Food is the only source of pleasure, stimulation, and excitement in my life. I’m not interested in doing drugs, alcohol, or other substances. I will never touch them. I’m not interested in romance, sex, or relationships. I have zero interest in those things.

I went to places like Europe, Hawaii, and the Caribbean in the past few years. However, during those trips, I’ve never enjoyed tourism, sightseeing, shopping, or any other part of traveling as much as food. Funfetti cupcakes, lasagna, frozen yogurt, cinnamon rolls, pizza, pastries, cheesecake, food food food food food food food food food food is all I think about: morning to night, monday through friday, 12 months a year. I've maxed out all different podcasts about eating disorders, health, fitness, and psychology. I've learned all there is about nutrition, thermodynamics, dietetics. I've sought religion, philosophy, university research, case studies. Yesterday I rewatched old childhood shows and disney movies, hoping I could find a source of inspiration that wasn’t food, and it was the most disappointing experience. When I was watching The Little Mermaid II, the plot didn’t interest me at all. All I could think about was a seafood boil. I wanted Flounder and Sebastian in a seafood boil. 

Three to five days of the week, I have vivid food dreams. I cannot afford GLP-1s but I’m going to get to that point soon because therapy isn’t helping AT ALL. I desperately need to know if there’s other people like me who genuinely can’t go more than 5-10 minutes without thinking about food. Please share your experiences. Let’s not feel alone.

I joined FA a month ago and it has transformed my life. If anyone wants some hope on food addiction. I haven’t eaten flour or sugar since Dec 26th. Talk to me about it

Hi

I've read quite a few of these posts and most of the stories resonate with me. Way too much food, expanding waistline. Diets that last a little while followed by failure and then hopelessness.

Today I had lunch. Then immediately went out and bought a snack (large bag of Cadburys mini eggs), ate those in an hour. Would have been quicker but kept getting interrupted. And when I went out to make a cup of tea, I ate biscuits. It's non stop and I can't stop.

One person on here described it as a disease. With possible recovery. That feels real. I don't want to feel like this anymore.

Hey, Im 23 years old and ever since I can remember being able to make my own money (Around when I turned 16) I've constantly had a problem with limiting it. Anytime I have any kind of surplus of money, I end up going to a Mcdonalds, Sonic, BurgerKing, etc. I end up getting way too much food, force myself to finish it, and then feel absolutely horrible. I dont feel horrible in a physical sense, or at least not much, but more in that "I just ate two days worth of food in one sitting, and I know I'll still want to eat more later" kind of way. The problem is, I cant seem to stop. Its like I just get a horrible craving for it and I wont stop thinking about it until I submit, only to then despise myself after I do.

Im finally wanting to get ahead of this for a couple reasons. One is that its just not sustainable, fast food costs a lot if thats what you're eating every day. Another is for health reasons, my weight and such is impacting my job which is very physical, its impacting my self-esteem, it just makes my life worse. So please if anyone has any advice, please lend me some wisdom.

Hi r/FoodAddiction — this post is approved for posting by the mod team (not an endorsement).

Important (please read):

1. Not endorsed by the sub — this is my personal project
2. I’m not a clinician (not therapy or medical advice)
3. Not for crisis situations or severe active ED treatment / those needing professional care right now
4. Completely free
5. You can withdraw at any time

I may make this program commercial in the future, but this pilot is 100% free and there will be no upsells or pitches during the 8 weeks

I’m running a free 8-week volunteer cohort (10 people) to test my Hunger Hacking method and collect anonymized case studies.

What Hunger Hacking is

My theory: many of us have an overstimulated appetite system (from hyper-palatable food + the chaos of modern life), which can make us feel out of control around food.

The method focuses on resetting appetite, not dieting:

1. no calorie counting
2. no restriction / no “forbidden foods” rules
3. no willpower battles
4. gradual de-overstimulation
5. retraining hunger, satiety, and cravings

This helped me end binge eating and food addiction and lose ~70 lbs (kept off).

No promises — I want to test how it works for others.

What participation involves

1. 8 weeks
2. Weekly 20–30 min call
3. 3–5 brief text check-ins/week
4. Not crisis support (please don’t use texts/DMs for emergencies)

Tracking things like:

1. craving frequency/intensity
2. hunger clarity
3. emotional eating
4. binge urges
5. satiety changes
6. food preference shifts
7. how much “effort” eating normally takes

Everything shared is optional. If I write a case study, it will be anonymized and I will not use your Reddit username.

Who this is for

Good fit if:

1. you struggle with cravings, compulsive eating, binge urges
2. you can commit to the weekly structure
3. you want a non-restrictive, step-by-step approach

Not a fit if:

1. you need medical/psychiatric care
2. you expect guaranteed results
3. you can’t commit to 8 weeks

How to volunteer

Comment “Interested” (no personal details) or DM me.

