Belly Blues: With booze out of the picture, is FOOD the new enemy?
 

I've only got about a month this time around. I figured that ditching the calories from booze would be sufficient to slim down a bit. I'm still feeling a little tired and trying to establish a new normal. But I'm not binge-eating sugar like the last time. My calorie intake is reasonably low. Hopefully the energy for exercise will come with a little time. Still, the world of fitness and nutrition seem overwhelming right now.

Exercise really saved me--hiking, crossfit, just taking walks were critical for me to get the focus off food and I naturally lost weight and felt better.

Yoga was also a great addition--I was stiff and tense and yoga put me back in touch with my body.

All of these can be done free or cheaply except crossfit, but even that type of thing is do-able with online support and body weight exercises.

I am fighting a sugar issue right now myself again, and not surprisingly, it is worse because I haven't been working out regularly the past few months.

Low carb / Whole 30 helped me beat the sugar cravings before and lose weight quickly, so planning that again.
I think the body is used to the booze carbs which is why it can be hard to get established.

Great job on a month PG!

A month is awesome. But it's also early in recovery. Focus on that. You can introduce physically activity as you can handle it. Walking is a great way to do that. And if you are interested in nutrition, you'll find yourself incorporating good eating habits as you continue in your recovery. But staying sober is the main goal.

Good luck.

i dunno how i esacped the sugar trap after i quit drinking i know a lot of folks said they had sugar eating issues. me> nope sweets where never really my thing.

BUT. i did start having like blood sugar swings and such. and various dizzy spells doing a low carb diet didnt do me any justice either tho i did loose a ton of weight.

but now fast farward to 5+ years osber i've been vegan for 4 years now or so and I"m a carb junkie all i eat is some form of a sugar!. I feel great too.

I even read somewhere alcholism is really another form of a sugar addiction. IE our sugar addiction morphs to alcoholism etc.. I udnno how true that is or not. but I will say given my track record there is some kinda correlation between me and sugar going down. I duno what.

I dunno that sugar is bad tho. In my case I just try to stick with whole foods and i'm fine.

I'm struggling with this a bit as well - I swung between restrictive eating and bulimia when I was younger, and it seems like all the old fears and stresses about food have poked their heads out now that I've removed alcohol from the equation. Turns out the old enemy was being subdued somewhat under a blanket of booze!

I actually bought a book about food addiction yesterday, and it is fascinating - it's called The Hunger Fix. It gives some guidelines on how to stop relying on food to fix your emotional issues, which I am going to start working through this week.

As others have said, don't be too hard on yourself, and don't try to fix all of the things all at once. That's what I keep telling myself. Giving up alcohol is huge, and more than enough for now - especially given you're so early into it.

I didn't lose weight in the first two months, but I lost ten pounds per month the following two months and hoping to continue the trend.

Food was never my real enemy. I've lost like 70 pounds since I stopped guzzling beer every night. I have empathy for people with eating issues though. Food tastes so good, and you have to eat every day. I recommend going on MFP and logging everything you eat, get a sense of how many calories you're consuming and create a deficit so you can lose. Worked great for me.

You can still eat delicious food and lose weight, just not too much of it.

Today I am 79 days sober. At the end of my drinking I had severe panic attacks, anxiety and depression. I lost about 25 pounds after I quit drinking because I wasn't sleeping or eating much.

Now that I am feeling better I gained back about 10 pounds but I am exercising.

I was always thin before I started drinking but gained 75 pounds as a full blow alcoholic. It wasn't only the booze that put on the weight but the poor eating habits and the excessive eating when I was drunk.

I went though a long period of not caring about myself and was out to live life to the fullest by doing everything excessively. I am lucky I lived through that and am relatively healthy.

Chocolate was and remains the one thing that has served as a substitute for booze (other than program). I would wake up in the middle of the night and eat it, sometimes waking up in the morning to find chocolate in the bed. I never put on weight and stuck to dark chocolate (100% cocoa - very low sugar). Exercise every day too so fitter now than I was 20 years ago at 29.
I'm happy with this affair with Chocolate, it makes me happy and I have not drunk in over 4 years. I now moderate intake and besides even Bill W in the Big Book suggested it, so guess there's worse things. :)

If booze was just a symptom of an underlying disorder, then is food the new symptom? Maybe the underlying malady has yet to be treated.

Give your self time and don't pressure yourself. If eating extra sugar helps quiet your AV, then go for it (with the assumption that you're not a diabetic or in someway seriously causing bodily harm).
I gave myself a 90 day deadline to deviate from my usual strict eating/sleeping habits. (I know: I was always diligent about nutrition and sleep but somehow still rationalized all that cheap wine every night)
Once that 90 days was up, I made an effort to follow healthier patterns.

Congratulations on your sobriety!

I put on a pounds or two (or maybe three) after getting sober. I would treat myself to ice cream at night and chips for lunch.

Wouldn't consider myself too overweight these days but I'm no longer a young man either.

It is what it is.

A month is an awesome achievement!!! Try to focus on that. Just the one thing. I understand the feeling of wanting to fix everything at once but your body is healing. The weight loss and exercise will come in time. It really is ok if you are not up to exercising or if your diet isn't 100 percent healthy right now. Just keep doing what you have been doing. :You_Rock_

Our bodies are tired and 30 days doesn't completely fix all the abuse we heaped on them for years. It's ok to be tired. Be kind and patient with yourself.

Good responses from everyone, thanks:)

With alcohol recently out of the picture for me, I've been craving fast food, and have endulged a little but usually stick to healthier and cheaper options. Sugar was never my thing. I was given and drank a non-diet soda for the first time in a long time and it didn't taste good to me.

I remember when I was sober for a month late 2015 after a 5 day withdrawl I quickly worked up to eating 8 small meals a day, (sandwich, top ramen, egg+toast) one every 2 hours while awake. Drank a lot of water and walked / rode bike. I dropped a lot of weight that month, but I also have a high metabolism off the sauce.

Last year I gained 20# from binge eating candy and ice cream. I didn't worry too much about it because at least I wasn't drinking. Now that my sobriety is over a year, I am working the diet and gym angle. I've only lost 5# so far. My goal is 40 for the year and to maintain a healthy lifestyle of exercise, nutrition and activities.