Hello people!
Here I am.

In February I hit my highest weight ever - 174 lbs. I went on a very tough diet of mainly healthy eating - it wasn't an exact "plan" and lost 15 lbs. I have now gained most of it back, and I'm hovering around 168 lbs.
My appetite is literally uncontrollable. I actually eat syrup with a spoon. What is wrong with me? I look at the syrup, and think I don't need this. I tell myself I'm not even hungry. Then my appetite says I don't care, I want it anyway, and I continue binging. I've been binging non-stop for 2-3 months now. If I continue going down this path I'm going to develop diabetes or something else that's just as frightful. It's awful. I feel so bad about myself and so insecure that it affects my whole day, and yet I can't control my appetite. I just can't get back in my groove of healthy eating - I've tried everything. Plans, frequent meals, excersize, and nothing sticks.
Anyways, I spent ALL DAY reading these forums and I think what will work best for me is the GI diet and I will avoid carbs within the GI diet. Does that make sense? A lower-carb, low GI diet. It begins tomorrow.
Any unique advice that might help me reach my goal of 135 lbs?

Hey there,

I think you would be better off following a plan than trying lower GI without a road map. Most people who follow a plan will have success because the diets are designed and tested to achieve weight loss. If lower carb is what you seek, you might like South Beach.

Good luck!

I know exactly how you feel... I was the same way... eating stupid things saying to myself why are you doing this! I was addicted to sugar. ANYTHING with sugar in it. I have been low carbing (ATKINS) for 3 weeks. I have not had any sugar. I have not been HUNGRY. The low carb foods have really curbed my appetite to almost nothing. If you are as desperate as you say you are... Low carb is definitely the answer. This forum is a great place to come to everyday for support and info. The journals are great too. They help me to hold myself accountable and you make new friends. Welcome! and nice to meet ya!

Welcome! It's nice to have you with us!

I actually understand what you're talking about. I used to buy cans of sweetened condensed milk, so I could open a can and eat it with a spoon. Not just a spoonful now and then throughout the day, but the entire can all at one sitting, as though it were a meal. It's a severe addiction to sugar, and if you have it as bad as I do, then you may need to be careful even with artificially sweetened stuff. I've learned that I simply cannot have any sweet-tasting foods in the house.

I agree with Susan about choosing a plan. Unless you have already done a lot of study, and have a clear understanding of how low carb works, you will most likely find the best success if you follow a "roadmap" in the form of a written and tested lc plan. Any legitimate lc plan is good, so the important thing is for you to read about several and choose the one that you feel you can make into a permanent lifestyle change. I don't think a person like myself ever truly gets over the addiction to sugar, but I have found that it does become controllable.

When you find yourself eating things used for baking, you know you have a problem with sugar. I would eat the semi sweet chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, anything I could find. I too have a severe addiction to sugar. Atkins seemed the best way to go because it didn't allow as many carbs and I have to stay away from all sugar. The bright side is, I don't have cravings anymore, I'm not hungry, my energy level is up and I'm losing pounds and inches. I've only been doing Atkins for 3 1/2 weeks. I did low fat, restricted calories this Spring and lost 25 pounds that I regained as soon as I stopped "dieting". I also suggest you find a plan and follow it. This leaves out all the guess work and helps to ensure success. You can do it, if I can.

LOL that sounds like me a year ago!

I'd set aside semisweet choc chips for baking the kids' cookies, and end up scarfing them as a dessert in the afternoons.

Just about the only sugar in the house that was safe from me was the hard candy. I absolutely despise the stuff and don't see why the dh and the kids eat it.

I'm the official "sugar nazi." I don't think anyone should consume it ever for any reason. The stuff is poison to our bodies.

I have several books from Overeaters Anonymous.

Along with keeping my carbs very very low (think roast chicken, eggs, meat, and green non starchy veggies) I also attend special 12 step meetings online to deal with food addiction.

The Recovery Group is a helpful website.

also www.oa.org is also a great place to order books.

You can go to in person meetings too!

My favorite books are "for today" and "voices of recovery" along with the "12 and 12"

goodluck and G-d bless!

p.s. Once you think of this as a lifestyle it gets so much easier.

I'll start with an empathic statement. I would wake in the middle of the night and shovel peanut buttter and ice cream into my mouth cuz I was all shakey from sugar cravings......................................I fell into a bad habit of believing pigging out helped me sleep better................I would starve all day getting my energy from coffee and sugar............

These are just some of the things I have put myself through....................add them to all the others and they are the reasons I today enjoy some success................

Humans are the only creature that can self evaluate and institute changes................we'd be foolish not to try................each faliure is a building block towards a success.............

