Runner with a serious sugar addiction

Afternoon all,

This is my first post on here, after a while of feeling pretty horrible about myself I wanted to share my thoughts and to hopefully receive some words of wisdom! I'm in a bit of a strange situation and would really love to know if any of you have shared this kind of experience.

I've always thought of myself as "big", even when I weighed less than I do now, partly because of my height (I'm 5"11). In 2010 I managed to lose 2 1/2 stone through Weightwatchers but now, despite doing way more exercise than I was back then, my weight has crept back up again. I'm currently 13 stone 8 lbs.

I started running in 2011 and have signed up for my first marathon at the end of this year (a terrifying prospect), however I definitely don't have the typical runner's physique! My issue is that I'm addicted to sugar, big time. Obviously so much so that it's undoing all the good I'm doing by exercising. Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits. I really feel like it's controlling me and the mid-afternoon cravings are unbearable, I usually end up giving into them rather than saying no. Ideally I'd like to get to a point where I can enjoy the occasional sweet treat (the thought of cutting out sweets for the rest of my life feels quite sad!) without feeling like life has to revolve around my next sugar fix.

Is anyone else going through something similar? Any advice on how to get out of this rut would be much appreciated :-)

Louise

Only way is a zero carb sugar detox

Yad!

Sugar cravings can be a very real thing and very habitual and hard to break.

My advice will be try cutting most of the junk food, especially the ones that trigger the cravings.

Understand that its unlikely you have a physical need for the sugar based junk food and more likely a psychological draw (but that's fine it means you can work on that area of equation).

Try cutting it for about a month (it will be tough) but after a month when you feel the cravings are gone or drastically reduced, try re-introducing them in moderation.

You may feel like many that when you are at the point of re-introducing them you actually realise there is sometimes no point based on the nutritional return you get for the calories.

Good luck with however you do it.

Not going to disagree on Behavior Addiction (gambling is a good example). I just wanted to put out there that sugar as a substance isn't an addiction and that people shouldn't think that it is. That's all.

I think something that is tripping us all up in this particular facet of the discussion is that for people who tend to binge on sugary treats (and when I say "sugary treats" I'm talking about foods w/a sugar/fat combo such as cookies, chocolate bars, or ice cream), it matters little whether or not it is behavior-driven, substance-driven, both, or neither. The scientists may be overly concerned with these details (as they should be), but the people practicing compulsive behavior could give two hoots about the minute discrepancies and semantics. This insight is important when doling out advice to them.

And it's also very frequently overlooked that cravings for food can have a purely physiological basis as a normal, healthy response to eating too little.

You can't diagnose someone with a psychological problem unless you've ruled out possible physiological causes for the behaviour in question. Arguing about whether on not psychological addiction to sugar exists is entirely missing the point if the cravings in question are actually caused by undereating.

While I agree with you in theory (and thank you for pointing this out, I'm totally going to add this to what I've been saying), the OP in this particular case said, "Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits." The words, "old habits", to me, indicates this person has been dealing with this issue a long, long time. They also indicated they've always been "big"....so it seems to me that the odds are strong they haven't been "undereating" all these years.

As a compulsive overeater I tend to recognize "signs" in posters on these threads. I always reach out to them in PM's. I've not had a single one tell me I was wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything. I'm just saying....it's not all in our heads - this stuff is very real.

That being said, I'm glad you said this because it'd be a good first step to first clarify with these folks whether or not this is a problem that just cropped up when they started dieting, or if it's been more of a life-long issue. This would help hone in on the real problem. Thank you, sincerely, for the clarification.

Afternoon all,

This is my first post on here, after a while of feeling pretty horrible about myself I wanted to share my thoughts and to hopefully receive some words of wisdom! I'm in a bit of a strange situation and would really love to know if any of you have shared this kind of experience.

I've always thought of myself as "big", even when I weighed less than I do now, partly because of my height (I'm 5"11). In 2010 I managed to lose 2 1/2 stone through Weightwatchers but now, despite doing way more exercise than I was back then, my weight has crept back up again. I'm currently 13 stone 8 lbs.

I started running in 2011 and have signed up for my first marathon at the end of this year (a terrifying prospect), however I definitely don't have the typical runner's physique! My issue is that I'm addicted to sugar, big time. Obviously so much so that it's undoing all the good I'm doing by exercising. Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits. I really feel like it's controlling me and the mid-afternoon cravings are unbearable, I usually end up giving into them rather than saying no. Ideally I'd like to get to a point where I can enjoy the occasional sweet treat (the thought of cutting out sweets for the rest of my life feels quite sad!) without feeling like life has to revolve around my next sugar fix.

Is anyone else going through something similar? Any advice on how to get out of this rut would be much appreciated :-)

Louise

Only way is a zero carb sugar detox

Yad!

Sugar cravings can be a very real thing and very habitual and hard to break.

My advice will be try cutting most of the junk food, especially the ones that trigger the cravings.

Understand that its unlikely you have a physical need for the sugar based junk food and more likely a psychological draw (but that's fine it means you can work on that area of equation).

