Need some support.

jameesboi19
jameesboi19 Posts: 4 Member
in Motivation and Support
Ok so I really want to start losing weight going for jogs, walks etc. However, I'm a smoker and really want to quit but I have no support on quiting and my family smokes around me which makes it harder. I'm affraid to go jogging as I may only last probably 2-3 mins as I'm a smoker and it isn't great for your health. It's so hard right now.. can some people help me please

Replies

  • annliz23
    annliz23 Posts: 3,735 Member
    If you want to jogging go for it try jogging for 1 minute then walk for 30 sec then repeat
    Next time increase to 1minute 30 then walk 30 sec repeat increases you feel you need to having a rest every few days, I did this a few years ago and managed to get to 40 minutes jogging eventually my son who is a smoker started with me slowly too.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    edited August 2019
    Welcome to the community! <3

    If you haven't already, read the stickies at the top of the getting started forum. Very informative and helpful.

    I come from a family of non-smokers so can't know what you're going through. I hope you reach your goal of quitting. I admire that.
  • unstableunicorn
    unstableunicorn Posts: 216 Member
    As mentioned above, interval jogging/running! A few years back I had to start with 15 secs jog, 1 minute walk, but after a month I was 30 secs jog, 30 secs walk. Increase the jog and decrease the walk as your body adjusts to continually increase your body’s tolerance.

    As for smoking, have you considered using the patch system?
  • tredinl
    tredinl Posts: 1 Member
    It is great that you want to quit smoking! I am an ex smoker. It is difficult when others around you smoke, though. Perhaps try to remove yourself from the situation when family members choose to smoke. Exercise is wonderful and you can develop a program that works for you. I enjoy walking on a treadmill while reading and find the time passes quickly when you have a good book. Best to you!
  • AmbrrrB22
    AmbrrrB22 Posts: 18 Member
    Ironically, I was a much better runner when I smoked a pack a day. I haven't smoked in 3 years and it is much harder for me to run now than it use to be (mostly because I'm so out of shape).

    With that being said, smoking and weight loss journeys are both one day at a time. If you can't make it a whole day, do one hour at a time, or whatever time interval works for you. Best of luck on your journey!
  • Hollis100
    Hollis100 Posts: 1,408 Member
    jameesboi19 wrote: »
    Ok so I really want to start losing weight going for jogs, walks etc. However, I'm a smoker and really want to quit but I have no support on quiting and my family smokes around me which makes it harder. I'm affraid to go jogging as I may only last probably 2-3 mins as I'm a smoker and it isn't great for your health. It's so hard right now.. can some people help me please

    Congratulations on deciding you want to quit -- that decision is the hardest part. Thousands of people quit and you can too.

    Many hospitals have free stop-smoking classes. I have a friend who successfully took one of these courses and stopped smoking. I quit many years ago through paid classes which were worth every penny. The first few weeks were hard, I won't kid you, but I stuck with it and never thought about smoking again.

    I suggest you start out walking and add jogging for short intervals to build up your strength. Look up couch to 5K in the search bar here for more info.

  • grinning_chick
    grinning_chick Posts: 765 Member
    There are also online quit groups/forums for both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. I know I would have never been able to quit in 2006 without one as well as a NRT - nicotine replacement therapy - gum that I followed the step down schedule exactly as written. This was before wellbutrin and chantix were widely prescribed to help cessation efforts and may help with the less than supportive environment/temptation issue. I couldn't do the patch because of the really vivid and disturbing dreams it caused.

    Break a leg. Whether the first try or the 50th, it's like weight loss; keep trying until you do.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,066 Member
    Start walking and ease into running. Obviously quitting is the best thing you can do, but even working out while being a smoker will help you breathe better.
  • theowlbox
    theowlbox Posts: 912 Member
    quitting is super hard. this is the way i quit and the way my friends have been able to quit. it's not guaranteed but it is super non sucky and made it a ton easier.

    so wake up and don't have a cigarette at the first time you smoke in the morning. if you wake up and immediately smoke or smoke with coffee, skip that. then do everything else the same. you have just elongated your non smoking time from 8 hours sleeping to 8 hours and 5 minutes. go about your week and when you are ready, skip the next one so you aren't smoking before breakfast. (or whatever.) if you work you will work up to only smoking on a break or at lunch and then only after work. if you're not working ise whatever markers you have in your daily routine. as you skip those first cigarettes you learn to do those things with no cigarettes. you drink your am coffee with no cigarette, you learn to not smoke after breakfast or lunch and finally dinner. so you are making new habits that are smoke free. by the time you are skipping cigarettes until after dinner you are going most of a day without and let me tell you, they get a little less interesting. you start to notice how they taste or how how you feel after. it's weird to like them yet still be grossed out.

    personally, i say doing two hard things at once (quitting cigarettes and starting to run) kind of increases the liklihood that one or both will not get done. i say pick one and start off. if you quit cigarettes then start to run it will be easier but if you do the reverse, you might be nauseous enough to quit smoking just by running.

    good luck on both!!



  • jameesboi19
    jameesboi19 Posts: 4 Member
    edited August 2019
    Omg thankyou all so much!! It means the world. This community is the best ❤
  • John772016
    John772016 Posts: 133 Member
    jameesboi19 wrote: »
    Ok so I really want to start losing weight going for jogs, walks etc. However, I'm a smoker and really want to quit but I have no support on quiting and my family smokes around me which makes it harder. I'm affraid to go jogging as I may only last probably 2-3 mins as I'm a smoker and it isn't great for your health. It's so hard right now.. can some people help me please

    Start walking, you can jog later once you've become more comfortable doing so.
    Quit smoking; don't care what others do, your doing it for yourself not them.
    Track calories. CICO - you'll lose weight eating less calories then you use - use the suggested calories MFP gives you. Weigh your food, a scale will be an eye opener.

    In 2016, I quit smoking, started walking, and started tracking calories. In 2017, I hadn't smoked for a year, was walking a lot farther and also jogging, and had lost over 100lbs.
    You can do this, many of us have been there too.

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