Did you go through a food "withdrawal"?

ShibaEars

A friend of mine attempts to eat healthier and exercise, but usually gives up fairly quickly. She made a comment to me that she's trying to eat healthy once again, and isn't looking forward to the "withdrawal" that happens in the first couple weeks. She gets moody, irritable, gets headaches and horrible cravings for junk food. I assume it means she's cutting her calories back too much, although she says she hasn't.

I've never gone through a "withdrawal" period, despite my numerous attempts at changing my eating habits. Perhaps this is because I never really cut any food out completely.

Did you experience this when you started eating healthier? Was it more a matter of making too many drastic changes all at once or is it actually withdrawal?

jconnon

Just ice cream withdrawal. (shudders)

StaciMarie1974

Haven't experienced that. But I'm of the belief that if I want something, I can have it. Though in reality now that I'm thinking more about what I eat - I often don't want it. I do enjoy food though, even treats. Ultimately though for me food is more for nutrition than entertainment or emotional support. I'm probably fortunate in that respect.

seltzermint555

The closest thing I've had to a "withdrawal" is when I quit soda cold turkey (yeah I know how stupid that sounds). Shaky, grumpy, unhappy. Stepping down from 3 cans/day to 1 can/day to 2-3 cans/week, I was then able to totally quit it for months with no problem.

With food though...nope. No issues. If and when I felt shaky or craved sugar, I ate a small cookie or fruit or both. If and when I felt "hangry" or had a super growly belly at 9 pm I would eat an egg or string cheese. Always kept it within my calories, no problem at all.

sdelo7

Carbs. As in pasta and bread. My Italian/French background had a lot of it all my life and I have had to cut back when I was pregnant as I developped gestational diabetes. The carbs in those would just get my blood sugar through the roof.
I have continued to cut back on those but boy do I crave high carbs foods!!

deksgrl

Has she cut caffeine? That would do it. Or if she has cut out too much of a certain macro, too low on protein or fat? Protein and fat helps with satiety so that you don't feel as hungry. If she is cutting meats and doing low fat everything, she could be feeling the effects.

lemurcat12

No, I didn't, although it definitely does sounds like cutting caffeine. Is she giving up soda?

Some people also get that if they lower their carbs (which she might be doing if that's her idea of how to eat healthy). When I first started I wanted to break some bad habits and also was just curious if I'd feel better without grains (it's the trendy thing, you know, and plus I don't care about bread so figured it would be an easy way to cut calories), so I pretty much did a no added sugar, no grains thing which was a dramatic cut in carbs, especially since it was winter and I don't eat lots of fruit in the winter. Despite this (and the dire warnings I've since read) I felt perfectly fine (although no better than now when I eat moderate amounts of sugar and grains).

RHachicho

Yeah I get this. I think it's more habitual. You are used to treating yourself with certain favorite foods and when they aren't around you just get plain ol grouchy. I actually dream about fresh baked rock salt pretzels and sour cream and chive dip sometimes. No joke.

michikade

I don't really get withdrawal except for caffeine - it actually IS a drug, after all, and I admit physical addiction to it.

However, sometimes I just CRAVE something way, way greasy. Fried chicken, greasy burgers (made with fattier ground beef than what we buy), etc.

BinaryPulsar

This causes me to think that she isn't eating enough, she cut out a food group and has an unbalanced diet, or maybe she adds a food that she thinks is healthy, but that doesn't sit well with her. Or like others said she may have cut out soda, chocolate, and other sources of caffeine.

elisa123gal

I never do the cold turkey change thing. Too hard to give up everything at once and be extreme with exercise.

Why not just start by eating your calories and trying to move. As I see progress… I naturally start making other healthful changes.

I find that works for me..

