I've got a food addiction and I'm going to end up damaging myself.

I do a bit similarly- I read yesterday about the power of self talk. I’d be happy to try an experiment with you as I need to lose some weight and also feel like I over-eat. Talking negatively about yourself- saying you’ve failed, you’re disgusting etc- will keep us in the same place. To break out we need to talk to ourselves differently. The brain doesn’t know if we’re talking about something real or visualised. I’ve been trying to scare myself - ‘sugar is a poison’ etc but it’s not working. I need to be more like -‘my body loves fresh colourful food’ generalised not too specific is key apparently. You sound really upset so hope you’re ok

I also came on here to say try overeaters anonymous. They helped me a lot with food addiction. At the very least, you're talking to people who completely understand

I agree with what @FlamingoCroquet said. It's no use anyone recommending diets until you treat the underlying symptoms. You need to heal yourself emotionally and process your childhood so that you can move forward and not have this unhealthy relationship with food. Please don't feel bad about this, it is so easy to build associations with food and happiness. Good luck op.

Sorry to hear you're going through this. I also struggle with my weight but don't have the same past trauma to deal with.

I know this won't directly help with that but the book Ultra Processed People has changed my life. He talks a lot about how living with obesity us not that individuals fault. He also explains why some food is so addictive.

Can you try hypnotherapy?

also don’t buy shit food for your house, much harder to eat crap if there isn’t any in the cupboards.

have you tried weight watchers or similar (and properly actually tried to it for months not just a day or two)

You could look into n-acetyl cysteine. It's an amino acid supplement that has many uses, one of which is that it reduces compulsive and addictive behaviour because it limits the neourochemical that gives your brain the sense of reward it normally gets from them. It also helps the body reduce visceral fat and multiple studies have shown it's potential for treating obesity due to both those properties. You can literally buy it in Holland and Barrett but it's usually cheaper online.

Obviously a supplement won't fix all your psychological issues but it may well give you a real helping hand while you find a way to work through them.

Hi OP you have my sympathies and I'm sending you a virtual hug!

Food addiction is a serious problem that people often do not take seriously.

I'm an overeater and would strongly recommend attending overeaters anonymous. They meet online or in person depending on what you prefer. I can't control myself around food, but for me it's a sugar addiction not food per se. Eating less sugar makes me less hungry too. Sugar traps you in a cycle of endless eating.

Keep talking about it and reaching out for support - don't give up things will get better!

No amount of surgery, injections or pills will work if you don’t sort out the psychological side.

You’ve only gained 16lbs which you can lose again.
Do not beat yourself up over this as this is going to make you feel bad which is going to lead to overeating and it’ll be a vicious cycle.

Keep as active as you can.
You must have much more confidence than before you lost the 100lbs so use this to motivate you to go outside for walks, swimming, join the gym etc.

Not only does exercise burn calories but it also releases hormones that make you happy and that reduces your appetite.
If you’re out walking for 1 hour+ a day then that’s 1 hour+ that you can’t be eating too.

As above find something else to do so that you can’t eat.
Go to bed early, meet a friend for a walk, play a computer game etc anything that keeps you busy so you don’t think about food.

And most of all you need to stop dieting.
My childhood was very restrictive with food (mum had MH issues and I’d have to steal food so as an adult I would over eat because psychologically I didn’t know when my next meal would be).
I would crash diet and then binge and then feel like crap and then crash diet again etc

Eating 3 meals a day with 2 snacks is the way to go but I have a realistic calorie limit and use MyFitnessPal to keep a check on what I’m eating.
I’ll also plan ahead so I never get too hungry.
Just the tracking of food can shift your state of mind.

I personally eat very healthy during the week and then have one meal where I ‘binge’ but it is controlled binging as I’ll work out how many calories I’ve got left from the week and work out what I can binge on.
I also have very low calorie things like ice poles, sugar free boiled sweets, popcorn etc which means you can graze without too many calories.

Getting out of the binge/diet cycle was the best thing I’ve ever done.
I still enjoy a binge and I’ll still have a bad day where my emotions get the best of me and I turn to junk food but I stopped beating myself up over it and now I’ll just have a bad day or meal instead of a bad week.

