I was about 106 and gained hella weight. I’m now 138lbs, unemployed, chose to stop dating, and almost completely apathetic to my life. I’m just going through the motions of a “glow up.” I’m keeping the indeed site up all day, began a workout routine, and I TRY to stay in a calorie deficit, but I have no pleasure in my life outside of eating. Working out is not as good as food, a good book isn’t as good as food. Nothing is “fun” like eating. I stayed in a deficit for 2 lil ass days and I literally had such a hard time saying no to Korean corn dogs at 8pm, that I’m up at 2:32am, waiting like an addict for it to be ok to eat again. Now I’m plotting on bacon and coffee at 6 am on the dot.
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You should water fast without food for 3-5 days to reset your mind-gut connection. You’ll feel better if you can. Your relationship with food sounds more like an addiction. Right now you’re out of balance, you need your cravings to quiet so you can hear your true priorities again. The good thing is it can quiet. You obviously know this path leads nowhere. But your brain is being hijacked by your gut health.
I was like this as well. It’s not so much the addiction to food but more so the addiction to dopamine that food causes, which is why diets were so hard for me to sustain. I then tried Mounjaro (similar to Ozempic but better) and ever since then the addiction to dopamine is gone. I do still enjoy food and can look forward to a meal but it’s now tamed and normal. If you can afford it (it’s quite expensive) it’s worth checking out if you have a lot of weight to lose.
I feel this so hard. It’s like every part of life lost its flavor except food, and no matter how much you try, the pull is relentless. You’re not weak, you’re human, and surviving that constant tug is exhausting.
Food can easily become the main source of comfort when everything else feels dull. It is okay to crave those moments of pleasure but finding balance is key. Maybe try small rewards for sticking to your goals and focus on progress, not perfection. You are working hard and that is what matters most right now.
Honestly, I get it. Food really does feel like the only joy sometimes
L’idée avec le déficit calorique c’est justement de pouvoir manger ce que l’on veut sans ce sentir frustré.
En comptant tes calories tu peux manger un hot dog si pour le repas d’après tu manges un peu moins. Avoir conscience de ce que tu manges c’est vraiment la partie la plus importante.
Sinon profite d’être au chômage pour aller marcher ! Faire 10K pas par jours (à peu près 1h/1h30 de marche) devrait être le minimum et ça permet d’augmenter ta dépense calorique sans trop te fatiguer.
L’idée de ce tenir sur le long terme, alors fait toi plaisir en quantité raisonnable et augmente ta dépense journalière pour augmenter le déficit.
Je suis ouvert au MP si besoin 🙂 Je suis en déficit depuis plus de 2 semaines , et ce n’est pas la première fois que je fais ça. La dernière fois, il y a quelque année j’avais réussi à perdre quasiment 20kg en 8 mois !
This is really tough OP so firstly please don’t berate yourself for going through this. Food noise and food addiction is a real and very difficult thing. I have struggled so much with binge eating and then binge obsessive workouts and diets. So I feel this very much.
Now, pls take this as a suggestion and not advice and definitely not medical advice, but the only thing that helped me was going on a glp1 medicine. I have lost weight and controlled my blood sugar, but the best thing has been the obsessive thoughts about food have gone. Now again, please speak to a medical professional before making any decisions about this, but I just wanted to let you know that it’s an option. It doesn’t fix everything, but it gives your brain a break and gives you the opportunity to make good decisions.
You’ll have to continue to diet and exercise and you have to be in calorie deficit in order to lose anything, but the meds just really help in taking the willpower problem out of the equation.
In any case, know that the struggle is real and you are no lesser because you are fighting it.
food really can feel like the only joy sometimes. Be gentle with yourself, small steps still count
This is so real, my advise is right now focus on nourishing your body. Worry about what you’re eating, not how much. I know not everyone will agree with this but I promise you, if you’re eating nutritious, whole foods, you will still lose weight!
I felt like this during the pandemic lockdowns. I got COVID in January 2021 and lost my smell and taste for a few days, and I remember telling my mother that if they never came back (something that has happened to some people), “my life almost wouldn’t be worth living anymore.” It sounds really dramatic now, and I meant for it to be at least a little dramatic then (I was very upset with her for being the plague-rat who got us all sick because she just had to go to that New Year’s party, and it seemed to me that she did not feel appropriately guilty about this, and that therefore, even though I had just stopped being a teenager a few days earlier, some melodramatic teenageness was warranted), but it was also a genuine expression of my emotional state. I did really feel like that, at least at moments. I was terrified that they wouldn’t come back – because during 2020, I had nothing, nothing in my life. Food was one of my only joys. I gained about 40 pounds during 2020. Even now, nearly five years on, I’ve only lost about half of it (oof).
For me personally, intermittent fasting has and is working well. I was always eating and snacking at night – ice cream, chips/crackers, a grilled cheese, maybe just a bowl of cereal. Like you, eating is one of my life’s few pleasures and I think denying yourself can be as dangerous as multi-day fasting. So I try to consume the majority of my calories by 2pm, then I don’t eat again until 6am so 16 hrs is the sweet spot for me. Some people prefer to eat later in the day but fast until noontime – but I don’t like skipping breakfast.
