Ok, I’m obese and I’m addicted to sugar.

[MyWildOliveGoose]

After years of denial, I’m looking at myself now and I think I am obese. I am definitely overweight. I am 4ft11 and 78kg. I think there’s maybe some body dysmorphia there too as I look at myself some days and I feel like I look amazing, other days I feel like I am actually disgustingly horrendous - with no in between.

The main problem is that I am absolutely with no doubt addicted to sugar and believe I should always have a sweet treat if I want one and it’s such a bad habit to break. I have a healthy diet most days starting the day with porridge or Greek yoghurt with fruit, nuts and natural honey and a ginger shot. Lunch is usually an omelette, pasta salad or cous cous filled with protein, dinners are 1/2 protein 1/4 carbs and 1/4 veg portions. Most days I am able to allow myself one sweet treat with any other cravings being satisfied by a sugar free jelly pot or a banana.

On my worst days… I will start the day with tiramisu for breakfast. Yep. It’s true. I then snack all day, and all evening. I will always have a healthy balanced dinner though. Followed by a sweet treat, or two, or three. Most of the time I can pull it back the next day, but sometimes I do struggle for two or three days.

Has anyone had any experience of this, how did you manage to overcome it?

Chromium is meant to help with sugar cravings it has mine. I started having a sweet tooth after menopause. Eating more protein and fighting the urge for something sweet after savoury were difficult but not impossible. I had cravings for about a week. Magnesium is good if you crave chocolate .

I could have written your post.

im 5ft 1 and the same weight give or take. I am absolutely desperate to sort myself out.
my confidence is zero. I have nothing to wear or I wear the same things all the time.
losing weight is on mind when I wake up and when I go to sleep but I am literally addicted to sugar 😢😢

I keep trying to start fast 800 as I know it works. Once you’re past the first few days it’s ok but it’s starting that I keep failing x I don’t fancy the jabs either

I know lots of people don’t like it being mentioned, but I was BMI 50 last year and now I am BMI 25 thanks to Mounjaro. I don’t have any negative thoughts about my weight or body any more and I enjoy choosing clothes and wearing things that I like. I had spent decades of my life being stressed and hopeless about my diet and weight.

The only issue is that I am paying for it myself and it’s not cheap. Wegovy is cheaper though and almost as effective.

Have you had many side effects? I wish I had the courage to do it

Sugar is so addictive. Im
not particularly overweight - maybe a tiny bit - but I worry about the health consequences of sugar twice a day. Good luck with it. OP. It’s tough . Do you have emotional
reasons for eating? Has it replaced love/ comfort? I think it does for me, specially if im
knackered with the children and feeling depleted

No, I wouldn’t take it for 2 years if i was having side effects. I had a couple of instances of digestive upset at the start. Nothing unmanageable and nothing like the insane scare stories that you sometimes see posted on social media. That settled down and then it’s been absolutely fine since then, for many many months now.

I'm not obese but definitely overweight and also short. I've been addicted to sugar my entire life but only since perimenopause has my weight been a problem. I'm getting genuinely worried about the health risks especially as I have high cholesterol and am very close to being prediabetic. I wish I could cut out sugar but I just can't.

I did the fast800 diet for 8 months, as I was awaiting heart surgery and they wanted me to lose weight. I lost 8kg in those 8 months. At first it was great but I was constantly hitting plateaus and having to resume a normal diet for 2-3 days and then restart the fast800. It just made it harder with every restart. Everyone is different though, that’s just my experience. X

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I have been offered mounjaro on the NHS, I just worry so much about the conflicting information online. I know some people get on really well with it but there’s people that don’t too and it seems to be flip of the coin luck. I’ve not been very lucky healthwise recently so it makes me cautious.

I don’t know what it is, I’m just addicted. Maybe there is an emotional connection to it but I wouldn’t be able to identify exactly what. I worry about the health affects too. I just can’t seem to stop. It’s 10am right now and I’m already thinking about chocolate lol it’s utterly ridiculous.

If you've been offered it take it. A clinician has weighed the risks for you. It has been transformative for me. Side effects are well known and manageable especially if you're sensible and focus on clean eating and losing weight in a healthy sustainable way. I lost 5lb a month and in a year went from bmi 35 to 21.5 and maintaining

If you've been offered it on the NHS grab with both hands and run.

You must have a BMI over 40 with several comorbidities?

People on MJ get on best when they do 2 main things, you could try doing them anyway and see how you get on then think about if you want to try adding MJ (you can always stop if you want to).

First is regular resistance training, this can be bodyweight, bands or weights - the key is to stress the biggest body muscles and work them hard enough that they are almost at failure and do that for either 15 minutes per day daily or 45 minutes 2-3 times a week. This sets off the body signals that tell your system that you need those muscles so in times of lower calorie intake they need to be preserved not used as fuel so the body will use fat instead.

The second is protein, making sure you get a minimum of 30g per meal (having 3 meals a day) - this includes breakfast and as you are no stranger to having an atypical breakfast you might be amused to know you don't have to stick to traditional breakfast foods. I've had all sorts of leftovers from bolognaise to roast chicken when it works for me - greek yoghurt, cottage cheese and eggs (if you have even of them to hit the 30g) can all work too. If I think I am short of the 30g or if I am getting it from plant sources I will add some 'Essential Amino Acids (EAA)' as a supplement. Your body has the signal to preserve muscle but it can only do that if it has enough raw materials, there are some life-essential things your body needs protein to do, it can't make everything from fat reserves.

Your BMI is 35 btw OP. Thats Class 2 Obesity in the high risk range for multiple health conditions including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Please see your GP to get yourself checked over including blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugars.

800 Fast is the worst thing for a sugar addiction - your blood sugar will go all over the place.

You really need wholefoods only, no processed anything, low GI, high fibre, high protein, complex carbs only, small meals so blood sugar doesnt get spiked or dropped. Its the only way to keep cravings at bay. And exercise daily if you can - that will make your body way better at recognising being full, ignoring cravings, having better natural homronal appetite control etc.

Good grief if you’ve been offered it, take it! This is your golden ticket! Millions of people are on them, if you list out your specific concerns about them I’m sure posters can dispel them. For all the genuine or inflated side effects of MJ there is a usually a way to minimise or avoid them entirely.

All of these things are checked regularly by my cardiologist. I know what my BMI is and the risks associated.

I have an appointment on Wednesday to discuss them with the endocrinologist, but my main concerns are.. how will I know if something is starting to go wrong? I have had quite bad health anxiety in the past, unable to take new meds etc and with that was thrown into finding out I’d been born with CHD and needed corrective surgery. So now I have this need to know when something is wrong early, and I know that’s not always logical or probable - but I feel like with this I just need to know. I’d love to lose the weight and feel good about myself, it’s only the last few years that I’ve really been struggling with weight gain and I can’t figure out what has changed.

But something is wrong now. You are raising enough concerns with medical professionals that they are offering you a prescription for a drug that's expensive and so has very strict criteria to get it on the nhs. You are not weighing your risks correctly

That is a very good way of looking at it.. thank you. Maybe I do need to reframe my mind around this.

I think I have a tendency to fall into the scaremongering trap that is social media. But you’re right about that, maybe I was focused on the wrong things.

I'm glad you're open to challenging your thinking on it. The first jab takes bravery but I promise by the time you finish your first pen you will be starting to feel more confident in the process. I've been there and it's a tool that will help you hugely. Honestly I know how your body fights you at the moment and the effort resisting food takes. Once you take the drug you'll see what you've been living with - the noise, the cravings and realise you're not weak, you're fighting your biology and it's so hard. I've come a long way in my relationship with myself and my body. Good luck