Cookies for breakfast

[Bamboozle]

Wow...in the past 2 weeks I've gained 5 pounds. Not good. The foodie beast is out in full force. I need to put it back in its cage.

I'm not disappointed in the weight gain nearly as much as I'm disappointed that I can't get this under control. If I don't do something about it soon I'll gain back all the weight I lost (about 35 pounds...now it's less than that ).

Easy to put on...extremely hard to lose.

[Astro]

I went on a cookie, donut, and PB&J diet my first day of sobriety....and didn't stop for a few years. Put on almost 40lbs, and yeah it didn't come off nearly as fast or easily.

You might want to check in on the Eating Disorder and Fitness, Health, and Nutrition forums. Lots of good ideas and tips out there, the Obvious Sweets thread has made a tremendous difference in my diet and health.

[Bamboozle]

I bought The Appetite Awareness Workbook today. Anybody try it?

I went through about 25 pages before I put it down and finished off the package of cookies I just got today. All that reading about food was a trigger...shoot, everything is a trigger.

Well, I didn't gain it in a day and I certainly won't lose it in one. Work in progress...that's for sure. I hate the relationship I have with food. I'd like to say I hate food...but that's not true. I love food and food most certainly loves me. Ugh.

[Astro]

Never heard of that book but I'll check it out.

I love eating Bam, and for a long time I really loved the sweets and heavy stuff, lots of carbs and cholesterol laden food. I never thought it'd be possible, but now I actually love fruit and some veggies, I'm mindful about portions, and I enjoy checking out the bulk food bins at the local health food market for healthy snack stuff. Roasted edamame, snackin' peas, stuff like that curb the cravings and keep me satisfied.

[Bamboozle]

Gee...turns out the extra five pounds was water retention (I won't go into details...so if you don't know what I'm talking about...don't ask ).

I'm at 210. I've been at this (or around this mostly) for at least a month.

I'm having a lot of trouble cutting out the sugar. I'm trying to wean off of it...so I bought some no sugar added fudge pops (40 cal. a piece and mighty tasty) and some lightly chocolate flavored rice cakes (60 cal. a piece). This is much better than the cookies I was buying all the time plus calorie loaded ice cream.

I can't quit cold at this point...I'll binge like crazy if I do. I'll do what I did over a year ago...slowly transition into better eating...and this time stick with it. I'm going to do my best to get off of the Instant Results At All Costs train...and hop onto the This Is Going To Be Hard Work And You're In It For The Long Haul mobile. *beep beep*

So, my weight isn't out of control right now...and that's really good...so that means I can focus instead on monitoring my appetite and being more mindful of my food choices. I'll take a sort of harm reduction approach to eating until I can make a drastic change. I'm feeling pretty good about my sobriety concerning alcohol right now (I'll still be vigilant, though). It's time to deal with the (for me) much more difficult food problem.

I want to start walking again. I've been so tired lately...maybe if I get that bump up in my meds I'll feel a bit better. I know the depression keeps me really tired at times. It's hard to get motivated. After work yesterday I felt like I was going to collapse before I made it home. Ugh. Hopefully this passes soon.

[californiapoppy]

When I got off of sweets it was like when I got off of alcohol, I felt SOOO much better. It's just really difficult to resist the urge. I know it tastes good, so I decide to have a mothful; then it's over and I overindulge. Why? Because that's the way I work, so the best way for me is to never indulge, which isn't all that easy either ! But I DO REALLY FEEL GOOD !

[ScaryStory]

Originally Posted by californiapoppy

When I got off of sweets it was like when I got off of alcohol, I felt SOOO much better.

I never even thought about going off sweets and never knew I could feel better because of it. Wow. I don't know if I'm ready to do that though. I want to lose this extra 5 lbs. so bad but it's just not happening.

I went on a cookie diet myself about a month ago. I ate nothing but cookies for an entire weekend and exercised. It seemed like I was losing weight but the next weekend I did the same thing and it all caught up with me. Oh man, did I feel like **** from so much sugar and no healthy food.

