Eating instead of drinking
 

I am afraid I will pu on weight. I used to just drink my dinner and sometimes my lunch too. Is that common?

Alcohol has empty calories
makes you feel full without any necessary nutriments.
Many alcoholics have malnutrition as a result.

Better to gain healthy weight than to die drunk.
:chairfall

Do your de tox then be concerned about weight.
How did you do last night and this morning?

Try counting your calories for now and keeping track.

I actually feel the opposite that without the extra calories I was drinking I will finally be able to lose this last 20 pounds.

I gained weight when I quit, but being sober I am able to do something about it. Also, I remind myself I'll never be arrested for "driving while fat".

As always, Carol gave sensible advice, detox first, then maintain your sobriety, then you can work on the rest of your problems, including weight gain that may not even happen.

Not sure if its common or not, but I would often skip lunch and/or dinner on a daily basis to fill up on alcohol, and then drink some Gatorade the next morning for my first drink...I started eating again regularly now and feel much much better!! its almost like you forget how much energy you can have at one point and time...I wouldn't worry about gaining weight...or at least not right now. If you become healthy, your body can start to focus on metabolizing food/nutrients instead of constantly trying to process the alcohol in your system.

I lost a lot of weight when I quit drinking.

Cutting out all of those alcohol calories thinned me right down.

That was a GREAT side effect.

I didn't gain any weight when I quit, I think the calories just balance out.

me neither - fat then, fat now :D

LOL

seriously - I didn't change so I noticed - and I quit smoking at the same time too
D

I lost about 22 lbs. in the 5 months I've been sober.

I lost some weight too, when I was drinking.

When I began recovery, walking/hiking became a big part of my life.

You'll find a balance, don't worry.

I guess I'm in a minority of alcoholics, as I LOVED to eat when drunk/drinking.
Especially after cooking gourmet stuff. I never lost my appetite as a practicing alcoholic, as most do.

Drinking cheap vodka and water was my preferred route. Never indulged as much in beer. Perhaps that's why? Vodka is less filling?

I found last time I gave up the booze, I craved sugar. I did that for a few weeks. I was already hitting the gym but had pudge. As soon as I gave up alcohol, even though I was eating sugar, I lost weight -- within 3 months or so I was thin.

Don't worry about that -- your body will be fine -- just try to eat healthy food once your cravings start to go away!

I don't identify as an alcoholic, but I'm a compulsive overeater with a possible drinking problem. I don't know that I've ever had much control over the food; the food thing has been with me my whole life. So when I drink that tends to activate the food cravings. In fact, the food thing has helped me to keep a lid on my drinking (due to my weight gain from the two combined)...I find myself having thoughts like, I wish I were thinner so I could drink more...that's probably not a healthy mentality.

I think it balances out over time.I never ate till dinnertime when I drank.Was never hungry till then.

These days if I don't eat by 11am I'm starving.I still can't manage breakfast early in the morning, but I eat more and I have a sweet tooth which I never had while drinking.the thing is-I haven't put on weight.But I also think a lot of that is I'm more active now I'm not drinking.Just my 2cents worth.

Jules :)

I would allways drink instead of eating dinner too. I eat dinner now and I haven't put on any weight. Well I don't think so anyway, I don't really weigh myself but my clothes still fit :)

Sax

I lost weight when I stopped drinking. I haven't really got a sweet tooth but I craved dairy products, cheeses along with nuts and olives.

Now I am walking and exercising, feel great and am not particularly worried about what I eat, enjoy mostly vegetarian and a healthy diet, eat mostly to have energy for my very full life -- the preoccupation with diet and health has lightened up, something very unexpected!

Love & peace

Mala