CamilleBelle

Does anyone have experience with eating when they quit drinking?? I normally HATE sweets and all I can think about lately are skittles and chocolate and more than anything... ICE CREAM!!! I'm worried I'm going to balloon up! I am starting to think the alcohol was helping keep me thin... crazy I'm sure. However, these intense cravings ( for food) are throwing me for a loop!!

blackstrat6

Its normal to have those cravings. Myself, I would rather gain a little weight than live like I did.

Ilovemysonjj

Hi Camille, I also found the appetite ravenous (day 8) and I am working out every day. I think it is temporary, hoping within the week that my appetite goes back to normal. I am trying to stay at 1500 calories a day, I seem to be eating around 1650 this last few days so almost back.
Hang in there! Losing weight will happen any time, quitting is much more important
TT

ovrock

That's me right now. I can't stop

CRAZE

Yes, I have been eating more for sure. I've gained about 7 lbs since quitting 2 months ago. Ice cream is also my weakness. I find my self running up to the store getting pints of Ben and Jerrys Coffee Heath bar crunch. The container says it contains 4 servings, feels more like one to me. At almost 1300 calories a pint it adds up.

Inca

I'm eating a lot more sweets than I used to. I think it's our bodies craving the sugar to replace the alcohol. Even with the sweets though, I'm losing a ton of weight because I used to eat like a pig when I was drinking. I wouldn't worry too much, just give your body what it's craving right now and work out as well if the calories bother you.

nel68

I crave sweets especially in the evening that's when I would drink.I hardly ever ate sweets before I quit drinking. Our body craves the sugar we got from alcohol (our bodies break down alcohol to sugar)So its normal to crave sweets when you quit drinking. Which I look at it this way I'm still not taking in near the calories/sugar I did when I drank...Good Gawd I drank a lot and I did balloon up!!(not a skinny alcoholic)...in fact I have lost 7 pounds in my 8 days of being sober!! Hang in there, a sweet is better then the alcohol that's for sure. I went to the store and bought a lot of Weight Watchers stuff...brownies,chocolate cakes, Weight Watchers frozen deserts just cause my cravings for sweets in the evening have been crazy. I have a friend who is a alcoholic thin as a rail (she could drink without hardly ever eating)...me not so lucky, the alcohol would always throw off my blood sugar the next day and I would eat a lot to keep it from dropping. (have trouble with low blood sugar/hypoglycemic) Now in the last 8 days my blood sugar been great don't eat that much during the day, except my evening cravings....okay thinking I will stop rattling on and go eat one of my Weight Watcher brownies ...lol..take care.

Inca

That's funny. I just bought some Weight Watchers ice cream pops earlier today to help with my sugar cravings. Yum

nel68

Weight Watchers has got some good sweets!! With out the guilt

Baloo

Excellent topic.

At some point it dawned on me that I probably need to replace the beers with an extra meal or two on most days. *gasp* and I'm addicted to soda since it's free at work. Drinking one right now. Drink a lot of them every night I work. My diet is leading me towards diabetes probably. This is something I'm going to have to overcome as I go sober.

Sapling

That's what it is...I'm not a doctor, but I heard something about sugar sending signals to the pleasure receptor in the brain that alcohol did the same for. Could be total BS...But it makes sense...And I love my sweets....I always wondered why they had cookie meetings in AA.

instant

I am 8 months next week. My "addiction" to chocolate is waning over the last few weeks, but I now still have a "sweet tooth" I never had previously.

I have been wondering if it ever goes away. I assume it will. I have been taught that things do indeed take time.

Fandy

i quit the ice cream last summer and substitute the fat free WW or yoplait yogurt...load it with fresh berries...the chocolate is especially good.

MentalLoop

I have seen many threads abiut sugar cravings, and I am of course no different. If we permit ourselves to laugh at ourselves, just visualize a colony of addicts feinding incessantly, except instead of tapping our forearms for the hit or scrounging for the last drops in a bottle, we are all fighting over the last skittle!

Fubarcdn

When I quit the first time this happe3ned to me and I gained over 10 pounds. I pigged out on ice cream,cakes, and cookies and candy.
I joined a thread here under eating disorders called 100 Day Goal- Abstinence from Obvious Sweets- Want To Join? - Please Do -Part 13 and lost the weight back.
In order not to fall into the same trap this time I rejoined the thread as soon as I quit drinking this time 8 days ago.
It is a little quiet over there right now but feel free to join.

totfit

Get some exercise and eat "plenty" of healthy foods. You may crave sugar as alcohol is full of sugar and your body is used to being full of sugar (carbohydrates). Exercise will help alleviate your cravings and help your appetite be directed toward better foods. You will only get over these cravings by NOT feeding them same as you get over alcohol cravings.

Geralt

Try substituting fast carbs like sugar with "slow" carbs like oatmeal, brown rice and fruit. Also eat nuts like cashews, they contain healthy fats and are a great snack.

FallenAngel06

I tend to eat more when I'm not drinking, I think sometimes just out of boredom. I've gained a few lbs too. I think the most important thing is staying active and keeping up an exercise program. It will drop off eventually, congratulations on your sober time.

1983ritag

Yes! This happened to me. Definitely normal. At 6 months now and the cravings have pretty much gone away.

Anna

Have you tried some kind of exercise that will help to keep you in shape? Hopefully you can find something that you would like to do. Long walks are my thing.