Quiting smoking while counting cals

sprintto50

I quit while trying to be healthy. I actually did gain weight each of the 3 tries it took me to finally quit, but it was worth it. Now it's been more than a year since I smoked and I am well into my weight loss journey. I would take those extra pounds over smoking each and every day.

Congrats to all the other quitters out there!

nicole_andan

I stopped smoking on 12th June 2012 - 302 days ago. It was (and still is) the hardest thing I have ever done! I'd smoked for 20 years and was on 20 a day and a die hard smoker! Stopping was about mindset, I never set out to stop, I told myself I wouldn't buy cigarettes anymore but that if I really wanted one I'd have one. I stopped drinking as that was a massive trigger for me. When I did go out I took a vapour stick. It's really hard but it can be done if you want to!

Astephens1984

I have been working on losing weight and trying to quit smoking as well, its seems to be very stressful to try both things at once. So if anyone would like to add me as a friend, i could use the help and motivation from ppl that have or are doing the same thing.

fitnessfreddie

I started smoking when I was 14 so in 1998, quit March 11th 2011. For the greater part of that I was at a pack a day. What helped me out was exercise. Nothing feels better then running yourself out of breath and knowing that all you're doing is cleaning out those lungs. For most of us, if we quit soon enough we can reverse a lot of the damage done. So exercise and that will help the urge to smoke and will burn those calories that you're worried about too. Congrats to all the quiters and good luck to the future quiters, it's not an easy road but one you will never regret.

tiffanykbarber333

Hi!

I started MFP at the same time as I quit smoking. The thing that helped me the most was planning my day with MANY low-cal snacks. I knew that I was allowed to eat all of them and would still stay within my calorie goal (that's where the planning comes in), and because there were so many of them I got to feel like I was eating constantly, so I would snack on things whenever I got that urge of boredom or a craving that would normally be satisfied by a smoke.

Some examples of things I ate were rice cakes with PB & banana, veggies and hummus, nuts (carefully measured portions), lots of fruit and veggies in general, TEA!, soups, fruit salad, etc.

Also, if you are craving things like chocolate, DON'T keep them in your house! Buy a small piece and eat that and limit yourself there. Everything is fine in moderation. If I had a larger chocolate bar or snack that I knew I couldn't resist, I would share with my boyfriend or other people to get rid of it faster lol

In order to make it possible to eat many small snacks or meals during the day, work on making substitutions that make your delicious recipes more low-cal so that you can eat portions of them without having the calories add up so fast - this will also help you learn things that will make it easier to maintain your weight and habits going forward! If you make a sandwich, have it open-faced (1 slice of bread), use unsweetened almond milk instead of soy milk when baking, if making pasta, sub some of the noodles for filling veggies like brocolli to fill you up faster without the calories.. these types of little things can add up and make a big difference!

I want to say thank you for this posting! I quit smoking almost 2 weeks ago. I still use blu (vapor cig) so I don't go completely crazy. I was doing so well with my weight loss and fitness goals, but since I quit smoking, all I do you crave snacks, and not the good kinds; carbs and fats. I am only going over my net calorie goal by about 300 cals. but I feel like crap when I cheat. I'm going to try the planning idea and invest it even more healthy snacks. Before, I was only eating for nutrition and lately, it's been to substitute cigarettes.

boboff

Ha. Just saw the other person's post saying the Allen Carr book is simply 'Give up, don't fret'. I can assure you that is not true. It is very detailed about the nature of nicotine addiction and the most important part is that you don't stop until you are ready- even if that means going back and re-reading it until you truly understand what he is saying.. Nobody who thought the message was as simple as 'Give up, don't fret' would stay stopped. It's massively popular for a reason. It's worked for millions of people who 'got it'.

Ha too!

It's basic "secret" to stopping is that though.
The imagery and repetition of phrasing are good NLP stuff, but it's still basically, stop, don't mope.... Keep reading it until you believe me!!!!!

I also understand that it works! For some (Ok lots and lots), like you, and you have gone on to use the basic premise to retrain, so that is great.

I wouldn't argue, as I would like an easy way to stop, but recognize that the way the easy way is the easy way, is in a sense the fact that it uses the word easy. Addiction is 90% mental I think.

See, my little monster won!

At the minute my battle is with the Booze and Cake monsters! Maybe if they ship out Nicotine monster will feel lonely and leave too!

junipearl

I really liked Allen Carr's book. It is basically cognitive therapy... changing your thought processes on how you view smoking and making it a pleasure and an excitement to quit rather than something you are giving up or sacrificing.

