NewJourneyStart

I've touched on this before on another thread but should I give in to hunger and eat as much as I want whilst getting sober? I'm only on Day 11 and I'm constantly hungry, especially in the evening when it's probably the worst time to overindulge.

Should I eat as much as I want now and concentrate on getting sober, then worry about getting in shape later?

Or should I still try to control my eating and make smart food choices when I do eat whilst trying to control my alcohol cravings?

least

When I was in early recovery I ate a lot. Probably making up for all the times I'd drink instead of eating. I'd say to indulge yourself now and concentrate on staying sober. You can take up exercising later.

biminiblue

I would eat as much as you feel you want right now. Alcohol consumption causes lots of nutritional deficiencies. I treated myself like I was recovering from a serious illness. I was, actually. I ate a lot in the first three months. It naturally died down when my body felt sufficiently healed.

Food. It's medicine. I didn't gain more than a few pounds and they are gone again now. Being hungry can cause feelings of wanting a drink, too.

Fabat50

Hi there.

Before I give you my perspective on your question I am curious about how do you actually feel about your body weight at the moment? Are you about average? Slimmer? Heavier?

csaw1112

I was going to ask this same question. Im eating more than ever but I find that it helps fight the cravings, so i'm gonna pig out for awhile. I suppose its better to be fat and sober rather than skinny and drunken.

Fabat50

"How do you actually feel about your body at the moment? Are you about average weight?"

I asked the question because when I stopped drinking just over 2 months ago I was already very overweight and had body image issues. So I knew that if I put on even more weight I would become more depressed and that may be a trigger to drink again. So I made a concious decision to tackle drink and food at the same time in a quest for a new me. I make healthy eating choices, drink gallons of green tea in the evenings and walk the dog for miles every day. The excess weight has honestly literally fallen off me I can't believe how much I have lost. I feel healthy and great which in turn is a great motivater to neverdrink again.

So we can only talk from personal experience. In my view if you do not have any particular body hang ups and you are an normalish weight then it will do no harm at all to focus on stopping drinking and getting in to shape later. But if like me you have some weight issues it would probably be wise to keep a check on things if you can for your morale if nothing else.

I would say the most important thing, whatever your weight, eating habits etc just try to do some sport no matter how little. It really helps with those cravings in the early months for both food and drink.

Jsbodhi

Personally I don't eat whatever I want, but I don't go hungry, I just eat healthy.
I just try to do other things for myself, I know if I gain weight I'll lose my mind.
But that's me, if you feel comfortable eating- you should.
Don't be hungry though! That's not good!

PurpleKnight

The priority at the beginning is to remain Sober, there's plenty of time to adjust your eating, and for me things adjusted naturally anyways when I got more energy and started to change up my eating and exercise!!

Be good to your self in early stages!!

NewJourneyStart

Thanks for the great advice guys!