I’ve been back to doing this for about 2 mos and am down 12-14 lbs. It takes a little getting used to, but I drink a lot of water and teas if my tummy is rumbling.
My only advice is, if you wanna scarf down food, go lift weights too. Then you can call it a bulk and it’s all good 🙂
Personally, I think your height and age may give a lot more info. I totally get LOVING food and CRAVING FOOD. I feel like it comes with the hormonal changes womxn have every month. I think height and age are a good way of asking yourself “what is a healthy range for those categories?” NOT BMI MAPPING (that shit is whack and an unhealthy height:weight ratio) but if you’re 25 years old or older and are over 5 feet you’re honestly doing great. Almost 40lbs may feel like a lot but puberty and adulthood do a lot to your body and it may be a normal amount to gain as you grow!
Ugh I was just unemployed for so long. You’re in an okay spot if you’re still looking forward to eating! Food is a joy of life. I totally get it. Have you thought about getting a food service job in the meantime? I always loved working at coffee shops and bakeries when I was a teen and returned to it when I got laid off from my science job.
I need to lose weight to improve some health issues. I’ve set a fasting goal as a kick start. Well, today is a day I can eat and last night I was planning exactly what I wanted. Eating really is a pleasure that becomes addictive. But, I can’t believe I just fasted without even thinking about it, though.
I’m so serious here, the best thing to do is to just stop eating processed food. I’ve always felt the same as you, food has always been the one thing I know I can look forward to. I was overweight for a long time and I just didn’t care because I didn’t see another way to get that kind of joy in my life. Then it started to catch up with me and I felt very sick. I couldn’t get out of bed most days, I lost my job, I had no motivation to do anything but eat.
Dieting, fasting, restrictions in general have never worked for me. When I was younger I probably even had an eating disorder because I was just taking it way too far.
Processed foods are so bad for you even in a calorie deficit. Our body digests them in a completely different way than unpossessed foods. Eat whatever you want, get really into cooking. Don’t be afraid of butter. Meat, cheese, vegetables, fruit. It’s all good and don’t let the fad diet people tell you different. It the pasta, rice, chips, anything that goes to factory before it gets to you. They strip out the fiber from the food so you lose a bunch of nutrients and the carbs are way more readily integrated in the bloodstream.
You can eat more unpossessed foods at the same calorie amount as the processed ones and not only will you feel more full, but your body can’t even digest everything with so much fiber.
Fasting is important too, but don’t push yourself, 12 to 8pm is a great place to be.
Hey I felt this way too, if it’s any consolation. Days 1-3 are hard. Days 4-7 are a little easier, you won’t feel as hungry. By Day 14, your hunger has almost completely subsided & you’ll turn your nose up to food that you would have looked forward to before.
You CAN do this, all you have to do is believe in your own willpower. I believe in you!
I feel like i can do good for a while and stay on my diet but it gets so boring and bland once i have that little taste of sugar im hooked again and gain weight and the cycle goes on and on..
I feel for you. One time, I was so depressed, it curbed my hunger. I wouldn’t feel hungry or thirsty so I only ate a small meal just to keep appearances. I knew it was bad when i wasn’t hungry after not eating for 2 days so I knew I had to eat. In the span of 3 weeks, I went from 220 to 185 and honestly, I wished I had that depression again cause I’m back to 210 and wish to go back. I was in a bad place but what got me through was hey, at least this depression made me lose alot of weight. Truly one of the best and worst experiences of my life. The feeling of looking at delicious food and not batting an eye was so surreal.
I was super healthy, like cold shower and breathing exercise every morning, juiced fresh veggie juice daily, did intermittent fasting and exercised daily. It was great. Then I lost my job and subsequently my apartment. A relative passed away and had a house in deplorable state. Family said I could have it if I rehabbed it. I didn’t have any alternative, so I had to move and renovate a house by myself without a kitchen or bathroom. I got a gym membership for a shower and was using a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet lid attachment as a bathroom.
I became super depressed and did not have the time, energy, or finances to carry on my healthy routine. I could barely guarantee i would have a shower when I needed it. The only thing that got me out of bed was the thought of coffee and some sort of store bought, sugar laden baked good. I did have the time or energy to sugar detox and the high calorie and high sugar food was the only thing giving me endorphins and energy at the time. Eventually, the renovations stopped, I had access to a kitchen and bathroom. I was able to do a sugar detox and take the time to rest and recover and build back my routine. The weight I gained from the renovation came off, and my depression eased up when I had a stable home life and found a job.
Life happens. Sometimes life gives you a pooch or a bear belly along with depression that just makes you want to bed rot and you just have to slog through it until you’re at a point where you take care of it in the future. It sounds like things are rough for you right now and you need to be kind to yourself. If drinking coffee and rating bacon is what gives you modicum of happiness, keep it and address another area of life that you can improve. When other things improve and you’re more stable, then you can address the food issues. I wish you luck. Depression sucks.
I’m not an expert but this sounds similar to my own experience. Try reducing/stopping eating added on sugars (I’m not talking about natural sugars, those are good) especially excessive sugary foods. You’ll literally start going through withdrawals and then you’ll start feeling amazing after a couple weeks/months.