Early 20s and addicted to food.

mnorris0821

So my whole life has been a constant weight roller coaster. At one point I went from 150 to 125 in two months. Then from 130 to 180 in about a year. Then back to 150 in a few months. I am now at my highest at 220. I am only 22 and I cannot control myself with eating. I have gone to therapy and doctors. Even though I physically feel hungry all the time, they say there is nothing wrong with any of my tests. I have also tried tricks like more protein and water to stay full, but I honestly stay full about 20 minutes then want more. I hate being this way and basically am going to have to use willpower to ignore this desire.
So... who wants to be my friend and yell at me? I really do like the mean friends that will kick my butt into gear.

carvajaldiez

Hey girl! We can be friends and yell at each other. I'm addicted to food as well. I live in Miami, and we have food from every country around the planet at our fingertips. Have you tried maybe exercising to see if it helps with the "hunger"? It can also be dehydration that you're feeling. Hope you find a solution!

mnorris0821

Thanks! I try drinking more water and it usually doesn't curb the hunger it just makes me feel queasy.

Honeycat89

I'm the same I'm hungry every 30 mins, I'm never really full after a meal unless it's like a buffet, I have to just tell myself I've eaten enough and have to stop!

elbaldwin0525

Eat macro and micro nutrient foods and you should be good. im a 6'2 337 lb man who is a food lover and it seems as though you may have what I have which is i need to stay full at all time or i will binge. by eating mounds and mounds of vegetables and protein....I stay prettty satisfied.

its pretty hard to get fat from eating salad, broccoli, asparagus, spaghetti squash...id say almost impossible

DisasterDisaster

Same. My doctor suggested I have an issue processing nutrients, since the question came up alongside my B12 pill-form supplement doing nothing. I'm hungry ALL the time but get VERY specific cravings, earlier this week I ate an obscene amount of tuna sashimi and spicy tuna rolls for three days straight, ravenous for the raw tuna. I think it's also why I gained 50lbs over the last four years, to get the appropriate nutrients I'd have to eat 4 times the food to not feel deprived.

Let me tell you, 1200cal a day is killing me, I've resorted to ED behaviors like showers and brushing teeth to keep from bingeing.

Is there a group for this? We should make one!

minibandit

My personal opinion on this is - you've just got to train yourself.

Your stomach will be stretched and used to getting large meals and snacks. It will adapt to whatever volume (not type, just amount) of food you are putting in it. A larger stomach will ask to be fed more regularly. It will also send more signals/hormones to your brain.

Training it is the only way to pull it back in to line (and shape). Eating mass loads of veg and salad does work but, unless you are strict it won't teach you portion control.

The only way to tackle this is consistency in portion size no matter if you feel hungry. Don't be excessive, eat 'normal' portions but, then stop. After a while, and this depends on the person, you'll suddenly realise that you aren't as hungry as before.

I had to do a food diary a little while ago, logging what i would normally eat. One meal stuck in my head - We went out for a meal and I ate almost all of the starter (that was supposed to be shared) - a stack of onion rings and dip, I then ate my meal, I then finished of my kids meals, I then had dessert and forced myself to stop through embarrassment - not because I was full.

I was still hungry for roughly an hour after that meal and it wasn't until we were wandering around some shops that I realised I felt comfortably full.

I ate probably the equivalent of 2 and a half meals (or maybe more) and it took over an hour after eating for my body to say I was full. That was something I hadn't paid attention to before and it was surprising - and worrying.

I then had to go on a strict diet. I spent the first five days feeling homicidal. By the end of two weeks I was settled in to what I was eating (protein/veg/salad/dairy/small whole carbs) and NOT feeling excessively hungry. I had shrunk my stomach back to where it should be. I didn't even realise it was happening either. It was a random thought that crossed my mind that made me realise I wasn't as hungry. I had successfully trained myself.

