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Thread: Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

  1. #1
    Member Holly G 1904's Avatar
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    Crossfingers Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

    I've recently started to work out but I find it hard to do some cardio efficiently because I've been a smoker for many years. I just get so out of breath and feel I'm a ways behind 'regular' people in a physical sense. Also because I've never been very active physically.

    I want to start dancing again and modeling so my goal is to lose about 20lbs or so. (I'm about 5'7", 137lbs) In order to reach my goal quicker and more efficiently, not to mention save my health, I've decided to quit smoking cigarettes. The only problem is I'm terribly afraid of the dreaded weight gain!!

    I already eat fairly healthy on a regular basis so I don't think I'll go nuts and pig out or anything, but I've always heard the weight gain rumors you know? I was hoping that someone might know a thing or two about it. Hopefully trading smoking for constant exercise will only put me a few steps forward instead of backwards. Thank you for the help ladies!!

    xoxo

    -H

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    God/dess J.D.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

    Well little lady, I only gained around 5 lbs give or take, that were gone within a month and I didn't have to do anything. Cigarettes naturally give your metabolism a slight boost and severely mess with your insulin levels. To top off all that, when you quit, you naturally want to put every piece of food you see in your mouth just from habit. What I did to counteract this is, whenever I had a cigarette craving I would drink a sip of Crystal Light orange flavor water powder. I would sip glasses of it throughout the day, along with eating carrot sticks, and that was it, except for regular meals. Just try to watch your snacking, and your body and metabolism will get back into synch within a month. I really think the weight gain thing is mostly rumors and exaggeration. Good luck quitting! This website, www.whyquit.org helped me tremendously. Really take the time to read through and find out why, scientifically, you crave cigarettes and how to deal with it. You probably already know that you're going to have to quit cold turkey, but it only takes four days cigarette free to detox the nicotine out of your blood, so just stick it out for four days. What I did was locked myself in my house and got wasted (like two bottles of wine) and passed out until four days was over. I know that's bad, but it worked for my mom too, and I have been completely cigarette free for seven months. I don't even ever think about cigarettes anymore, it was honestly the BEST thing I have ever done in my life, quitting smoking!
    Quote Originally Posted by AznExtasy View Post
    LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    You can say that again.. not just on here but men in general. Guys are so damn lame, the only way they can halfway make up for it is by opening their wallets.

    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Tools

  3. #3
    God/dess J.D.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

    P.S. They say that if you stay smoke free for I *think* one or two years, your chances of lung cancer and vascular disease go back to that of a normal non smoker. Our bodies are truly amazing, their ability to heal themselves.
    Quote Originally Posted by AznExtasy View Post
    LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    You can say that again.. not just on here but men in general. Guys are so damn lame, the only way they can halfway make up for it is by opening their wallets.

    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Tools

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    Senior Member Prisoner201181's Avatar
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    Default Re: Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

    ^ even after one or two weeks there are noticeable benefits, like better circulation and more efficient respiration ! Smoking is one of those things though, I smoked from 14 - 19 (I know that sounds bad, right!), but was never a heavy smoker, perhaps 4-5 cigarettes a day at most. Some days only 2. I actually quit inadvertently, I was prescribed wellbutrin (buproprion), which btw, I hated how it made me feel, but one of the side effects was it made cigarettes taste AWFUL. Like throw up a little in your mouth awful. Even though I haven't been on that medication in 3 years I still don't smoke (the exception being if I participate in something else....) and the smell of it, especially if it's just one cigarette, gives me that sick sensation all over again!

    I didn't gain any weight at all though, but I've always had a million nervous habits, so substituting one of my many other habits for smoking wasn't hard. Not saying you need medication to quit, because I've met some hardcore smokers that it has not decreased their desire for cigarettes, but it did help, even though it was pretty much otherwise useless. I chew gum, though some people think it's tacky to chew gum. But it keeps your breath fresh and actually burns more calories than are in the stick, so I don't see how it's tacky really. Also Stride and Five Gum lasts forever, so it's not like you go through more than 2-3 sticks a day. And a pack of gum is $1 a pack of cigarettes is almost $6! At least here in FL they are.

    Just think of how much money you'll save and use some of it to buy yourself something like a cute new outfit, put it on layaway or something for your current size, or the size you want to be at to ensure you won't gain weight! Little goals always help. Plus think how much better everything will smell. You really notice how smoker's clothes tend to get ingrained with that ashy smell.
    Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. - C.S. Lewis


    Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn. - C.S. Lewis

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    Default Re: Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

    depending on how many packs you smoke & how much they cost where you live, for however long you go for, take the money you'd spend on cigs, and spend it on something else that makes you feel good. you'd be suprised at how much you save. Like JD said, go on the whyquit website and read some of the stories. they're really motivational, and if you can get through those first few days, you're gold. Keep yourself busy for those first few days. honey if you don't quit now, there will be consequences. I'm not trying to scare you into anything, but I used to think I was invincible. I saw one of my closest family members slowly die from smoking, & he was too young. It's just not worth it, and I hate to sound crude or innappropiate, but if you keep worrying about gaining weight , you're going to lose a hell of a lot of it with chemo. lung cancer is very real. it doesn't care who you are or how old you are, and by the time lung cancer is detected, it's far too late. You know how we found out about my uncle's lung cancer ? We found him seizing on the floor. It spread to his brain. I used to think all those anti-smoking things were too much of a buisness and exaggerated..I guess we thought wrong. We lost him a few weeks later on Christmas day.

  6. #6
    Member Holly G 1904's Avatar
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    Default Re: Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain

    Thanks you guys for the stories and info. VERY helpful. I'm on day 2 of no cigarettes and it's not as bad as I thought it would be. =]

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