Dieting after quitting smoking?

Are there any others who are losing weight after quitting smoking? I quit October 21, 2018, so coming up on a year quit. I have lost weight multiple times with no issues in the past using phen and changing my diet and exercise. I am very knowledgeable about how to lose weight, and like I said have never had any issues as long as there was a calorie deficient. But, this time around after quitting smoking things are not going so well. Has anyone else experienced this? Even though I am meeting or going under my calorie goals for each day, the scale is not moving like it should. I should have lost 10 pounds more than what I have based on the calorie deficient needed to lose a pound of fat. I am getting so completely discouraged, which sucks because I am doing flawlessly and doing step aerobics to boot. I am so close to just quitting and staying fat. Usually at the high weight that I am at, I don't even have to exercise or really restrict my calories too much to easily lose weight. I am so beyond frustrated. Just looking for someone who has also experienced this, or some idea of how to get things moving. I have tried upping my calories, varying my workout, all to no avail.
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Replies

  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    I feel your pain. I quit vaping and have definately gained about 6 lbs. It seems like very little but I'm frustrated. I increased my exercise then injured myself so now I'm really in a pickle. I am not willing to gain weight though so I'm fighting the temptation to go back to vaping. Hang in there. They say it will pass in time.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    edited August 2019
    Losing weight after quitting smoking has got to be one of the hardest things ever known to mankind. It combines something that is doable but challenging (losing weight) with something that is almost inconceivably hard (quitting nicotine).

    I recommend Newman's Own Peppermints. These are about as low calorie as you can get to give you something to do with your mouth while waiting to get over the nicotine craving, and will essentially burn your mouth numb to mask the nicotine craving. They have a few calories and the first week or two you'll probably consume a thousand of them LOL And you might get a cavity or two as well, but it'll help get you over the hump with minimal weight gain. You can exercise more to cover the peppermint calories, but I did that and hurt myself -- probably better to just suck it up and realize you're gonna gain 5 lbs - if you're disciplined about it.
  • jennyhaynes1976
    jennyhaynes1976 Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks guys, some helpful tips in there. And I don't feel so alone! As I said, I quit last October, so I am way over the nicotine cravings and such like that, so no worries there. I did gain 50 pounds in the 5 months after quitting. I replaced cigs with food. Not smart, but it worked and I am smoke free, and I NEVER thought I would be able to say that. I have lost a total of 26 pounds since March 1st, so my loss rate is slow. At first, like the first 3 months, I had cut back, but was still way overeating, I just didn't realize because I had been eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. That was why I started logging food on here. And I am 100% honest in my journaling, so I know that I am not subconsciously eating bigger portions than I think. I am so anal I actually use a cup to measure portions. In the past, I would lose 20 pounds my first month of dieting and 10-15 a month after at my current weight. It is just so discouraging.
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
    Years ago I quit smoking for 12 months and put on a stone in weight. It was a swine to shift. And I even started smoking again.

    However, three years ago I quit for good, around the same time I started getting my weight back under control after being bed-bound with a back injury. I think the prescription meds meant I didn't miss the cigarettes too much, and I couldn't get up and go for a smoke while I was in hospital anyway.

    This time round I didn't put weight on when I quit. I put this down to totally meticulous logging of every gram of food that passed my lips. Quitting the cigs does not prevent you losing weight, but you do have to be as determined about what you eat as you are about not smoking. You can do this.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,907 Member
    yeah, so that first 26 pound loss since March? That's really good!


    The last few pounds take time. It took me nine months to lose the last 15 and I was fixing all my meals from scratch at home, plus using a digital food scale for every bite I took.

    It just goes slower at the end.

    You're doing great.

    Congrats on the quitting smoking.
  • jennyhaynes1976
    jennyhaynes1976 Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks for the encouragement guys! I could understand if this was my last little bit of weight, cmriverside, but I am just starting! That is what is mind boggling. I understand the closer you get to goal weight, the harder it is to lose. But I am almost 100 pounds overweight still. I am 5'4 and weigh 234 pounds. Eating 1200 calories and working out should definitely be causing results better than 1.5 pounds per week. And the past two weeks I am not even seeing that! That is a healthy loss at a lower weight, but let's face it, as overweight as I am I should be seeing more significant losses. It is really bothering me. This morning I weighed and had not lost an ounce since last weeks weigh in. I can't wrap my head around how that can even be possible. It has to be the not smoking. I was ready to start back smoking again, or give up and just start eating whatever again, but you guys saved me for today. These messages really helped me get my head back in the game. Maybe I will fast some this weekend and see if that gets things moving again.
  • jennyhaynes1976
    jennyhaynes1976 Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks for the encouragement guys! I could understand if this was my last little bit of weight, cmriverside, but I am just starting! That is what is mind boggling. I understand the closer you get to goal weight, the harder it is to lose. But I am almost 100 pounds overweight still. I am 5'4 and weigh 234 pounds. Eating 1200 calories and working out should definitely be causing results better than 1.5 pounds per week. And the past two weeks I am not even seeing that! That is a healthy loss at a lower weight, but let's face it, as overweight as I am I should be seeing more significant losses. It is really bothering me. This morning I weighed and had not lost an ounce since last weeks weigh in. I can't wrap my head around how that can even be possible. It has to be the not smoking. I was ready to start back smoking again, or give up and just start eating whatever again, but you guys saved me for today. These messages really helped me get my head back in the game. Maybe I will fast some this weekend and see if that gets things moving again.