[Bamboozle]

I love food. It's one of the very few things in life I enjoy.





I binge on sugar. I go through withdrawals if I don't keep up my consumption. I just ate a bunch of sugar and I feel good right now...but as soon as it wears off I will feel sick.

People joke about this kind of thing. I doubt many people think food addiction is real. The consensus seems to be that food can't be an addiction like alcohol or other drugs...and scientists are the ones saying this.

My own experience has shown me otherwise. I'm glad I'm sober from alcohol...I was on a very destructive path and that had to stop immediately...but my problems with food aren't any less serious.

I can't put the junk down. Can't. As bad as alcohol was for me (I was probably mid-stage when I quit) I have to wonder if my addiction (yeah, I called it that) to food is more serious than the alcohol addiction.


One of the medications I'm on, generic Wellbutrin, was absolutely great for the first few weeks. It actually functioned as an appetite suppressant during that time. I felt normal for once when it came to food. I didn't binge. I hardly ate any sugary foods. I only ate when I was hungry and stopped when I was satisfied. It was an unbelievably huge difference.

Of course that didn't last long...and here I am. It feels like a nightmare...nothing I eat is ever enough. I wish I could put food down like I did the booze...but I can't.

That's what makes food addiction a particularly nasty beast...I need food to live and many times ALL FOODS are triggers…yes, even the healthier ones. I can binge on healthy low calorie foods…but my body know the difference…and I more than make up for any deficiency in calorie load by the end of the day.

I don’t know whether I should try an abrupt diet change or slowly phase out the junk. I’m not sure which is the better approach for me.

What gets me is that I know there's plently of booze in the house...but I couldn't care less. I'm searching for the chocolate and fatty foods...which is "good" because that's all there is in the house right now.

*sigh*

I know I must be nutritionally deficient...I'm sluggish.


Ah...this is a very long complaint. I have much thinking to do...

[KOOKS]

Originally Posted by Bamboozle

Gee...turns out the extra five pounds was water retention (I won't go into details...so if you don't know what I'm talking about...don't ask ).

I'm at 210. I've been at this (or around this mostly) for at least a month.

I'm having a lot of trouble cutting out the sugar. I'm trying to wean off of it...so I bought some no sugar added fudge pops (40 cal. a piece and mighty tasty) and some lightly chocolate flavored rice cakes (60 cal. a piece). This is much better than the cookies I was buying all the time plus calorie loaded ice cream.

I can't quit cold at this point...I'll binge like crazy if I do. I'll do what I did over a year ago...slowly transition into better eating...and this time stick with it. I'm going to do my best to get off of the Instant Results At All Costs train...and hop onto the This Is Going To Be Hard Work And You're In It For The Long Haul mobile. *beep beep*

So, my weight isn't out of control right now...and that's really good...so that means I can focus instead on monitoring my appetite and being more mindful of my food choices. I'll take a sort of harm reduction approach to eating until I can make a drastic change. I'm feeling pretty good about my sobriety concerning alcohol right now (I'll still be vigilant, though). It's time to deal with the (for me) much more difficult food problem.

I want to start walking again. I've been so tired lately...maybe if I get that bump up in my meds I'll feel a bit better. I know the depression keeps me really tired at times. It's hard to get motivated. After work yesterday I felt like I was going to collapse before I made it home. Ugh. Hopefully this passes soon.

This is me!

[KOOKS]

Originally Posted by Bamboozle

I love food. It's one of the very few things in life I enjoy.





I binge on sugar. I go through withdrawals if I don't keep up my consumption. I just ate a bunch of sugar and I feel good right now...but as soon as it wears off I will feel sick.

People joke about this kind of thing. I doubt many people think food addiction is real. The consensus seems to be that food can't be an addiction like alcohol or other drugs...and scientists are the ones saying this.

My own experience has shown me otherwise. I'm glad I'm sober from alcohol...I was on a very destructive path and that had to stop immediately...but my problems with food aren't any less serious.