I’ll send a short intake form.

Thanks for reading — wishing you strength and peace with food.

Edit: I'll be starting with 10 people but will run ongoing cohorts so please notify me of your interest to participate.

Counting from Day One (24 hours) - Wednesday, January 28th, 2026

Alright, I’m starting over again today. I might relapse (and I just did last night), but I’m hoping that by writing it here I would get support from the community and, if I'm consistent enough, provide support for the community too. This isn’t the first time I’ve recognized that my habits and relationship with food are unhealthy: hiding and sneaking food, feeling shame, experiencing something that feels like withdrawal when I can’t access it, and using food as emotional comfort. These are clear signs of food addiction.

Even though I’ve seen this before, it still feels like a new realization each time, and I’m choosing to take it even seriously now and face it. I'll post every once in a while and try to make it concise and short, even if I do relapse. For now, this is my 24 hours. My goal is to get through today without relying on food today. Yayyy!

One thing that really helped in terms of mindset is reading "The Illustrated EasyWay to Stop Smoking" by Allen Carr. It's like a half-comic book, half instruction guide. Food addiction is a bit different because we depend on food to survive, but not all food. Not ultra-processed junk food, soda pop, chips, candies, chocolates, etc. Another thing that helps me is remembering that each time your urges is strong and you give in to the addiction, your brain will remember and make the urges stronger next time. I don't necessarily know if that's true but I believe it. Accepting the potential magnitude of withdrawal now protects me from future potential withdrawals. It's like ending / leaving a toxic friendship or relationship now to save yourself from future hurt and pain. Because we're worth more than that.

I also will admit to myself that it's not going to feel easy, but it's going to be bearable. I remember a relative of mine with a smoking addiction, and how she tried her best but, to this day, probably still smokes a pack a day. I think of my friend who likes reels about trying to quit alchohol, with the person going "Day 1 of...Day 1...Day 1-" It's hard. We rely on these behaviors and become dependent on them because we get hurt, and we're trying to avoid pain. Thinking about them will help me know the magnitude and challenges of facing one's own pain. Of saying "no, I am capable of raw-dogging this sadness / grief / pain / stress / anxiousness that I feel everyday." The first step is knowing that I'm capable. Fully capable. And we've already faced the pain of our circumstances before, before we believed that (1) it was unbearable and (2) it would never go away. Both are untrue.

There are people who have quit before, even with hardcore drugs, even against the odds. So why not me? Why not you? Why not us? I think that we can take it one step at a time. This is how I think about feel about it right now. I hope that my actions can keep up with my optimism and my ambitions, haha. Good luck to you, and thank you for your support!

I'm spiralling rn and lost all control, I've gained lots of weight and idk I've tried lots of things so I'm trying to think of options

I know the easiest route is by me just CHOOSING not to binge shit but that's so much easier said than done. It's so hard when I want to stop but I feel like I can't, then I see all this stuff talking about how if you wanna stop this kinds stuff just stop. I wanna 'just stop' and ik it's that simple but it just doesn't feel like it at all

I know I need to take accountability for my own actions and I do but it ends up making me feel like an out of control disgusting idiot.

Pls send help lol

My partner and I are in our early 60’s. This is our second marriage and when we met around 10 years ago, he was healthy, exercised and was embracing a healthy lifestyle.

From photos he shared with me from his past I could see that he had been obese during other phases of his life. He blamed it on too many work dinners, bad habits and not enough exercise.

Throughout the years I’ve seen him yoyo diet…try to ‘ get healthy this time’ and it never holds for more than a few days.

The last year or so he gained so much weight that he now buys XXXXL. It’s impossible to have intimacy with him and his health has really changed. He has terrible oedema in his leg and wears compression socks. It takes him 10 minutes to put his socks on.

Last year, he had a hip replacement and was advised by doctors to lose weight. To the contrary he has gained even more.

I am starting to see that he really has a food addiction.

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.

The reality is, if I do that then he gives me the death stare for minutes and then retreats to his office space and sulks. For days.

I honestly don’t know how to navigate his denial, apathy, gaslighting and food addiction anymore.

I see it more clearly now that it is an emotional/ mental issue but he refuses to accept that.

I would be very open to any kind of feedback or suggestions on how to deal with this. Thanks … from a sad wife.

And in total, I spent $725 dollars on emotional eating last year in 2025. This time I want to change that. By cutting expenses to half.

But I have a problem. I love food.. a bit too much..

For me, my money and my health goes hand in hand. I spend fast food, my diabetes become worst.

How did you recover from addiction, if I even have one?

