Question for the Experts

[louale]

Hi All,

I'm on day 3 and although I'm not actually hungry or don't fancy any particular food, it is amazing the amount of times I think about or go to put food in my mouth, just make you realise!

I wanted to ask 'the experts' whether this ever goes away, I mean do you still think about food a couple of months down the line? Do you still crave food everyday and just fight off the urge each day, or does this ever go away?

Would be really nice to know if this feeling will go away eventually, or whether I'm going to be fighting the urge to eat each day (even though I'm not hungry and mentally don't want to eat anything, if you know what I mean), which I've got a feeling that I might be lol

Thanks,
Louale x

 

[pete10141748]

Those feelings do go away, partly through the TA and CBT you do in your group over the weeks, partly because within a week you have rid your system of all the leftover crap lurking in it which can cause the cravings, and partly because after being abstinant for a while you start to realise that, hey, you know what, it's *only* food.

I'm not saying that it becomes easy, and yes, some days you will need to have a real strength of mind to not eat something, wether due to stress, or seeing someone else eating, smelling something etc. but it does get easier.

So yes, it will get better, and the fact that you've already noticed just how much you "want" food when you don't want it is great

 

[Poppysparkle]

Hi Louale, congrats on getting through the first few days!

For me personally, I really don't think about food like I used to pre LL - I was always planning on what I was going to eat, eating, or feeling so bloated that I'd eaten so much. My life revolved around food!

Now, I can definitely see someone eat something and not particularly want it. Cooking smells obviously make me think about eating something, but only in a very brief way. Last few weeks for me were the worst, but I think that this was all psychological as I'd been so good in abstaining still all over the festive period that I think I was thinking that I deserved a 'treat' for being so good!! I realised that this is what it was and got through the week unscathed!

FOOD MENTIONED IN NEXT SENTENCE!

I remember in my first few weeks all I want was a piece of steak and some rocket - now this wasn't something that I thought I'd crave, but my LLC said that it was subconciously something that wouldn't necessarily be 'bad' in my mind and quite safe really, ie - piece of protein and some green salad, but it would just make it a step toward to eating something else. This made sense to me and I realised that it was all psychological!

Honestly, it just becomes habit to have your foodpacks and I spend so much less time thinking about food or craving stuff than before.

 

[louale]

Hiya Poppy and Pete,

Thanks so much for answering my post, fell better to know that things will get easier and that it's just not me as you've both been there too.

Will keep fighting the thoughts.

Thanks,

Louale x

 

[pete10141748]

For me personally, I really don't think about food like I used to pre LL

I know what you mean, and isn't it strange?
I tried to explain that when I said

"It's *only* food"

but really I can't explain how it feels, to not have food on the mind all the time, to not plan a day around meals, to not instantly want whatever I see or smell or even just hear about, to not look forward to a night out not because of the company but the fact I was "allowed" to eat nice big meals, to rush dinner as I wanted dessert, to actually MISS food when I wasn't around it, to get distracted from important things like work by worrying that the shop wasn't going to have my favourite sandwhich for lunch, or to always carry extra cash around so I knew I could get something to eat no matter what it was or how much it cost, to make excuses to not go out so I could stay in a pig out, to spend GOD KNOWS how much money simply getting fatter........

and for not one thing on that list to be true anymore, and to not even think about any of it at all.

Literally, the only way I can describe the feeling is this; I used to live to eat, and now I know I am only going to eat to live.

Yes, cheesy and corny as hell, I know, but it sums it up perfectly.
And it's such an amazing feeling, and so worth going through the dificult times to get to.


Best of luck with the rest of your journey, I know you'll make yourself (and the rest of us!) proud

 

[louale]

Awwwww, that's soooo lovely Pete - Thanks!

I can sooo relate to everything you've just listed there, and hope that one day, maybe this summer, I'll be saying the same things to someone else who's just started.

Thanks again,

Louale x

 

[Poppysparkle]

Pete, I concur totally!!! I could have written that post! What the heck was all that about? If I planned to go away anywhere or go out for the day, my first thoughts were what I could eat, where I could eat, or what I'd put in my bag to eat on the way! My fave nights out weren't the pub, but for meals out and a bottle of wine, then once I'd eaten/drank my fill (or overfill!) I'd just want to go home and lie down in my bed. Very, very unsocial. In fact I can't remember the last time I actually went out. I'd rather plan a take away, bottle of wine and some favourite programme on the telly!

Gawd, I do hope I can overcome those feelings for good!

 

[Blonde Logic]

Hi Louale

I found, if I recall, I only felt like that for the first week or two. Once fully into the program, food was merely a passing thought, and generally extremely tolerable.

That will pass. And then thats when it gets blindingly easy.

ANd then you reach a point where you are quite comfortable seeing and smelling food again, because you will have no desire to eat it. After sometime, I watched all the cooking programs - a vicarious thrill. My hubby thought I was torturing myself, but I was quite enjoying it. ANd then I reached the stage where I wanted a good sniff of everyones food!! LOL

Hang in there, it will get easy!

 

[Blonde Logic]

Guys - what pete says about "Its only food" is so true.

When I started RTM I was SO excited to get to eat and taste again! I couldn;t wait. Then, after a day or two, i was like, "OK.......so.......just what exactly was all the build up and excitement for? It's just food!!!" And that was exactly how I felt.

ANd now, 2 weeks post RTM it is still very much that. ANd i hopethat feeling stays forever.

It then becomes quite natural Pete, and not corney at all, to eat to live.

Its amazning the changes the we go through, and you have some wonderful ones to come on your journeys!