Food Addiction? I think so..

[UNC_Pete]

It's been in the news a lot lately about there being a scientific link between the current outbreak of obesity in this country and it's connection to an addiction of sorts. Well, I usually don't put stuff like this out there but I believe there is definitely an addictive aspect to it, and I believe I've come to realization that I am currently suffering from this and have so for the past 10-12 years of my life.

No, I'm not looking for attention but a place to be aware and put this out there. I'm 6'4" and currently at around 346 lbs. (Yes, wow..) When I look back I've really went through cycles. I'll say this at first, I was never, ever slim/slender/toned. When I was 12 I was 6'1" and about 200-210 lbs. I did play baseball and basketball up to my junior year of high school so I was able to run 5 miles and all the sorts the whole time. But, I was still around 260 lbs. when I was playing (in HS).

Since then I've been back and forth on diets which actually control my cravings and help, but I end up losing control again. My soph year @ PSU I went on the atkins diet and got all the way down from 330 to 250 lbs. I just couldn't sustain that type of restriction. Once I graduated I was up to around 330 again and went on Weight Watchers. (Yes, laugh it up, I went on it with my then fiance.) WW got me down to around 260 and once again up til and after my wedding in 08. I haven't done anything since then and haven't really remained active with my desk job and now I have to start all over.

I'll say this, I was never at a point where I'd eat 6 donuts or even 3 donuts at a time, nor would I eat a whole pizza. I just found myself picking at food all day long. The one thing I would do, is if I got in a fight with my wife, I'd go right to the snack drawer once it was over. But, mine is more of a never satisfied deal that I have to overcome. I have come to find that lately I really have been thinking about food way too much. I'd always be looking forward to my next meal.

Not really sure how to end this post, but, the next time you see an obese person, they may be going through an internal struggle you haven't dealt with..

[55]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

If you completely cut out all sugar from your diet and exercised 30 minutes a day, I bet you would lose 100 pounds in one year.

[UNC_Pete]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

I know I would, I lost 60 in 5 months on the atkins diet as posted above. Just don't see how feasible it is to stay on such a restricted diet.

[55]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

It's all about self control. If you really want to lose the weight that bad, it's child's play.

I find dieting akin to an easier version of quitting smoking. When you diet, you can still eat a lot of good foods but when you quit smoking you have give it up completely. I quit smoking cold turkey myself a little more than four years ago and it stuck. Haven't had a single puff since and I smoked 1.5 packs a day for 13 years prior to quitting. I was just ready. If you (or anyone else whom is overweight) is truly ready to lose the weight, you will. It's just sad that some folks never become ready, so to speak.

[UNC_Pete]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

I'd look at it the opposite way. When you need to quit smoking, you can quit, and your body does not need that substance. Food, your body always needs. So your confronted with your demon about 3-5x a day. I'm not knocking trying to quit smoking, obviously it is very hard, but I wouldn't say overcoming one addiction is any easier that overcoming another.

[elgreazy1]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

I like you have battled obesity & being overweight a large part of my life, and even to this day. I originally tried all sorts of diets all which had varying success with Atkins being the 2nd most successful. I've weighed as much as 310lbs to as low as 209, but right now, at 240 I'm honestly in the best shape of my life. Let me explain:

What completely changed was this last year when I simply starting tracking my calories & intake (carbs, proteins, fats, sugars, fibers, cholestoral, etc) using a simple site: http://www.livestrong.com/ At first I found it tedious but then it all began to make sense. I was seeing what I was eating and the statistical proof of what my diet should be as opposed to what I thought it should be. I feel that once a person sees numeric, statistical proof of their intake and they are forced to be accountable for it (by inputting the data) it makes them understand the link as to why weight gain/loss is an issue. After a few months on it, I was able to ween myself a way a bit because I got a better understanding of portion sizes, what food costs in calories, etc but I still use it to help me lose my weight currently.

The best thing about it, though, was the weight loss. It was consistent, slow but steady. Yes, we all want to lose x amount of weight in 1/2y amount of time, but in all honesty, the weight and bad habits didn't get their in one day so it's not going to leave in one day. The funny thing was I was actually eating 1000 calories LESS a day that I should have been to sustain weight loss. Can you imagine that? It made complete sense because my body was always in storage mode and never let me cut weight no matter how hard I dieted or worked out. So once I started eating in the right calorie range & watched my fat/carb/protein ratio (30%/30%/40%) the weight simply just went away on it's own. I was still able to eat whatever I wanted but within moderation and I never found myself starving.

Almost a year later and I lost 20+ pounds of almost pure body fat whereas in diets past I had lost an extreme amount of muscle mass & strength along with weight. I don't do anything spectacular with exercise either other than go at least 3-4 times a week and work hard for an hour or so. The best thing about it was that this "diet" wasn't hard work and it helped me tweak my lifestyle.

