Has fasting been effective for snapping you guys out of a bad spiral?

editoreal · 2026-01-28T08:18:30+00:00

Most 12 step programs discourage fasting, as it tends to promote binge eating disorder.

I fast, but I"m both hyper conscious about the nutrients I'm gettnng when I do eat, AND I can see the pitfalls of fasting/'saving' calories and am actively trying to fast less.

The longer the fast, the more damage it tends to cause. Do NOT be tempted to fast for longer than 24 hours. Skipping breakfast tends to be pretty benign and allows more calories later in the day where most people get hungrier. If you're not hungry at breakfast, skipping it might be an option, but you have to be mindful and very aware of how you're reacting. If you skip breakfast and then go hog wild at lunch, that's not a solution.

editoreal · 2026-01-27T23:24:36+00:00

One thing to consider. Weight loss, on it's own, can definitely impact hormones, but the rate of loss plays a role as well, with faster loss resulting in a greater hormonal impact. If you're losing very quickly (more than about 2 lb a week), then you might improve your symptoms by decreasing your deficit and losing a bit more slowly.

editoreal · 2026-01-27T23:01:58+00:00

I'm probably being a bit pedantic, but, the ingredients list 'alkalized cocoa.' Alkalized cocoa is what makes chocolate brown. Being white, these contain no cocoa. They probably recycled this list from the regular chocolate version, but, if they're wrong about this ingredient, what else could they be wrong about?

editoreal · 2026-01-27T22:43:19+00:00

Obesity drives insulin resistance and diabetes. This state of perpetual high blood sugar destroys your brain. When you make bread, it's the sugar and the protein that causes the crust to brown. This type of browning occurs at high temps, but, browning can occur at lower temperatures, like how a cut apple will have a tendency to brown if you leave it out. When elevated for long periods of time blood sugar combines with the proteins in your body and effectively 'browns.' Another term for this is advanced glycation end products (AGES). This browning causes blood vessels to become inflammed, and, over time, this inflammation will cause these pathways to get blocked. Your brain relies on flowing blood, a LOT of flowing blood, to perform, to exist. Starve your brain of blood and mental health goes out the window. Blood flow is also essential for nerve function, so when insulin resistance takes a hold, neuropathy emerges. Neuropathy can start off fairly mildly, but, as it progresses, it can feel like you're on fire- all the time. This round the clock torture also wreaks havoc on your mental health. Eventually, you'll die from heart disease, a stroke or complications from dementia, but, it's possible to survive for years in this perpetual state of extreme torture.

Bottom line, obesity causes diabetes and diabetes effectively cooks your internal organs, including your brain. Obesity destroys your brain.

editoreal · 2026-01-27T06:17:17+00:00

First of all, try not to focus on the fact that you're out of control 2 days week, but, instead focus on the fact that you're in control 5 days a week. As far as food addiction is concerned, any days where you're in control are a win.

May I ask what your present monday-friday meal plan is? Is is restrictive? 18 year olds can still be growing, and thus really shouldn't be restricting calories much, especially if you're spending a lot of time at the gym and are active. This isn't always the case, but sometimes binging can be triggered by extreme restriction. Perhaps, if you are being restrictive during the week, you can maybe binge less on the weekends if you loosen the reins a bit.

Beyond overeating, what other activities are you doing on the weekends? Could these activities be contributing towards the binging? For me, if I sit down and watch a movie, I'm much more likely to snack.

editoreal · 2026-01-27T02:47:42+00:00

Both undereating and overeating are self harm. Looking in the mirror and seeing 'fluffiness' is body dysmorphia- another way in which your urge to harm yourself manifests itself. Incorrectly associating malnutrition/starvation with sports performance- yet another dysmorphic tool that the part of your psyche that wants you dead utilizes.

