community.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Bouncing Back From Overeating

What steps will you take to get back on track? Share in the comments.

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Back on Track Checklist for Binge Eating [Free PDF Printable]

Click here to download a free PDF printable of the Back on Track checklist.

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