An interesting way to think of breaking a habit is to understand how habits get built up.
Because if you stop and think about it, what breaking a habit means is putting another habit in its place.
We all are creatures of habit. So, you can think of it this way: building the habit of eating moderately and - over time - letting this habit replace the habit of overeating.
The first thing you'll need to do is acknowledge and understand the fact that habits become habits little by little. You start to do something, then you do it again, then again and again, until you become so well practiced in doing it, you can call it a habit. Then it is firmly in place, something you do almost without thinking. It's just a part of you.
Maybe your overeating was not a habit you planned out, it just happened without your permission. But now you can certainly decide that it's not doing you any good, and you can plan to develop this new habit.
Take it slow, tiny steps at first.
You could begin to interfere with your overeating habit by:
- noticing it
- noting how you feel when you do it
- seeing how often you do it
- thinking about what it does for you
- thinking about how it works against you
In these ways, you are beginning to interfere with the automatic quality of the habit. You are poking it, prodding it, not letting it run freely as it's used to doing.
Then, you can take some baby steps toward establishing the new habit - eating moderately. You can take one of your normal meals or snacks, and cut it down by a fourth. Just do this one time, to start.
Then notice:
- Was it hard? Was it painful? Why?
- How did you feel when you did it?
- Did you miss not having any limits?
- Were you still satisfied?
Then you can try this strategy again, maybe one time the next day.
Do you get the idea?
You can change bad habits. It takes thought, planning, and patience.
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