The Psychology Behind Why People Want To Overeat When The Scale Goes Up!

This week's Understanding Your Brain episode is around why we feel we want to overeat when the scale number goes up.

This situation is pretty common, I've certainly felt it in fat loss phases in the past.

If you have a lot of scale drama as mentioned below, you have work to do. I have said many times to clients if you have daily drama with the scale and you aren't get results, you have  to work on a deeper understanding of scale weight fluctuations and return to fat loss when you have less drama with the number on the scale.

It's actually a blend of psychology (random scale fluctuations) combined with cognitive biases and emotional responses.

The goal is for the scale to not create drama, good or bad!

Misinterpretation of Scale Fluctuations

Daily weight changes often come as a result of water retention, glycogen storage, digestion, hormones, stress, sleep, salt intake, hydration, alcohol intake, when you last had a bowel movement and many other reasons!

Your brain tends to interpret "scale up = failure", even though a daily fluctuation is meaningless in terms of your fat loss results (even if you did actually overeat so have more food in your digestive system!).

This all or nothing mindset (I've failed so what's the point?) can trigger overeating.

Reward & Relief Seeking

Being in a calorie deficit is already a state of restriction (biologically and psychologically stressful!).

When the scale gives "bad news", your brain feels deprived and punished.

Food, especially hyperpalatable, high-calories food offers a quick dopamine-driven relief, reinforcing the urge to overeat.

Emotional Eating & Self-Sabotage

Negative emotions (frustration, discouragement, shame) make people more likely to eat for comfort.

This is a form of self-sabotage: "If I'm not making progress, I might as well eat what I want".

The irony is that overeating can then actually cause weight gain, reinforcing the cycle.

Control & Rebellion

Being in a deficit requires discipline. When the scale doesn't reflect your effort, it can feel like a loss of control.

Overeating becomes a way of rebelling against the "rules" of dieting taking control back, even if it's self defeating.

Short-Term v Long-Term

Your brain is wired to prioritise immediate reward over delayed outcomes (temporal discounting).

A disappointing weigh-in makes the long-term goal (fat loss) feel less certain, so your brain shifts toward short-term gratification )eating).

The Fix

A helpful way to break free form "scale weight drama" is to reframe the scale as just one data point, not a verdict on progress. Daily fluctuations are usually water, glycogen or digestion, not fat gain, so the key is focusing on trends over time rather than single readings. This is why all my clients have a spreadsheet which tracks their weekly average as well as their daily readings.

Pairing weight-ins with other progress markers (measurements, photos, strength and energy levels) reduces the emotional power of the scale. When discouragement hits, having a plan like reminding yourself of the science behind fluctuations, practicing self-compassion or using non-food coping strategies helps prevent emotional overeating.

Ultimately, the fix is shifting from an all-or-nothing, outcome-based mindset to a process-focused mindset where consistency and habits matter more than the noise of daily weight changes x