safeandsound

Hi! I have read it may take awhile to lose weight, but I don't understand it. I seem to be gaining, if anything. I am omitting about 2000 calories a day from my diet (drinks and snacking). I am eating a lot of healthy food, but definitely not eating more than when I drank and would eat half a block of cheese in the middle of the night--sometimes without even remembering.

I only have 8 days, but I'm writing because last time I had 3 and a half weeks, I relapsed largely because I was pissed I hadn't lost weight yet.

Can someone explain this to me so I am more patient?? I plan to stay sober no matter what, but it is bugging me. My jeans were tighter today, and I was so surprised since I'm exercising more and eating and drinking less.

ScottFromWI

If you are really concerned, you might want to see a doctor - but my guess would be that 8 days is way to soon to see any marked weight change. I lost about 12 lbs after I quit, but it took weeks/months for the changes to start showing up noticeably. It takes our bodies a while to undo all the damage we've done by drinking.

Soberpotamus

Well... maybe you should separate drinking from weight loss... not letting the weight dictate whether you drink or not. There are so many other reasons to quit drinking besides weight loss.

As for weight loss... it comes down to simply consuming a little less than the calories you burn. So, calories in need to be in the range of 200-500 less than what you expend (calories out). That seems to be the "sweet spot" anyway... Try to avoid a larger deficit than that. Its just not necessary, and it becomes a matter of cutting too many calories leading to lethargy, hormonal craziness, not enough nutrition, and eventually binging (on food or alcohol).

So (1) quit drinking for the sake of quitting drinking, not weight loss, and (2) don't drastically cut your calories... find the sweet spot of a 200-500 calorie deficit and stick to that.

rustyr

Weight fluctuate a lot both throughout the day and over time -- and can lag behind dietary changes. You can be at a constant caloric deficit and you won't see a constant weight loss on the scale every day. I weigh myself every morning at the same time and some days it will be up, some days it will be down due to water weight and other body issues.

I'd also recommend a calorie tracking app. Its easy to underestimate the amount of calories you are eating if you don't track it. I use myfitnesspal on my iphone. Its free and has a huge database of foods in it and you can scan barcodes so its pretty easy to do and not too time consuming. Enter your height, weight, age, gender, etc. and how much weight you want to lose per week and it will give you a calorie goal. If you put in everything you eat and keep at a caloric deficit, its unavoidable that you will lose weight.

Soberpotamus

I also can recommend it. I spent about a year on MFP and loved it. Met lots of great supportive friends there and have even stayed in contact with some. I got into running and strength training while on MFP, and learned some really great advice and science behind fat loss. Get in with the right crowd there and you'll learn to tune out the "broscience" Lol

Lightning Bug

You may not be seeing lighter numbers, but you may be losing inches. How do your clothes fit?

safeandsound

My clothes are tight. May be bloating? I'm afraid to weigh myself and get discouraged. Last time I had almost a month with no weight loss. Thank you guys for the advice, especially about the app! I am not losing my will to stay sober at all. I was just wondering what the scientific explanation was for the lack of weight loss. I've read on other threads that it is quite common for there to be a lag of one or two months even if you greatly reduce calories.

alphaomega

I have noticed that if I don't totally and completely avoid the scale when I attempt sobriety, I will absolutely drink.

Part of societal programming and the poison it inflicts on our systems to keep us hungry and uninformed.

Soberpotamus

Bloating is common and can happen for a number of reasons... the obvious, are you PMSing? I am assuming you are female

And 8 days is not long, you know? Just have patience. Go onto MyFitnessPal and start logging calories. What I saw time and time again there was that people WAY underestimate the actual calories they are consuming... and the number one big "eyeroll" on there is when people post: Help! I'm bloated. Especially if you are female Please don't take that the wrong way... but it's just one of those things you have to realize. Bloating is GOING to happen. Water weight isn't the same as fat weight. Weight loss doesn't equal fat loss. And don't weigh yourself more than once a week or once a month if you have tendencies to fret on the scale... it just isn't going to help anything early on.

If you are serious about fat loss, buy an inexpensive countertop kitchen scale to start measuring your food. If you don't already have one. Weighing food was enlightening. You will be surprised at the calories in what you are eating. Trust me when I say people way underestimate what they are consuming.

Nuudawn

Be very careful of your slippery little addictive mind in getting you to obsess about your weight when focus should be on sobriety. It's "cunning and baffling" and will use just about anything to get you to drink. I'm actually a weigh loss counsellor (lol ya ya)....and there are many reasons why you may not be losing weight. I have no idea the amount of time you drank or how much ..but if you're here, I'm going to guess your body/brain chemistry is damage. All things take time...first things first...please try to avoid "obsessing" about your weight...it is counterproductive to the priority of sobriety..and weight loss actually : ) I know for myself..starch carb and sugar cravings are an SOB when trying to stay sober. You may have reducing liquid calories..but if you are not balancing your food groups..well, that a whole other story. Although I'm probably negating my own point here...bread, potato, pastas, rice (starches) need to be limited to about 2 small servings a day (1 piece of bread is one serving) for effective weight loss..and you need to balance that out with protein, fruits, vegetables, good fats etc.

SnwFlower

Congratulations on 8 days!! That's awesome!!

I agree that 8 days is not long enough to make a difference. It took me a full month of sobriety to see one pound lost. I agree about the calorie tracking. I didn't start losing weight until I started tracking my calorie intake along with tracking my calories burned in my workouts (The on-line app I use is SparkPeople). It didn't just fall off on it's own because I quit drinking. The important factor is that quitting alcohol made it easier to lose weight, and I can now eat more food as I'm replacing the alcohol with healthy nutritious foods. With that said, it's still about calories and knowing your metabolic burn rate, and on-line apps can calculate that for you. I found that putting my focus on my health helped me to divert the thoughts of alcohol. I would suggest talking to your doctor as well.

You're 8 days sober and that IS getting healthier!!

safeandsound

Thank you all so much for the excellent suggestions, the most important being not to lose focus on sobriety due to my obsessive nature. I feel much better after reading these comments!

Nuudawn

You are so not alone. I'm going to go out on a limb here by saying..."obsessing" is part of all addictive natures ; )

Dollyangel17

I found the same thing after week 1. I had started weight watchers the same week I quit, so was expecting a nice weight loss that first week, but I GAINED 1.5 pounds.

I was so discouraged, but somebody here suggested it might be my muscles rehydrating. I likely was seriously dehydrated...I never drank water, and pretty much only drank some kind of booze.

After that...my weight has been steadily going down on weight watchers for the past 8 weeks...total of 20 lost now.

Try not to worry...sure it will work it's way out. Your body is in healing mode now.

tootsl1

Safeandsound, I was exactly the same, and am not exactly sylph like now, but having altered my exercising to a fat burning regime I have started to lose more. But basically I had to convince myself in the early days that I would even be healthier a little larger than a drunk!
Drink lots and lots of water, keep the refined sugars and carbs to a minimum and look into different exercises, you will be half the girl you were in no time!

FlyerNation

It'll come. Lost 45 since I first got sober a few years ago but as a former Marine I get that it takes alot of work to see results. I found excercise and diet was so important in the beginning and when the diet and excercise goes south is when I typically want to drink again.

I think the first 20 was within the first two months. It's easy to understand that I was putting in about 2500 empty calories a night when drinking. I don't see how it doesn't come off.