I Smoke when I'm hungry

[jamie16]

I sometimes smoke to replace food. I mean smoke insted of eat. I have a giant fear of getting fat (not 10-15lbs but 20-100) I'm not super skinny and even though I still smoke I am going to quit (I'm working the program). I just wondered if anyone else smoked insted of eating (to mantain their weight or to lose weight). I've heard of people who started smoking to lose weight (wow don't do that, trust me). I really want to quit, but, I really want to keep the weight down too, perhaps even lose a few pounds. Any advice is apreaciated. Good luck and keep up the good fight.

[janique]

hi my name is janique i started smoking 16yrs ago to stay thin and it didn't work. i was 17yrs. and 138lbs and now i'm 34yrs. and 212lbs and now i have 3 kids and i lose weight here and gain it there or it stays the same and i am tired of it . my doctor told me that when u quit the most u gain is 10 pounds and if u exercise and eat right u can lose it again. he put me on CHANTIX to QUIT smoking. good luck !!

[maureen3]

Janique,

You sound just like me. To tell you the truth, it sounds like I wrote the story. It is a hard struggle but something that we have to do. I think that cig will kill you faster than weigh gain. You have to make sure that when you are ready to stop smoking that you have healthy snacks around to eat and start an exercise program before you stop that way you will see the difference after you stop smoking just how easy you can walk again without being out of breath. Just stay strong and you can do it. Good Luck.

[t-monster]

HI
My name is Theresa. I too am going to quit my date is 8.8.08. Anyway, I have tried in the past to quit and I too have gained weight. Then I started smoking to loose the weight I had gained only it didn't work that way.

I believe as I read in all the self help mags, that when you starve your body thats when your body retains more calories, which in turns leads to weight gain.
Its hard and not sure how I am going to handle the weight gain (I am still trying to loose the baby fat). I am going to try to up my exercising (walking, etc) to a few more times a week and try eating veggies and gum when ever I get the urge to eat. Not sure if it will help but maybe

It may also help if you talk with your doc. maybe they can recommend a low -cal diet for the few first weeks.

Well Good luck and hope to hear from you.

[janique]

Hi! Theresa,


Thanks for writing back. When I first started smoking I was also obsessed with exercising. I Know that doesn't make since, but at 17 it did to me. I was also suffering from anorexia and that was the only way thai I did loose the weight, but when I did eat again I would gain even more weight back. I was into weight lifting and swimming before I started smoking. After I started smoking I still was into swimming, or exercising just to stay fit or loose weight. It wasn't until my first child, at age 19, that I quit COLD TURKEY. I was 4months pregnant and the doctor told me to break all my cigarettes and to say I quit after each one. I was very emotional and did what he said to do in his office. I was in tears and I cried all the way home. My family was very supportive and helped me through it even though they were smokers. I quit for 5 months. After my stillborn son was born, I was so depressed that I started up again and then I was also on birthcontrol pills for 1 month and gained 40 pounds so quit pills and kept smoking in hopes to loose weight. I know how hard it is to loose the baby weight. my kids are 8yrs. & 9yrs. and sometimes I think is this still baby weight or is this just weight I've gained because I don't eat like I should. Sometimes I only eat dinner. I am trying to retrain myself to eat more often. My gyno. told me that the key to loosing weight is to eat every 2 to 3 hrs. smaller meals and snack on fruit & veggies. eat more salads and drinking more water helps to fill you feelmore full. She also said just walking alittle each day will help too. It's not that I hate food ,because I really do love to eat. I think the smoking is really my biggest obsession and in my mind I believe it keeps me from wanting to eat and that I will loose the weight if I don't eat. Baby steps....... RIGHT?

Have u thought about taking CHANTIX? That is what I'm on. I've been on them for 4days now. Thanks for the advice. Good Luck to you as well.