Try cutting it for about a month (it will be tough) but after a month when you feel the cravings are gone or drastically reduced, try re-introducing them in moderation.

You may feel like many that when you are at the point of re-introducing them you actually realise there is sometimes no point based on the nutritional return you get for the calories.

Good luck with however you do it.

riiiiiiiiiiight so you guys are advising her to do "zero sugar detoxes" and similar without actually checking how much she's eating to begin with?........... no, that's not remotely dangerous advice at all <--- sarcasm

I'm sure psychological addiction to sugary food is real for some people.........but most sugar cravings are a normal physiological response to eating too little, and doing a "zero sugar detox" will make that problem worse, not better.

The first question in this situation should be "how much are you eating?" and if the answer is a number that's not sufficient for training for and running marathons, the answer should be to "eat a lot more"

suggest sugar addiction (which probably does exist as a psychological addiction seeing as you can be psychologically addicted to pretty much anything) only after you're sure they're actually eating enough and that the cravings are not the result of undereating......

Check my response where have I said zero sugar detox (only an idiot would make that statement).

I'm not even talking all sugar, get your specs on read it properly and see that it says cutting MOST JUNK FOOD.

marathon runners need to eat a crap ton of calories and so calorie dense foods are a good option to meet their nutritional needs.

Healthy and junk are accurate enough disruptions of food (from one end of the spectrum to the other).

Not going to disagree on Behavior Addiction (gambling is a good example). I just wanted to put out there that sugar as a substance isn't an addiction and that people shouldn't think that it is. That's all.

I think something that is tripping us all up in this particular facet of the discussion is that for people who tend to binge on sugary treats (and when I say "sugary treats" I'm talking about foods w/a sugar/fat combo such as cookies, chocolate bars, or ice cream), it matters little whether or not it is behavior-driven, substance-driven, both, or neither. The scientists may be overly concerned with these details (as they should be), but the people practicing compulsive behavior could give two hoots about the minute discrepancies and semantics. This insight is important when doling out advice to them.

And it's also very frequently overlooked that cravings for food can have a purely physiological basis as a normal, healthy response to eating too little.

You can't diagnose someone with a psychological problem unless you've ruled out possible physiological causes for the behaviour in question. Arguing about whether on not psychological addiction to sugar exists is entirely missing the point if the cravings in question are actually caused by undereating.

While I agree with you in theory (and thank you for pointing this out, I'm totally going to add this to what I've been saying), the OP in this particular case said, "Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits." The words, "old habits", to me, indicates this person has been dealing with this issue a long, long time. They also indicated they've always been "big"....so it seems to me that the odds are strong they haven't been "undereating" all these years.

As a compulsive overeater I tend to recognize "signs" in posters on these threads. I always reach out to them in PM's. I've not had a single one tell me I was wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything. I'm just saying....it's not all in our heads - this stuff is very real.

That being said, I'm glad you said this because it'd be a good first step to first clarify with these folks whether or not this is a problem that just cropped up when they started dieting, or if it's been more of a life-long issue. This would help hone in on the real problem. Thank you, sincerely, for the clarification.

I'm not saying sugar addiction isn;t real (i.e. a real psychological addiction)... this thread just alarms me greatly because people are telling the OP to do "zero sugar detoxes" and the like without even knowing what she's eating to begin with. If it is the case she's undereating and craving sugar as a direct result of that, then all the advice about sugar detoxes and how to combat cravings and the rest is actually dangerous advice.

even if she's had problems with sugar addiction or complusive overeating prior to this, it doesn't mean that her current cravings etc are not the result of undereating. And in some cases people can be battling both.... if it is both then they first need to be sure they're eating enough so they're only battling the psychological issue

All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.

Not going to disagree on Behavior Addiction (gambling is a good example). I just wanted to put out there that sugar as a substance isn't an addiction and that people shouldn't think that it is. That's all.

I think something that is tripping us all up in this particular facet of the discussion is that for people who tend to binge on sugary treats (and when I say "sugary treats" I'm talking about foods w/a sugar/fat combo such as cookies, chocolate bars, or ice cream), it matters little whether or not it is behavior-driven, substance-driven, both, or neither. The scientists may be overly concerned with these details (as they should be), but the people practicing compulsive behavior could give two hoots about the minute discrepancies and semantics. This insight is important when doling out advice to them.

And it's also very frequently overlooked that cravings for food can have a purely physiological basis as a normal, healthy response to eating too little.

You can't diagnose someone with a psychological problem unless you've ruled out possible physiological causes for the behaviour in question. Arguing about whether on not psychological addiction to sugar exists is entirely missing the point if the cravings in question are actually caused by undereating.

While I agree with you in theory (and thank you for pointing this out, I'm totally going to add this to what I've been saying), the OP in this particular case said, "Chocolate is my biggest weakness and despite managing to go cold turkey a few times I always end up having a massive binge then going back to my old habits." The words, "old habits", to me, indicates this person has been dealing with this issue a long, long time. They also indicated they've always been "big"....so it seems to me that the odds are strong they haven't been "undereating" all these years.

