I swear I can’t stop eating I honestly feel the same way I did when I was in active addiction except with food now. Is anyone else having this problem? Maybe anyone who’s been able to over come it
7 Likes
Hi Sammyy.
I have the same problem as you, but I haven’t overcome it (yet), sorry…
I think there are three main factors to this:
1. Replacing addiction with another "addiction"
I am afraid that once we stop with one addiction, we have tendency to replace it with another. The thing is that the addiction was a way to cope with something. And if we don’t learn how to cope with things we were covering with our previous addiction, then we naturally end up covering it with new one.
2. Fulfilment of free time
I gain lots of free time when I stopped drinking. Alcohol was a HUGE part of my daily life and it would fill most of my free time. Drinking was a way to entertain myself and stay away from boredom. When I stopped drinking, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself and I am filling gaps with running and with food. Annoyingly, besides benefits, running also gives me super excuse why I can binge… lol.
3. Sugar addiction
You might have already heard that most of us who stopped drinking, replaced it with eating excessive amount of sweets, and that’s because alcohol contains lot of sugar, which your body’s going to miss after you stop drinking. Some people just get on with it for some time, because it’s better for them to binge sweets, rather than drink. They do something about it later, when they feel strong in their sobriety and ready to deal with something else.
I am personally still figuring out how to deal with the urge to over-eat and I am currently learning how to feel hungry. I don’t give myself many opportunities to feel hungry, because I am constantly eating (I recently realised how bad I am when my co-worker told me, that each time he walks around my desk, I am eating. And he’s walking around my desk very often…).
It doesn’t matter if I binge “healthy” food or not. My relationship with food is not right. I don’t see food like a nutrition, but rather like a tool not to be bored or sad, etc. It’s important to figure out WHY you’re binging and work with the problem, the food is only side effect.
It’s not easy (at least not for me), because binging became such strong habit…
9 Likes
In the beginning I did. Slowly, over time it went away. I let myself indulge. It was far better than drinking.
6 Likes
This is quite normal and will pass eventually. My first 30 days or so, I ate like a horse and craved sweets, which isn’t normal for me.
3 Likes
It’s normal. For me, it lasted about 2 months and then slowly went away. I didn’t worry about it, knowing it was only temporary and it’s better than picking up a drink.
5 Likes
I’m glad I’m at least not the only one dealing with this! I’ve been eating out of boredom too somedays I literally get up every 20 minutes or so to get a snack so I get the constant eating it sucks! Lol hopefully we find a way to over come this tho 
1 Like
I’m glad it went away for you 
For me it’s been about a year now I’m still struggling with it! Haha
2 Likes
I’m 33days sober and I never ate sweets or soda, and only ate one meal a day.
Now I eat sweets, candy, soda, ice cream, 2 meals a day.
I can already tell I’m gaining weight, but I figure I’ll deal with it when I’m more comfortable with being sober?
Hopefully I’ll keep it in check.
So yes I can relate. Plus it’s extra hard cuz I’m always alone with just my dog.
3 Likes
When I first quit I gained some weight because all I did was eat. I generally don’t eat junk but I ate a lot of chips, cookies, ice cream, crackers. I was always eating. The first weekend I was off from work and I wasn’t drinking I remember eating so much I felt sick. I used to as a time filler. After that weekend I decided to find a better way to fill my time.
I focused on finding activities to do and become better and more consistent with exercise. I do puzzles now, read, run, workout, clean, do yard work. All kinds of things.
You’ll get there. You aren’t alone though that’s for sure 
2 Likes