Deborah271

I've pretty much struggled all my life with food addiction, yes let's call it what it really is! My life has been a living hell when it comes too food, I am either feasting or famine, no in between. The only thing that works for me is to stay away from all forms of sugar. Sugar is a really big trigger for me to binge so I avoid it and I can notice a difference within a couple of days in my appetite. I also try and eat natural foods and stay away from processed ones. I'm on day two here, I weigh 225 and I'm only 5'2, I'm slowly killing myself with food, time for change. Good luck everyone and God Bless!:flowerforyou:

myrtleMac123

Hi mnorris0821. Food is lovely Food is great! Sweet foods are comforting. Food is one of life's most available pleasures. Food is a great distraction from the unpleasant things in life especially fear. Food is more readily available than ever before in increasingly tempting forms. Food is a substitute for love, a substitute for intimacy, it numbs bad feelings for a while. BUT using food for all the wrong reasons causes deep deep misery and the more you do it the deeper the addiction becomes entrenched. It is an addiction....just like alcoholism. However you can give up alcohol but not food so It is not easy to beat. You have gained a habit of using food for the wrong reasons and you may not even remember when you started this. Habits are very very hard to break. If you can like minibandit train yourself to not use food in this way, then that's great. It is so hard though because 'control' is such a big issue and when you try to control your eating you actually are making the problem worse. The time to control the problem was when it first started and you probably don't even remember exactly when. If you can recognise 'why' you abuse food and find another way to deal with the root problems then that's the way to go about it. You will be happier when you can deal with the root problems and use food properly. Some people find great strength in God to overcome this problem. I really hope you overcome this because I had it for years and I remember walking to work in the morning and stopping at every shop to buy a chocolate bar to eat along the way. It is a miserable existence and a complex problem. Remember all you are doing is taking something pleasurable and using it to cope with some of the harsh realities of life. It's quite normal when you think of it....but it is not helpful at all. God bless you!

myrtleMac123

Hi minibandit. Delighted you overcame your addiction by sheer willpower and determination and good old common sense. Lots of people cannot do that and trouble is that when they try to gain control it exacerbates the problem because control is such an emotional issue for them. Those who cannot gain control do need extra help from the right source. A good friend is better than a bad counsellor. Support is absolutely needed for those who cannot regain control. All the best to those (including myself) who fit into that category! You are most likely a more emotional type of personality....which is a good thing...but a bad thing if you crave stability! God bless!

lamps1303

I read somewhere that the feeling of hunger is an emotion, and like any emotion, we can have some control over how we deal with it. For example, if you're getting angry about something, you remove yourself from the situation to reduce the anger. The same with hunger - if you feel hungry, trying doing something that will keep your mind off it - clean the house, go to the gym, ring a friend and chat on the phone for a while...keep yourself busy.

It may also be worth taking a minute to stop and think whether you're actually hungry or you're just bored. There are often times where I have felt hungry, but when I think about eating something, like some cereal, I find I'm not actually hungry, I'm just craving a certain food (usually chocolate!!). It is important to be able to distinguish between hunger, thirst and boredom.

Make sure your meals are full of protein, fat and fiber to help satiety. Have healthy snacks within easy reach so you can graze throughout the day - consider sticks of vegetables (carrots, celery, peppers) which are low in calorie and high in fiber. These sweeter veg will also help when you want something sweet.

If your doctor says your tests are normal, chances are your 'hunger' is psychological rather than physical, i.e. your brain is telling you to eat, even though you body doesn't need/want it.

edited for typos

randomtai

Are you eating enough calories?

andreamaym

Hi there! I understand what it feels like to be hopelessly addicted. I personally suffered from a horrible sweet tooth and was eating A LOT of sweets daily. Three weeks ago I finally decided that enough was enough and I needed to kick the habit. I never have candy in my house, at my desk at work, etc. I still want candy, but it's gradually getting easier. It takes a few weeks to kick a bad habit, so my advice is to push through your cravings for large amounts of food, plan what you are going to eat on a given day ahead of time, and be patient

TavistockToad

Let me tell you, 1200cal a day is killing me, I've resorted to ED behaviors like showers and brushing teeth to keep from bingeing.

just eat more food! you can still lose weight without starving yourself!

tennisdude2004

So my whole life has been a constant weight roller coaster. At one point I went from 150 to 125 in two months. Then from 130 to 180 in about a year. Then back to 150 in a few months. I am now at my highest at 220. I am only 22 and I cannot control myself with eating. I have gone to therapy and doctors. Even though I physically feel hungry all the time, they say there is nothing wrong with any of my tests. I have also tried tricks like more protein and water to stay full, but I honestly stay full about 20 minutes then want more. I hate being this way and basically am going to have to use willpower to ignore this desire.
So... who wants to be my friend and yell at me? I really do like the mean friends that will kick my butt into gear.

