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Is overeating a major sin in Islam? How do you stop it?

Q:

Asalamu Alaykum. I’m a Muslim girl and I want to try and better myself when it comes to practicing Islam. I know in Islam choosing your desires over your religion is a big no. But that’s my exact problem. I have kind of a problem with over eating. A couple of weeks ago I started to have problems with my stomach where it always felt full due to trapped gas and other problems of the like. Even when I wake up and the morning and don’t eat anything my stomach still feels full. I’ve been to the doctor and they’ve given me some medicine but my stomach still feels the same so far. Since my stomach constantly feels full I can’t really tell when I’m hungry or when full. So anytime I eat I always feel like I’m over eating. I feel like I have waswas when it comes to eating and it drives me crazy sometimes. I also have issues with having low iron in the past so I feel like I need to eat more I’m just so scared of overeating because I know your stomach is the worst vessel u can fill in Islam. Now im just treating everything as waswas from shaytan and just trying to eat when I want to and not worry about anything. But I’ve ate a lot of stuff today and now I fear I’ve overate again. It’s so difficult because anytime I feel like I’ve overate I make tawbah and try to do better. But with tawbah you have to be sure that you’ve committed a sin to make it. And I’m not fully sure I’ve committed a sin/overate because like I said earlier my stomach constantly feels full. So at this point I don’t know what to do. I know this whole situation might be really confusing so I tried to word it as best as I can.I don’t mean to come to come to you with all of my problems it’s just I’ve tried to go on other Islamic q&a websites and contact another sheikh but no one has really given me and answer. they just give short answers with no details or direct me to links. I was just wondering if maybe u could give me advice on maybe when I should eat or how many times I should eat a day or if I should eat more or less, I don’t even know I guess I would just like to hear your advice and opinion on everything. There’s so many major sins out there that I try my best to avoid. I really want to be a good Muslim but I just can’t stop stressing about this eating problem. I really don’t want to get punished in the hereafter for eating too much

A:

Waalykum salam
Thank you for your Question

Overeating is certainly not a good habit to have and sustain. However, your issue is not that (Atleast from what I’ve read).

I feel your problem is more on having doubts and you can be doubting on anything that may ring the bell.
I have the following solutions to offer:

1- Stop doubting. Don’t allow your brain to over think on anything that is doubtful. I know this can be tough. But trust me, it is doable. And you’re certainly capable of doing it because as you said, you’re so obedient to Allah in so many other things. This is Certainly doable. (Takes a first few difficult days and then slowly becomes a new habit). You need to put your heart and mind to it BUT DO NOT STRESS ABOUT IT!
Take the issues as they come. Don’t over plan. So handle one doubt per time and pass on.

2) To handle your doubts on eating, I will suggest you time your meals and also portion them. So say, you eat three meals a day and have two snack in the middle. You can also try and further dish out your food and tell yourself not to eat beyond that. However, at times we like something more than other stuffs and it’s perfectly ok to eat more. Even if this is often. Just don’t let this worry you. Allah wants ease for you and He (az) certaiy doesn’t like to take hard on you. Besides, overeating isn’t haram Per se.

3) In regards to your lack of iron. No one can restore their iron levels by over eating. You can certainly increase eating your greens and red meat for good iron while simultaneously taking in iron supplement together with vitamin c (Vit c helps iron to be absorbed better).

InshaAllah all goes well
Regards,
N.S.Jaffery