Backtogood

Has anyone consumed more food in early recovery. I know i really had no appetite while drinking and now my appetite has return, food actually tasted good, but i find myself hungry all the time! I'll not trying to replace one thing for another, but also I'm more focused on not drinking more so than how much i eat.

Resurgence

Hey Backtogood

I developed a sweet tooth with a penchant for chocolate, probably to counterbalance the sugar I was dumping in my system from booze.

It's started to level off now, though. Hey, I'll take 70% cocoa over 40% whisky!

Sober45

Yes, I consumed way more. I found food was the best thing that gave me comfort....especially sugar (dark chocolate and pop). I did try to eat a lot of healthy stuff too though. Usually I start the day healthly and by the end I'm into the sugar...but I don't crave alcohol at all now so I don't care.

I still dropped 10 pounds...I drank a lot of wine which has sugar so maybe that's why. I also had dark indentations on my temples (next to each eye)....they're gone now!

With food I can experiment and adjust all I want. Food nourishes me. Can't say that about alcohol.

Gabe1980

I think food is really important in the early days too. I try not to be too strict...my diet is awful when I am drinking, mainly not eating or not eating well. I think it can be a real strength to embrace good food and to just have what you feel like having.

I just ate two big bits of chocolate cake to calm down cravings!!

Anna

I had lost weight during the last of my drinking days so I needed to regain some pounds and I was hungry. But, I quickly realized I needed to pay attention to how much I was eating. I also began an exercise program when I stopped drinking. Try to find a balancing between giving yourself a break and trying to maintain a healthy weight.

Be123

Hell yeah!! I know some people's relationship with food is difficult but for me it's one of the greatest things about not drinking.

I have a sweet tooth now that I indulge and in the first four weeks I ate dirty food like there was no tomorrow. Burgers, pizzas, cheese, crisps, anything filling and delicious.

My rationale was that if I don't drink I will be healthier in the long run so a few unhealthy weeks are better than returning to the bottle.

Now I eat quite well, exercise hard and just feel better. I've lost a bit of weight but that's a side issue to the way I feel

LumenandNyx

Yes. Me. I hardly ever ate when I drank. Only recently have I come to the realization that not only do I eat very healthily now, my weight is still average for my age group even though I've gained - to me - quite a bit. When I was drinking, I thought my weight was normal and it wasn't. I was sickly thin.

It's taken me six months to figure this out, but - a cookie now and then isn't near as bad for me as four bottles of wine a night!

lessgravity

Yep and the sweettooth is a REAL THING. But that being said I can control my fitness and regulate. Anything is better than a life of misery. But food is def a thang.

Backtogood

I've given myself a freebie, as far as what eat, until i get farther into recovery and then I'll ad in eating healthier. But food really does taste better and its nice to actually feel hunger instead of just eating cause my body needed nutrients!

Klm1986

I totally am eating more! But I think for me it’s more that I actually feel free to enjoy food and enjoy any food I want! And I feel free to enjoy so many things in my life that I never enjoyed because I always either hurried through it so I could drink or just plain out didn’t do so many things because I was drinking or hung over. I think for all the years I drank I really convinced myself that I only enjoyed drinking or doing something if I was drinking or drinking was involved. I always went begrudgingly to things that were “sober” events, but now I feel like the whole world has opened up including my fridge!

D122y

What ever it takes to break the cycle.

In the early days I stayed full. I needed to, otherwise I felt weak and light headed.

Lately, I have been eating less and less. I am trying to change my eating lifestyle like I changed my smoking and drinking.

If I can quit drinking, I can manage my eating.

I am able to suffer as good as ever and I can go a long time with my stomach growling.

A growling stomach means the furnace is hot and ready to digest whatever comes down.

As long as I didn't drink booze, everything else, as much as I wanted was on the menu.

I was on a "See Food" diet.

Thanks.

MissOverIt

For sure! Like some of the other members, I gave myself plenty of flexibility the first month. Eat whatever I want with healthy foods mixed in and lots of relaxing exercise. It was sooo helpful and I think a key to getting through that first month. I’ve tried to diet in the first month thinking that dropping the booze is also a good time to drop some lbs but it always got me into trouble. I think restricting my calories made my cravings worse. Enjoy anything you want and get lots of rest and low stress exercise!

freedomfries

I wake up during the night and binge on cookies and milk. Trying to kick this habit. My BMI is around 27/28. Want to get it down to between 18 and 25.

LarryF

When drinking beer I drank so much I wasn't hungry. It took a few days but my appetite came back with a vengeance.

biminiblue

I think it's pretty common to come into sobriety malnourished, too.

I ate a lot more carbs and sugar in that first few months.

Backtogood

when i was drinking i would keep meals or want hungry at all are the end cause had no appetite, now I'm hungry and food tastes so good lol.

SuficintCrlsns

I ate a lot in early sobriety as a 'reward' for getting sober and also, having my appetite back was so glorious. I hadn't been able to eat Taco Bell in a few years prior to getting sober because of all of the digestive issues that come with drinking A LOT of vodka and whiskey. When I got sober, I ate there a few times a week at least for several weeks. Once things stabilized a little bit after 6 months or so, I started to concentrate on cleaning up my diet and lost the extra weight.

So, yes, live it up a little when it comes to food, within reason. Getting your diet back in order can come later.

SC

freedomfries

I just had a big lunch after a big dinner. Today is supposed to be day 1 of my diet. If I don't eat for the rest of the day, I should still have a 500kcal deficit, so I'll be losing 1lb a week. I wanted to lose 2lb a week. Oh well, I guess I can take my time. There's really no rush..

Derringer

Its very normal.

Depending on your overall metabolism, you may have to watch it a bit or you might be able to eat as much as you like and not have to worry.

Even if it is a bit of 'replacing one with another' ... So what ?

No one misses work because they ate too many potato chips or cookies the night before, you can't fail a sobriety test by eating too many tacos.

But it will sort itself out with sober time.

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freedomfries

Urgh. Had another cookies and milk binge last night. This ends now. I'm so fat. Diet starts today. Going to restrict myself to 1500kcal and walk 10km. Have to get rid of this belly.