I'm coming from a slightly different perspective, but this is my experience. I haven't lost any weight yet since I just started working out and eating right, but I am a recovering addict of other substances and I have been clean/sober from those substances for close to two years now. Many of the feelings expressed in this thread are very familiar to me. When I look at other suffering addicts, I am reminded of how different my life is now: not only do I not use, but I have made a complete physical and emotional turnaround. I do not feel guilty that I got out of a dangerous, unhealthy, potentially fatal lifestyle, but I do feel a little like a fraud. Sometimes I am tempted to tell the addict that I've been there, I know what it feels like, but because I no longer "look the part," I have a fear that he or she wouldn't believe how much my life has changed. Because I gained an incredible amount of weight during recovery, I feel that I'll be judged from a number of different angles--not only do I no longer look like I've ever been where they are, but I went to such an unhealthy extreme on the other end of the weight spectrum that I worry an addict wouldn't want to seek recovery if it would make him or her look like me. I have no doubts that this fear stems from low self-esteem and low self-worth, but that realization does not make my feelings any more real or valid.
I'm rambling. But I thought about this thread quite a bit this afternoon, and thought about how much my life has changed since I was using. It's true I have eaten myself into oblivion, but living like that was a **** of a lot worse.
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