I need help....

[mean rn]

I am comming back 1 more time. I think about food all the time while i am awake. Food seems to be my life it is what i am living for. As i am eating breakfast i am think about lunch or dinner. I am at wits end. How can something have this much control over me? I am living to eat. I am so disgusted with myself. It sickens me to look in the mirror. Any ideas on how to break this strangle hold food has on me? Paul

[amadeus4313]

I hear you, Paul. I did well for about 3 weeks and then I caved. This forum isn't very active so I haven't been here in a while. I've been trying to find more active support boards. I've been lurking on the "Eating Clean" thread on the Century Club forum. They're talking about a book called "The Solution." I ordered it and a companion book called Pathways. You might like to check out this thread.

EATING CLEAN - Emotional / Compulsive Overating July 5th - 11th

Wishing you well,
Mary

[thunt111]

Paul, I read the book Carbohydrate Addicts Life Program by doctors Richard and Rachael Heller. It is based on curbing your cravings for food and it truly does make you forget to eat. I started 12/20/2003 and now have lost 50 pounds. A strange side effect is I have not drank a beer since two days after I started this program. I used to drink a six pack a day during the week and 6 to 10 per day on the weekends. My doctor wanted me to drink a glass of red wine everyday so I now drink about 6 ounces of red wine a day to raise my triglycerides. I drank beer for 40 years and no one could have convinced me 6 months ago that I would just give it up. Tom Hunt, Atlanta, Ga.

[MaryMary]

meanrn - I had to hit bottom. I felt desparate as if there was no way out and was thinking of surgery as my only alternative, when a coworker told me about Atkins. She said she would help me get started. She did. After a month, I read the book. I went through a couple of stalls, because I reduced my exercise and ate more low carb food. After nearly 3 years on Atkins, I realized that the only way I was going to lose the rest was to treat this compulsive eating as a disease and get help just like an alcoholic would. So I contacted someone on GreySheeters Anonymous and got a sponsor. She gave me a structure low carb food plan. I write down my food and call it into her each night. I attend meetings either in person or through a phone bridge service, weigh and measure my food each day and work the 12 steps to the best of my ability. If you are interested - go to www.greysheet.org. I needed to find solace not just for the physical but for the emotional mental obsession and the spiritual emptiness. I also attend OverEaters Anonymous meetings in our area that also share recovery in the 12 steps. This is not for everyone. Only if you are really desparate and feel no other answer is out there.

[fla gal 57]

Paul, just hang in there and you will lose it.
when i began my low carb diet over 3 yrs. ago i was at my rock bottom, the lowest point i have eve been in my life, i felt like i could never lose this weight but i knew i had to.
when i felt like i couldn't go on anymore fat like i was and was at the bottom of the pits, i hung in there because there was alittle voice that lingered in the back of my mind telling me that i could lose it.
then i just stood up and told myself that i am strong, i can do it, i can lose this weight. i knew i was addicted to carbs because that was all i ever wanted to eat and the more i ate of them the more i wanted of them. so i got on my computer and found the carb addicts site and then the Atkins site and studied every inch of low carb i could find. i knew then that i was turely a carb addict when i read all that there was to read on low carb. i learned what foods to eat and the ones to to not eat. then i went from there. i made a list of foods i could have and posted it in my kitchen and ate only what was on introduction. the first week i lost 10 lbs. to my amazement. i told myself this is working where all others have failed. so i stuck to low carb and week after week the pounds came off.
i am not saying it was all easy, i had my hard times to with cravings but i kept telling myself i am strong, i can do this, so i hung in there from day to day and i kept on losing weight.
i found out that if you give it a few hours or maybe a day the cravings will go away but you have to hang in there and not cheat or it will only make it worse for you.
now i have lost over 100 lbs. and still losing. i am still struggling to but it has been my determination that has kept me going and will continue to keep me going and lose the rest i have to lose and keep it off for life. i have learned that low carb is my best bet on how to lose and keep it off. i have made low carb a life style for me now and not jsut a diet anymore to lose. it has been healthy for me and i haven't felt this good in a long time. i now exercise and plan my menus, keep a food journal and finding it fun to do so.
i no longer struggle to bend over to tie my sneakers or pick
something up off the floor. i can now buy clothes in a normal size and not feel embrassed about going into a public place like i use to be because i can now fit into the booths at a restaurant and into the rides at disney world. i feel like a new person and i know you will to when you lose your weight.
i will be here for you and will help you all i can and i know the others here on this board will be here for you to.
hang in there Paul and you will lose it.

[fla gal 57]

Where are you Paul? Please come back and join us again.
If you need to write someone just send me a pm message ok.
take care of yourself. you are not alone with your problem, there are alot of us here in the same boat as you are.
I know we all here can be of some help to you so please come back ok.
we do care about you , you know.

[JanMarie3]

Paul,

Have you read Atkins book? If so, read it again........Atkins book for me is like my lc bible...........it really encourages me.

I knew I could do this for two weeks, what is two weeks out of your life?

After two weeks, I was so amazed and jazzed about the weight that I had lost that I had to continue...........been doing this for a while now and love the way I feel eating lc.
This is truly my WOL.

Hang in there we are here for ya, for support or whatever