For those of you fellow dopamine eaters on a weight loss journey… HOW did you do it?!
Diet & ExerciseI've lost 100 pounds and maintained that weight loss for several years, plus or minus some holiday splurges or occasional stress eating.
I focus on a whole foods diet. It helps that, if I binge too much, I start to feel physically AND mentally slow. I try to remember that feeling if I'm ever tempted.
Lots of self-compassion helps. I re-listen to this audiobook if I'm ever struggling with that. It's helped me tremendously. https://youtu.be/Qr5qmQxiutw?si=noudDM8CEqQp3CiV
I also found an exercise I really enjoy: walking. I go on a walk almost every day, weather permitting. It's important to find the exercise and food plan that works for you, we're all different.
I learned to reward myself with healthy things based on time. Just 20 more minutes and I can eat all the cotton candy grapes I want. I’m hungry for chips so I’ll plan a baked potato with dinner. Honestly it taught me to appreciate lighter tastes in things and that made me a whole new kind of happy. It broke me of things like soda forever.
Getting the right kind of carbs is so important. I started eating potatoes at every meal and my food cravings vanished.
Thank you for reminding me potatoes exist :')
Potatoes are so underrated!!
There was a study done that found potatoes to be the most satiating food. So, hell yeah!
Get the trigger foods out of the house. Delete door dash and uber eats. Rearrange my fridge so that veggies and fruits aren’t in a drawer but instead in the door so they’re the first thing i see when i open it. Not all produce needs to be refrigerated so lots of it is now in little boho macrame hanging baskets so i will see it and go for it first. Also learning to season vegetables was huge for making me actually want to eat them. I get a lot of dopamine from textures, so making sure i have “healthy options” that will satisfy this (carrots and nuts for crunchy, different fun nut butters for smooth) and make me not feel guilty. Portion sizes are probably this biggest change to make and the hardest one to do with out tangability- i use a food scale.
Being able to SEE the healthy things I enjoy and want to eat was a huge game changer for me too!
I haven’t 😭
Id give you an award if I had money left over from buying snacks
Ditto
Me either even though I've tried multiple times. I succeeded in losing 17 lbs between October and March. Then I got burnt out and frustrated with tracking my good and stopped. Last I checked I'd gained 5lbs back. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do moving forward.
I lost and gained weight a few times in my 20s. I was thin when I met my husband, then we immediately had 2 babies within the first 2 years we were married and I gained a lot and never lost it. I go back and forth between wanting to lose weight because we are supposed to be thin, and feeling like fuck that stupid societal pressure. Ultimately I just want to not hate my body and I have no idea how to do that.
Mounjaro (tirzepatide) - I finally stopped binge eating. I’ve struggled with my weight since I was 8 years old and this is the first thing that works for me.
Me too sister!!!! Changing my life for reals.
Yes!!
Well I have PCOS and hashis as well (fun 🫠), but I’m doing it with Vyvance, metformin, spironalactone, synthroid, and Ozempic (tapering off the Oz now).
I can’t recommend enough getting your insulin response and thyroid checked. I spent so long thinking I was “weak” when it turned out I had pretty severe physiological problems making my hunger cues totally out of control. No amount of “eat less” or “eat the right foods” was going to do it lol
Pcos here too, metformin really helps me regulate food noise related to carb/sugar cravings. Ritalin helps further. Still have a lot of food noise, I consciously have to tell myself things like “finish your water bottle and then see if you’re hungry or bored.” I also change the flavors and types of water I have very frequently to keep things shaken up.
Agree with getting insulin levels checked!
Hold up - does spironolactone help with food noise?
I’m not sure tbh. I just listed everything that treats my PCOS, which I feel like in turn treats my insane appetite. I think there’s a fair bit of anecdotal evidence of it helping drop some weight though
It helped my adult acne! And decreased some annoying body hair 🙃
Ozempic. I cannot believe people just exist without dopamine seeking regarding food. I finally get how people do this. They’re just not food crazy. They don’t think about it!
Same. I’m paying privately for Wegovy, that and elvanse combined is the only thing that has worked and I’m losing about 1lb a week so it’s not crazy dangerous weight loss either.
Any advice for bringing this up to my doctor? I’m worried they won’t take me seriously. Also is Ozempic available rn or is there only the duplicate ones? 💗
I read somewhere if your bmi puts you into the obese category and you haven't been able to lose 10% of your body weight within a year without external help they should be open to prescribing medication for weight loss. I havent take ozempic but when I was being diagnosed and started on wellbutrin I could no longer overeat, when I was full I could not take another bite of food so if they are resistant to ozempic that might be another good option to ask about for hunger regulation.
My sister could *maybe* stand to lose 5 lbs, and her doc asked if she’d considered weight loss drugs. Fricking Los Angeles.
