Hey everyone . I’m on day 3 of recovery from a food addiction… strange I know.
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Not strange at all! I eat ALL the time. I just try and eat lots of veggies.
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Not strange at all…many suffer from different addictions here, including this one.
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I’m a guy and have finally accepted that I have a food addiction and have been prone to binge eating. …I used to binge on alcohol but realise all I have done is substitute one addiction for another in getting over alcohol but now using food.
But I’m day three, determined and feeling optomistic
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I am currently just about 6 months sober and food has definetly become something I need to watch. I binged out a lot more in the first few months and thankfully now I try to catch myself and monitor my eating habits. Eating crap will kill you just the same as drugs and alcohol and I’m all set being 500lbs
I track my calories (and water/exercise) thru a free app called my fitness pal. Strangely enough when you drink over a gallon of water a day it fills u up.
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I’m new here, I’m 136 days sober and food is literally all I can think about now. Over the past few months I have gained 25 lbs. It’s really depressing me, I’m so glad I’m sober, but at the same time don’t want to get fat. I’m very insecure anyway and packing on the pounds is making my anxiety go into full force. I barely leave my house. I don’t work, (thank god my husband does) and I’m staying away from all my old friends, so food is now my go to. I’m so glad one of my recovery friends told me about this app! I need interaction with people besides my husband and daughter. Meetings aren’t really my thing, so this is great! Any suggestions on how to lose weight and stay sober would greatly be appreciated 
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That’s tough, I’m also a foodie!
Personally, I don’t buy any junk food everything has nutritional value. I know it’s tougher w/kids… Do your best to stay away from sugar, except for real fruit (No fruit juice, you want the fiber). Carbs are your enemy for the most part. Sidenote: 1 beer is = to 11 slices of bread. Drink a lot of water, I mean lots! I try and drink between 1-2 gallons a day.
Try to eat 6 times a day. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. Try to have your last meal/snack 3 hrs before bed. Easier said than done.
Get out to the gym, walk, run, cycle, swim or elliptical. I don’t like people so much, so I go to the gym 5am or after 730pm…
Good luck! You have to put in the work just like sobriety. Change your habits and change your life!
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Thanks so much for all the info!
I too binge. Hx of bulemia. Flaired up after I got sober. Frustrating at times! Wish I could have more control.
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Rock Bottom hit today… I had to miss breakfast cause of work call than later it all fell apart. Two bags peanut butter holiday bells, than two double cheese burgers, than 4 cans pop, and than I eat chicken, broccoli, spinach and noodles in less than 6 hours…and I feel like getting sick
I found this thread after searching on “food addiction”. I found the app randomly when I was searching for something to track how many days I’ve gone without binge eating. I went to bed 3 nights ago and I realized that I was so sore from doing NOTHING just normal household chores like washing clothes - that’s from lugging around so much extra weight all of my adult life. My ankles and feet were swollen and I felt like I’d literally been doing a very strenuous workout for hours. I hurt.so.bad. Lying there it occurred to me that I I will be dead in 5 years if it don’t make significant changes. So I woke up the next day full of motivation and I ate healthfully and got some exercise and I was so stoked! Then last night I got super busy at work and I was late getting home then I had a bunch of crap to do and basically life happened so I didn’t get to exercise and it threw me into a tailspin. I said eff it and microwaved the HUGE chunk of double chocolate cake that was in the freezer and ate every single bite til I felt like I was going to puke, but I didn’t puke because I’m not bulimic - I’m a binge eating food addict. I’m back on track today and I reset the timer in the app and it feels nice to see the time building again.
I have been SLOWLY gaining weight with millions of ups and downs over the last 4 years because of an addiction to food and a binge/restrict eating disorder as a result of that addiction to food. Unfortunately they sort of feed into one another after a while. The more you restrict the more sensitive your brain gets to being under what it identifies as “deprivation”. So now after a few years of trying to just drop maybe 10 lbs that I didn’t REALLY need to lose in the first place, I’ve developed an eating disorder and gained 25. It doesn’t sound like much and from the outside I may even look very healthy because I also compulsively exercise to try and purge calories (which when you eat more than you burn turns into mostly muscle). But I am just starting to toe the line of being average weight to being overweight and my ability to be in any control of my eating has been taken away from me by my brain’s desire to fight the deprivation it thinks I am putting my body into when I do anything so simple as just THINK to myself “I’m not going to get fat, I’m going to eat three regular sized meals today and not snack at night.” Not even having a restrictive THOUGHT triggers the same chemicals in MY brain that would be triggered in another person’s brain after three months of steady dieting and then the idea of a “cheat night” entering their mind.
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So NOW what looks like a fairly muscular, average/slightly pudgy woman in her early 30s who has put on a lot of muscle over the past couple years and has all her shit together… is actually someone who wakes up in the morning thinking she is just going to be anorexic, doesn’t eat breakfast, chews nicotine gum and hits the gym for 4 hours, continues resisting food, makes it til about 8:00pm and then eats 3000 calories
Wakes up… tries again. But each time I’ve woken up and started over it’s taken less time/restrictions for me to binge.
Im at the point now where my habits have taught my brain what kind of thought patterns precede a restrictive cycle and it goes into binge mode with absolutely no actual restriction. Ive gained 10 lbs in 3 weeks. Im realizing the only way for me to break the cycle is to stop thinking I can lose weight. And stop the restriction completely. I have to feed my cravings until my body understands that it can have what it wants so that it doesn’t think there’s another famine coming
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I don’t feel so alone anymore.
I too downloaded this app to force myself to start staying away from fast food… Its hard for sure
Hi there,
Does anyone have any practical tips as to how they structure their eating when overcoming food addiction? I have suffered from a eating disorder as a teenager and although I am now a healthy weight my eating disorder now manifests as Constant snacking and need To always have food. I sometimes buy food and nibble at it and then immediately throw it away. I have heard that structure around your eating is really important rather than Restriction but I don’t know what kind of structure and what is considered Abstinence with food considering we have to eat to live.
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Hi, how are you.
I totally get your question because we can’t quit food and it is everywhere.
I can tell you what I do, and you can see if it gives you ideas.
I have a lot of structure around how I eat because I used to be really overweight and I’m maintaining my normal weight now. I eat six times a day, 3 “normal” meals and three snacks which are always fruit or plain yoghurt. I always eat at around 7:00 10:30, 12:30 15:00 18:00 and 20:30. I shop regularly so I have the right food at home and always cook from scratch for diner, lots of vegetables and some wholegrain pasta or rice, no potatoes and I don’t do added sugar or very fat things like pork.
This probably sounds like a pain to a lot of people but I make things I love and it gives me peace to know what and when I’m going to eat and I don’t fall back into binge eating or icecream icecream icecream. 
Not drinking now also helps with that. 
I do always make sure I bring my own food to work or when I travel and ai have to prioritize it in how I spend my time. I used to work late and do take out and alcohol at night.
Only if I eat with friends or go out to eat do I relax the rules a little.
Hope it gives you some inspiration.
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