Why overeating is bad for you

Consistent overeating can lead to an unhealthy weight gain and obesity. Obesity has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and other deadly illnesses. A single instance of overeating, however, can have short-term consequences more serious than bloating and excess gas.

The available data indicate that eating disorders have a negative effect on physical fitness and sport performance by causing low energy availability, excessive loss of fat and lean mass, dehydration, and electrolyte disturbance. Short — term overeating does not result in significant weight gain. Overeating both short term and long term resulted in increased fat around internal organs, but only long- term overeating resulted in higher fat and body masses.

Eating one meal a day is unlikely to give you the calories and nutrients your body needs to thrive unless carefully planned. Back to Living Better Living Better newsletter.

Zip Code. What happens to your body when you overeat? People are often presented with an abundance of food at holiday parties or family functions, so they have frequent opportunities to indulge.

People may also be served multiple courses at holiday functions, as opposed to the one or two courses eaten during a traditional meal. Because some holiday foods are served only once a year, many people tend to increase their portion sizes.

The holidays bring out all kinds of emotions , which drives some people to eat for comfort or out of boredom. When you take in more calories than you're able to burn, you'll start packing on the pounds. In fact, a article published in "Obesity" notes that overeating is linked to obesity and people who overeat on a regular basis are less likely to get enough exercise.

That exacerbates the problem, making weight gain even more likely. Gaining weight isn't the only physical complaint you're likely to experience if you overeat on a regular basis. If you overeat unhealthy foods, such as high-fat fast foods or sugary desserts, you'll get an initial rush of energy, but crash shortly after, leaving you feeling sluggish and fatigued.

These unhealthy foods can also cause uncomfortable digestive problems such as bloating and gas. This occurs when you gain too much weight from overeating because the excess pounds put additional pressure on your skeleton, which can lead to pain and discomfort, particularly in the lower back and hips. Your daily calorie balance is determined by how many calories you consume versus how many you burn. When you eat more than you expend, this is known as a calorie surplus.

Your body may store these additional calories as fat. Overeating may be especially problematic for developing excess body fat or obesity because you may be consuming far more calories than you need 1.

Excess calories from carbs and fats are much more prone to boost body fat 1 , 2. To prevent excess fat gain, try filling up on lean proteins and non-starchy vegetables before eating higher carb and higher fat foods. Overeating is closely linked to excess body fat and obesity due to your body being in a calorie surplus. To avoid fat gain, focus on lean proteins and non-starchy vegetables at meals. Two major hormones affect hunger regulation — ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, and leptin, which suppresses appetite 3.

Eating foods high in fat, salt, or sugar releases feel-good hormones like dopamine, which activate pleasure centers in your brain 4. Over time, your body may associate these pleasure sensations with certain foods, which tend to be high in fat and calories. This process may eventually override hunger regulation, encouraging you to eat for pleasure rather than hunger 5. You can counteract this effect by portioning out certain feel-good foods and eating them at a slower pace to allow your body to register its fullness.

Chronic overeating may override hormones that control fullness and hunger, making it difficult to determine when your body needs food. In turn, this condition has consistently been shown to increase disease risk 6 , 7 , 8. Obesity , which is defined as having a body mass index BMI of 30 or above, is one of the main risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

This cluster of conditions raises your chances of heart disease and other health problems, such as diabetes and stroke 9.