Weight changes?

[milwaukee]

This has probably been discussed here before, but I'm fairly new here and am curious about women in particular:

After reaching sobriety for six months or more, has your weight changed? If so, did it go up or down? I've been sober for only 16 days and already I am noticing myself snacking much more than I used to in attempt to subconciously fill the void. I'm worried about gaining weight as I am extremely self-councious...

[51anna]

Hi Milwaukee,

Welcome, to the Women's forum.

In my case, I had lost weight while I was drinking. I was hugely affected by the sugar in alcohol. It was a big part of the physical addiction for me. I found when I drank a lot, I just didn't eat. So, when I stopped drinking I returned to my normal weight pretty quickly and maintained that. It could be that you need to exercise more. It could also be that you are substituting food for the alcohol and so you need to make other changes in your life.

[indigo]

Yes exercise is a great weight reducer and stress busterand after stopping an addiction it's easy to try and fill the void. I did that and now I am trying to exercise it off lol.

indigo

[TheStylist]

I have lost weight since I stopped drinking because I was drinking about 2 bottles of wine a night. I stopped that and the weight dropped off.

However, I do find that I want to snack more so I drink more water, tea and POM juice. I try to eat healthy snacks and I do work out so I am keeping the weight under control.

We were talking about this at my AA meeting and one of the ladies told me to get suckers in the beginning so that you satisfy that craving but it isn't really that many calories. I have used that trick a couple of times and it worked for me. Tootsie Pops are 60 calories.

[CarolD]

Many alcoholics follow an eating plan for
hypoglycemia

I did for 6 months with great results.

Let us know how you are doing

[Wii]

HEyEEyyyEEYYeyyyy Milwaukee!! This is Racine!!

Yea, when I quit drinking back in 93 I lost a ton of weight without even trying. That's the 90 meetings in 30 days for ya. Running everyday and night. It was good. After 6 months I think I had lost about 50 pounds. That's when I decided to quit smoking too but that only lasted about a year and a half.

[Wii]

Originally Posted by TheStylist

I have lost weight since I stopped drinking because I was drinking about 2 bottles of wine a night. I stopped that and the weight dropped off.

However, I do find that I want to snack more so I drink more water, tea and POM juice. I try to eat healthy snacks and I do work out so I am keeping the weight under control.

We were talking about this at my AA meeting and one of the ladies told me to get suckers in the beginning so that you satisfy that craving but it isn't really that many calories. I have used that trick a couple of times and it worked for me. Tootsie Pops are 60 calories.

POM Juice?? You can't be drinking THAT much, that's so expensive. It's $3.00 a bottle here. And that's a tiny bottle. It's good but Man, it's not Gold. I actually squeezed the juice out of a Pomagranet a few weeks ago. It was actually a little bitter. Cranberry juice is sweeter than that, even home made withOUT any sugar added. I made some for my Chiropractor to try WITHOUT added sugar and it really wasn't bad.

Yea, always keep some candy with you too when you first quit drinking. when you crave alcohol your Actually craving Sugar.

[meteoroid]

Hi everyone. I have only been sober from alcohol into my third month. I have lost quite a bit of weight rapidly since, because I used to drink 10-18 beers daily. However, I crave chocolate like crazy now and I am eating alot of it - and the weight's coming back. Something about that chocolate.

[Wii]

MMMMM, yea, Chocolate GOOD!! I think you should visit my quit smokung thread. We have all kinds of chocolate stuff over there.

[JoeBob]

The weight really depends on what your drug of choice was. mine was meth so i have gained about 20 lbs. i needed to gain a little but not this much. ive just recently started a healthy diet and working out regularly but i can tell you its much harder to get it off than it was to put it on. i really had no concept of how much and how many calories i was having daily. i thought since i was drinking (i drank like a fish too) that that would offset the extra calories. wrong.

[townie]

My spouse lost 75 pounds in six months since he started smoking and drinking again. Don't know if he is also doing anything else again or not. He says that it is stress in his life that is making him drink and also making him lose his appetite. Anyway, excersize seems to be helping him to decrease the stress level. I am also trying to excersize more by walking to Alanon mtgs. It feels great!!!

[Laroblo]

I have been reading this thread with interest!!

My drug of choice is wine - a lot of wine - I was doing 2 bottles a night or 1 giant bottle, whichever way you want to look at it. I have put on 15 pounds in the past 15 months. I was never heavy before then. I am hoping the lack of chardonnay will help me take off a few pounds.

I am tapering off right now. Yesterday I had two glasses (not bottles) and today I have had one glass and that was hours ago. At this stage of admitting my problem I am taking things 15 minutes at a time. I must say it was great to get up this morning after a good nights sleep and not have a hangover, no stinky dry mouth, and best of all, not wondering what the hell stupid stuff I said the night before that I don't remember.

Maybe I can add weight loss as another benefit to being sober and functioning

[getn2gether]

Wow! REading that last paragraph was an eye opener... I never could do the slack off thing... no matter how hard I tried. The only thing working for me right now is AA and thank God for that... I have realized it's so much the alcohol (but I will always choose not to drink it) but it's all the stuff on the inside of me that makes me want to drink to numb it. Good Luck and keep posting...

Kimberly

[happyface]

hi i'm new and have no idea how this works....who can I talk to for alitle help. i'm in the military in the middle east and there's no meeting's out here......especially nothin for women. i've found myself drinkin every day. i have some pretty good duty and i have too much time to kill everyday.

[getn2gether]

We are all here.. just post.. someone will write back.

God Bless,
Kimberly

[luvserenity]

I have found that my weight is actually more regular now than it ever was, because I would go on party binges for 3 or 4 days (weekends) and not eat hardly a thing, but then I would eat CRAP...so I would be pretty skinny, then eat and blow up...then do it all over again...at least now I'm staying at a fairly normal rate.

I've gained maybe a couple pounds, but have started running to get rid of them. I gained cuz I was't working out, I was working instead to avoid working out. But now that I'm sober my head is more clear and I realize I'll be happier if I work out rather than work too hard!

[lisa1235]

hi all,im new 2 this group but im not new 2 sobriety.ive been clean 15 mos and weight yes and deed i gained.i think id been replacing food for comfort in sobriety and i found none when i looked in the mirror.this last 2 mos have been wonderful i threw all the sweets out and replaced them with fruits.i ve become a real picky eater and only eat 4 nurishment 4 my body.it feels great!believe it or not its gave me more energy and motivation 2 tackle all that challenges.i really feel clean in all areas of my life now.i guess im learning 2 cherish my temple,something i had abused 4 far 2 long.

[Toomutch]

I have lost about 20 lbs since quitting drinking. That happend during the first 2 - 3 months and then stabalized. I'm right back to where I want to be

[Jen042208]

Hi! My sponsor told me to try not to focus too much on things like weight. She said to just focus on my recovery and everything else will fall in to place. Try just to take a 15-20 minute walk everyday b/c it will be good for you emoionally too!

One day at a time! Good luck!