I haven't read the whole thread. But I clicked on this while eating a piece of raisin toast dripping with butter. I had a sleeve in April last year and started ozempic on Saturday. I am so fucking exhausted with overeating and stuffing myself up.

I am sorry you are struggling. Maybe we can be of some support to each other.

I tried Slimpod which is a 12 week course of short talks about the psychology of overeating and weight loss alongside these ‘pods’ that I listen to at night which are supposed to help your subconscious. It took a long time of listening to the pods but now I actually feel less need to eat. I have combined it with Slimming World because I have a big appetite and you can always eat something on SW even if it’s a bowl of rice and veg. I hate feeling hungry! Slimpod also has a Facebook group and other support systems. The only problem with it is at the beginning to encourages people to ditch the diet and eat what they want which is very dangerous for those of us who could eat a house! But they do also say that if you feel that you would be out of control doing that then stick to a diet until you feel confident that you can stop.

so the shorter version of that is that I’ve found combining Slimpod with Slimming World has worked. Slimpod also helps with self esteem and looking at the reasons we overeat.

all the best OP. I know what it feels like to watch the scales slowly creep up and feel
utterly helpless to stop it.

I agree that food addiction is harder because you can't stop eating.

But there are some things you can do. First is - please stop dieting. Diets will never work for you. You don't need to restrict yourself, you need to nurture yourself. Get really interested in nutrition. Read up on sugar addiction but also read up on ideal recipes to nourish you and give you energy. Without worrying about portion size for now, focus on developing a taste for the healthiest foods you can. Start with a list of any healthy foods you already like - roast chicken or salmon? What veg and fruit do you like? Start creating recipes with these in them, flavoured with fresh herbs and spices rather than sugar, salt and extra fat.

With treats, plan in advance some options that are healthier than your current ones. A glass of dry white wine topped with soda or a G and slimline T won't pile on pounds like pints of beer. A cherry ice pop or lolly on a hot day is a fraction of the calories of an ice cream. An ice cold diet pepsi is a good treat in a hot day. I'm not saying these are good for you but they are stages towards finding increasingly healthier options. At home, have jugs of iced water infused with mint or slices of orange.

And get in touch with your body. I started doing fitness classes three times a week. I lost a stone without dieting at all (I mean I was still eating chips, crisps, wine, ice cream every day and knew I needed to overhaul my diet but since I had no willpower to, I decided to workout instead. It really helped to feel my body growing stronger and fitter and more muscular. I started to like my body for what it could do, for its strength rather than judge it for its size and shape.

Another thing you could try (i never have) is to fast one day a week. Just give your body a rest. It's easier to say no to everything than to have to choose. But do it on a quiet day, not out at a family BBQ!

It sounds very hard for you.

Paying for therapy is always a massive investment which entails sacrifice.

You said you can't afford to do it but I would say, can you afford NOT to do it? Because if you carry on as you are, you are going to be in a very bad place, health wise and self esteem wise.

Good luck love.

Hi OP, have you considered hypnotherapy? I appreciate money is tight but there are videos on YouTube or there's apps you can download for about £12/month

I would say that given you know why you do then you have the tools to help you stop.

Alongside OA or Noom
Or a GP referall for counselling

Can you access the headspace app - it's great for meditation and getting a calm mind?

when you are needing comfort and choose food can you help yourself to choose something else - maybe a hug / phone call to someone / something to make you feel calm
And then when the craving hits again - repeat
Sometimes it will work others it won't but it's baby steps along a path to help you seek the comfort you need from other places rather than food xx

💐 for you OP
I think that regaining weight you’ve lost is one of the most soul destroying awful feelings and have been there a good few times! The total despair and feeling like you’re on a train you can’t get off. I don’t know what the answer is I’m afraid. I don’t know if it might might help you to “let go” for a period of time? I know for me one of the damaging things is that feeling that I’m starting my diet again tomorrow so this is my last day of blow out but then that becomes a daily thought!

also for me cutting out sugar/reducing carbs helps break the cycle and generally makes me feel better.

but I’ve definitely not got the answers as am currently in a weight gain phase myself and have been feeling really out of control.

try not to catastrophise too, you’ve gained some weight but are still a lot less than you were before x x

SORRY FOR NAME CHANGE, MY ACCOUNT WAS MY OLD ONE,, I DOBT KNO HOW BUT I'M LOGGED OUT AND CAN'T GET BACK IN BUT I AM THE OP*

Thanks for all the kind messages.

