Counterregulatory eating

Counterregulatory eating is the psychological tendency for a person to eat more after having recently eaten.[1] It is a behavior opposite to regulatory eating, which is the normal pattern of eating less if one has already eaten.[1] It is more common among dieters, for whom a large "pre-load" (the food eaten first) is presumed to sabotage motivation for restricted eating.[2]

It was coined the "what-the-hell" effect by dieting researcher Janet Polivy in 2010.[3][2] She describes this effect as the type of thinking which says, "What the hell, my diet's already broken, so I might as well eat everything in sight."[4] It has been observed that reducing the guilt of overeating through self-forgiveness can mitigate counterregulatory eating.[3][5]

  1. ^ a b Herman, C. Peter (2007). "Counterregulation of eating". SAGE Publications. pp. 199–200. doi:10.4135/9781412956253.n120. ISBN 9781412916707. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ a b Polivy, Janet (2010). "Getting a Bigger Slice of the Pie. Effects on Eating and Emotion in Restrained and Unrestrained Eaters". Appetite. 55 (3): 426–30. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2010.07.015. PMID 20691231. S2CID 22387878.
  3. ^ a b Kelly, McGonigal (2012). The Willpower Instinct. New York, NY: Penguin Group. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-58333-438-6.
  4. ^ "Dr. Janet Polivy - Biography". University of Alberta. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  5. ^ Adams, C. E. (2007). "Promoting Self-Compassionate Attitudes toward Eating among Restrictive and Guilty Eaters". Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 26 (10): 1120–44. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.362.6518. doi:10.1521/jscp.2007.26.10.1120.