Yes, wellbutrin helped me. We actually had leftover Halloween candy nearly a year later because I didn't stuff it all down my throat in a couple of weeks. I just...felt no craving for candy. I still craved other things (and sugar), but candy was no longer a problem.
Be open to other versions. Wegovy has been proven to be more effective for weightloss AND it's easier to get.
I am on this for blood sugar reasons and while I wasn’t necessarily interested in losing weight, boy has it happened. I am still adjusting to it and feel sick a lot. Really hoping that tapers off soon
Compounded is most affordable and available. I just started Tirzapatide as Semaglutide (compounded ozempic) made my adhd meds work less and made me so tired. If Semaglutide or ozempic is too tough on your stomach/mood try Tirzapatide. Tons of info available about both on Reddit.
As someone that worked on the tirzepatide vs semaglutide studies, I recommend trying Tirzepatide too. The label approved for weight loss is called Zepbound, although it’s the same as Mounjaro (the diabetes kind)
Going to dm you with a question!
Where do you get the compounded version? I’ve looked up a few places but I’m afraid they’re sketchy.
There's a bunch of legit telehealth places. Ro and Mochi are two of them, there's others as well.
LifeMD is another
My PCP wasn’t thrilled about the idea of getting insurance to approve Wegovy, so I ended up going through WW’s clinic, Sequence. It was a very smooth process, took about a week from the initial appointment to picking it up at the pharmacy. I’m just lucky that my insurance covers it, my copay is $15. I’m still on a low dose, which means minimal side effects and a very slow weight loss, which I am happy with. It makes it a little easier to not stress eat, and I get full a little bit faster.
Ozempic is for diabetes and (IMO) no good doctor would prescribe it to non-diabetics. If you’re obese (which really doesn’t take much), I doubt your doc will give you any trouble. I’m definitely obese - I asked and I received.
Thank you for helping the Danish economy, but on a serious note it sounds like it is helping you, happy to hear.
the obscene amount of pleasure I would get from eating everything from cakes and ice cream to very mundane foods evaporated the day I started taking Vyvanse. All my go tos when I’m feeling crappy or sad or stressed like ice cream and cakes no longer light up the pleasure centres in my brain.I unknowingly used food as a coping strategy for close to 40 years, the day I took vyvanse is the day food stopped working. My preoccupation with food and planning my next meals and what I will eat hour to hour ended. My weight has stabilized, no more fluctuations. I have focused on eating lots of protein and low carb and sugar and I’m feeling much better. Maintaining a healthy BMI for 2 years and feeling happy.
It's amazing realizing when it's literally just chemicals. It's not lack of effort — our brains crave that stimulation!
This. Adderall stopped me from being preoccupied with food. I haven’t changed my diet (still eating pizza and takeout often) and don’t skip meals. I’m just no longer looking to food to keep me busy or happy! I lost 10lbs on my own before starting Adderall by calorie counting and it felt like torture. Another 30lbs just melted off after. I can acknowledge when I’m full and find something else to do if I’m bored. For me, missing a dose brings back my binge eating immediately.
For awhile strattera and vyvanse did this for me, it's still much better than it was not medicated, but I'm still finding myself craving and eating too much junk food. I know part of it is smoking pot at night, so I've been working on that and finding it really hard to quit. I need to focus on better coping to regulate at the end of the day. I get so upset with myself and feel so ashamed that I'm still struggling even on meds. I also exercise fairly intensely and that does give me an appetite. I'm not sure if I'm just using that as an excuse, but it feels very difficult trying to eat in a deficit while also doing weight training. It got even worse shifting to more kettlebell style training because there's an endurance/cardio aspect to that too. I'm proud of my exercise habit and pissed at myself for not getting my diet under control.
Awh go easy on yourself! That’s great you’re working out. With high intensity exercise you probably need to up your protein to keep your body happy. If you’re doing weight training you may need to look into your diet and adjust your protein/carb levels. upping my protein levels seems to help keep my blood sugar levels steady and I have noticed this in turn keeps my mood more stable
Adderall lol. It's the only thing that helped me resist the urge to self medicate with massive amounts of sugar all day every day, and I managed to lose 50lbs!
Increase protein and fiber. Counted calories. Lifted weights. I had the most success with a program that had a Facebook group plus a Zoom meeting once a week.
Me and my close friends all wanted to lose a bit of weight so downloaded the same calorie counting app (lose it) and just documented everything in a separate WhatsApp chat group with each other. Share food ideas, helped each other logging bits and just took it slow. I managed 2 stone in a year which was slow and steady. I’ve managed to stay at the same weight now for about 6 months just by eating better meals so I don’t have as much space for snacks. I still snack on crap but try to be more conscious of it and reach for grapes or strawberries instead of chocolate if I can bear it. Not perfect in anyway but it’s done me ok so far.
Fasting, cut out breakfast that I’d been eating for years (which was cereal), juicing until dinner. I’ve fell off the wagon though of course. I blame Scottish winter triggering comfort eating!
