How on earth do I stop being such a greedy pig?

[Givemestrengthorvodka]

Every single day I wake up telling myself today is the day I will stop eating crap and stop drinking so much. Roll on bed time when I'm 3 (strong) g&t's deep, face down in a family sized bag of Revels berating myself once again for being such a failure.
How the hell do i stop being like this? I understand what I need to do, I have all the info I need....just apparently a complete lack of willpower. How on earth do I change my habits for longer than 3 days at a time 😬.
Send help, please!

What are you eating and what times are you eating whilst trying to eat well? Maybe we can give you some pointers. Most diets fail because they are too restrictive and you craving a large bag of revels is nothing to do with lack of willpower and everything to do with a normal physiological response to being starved/malnourished/unbalanced blood sugar etc

Thanks everyone for all these responses. So, tomorrow I'm going to meal plan and then go and do my shop for the week. Any must haves for keeping me full or curbing sugar cravings?

In terms of what I eat currently, I generally don't eat much during the day (which probably isn't a good thing), dinner is home made usually and fresh food with veggies etc. But carb heavy and my portions are huuuuge! And more often than not now I have a pre dinner g&t's and Crisps, followed by lots of chocolate. So maybe my aim for this week is just to stay off the booze and see what knock on effect that has on everything else?

Op

if you live with a partner and children - do they eat the same? Do you do the cooking?

are you drinking every night?

I was you OP.

I joined Slimming World in April. Other clubs would work too, I'm sure, but the main thing is to attend somewhere in person, to be accountable. I needed the weekly weigh ins, meal planning and writing everything down in order to break current habits.

I did not follow their plan 100%, I just switched to a less processed way of eating. It was a mediterranean style diet based on fresh ingredients, and no alcohol. I cut out processed carbs and diet drinks (easier than you think).

I used to have cereal, toast or both first thing. Sandwiches with crisps for lunch. Curry or quiche, pie, fish and chips, something heavily processed and shop bought for dinner. Interspersed with tea and biscuits, coffee and cake, then more crisps, chocolate, constant grazing in the evenings.

Breakfast (eaten after 9am) is now yogurt and berries. I have lots of salads, veg, lean meats, fish, fruit. Even rice, pasta and potatoes (I cut out bread though). It's not boring, and it's definitely not difficult.

I can also recommend the van Tulleken podcasts on ultra processed foods.

Try to cook from scratch and drink more (plain, tap) water.

Change 'I deserve this (chocolate bar, bag of crisps, takeaway, cocktail / wine / g&t) into 'I don't deserve this, I deserve better'.

I've lost two stone and gone from overweight to a healthy BMI of 22. I feel great and find this way of eating very sustainable. I can have meals out and socialise as before, but I've developed discipline around portion sizes and find that I prefer healthier options.

I haven't needed to alter my level of physical activity or hit the gym. Walking, housework, gardening and being generally active and busy is enough for now.

I had my MOT at the GP surgery recently and there were no issues or concerns raised. I was boringly normal. I'm surprised that I've lost weight so easily; I tried repeatedly, losing two or three pounds, then putting them back on again and again.

I feel like my brain has reset, and I'm now thinking about eating in a different way.

Not eating regularly during the day is the reason you overeat in the evening and nothing to do with lack of willpower. Your body is literally screaming out for food in the evening and you’re doing whatever you can to satisfy that craving quickly which is a perfectly normal physiological response. Cutting down on booze is a great idea for both weight loss and overall health but maybe allow yourself a g+t a few nights a week to look forward to? You can still lose weight and drink alcohol!

I would focus on eating breakfast within a hour of waking then a proper lunch, dinner and fruit in between. You can enjoy a treat every day such as a couple g+t/single bar choc/small ice cream etc and still lose weight! Personally I save my treat for after dinner so I’ve something to look forward to and the evenings just tend to be when I fancy it but if I go out for lunch and have a small dessert or I fancy a bar of choc in the afternoon I won’t also have a treat that evening etc

Have you tried calorie counting? If you put your details into the MyFitnessPal app it will tell you how many you should be aiming for each day with a weight loss goal in mind, you can also track how many calories you’ve eaten in there, and it’s free.

Hey Op good luck. Years ago I stopped my emotional eating with the hypnotherapy book ‘you can be thin’ . It really helped.

plus replacing all the snack food with healthy alternatives. Meal planning and not buying shit. Online Groceries so not tempted in the shop.

