GrapeApe

During my drinking career I have put on about 65 pounds (I had to convert that from kilograms but it's pretty close). I've never been especially active and my drink of choice is the high calorie beer.

When drunk I'd be too lazy to cook dinner so off to McDonalds or something. Then the next day I'd be hung over and craving grease so I'd get fried rice and other unhealthy snacks.

I've yoyo'd a bit - and now in the last 18 months I've put on over 40 of those pounds. Not happy!

Tazman53

My weight stayed the same, yet I had people asking if I had lost weight..... no but the swollen liver was gone after about 6 months of sobriety and the puffy face was gone in just a few weeks.

I have always thought I looked better standing up and a little on the heavy side then laying in a ditch drunk!!!!

Bamboozle

I've always had a problem with food. During the first few months of this year, I lost about 30 pounds when I (mostly) quit drinking. This is sobriety attempt # ? and (shame on me ) I'm filling the void with food. Damn it, why can't I do what I did earlier this year? Telling myself it's okay to eat brownies (and ice cream and hot fudge) as long as I don't drink isn't going to be much of an excuse soon. Alcohol was my more immediate problem. Now I have to tackle the food issue. Grr... Maybe I should get my jaw wired shut. (Kidding)

barb dwyer

The first time I sobered up, about seven years ago or something - I LOST thirty lbs.

The SECOND time - I GAINED thirty.

Then - eighteen months into it -
we discovered my thyroid gland had stopped functioning.

You might be experiencing something similar. I took months for things to settle enough chemically for it to be diagnosed.
Ask your doc for a 'full panel' thyroid function test.
Dont let them get away with a 'top scan' becuse,
like me
you could go for a year without any knowledge of a potentially fatal condition.

Something to think about ...

Thane

I mostly drank hard liquor and had no appetite while drinking; I have an issue with having no sense of taste, which I used to attribute solely to an old head injury. Combine all of that and I lost several stone quickly while drinking, to an unhealthy point.

When I quit drinking for a substantial period of time, I got all of that weight back and then some. It turns out the issue with lack of taste was badly worsened by all of the alcohol. So suddenly I found myself able to taste everything again, and after a couple of weeks sobriety a level of appetite that was just insane. So I sort of pursued that avenue of excess with the same sort exuberance that I'd previously reversed for drinking. Everyone told me I looked better, but I took that with a grain of salt since I figured they just weren't wanting to discourage my tenure "on the wagon" by informing me that I closely resembled several varieties of sea creatures.

Started drinking again and lost all of the weight + some extra within an extremely short period of time. At first I was glad, then I realised I was looking quite a bit crappier then I had when I weighed more. And my sense of taste disappeared again.

I just got sober again. I'll admit, I'm vain enough where the realisation that I'd probably become a bit of a fatarse again if I got sober was enough to deter me. Bad reasoning, but there you have it. Is it better to be a chunky bloke or a skinny drinker? The answer should be obvious, but I've really mulled it over in my mind. It bothers me.

But here I am.

2much

oh yes Ive put on about 15kgs in the last 12months