I think we get the Scottish winter here in Chicago too. There's just something about the gray days that make eating more comforting. Like a cozy blanket for your belly.
Intermittent fasting, AND going for the dopamine.
So it's fine to have to cookies etc, but only within the window where I'm eating, after I've had my regular breakfast. In reality it meant I was just not hungry enough to make the tasty thing 'worth it'.
It didn't feel like I was denying myself anything, no longer that'should I, or shouldn't I' discussion. When I want to, I indulge. Lost 30 kilos that way.
It needed to not be a diet, but a sustainable life style change. I'm not going to never eat cookies again, so that 'rule' could never work.
Joined the bariatric program at my local hospital. Lost 40lbs on a monitored diet (because I can't disappoint someone else or waste their time!) And then lost another 70lbs after having gastric sleeve surgery. I did have a rough patch recently and gained about 30lbs back, but the cause of that no longer applies so I'm hoping I'll be able to turn it around again.
As a bariatirc patient myself, what can I learn from you about avoiding regain? I am 3 years post op and still somehow losing here and there, but more or less done. I know the threat of regain is always lurking around the corner.
I'm only 2.5 years post-op and stopped losing at the 6 month post-op point. I was able to maintain that weight for around a year, but my diet got bad again because I had to start working really bad hours; flipping back and forth between starting at 6am or starting at 9pm because a lot of my coworkers left my workplace. Having to frequently flip my sleep schedule around made it so that I was constantly physically and mentally exhausted and did not have the energy to exercise and lost some of the willpower to stick to a healthier diet over emotional eating. Then I injured my back and had to get a steroid injection, got and recovered from my first bout with COVID, and then had a spinal fluid leak all in the past 6 months. It's been a great 2024 so far. lol Thankfully I'm off of that horrible work schedule rotation, so once I stop having vertigo from the spinal fluid leak, I'll be able to start exercising again. The most recent 10lbs of regain was due to being bedridden for most of a two month period between the COVID and then figuring out that I had the spinal fluid leak and getting it treated. The regain had been very slow before all that happened.
Oof, you have been through a lot!
The 6 month mark was where I stopped losing too, at which point my team put me on ozempic and offered me appetite suppressants. I didn’t want to take appetite suppressants, because I knew my appetite wasn’t the problem. I was, however, open to trying stimulants meant for ADHD, since I knew I had it and had tried unsuccessfully to use them in the past when I was heavier. Since Vyvanse was approved to help with BED, they were able to get me on that. I am sure the appetite suppression of it has helped, but I am convinced that the elimination of the need to seek dopamine via food is the biggest reason it helped me continue to lose. I don’t think most bariatric programs do enough to tell us that most of us stop losing around 6 months without additional interventions, or that ADHD contributes to overeating as much as it does! I don’t think BED is an issue I had, but dopamine seeking via snacking and cooking as a hyperfocus and craving rich flavors for high sensory input absolutely did.
Yeah, unfortunately I was already on Adderall so they couldn't offer me anything for appetite suppression when I went back for my 1 year follow up and hadn't lost any additional weight since my 6 month follow up. I have thought about asking about Ozempic at my next follow up, though, since I do have PCOS that's very likely the insulin resistance type. I also need to have my thyroid levels checked again to see if my levothyroxine dosage is still working since that hasn't been checked since 2022.
If you have PCOS and hypothyroidism no wonder you stopped losing! Levo never did anything for me, I had to switch to Armour thyroid and see a naturopath who runs allllll the tests. Hopefully your doctor is treating more than your TSH! Ozempic has been an absolute godsend for me, both for helping me lose weight but also with the food cravings and most of all, managing my Lipedema and associated inflammation. I have never been pre diabetic but my insulin levels have been rather elevated and I was definitely getting closer with every year, and my numbers are truly perfect now with the ozempic. My insurance stopped covering it since I’m not diabetic, so I use a compounding pharmacy to fill my prescription. I can only say this anecdotally but I believe it helps with my ADHD symptoms as well, particularly around impulsivity.
Thanks for the info! I was Prediabetic before surgery, but I haven't been since then, at least not since my 2 year followup last fall. I do have really good insurance though, so maybe they'd still cover Ozempic. I'm going to try reigning in my diet and exercising more first, so hopefully that will work and I won't need it, but we'll see.
If they cover weight loss drugs they may cover the versions meant for that, wegovy and zepbound. Good luck!
I made calorie counting my obsession then nearly became anorexic (food started scaring me) then took years to love myself again.
