Excess Food Is Just Dopamine and Doesn’t Help You at All

Have you ever tried to diet or watch your weight, and just can’t keep food out of your mouth? Have you ever been bored or have absolutely nothing to do so you just decide to eat just for the hell of it?

The truth is, once your body has what it needs, every bite is just a cheap hit of dopamine for your brain. It doesn’t build muscle, make you look any better, and it sure as shit doesn’t get you any closer to achieving your goals (unless you are “bulking,” of course).

All overeating really does is light up your dopamine receptors. You enjoy it for a few minutes, then crash and regret it once the dopamine drops. When you realize that extra food isn’t fuel—it’s just your brain chemistry getting played—you’ll find it a hell of a lot easier to stick to your diet.

Why Overeating Feels So Good

Your brain isn’t stupid. It’s designed and programmed to reward behaviors that make you feel good. Everything from eating, social validation, scrolling on your phone, sex, drugs, you name it.

Eating food is one of the easiest ways for your brain to trigger its reward system. All the food you eat that is in excess of what your body actually needs floods your brain with a chemical called dopamine. The same chemical reaction that happens when we get paid, do drugs, hit a PR in the gym—you get the gist. That spike feels amazing in the moment. It’s a rush, a hit, and your brain does not want it to stop (obviously).

Here’s the issue: once the dopamine fades, the reward is gone with the wind. You’re left with the excess calories you didn’t need, shame, guilt, and zero progress towards your goals. It’s almost like your brain tricks you into thinking that pleasure is the equivalent of progress. This is obviously not reality.

Once you can take a step back and realize that your brain is manipulating you, it becomes a lot easier to put the fork down and get closer to your goals.

Of course, you’re left “unsatisfied” to some degree, but there are ways that you can cope with being “dopamine deprived” that don’t detriment your fitness goals.

How to Get Your Mind Off of Eating When Feeling Bored or Dopamine Deprived

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that it is easy to put the bag of chips away and do something else other than eat when you’re bored or deprived of dopamine. If it was easy to do, everyone would do it.

I’ll start with giving some examples of what I personally do when I feel like overeating. My go-to method when I feel like overeating is an extremely simple process that anyone can do. Grab a zero-calorie beverage, pop a nicotine pouch (Zyn preferably), and go on a walk outside. Essentially, everyone who has a set of legs can complete this simple but effective dieting hack. It actually results in BURNING calories—that’s how awesome it is.

My next go-to method is extremely unorthodox but is extremely effective. Go on the internet and look up pictures of fat men/women (whatever does it for you). Next, start to internalize those pictures and think to yourself:

• “This is what people with no discipline look like.”
• “This will be me if I continue to overeat.”
• “I don’t respect these people at all or take them seriously.”
• “I’ll never have a hot spouse if I don’t stop being a fatass and get jacked and ripped.”

The ultimate purpose of this exercise is to make you feel motivated and hopefully proud of yourself once you tell your brain—”No, I will not be a fatass today!” Once you are either disgusted and/or proud of yourself (depending on your decision to whether or not overeat) you will not want to eat anymore.

Personally, both of these exercises work very well for me. I think they will for you as well. Also, don’t be afraid to combine both exercises into one (for the really bad days).

Some will say, “It’s not healthy to drink diet drinks filled with random chemicals and use nicotine blah blah blah.” “It’s not healthy to fat-shame people, listen to your body, it knows what’s best.”

I’m not saying you’re wrong. In a perfect world, everything would be easy and we could all have six-packs and model wives, but that’s not reality at all.

Other Zero-Calorie Options

There are plenty of coping mechanisms for overeating out there which don’t require any food and will sometimes even suppress your appetite while doing them. Some being:

• Video games
• Reading
• Having sex
• Running/walking
• Movies
• Sleeping
• Improving a skill
• Learning a new skill
• Working out
• Riding a bike
• Talking to family/friends

The list goes on and on. Obviously, these are not “ideal” most of the time, but if you can get your mind off of food, it’s going to help your mental state as well as save your progress.

How to Cope With Really Bad Days (NEED TO EAT)

If you’re having an awful day and there is nothing on this earth that will replace the need to eat food, let me introduce you to low-calorie-dense foods.

Low-calorie-dense foods are what they seem like—foods that are large in physical volume but low in calories. You can eat a boatload of these foods and take in virtually no calories at all.

When I was doing my contest prep for my men’s physique show when I was 16 (more on this later) I had to get creative at times with what I was going to eat. My calories were so low at some times throughout my contest prep I had absolutely no other choice but to get creative.

I’d say the most insane thing I used to eat semi-consistently was cucumbers and yellow mustard. Yes folks, you heard that right: cucumbers dipped in yellow mustard. Was it the most delicious thing in the world? Absolutely not. Did it scratch my itch? Yes, it did.

I realize not a lot of people are going to want to eat cucumbers and mustard so let me give you some low-calorie-dense food options below.

Virtually No Calories

• Watermelon
• Celery
• Broccoli
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Diet sodas
• Zucchini
• Pickles
• Zero-calorie condiments
• Coffee
• Teas

More Calories Than the List Above, but Still Solid (Be Careful)

• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Oranges
• Smart Pop popcorn
• Egg whites
• Greek yogurt
• Peppers

You get the gist. All of these foods have a low calorie density and are way better to be eating than other alternatives like chips, candy, pizza, etc.

At the end of the day, if you’re ever in the position of being bored and at risk of overeating, just know there are plenty of ways to cope instead of ruining your progress for the day (sometimes weeks).

Yes, some of these methods may be unconventional and odd, but if you want to look the way you want, it’s going to come with a price.

I believe in you all, I hope you enjoyed it.