Mindless eating

[JigglyPuff19]

I'm 15st, I've put on a stone in the last two months by just eating mindlessly, I don't seem to care what I'm eating.
Mostly carb cravings but also can eat a tub of ice cream on one sitting.
I need to stop but don't know where to start.
Please help me?

[Blondie1984]

Well you've made the first step by recognising you have an issue.
A couple of suggestions/questions

1. Keep a diary for a few days - record what you're eating, when and how you're feeling - you might identify a pattern e.g. you might be doing it more when you're tired or lonely.
   
   
2. It sounds like it has become a real issue in the last 2 months - is there something that might have triggered this?
   
   
3. What else are you eating and drinking during the day?

[Eattothebeat]

Eating a tub of ice cream in one sitting IS carb cravings as it's packed with sugar which is most definitely a carb. You are most likely addicted to sugar/carbs and the more you eat the more you crave and you mistake carb addiction for hunger. There is so much on mumsnet about low carbing and how it stabilises your appetite so I won't trot it out again here but I definitely recommend you look at the low carb threads. Good luck x

[Blondie1984]

Sugar addiction doesn't actually exist...

[Eattothebeat]

Let's agree to differ on that one Blondie.

[Blondie1984]

You show me the evidence it does and I will believe you but as far as I’m aware no studies have proven it

[Blondie1984]

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sugar-addiction_uk_5a293b10e4b006a26fb3d09f

[Eattothebeat]

I was addicted myself so I speak from personal experience. I craved it constantly and the more I ate the more I wanted and I was piling on weight and had awful mood swings and my energy levels were up and down. So one day I'd had enough and I went cold turkey which was horrendous (unbearable blinding headaches, blurred vision, zero energy, terrible mood swings and numerous other unpleasant ailments) and after about a week I started to feel human and after a couple of weeks I felt fantastic. I haven't eaten any sugar in two years and have bags of energy, I weigh 9 stone (at 5 feet 7 inches) and my skin is the best it's ever been. I have friends and family who are addicted to sugar and they are constantly wanting it in their drinks, in chocolate bars, biscuits etc. My addiction used to be so bad that when I was paying for a bar of chocolate I would start shaking. It was very real.

[Eattothebeat]

ps if you ever saw the BBC TV show "Sugar Free Farm" it showed just how badly they were addicted to sugar. The chap from All Creatures Great and Small suffered such bad withdrawal that he was hospitalised as he used to eat sugar all day prior to going on the show (loads in his tea, bars of fudge, biscuits, ice cream etc). It was a real eye opener seeing how badly all the celebrities suffered when it was taken away.

[Eattothebeat]

Sorry to labour the point but I feel so strongly about it and am so glad to be free of it. The withdrawal that Jennifer Ellison who starred in Sugar Free Farm describes is really similar to what I went through. She said it felt like someone stepping on her eyeball and my headaches were so agonising it felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the eye. The reason I never lapse now is because I couldn't ever face going through it again. Here's the link closeronline.co.uk/celebrity/news/jennifer-ellison-weight-loss-sugar-diet-extreme-withdrawals/
Anne Widdecombe was also on it and suffered very badly - they all did!

[Eattothebeat]

In fact that show convinced me to quit the sugar. Jigglypuff sorry to hijack your thread with this but I feel so strongly about it and view sugar as poison. If you do decide to quit it the thing that got me through the first few days was nurofen and a few raspberries!

[Eesha]

@JigglyPuff19 maybe draw a line now and start today. I find having little or no temptation in the house helps. Try and drink more water, and log your food.