As a compulsive overeater I tend to recognize "signs" in posters on these threads. I always reach out to them in PM's. I've not had a single one tell me I was wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything. I'm just saying....it's not all in our heads - this stuff is very real.

That being said, I'm glad you said this because it'd be a good first step to first clarify with these folks whether or not this is a problem that just cropped up when they started dieting, or if it's been more of a life-long issue. This would help hone in on the real problem. Thank you, sincerely, for the clarification.

I'm not saying sugar addiction isn;t real (i.e. a real psychological addiction)... this thread just alarms me greatly because people are telling the OP to do "zero sugar detoxes" and the like without even knowing what she's eating to begin with. If it is the case she's undereating and craving sugar as a direct result of that, then all the advice about sugar detoxes and how to combat cravings and the rest is actually dangerous advice.

even if she's had problems with sugar addiction or complusive overeating prior to this, it doesn't mean that her current cravings etc are not the result of undereating. And in some cases people can be battling both.... if it is both then they first need to be sure they're eating enough so they're only battling the psychological issue

Totally agree w/you on the dangers of "zero sugar detoxes" and you're absolutely right that someone (ideally a nutritionist) should determine the OP's diet/macros to make sure the right amount of cals and carbs are being delivered to their system! Again, thx for the clarification. Communication is good.

All that being said, I do still believe the principals of moderation and/or abstinence would apply to someone training like the OP is. They can, for example, forego the chocolate that is tripping them up, but load up on fruit and quinoa instead. (I'm just throwing out ideas, here).

How about this for good advice to the OP?

1.) First speak with a nutritionist (and esp. someone familiar with diets necessary for heavy exercise training) to determine necessary and ideal calorie intake/macros.

2.) If you're nailing this but STILL finding yourself out of control with chocolate, try moderating with it and see if that helps curb the cravings.

3.) If you're moderating but STILL out of control, consider that you may be exhibiting addictive-like behaviors and might need to practice some methods that have worked for compulsive overeaters dealing with similar issues, such as abstinence from that particular food. This may be permanent abstinence or temporary until you can regain control.

4.) Repeat steps 1-3 until issue is under control.

How's that?

Healthy and junk are accurate enough disruptions of food (from one end of the spectrum to the other).

When the only tool you understand is a hammer, every project is a bucket of nails, I guess.

Tell me tennisdude. Have you ever run a marathon? What was your nutrition plan for this endurance event?

No but I have friends who have run the London marathon several times, the brother in law did a 3.24 in this years (he is a keen club runner). He does not fuel his running on junk food.

Starches and complex carbs yes, but he doesn't fuel up on a bar of galaxy before a run, so not sure on what your point is (blunt probably).

All of the people advising a sugar detox, or cutting out junk food, or whatever, for an endurance athlete are out of their gourd and should stop giving such terrible advice on the forums. Good freaking lord. You have no idea what you're talking about and you're giving advice based not on nutrition or performance but whacked-out ideas you've learned from the popular media and stupid diet books.

I'm still unsure where anyone has actually said sugar detox and cutting out junk food. OP says she has problem with chocolate and certain sweet treats mainly. Can't she cut chocolate and still eat pasta if she wants to hit her calorie needs?

ETA: Not saying anyone hasn't used the term, I just don't see it.

it was suggested earlier in the thread and a lot of the advice was telling her ways to deal with "sugar addiction", combat cravings etc............ without any thought to whether she's actually getting enough calories to fuel her activity levels to begin with... it's like people just focussed on the words "sugar addiction" and were completely blind to the rest of the situation

how she gets the calories (pasta or chocolate) isn't the issue... the point is that if she's undereating then she's not suffering from "sugar addiction", the cravings and binge eating chocolate are caused by undereating and she needs to be sure she's eating enough to fuel her activity.... if she is then it's likely that these extreme cravings for stuff like chocolate will either go away completely or become a lot more manageable, and her calories will end up coming from stuff like pasta, rice, etc rather than chocolate (and nothing wrong with some of them coming from chocolate if she wants)

I understand what you are saying but I feel that people, like myself, are just simply sharing their own personal journey and understanding of similar issues. There is no way at all through a forum post to truly assess what the real issues are. But she asked if anyone else had struggled with the same things, and those who have shared their experiences. The truth is, her issue could be one of the various issues that everyone has shared. She could be overeating, she could be under-eating, she could have a psychological issue. None of us know. I didn't share my post with her because I believe it is her issue. I just shared with her because I believe it could be and just wanted to share my thoughts.

but training for marathons + intense sugar cravings.... this doesn't raise a red flag for undereating being a likely cause? That's my issue. This was completely missed.

Even if it's a genuine psychological issue, it's imperative that you rule out hunger/physiological cravings due to undereating as a cause first, before you treat the problem as psychological. So no matter what the actual cause of the cravings turn out to be, undereating should be the first possibility considered. Rule that out first, then discuss psychological causes.