Quitting Smoking while changing food/exercise habits

gavini

i am 37 and have smoked since i was 13, fluctuating between a few a day to a pack a day and for the last year or two about half a pack a day. I quit for two months and lost 8 or 9 lbs in the same time period, I started smoking again when my dog died but that had nothing to do with me “taking on too many changes at one time.” I then quit for about 4 months and had no weight change

i think doing both at once is a MUCH better idea than doing it separate - of course every person is different

my notes and thoughts...

oranges help dispose of a craving and are good for you and a good treat.

wanting a cigarette feels a lot like hunger - which it is, your body is hungry for nicotine, and you are hungry for the taste and experience of smoking. This is a big reason we eat more when we quit, recognize that and be prepared with carrots or something else to fill that void and realize you arent really that much more hungry than normal, they just feel the same.

on doing all at once...
1. to change, add, or get rid of habitual behavior you need to shake up your routine, thats hard enough to do once so why do it twice? you want to add new habits - dieting and exercise and get rid of one - smoking, so set up a new routine that incorporates those goals.

2. if you are starting to exercise more and you want to quit smoking (this is the most important factor, you have to really want to, otherwise dont bother trying, seriously, think about it, do you REALLY want to? Don’t do it if you don’t, you are setting yourself up for failure.) then you dont want smoking to become part of your exercise routine. a cigarette after a workout is the greatest thing in the world, its right behind sex in my book, so if you want to quit then you are going to make it a lot harder.

3. you can obsess about your calories and or your exercise to help eat up the time you might be thinking about how you miss smoking, it will give you a new addiction to replace the old one.

4. of course there are people at gyms and in running groups and other people you might meet exercising who smoke but if you start to make fitness related friends and have never smoked around them, they might not smoke around you or not much at least since it is less acceptable since you met at a gym or on a run, that’s a good thing for you, fewer people smoking around you is fewer temptations and less envy.

5. workouts will start to become easier as you get in better shape and also as you smoke less, get both of these benefits at the same time and it will spur you on in your efforts that much more

6. you have decided you need to exercise more and eat better but are alos saying you wont do it until day X of your quit ... what day is right? how will you know? wont you feel bad about letting yourself go, which will lead to you letting your guard down and returning to smoking - something that you will tell yourself will make you feel good again?

If you WANT to quit, do it. and fix the other stuff in your life at the same time, dont use one as an excuse for not doing the other. you can do anything you set your mind to.

i dont say good luck to people since there is no luck involved in quiting smoking and saying there is gives you an out or an excuse to start again, it is mental, you have to convince yourself and your mind that you really really really dont want to smoke anymore. the rest is handling the side affects.

jjelizalde

Day two of being a non-smoker! I read the Allen Carr stop smoking booklet which made real sense to me and dumped the patch!

I went back to the patches in addition. The cravings today are just awful!

ChristinaOlliver

Which book is it that everyone read? I'm on amazon and it seems as though there are a couple of stop smoking books by Allen Carr...