[Carbie]

i dont know where else to turn... i am so lost when it comes to dieting now... i lost close to 30lbs at one time and now it takes me 5 months to lose 9lbs... i am addicted to sugar, badly... i also crave fast food like a drug addict needs their next hit... i dont know how to combat these problems... just eating fruits doesnt quell the craving for sugar... when i get depressed i always turn to fast food... see i am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, so in sense that is my drug or drink... i was so stressed out over my weight that i quit and last week including this week has been filled with fast food almost every day and half gallons of ice cream... im about to just give up... can anyone help me????

[JayZeeJay]

Carbie, you have my sympathy. Over in the "maintainers" forum (plenty of us are trying to lose again), we've just been discussing how we struggle to find our source of relaxation, celebration etc. when "fun "food and alcohol are off the table.

When you say you're so stressed out about your weight that you quit, what do you mean specifically? E.g. are you stressed because you feel it's holding you back from something? Or you're tired of putting so much energy into thinking about it/working on it?

Perhaps if you can really drill down to the root problems, you can make more targeted solutions. I've just started a cognitive behavioral therapy book and it's been really useful, I recommend it. It's called the Feeling Good Handbook by David Burns and it is teaching me to identify exactly WHY I have a problem with sugar (it's not a diet book, but it teaches tools for any problem or situation. It's also helping me with work stress).

Re dietary approaches: it seems like the approaches to foods that you can completely do without, like sugar, come in two basic flavors:
1) try keeping treats in your diet but only occasionally ("special occasions" etc.)
2) abstain entirely.

I had been trying approach #1 for the last few years, with variable success. I've recently put myself on a very different eating plan with the hope of reversing some cholesterol/TG problems on recent blood tests. The new diet is complete abstention from sugar and anything with sugar, bread and anything with flour, etc. I'm only 5 days in, but I can say that so far it's not been as challenging as I expected. So I suspect I might be an abstainer personality after all. Have you tried that? Or were you trying a moderation approach?

[djunamod]

I'm so sorry to hear what you've been doing through and I can totally relate. I have used food as a way to relieve stress (among other things) since I was a teenager. One thing I did recently was really take a hard look a the reasons why I have binge eating episodes and locate some of the times when those cravings come. For me, that's when I am stressed (especially when something happens by surprise that is out of my control, as I have a lot of control issues from having been raised by narcissists and emotional abusers) and also to reward myself. So I am now trying to find ways in which I can reduce stress and also relieve it and ways I can reward myself without food.

I read some books on stress management and two things I've been doing recently seem to really help. One is exercising (but not to lose weight and not to excess - I walk about 30 minutes a day, which I love doing). I found that as long as I am consistent and walk almost every day, even doing a 15 minute walk helps.

The other thing that really helped me was something called Progressive Muscle Relaxation. It's basically very gentle exercises that involve tightening muscles in the body and then releasing them slowly while breathing. I found a nice DVD on Amazon that is only 15 minutes so it's easy to do every evening before I go to bed. I was amazed at how it's helped me to reduce my stress in general. This week I had some massive stress with financial issues that were unexpected (a lethal combination for me) and I definitely had binge cravings but I was able to manage them with continuing with these two things. I ended up doing the PMR exercises twice during those days but they really helped relax me. I highly recommend them, as they are easy to do, so you don't have to be super fit to do them.

An added bonus is that the PMR are helping me manage my migraine headaches.

Djuna

[KateB]

I just started a program in July. Over the years I have been on many....

The first two days of this program were fasting. Two of their shakes a days for the first two days along with all the water or herbal tea you wanted. The next five days were small portions of lean protien, fruit and vegetable. The next two days were Lipid loading days, Large servings of protien and healthy fats (avocado, nuts,olives). I can honestly say I do not have cravings! Nor am I hungry between meals. The first week was a liver detox. I think it helps to get all the processed foods out of your system. I think that is what makes the duration of the program doable!