This is the part where I say, "If I can do it......anyone can!!""



Keep trying, keep posting, it can only help.............this is my second time around......................and instead of having a snack I read your post and typed in a reply.....seems rational to me and a healthy alternative................



you can do this.......................Believe me.....if it didn't work this site would just be a figment of your imagination.........................LOL

See at least you guys tried to kid yourselves with baking ingredients and syrup... in my younger days, I just ate spoonfulls of sugar right from the sugar bowl. This was, of course, after I had already put a few spoonfulls on my rice krispies with skim milk and slightly before my midmorning fat free croissant and tea, which contained enough sugar to put your average 5 humans into a diabetic coma. Man, sometimes I just want to go back and hug the younger me and tell me it all works out.

Take comfort. It's not you. It's the sugar and starch. Being that you are eating syrup - a sure sign of a sugar addiction - I would avoid sugar and starch at all cost... which makes me worry a smidge about the GI diet for you because, according to the new food list on their site (http://www.gidiet.com/en-us/index.php) they allow whole grains, crispbreads and other grains. Low GI they may be, but for someone with a sugar addiction, these will surely spell trouble. I'd not eat them for the first few weeks and then if you do decide to add them back, watch your reaction. If you start craving sweets again, these are your trigger foods and should be avoided.

HTH!

Hi litkay - is that Victoria, BC? If so, you might be interested to know we have a small support group right here that gets together once a month for lunch or dinner - our next dinner is planned for Tuesday, the 16th. We haven't specified the location for this month yet, but its usually some place that will let us deconstruct the menu! I'll find the threads relating to this month's meeting and post it shortly - we're always happy to welcome new members! By the way, we're in varying stages of success and struggle - the whole idea is to be supportive and helpful!

PS - here's the link to the Victoria Sept thread - please jump in with some input about time or place and we'd love to meet you! Victoria dinner plans

THANK you all so much for your replies.
I love that you have all admitted your deepest darkest sugar addiction secrets to me - but I have done all of these things. Sugar out of the bowl (icing sugar is my favorite), condensed milk (yes, a whole can at one sitting), spoonfuls of syrup, entire bags of chocolate chips and baking squares (even though that chocolate isnt even all that good!), I have even gone as far as making cookie dough and cake batter and even rice krispie squares, not to bake them but to just eat the uncooked product right out of the bowl - and the entire thing, too. I also frequently go to the bulk food store and buy heaps of candy and chocolate to keep in my desk at work - on average I can consume a half a pound of sugary crap each day at work alone, not mentioning what I do when I get home.
I know it's all bad, I KNOW it's poison, my head KNOWS I'm basically killing myself, I might as well start smoking again (which I quit in March 07) for all the good I am doing to myself... but somehow, I can't stop.
Extreme-low carb scares me - and I love grains etc.
anyway..., I agree with you that the GI could be a bit risky with the whole grains and rice etc, but that's what I mean by having a lowER carb GI - I plan to follow the diet but avoid those grains and rices and breads at least for 3-4 weeks, and reintroduce them to my diet while watching very closely what I eat. The diet was actually recommended to my mother by a doctor, and my mother and I have identical body types so I thought it would work for both of us. I thought as long as I follow the plan to a T and cut out as many carbs as I can, I might see some success.
glendarc, I am in Victoria BC, but I am in New Brunswick with my boyfriend for the month of September and half of October. I am SO excited that there is a support group that I could go to! Thank you so much for inviting me! Once settled back home in Victoria, I will absolutely let you know and try to be there for the November session! How exciting - thank you for your support!

It makes me feel a lot better to see that I am not the only one who is this far gone when it comes to sugar. I have to find a solution - it is becoming a real threat to my overall health, not just my figure! I can't let myself go like this. I am in control of my own health, or at least I should be.

A high sugar, refined carbs diet is magnesium depleting (as is stress) so some supplementing with a chelated magnesium or eating high magnesium foods such as pumpkin or sunflower seeds might make the no-sugar transition a little easier. (It does for me.)

http://www.krispin.com/magnes.html
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?...utrient&dbid=75

Thanks for the tip! I am currently moving but once I'm settled into my new house I plan on buying a wheatgrass kit and juicer. Wheatgrass juice tastes disgusting but only 2 oz. of the juice has the nutritional and mineral equivalent of 4 lbs of veggies! So I am going to grow my own and drink it each morning. It is very high in magenesium.
Info: www.wheatgrasskits.ca

Hi there, welcome, etc.

Just wanted to let you know that there are lots of Vancouverites and Islanders on these forums, and some of us meet up IRL for coffee, exercise buddies, low-carb drinking binges, and all other sorts of hedonism.

Good luck with your choices and have a great day!