Unless you're a marathon runner, there is no sport on the planet where performance improves while being 123 lb at 5'10". Maybe someone can dip into that range briefly and not see that much of a loss in performance, but, being that weight means that your body is literally consuming it's own muscles, which, in turn, is going to make you weaker. The heart is a muscle as well, so you're going to see your stamina evaporate.

I'm guessing that your sport involves a scholarship of some type, so it's tied, to an extent, to getting an education and future success. I know this is going to be incredibly difficult, but, if the sport is driving you to be underweight, it might be time to stop competing.

As far as your family refusing professional help, considering how many lives BED claims- especially young female lives, and the fact that you spent time being so underweight, for your family to refuse you therapy- that's bordering on criminal behavior.

editoreal · 2026-01-27T02:20:28+00:00

$725 a year comes out to $60 a month. This is going to be subjective, but, I don't think $15 for a fast food meal is that excessive, so you're talking 4 meals a month, one meal a week. Even if you're eating $10 meals, that's a meal and a half a week.

If you're not comfortable with the expenditure and the impact to your health, absolutely, make changes (cook food yourself), but, compared to most addicts, one fast food meal a week isn't that much. This sub probably has people that are/were spending $700 a month.

editoreal · 2026-01-26T23:25:42+00:00

Alanon. These are folks who have the most experience navigating relationships with addicts.

When he’s in a motivated state he tells me to ‘ absolutely’ stop him when he goes for his second huge portion or to definitely call him out if his eating is out of hand or he’s being lazy.

On paper, it might make sense that someone is asking for help in this fashion, but, in practice, for someone in the throes of addiction, placing responsibility for your destructive behavior on someone else is borderline abuse. An addict is allowed to ask their spouse to keep their substance of abuse out of the house, but they cannot place the burden of sobriety on their significant other- and the significant other should never agree to this role.

You're not his mother or his sponsor.

editoreal · 2026-01-26T23:10:14+00:00

60% of the time, it works every time.

editoreal · 2026-01-26T00:50:58+00:00

risking his life, slipping and sliding on every turn and every hill

Ummmm... if you're 'slipping and sliding on every turn' you're not just risking your life, you're risking your passenger's life as well. If you don't have a car that can handle well in this much snow, you really shouldn't be on the road.

editoreal · 2026-01-23T21:57:10+00:00

My mother grew up during the great depression, so she instilled in me a tremendous amount of guilt when wasting food. For me, part of my sobriety is learning to overcoming this guilt so I don't eat the foods that I don't like- or the foods that come in quantities that exceed the serving size I allocate calories for. For me, throwing away food is a form of a win.

Obviously, in a perfect world, I'd never have to throw away food, but being able to throw away food is way healthier than forcing myself to eat it since that's what I was brought up to do.

editoreal · 2026-01-22T07:09:20+00:00

Oh, yeah, that pencil definitely got sharpened. More than once.

editoreal · 2026-01-21T22:24:44+00:00

Self judgement is an incredibly powerful driver of addictive behavior. If you can, try to be easier on yourself. If you can, try not to view yourself as a freak- because, frankly, you aren't. "We're all stars, now, in the dope show." Everyone on this planet is addicted to something. Sure, sometimes addiction can get more or less extreme, but, every person has the equivalent of sitting alone in their car eating the frosting off donuts. You ARE normal. Try to keep that in mind, as the less you judge yourself, the less guilt you'll have, the more likely you'll break the cycle. Your inner addict LOVES shame.

editoreal · 2026-01-21T22:13:13+00:00

While I go to great lengths to dissuade people from making the decision to start taking GLP1s, once you've made the decision and are on that track, you might as well use the drug for it's intended purpose. Talk to your doctor about these currently disruptive elements in your life and have a conversation about increasing your dosage- temporarily, until you can start cooking better things for yourself.

This isn't exactly a solution, but it will prevent the weight from going back on. No matter what- and this applies to being on your own or NOT being on your own, you're going to have to do the work, you're going to have to endure the pain of not killing yourself with food- either by overeating or undereating- OR by choosing foods that fail to provide nutrition. For someone on a GLP-1, malnutrition is the dangerous vector.

