quitting smoking and quitting food!

Stopped smoking just over a year ago and been working to keep myself in shape. Best advice I have is remind yourself quitting is worth it and find fruits and veggies you like to snack on. Also keeping busy really helped me from eating too much. As it goes into spring and summer here I find myself outside most the time. Good luck on both ventures they are worth it.

I quit smoking after (too many years I'm embarrassed to say how much and how long) and it was hell......lots of celery and raw vegetables helped, with tons of water and........breathing exercises. An old friend of mine calls the breathing exercises "smoking an air cigarette".....breathe in as fast as you can, hold it just a sec, and breathe out slowwww and long..... Some studies have show it is actually the type of breathing we do when we smoke that calms us, and not the drug in the cigs (because it's more of a stimulant.)

Good luck, I know it can be really hard,.....I live with three other smokers and I kicked them to the back porch in order to be able to quit.

Commit lozenges. I found it very easy to quit with them.

Good luck!

There is some laboratory research indicating that we have limited reserves of motivation and discipline, though--if you try to restrict several kinds of rewarding behavior, you are more likely to fail. So be good to yourself and provide an occasional food treat. You don't have to give up foods you love to be healthier--you just have to eat them in moderation. You cannot really do that with cigarettes (or at least most people cannot; they are actually more addictive than heroin), so there you really should quit cold turkey. Or I would, anyway. [and I did, though it was many years ago.]

Commit lozenges. I found it very easy to quit with them.

This! I used the coffee-flavored ones and they really helped, especially in situations where I ~needed~ a smoke but couldn't have one (restaurants, mother-in-law's house, etc.). I have been 100% smoke-free since 2008.

I quit on September 27th 2012, I had already been on MFP a long while and excercising.
You will be able to do more excercise once you quit even if you only smoke a little. I was a social smoker and would go days without and quitting still made a huge diff in my ability. I will tell you though even if you eat on a diet level you may still gain weight or not lose as fast. I was tracking ev. I eat and still eating at a defecit and still gained 5lbs. Over the course of this year I imagine it will come off but smoking takes a huge toll on your metabolism so quittikng the sooner the better!

Also once you have quit for a while you will more than likely find it disgusting which I was really shocked by :-)
It smells gross to me now I dont crave it I abhor it!

Carrots, grape tomatoes, fruit. Munch munch munch.

When I quit smoking it was because I had become disgusted with myself. It was something I was forced to do, not really just something I decided to do and I think that was why it stuck for me.

You can totally do it and you will feel amazing I bet very soon! I quit smoking about a year ago and then starting trying to lose weight a few months after my quit.

Exercise is a great craving killer! I agree with those who posted, be good to yourself and don't diet TOO restrictively yet and be patient with the weight thing. The important thing right now should be getting healthy and building new habits, the change in your looks and fitness level will come in time no doubt if you keep it up. I bought myself lots of nice perfume to celebrate the return of my sense of smell when I quit, it was (and is) lovely!!

As other posters mentioned, there was a time lapse between when I quit smoking and when I started working on diet & exercise. I used Chantix to quit (even with all the black box warnings) and it worked really well for me - I don't know if it was the pill or that I was just really ready to quit or a combination.

I put on about 15 lbs after quitting but was already 15 lbs overweight. About a year after I quit smoking I got tired of looking in the mirror and seeing what I saw so I started working on what I was eating. Then about 2 months after that I started exercising. If I had done it all at once I am fairly certain I would not have succeeded. I am not done, I am down 22 lbs but now rather than wanting to lose lbs I want to lose inches and just truly live a more healthly lifestyle.

No matter how you get there, just remember that you are worth it and you can do it

I started back at the gym 2 weeks ago (after 15 years not being there!). I'm 46, weigh in at 206. I smoke a pack a day.

I have the Champix prescription in my purse to fill, but the google reviews freak me out re: depression. I don't know if I want to fill the prescription.

I do know I need to stop smoking quickly, in order to keep up with my desired cardio goals. I'm with a trainer 3x/week, but have been trying to do my own cardio 4x/week.

I think I might call my doctor on Monday and get a prescription for the patch. I'm down weight, but I know I can't get much further with cardio while still smoking.

As others have said, my focus is becoming healthy again (the weight loss will be a bonus).

Do you want to start a stop-smoking buddy list?

You should do the chantix it really works I quit for a year then fell back into it the problem I face now is my ins. Only covers it once in a life time now I'm trying to do it again no success yet! I think we should start a group for people who want to get fit and quit smoking! That would be great support!

I quit smoking three months ago and am still working on eating healthy. I find myself, like most smokers, to have an oral fixation so I tried the electronic cigarette. I use it when I am very stressed but usually I am fine just snacking on something when I get irritable. The problem with this is that I've become accustomed to snacking on a regular basis. I recommend drinking plenty of water, chewing gum, and eating a high protein breakfast to try curbing the cravings.