Last time I lost weight for my wedding, I took my time, ate more than 1600 a day, and lifted weights instead of cardio.
eat the same amount of meals, but shrink them
I hope I can do that, my food noise gets so loud and I love the feeling of feeling full 😭
r/volumeeating may help
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eat fibre and protein avoid sugar and excess sodium they promote hunger, fibre and protein makes you feel more full
also vegetables are a really good supplement food you'd have to eat like 12lb of broccoli to get to your daily calories, have some broccoli, mushrooms etc with your meal you'll feel really full
Bioenergetic diet. Look up jay Feldman wellness. My doc turned me onto it. Been a game changer. I’ve been on a diet since 1991.
The only thing that worked for long term was keto because everything is yummy when it’s full fat. I also eat like a toddler so I liked being able to to buy keto bread and eating lots of cheese sandwiches 😂
HELL YEAH. It’s all about finding things to indulge in. I can’t have sweets but I can have all the butter I want. Plus eliminating sugar helps regulate hormones and therefore neurotransmitters.
i turned my ravenous consumption impulse to audiobooks about emotional eating and trauma recovery. and then books about fasting. and then i identified all of the ritual behaviors i was unconsciously enacting that lead to foods in order to start recognizing and dismantling them.
and then while i fasted in order to aggressively break my relationship and chemical dependencies with various foods, i start consuming media that made me viscerally hate the industry that makes those foods. being able to "have an enemy" gave me something to channel your anger and discomfort into. i think that probably helped a lot for m personally.
i still had the emotional eating impulse at the end, but i used it to get hooked on a bunch of healthy dishes that me and my wife regularly make together. and now those dishes give me the same serotonin blast as the old junk i used to eat lol
that's what worked for me 🤷♀️ took me about two years to reach the end of that road. compared to the 33 years that preceded it tho i rckon that's probably still a pretty fast turn around.
What were some of your favorite books?
it's been a while so i don't remember exact titles, but hit me with a reply to this so i don't forget to compile those for you next time i get a minute. there are kind of a lot lol
"Appetite for Profit" by Michelle Simon is a super good narrative/ expose read that is great for directing your anger elsewhere. spoiler: government and the healthcare industry want you to be sick and frustrated bc it's great for consumerism.
While it's helpful to understand the unfair manipulation behind processed food (and the food industry in general) I will preface that going deep in that realm can be a bit frustrating and can elicit some feelings of powerlessness. Overall I think it is a noble pursuit however, because it will help you to become a more educated informer, even when the manipulation experts win some times.
I'd also plug "The Pleasure Trap" by Lisle and.. goldstein, I think? It's an explanation of the evolutionary mechanisms that subconsciously motivate our (perception of) agency in decision making concerning consumption/ dopamine behaviors. Essence: the brain evolved to seek high dopamine producing food and activities for as little energy exertion as possible, and in today's landscape that evolutionary mechanism contradictorily works to our detriment due to the availability of low quality dopamine for too little (if any) energy exertion that would otherwise counteract the intake.
Thank you!!! I’ve worked in the sustainable food industry for years so I’m already fairly steeped in that brand of powerlessness and despair lol. But I haven’t heard of either of these books. I will check them out! I remember a few years ago reading about “vanishing caloric density” with like Cheetos, your brain thinks you’re not eating anything because they disintegrate so quickly in your mouth. Our lizard brains don’t stand a chance against this stuff.
This is how I stopped drinking too… once I went deep in the science and learned what was actually happening to my body and brain the appeal kinda went away. But it took a long time too to dismantle everything I thought I believed (alcohol relaxes you etc.). Appreciate these recs!
Weight Loss Surgery and therapy for binge eating. 70% of ADHD will develop B.E.D. Cause the easiest task to complete is cleaning a plate.
How was your surgery? How far out are you? I have an initial appointment with a surgeon in a few weeks.
I'm close to 2.5 years out from RNY. The surgery was easy compared to all the mental work I had to do afterwards. I never realized how much I used food and the literal act of eating (chewing really) as a self soothing action when I'm stressed. When I couldn't eat post surgery, my brain had to deal with me feeling ALL THE THINGS AT ONCE, and it broke a little bit. Thank GOD my spouse is amazing and I have a great support network of friends and family who all loved me, in spite of my raging bitchness. I also got my ass into therapy within a few weeks of surgery once I realized my previous relationship with food was abusive and unhealthy. The surgery is only 30% of the job and is the easiest part. Learning to make better choices, keep on top of your meds, your water, your protein, your movement, hell even my bowel movements have been things I've had prioritize on top of my high stress job and normal adult things. I've gained back some weight in the last 6 months (15-20 lbs depending on day), but over all I'm (still) down 120 from my highest weight and I feel 100x better physically today than I did the day before my surgery.
Do a ton a research thru reddit, youtube, tiktok, etc before you get surgery so you can mentally start to be prepared cause it is a WHOLE LIFE change, at least for the first 6 months as your body heals and you basically have to relearn how to eat and drink everything in moderation and smallness. I can eat pretty much everything now no issue and eat 1.5-2 cups of food at a time. I just have to make sure those foods are nutritious and not junk unless I wanna suffer the worst pain in my whole (child-free) life for 1-3 hours trapped on a toilet with my head in a basket.
