What happens when you overeat

“It makes us feel good, so we keep eating the food to get that feeling.” (This may help explain what’s behind stress eating, and our time-honored impulse to try to fight sadness with brownies.) Eventually, Lowe adds, the brain changes, so even anticipating eating the food causes a dopamine rush: “This is why I called it hedonic hunger. It’s a hunger for more pleasure, not for more calories.”