    IMO this is a really bad plan, you are more likely to end up over-eating out of hunger following a fast, it's a bad mindset to get into.

    I think you need to stop looking for fast results and accept that you're losing weight at a good rate and just realise that you need to work on your patience. 2lbs per week is the maximum recommended amount for someone who is obese, it doesn't mean it's sustainable for all though. On paper at 1200 calories you're in just under a 2lb per week deficit for your stats, but as already mentioned measuring isn't as accurate weighing food, so if anything tighten up on your logging but personally I would just keep doing what you're doing.

    Weight loss isn't linear so you won't see weight loss every week, it's the trend over time that is important.


    I started at 255lbs and lost at an average rate of 1lb per week, as you can see, the weight fluctuates up and down throughout the 6 months shown but the trend is downwards.
    8oqn3whabdd0.jpg



    So are you down to almost 100 pounds? That is amazing. I am just used to losing much quicker than this when taking diet medication. they expect you to lose a minimum of 8 pounds a month in order to refill. And in the past, and as high a weight as mine, I usually lose 10-15 a month. But once my weight gets closer to my ideal weight, 1 pound a week is typical. I guess I will just have to chalk it up to slower metabolism from not smoking and deal with it. I am going to try and stay motivated. I journal honestly and faithfully every day, am staying within my calorie goal, and exercising, and drinking the recommended daily water, so there really isn't much more I can do but shock my system to beat this plateau and then carry on.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    Thanks for the encouragement guys! I could understand if this was my last little bit of weight, cmriverside, but I am just starting! That is what is mind boggling. I understand the closer you get to goal weight, the harder it is to lose. But I am almost 100 pounds overweight still. I am 5'4 and weigh 234 pounds. Eating 1200 calories and working out should definitely be causing results better than 1.5 pounds per week. And the past two weeks I am not even seeing that! That is a healthy loss at a lower weight, but let's face it, as overweight as I am I should be seeing more significant losses. It is really bothering me. This morning I weighed and had not lost an ounce since last weeks weigh in. I can't wrap my head around how that can even be possible. It has to be the not smoking. I was ready to start back smoking again, or give up and just start eating whatever again, but you guys saved me for today. These messages really helped me get my head back in the game. Maybe I will fast some this weekend and see if that gets things moving again.

    I totally understand your frustration. I ate 1200 calories and started out about where you are and it still took me 2 years to lose the weight. One thing I will recommend to you is try to add in some strength training. I didn't and now I'm trying to build muscle. The reason I say this is my maintenance calories are around 1350. If I had saved more muscle while losing I believe that I would be able to eat more now. I am 5'5" tall and older (63). There are others on here though who are the same age and height who maintain on 2000 calories a day. They are more muscular than I am. Just my two cents worth. Even at my best I only lost 1.7 pounds a week at 1200 calories. It sucks but some of us are just more efficient in our energy usage. As for the last week don't let it get to you. Sometimes it just doesn't show. See below a snapshot of my weight loss journey you can see some weeks I had no loss and even at 1200 calories I finally only expected 1.25 pounds a week:

    8x1v9xfixb5y.png
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,122 Member
    edited August 2019
    Thanks for the encouragement guys! I could understand if this was my last little bit of weight, cmriverside, but I am just starting! That is what is mind boggling. I understand the closer you get to goal weight, the harder it is to lose. But I am almost 100 pounds overweight still. I am 5'4 and weigh 234 pounds. Eating 1200 calories and working out should definitely be causing results better than 1.5 pounds per week. And the past two weeks I am not even seeing that! That is a healthy loss at a lower weight, but let's face it, as overweight as I am I should be seeing more significant losses. It is really bothering me. This morning I weighed and had not lost an ounce since last weeks weigh in. I can't wrap my head around how that can even be possible. It has to be the not smoking. I was ready to start back smoking again, or give up and just start eating whatever again, but you guys saved me for today. These messages really helped me get my head back in the game. Maybe I will fast some this weekend and see if that gets things moving again.

    IMO this is a really bad plan, you are more likely to end up over-eating out of hunger following a fast, it's a bad mindset to get into.

