Weight gain in a good way!

So i do see alot of topics about weight gain after becoming sober but in a way people dont want.
I have always been thin and struggle to gain weight however i do wonder if anyone have been the same and managed to gain weight after becoming sober (from alcohol)
I didnt help myself as when i drank i would start straight from work and then would not eat. If i went out for a meal and drank with it i wouldnt eat it all as alcohol just stopped me being hungry all together than with the hangover the next day id usually be starving so eat some sort of big meal but that would be it so i am expecting and well hoping to gain some weight in a healthy way!
Just wondered if anyone could relate?

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Yes! I definitely gained weight. I didn’t eat while drinking so I was a scrawny hot mess :slight_smile:

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This one isn’t about weight exactly but if I wanted to find delicious ways to eat some good food, I would start here :innocent:

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Thanks both! @Matt i love that thread!

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I definitely put on weight. I was so happy to be eating again. Everything tasted great, until the pounds started packing on. Then my GI system decided to give me the middle finger because everything was out of wack. When I was healthier, my eating was amazing, but after all the chaos, my eating habits were wacked out and I was eating candy, cookies, crap food, etc., because I’d gotten used to being able to do it.

Here are my thoughts, just in case they’re helpful:

Start lifting. Religiously. If you don’t know how, learn. You will naturally start to eat an elevated amount of calories as you become more hungry. Lifting will allow your body to use some of this energy for muscle growth because you generally need to eat over your needs to gain muscle.

Your metabolism will be lower now that you’ve gone so long without proper nutrition. Expect to gain weight on less.

Try to stay away from sweets and sugars. Don’t binge on fruit. It might be hard because you will want to eat more sweets when you dump the drink. If you do have sweets, try to do it before you lift, or have your sweets after you lift.

Find a cardio activity that you like and do that a couple times a week. It could be working out, a sport, working on a project, bedroom activities, etc. Doesn’t matter what, just do something that gets you huffing and puffing in whatever way you will enjoy. If you don’t like it, you won’t do it. But don’t overdo it. Focus on lifting.

Try to eat slowly and taste your food instead of snarfing it down like a starving puppy. Wait before seconds, and really try to decide if you’re actually hungry, or if you just want to eat.

If you have the personality type for it, write down what you eat in a day as you eat it. You can simply write it in a note book, or if you’re detail oriented you can add in amounts and when you ate. Looking at what you’ve already eaten will give you an idea how much you’ve taken in. You don’t need to be militant, but by simply writing it down you will be made aware of the choices you’re making.

Did I mention lifting?

Good luck. It’s hard to go from never really eating to suddenly being starving. You will gain weight, but with a little extra attention, if you’re willing to do it, you can help put those extra calories to work.

Edit: Even if you don’t do all of these things, if you do some of them or even one it will help. Do whatever you feel you can do because staying sober is better than doing any of this, even of you pack on some chub.

I want to gain weight so thats the point :smiley:

Thanks for the advise :slight_smile:

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Then that’s good. Doing things like this will help you gain it how you want. Even the cardio will be useful as long as you don’t overdo it its the weight training you want to do.

Keeping track of your food is still helpful. It’s too easy to eat 2k worth of sugar without realizing it and that’s definitely not the kind of weight you want to gain. :+1:

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100% definitely :smiley:

I have started aerial hoop recently also but will also look into lifting too!

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