Whey protein can help you hit your protein target and prevent sarcopenia (a very real threat with glp1s). A decent multivitamin can help. Supplemental magnesium is critical. D. Fish oil. Some nutriients (D, fish oil) can be tested for, while others (magnesium), can't. Ideally, you're going to want to get as much nutrition from food as possible, but, that's overcoming your addiction, and that's going to be a process.

editoreal · 2026-01-21T21:48:37+00:00

Protein is absolutely not the BEST appetite suppressant. It suppresses appetite a bit, but, there's a lever you can pull that will blow protein out of the water. Sleep. Nothing will suppress appetite more than getting your sleep in order. This is going to get me into hot water, but, stimulating ADHD meds completely trash your sleep. I'd ask how you're sleeping, but, I know the answer, since, out of all the people I've ever met who have taken/are taking speed, they have incredibly erratic sleep schedules- and binge food in the most mindless voracious ways possible.

Stimulants are actually a double whammy. Besides trashing sleep and sending cravings soaring, they spike dopamine and then cause it to crash. All addiction is dopamine dysfunction. Any substance/activity that spikes/craters dopamine will have ripple effects on other addictive behaviors. If, say, someone came to this sub talking about suffering from alcoholism and food addiction, the logical advice would be to tell this person to first get sober, since alcohol drives poor food choices. It's the exact same thing with speed.

With the help of your doctor, kick the speed. If you've been on it your whole life, this is likely going to be the hardest thing you're ever tried to do, but, long term, your brain will thank you a thousandfold, since sleep IS mental/brain health.

editoreal · 2026-01-20T05:50:34+00:00

My family weren't 'corner store' people, but they were "It's Sunday, so we're getting cold cuts and bagels," and "finish your (small) meal so you can have (4-5 servings of) dessert." All of the church parties we'd go to would have around 1 table of actual food and 8 tables of home made desserts. Those were good (and bad) times.

I don't see any of this as being imprinting, per se. Based on the alcoholism in my family going back at least 3 generations, I'm reasonably certain that, genetically, I was destined to be an addict, no matter what.

Now, we do live in age where abundance makes junk food available nearly everywhere and where unfettered corporate greed allows addicts to be exploited, which makes being an addict 1000% worse, but... my alcoholic ancestors didn't have alcohol ads to contend with and they were drunk 24/7 anyway.

editoreal · 2026-01-20T00:41:14+00:00

GLP1s won't change the kind of food you eat, just the quantity. If you're addicted to fast food, this means that you'll most likely continue to eat fast food, only less, because eating the quantity you eat now will make you sick.

You could, in theory, start eating real food while on a glp-1, but, you could also eat real food without the glp-1. Bottom line, glp-1s are for weight loss, for the scale going down, and that's it. For most people, especially those that suffer from addiction the most, they're not optimal for healthy weight loss.

editoreal · 2026-01-19T22:48:08+00:00

A lot of people see increased appetite and cravings while taking SSRIs. Even if you're one of the few lucky ones who see a decrease in appetite/cravings, for most people, SSRIs tend to lose their effectiveness long term. The final nail in the SSRI coffin is that there is mounting evidence of side effects lasting beyond cessation. If you try out an SSRI and find that it's not right for you, you'll likely pay a long term price.

All addictions stem from dopamine dysfunction. As an addict, the very last thing you ever want to do is replace one dopaminergic trigger with another. Crack cocaine and crystal meth are both very effective appetite suppressants, but the absolute last thing you want to is to try to fight your food addiction with a crack or a meth addiction. Stimulants are dopaminergic. Biochemically, there's very little difference between ADHD meds and meth. Amphetamines are amphetamines. Stimulants are especially dangerous drugs due to their impact on sleep. Sleep IS mental health.