I definitely am doing lots of research. I have about half a dozen close friends who have had the surgery and they’re all in my corner which feels awesome. I do worry a bit about my husband, but he says he’s totally in my corner. I’ve requested we start couples therapy if I decide to do the surgery. I have an appointment for me to start therapy in a couple of weeks.
I have some concerns I plan to address with my surgeon. Namely my severe texture aversions. I was looking at a sample “soft foods” diet and realized I only eat about 30% of the things on it, and actively avoid the other 70%. I chew a lot of gum, bc I have an oral fixation that I can’t always ignore. I also almost exclusively drink through straws, which I know they discourage, at least for a while. Giving up caffeine and carbonation will be VERY difficult for me, but I’m actively cutting back already in preparation. I despise cooking, so I’m a bit worried about what I’ll feed myself lol.
Soft foods is only for about 1 month and after you go thru the liquid diet, you will be ecstatic for any food, even texture less foods. I chew gum like crazy and do straws fine. Carbonation made me feel bad before surgery and after it’s worse. If I want a soda or bubbly water, I let it go flat and drink it the next day. As long as you are ok with eating the same thing for a couple days in a row, eating out becomes awesome cause you can make 1 meal into 5 lunches with no cooking.
Also I still have caffeine. As long as you reach your water goals, you can caff.
Mounjaro - it turns off the food noise in my brain
i really enjoyed this part of mounjaro but by week 4, it was making me burp about once per minute and it was pure sulfur smelling lmao, combined with stomach flu symptoms, that was enough for me for sure
I had that but only for one day (I’m on week 7). I think it was in reaction to something I ate. It was awful, so if you were having that all the time I can see why you stopped. I had a couple of queasy days when I first started then when I increased the dosage but it’s been well worth it.
I didn't for the longest time, and then i got sick a couple weeks ago and now i have almost no appetite. Plus my medicine supress my hunger. I've gone from overeating to almost not eating cus i get nauseous easily now ;-;
Tbh it's not ideal cus i want to build muscle and loose fat, but because i can't eat a lot i can't put on a lot of muscle lol. So from one problem to the other 😂
This happened to me, I got gallstones and my appetite disappeared lol. No more dopamine when food makes you nauseous
I use a calorie tracker to track everything, and I often plan what I'm gonna eat for the day in the app. This time around, I'm weighing myself every single day. Doing that keeps me motivated and on track. I've always feared the scale so part of this is about overcoming that, but also seeing direct effects of how well I've stuck to the diet the previous day. I also usually have one day per week I allow myself to go kinda crazy as a reset.
I recently started chewing gum while I work and it's really driven down my snacking. For me, it's the sensory stimulus of having something to chew.
Just found different snacks. I’m currently obsessed with popcorn. I have multiple bags of it. A lot less calories than the bags of chips I was pounding. I also drink a lot of cold brew coffee throughout the day which helps my focus and kills my appetite. I get a dopamine kick from a good coffee. Dinner time I don’t have an answer for ha ha. I still pound the food into me like it’s my last meal. My husband is too good of a cook
Sugar free jello! A trick I learned from David Sedaris. Each one has like 5 calories or you can make your own and the boxes have like 30 calories? I try not to think about the chemicals.
Cheese. Dark chocolate. Upped my protein to as many grams as day as I am pounds. Super low carb diet that has actually helped me mentally and physically. Eating so much protein though is really the thing that helped the most. I am very “treat” oriented but when I eat enough protein I don’t even want a treat, which honestly I don’t believe it as I type it either, but it’s true.
TL;DR: Eating crunchy veggies and weightlifting are key for me.
I swing wildly between forgetting I have a body for hours at a time to absolutely needing to eat crunchy things to be able to focus on watching tv without doing 20 other things.
Carrots, celery, and other crunchy raw veggies are easy for me. Popcorn is another good one if I want to put a lil effort in (it would be zero effort if I liked the premade stuff but I don’t so I make mine the hard way).
I have struggled with disordered eating so I can’t go on a diet of any kind. I eat what I want and that’s usually pretty healthy because eating shit makes me feel like I got hit by a truck.
I could do cardio all day and gain weight. My metabolism was set to “cockroach” before I was born. I am indestructible. If I do not move heavy things I will gain weight.
Vyvanse helped stop the cravings, but it wasn’t until the weather got nice again and I could go on multiple long walks a day outside before I started seeing results. Having a dog helps because she LOVES walks I can’t say no to those puppy dog eyes. And a walking buddy to chat with (my partner). I have a small walking pad and an indoor bike but it’s like my food cravings have been replaced by the desire to be outside. It helps that I live near a park.
I started baking, and then made larger quantities. Like, my recipe for cinnamon rolls is for 12 rolls, I cut them into 16. Brownies go from 9 to 12. Suddenly my 300 calories treat is a somewhat more reasonable 200 calorie treat, and I make room for one of these daily.