I've done 2 things since reading them all.

1- ordered a book about overeating from amazon

2- I've found an overeaters anonymous group, very close to me, and I'm going to attend on Saturday.

I'm scared but I think it will help (I also have social anxiety)

Well done @ShakeDatTing2 , you've just done the most important steps: admit you have an issue and seek help.
No mad diets, quick fixes or other extreme methods, just take part in OA and aim for a long but hopefully successful journey.
Treat yourself to some nice cotton hankies, there will be tears along the way.

I feel your pain OP, I really do. I also had a very physically/verbally abusive mum who used food to smooth things over and I struggle a lot with overeating and binge eating when I'm low or stressed. It's exhausting. I wake up every morning wanting to do better and feeling guilty from the day before. Just wanted you to know you're not alone

OP, I found that Noom helped me to reframe my 'failures' when I would put weight on after doing so well with weight loss and I think the combination of using Noom for about three months, having CBT talking therapy on the NHS for general anxiety and doing a whole heap of journalling around past trauma and understanding myself and my part better was what finally helped me turn a corner with binge-eating.

I found that my black-and-white thinking was really scuppering things as I kind of had it in my head that if I put on a bit of weight, it 'meant something' about my ability to lose weight or about my fate as an overweight person. Whereas following CBT and Noom, I see that all it meant was that I'd consumed more calories than I'd burned.

The other thing that really helped me to gain control over my eating was a book called Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C Gibson, which helped me to deal with the abuse and trauma without needing to pinpoint an explanation of why my parents were like they were. It's a massively helpful book, IMO and I think it really helped me to deal with the emotional side of my overeating (although it's about the emotions and not specifically about overeating at all) more than any diet or nutrition or motivation book ever has, as my underlying issues with food were psychological, not physical or logistical.

I would also try to seek out alternative healthy ways to get a dopamine hit that don't involve food or drink - everyone's different, but try to think about little things you might enjoy - crafting, puzzles, writing, singing, sports, etc that might make you feel good and try as many different potential things as you can think of (tap dancing, woodwork, whatever) as I found that doing things that boosted myself esteem really helped me (unfortunately, tap dancing really didn't boost my self-esteem, but I'm still glad I tried it!).

I'm still overweight and have setbacks where I gain weight some weeks (sometimes several weeks in a row), but now I see weight gain as just a scientific equation where I've burned fewer calories than I've taken in and something to adjust for next week, rather than as a sign I'm a complete failure as a human being, which is how I was seeing it before therapy.

How are you feeling today, OP? Your post spurred me on to try Noom again and I’m feeling positive but also realising that I can keep going even when I don’t feel positive. How are you now? The shame was just flowing off your post and that’s not a nice feeling to live with.

I have a lot of empathy for you OP. I have long-term issues with food and binge eating too, not helped by having ADHD.

I will say one thing though. If you go on the BACP website you will find counsellors from £30 an hour up. Many work on zoom which means you can look for a counsellor anywhere in UK just searching by issues rather than location. I'm doing therapy online and I do it fortnightly. It's helping massively and as a result I'm spending less money on junk food, takeaways etc which probably halves the cost of the therapy. It's helping me with my health and my life. On balance, I can't afford to NOT do it and I would rather give up other things before I give up the therapy.

Thanks, I'm feeling much better.

I'm reading my book and am going to attend an OA meeting tomorrow, which I'm nervous about but hopefully it will help.

I juts feel a little more positive after reading all the replies that it's not hopeless and I can change.

I've messaged a few people and asked if they do concessionary rates for people on sickness benefits.

I've done alot better the last 2 days, compared to how I usually am.

I'm eating mostly protein and protein shakes (good for my sleeve)

I'm just trying to stop and think 'am I hungry or am I just doing this out of habit?'