Smoking and Weight Loss

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Jalith75
Jalith75 Posts: 16
in Food and Nutrition
When I was 15 I started smoking. It wasn't long before I was smoking a pack a day, and I was addicted for 10 years. When I was 25 and desperate for a life change I quit smoking cold turkey.

During those 10 years my weight was fairly stable, and I weighed about 250lbs. After quitting my weight started creeping up over the next 12 years to more than 325lbs. I got bigger than 325, but scales have a load limit and I didn't want to know.....

I started on MFP at 306lbs as that is when I started concentrating on losing weight rather than sitting in the yo-yo.

Now I'm back to where I was when I was a smoker, and the oddest thing is happening. Every now and again, for no reason, I taste cigarettes. That horrible stale ashtray taste you get when you wake up after a hard night of smoking.

I have a theory about what might be causing it, and there seems to be anecdotal evidence on the internet to suggest other people have experienced something similar, but no hard science.

My theory is that I'm depleting my fat cell storage in a "last on, first off" manner. I've pretty much used up the last 12 years of storage and I'm now using the energy sources I stored when I smoked. And as we know, cigarettes contain nasty chemicals that do all sorts of nasty things, including giving you a bad taste in your mouth.

You hear every now and then of people doing a "cleanse" or a "detox" and releasing stored toxins. I've never really given much credence to that sort of thing, after all, typically they're only doing it for a couple of days. But what if there is a grain of truth behind the hype? Granted, my cleanse or detox or whatever has been brought about by radical weight loss, but I DO feel like I'm purging the accumulated chemical toxins of years of smoking as the fat burns away. (Also, I'm keeping alert for any health issues normally associated with smoking since those chemicals are running around on their way out the door)

And every time I taste that ashtray, I'll smile at myself and think "Yes Joanne, there is a bit more proof that you're losing weight, and getting healthier than you've ever been as an adult"

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

(I'm laughing right now because the ad at the top of this page while I'm typing is for mouthwash)

Replies

  • mjhedgehog
    mjhedgehog Posts: 249 Member
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    i didnt read your whole post I was so distracted by your dog haha. what kind of dog is that? it kinda looks like mine when she gets her hair cut.
  • Jalith75
    Jalith75 Posts: 16
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    She's a toy poodle crossed with something we think is probably jack russell.
  • KatieHall77
    KatieHall77 Posts: 129 Member
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    What you are saying makes sense. We are warned about not eating fatty fish like shark because they contain mercury. They store so much mercury in their bodies because the exposure to these toxins winds up stored in their fat cells.
    If it happens to fish, it makes some sense that people are the same way. Maybe by eliminating your stored fat, the toxins are being eliminated too.
    Good luck with your journey.
  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
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    Interesting and def possible. Because I heard the same things about people who do cleanses and detoxes. Do you live with any smokers?
  • Jalith75
    Jalith75 Posts: 16
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    Robyn:
    No, I haven't been around anyone who smokes for years. I broke ties with the crowd I was with at about the same time I quit smoking, so I've been out of second hand smoke for just as long!

    Katie:
    That's a good point about the fish, I didn't think about them!
  • mjhedgehog
    mjhedgehog Posts: 249 Member
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    She's a toy poodle crossed with something we think is probably jack russell.

    ah thats why she kind of looks like mine.
    my dog is a papipoo= papillon/toy poodle
    <
  • Jalith75
    Jalith75 Posts: 16
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    Update!
    The weight loss clinic I attend is run by a doctor of homeopathic medicine Dr Jeff Lester (first trained as a doctor and surgeon in Western medicine). I asked about the ashtray taste today and yes, the verdict is that I am detoxing from all those years of smoking. He has recommended I take the homeopathic remedy Sulphur to help it along whenever I get the taste again.

    The other day I got my husband to smell my breath when I could taste the cigarettes, and he could smell it on my breath. Bodies are weird!
  • abbyrae1
    abbyrae1 Posts: 265 Member
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    I have heard you can retain chemicals in your body in fat cells but also in muscles (i.e. when you get a massage you need to drink a lot of water after or you will be sore, same concept). If you are continually losing weight each week (whether a little or a lot), I would make sure you are drinking a good amount of water to maybe help flush that out? Just a thought
  • Jalith75
    Jalith75 Posts: 16
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    I have heard you can retain chemicals in your body in fat cells but also in muscles (i.e. when you get a massage you need to drink a lot of water after or you will be sore, same concept). If you are continually losing weight each week (whether a little or a lot), I would make sure you are drinking a good amount of water to maybe help flush that out? Just a thought

    I hear you on the massage front! Massages' always give me a headache, I'm sure it is from chemicals.

    Water is definitely key. I need to go fill my glass again!
  • LisaLamb1
    LisaLamb1 Posts: 149 Member
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    I don't think this is true because you do not lose fat cells, no matter how much weight you gain or lose you have the same amount of fat cells, they just get bigger or smaller (unless you have lipo, and then they remove them). So, as you lose weight, your body is using all your cells at the same time, which is also why you cannot "spot" lose. When you have a massage and get a headache it is usually from stimulation of the lymphatic system, which can hold and release toxins. Perhaps the onset of your cigarette taste is a psychological one, as you associate that weight with smoking?
  • jarrettd
    jarrettd Posts: 872 Member
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    Ok, this is semi-stupid (like "I'm not a doctor, but I saw someone play one on TV" kind of stupid) but on an episode of House MD, this very thing occurred. A patient was being slowly poisoned by the release of toxins that had built up in fat cells. Why couldn't it be possible that nicotine (or whatever other chemical helps create that delicious aroma **hmph-hmph**) has been soaked up by the fat cells, and is now being released as the contents of the fat cells are consumed for energy?

    Something else to consider: Before I understood about eating too little and working out too much, I did this weight-loss thing all wrong. I could not figure out (until I asked the right questions on here) why I smelled acetone, straight-up fingernail polish remover, whenever I worked out. I even smelled it on my breath! Turns out, that's what burning muscle smells like. I wasn't feeding my body right, and it was consuming muscle for energy instead of fat. May want to be sure you aren't doing something similar.

    Good luck!
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
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    I don't think this is true because you do not lose fat cells, no matter how much weight you gain or lose you have the same amount of fat cells, they just get bigger or smaller (unless you have lipo, and then they remove them). So, as you lose weight, your body is using all your cells at the same time, which is also why you cannot "spot" lose. When you have a massage and get a headache it is usually from stimulation of the lymphatic system, which can hold and release toxins. Perhaps the onset of your cigarette taste is a psychological one, as you associate that weight with smoking?

    I don't know, most people tend to lose and gain in certain spots, not all over. So if a woman loses weight in her boobs first and butt last, then I guess the butt fat might be older. I wonder if the OP will go through withdrawal when she gets through those last old fat stores?
  • fiferize
    fiferize Posts: 141
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    I was a smoker for years and very over weight when I started and I guess I must be eating the right things and doing the right things because I have not had any weird smells that I have noticed.
  • jsickman12
    jsickman12 Posts: 139 Member
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    I get that from time to time too, wake up and feel like I had smoked a pack of cigarettes the day before. My doctor said that depending on how long you smoked, the tar and other junk in your lungs can hang around for many years afterwards, so, our bodies are still getting rid of that junk, we can't fix the damage already done, but definately can be healthier moving forward!

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