Rabid_Hamster

I did to some extent. Like another poster said, it's mostly habitual/psychological. You've been used to eating a certain way or having certain foods. When you can't/don't eat them anymore, it throws things off balance. In my case, I HAVE to have a little chocolate at night after dinner for dessert or my brain won't settle down. I will literally be up for hours after I try to go to sleep if I don't. She may need to find that one thing that helps calm the restless beast inside but can still be done in healthy moderation.

phyllb

I am the same. I get headaches and fatigue.if I don't eat a certain amount and my ability to concentrate declines. I never eat below 1200 cal daily because of that and some days may need more as a baseline
I think some of us are that way.....
I am almost always kinda hungry even now at 2months of slow steady even eating and wright loss every week of 1.2 to 1,4 per week
Still hungry. Ah well

WombatHat42

When I first got into college I was finding I was eating fast food almost everyday and having pop. I went from 320(HS Football playing weight) with about 20% BF to 336 with about 30% BF. Once I saw this I started to make changes the first being fast food and pop were done. Those two small changes(i was always going to the gym so that wasnt a change) lead to 20 lbs of weight lost with in the first month. However, I noticed it was VERY hard to stay away from them when I first started and it took me a couple of weeks to get past the withdrawls. The fast food wasnt the hard part, i missed the grease and salt but I avoided temptation by turning radio ads and taking a route to class taht went past no fast food. Pop was the hardest. But I found replacing it with a gatorade really helped then after a couple weeks I replaced gatorade with water and stayed off pop and fast food for almost 2 years.

I think that there was enough sugar in gatorade and flavor to satisfy the craving and I was able to over come the caffenine withdrawl. Have your friend find a middle ground and taper off the foods she craves for a week or two then go full on. Dont know maybe a bit too much work but it worked for me.

Kalikel

My attempts were medically triggered, so I went cold turkey off red meat, sweets and treats, low sugar and sodium and had to cut all but the teensiest bit of fat (but no trans or sat fats.)

I didn't even know it was coming, so I literally went from eating whatthellever to cutting out all the bad stuff. I never missed cake and pie like I thought I would. Red meat was deeply missed. White bread with butter. Watching others eat it - seeing it, smelling it...I said it was fine, but it was hard at first.

I did it, though.

It gets a lot easier really quickly.

I think for many people, it might be easier to add healthy items and slowly wean out the junk. Suggest your friend eat try that.

But it may be that she's just doing it because she thinks she should and doesn't really WANT to do it. If she doesn't want to, advise her to not bother trying. It's really difficult, if not impossible, to succeed if you aren't internally motivated. She will think she was trying when she really wasn't and will feel like she failed at something she never really tried to do in the first place. She won't see it that way and won't understand and will just be frustrated and unhappy with herself.

People around here always say you can't eliminate junk food because you'll fail if you deny yourself. If you don't view it as denying yourself junk food but as giving yourself healthier eating habits and a healthier body, you don't feel constantly denied. You won't have to whine to yourself about not getting ice cream because that it isn't what you want.

You do feel SO much better when you cut the crap. You feel healthier. It really does make a huge difference.

danielaflores565

yes im struggling now...its hard cooking for the kids and not nibbling on their mac n cheese when im eating tuna salad.....its a constant fight

kimberlyblindsey

Like many of ya'll already said, for me it's psychological, because my default foods are either sweet-- PB&J----yum, or carby--squishy white bread, but I have to override that and eat what I know suits my macros and not what I've been raised on.

JoJoVan96

I'm absolutely addicted to sugar and carbs....bread, cakes, candy bars, pastries-you name it, I'd eat it without question! I just switched to a plant-based diet a little over a month ago, and I went through massive withdrawals. Headaches, shakes, moody, etc. I felt SOOO bad for my husband!!! It took a few weeks, but I'm finally past it. Honestly, it was easier to quit smoking than it was to give up crap food. :bigsmile:

Liftng4Lis

Haven't given up anything to have withdrawal from.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

No, but I do feel like crap if I cut my carbs too much. If she's cutting calories too much (like you suggested) or cutting out what she things are "bad" foods (which are usually mostly carbs) she could have those symptoms as a result.

AliUnrau

When I first started MFP my goals were set too low as to what i was actually doing for exercise so my calorie intake they were giving me was way wrong. So for the first 2 weeks i was starving and very grumpy.