My partner and I have a treat each with coffee/tea in the afternoon, so I can't sneak more or we'll run out sooner and also I'll have to bake more sooner or else neither of us have a snack treat. The pressure and accountability helps.
To fit in the snack and not have to think too much about dinner, breakfast is always the same, lunch mostly the same. Tried to aim for high protein, tiny calorie lunches.... I ate a lot of cottage cheese. (As a bonus, adding protein can help with ADHD.) But the protein helped a lot with fullness.
I also found some low cal snacks. If I make plain popcorn with salt, it's just as yummy fresh and hot, and not a lot of calories considering the volume. I can also spice these up if I want to.
Also, rice cakes. Found one that's covered in caramel and tastes exactly like caramel corn, but is only 50 calories.
Finally, I found it easier to focus on not gaining vs losing.
As long as I ate under my daily calorie needs, I was good. If I wanted to eat a lot under, great. If I snacked a ton and just barely stayed under, still a success. The added flexibility without feeling like I cheated or went 'over' the line made every day feel a lot more successful, and easier to stick to.
Vyvanse, Ozempic, and weight loss surgery. I had the surgery first, the drugs came later. Vyvanse blew my mind when I realized how much I was eating for dopamine! The combo of all 3 helped me lose over 150 lbs and go from a size 24/26W at 5’1” to a size 2 as of last week. Absolutely life changing and there is no way I could have done it without any one of these tools.
1mg of Dexmethylphenidate every morning after breakfast does this trick to me. I don’t think about food all the time anymore—such liberation.
Intermittent fasting! I lost 60 lbs and have kept it off for 3 years so far
Vyvanse. I've been a yo yo Dieter for 35yrs. I've gained and lost 80pounds 2x. I have never gone so long without thinking about food as on vyvanse. It's like the food obsession thoughts are gone.
Mounjaro
Medication helps. I had to get off the nonstimulant I was on but it was the easiest 4 lbs I lost. It's a bummer because it IS just my brain... But outside of that, grapes, fruit in general, replacements, and staying NO at the grocery store (vs saying no when the food is already at your home) helps a lot.
Also, halo top ice cream.
Medical cannabis
I'm either starving or binging. Now that the sun is shining more I'm more in a starving-cycle. But once winter hits I'll be hibernating and therefore eating a lot
I lost 80lbs and reversed my type 2 diabetes with a whole food, plant based diet. I have to stay on it for the rest of my life or the diabetes will come back. The only way I was successful was to be open about needing help with food to my partner. He also needed to lose 50lbs and needed help with food. Then, I made the diet, and veganism, a hyperfixation. We did it all together, menu planning, cooking, even cheats. When he reached his goal, I lost momentum. I need to lose another 20 but can't do it on my own
Intermittent Fasting helped. I hate counting calories, so I count grams of protein and stop eating by around 6/7pm. Eat at 11am/12pm the next day.
I try to eat as much as I can early in the day and snack on little things over the course of the day. Everything needs to have protein.
Other things that helped immensely are fiber (veggies, or even a half cup of oats) and good cardio (at least 30 minutes on a treadmill).
Getting on ADHD meds helped me a lot. I still have an appetite and could eat all day long if I allowed myself but meds have really impacted my impulsivity. I struggled a lot with food noise and binge eating for the last few years but after starting meds I have been able to eat in a calorie deficit consistently for the first time. Meds have not completely stopped the food noise but something I do to help myself is recognizing that I would always binge eat after 5pm so now I continue to eat the bulk of my calories after 5pm to satisfy my brain since I was already used to eating a lot in the evenings. I also did not jump from eating junk to eating perfectly balanced meals, I still eat frozen foods and desert every day but I do try to grab things that are pre portioned to be a single meal rather than something like a frozen pizza since I know I could and would mindlessly eat the entire thing even now.
Mounjaro. Game changer. You gotta work to find new ways to score some dopamine though.
ADHD meds 😂😭
I used a weight loss app for the initial loss, maintained it for 2 years, and now need to lose a little bit of weight (5-10 pounds again). The weight loss app helped me get a sense of how much I was eating, and how certain food factored into it. I know I've been eating poorly, and why, which means I feel confident now about losing the weight.
I'm also very active- can you do more walking and running too?
I literally keep no snacks in the house. We are an ingredient only household lol. Our desserts are just chocolate bars or yogurt. Enough that if I’m desperate it’s something but I’m not going to binge eat some mediocre sweets lol. If you have the money, those meal kits are nice. If not, meal prepping is great or even just prepping the ingredients (have all veggies cut up, sauces made, etc.) Delete all food ordering apps. Limit takeout/going out to once/twice a week.
I’ve cut out processed foods, and got a very energetic puppy!