Your body and brain are not really that great at giving off proper hunger cues.

Almost everything we eat makes our bodies produce hormones of varies type all of which serve different purposes for maintaining or helping fuel our bodies.

Sometimes the best way to get these under control is to change the types of food we eat.

Some people will tell you that food is just food, it's not!

The key to finding a way to eat comfortably in a calorie deficit (without always feeling hungry or worse) is to find what foods trigger your cravings and reduce your intake of them.

Also if you are an active person, sometimes the types of exercise you do can help. Aerobic exercise can leave people feeling hungry after their workout and the brain will be sending out signals to refuel your glycogen stores - ready for the next workout.

Where as anaerobic exercise (sprints in particular) have been shown to suppress appetite for up to a couple of hours after a workout.

It may take time looking at different approaches and finding what works best for you.

Good luck

minibandit

Hi minibandit. Delighted you overcame your addiction by sheer willpower and determination and good old common sense. Lots of people cannot do that and trouble is that when they try to gain control it exacerbates the problem because control is such an emotional issue for them. Those who cannot gain control do need extra help from the right source. A good friend is better than a bad counsellor. Support is absolutely needed for those who cannot regain control. All the best to those (including myself) who fit into that category! You are most likely a more emotional type of personality....which is a good thing...but a bad thing if you crave stability! God bless!

No - I haven't overcome, I'm still tackling and always will, but it gets easier and easier.
My approach to this thread was mainly biological. A larger stomach WILL want larger portions to induce satisfaction and there will, due to greater surface area, be more Ghrelin produced inducing hunger. Training will work but, obviously that's just one physical approach.

As for the emotional side I can only give my own perspective and as far as food is concerned, when I'm hurting why would I want to hurt myself more? I dropped the seed of 'Has eating ever made me feel better?' in to my head and then forced myself to ask it over and over. Once the buzz of actually eating passed - the shame, guilt, embarrassment, upset just added to the original problem and the physical discomfort of being morbidly obese and excessively full made me feel physically worse on top.

Although eating high fat, huge portions and bingeing gave me the briefest respite - in the long run it has hurt me terribly. Getting 'down' with that fact has helped immensely.

But, I'm still learning...

GertrudeHorse

It actually sounds like compulsive overeating rather than an addiction per se. You could try cognitive behavioural therapy strategies to manage your uncontrolled urges. If you have a smart phone I suggest a CBT diary/app might be helpful if you can't afford professional assistance.

casondrakeen2014

I'm casondra keen, i lost 30 pounds with plexus but this time, im losing 30 more pounds with diet, and exercise alone, i'm nervous because i'm pushing myself 10x harder than i already have!

i have battled weight all my life, bouncing up and down with pounds and suffering from depression
i recently lost my mother and my grandmother within 6 months of each other, so 2013 was
the most hardest year of my life, but they were excited i was losing the weight that took away my smile!

i'm taking back my life, and making them proud i will succeed!
i have a two year old daughter, whom i love with my whole heart
i'm excited to finish my results and never have to worry about not being able
to be outside or play sports with her, i will be able to keep up with her as she grows
but most of all i'm thankful because she'll be so proud of her mother

anyone else, on this journey?

my goal is 115, total but i'm losing 30lbs at a time until i reach it.

we can do this together, your not alone
add me!

AlyssaSupernova

I can definitely relate to you and your situation. I am not very good at being mean but I could sure try and would appreciate it if you could be mean to me as well

Azurite27

I'm the same way. I find that exercise and small frequent meals and snacks helps. Hot coffee is a life saver when it comes to hunger.