Who hasn't overindulged now and again? When Christmas comes around you want to be able to enjoy yourself with friends and family, rather than constantly counting calories. So what if you go overboard and eat a few too many chocolates and sweets? After all, it's only one day of the year. However, for many people eating too much is a regular occurrence. When you work hard all day, you don't always feel like cooking, but you're still hungry, so what do you do? You perhaps stick something in the oven and nibble on biscuits whilst you wait for it to cook. Unfortunately, if you do this too regularly you could quite soon find yourself piling on the pounds.
Indeed, it is overeating which is fuelling the rising obesity levels in society. People are just consuming far more calories than they need. It doesn't help that so many individuals lead sedentary lifestyles, since this simply exacerbates the problem of weight gain. It seems that many people are not bothering to alter their calorie intake to reflect their actual calorie requirements. Clearly, if your job involves sitting at a desk all day and you make no effort to walk or do any other kind of exercise, you are going to need fewer calories than someone who is on their feet all day. Thus, you can quite easily eat too much, just because your calorie requirements aren't that high.
The trouble is that it seems people don't really bother to pay attention to calories unless they're actively trying to lose weight. Instead of keeping an eye on what they're eating and controlling their portion sizes, many simply eat whatever they want and gain weight as a result. Surely, it must be better to avoid weight gain in the first place than to pile on the pounds and then face the difficulty of having to lose the excess weight. Yet, so many people end up caught in a spiral of continually losing and gaining weight because they can only restrict their calorie intake for so long before they go back to eating too much.
It probably doesn't help that there is so much choice when it comes to food, and that the food which is high in calories and crammed full of fat and sugar also tends to be relatively cheap. Why would you bother to buy some apples when you can buy a multi-pack of chocolate bars for the same price or less and they taste better? Of course, some would say that they love the taste of apples, but when you're used to eating lots of chocolate and sweets, as many people are, these are going to be the types of snacks you reach for. Junk food is full of sugar that not only gives you energy levels a boost; it also makes you feel happier, so you're bound to want to re-live the experience.
Life can be stressful and when you're looking for a pick-me-up, what better way than to eat a pizza or tub of ice cream? It's a cheap and relatively harmless way of making yourself feel better. The only problem is that you can quite easily get into the habit of eating too much and this is when you gain weight. Although eating junk food may give you a temporary buzz, you're usually left feeling worse because you watch your weight creep up and your clothes no longer fit. Your self-esteem takes a dive and there is a chance you could find the determination to do something about it, or you may simply become despondent and use food to comfort yourself.
Everyone eats and drinks too much occasionally, so you shouldn't feel guilty or worry too much about it. As long as you generally make an effort to control your calorie intake and keep active so that you burn off calories, you should be able to control your weight. What you don't want to do is eat too much all the time, as otherwise it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a healthy weight and once you're overweight or obese, it can take quite a lot of time and hard work to shift the excess pounds. Thus, it is preferable to avoid this situation arising in the first place, even though this can difficult when temptation is all around you.
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