I can't put the junk down. Can't. As bad as alcohol was for me (I was probably mid-stage when I quit) I have to wonder if my addiction (yeah, I called it that) to food is more serious than the alcohol addiction.


One of the medications I'm on, generic Wellbutrin, was absolutely great for the first few weeks. It actually functioned as an appetite suppressant during that time. I felt normal for once when it came to food. I didn't binge. I hardly ate any sugary foods. I only ate when I was hungry and stopped when I was satisfied. It was an unbelievably huge difference.

Of course that didn't last long...and here I am. It feels like a nightmare...nothing I eat is ever enough. I wish I could put food down like I did the booze...but I can't.

That's what makes food addiction a particularly nasty beast...I need food to live and many times ALL FOODS are triggers…yes, even the healthier ones. I can binge on healthy low calorie foods…but my body know the difference…and I more than make up for any deficiency in calorie load by the end of the day.

I don’t know whether I should try an abrupt diet change or slowly phase out the junk. I’m not sure which is the better approach for me.

What gets me is that I know there's plently of booze in the house...but I couldn't care less. I'm searching for the chocolate and fatty foods...which is "good" because that's all there is in the house right now.

*sigh*

I know I must be nutritionally deficient...I'm sluggish.


Ah...this is a very long complaint. I have much thinking to do...

......and this!

[allport]

I agree that a lot of people (probably those who have never had a problem with food) dismiss binge eating as weakness or whatever their particular tough love phrase is.

I honestly can't count the number of times I have been told to just cut down on the junk or go for a nice walk it did annoy me (and still can when it comes from certain people).

However I have been also been told many times to just not drink or only have a few then stop.

As alcoholics we realise that this kind of talk from non addicts is to be expected because they will never fully understand the nature of alcoholism.

So all I can suggest is that when someone tells you to just cut down or hey only have one cookie just take it in the same way, yes it is offensive to dismiss a genuine problem with pop psychology or talk of weakness, but a lot of the time, because the problem is outside of their experience they either don't realise how destructive it is or can't quite believe that the problem is real.

In the end we know how it effects us and we have to work to control the problem (as I think you have mentioned before Bam the real bugger about binge eating is that total abstinence isn't an option) it's a hard road but we can do it

[Lilya]

Binge eating is a serious issue and definately not a weakness to be brushed off. It requires lots of work.

I get urges and cravings too, mostly at night when I´m tired after a long day when I don´t have time to eat properly. Then I tend to gain a few pounds.

For me it works best to cut out sugar and white bread, with the exception of Sundays. That´s the day when I allow myself to eat sugary goods. Raw sugar is bad for me and I get sick from it, so I rarely touch it. Good French chocolates and croissants I could eat tons of every day and it´s a devil to resist. I use the Sunday treat to look forward to.

Have you tried birch tree essence? It´s marvellous for losing weight and also good for your health. I take it every day plus green tea tablets to maintain my golden weight. It´s given to pregnant and breastfeeding women in hospitals (in Scandinavia) for weight loss and getting rid of excess water.

Swimming or any other exercise works great for me. I also use the "God box", putting my fears and addictions inside the box and let God take care of it, when I have really bad urges. Drinking water makes you feel fuller, so that gets me through as well. Rice cookies are great when I feel hungry at night and baby carrots with milk and honey.

I will be reading this post for me as well - we are so good at giving advice, right? I have a craving right now and am armed with some water and low fat milk with honey.

Good luck.

[Bamboozle]

Ah...I hope I'm giving up again.

Went to the grocery store...bought some mangoes, club soda, OJ, coffee, low sugar/calorie popsicles.

Not the greatest......but compared to what I've been consuming lately this is good.

I'm planning to transition by weeding out the junk...


I feel so tired...this cold won't go away...all I want to do is sleep and I can't...and my diet doesn't help any of this...just makes it worse.

Geez...if I can cut out most of the refined sugar I'll be okay. When I have a bit I really binge.

I'll see how I do.