    I think you need to stop looking for fast results and accept that you're losing weight at a good rate and just realise that you need to work on your patience. 2lbs per week is the maximum recommended amount for someone who is obese, it doesn't mean it's sustainable for all though. On paper at 1200 calories you're in just under a 2lb per week deficit for your stats, but as already mentioned measuring isn't as accurate weighing food, so if anything tighten up on your logging but personally I would just keep doing what you're doing.

    Weight loss isn't linear so you won't see weight loss every week, it's the trend over time that is important.


    I started at 255lbs and lost at an average rate of 1lb per week, as you can see, the weight fluctuates up and down throughout the 6 months shown but the trend is downwards.
    8oqn3whabdd0.jpg



    So are you down to almost 100 pounds? That is amazing. I am just used to losing much quicker than this when taking diet medication. they expect you to lose a minimum of 8 pounds a month in order to refill. And in the past, and as high a weight as mine, I usually lose 10-15 a month. But once my weight gets closer to my ideal weight, 1 pound a week is typical. I guess I will just have to chalk it up to slower metabolism from not smoking and deal with it. I am going to try and stay motivated. I journal honestly and faithfully every day, am staying within my calorie goal, and exercising, and drinking the recommended daily water, so there really isn't much more I can do but shock my system to beat this plateau and then carry on.

    I wish! That was Kilos, I lost around 35lbs which was about half way to my goal. Regained some of it after some stressful stuff over the last year, so setting out with about 50lbs to lose at the moment, on the plus side I have a lot more muscle these days from weight lifting and rowing so I look better at 240lbs now than I did 3 years ago.

    Your system doesn't need shocking, you just need to be consistent and carry on as you are. If you are in a consistent deficit you will lose fat, it just may not appear on the scale as you expect, that where the trend over time is important. Consider using a trend app like Happy Scale or Libra for a little while.
  • jennyhaynes1976
    jennyhaynes1976 Posts: 6 Member
    Thank you Cheryl and Tinker! This is exactly the kind of information and encouragement I needed. You ladies have no idea how much better you have made me feel. You know how it is when you start out, and you want to undo the bad eating magically overnight, even though you know good and well it doesn't work like that! You both are exactly right, I just need to remember that the scale is fickle and will go up and down, and that is normal and okay. This is a long-haul process, no quick or easy shortcuts to this weight loss game. I am just so unhappy with the number on the scale, but already feel sooo much stronger and healthier from getting active and exercising. I just need to focus on that and not so much on the number on the scale. A huge thank you to both of you, and all of you wonderful ladies who commented on here. I needed some support, and you definitely delivered.
  • jennyhaynes1976
    jennyhaynes1976 Posts: 6 Member
    The scale finally moved! Let's hope it isn't just a fluctuation and we have real downward movement! Halleluiah!
  • poisonesse
    poisonesse Posts: 526 Member
    I quit 7 years ago, which helped put me here! :p And yes, it WILL pass. Your body is adapting to no nicotine, probably holding on to more fluids right now, and you might be overcompensating by eating larger portions. You say you've lost in the past using phen... I'm taking it you mean phentermine... it's a different animal when you're doing it on your own versus taking a drug to help with the loss, and you didn't mention if you're again taking phen, so that might also be the difference this time around. Just give it time, fast loss isn't good for you anyway, and usually is the type that comes back quickly when you let your guard down. ;)
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,108 Member
    Nicotine is a stimulant. It will take a little time for your body to adjust to not having it.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    I quit smoking (a long while ago) did put on some weight. I was already pretty big to begin with but there was definitely a gain after quitting.

    I heard that since nicotine is a stimulate that it 'speeds up your metabolism' which gave me a convenient excuse to gain weight. It wasn't my fault. It was my metabolism. That was more or less a lie I was telling myself. While it's true, strictly speaking, I found out that the change in metabolism is pretty negligible and definitely not enough to be responsible for weight gain.

    When I was honest with myself I realised that my post-quitting weight gain came down to eating more food than I was previously. This increase in food consumption I think came about because
    1. I was eating at times when I was smoking. Where previously I'd grab a smoke to put in my mouth, now I was grabbing food instead.
    2. My sense of taste returned. After quitting I noticed that I could actually taste the food I was eating. Since I had smoked for about 20 odd years and started when I was 13. This was an entirely new sensation and I absolutely indulged my newly discovered senses.
  • SouthernCountryGirl
    SouthernCountryGirl Posts: 195 Member
    After smoking for 40 years, and millions of attempts, I finally succeeded in quitting smoking on June 8th (I’m a newbie). I’m 56, I gained 17lbs in 10 weeks and I don’t care because I QUIT! Please, whatever you do, do not go back to smoking because you aren’t losing weight as fast as you’d like. It will come off in time. I dropped off MFP while quitting and allowed myself to eat, I knew the consequences and was ok with it. It worked. I’m back now and working on reversing the damage. Weight isn’t permanent - death is 💀 feel free to add me as a friend for support, it’s our greatest weapon 💪🏻