Trying to quit smoking while losing weight!

I just started my diet Monday and im trying to stop smoking blacks. Its so hard i crave them alot more than anything right now. What can I do to keep my mind of them and to focus on m diet?

I quit smoking cold Turkey on Sept 1st 2012 after 17 yrs and I started MFP on the 12th. I've really really well managed my cravings. I think it's more a question of knowing that if I smoke, I will not be able to sustain the level of workouts I do now. So I don't !

I did it cold turkey. 178 days smoke free

The cravings sucked hard core the first 2 weeks and slowly lessened from there . The first 2 months were definitely a rollar coaster of emotions..lol. But I beat the cravings with sugar free gum, frozen grapes, carrots and exercise. I also used the Livestrong Quit Smoking app and believe it or not, pressing the craving button like crazy seemed to help too :laugh:

I quit cold turkey September 1, 2010. I gained 20lbs. I figured quitting first was the important part. I would have never been ableto do the exercise I do now as a smoker.

Hi Brian

I've been on MFP just over a year, lost 40lb, aiming to lose another 15-20. Quit smoking 16 days ago, cold turkey, and have gained a couple of pounds since then (but have also had surgery during tis period so may be other metabolic things going on!).

Decided I can cope with short-term blips in weight whilst in the early stages of beating the nicotine addiction - continuing to eat good and exercise and generally live healthy.

Not doing too bad on the cravings and they are tending to show up after meals as a desire for sweet sugary food rather than a desire for nicotine/cigarettes. They say there's a lot of common ground in the effect of sugar and nicotine (and other addictions) and this seems to be what I'm experiencing at the moment and I think will be my main challenge (I've actually been doing OK on keeping refined sugar out of my diet so it's a bit of a blow to suddenly have sugar cravings again).

I've added running to my exercise schedule (post-surgery this is something I'm now able to do) and know that even in a 2-week period my breathing/heart rate/stamina are improving beyond what would have been possible had I still been smoking
Am generally upping levels of exercise/activity.

I hope to see some (downwards) scale movement by the end of the month when things have settled a bit.

Best of luck!

I have COPD. EMPHYSEMA. caused entirely by smoking and I have less than a quarter of my lung function left. That's what happens when you smoke. I lived ina smoke filled environment for 40 years and I calculate I smoked 584,000 cigarettes to say nothing of cigars, pipes and funny stuff in the sixties. In 2008 my respiratory system shut down and i was unconscious for two days & in intenseive care for 10 . When the consultant saw that I had regained consciousness, he told me that the the xrays showed me to have 23% of my lung function left. He gave me two scenarios. Continue to smoke--- you're dead in less than 12 months. Stop smoking now, You have up to 10 years-unless you are unlucky with associated chest infections.
Guess what, I had no problem giving up smoking! I have not had any withdrawal symptoms but that is probably because most of my time is taken up trying to keep alive. So cardio work at the gym takes a large amount of time. and I take church services so spend time preparing them. I have not been that lucky with associated infections having had pneumonia 20 times since 2008. Every time that happens, I have to take ultra strong steroids and can't gym. As a consequence my weoght has ballooned. My disease and the medication I take daily has *****ed my system so my thyroid doesn't work efficiently, my metabolic rate is low and I cannot get it up much because my lungs don't allow me to do intensive exercise where the hrart rate soars and the sweat pours off.. I get breathless and in respiratory distress way before that happens.
I know that this thread is really about the difficulty of keeping weight down while giving up smoking.. But my contribution to the debate is this:-
By a squilion miles, the most important decision you can take is to break this evil addiction to nicotine. It is a wicked, wicked, sickness with the most terrible consequences if you do not. Putting on a few Kg or pounds is, in the grand scheme of things totally insignificant by comparison. Most people have enormous difficulty breaking this addiction and losing, safely,any excess weight that they are carrying at the same time. The tendency is to fail at both. If at any time you see a few pounds going on and you start fretting about that while still experiencing withdrawal systoms, Don't faff about, stop the diet and concentrate on become a recovering nicotine addict. After all, it's better to be chubby and alive than skinny and enfeebled or dead.

You can see the effects COPD has had on me on my profile and in blogs I've posted.

Rick

Smoking suuucks and the above two posters are right. Quit this evil addiction now while you still have a chance of healing your lungs. It's only hard for two or three weeks and that time will pass anyway. Don't you want to get back to that feeling of not being addicted to them and never thinking about them, except with disgust and pity when you see and smell someone doing it? It is SO worth it to go through the trial of quitting. The benefits are enormous and will positively affect every aspect of your life...

So much respect for anyone who kicks fat and cigarettes in the butt at the same time!! that's dedication, determination and hardwork, right there!!!!!

Thank you:flowerforyou:

Oh yeah and I lost weight too. :-)

Ive been smoke free for 6 months now...when I quit i told myself that I was not going to beat myself up on what i put in my mouth, I just made sure that I continued to work out. I gave myself a few months, yes i gained weight, and now ive have kicked the habit i am 100 % focused on my eating. I found quiting smoking a heck of alot easier then trying to lose weight lol...I think my metabolism has dropped, but it is so worth it..i feel 100% better, my sense of smell and taste are back with a vengence, and now i am dedicated to this new healthy lifestyle. I wish i had known about MFP when i quit, it would have made things easier...good luck with your quitting, you can do this!!