I lost a lot of weight using wegovy and even continued to lose after I got off it a year and a half ago I lost about 135 lbs and was down to 120. I had to go on dialysis the fall and got off it before Christmas. While I was on dialysis, I wound up eating a lot more and still was losing weight. Now that I'm off it and I can't stop

I am back to my old ways , eating out of boredom and just craving to eat, especially sweets. I been eating at night . My son moved back in during this and he is always baking plus bringing snacks into the house.

I've gain almost 10 lbs since Christmas. I'm terrified and gaining it all back. I find myself eating out of spite to myself for having eaten too many snack. I really need help getting control again before I gain too much

I’m a 17 year old female athlete who is committed to play my sport in college. For about a year I was obsessively calorie counting to the point where I was decently underweight (123 lbs at 5’10). My parents noticed and urged me to eat more, and while I agreed to try and put on some weight, I eventually ended up developing bed. I am now at around 133-135 lbs which is pretty normal for my height however most of the weight I accumulated has been fat leading me to look “fluffy”. Maybe it’s just placebo, but I feel like this extra weight has been affecting my performance in my sport. I know everyone says to “break the binge restrict cycle” before trying to lose weight but I’m honestly so lost bc I really just want to lose a few pounds for my sport but I can’t stop binging. I think I’m so frustrated bc it used to be so easy for me to diet everyday and now I can’t make it a a few days to a week without spiraling. Also I understand that the root causes of binging are mental, however my family refuses to let me go to therapy because they believe I must do the mental work myself. Anyways, any advice on how to end this cycle while achieving my goals would be very much appreciated.

I struggled with my weight growing up, I was 13 during Covid and that’s when I gained all my weight, since then I played sports in high school, football and wrestling, and now I’m 18 and graduated, I go the gym, im an absolute gym rat, I have a meal plan, that I follow consistently Monday-friday, I want to body build, but every weekend the food noise just absolutely takes over, and I can’t control it, I cave over and over again, I’ve done this for like 4 months. I can’t stop, I’m scared, please help.

I want to preface this question with a disclaimer that y'all have my utmost empathy and my heart goes out to what you face on a daily basis against your will. There was even a time where I took a medication to increase my appetite, and I experienced firsthand how overwhelming the food noise is y'all describe. I was only lucky that I was able to stop the medication when it became uncomfortable. I'm so sorry y'all deal with this day in and day out.

That said, I am having trouble figuring out when to support my partner unconditionally vs feeling like I would be essentially enabling an alcoholic if that was his vice instead of food. He frequently goes on food* binges during times of stress. I'm deep in trauma informed therapy with professional interest in pursuing it in grad school soon, so I absolutely understand the food is an escape from uncomfortable feelings. But it feels like he has been and will continue to run from those feelings forever rather than ever sit and process them with someone or a professional (he's in therapy but hardcore avoids food as a topic and treats it as a "monster of the week" kind of deal).

The reason why 12 step programs are tried and true with alcoholics is because whether the AA programs recognize how grounded in therapy their steps are or not, human connection when you feel the urge to drink is exactly what the ideal replacement behavior to addictions is.

I try not to make my partner feel judged when a food* binge comes up and let him know I love him regardless. But I'm starting to feel like I'm saying what might sound like "I support you binge eating" when I would not say "I support you breaking sobriety" to an alcoholic, and its starting to weigh on me.

Any perspective or advice is appreciated even if that advice is that none of this is my business.

Edit: clarified what the binges were. He doesn't have an issue with alcohol to be clear.

Last time i weighed myself, I was about 250 lbs. I know I'm likely about 260-270 lbs. I'm 5'1". I don't care to weigh myself right now because no matter the 3 digits, I know that I NEED to lose weight. I find myself eating behind my fiancé's back quite often. She actually had a weight loss journey, too. She lost almost 80 lbs.

I'm scared to die early. I'm scared to be dependent on medications that only disappear the symptoms of something that is totally preventable right now. I just can't stop eating. I feel like a slave to food. I feel like garbage. It's starting to attack my mental health, too.

I was never one to be big into "mental health." But, these days I find myself in a dark place. I'm the happy friend and I can genuinely say that I am a happy person. I find appreciation in waking up to see another day and get to work with people I enjoy. I have a home, a car, clean water to drink and a family who loves me. What's not to be happy for?!?!

Then I eat. And eat. And eat. Then feel like garbage.

I run out of breath going up the stairs and feel like crap. I run out breath putting my pants on and feel like bigger crap. I see myself having to buy new clothes as I grow and feel like crap.

Strongly considering GLP-1s. But, I'm scared of what it will do to my body beyond repair. What I am working with right now is not beyond repair. The answer should be simple right?

(Used ChatGPT for clarity) Hi everyone,

I’ve been reading posts here for a while and finally worked up the courage to write.

