I really need some help and motivation right now

ddrhellbunny

Hi all, I'm Melany and I have lost around 50lbs since last year! I've also recently quit smoking after being a half a pack a day or more smoker for 8 years and it's been just about a month now. I am doing pretty well about the cravings for a cigarette, I barely crave them anymore. Every now and again I'll be like " oh... it'd be nice to have once after a long day at work, oh wait... I'm not a smoker anymore." My problem is is that since I quit smoking I have gained my appetite back... which is a bad thing because I tend over binge on food and stuff myself to the point of being massively uncomfortable. which leads to all sorts of problems... I have tried just about everything I can think of to help with the appetite, drinking lots of water and hot tea, snacking small meals throughout the day etc. I'm usually ok til about 7pm (when I normally stop eating for the night) then I just lose it. I justify to myself that its okay to eat all this because its just one time, but I know its not going to be one time, I will probably keep doing it. I really don't want to gain all the weight back I lost, i worked so hard for it and it feels so unfair that when I finally do something truly healthy for my body it makes me do things that suck. I've only gained like 1lb or 2lbs so far, but that's only a month....we will see what happens down the road.
I just need to know that there are other recently non smokers out there who have been able to maintain their weight even though their appetite is through the roof. My food cravings at night are seriously so bad. I just ate half of a godiva milk chocolate bar and I rarely have had candy in a long while O_o. ughhh I'm just so sick of not being able to tell myself no like before. Are there any tips or tricks for helping with the cravings? I feel like I have deprived myself of food for so long and now that it tastes so good again i feel like I am going to give myself diabetes with all the terrible choices I'm making now. Any insight would be much appreciated! Thank you. My food diary is public as well and sorry in advanced with the graphic detail in my food notes ^^; It's very TMI but it really helps me figure things out with my digestive times.

Ralthor125

I've been waiting to see if anyone else would reply, but since they have not, I'll throw my 2 cents in. Based on your diet, you are consuming a lot of carbs. Problem with stopping nicotine is that it suppresses the appetite and changes your insulin levels. You will spike insulin higher for about 6 months after quitting when you eat carbs...this in tern makes you crave more sugar. Try upping your fat and protein intake and drop the carbs to about 100 or less. See if that helps cut the cravings. You could maybe go 150 if you find it too hard but with more fat and protein in your diet you may feel full longer and need less carbs/sugars. I quit cigarettes over 2 years ago, but I smoke an ecig now. Without nicotine I have panic attacks and believe me I went 6 years without any nicotine and still had panic attacks...as soon as I started back up they went away. Didn't want to smoke so I went to the ecig and it works for me...no more panic attacks.

ddrhellbunny

Thank you for your input. I've been worried if I up my protein and fat intake i'll gain more weight, but the carbs are certainly not helping any so I will give it a shot. hopefully it'll keep me from binge eating later at night.

Cindyinpg

Hi Melany,
I smoked for 25 years and quit 6 years ago. It was BY far the best decision I ever made. So, bravo for that! :drinker: And the longer you stay away from cigarettes the more odd and disgusting the habit seems. As for the dieting, go to this link here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
and calculate your calorie/macro/micro/fiber goals. And please don't deprive yourself of foods you love. I eat ice cream everyday and I've lost 123lbs in15 months. if I had tried to deprive myself of chocolate I would've backslid a hundred times and probably would've just stayed fat, but now I've learned that ALL foods can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle. It's been a revelation.

ddrhellbunny

Thank you very much! that link really made me feel better. I guess I drilled into my head I can never have certain things again if I want to be healthy, but it didn't make me very happy. It really shed some light for me in regards to what I should be in taking for my body

Cindyinpg

Thank you very much! that link really made me feel better. I guess I drilled into my head I can never have certain things again if I want to be healthy, but it didn't make me very happy. It really shed some light for me in regards to what I should be in taking for my body

I'm glad it helped. :flowerforyou: It's from the Eat, Train, Progress group. This is a bunch of their links all in one thread, that cover pretty much everything:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read
And here's the group's link here: they are the best!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

GardeningZombie

Thank you for your input. I've been worried if I up my protein and fat intake i'll gain more weight, but the carbs are certainly not helping any so I will give it a shot. hopefully it'll keep me from binge eating later at night.

Goodness, this not a good thinking a couple different ways. To help you break through and reduce those simple sugar consumption, think of your body as a big bag of water. Well, as humans we ARE mostly water. Now if you have four glasses you can do a little experiment.

Glass one: three tablespoons of pure sugar.

Glass two: three tablespoons of flour.

Glass three: three tablespoons of any meat protein, or even nuts.

Glass four: three tablespoons of oil or butter.

Wait three minutes.

Which ones dissolved into the glass of water? (You) I bet your meat didn't! Your oil is there on top, floating by itself. The sugar you can't even find, and the flour probably sifted itself into a)sugars which were absorbed and b)proteins and fats that fell to the bottom of the glass. What does this say?

Sugar passes straight from the stomach, to you. Flour takes a little longer. Protein and fat both need to be chemically broken down over time to meld into a watery state. So the more simple carbs you consume, the quicker your stomach empties and requests se backup.

I can't say of this is really THE reason for your hunger, but it is A reason. Just give things the dissolve test when your considering eating something, and you may help curb the appetite.

Yay science!!

Edit: I'm looking at the dissolvables.. Sweet potato chips, almond rice sticks, panda puffs... These alone would be enough to knock you off track

ddrhellbunny

Haha yes I 100% agree with you but sometimes just grabbing a snack is easier than cooking something up. Lol though it is an interesting sensation when I eat a lot of carbs like that, I feel so stuffed and full and I should be satisfied with that but I continue to eat because like you said it dissolves so quickly. It's sad when that happens because I end up piling things on top of one another and i get bad indigestion later as a result, then also(tmi) terrible gas too lol. Sometimes it's hard for me to find the right balance with nutrition and food. I basically started doing this on my own without any real input for someone who knows what they were doing. Just reading things and trying them out so to speak. I try the best I can with what I got.

GardeningZombie

How do you feel about jerky? Hard boiled eggs? Nori/seaweed chips? Greek/carbmaster yogurt? A small serving of nuts? All very long lasting and quick pick me ups!