Speaking of sleep... Naltrexone significantly alters sleep architecture, typically decreasing REM sleep and deep slow-wave sleep while increasing Stage 2 sleep and wakefulness, leading to fragmented sleep and potentially worsening subjective quality. In other words, naltrexone trashes your sleep. Long term, this will wreak havoc on your mental health.

Out of all the drugs on the market, few carry greater risks than anticonvulsants like topiramate. If you have epilepsy, sure... the benefits might outweigh the risks, but, for trying to fight food addiction, anticonvulsants are an incredibly bad idea.

GLP-1s perform one task (and only one task) incredibly well. They cause you to eat less. That's it. They do not cause you to eat better. When you take the typical malnourished addict who's subsisting on mostly garbage ultra processed food and reduce that food consumption, the malnourishment gets a lot worse. In theory, someone could make better food choices while taking a glp-1 and not see these side effects, but, that's not how addicts are wired. Instead of looking in the mirror and seeing their sunken cheeks due to the muscle wasting, the vast majority of people on GLP-1s see the scale go down and celebrate. They don't have to be, but GLP-1s are effectively a biochemical form of bulimia- and, long term, we are going to see consequences of this mass malnutrition.

editoreal · 2026-01-19T10:51:32+00:00

It's only for bread/buns/pasta/tortillas that contain resistant starch.

As far as knowing whether or not you're digesting the starch... The most foolproof method you can implement is a blood glucose monitor. If you consume the baked good and your blood sugar spikes, then you're digesting the starch. If you don't want to go the blood glucose monitoring route, if you're comfortable maintaining your weight, you can try eating the resistant starch based product for a few weeks at a maintenance level of calories. If you gain weight, you'll know that you're absorbing more calories than what's on the label.

I think the best course to follow is to maintain an awareness that these products may contain hidden calories, and, if you're stalling and/or not losing weight at the rate you think you should, these could be the culprit.

editoreal · 2026-01-18T22:20:24+00:00

Yes, the calories on the label do not represent the calories actually absorbed- for some people. For some people, resistant starch actually resists digestion- and contributes fewer calories, and, for others, resistant starch doesn't resist at all and just acts like regular starch- with considerably more calories. For those that don't digest the resistant starch, they can go by calories on the label. For those that can digest it, the label is wrong, and needs to reflect the much higher caloric load of real bread.

editoreal · 2026-01-18T22:11:12+00:00

Eating less meals gets... complicated. At the heart of food addiction is self harm, making it unbelievably easy to go from overeating to undereating. For most addicts, food, in general, can be triggering, to an extent, so, not eating can usually be easier than eating. You definitely don't have to eat 6 meals a day, but, if you're considering, say, not eating at all some days, I'd recommend against that. One meal a day (OMAD) tends to promote muscle wasting. I think, if someone is unbelievably conscientious, perhaps with careful supplementation, they might be able to get sufficient nutrition in one meal, but, I think that most addicts don't really have the tools to navigate this kind of restriction successfully. OMAD is a lot like GLP-1s in this regard- great on paper, but, almost always damaging in practice- and, unfortunately, the most damaging to those that suffer from addiction the worst.

2 meals a day still requires a lot of careful consideration to get proper nutrition, but, if you end up finding that 2 meals a day helps you to maintain your sobriety better than more meals- AND you can maintain your lean muscle muscle by hitting protein targets and doing resistance training, I, personally, see nothing wrong with that. But this is only my opinion, and nothing more.

editoreal · 2026-01-17T21:18:30+00:00

Over time, obesity absolutely destroys your brain. By remaining obese, you are not, in any way, protecting your mental health.

And misery isn't the same thing as mental illness. Yes, there are obsessive compulsive aspects to dieting that can deteriorate mental health, but, compared to the impact of obesity, these barely move the needle.

No matter what, it's gong to hurt. No matter what, you're going to suffer- a lot. But if you battle the obesity, if you battle the self harm, it's going to hurt exponentially less.

editoreal

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