I listened to the Chris Van T book as well and now avoiding UPF. I feel much better.

also using the ‘streaks’ habit app and Drinkaware app to keep me accountable on non drinking days.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marisa-Peer/e/B0034OGL9I

I have (late diagnosed) AuDHD. My relationship with food has never been normal. As with everything I tend to be all or nothing. So I have had overeating, undereating and orthorexic phases. But mostly bingey. Total dopamine craver.

I have made some progress however. First I acknowledged the above. Like to myself and let myself sit with it. Found a bit of acceptance and stopped with the self-recrimination.

When I felt I could I started making small changes incrementally to make them stick. Also started HRT including a pill at night and you are not supposed to take them after food - so that was the first thing - no eating after dinner - took a good few months to embed it. Then I made myself have breakfast.

Pick an easy thing first. Add something (like 3 fruit or veg with every meal) or protein. Don't think take something away because then you think you are depriving yourself, it messes with your head and for me made me rebel. Do it this way and you nudge yourself into it.

This could be may except swap G&T for wine!

Usually I manage to stay off the booze apart from Fri and sat - which massively helps - but that always goes out of the window during the school holidays.

I have managed to lose weight in the past by reducing portion sizes, especially carbs, and with regular exercise but at the minute I have no motivation even for that!

My diet goes out of the window during stressful times at work (teacher) when I eat whatever rubbish it takes to get me through exam periods and exam marking etc

But carb heavy and my portions are huuuuge! And more often than not now I have a pre dinner g&t's and Crisps, followed by lots of chocolate.

I'm just relieved this isn't just me! I'm sure if I cut the snacks/drinks before tea and the chocolate straight after I'd be able to shift some weight but it's a habit that is so hard to break.

Good luck OP. Starting with the food shop today is a good start. Let us know how you get on.

Sorry, I haven’t read all the replies so sorry if I repeat what has been said.
I’d share what worked for me. Firstly, stop referring to yourself as a ‘pig’. Second, adopt a mindset of healthy and fit person. You want to treat yourself well because you deserve it. Don’t forget, it’s your subconscious that does all of that and your subconscious is around 5 years old… what do 5 year olds do when you tell them off? That’s right - they misbehave even worse. Little you inside wants to be loved, cherished and undersood. And lastly, reframe what you think is a ‘treat’ as it is in fact ‘poison’. It will take some time and conscious effort but eventually it will sink in (like Allan Care’s easy way of quitting smoking). It takes time to build new neuronal pathways but it will all change if you persist. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect. You don’t want to diet or use your willpower. Because if you have to use your willpower you will eventually fail (unless you have an amazing willpower).
Good luck! If you really want to, you can do it .

Good luck OP and thanks for starting this thread. I'm so much the same as you self described, just swap wine for the G & T.

I struggle with this too. I love sweet, savory and especially alcohol. And I can eat and drink many calories in one sitting. +1 to what PP have said about discovering why you're eating and drinking like you do.

What has helped me recently: I've held on to the thought that even if I want to eat or drink x (e.g. sweets, wine, chocolate) I cannot/shouldn't do it. No matter how "tired" or "bored" i might feel. I.e. admitting to myself I will sit there all evening thinking about and wanting x food/drink (crisps, wine, chocolate) etc. but still not have it. If I've had dinner, then I am not actually hungry, but eating for another reason.

Same with exercise: even if I don't want to do x (e.g. yoga, run swim, bike), can't be bothered, am tired/not motivated I must do it if it is the day to do the exercise.

Giving myself one day per week to drink alcohol has helped (Rather than drinking across several days). And buying in alternative drinks (soda water, tonic on its own) and food (berries) to have when I want a treat. Going to bed early if the cravings get really bad. Trying to distract myself with some exercise and a bath in the evening. Some cleaning.

Weeks when I have drunk alcohol on more than one day (e.g. due to friends staying, or a social event) I then skip the next week's (or 2 or 3 week's) day. So, for example, in one month I only drink alcohol on 4 days.

Fair to say, it isn't fun but the weight is coming off slowly. Which is motivating. A few months in and the cravings are reducing. I'm OK with my soda water on a Friday and Sunday evening (Saturday is my drinking day). It's very hard but is slowly getting less so. I go to the pub in the sun and just have a tonic water, cup of tea or soda water with ice.