[Adam Dayton]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

Of course you can have a food addiction. Anything that changes the chemical makeup of your brain you can have an addiction to- porn, gambling, food etc. When you eat chocolate it triggers an endorphin release in our brain, the "feel good" chemical. For many overweight people, living life can be extremely unrewarding where they never feel emotions that are above neutral, so eating gets them that release they so much lack. Society rejects overweight people, they eat to feel happy, it's a vicious cycle that life loves and only the mentally tough will be able to get out of it. The rest will just live a horrible life until they die. Darwinism at its best.

[elgreazy1]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

On a side note: My fiance used this site too and she is much like me: overweight most of her life. In her case, she was able to lose about 10% of her bodyweight in the same time.

If anything, this "diet" taught us to try to cook better for ourselves. We began to research here and there what were healtheir alternatives. This all didn't happen overnight, mind you, it was simply just making cuts that we could live with. For example: instead of whole beef we used extra lean. You'd be surprised as to the fact it doesn't taste any different. Other small things we changed: regular bread to wheat bread, real soda to diet soda but still in moderation, cooking with alternatives to oils & butters. We were more selective of our fast food & dining out choices... ex: instead of KFC we'd go Chickfila, drop the fries & add a side salad. Obviously we'd avoid deep fried food but every now and then we give in and enjoy it. What's life without some pleasure? We probably dine out still 3-4 times a month and to me, that's still living a normal life.

We still eat and eat like animals but it's much healthier. I mean, even at this point, I'm still eating a 2500 calorie a day diet and that's perfectly fine for someone my size. Every 2 weeks on my weigh in (which you do on the site), i adjust my daily calories and go from there. Slow & steady.

[Cyros]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

Thanks for that link elgreazy.

[elgreazy1]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

Yeah, no problem.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

If you completely cut out all sugar from your diet and exercised 30 minutes a day, I bet you would lose 100 pounds in one year.

How is it possible to cut out all sugar? Even fruits have natural sugar in it.

I think you should cut out all excess sugars like High Fructose Corn Syrup, candy, and other junk.

Thats what I'm currently doing. I'm trying to cut back a lot on sugar but even healthy foods like yogurt, oatmeal, and fruit have sugar.

[Sting]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

How is it possible to cut out all sugar? Even fruits have natural sugar in it.

I think you should cut out all excess sugars like High Fructose Corn Syrup, candy, and other junk.

Thats what I'm currently doing. I'm trying to cut back a lot on sugar but even healthy foods like yogurt, oatmeal, and fruit have sugar.

Yea fruits have a ton of sugar, the good ones do anyway. I love peaches and blackberries. When I'm in "diet mode" doing the low-carb thing, I even cut out fruits. It sucks.

[SPTO]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

I don't eat a ton of food but I tend to eat quite a bit of junk food and such. Luckily my metabolism is fast enough that i'm very slim so it's not a huge deal. It's actually nice once in a while to hear my parents telling me to actually STOP eating so much LOL

If I ever get to the point where I start gaining a ton of weight I can just as easily stop eating. I spent so much of my life not eating that I very nearly became one of those anorexic people with tons of health issues. I've said this before on here but I thank God that I saw that nutrition specialist that scared the crap out of me. If it wasn't for him I don't know where i'd be.

I will back up the OP a bit here that eating food can be an addiction. I find myself wanting to much on something a lot more then I used to and sometimes for no reason at all. I mean I wouldn't be hungry and i'd be scarfing down a bag of chips or cheesies!

[matt8204]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

A couple of things to keep in mind that may be helpful. I know a lot of us like our coffee fix, especially early in the day...but I've read studies indicating that caffeine can be a major appetite stimulant. Might be something to look at if you find that you're always hungry and you drink a lot of Joe. Also, not getting enough sleep can possibly cause you to constantly feel hungry. Apparently, lack of sleep does something to your body that prevents it from telling you that it's full and has had enough food.

[z Revis]

Re: Food Addiction? I think so..

On a somewhat related note - I have friends that are all in good shape. Slim, skinny, whatever you want to say. Me on the other hand, am slightly overweight. I don't consider myself "fat" nor "skinny". I'm sort of in between. Well, I always get pissed off when my friends can somehow chow down on WHATEVER they want and not gain a single pound from it. I can't do that though. I eat way less than any of them and I'm arguably more active, or was when I was in high school(easily), yet I'm the one that's "overweight". Some people have told me I have a slow metabolism. Whatever. I can't for the life of me lose weight either. And I have to sit here and watch what I eat while my skinny/slim friends can eat anything and everything and be in excellent shape. I don't care all that much, just sort of annoying. I've never been one to really care all that much about stuff like this. I'm not really a health freak. And it's not like I'm out of shape or anything. I'm just a bit on the 'heavy' side if you will. It's just a little annoying when my friends can eat twice as much as me, sit on their *** all day, and still look great while I'm the one that was active all through HS(still am, just not as much as I did back then because I played sports in HS) and don't eat nearly as much as they do, yet I'm heavier than all of them.