Stayingsassy

I did two years and lost 50 pounds. Then I quit drinking...

I call my regular diet low carb, keto is just a different take on it. No grains, sugar, legumes or fruits, heavy on vegetables, salads, natural fats and protein sources. I feel young and full of energy on it, which is why I did it so long. This thing I've been doing since getting sober is not my normal routine.

anxiousrock

I’ve gained weight already too and I’m only about 12-13 days sober.
I have very disordered eating as well. I was diagnosed with anorexia about 5 years ago. Definitely a trigger for alcoholism!
Which is worse? When I stop drinking I start eating which means laxative abuse and eventually purging. When I drink, even though it’s not every day, I still feel like I don’t need to eat as much and I lose weight (which I need to do).

Stayingsassy

well, its not a question of which is worse, they're both bad. They can both take you down, and not one necessarily faster than the other. We have to live sober and we have to learn to eat properly while maintaining a healthy weight. Its not impossible but it does take some work and not taking the easy way out.

cruiser1911

thanks for this thread I thought I was the weird one here that was gaining weight after quitting drinking . I had been doing Atkins half assed for 7 months before I quit drinking and had lost 42 lbs then quit drinking and am craving carbs and sugars to the point I buy candy, I haven't bought candy in years. Just typing this brings it forward in my mind to start getting it under control.

Stayingsassy

Day one of my sugar quit today. Drove six hours home from Disneyland, so despite many items still in the car I had black coffee, 1/2 orange, 2 eggs, a handful of almonds and bypassed my diet mountain dew....will get on the scale later to see the total damage done over 3 months, then just do this thing.

anxiousrock

I lost 40lbs before I quit too. And now it’s just eat eat eat all the time. No control.

Mac4711

Guys,
A warning to all of us: As we are trying to lose weight, let’s make sure we all keep our priorities straight! First is not drinking, then comes everything else. I say this because willpower is a finite resource and if we spend the entire day resisting this delicious cookie or that wonderful dollop of ice cream, let’s make sure we don’t end the day by chugging down a bottle of wine because we’ve run out of willpower.
Change is good, but only so much change at a time - remember: ‘Easy does it’!

In other words, only embark on your weight loss program once you feel that your sobriety is rock solid, do not put it at risk. Just my two cents, of course!

Ariesagain

FWIW, that much coffee would give me such a blood sugar crash I’d eat my own arm.

You may want to try cutting down on that?

waynetheking

Hang in there girl. Sugar is our number 2 enemy. God knows I eat enough ice cream to kill a horse. But at least we're not drunk and insane from it. Just cut down slow. I'm wishing you the best ss.

Stayingsassy

Good points all. Sobriety first for sure...that's why I've been eating so much out of fear of relapse, but I don't want to live in fear. Having a fairly decadent dinner and took a long nap, feeling not too shabby tonight.

Yeah Aries I'm developing an epic caffeine addiction...another sobriety theme for me, it seems I'm ticking off all my boxes here.

Stayingsassy

thanks Wayne! I know if I'm going to lose it and cave, its not going to be alcohol...

Yes, it is our number 2 enemy as alcoholics. I agree. Unless you're on cigarettes...then in my mind that's tied for first (I have just witnessed too many smoking deaths).

anxiousrock

As someone who also suffers from an eating disorder - it’s not that easy to put sobriety above everything else.
I’m pretty sure my eating disorder will kill me long before drinking ever would.

Stayingsassy

you're speaking as if you can't be healed. Why believe that? Why believe that our life path is to be stuck in self destructive patterns?

I know the chaos drinking brings can't heal an eating disorder any more than the difficulty of early alcohol sobriety. But what about with more time? Like, months?

The weight I've gained in sobriety can be taken off in 3-5 weeks max. Another relapse would be a whole other ballgame.

BullDog777

i've long known i've had food issues. for years it was no problem because i was an athlete and i just worked it all off. now at 44, i creak and have arthritis and a bad hip and back. those days in the gym where i go in at 10am and leave at 4pm are long gone.

i really packed on the pounds these last 20 months. i lost 50 after i got sober during the first 6 months, but after that, it's been a gentle slide of putting it all back on.

Jan 1st, i set the dial on reset and resolve. I was gonna do whatever it took to get it off as long as my dr said i could. So, i'm on a 1 high protein meal a day and juicing the other 2 meals. In 6 days i've lost almost 13 pounds. I'm also doing DDP yoga. I'm going to do this for 3 months.

It is what it is. no amount of me feeling bummed out and pissed that i have to do what most people don't is gonna help, so the self pity is out the window. i've jumped into auto pilot and it's blinders on until i finish.

i've done this a couple of other times...one time, i lost 130 pounds in 8-10 months. so i know it can be done. what keeps me moving is the sense of accomplishment i'll feel at the end.

I think the depression and sometimes hopelessness from those who battle the weight issue comes from one no matter how hard I try I can't out run the image the mirror spits back at me.

this is the last thing for me to accomplish in my journey back to health. to me, it would be far sadder to have those that love me say i got sober but ate myself to death. also a little too much irony for me to swallow. lol...

so...it is what it is.

I always like reading your posts...we have a lot of the same struggles. it helps me to know i'm not alone.

Cappy76

Better to binge on food than booze, one can reverse the effects of food by doing some exercise going for a jog, booze effects sometimes can never be reversed.

Cappy76

Exactly everyone has addictions whether its shopping or eating. Its how the addiction affects you. Food you can work off the brain damage and physiological effects from alcohol and other drugs can never be worked off.

Stayingsassy

Hey. Bulldog. Think of it this way, no matter how you feel looking at yourself in a mirror, you're probably still attractive to a subset of the population, I try to look at myself the same day, I mean I have some bigger assets now, right? Also I want to lose the weight for energy, for fitness, and to tackle my overall issues with addiction. If I throw body image into the loop, it just messes with my already messed up view of myself.
Warning cliche ahead.....but the loving yourself as you are thing matters here....ugh sorry

SoberCAH

I try to not eat to excess.

It's almost 4:00 p.m. where i live and i've had ~800 calories today.

I'll probably have ~1,700 before i go to bed tonight.

I have not been exercising because (you name the (lame) excuse), but i have been counting calories, so my weight has remained fairly stable (or on a downtick).

Mac4711

A lot of this food stuff also has to do with just letting the natural course of recovery play out. I’m at close to six months and now my ice cream cravings are finally gone. Which makes it very easy to cut about 600 calories fom my daily intake.
Had I tried to cut my ice cream splurges three months ago, it would have spelled disaster for my recovery. Of course everybody’s timing will be different, but I think the way these sugar cravings play out is the same.

Stayingsassy

yeah except my original problem was binge eating disorder starting in my teens, so it's more just reverting to an old problem that I temporarily "fixed" with alcohol. Get skinny, get drunk, win win, until you lose lose, and not just weight....