AIBU to think I might be able to stop being so addicted to food?

[swimminginthepool]

Has anyone successfully stopped obsessing about food? I'm massively overweight and it is because I am obsessed with food! Absolutely obsessed. Can't make any plans without factoring in some food. I am scared of being hungry I think. I'm not in a position to get actual help with this but happy to buy/ read a book, do whatever it takes! Help

You sound very like me, OP. I just love food and cooking. Have no interest in McDonald’s or Greggs but genuinely love really good food and fantastic restaurants. I used to plan everything around food- weekends, trips away, everything. When not eating, I was looking at recipes online or stalking menus.

I’ve tried everything over the years.

I’ve lost four stone in the past five months using Ozempic. It’s been a game-changer for me. It kind of silences the food noise in my head. It also makes the feeling of being hungry more manageable (I now quite enjoy it!). My blood sugar levels are more stable so I don’t start feeling really sick as soon as I get hungry.

I know it’s not for everyone, but I would completely recommend it.

Honestly you should try TEAM RH on fb for years I've struggles so much with my weight. I have a huge appetite and I love food ....no even ashamed to admit it! And I like eating alot I hate diets and feeling hungry. This guy explains everything about Macros and nutrients and how we have fell into a pattern of eating food that has zero nutrients or very little which means our brains are constantly saying keeping eating but its because your body is craving nutrients not calories as such.....so if ur body needs protein and you sat and ate 4 baked potatoes after thats digested your brain is gonna keep sending that hunger signal until you put in what it needs....think of it like having a petrol car and filling it up with diesel...ur car isn't gonna go anywhere and you've just knackered ur engine. Its the same with food ....fibre is also massive to controlling hunger and I found myself not focusing on what it was I was eating but arranging my food so I was hitting my daily nutrient targets....the plan costs 6.99 a month I don't work in anyway for this company and he even has a free fb to watch videos so you can see what he teaches and he gives details macros will sound scary but this is the stuff they should be teaching in schools also any diet you go on will recommend less that the daily limit of like 2000 calories....these guys might tailor you in more calories because ur gonna be moving ALOT.....you don't realise that exercise doesn't need to be a workout ....March on the spot start with like a 7k target then put it up eventually I was so busy trying to get my steps in and count my macros it wasn't the food I was focusing on at all....honestly its such a game changer and you will learn so much about basic nutrients like I said this should be a basic subject in school.....he is blunt I won't lie he is only offering this advise and help for people who aren't gonna make excuses and admit they have a real problem and that its self inflicted, being MH or comfort eating etc. Its not about making excuses its literally about accepting the problems and being willing to take the advice and change your habits its a rough pill to swallow but what he's saying isn't a lie ....it might be hurtful because no one wants to hear that they are lazy etc but its true for all of us that are overweight...lazy and uneducated is a MASSIVE part obviously people who have chronic mobility issue etc have a bit of wiggle room but for the most part as a society we are glutinous....also if ur like me and u genuinely are greedy...u can STILL eat alot....u just have to do extra steps and cardio to burn those calories back off....its literally calories in vs calories out ...burn off more than u eat ...so if u want to eat alot....just throw in an extra 5k steps and this sounds alot but honestly see just standing up in ur jammies, while watching Netflix n marching on the spot x2 episodes into a series and you'll see you've nearly hit 10k steps ....and you haven't even left ur living room ...please please check him out because I mad every excuse under the sun for my weight and deep down I honestly knew my relationship with food was awful and I was lazy I hated exercise .....changing ur mind set and educating yourself is a massive game changer ...and although I'm still over weight....I go to the gym frequently and can acknowledge right your weight is climbing again coz you've been a lazy cow and ate too much 😅 and I find myself being like ok....get my step watch on and march....I also got a step watch for like 8.99 off amazon u just need it to track movements by the time I ran after the kids did house work and did some purposeful steps I was hitting 30k a day which was nuts compared to 3k that I started at. I'm not a massive success story im not a size 8 but I'm alot healthier than I was when I started xxx

I noticed over Christmas and New Year. I bought things I wouldn’t normally eat, crackers, cheeses and extra sweet things like mince pies. I still ate fruit, soup and other healthier options but these foods were in the house and not the usual healthier options like Pop Chips. I then found that even after Christmas I was reaching for crisps rather than healthier foods. Even out yesterday with family it was sharing chocolate wafers, cinnamon buns etc and a full fat milk cappuccino, forgot to ask for a skinny one.

