Four Good Reasons Not to Talk About Weight to Your Meth Addict

There are four good reasons why you should never talk about weight to a meth addict.Now’s not a good time.Unless you’ve beat meth addiction yourself, you cannot know how hard it is to walk away from that drug. It is an experience that is accompanied by huge lifestyle changes, relationship issues, most likely loss of personal belongings, and possibly serious health issues. Not only do you leave the comfort of a drug that has held you captive, the addict is faced with the reality of the damage that was caused while away in drug-land. The last thing they need is for you to tell them that they are fat.Fat vs. healthy.When the addict is lost in meth addiction, food is usually the last thing an addict needs to survive. Most meth addicts are known for the sucked-in, skinny look; size 0 pants are hanging off an inverted butt, arms and legs look breakable, and cheek-bones clearly show. To the meth addict, they don’t see that. Usually for the first time in the addict’s life, they don’t have to worry about weight issues. In fact, when they do it, they can literally eat whatever they want. HOWEVER, part of the side-effects of quitting meth is that the addict is HUNGRY. The addict continues to eat whatever they want and in no time, the addicts’ skin is starting to press up against the no longer saggy pants and panic begins to tug deep within that all of a sudden, they are feeling fat. No, really, is actually healthy but to the addict, it feels like fat. And it is a horrible feeling.Please don’t notice my butt’s bigger.As the meth addict is trying to adjust to life without meth, and eating is a comfort as well as a necessity, the body slowly starts to fill back out. The addict is more than likely trying to hide the fact they are in recovery and just are trying to manage the drastic change that just occurred by leaving meth. The since of loss is real, the emotions are raw, and the cloths are getting tighter. So do them a huge favor and don’t exclaim about the obvious that their butt is getting bigger. I know, it’s usually out of support and excitement that a family member might bust out and say, “Wow, you are looking so much better! Look, you finally have a butt.” No, please skip the comments. For an addict, hearing “It so nice to see some meat on your bones” is not a compliment. Besides the fact that you are pointing out the obvious, it also means that you are putting the addict in the spot light and pointing out something on them when really, hiding is mostly what they feel like doing. Depending on how long the addict is sober will depend on the response to the person needing to voice the compliment, but speaking from experience, smiling, and gritting my teeth was the way I dealt with it. Please, just keep the comments about the addicts’ positive physical changes to yourself and stick with “Hey, nice to see you! Let’s go do something fun (and hopefully not addicting) together.”There is one quick way to shrink.One of the biggest struggles with meth addicts and gaining weight is that each one of them KNOWS one good way to blast that weight right off. Not only would it take care of the weight issues, the addict knows that it would fill that emptiness and hyper-active drive that is now non-existent. So many addicts who are faced with weight issues have to deal with the fact they now have to deal with weight issues in a healthy way. It’s not going to work anymore to eat whatever they want. It’s not going to work anymore making fun of people who exercise. The addict is trying to get whatever life back they can and deal with recovery when everything inside of them is saying that it is just easier to go back to the open arms of meth. I’ve heard that some addicts even think they can go back to using meth JUST ENOUGH to control the weight issues without completely losing grip and being wrapped in the meth grip. That is pretty absurd especially since you need more meth to get the same the same high but the addict wants so much to have the best of both worlds. But that’s not meth’s calling card.So the next time you are talking to your addict, do them a huge favor and keep your comments about how they look and their weight to yourself. If they really mean anything to you, do your part and ask yourself ‘do I want to help them or tempt them to chain themselves up again? ‘