I am not on a weight loss journey but I am trying to eat less junk in the junk to nutrition spectrum. For me, I allow myself to eat what I want. I am violently anti diet. And honestly, I’m not a model or an athlete, there is room for dessert every day in my life.
What I try to do is not eat junk without something else in my stomach. This doesn’t applied to an iced coffee or lemonade in the morning. More, if I want to eat ice cream and I’m hungry and it’s been a few hours since I ate, I try to eat something more nutritious first. For ice cream, that might be yogurt! If I finish the yogurt and I still want ice cream, I eat it. But I had some yogurt with protein first, so I got some nutrition that isn’t milk fat and sugar.
I try and keep vegetables, whole grain stuff, and foods with protein in my house. I don’t do it the hard way, I get the microwaveable bags of broccoli, the pre hard boiled and peeled eggs, and the little whole milk yogurts with real fruit. (Sidebar this is all privilege and if you can’t afford these things they are not necessary, I’m just lazy)
This makes it easier for me to eat nutritious food during the day, and reduces binging because I’m not that hungry. Also, while I do eat out of a pint, in general the recommendation to put 1 or 2 servings in a dish is So Helpful. Also drinking lots of water, I love ice water, if something else like tea or Gatorade appeals to you, go with that.
Started working out to counteract it
Start eliminating one thing at a time. For example, my 100% biggest temptation was soda. I wouldn’t feel comfortable if I went more than a few hours without soda. It was like my comfort thing. I stopped buying it at the grocery store and would only drink a diet soda if I was out to eat maybe. I didn’t try to change my whole diet right off the bat, I eased myself into it. Once I got through the first week, I felt so much less hopeless against my food addictions and I really didn’t crave it that much anymore. I also felt much more energy when I started eating healthier and had more focus, so seeing that helped to motivate me to keep going. Then I started making more keto based meals and loved a lot of what I was making because it was simple and didn’t have a million ingredients. I’ve lost 13 lbs in about 1.5 months and I started at 160.
I have no choice. The husband had a heart attack, with ketoacidosis, in December, since then it's been nothing but home-cooked meals that have been low-fat, low-carb, and very low-salt. I've lost a bit of weight and the cooking has got easier with some great salt free spices.
by graduating secondary school but taking a gap year before uni, thus stopping to have any routine in my life, and starting a job with alternating shifts.
now that i don't have a regular schedule, i have major issues organising and structuring my day, leading to forgetting, procrastinating or not having time for cooking and eating.
Vyvanse and hyperfixating on work so hard that I forgot to eat. But for real I also move more and I heavily reduced my alcohol intake because I was worried how it would effect my meds but I do smoke weed before bed and I usually fall asleep before the munchies hit lol.
Very much still trying, but 1.) distraction by work or hobbies I enjoy and 2.) eating more protein have both helped me lose 30 lbs slowly over the last ~6 months. Too busy to stop and eat as much as I used to some days. Some days I get busy in the morning and don’t stop for a bite until 10am, then I may make something again at 4, and I’m done for the day. I still have handfuls of chocolate chips when I need that sort of hit and I like my coffee sweet, but on the days I don’t have downtime, I simply indulge less. Finding other sources of dopamine is helpful… catching up with a friend on the phone has helped me the most, I think. And front loading protein in the morning helps me not feel the pull toward the kitchen for longer each day. I used to have two soft boiled eggs every morning and now I make 4 scrambled to get more protein in for the day. I felt the difference almost immediately.
Wegovy
Vyvanse
I got pregnant with twins and burned a ton of calories with pregnancy and breastfeeding. Diabetes diet for pregnancy followed by dairy free diet for breastfeeding also helped.
That’s not a recommendation, btw, do not recommend twin pregnancy AT ALL, but in reality both those diets really curtailed my normal junk food eats and made me much more intentional about what I was eating and when. It turns out I have a lot more willpower to resist food when I’m doing so for the sake of my children then when I’m doing it for my own sake.
I also found the nutritionist I saw saying that aiming for 80% diet compliance is actually best, because then you can treat yourself and light up all the circuits strategically and that people are generally better at long term success if they don’t hold themselves to 100% perfection.
My #1 best tip from pregnancy diet: keep the ratio at 2g carbs for 1g protein, and you will stabilize a lot of your cravings and blood sugar impacts. Totally achievable if you are willing to throw random cheese and dairy in with your carb snacks. So I find the food I want (pancake) and then i add protein (bacon) to get to the right ratio. Then I keep the overall portion size down to a reasonable level. Works at a coffee shop too: slightly reduce the sugar in your coffee, and use a higher fat creamer or whole milk. Add a cheese stick while you wait for your coffee. It seems counter intuitive like you’ll eat more, but it’s actually crazy hard to overeat when you want that protein ratio.
Honestly: gardening Nothing more amazing of a habit than breaking some earth and being motivated to find simple and tasty ways to cook your meager self grown foods & being spoiled into scouring for more delicious home grown and local produce.