I’ve noticed with one overweight friend of mine, she says she doesn’t over eat and maybe she doesn’t but she did, with snacks, again healthier ones like healthier crisps and then we ate loaded nachos and other food when out. It’s then harder to lose the weight though.

I have a problematic relationship with food too and have regular, sometimes daily, binges when I'm stressed about life.
What sometimes helps for me is swapping out addictive foods with better alternatives, like a PP mentioned.
Like I would eat a complete jar of gherkins if I had to binge instead of sugary, carby or processed food. It can be really really hard to not cave in, but once you stop eating sugar and crap for a while the need to overeat kind of magically becomes less of a problem. You just need to get over that initial withdrawal period and I promise it gets easier after a while and then dessert suddenly doesn't sound appealing anymore. Gherkins helped me with that during that time, but there are other low calorie options.
However, that being said, it's a life long battle, because I've fallen back into bad old habits again somehow and after having a few naughty cakes on the regular with a new friend, my binges and cravings have come back and have to start the process again.

I think wrt being scared of being hungry and having no food to hand, I think you have to expose yourself to that to get over it. It's purely psychological and once you just let yourself be hungry and realise nothing happened and it went away after a little wait, this fear might diminish.

If people can give up crack you can break your junk addiction. It will be around completely cutting out specific foods becàuse i doubt you are addicted to fruit and veg, lets be real.
There is group support for eating disorders from BEAT. Google them.

OP, what kind of foods are you addicted to? I ask this because I’m wondering if pursuing a low-carb diet similar to the Keto diet might be a good option for you. It’s a high fat, high protein diet that allows you to eat until you’re full - and after a couple of weeks you generally find that you feel full eating a lot less anyway. That’s a very simplistic version of it, but it can be a healthy way of living if you adapt it in a way that similar to the Mediterranean diet. The beginning can be very difficult if you eat a lot of sugar, but the key thing is that you can eat a healthy amount - you will not feel hungry, which seems to be one of your biggest fears.

Largely cutting out sugar has really helped me. Yes it’s hard to start with but it has really curbed my appetite which in turn has largely stopped my thinking about food the whole time.

Food is definitely addictive, but some is more addictive than others - chocolate, crisps etc.

I find that if I can do a week without those things, the cravings go away. But if I try 'moderation' that's more difficult for me.

I got a lot of chocolate over Christmas, so I cannot start being healthy again until it's all gone, because moderation doesn't work, and cheat days don't work, because they set me back to day 1.

Slimming World free foods are what I base my life on when I'm being good, so loads of fruit, veg, cold meats, pasta, rice, potatoes.. you'll find that you can always have something to eat, and if you're strong enough to stay away from addictive foods, you won't crave them anymore.

Oh wow I was about to give the opposite advice - just shows that our bodies and metabolism are all unique I guess!

For me the key is to eat when I want and what I want (let me explain!) :

I am not hungry for bk and often forget about lunch, however I am hungry in the evening and wants to snack after dinner. If I eat something in the morning just because everybody else is eating, I’ll still be as hungry in the evening. In other words, eating when not hungry is extra calories I don’t get any satisfaction from.
So I ‘save’ my calories for when I want.

Same logic for the ‘what’ : if I crave cheese I eat it but don’t necessarily add bread. It is the cheese I want, not the bread, why waste the calories.
I used to obsess about food, thinking about it in advance of meals, etc. This is never the case anymore, as ‘forbidden’ food is not forbidden anymore so when I eat it I can limit myself to a reasonable quantity as I know that I can have it again soon if I want.
And quite often the food I’ll crave won’t be junk but fruit / soup / salad.

You could try slimpod? Free trial

If you're an emotional eater then try Women Food and God by Geneen Roth - really helped me (and it's not really about god so don't be put off by the title!)