Oh and cutting out all ultra processed foods, including bread (switching to sourdough from artisan baker and making my own flatbreads) really helped reduce the cravings and "hunger".

I batch cook lentil soup. Massive pot with ham joint cooked in the centre. I blend it and then put into several containers ready to freeze. Boom. Quick healthy lunch which keeps you full allll afternoon!

Get your lentils in and you will feel nice and full OP

Ooh @Vettrianofan my gran used to make a delicious lentil soup with ham but I never got the recipe. Would you mind sharing yours?

And thanks everyone, nice to feel solidarity that I'm not alone in my habits and that people have had success in overcoming them.

I've successfully drank all the drink and ate all the food (in true Tiger Who Came to Tea style) and I've done a nice healthy shop to prepare for the week ahead.

No problem😊

Lentil soup: a bag of carrots from the supermarket, three/four onions, two/three leeks, five/six potatoes, smoked ham joint and half a bag of lentils, finally four ham stock cubes, also salt and pepper to taste. I let it cook for two/three hours then chop up ham to keep it chunky soup or you can blend it too. Up to you. Keeps you going all afternoon because of the lentils. Cheap to make and it's to last over several lunches.

@Vettrianofan fab, thank you. I'm going to make this this week.

I've used clear minds hypnotherapy stop binge eating and it's really worked. I've completely stopped fancy anything to eat in the evenings (when I used to quite easily eat a multipack of crisps).
I listen to it every so often, usually when I feel I'm starting to feel peckish in the evenings.

In all honesty the only thing that’s stopped me binging is me. I have had to force myself not to do it. The way to stop it is hard work. I’m not sure there is any magic answer just tips that can help you. You might need to do some therapy work about how you reward yourself with food as this just continues the cycle of binging over time. You eat rubbish, you feel bad, you keep doing it. You need to do things that make you feel so good you don’t want to binge out as you don’t want to ruin your hard work. I have tried to reframe food as fuel not as my friend. I need to eat it and I enjoy it but I try to enjoy things I have cooked from fresh. Avoiding processed foods does help as I do think once you eat less of them they lose their appeal, they don’t taste as nice as some amazing fresh fish does really, you just think they do.

Well I'm glad to say I've stayed off the G&Ts tonight, and the snacks, and went to my gym class. So that's a win. Not as much fun as my usual habits but now that it's bed time it's nice to not be feeling stuffed, bloated and pissed off with myself.

Ozempic?

Also some medications can effect your appetite/metabolism/food choices and give you the munchies and cravings.

.

@tequilachickenbird ?

@Givemestrengthorvodka Another thing that works for me is spend my money on other things so I can't buy anything to compulsively eat. I send money over to someone else to help me budget, so it's off my hands. Just have in what's ok for me to eat for the week or whatever- even going so far as to just have a few bread rolls in rather than a loaf, because if there's a whole loaf then I can have a bender on it depending what else I have in to go with it.

If I'm at my friend's who has to have treats/snacks, they're in a large locked box and he has the key. I do get something if I want it, but it's not as accessible. Sometimes the bread is kept in there.

Oh and- a nutritionist told me that a way to avoid cravings/overeating is to have more healthy fats. It did work when I had them regularly, combined with having a lot of high volume fruit/veg/low fat dairy. 25g nuts in with yogurt etc. He suggested to eat olives too.

Smoked salmon I have as a healthy fat and is my little luxury a few times a week on a bagel/ciabatta etc.

I know those aren't the cheapest suggestions, but cheaper and healthier than takeaways or Thornton's. If you can't afford salmon then sardines on toast is ok too.

I mix protein powder in with stuff (some brands are surprisingly virtually the cheapest protein you can get.) I get these ones, there are quite a lot of flavours. As there's 4kg of the stuff and you have a 30g scoop at a time, it lasts for ages. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CCSJRQK

But I just started Ozempic and it seems pretty good at keeping you full and stuff. I'll only be able to afford that for a few weeks though. I have a lot of Orlistat I didn't use so might brave that again at some point.

Well I'm glad to say I've stayed off the G&Ts tonight, and the snacks, and went to my gym class. So that's a win. Not as much fun as my usual habits but now that it's bed time it's nice to not be feeling stuffed, bloated and pissed off with myself.

Well done OP. You'll soon be on a roll and you won't want to break your streak.

Can you get prescribed Wegovy? I started it recently. I’m not hungry all of the time and no longer crave carbs and sweets. All of the “food noise” is gone.