Effects of Alcoholism: Managing Weight Loss in Addiction Recovery

Weight Loss
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Addiction recovery is a challenging journey that may last your entire life. It is a journey that may have profound effects on your mental and physical health. If you have suffered from alcoholism, your eating and fitness habits may have deteriorated while you were addicted. Perhaps you have drifted from your previously healthy habits and feel low energy levels, fatigue, or confusion about where to begin creating change.

If you are attempting to restore your optimal physical health and lose weight while in recovery, be sure to create habits that also support your addiction treatment. Consider following these steps to manage healthy weight loss while also building your new sober lifestyle.

Seeking Treatment

Even one of the best Orange County rehab centers in California wants everyone to know that addiction recovery treatment is unique for each individual. You may use prescription medications, visit a psychologist or psychiatrist, require other forms of medical intervention, participate in support groups, or employ a combination of these options.

If you have a mental illness and an addiction, you will probably participate in dual diagnosis treatment for both conditions. This treatment typically requires therapy. Regardless of your treatment and diagnosis, you can ask for different types of support that promote your healthiest weight while maintaining your recovery and other aspects of your health.

Ask your psychiatrist, doctor, therapist, or other treatment professionals if you can try medications that avoid weight-related side effects. Communicate that you are working on improving your physical health as well as your mental health.

You may also work with a health coach or nutritionist to develop habits that support healthy coping mechanisms to deal with your struggles. Such tactics may include using yoga to unwind from stress or eating a healthy meal when you feel fatigued or withdrawal symptoms. Working healthy habits into your recovery treatment may produce positive effects on your mental and physical progress.

Eating Well

Healthy eating is the cornerstone of healthy weight loss and may reduce your symptoms of withdrawal if you are new to addiction recovery. Setting the stage for healthy eating in recovery may train your mind to support habits that energize you, which will help you stick to a new fitness routine or sleep schedule. Healthy eating habits may also replace unhealthy behaviors that may have contributed to your addiction struggles in the past. Eating healthy on a consistent basis may reduce excess dietary fat and promote healthy muscle growth while giving you countless nutritional benefits in recovery.

Focusing on whole foods is one of the first steps to developing an eating routine for weight loss. Foods that have been chemically refined and combined with artificial ingredients are known as processed foods. Such foods are often not a good health choice, since processed foods may drain your energy and contribute to excess fat.

Instead, choose foods with unprocessed ingredients that support your mental and physical health. If you are struggling in recovery, start small and pick one or two healthy meals that you truly love and learn how to cook them at home. You can explore your grocery store or research healthy meals you like from your favorite restaurants. Developing these healthy eating habits not only supports your weight loss but also enhances your brain activity as you challenge yourself to recover mentally. The right foods and eating habits may provide the energy you need to sustain a healthy lifestyle.

Building a Fitness Routine

Creating a consistent fitness routine is another step to healthy weight loss. Luckily, fitness is also a healthy coping mechanism for stress, which may help you avoid addictive temptations and behaviors. Using fitness as a healthy coping mechanism may improve your overall mood and energy levels while helping you develop the habit of exercising regularly. The release of endorphins after exercise (as well as the heightened mental activity) may decrease your stress levels and makes you less prone to addictive behaviors.

Of course, developing a fitness routine may also promote healthy weight loss. If you are eating whole foods only when you are hungry and exercise for at least thirty minutes a day for at least five times a week, you are training your body to operate at a caloric deficit, which may contribute to weight loss. Be patient and let your results happen naturally. You may lose a few pounds every week if you consistently exercise and adapt your routines as you progress.

Remember that weight loss can be stressful, so do not push yourself or beat yourself up if you struggle with your new habits. Also, remember to make addiction recovery a priority so that both your recovery and weight loss habits have higher chances of lasting for life.

Resting Your Mind and Body

Rest and recovery are crucial to both healthy weight loss and addiction treatment. Fatigue and exhaustion may increase stress levels and your likelihood of responding to stress in unhealthy ways. Addiction behaviors may become more prevalent and harder to fight if you are exhausted or upset, so learn which energy levels and behaviors work best for you.

Take time to meditate or journal your emotions (write in a journal) to recover from a stressful day. Weight loss is easier when you are well-rested since your body is less likely to crave unhealthy foods due to energy deficits. You are also less likely to feel fatigued, which may interfere with your workouts or prevent you from visiting your treatment providers or seeking other types of assistance.

Rest and relaxation are effective self-care practices that may promote recovery and healthy weight. Simple activities you can do to keep your body and brain active include daily stretches, walks outside, and deep breathing activities.

Balancing Your Care

Taking time each day to focus on feeling good may strengthen the mental patterns you need to stay motivated for your health and recovery. By actively focusing on feeling good, you may rely less on willpower and more on your natural habits to promote your healthiest lifestyle. Practicing self-care may decrease your likelihood of relapsing into unhealthy behaviors while reinforcing habits that promote your healthiest weight and mindset.

Healthy weight loss is best accomplished if you find ways to combine your new habits with your recovery process. Building new habits is difficult enough without addiction behaviors and temptations, so maximize your efforts to create a lifestyle you can maintain in the long term.

Practice each habit at your own pace and focus on recovery first. This may protect your mindset and allow you to work with your treatment providers to develop behaviors that support your healthy weight without impacting your addiction recovery. Following these steps may provide the confidence you need to build your healthiest body and promote lifelong recovery from addiction.


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