Get moving ✅ Sunshine ✅ In tune with the cycles, weathers and seasons, and moon cycles (which affects plant growth and planting days if you choose to go by this method!!) ✅ Community/local biz ✅ Animal friends sometimes ✅ Yummy food ✅ Permanent fridge arrangement: produce on the shelf in front of my eyes, condiments in the produce drawer ✅ Spoiled and craving yummy produce picked at peak season ✅ Regularly have tea and desserts, or make olive oil, cheese, cream etc as regular parts of my diet ✅ Yields a range of nutrients and good fats both of which are building blocks of our cells that need constant cleanup and recycle, so I appreciate the health aspect though Idk exactly how it works.
Sometimes I revert to junk food goblin, but she is emotionally driven & short lived. I don’t have to live like that all the time, and I got into gardening slowly and only here and there for years before plunging in. But in terms of losing weight, after all the different things I had already tried, including having my diagnosis and being on meds, and already being active in various individual physical activities, sports, weightlifting etc, gardening is what finally did it.
Gastric sleeve surgery
I made a rule that I can’t eat outside meals. I sometimes make exceptions when necessary, but it has really helped
Mounjaro I swear it treats ADHD too
If I have enough caffeine I forget to eat. That and doing intensive hobbies like crochet where I am learning something and counting and my hands are busy and watching tv, it’s a lot of stimulation and my hands are busy so I can’t eat. If you use a large needle and large yarn you can make like a hat or scarf from one ball a day 🤣 sometimes I do the same with drawing or sewing.
Try to find a hobby you really enjoy that you think you can sustain. I try to rotate them by seasons so I don’t get bored. Like babies, I’ve read parents rotate their toys to reduce consumption. If they put the toy away for a while and don’t take it out for a few months, when they take it back out it’s new and exciting again. And we are kind of like babies with our poor object permanence. You could get 4 bins labeled for each season and keep a rotation that way. I actually do it for my dogs toys 😁 it works for them too.
Vyvanse kinda did 60% of the hard work for me so no info there. But the other 40% was getting a job where I was lifting heavy boxes all damn day to help me build muscle, making healthier choices like instead of eating pizza once a week, making it a once a fortnight thing, drinking heaps of water because vyvanse made my body feel like a dry sponge, doing heaps of mindfulness, being able to identify when I’m doing the ‘eating cause I’m bored thing’ and moving on from it.
I'm still currently on the journey, but I found out some information about myself. After I started taking Adderall I immediately noticed that I had impulse control issues that I didn't know I had. I was an impulsive buyer and eater. I would eat the treats coworkers brought in even though I knew I shouldn't and would truly be better off without it (I'd eat foods that I knew would make my stomach hurt.)
I have also realized that I'm not a stress eater or emotional eater. It's as though I seek the sensory of tasting food. Even if I'm full, I want to keep tasting that thing that tastes good. The ADHD meds are such a blessing in that sense. I feel like I have more control over and understand my mind. Being off meds makes it a bit harder, but now I recognize the behavior and can catch myself sometimes.
I can finally focus on eating mostly whole, clean foods. I prioritize fiber and protein. I will eat carbs but I make sure to not have too much or else I personally get extremely tired and shaky. Carbs make me hungrier faster. I do intermittent fasting as well. I'm not a big breakfast eater, so IF is pretty easy for me. At times, if I feel up to it, I'll do a longer fast for a few days like OMAD. When I am off my meds (or I take an evening to unwind with cannabis) and I let myself go wild with the snacks, I don't feel as guilty. I know I can get back on track when I continue my meds.
I go to the gym and lift weights. I used to dread going to the gym due to thinking I had to do 30+ minutes of cardio every time. Instead, I warm up for 10-15 minutes on a stair climber, then I lift weights. I enjoy seeing myself be able to lift more every week. I may not see the results in the mirror or scale but I see it reflected when I get to put another plate on the barbell or move the peg down to more resistance. It keeps me motivated and drives the dopamine up so I keep going back. It may be a slow journey, but I know I can stick to this lifestyle and I'll get my results one day. I've lost 12-15 lbs since starting meds in January. I had a hiccup in the journey due to needing to be off meds for surgery. But I got back on track as soon as possible with ease.
I started taking adhd meds
don't know whether my situation matches yours but for me things like washing fruits etc right away and preparing them so I just needed to grab them out of the fridge helped with actually eating different things I like and not just easily available chocolate, candy and chips (which I also like but not really in huge amounts within an hour lol). Also I bought things that are in itself kind of replacing a small meal so I could snack more AND didn't have to prepare a meal. Something I also still do is having drops or chewing gum available to keep my mouth busy without actually eating. And in general changing my every day routines helped lol e.g. sleeping enough, having more time to myself etc. but that's usually easier said then done.
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