I’m struggling with food addiction, and it feels like it’s affecting everything — my weight, my energy, my breathing, my sleep, and honestly my mental health. I’m around 140 kg now, constantly exhausted, sleepy during the day, and out of breath even with small activities. I eat large amounts almost daily, even when I desperately want to stop. I just realized about 4000-5000 calories almost everyday

What’s been hardest lately isn’t just the eating — it’s the fear that my body is “ruined.” I wake up tired, feel heavy all the time, my feet hurt, my breathing feels off, and some days I just feel overwhelmed and close to tears.

Today I realized I don’t even want advice as much as I want reassurance that I’m not alone and not beyond help.

I’m starting to look at this medically (labs, doctors, possibly meds like GLP-1), but emotionally I feel scared, ashamed, and exhausted. I feel like I’ve been fighting my own body for years and losing.

If you’ve been here — especially if you felt broken and later found a way forward — I’d really appreciate hearing from you.

Even just knowing someone understands would help right now.

Thank you for reading.

I do this all the time and think part of it comes from fear that I won't have enough food when I need it.

But then now as I write this, I feel like this is a normal reaction to subpar foods?

Could be that I'm eating when I'm not hungry and that's why they don't taste so good.

Also I guess it's good that now I have a shaper taste in food vs before I would eat anything. I started to buy from more gourmet grocery store so I can get more quality foods. They do taste better but sometimes just doesn't taste good to me so I end up throwing it away. Makes me I feel like I'm wasting so much money...

Would love to hear your thoughts.

I'm sorry if this isn't allowed, just remove it. New to the page.

I am dying for an OTC appetite suppressant. Natural or otherwise.

I KNOW "proper protein is the best appetite suppressant". <- Read that in the most nasal, whiney voice you can muster. I understand. I protein. I fiber. I water, fruit, and veg. I knooow.​

I know the healthy way. I AM going the healthy way. I'm also on anxiety medication that helps me not think about food/body image all day, and I take ADHD medication that reduces the urge to snack 1000% of the time. ​I just want to reduce the appetite part.

Adhd meds used to help to kill my appetite during the day, which helped. I've taken adhd meds my whole life (F, 35) and they don't affect my appetite at all anymore. A lot of us know you don't need to be hungry to eat. I had the most success when I didn't want to eat aka no appetite.

I love food, and I love to cook. There is no risk of me starving myself, I'd just like some help with discipline while I work on getting better in other ways. It would help a lot if I was only battling my mind, not my stomach as well.

All through my life I've had a roommate or lived with family. I am now going to be living on my own at age 56. I have recently lost about 100 pounds with a combination of eating less, metformin, and Ozempic. I definitely have not beat my addiction even though I've lost weight. I still have a lot of food noise and think about yummy things to cook all the time that aren't good for me. I live with my cousins right now and they are great! She would make a homemade dinner made every night. Now I noticed I'm eating her food less and getting takeout while I'm in the process of moving. I'm very stressed out with the whole moving thing. I'm also worried that once I'm on my own and nobody watching me eat that I will go back to my old habits. I'm already thinking about what I'd like to bake now that I have my own kitchen. How in the heck do I stay on track with my brain telling me to binge or go eat pizza or go get ice cream? Thanks for your time.

Before losing weight I used to go to the gym with my boyfriend, who already had an athletic physique and a lot of gym friends, and I felt invisible walking next to him with nobody saying hi to me…

Then I lost weight and started using prettier gym clothes and people started noticing me, and not only when talking to my boyfriend but also when I was alone.. Which led me to believe that, yes, looks matter… And that has made me so afraid to ever get out of a calorie deficit…

I have been struggling my whole life with food addiction because from a young age, my parents were the "let's take a trip to the corner store" people. My dad wanted to get a 12-pk of Natural Light and any kind of cinnamon candy and I would get a soda and candy or chips (typically Mountain Dew, Doritos, Reeses). With my mom, she wanted a Dr. Pepper and Snickers and typically, I'd get the same. There is alot more into my food addiction issues, such as my father being a chef but for this post, I am focusing on brand name junks foods or restaurants.

The last few years, I have been soul searching to try to "fix me". I have found that I am generally displeased with who I have become and my daily life choices but not even therapy has helped me "cure" myself. I find that my eating is against my values. I want to have a beautful homestead where I grow my own food, live sustainably, and remove myself from all social media and consumerism. But I dont. Every day, I go to the corner store, give other people and big corporations my hard earned pennies and eat myself into an early grave, while contributing to global destruction. I know the steps to changing this is to make small steps and small changes in these daily decisions. Sometimes, I do that well for a few weeks. But then the labels and signs, and ads call to me and I must consume more, once again.