I need help, I am addicted

Jerkis · January 17

Hi guys,

I am 33 years old. I started on this app a while back. I lost a lot of weight about 100lbs. Now about 12 years later and with kids I have gained all that back, and more. I am now diabetic. I am obsessed with sugar. I crave it and I want it and I need to have it when I crave it. I have tried multiple times to stop but the minute someone tells me about sugar or if I see it I need to have it. I know it’s an addiction and I know sugar is like crack. I have eaten tubs of ice cream and have done it multiple times. There are times I don’t eat real food at all! I want is sugar and more sugar. I know all about health and diabetes. Can you believe I am a nurse??? I teach my patients all about this. Yet I can’t do it myself. I need an accountable person to help me this time. I need to lose the weight, I know how to but this obsession
over sugar is driving me crazy. I need help! I need encouragement I need help

Crochetluvr · January 17

Hi! I totally understand. I was sugar addicted, overweight, diabetic and I finally had a meltdown over my body. Came to MFP and lost 50 pounds. But I had to go cold turkey on the sugar. Wasn't easy....took a couple weeks to lose the cravings, but it did happen. However, I slid back into old habits and gained back 30 of the 50 I lost. I have since lost 15 of that 30. It's harder this time because I am older, but I am determined.

I joined a group called "Serial Starters" for repeat MFPers. Consider joining us. 🙂

Good luck with your restart!

mrsmeteor · January 17

Some people don't take sugar addiction seriously, they think it has to be heroin or alcohol for someone to be addicted to it, but sugar gives a dopamine hit just like those other things do. Remember all the bad stuff about sugar: inflammation, diabetes (as you know), the high and then the crash, your teeth, and cancer risk. Think about how much better future you will feel after quitting, and how much easier it'll be for your kids to continue healthy habits if they don't get used to sweet foods. It really is worth it

chris_in_cal · January 17

Jerkis wrote: »

I need help! I need encouragement I need help

Hello,

This is really a rough situation you are in. A lot of us get it, and have been there, or are currently right there with you.

IMHO you absolutely nailed it in needing accountability. Other ideas are motivation, fear, self-discipline, etc and quite often those all come and go easily. Accountability is where it is!

It isn't easy for you to be accountable to me. I'm a random dude on the internet, but possibly. I've began to feel accountable to a group here in MFP. Usually it is easier finding someone you can actually meet in your town, talk on the phone, look at each other.

In situations like you are describing you would need to look outside of your current circle to find somebody else. Your spouse or child or parents or friend isn't necessarily going to turn into a good accountability partner, after you have already been with them your whole life.

Someone else kind of like you, in your community, that is also looking for an accountability parter. Additionally at the neighborhood gym there 'trainers,' a social worker, a counselor, even a therapist. Just work to find an accountability partner. You are exactly right.

Maybe me, probably someone better than an Internet guy, but yes find an accountability partner. Tell them what you wrote here, tell them what you want, and show up. Ask them that if you don't show up to come by or call and be accountable to them for sticking with your plan.

Team work makes the dream work. You are building a different accountability team, than the one you currently have. A great strategy.

MaggieGirl135 · January 18

@Jerkis You may wish to consider working with a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. An ED therapist could help you build coping skills for when you hear about/see sugar.

kcrainshaw · January 18

It honestly isn’t your fault. The sugar and CPG industries have engineered those foods to create addiction. A drastic elimination, like 3 months of whole 30, would be very difficult but I would be willing to bet you’d no longer crave sugar. After 3 months, you won’t even miss it.

lauren_989 · January 19

I can understand that struggle! Sugar can be so addicting and it's easy to say do as I say, not as I do.

We have a group with a lot of support. Come take a look! We are opening registrations for new members next Saturday!

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/114605-fat-2-fit-weight-loss-challenge-and-support-group

mea0610 · January 20

I’m in my 3rd day of no sugar. It was getting out of control for me. I’ve reduced my carb intake as well. It’s been a bit challenging, but I feel like the cravings will ease after a bit. I’ve done this before and relapsed, but now I think I need to see it as an addiction and avoid completely.
Good luck to you.

patriciafoley1 · January 20

Have you seen the clip from the West Wing where Leo McGarry talks about alcoholism and drug addition? "I don't want one drink. I want ten drinks". That's what sugar addiction is like for a lot of people (including me). I don't just mean white sugar. I mean white flour, rice, processed carbs of any kind. The good thing is that once you wean yourself off from carbs, the cravings largely disappear and you can look at carbs and walk away. That bad thing is that the addiction never goes away (or to put it more clearly, a person sensitive to sugars triggering response or addiction to carbs never goes away) and it is very easy to get readdicted. Then you have to go through withdrawal once again. The best thing I can say, from experience, is to go low carb, avoid all sugar, white flour, rice, and other processed carbs as much as possible. Life not being ideal, you probably won't be able or even want to entirely avoid them. Don't fall back again into the "ten drinks" trap, whatever that might be for you sugar wise. Just regard it as poison, which it is for me (and probably for you) and treat it as such. People used to take a little bit of arsenic as a beauty aid. A little and it might (at least they thought so then) give a bloom. Too much and it will kill you.

I need help, I am addicted

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