Sassybmom

Echoing Allen Carr's Easyway. So not a big deal to quit once I read that book (twice)

whatjesseats

I quit about 18 months ago using a combination of ideas from becomeanex.org and the Livestrong My Quit Coach app on my phone. I did take a break from watching my diet for a couple of weeks so I could focus my willpower on quitting smoking, but once I started tracking again, I started losing weight again.

The key for me was awareness of my triggers and making gradual modifications to my behavior (for example, instead of lighting up as soon as I pulled out of the driveway, I made myself wait until I was 5 minutes down the road...then 10 minutes...until I didn't smoke at all in the car). At the same time, I gradually weaned myself down from 10 cigs a day to 5 a day--and at that point I was just ready to be done with it so I went cold turkey (rather than continuing to taper).

Good luck to you!

ajmurray05

Woot! I quit September 22, 2012. Its a beautiful feeling!!!

TeresaB1979

Ha. Just saw the other person's post saying the Allen Carr book is simply 'Give up, don't fret'. I can assure you that is not true. It is very detailed about the nature of nicotine addiction and the most important part is that you don't stop until you are ready- even if that means going back and re-reading it until you truly understand what he is saying.. Nobody who thought the message was as simple as 'Give up, don't fret' would stay stopped. It's massively popular for a reason. It's worked for millions of people who 'got it'.

Ha too!

It's basic "secret" to stopping is that though.
The imagery and repetition of phrasing are good NLP stuff, but it's still basically, stop, don't mope.... Keep reading it until you believe me!!!!!

I also understand that it works! For some (Ok lots and lots), like you, and you have gone on to use the basic premise to retrain, so that is great.

I wouldn't argue, as I would like an easy way to stop, but recognize that the way the easy way is the easy way, is in a sense the fact that it uses the word easy. Addiction is 90% mental I think.

See, my little monster won!

At the minute my battle is with the Booze and Cake monsters! Maybe if they ship out Nicotine monster will feel lonely and leave too!

i was just so shocked that when I did follow all the steps (including the one about waiting until I was ready) I was so happy to stop. There was no mourning period or cravings. I even went out drinking that night...On that note; If I could get the booze monster to *kitten* off I'd be the picture of health.. Until the pizza monster turned up. That b*stard sneaks up on me every so often and I know of no easy way to get rid of him. Not sure I want to. :blushing:

mnpitza

I'm really glad I came across your post because I can totally understand how you're feeling. I was a pretty heavy smoker for many years and went cold turkey about a year and 3 months ago. At the beginning I did turn to sugar and high carb foods for comfort (which did give me more that a few extra pounds as well) but as time passed I tried to focus a lot on doing better for myself , eating whole foods, continuing to not eat meat and exercising regularly. As months went on I started to feel so much better. I did have to avoid a lot of the things that would trigger urges for a while like drinking and I let my family/ friends know that I was quitting so that they wouldn't take offense to me not going out as much.

Healthy foods and exercise are definitely motivators in my progress. Also being able to run without being as out of breath is a huge plus. Good luck on your journey!

a59feline

Thanks for your posts. I'm making the decision to stop smoking. I'm having a bit of a hard time breathing and the doctor won't perform an elective surgery until I have quit for 6 months. So, I'll take your tips and give this a go!!

Hallucynogen

Thank you so much everyone for the wonderful support! I'm on my 5th day now 100% cigarette free! I'm still getting cravings every so often and cigarette smoke still smells like heaven but it's gotten a lot better. I feel a lot better and I'm going to do my best not to give in. I don't plan on drinking any alcohol for several months and only until I'm no longer craving cigarettes at all will I allow myself to drink at all. I guess it doesn't hurt my calorie counting (and health!) not to be ingesting all those empty calories either!

KyliAnne26

I'm 28 and quit smoking almost 2 years ago (June 27, 2011 was our quit date)!! I had only smoked for 8 years. I did, however, gain about 30 lbs (I'm about 5/2, so this was significant). Not all the weight gain was from quitting smoking though - I also started grad. school, stopped working out, and ate whatever the hell I wanted; mindlessly eating while shoveling text book knowledge into my brain. Before long none of my clothes fit, and it was either Lose the weight, or put a whole new wardrobe onto a credit card that I'm not able to pay off. Lol. I disliked the idea of debt AND being fat more than I disliked the idea of working out and eating healthy. My goal is to be down 20 of those lb by June 27, 2013!

Congrats for quitting and striving for a healthier lifestyle, OP. Just wanted you to know there's lots of people that have been through what you're about to go through, and we know it ain't easy or fun, but it's worth it!

Anyone feel free to add me if you'd like to help support each other!

starryk

I commend all of you who have quit - its hard; I am trying cold turkey.. I have made it through the first day. One day at a time.