[janique]

Maureen,


Thanks, for responding and your advice. I really have so much more to write about on the weight and smoking thing. I tend to get distracted with kids and everything else that I don't always get what I want to or need to say out. That is why I am starting to blog my thoughts now. Ur right smoking would probably kill me faster. I am more ready now to quit smoking than I ever was. There was a time when weight wasn't an issue for me, eventhough I was heavy I loved me and liked the way I looked. In 2005, I was put on some meds for migrains and type 2 diabetes that I lost 35 pounds. It took a year to loose that weight and in 2007 my doctor took me off the meds. It was not long before that weight was back and then some. I walk all the time and my weight just stays the same. My doctor told me that if U aren't doing some kind of CARDIO-Exercieses then u won't loose weight. He was upset about me gaining all that weight back, but he was the one who took me off it in the first place. Now a year later after doing some more test he may put me back on them. Walking really isn't a problem for me breathing.....yet, and I don't want it to be. I smoke when I walk, but that is about to change soon. Alot of things are going to change soon..... only for the good. Thanks again

Janique

[jamie16]

This is the exact problem I have. I eat once a day (sometimes I forget to do that). Please let me know how the CHANTIX works for you I'm very interested. Everyone says you should eat 5 meals a day and have healthy snacks between meals or you should eat every 2 to 3 hrs. and drink lots of water. Well, I understand the reasons and I hear what they are saying but going from one meal to 5 meals equals weight gain in my mind. In addition, 5 meals compaired to one screws up my food budget in a huge way. Plus, I never know if this kind of change should be gradual or what. Certainly exercising helps offset the weight gain but, it is a very big change in my lifestyle and I really fear the weight gain aspect. I read a book by Michle Thurman (the guy who wrote the 6 week makeover program). He does recomend the more meals thing. I did try this for a while but, like most big diatery changes it didn't last. Plus, quiting smoking and making a huge diatery change and increasing my exersising all at the same time seems like a lot to accomplish. I know if I strickly watch what I eat, and make no other changes, I can lose 10-15lbs in 6 weeks or less, however, it almost always leads to eating one meal a day for me. Plus I don't particularaly like eating. Don't get me wrong, I like the occasional steak dinner or lobster or shrimp, but, on a daily basis I really don't like it much. I have a feeling that when I actually quit smoking that part may change, but, mostly I don't like food and the thaught of eating every 2 to 3 hrs. is very unappealling in my mind (I guess I could drink many of the meals).

[janique]

I know sometimes when I am hungry and I have hunger pains,I just ignore them and a few minutes they are gone. Sometimes I am so into what I'm doing that I just for get about eating at all. My dad asked me one day what was for dinner and I replied I don't know I wasn't think about dinner and he said well don't u think u need to feed ur kids. So I made them something and I told him that FOOD is always the last thing on my mind. It is hard because my kids are aware that I don't eat much, maybe pick a little to make it look like I'm eating so they don't worry about me not eating. I have tried so many things to loose weight and did but always gained it back. I took hydroxicut and when from 205 to 175 in like 3 mo. but when I stopped I started gaining it back. Then again I also wasn't eating much and work nights didn't always eat while working and when I got home I was sleeping all day so I wasn't eating during the day either. I guess I just trained myself to not eat. During the day I just don't feel like eating anything even when starving. I love food and love to cook food but I don't always like to eat it. Don't get me wrong I can cook. I love to go out to eat sometimes, but I when I'm out I stuff myself and then I'm misreble. I agree with what u r saying. We just need to focus on one addiction at a time. Lets do the smoking one first, and then we can work on our weight or eating issues later. One baby step at a time....... cause there is always time to loose weight. I am here with u and togther we can beat both!!!!!!! Hang in there! I'm here if u need me!

[jamie16]

You know, I had a very similer experiance with Hydroxicut. But my shrink says thats no good for me and I told him I wouldn't buy anymore (I still have a stash in my cubbered for an emergancy boost). I think it is not a bad plan to take Hydroxicut when you quit. I think that you may wind up breaking even that way. Obviously exercising and eating right is appropriate also. But, starting up a program is difficult and I think using a bottle of Hydroxicut to get you over the starting hump is quite appropriate. I wouldn't make it a habbit (that stuff is good but expensive) Anyway, having this fourm is nice to discuss this problem.

[birdygal]

I went back to smoking 2 times because of weight gain. I am a small person and have always been no more than 30 lbs overweight even at 9 months pregnant. I really had a hard time with the weight gain. However after watching both my parents suffer the last 10 yrs of their lives by smoking 50 yrs I decided to forget the weight gain I have been smoke free for 16 months I used chantix for 3 months. I am now 50 lbs overweight and I really do hate the weight. Chew on toothpicks It worked great for me I had only gained 20 lbs until I got false teeth then I put on more I can't wear my teeth and can no longer chew on sticks. I may become diabetic because of the weight but I surely won't have to lug around an oxygen tank. Just remember once you are over the habit of smoking you can work on the habit of overeating. smoking is worse than overeating plus you will put on some extra pounds just by getting older