Sarah1950's Journal, 03 July 2023

Sarah my love, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Addiction is a disease, whether it be food, alcohol, drugs or whatever activates your obsessions! There is no cure, you are correct on that point. There is only recovery and recovery is a second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day effort. Actually food addiction is more difficult to recover from than alcohol or drugs, because you can avoid them completely to assist with your recovery. Food cannot be avoided so the plan there is to plan your intake in advance and fight the urges, minute by minute. You can make these things a habit after a while by learning your binge triggers and avoiding them. Mine are sugar, bread, pasta and milk. I remember you from my previous sojourns here in this place. We are all older, I would hope we are wiser, but it is never too late to take control of the food rather than the food controlling you. We are here to support you in any WOE you choose to accomplish this my friend! 

Sarah, just know that you are not alone! 💜 Deb is right. Food addiction truly IS harder than drug addiction & we are here to support you in any way you might need. Personally (FOR ME), I have found that, like any other addiction, I can't have just a little of foods that I am addicted to. It only leads to more & more, kinda like a crackhead saying they are going to smoke just a little bit of crack. It just doesn't happen (with me, personally). FOR ME, it's all or nothing. Good luck to you with whatever way you choose to eat, but whatever you do, PLEASE NEVER GIVE UP ON YOURSELF!!! 💜 

A friend once described it as the only addiction you really can't live without. Other addictions you don't have to daily tempt yourself with in order to live and survive. Hang in there. We've all been there and beating yourself up for it doesn't help. If you can find a substitute that satisfies your cravings (often something we are needing in our diet shows up as a weird craving.) For me, the more protein I get the less sugar I crave.  

Thanks to all of you that support me despite my failures. I had yesterday for my pity party, and today I’m back to POSITIVE self talk. All of you grabbed my hand and dragged me off the cliff of 😩 despair. You are the greatest group of kind people. …and Joe, simply extending your hand up, is the hoist I needed to remember what friendship means. Thanks for reminding me who I am. With a smile on my lips, and a song in my heart…I move on.  

Sending you MANY (((HUGS))) and LOTS of LOVE, Sarah!!! 💜 

Glad you’re holding on to your faith. Because it’s not over until God says it is. Everyday is another blessing and opportunity from Him. I know that He can and will give you the strength you need to take care of body, His temple. Don’t give up! Getting 1% better each day is better than tiring yourself out trying to achieve more. Praying for you! 

Sarah, I went back in time and looked at your weight loss chart! It's beautiful and consistent and you have come so far, and unlike the rest of us who jumped ship for years, you have been steady in your attempts. I applaud you!! 👏👏👏👏👏 for trudging through even when things become difficult! You are my hero! 💕💕💕💕 

Never give up on yourself!🙏🙏💐😇 

It looks to me like you've lost 75 lbs. There's nothing to apologize for. We're all human with fits and starts, stumbles and plateaus. 

Sarah its an addiction just like alcohol or drugs. It took my 40 years to accept that. That means you have to find tools to cope with the addiction. There is a lot of support here for when you are having a bad day. What has been working for me (and in the past as well) is banning any food that is unhealthy for me in the hours because i can never ever have just a serving size i must binge the entire amount. I also avoid the store as much as i can but when i go i only go in the aisles that serve my health so produce and protein spices and condiments. Candy aisle chips ice cream etc i never ever go down. Drink 8 oz of water when you feel yourself slipping and eat an apple or piece of fruit immediately after to see if that makes a directional shift in your brain. These are some of the things that work for me. Ask for help. We are all in this together. 

Also, before you ingest something that is not conducive to your weight goal input it into the food journal so you can visually see the calories, fat etc. this may help to deter you. 

Sarah have you seen me post my weight lately? No!! I am exactly like you I’m almost at your age and I too, let the other half of my brain given to cravings. I like you too much to let you give up!!! 🤗 I stay on the app because it brings in some reality to me that I need to be careful and I want to not gain too much. If I get off the app there’s nothing to hold me back from those donuts in the office, the ice cream in the freezer, or the nachos calling my name. Please don’t leave FS stay my friend in together will try to scale it back a bit, and enjoy life, but just not all at once.😁 

You are a Beautiful Child of God! You have made wonderful improvements. We have all had the SEE FOOD-SEEK FOOD days that sometimes extend to weeks. I too subscribe to the don't bring home food that you don't want to eat. You Will Eat It! As I've said many times before, the Only Time you fail is if you quit trying. You've got this. You know what works for you! Remember how good it feels when you are in the groove! Don't forget to congratulate yourself for the good choices. Don't talk to yourself in ways that you wouldn't talk to your friend or loved ones. These tools are some of the best tools in your box. Don't forget to use them!  

Sarah, you are right, there is no cure. That's the really sucky thing about a food addiction. You have to eat to live, right? Live is messy. Life is hard. And an addiction never goes away; we just learn to function without giving into it (hopefully). Likewise, age has nothing to do with it because it's not like you get to a certain age and bam, you no longer have an addiction to battle everyday. Give yourself some grace. As long as you are turning it around, you are winning. And if day to day is too much, try meal to meal. There's no wrong way to do this, except for quitting. And since you haven't quit, Sarah, you're doing just fine. I pray for you to have the strength you need, and the perseverance in the times you don't. 💚 

Whenever I try to go day to day without a plan I almost always end up binging so what I try to do is just have a rough plan in my head of what I’m gonna eat the following day and it usually helps me stay on track. Otherwise I end up not eating actual meals and just snacking the whole day which usually adds up to more than it would have if i’d just eaten a few actual meals. Idk if that seems doable for you but it usually helps me.