Quit smoking, haven't lost a lb!

MichieN81
MichieN81 Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
I wanted to make some life changes so in April I began doing so. I quit drinking anything but water and the occasional beer. I stopped eating out but treated myself every 3 weeks or so. When I did eat out I cut out the appetizer or the sugary drinks, never ordered dessert and gave my left overs to someone else. I started eating breakfast regularly and working out at the gym and doing a boot camp. I lost 35lbs in a relatively decent amount of time by watching my diet, working out regularly, drinking lots of water and taking vitamins. I decided then that it was time to quit smoking. June 26th 2013 I quit smoking. Since then I've been VERY careful of what I eat as I've seen so many people pack on 30-80lbs after quitting. I bumped up my work out, now hitting the gym doing a mixture of weights and cardio 2-3 times a week and high intense cardio Kickboxing 3 days a week. I have not lost a lb since June. I have completely changed my lifestyle and I won't lie and say that I don't enjoy the occasional piece of chocolate, or a mini cupcake or ice cream. I don't deny myself cravings, I know that binging will occur and I won't put myself through that guilt. So I have switched it up. I've increased protein, decreased carbs. I've stopped eating 6 hours before bed as opposed to 4. I've stopped drinking ANY alcohol where I used to allow myself one night every other week to indulge in a few. All in all, NOTHING IS WORKING!!!! In the past I have lost massive amounts of weight relatively quickly with not nearly as strict of a regimen. At this point I am so discouraged. And I know I'm building muscle but for 6 months now????? If I get off my diet even the slightest bit for over 3 days and don't work out, i'll put on 4 lbs like its my job. Im starving and exhausted and all I'm doing is maintaining! Anyone else have this issue? I have read that when you quit smoking your metabolism goes down due to your heart not having to work as hard. Well what should I do? Start smoking again? FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Replies

  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    The metabolism change is slight. What do your calorie deficits look like, or are you not logging?
  • nikigmoney
    nikigmoney Posts: 19
    I quit 4 years ago and It took me about a year to get to normal.......that being said it was the best decision I ever made. Keep it up and remember the long term reward is worth a few lbs now.
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
    Of all the things you say you are doing, counting calories is not one of them. If you want to lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn. The only way to guarantee that you are doing this is to accurate track what you eat and reduce that until you begin losing.
  • fruttibiscotti
    fruttibiscotti Posts: 986 Member
    I wanted to make some life changes so in April I began doing so. I quit drinking anything but water and the occasional beer. I stopped eating out but treated myself every 3 weeks or so. When I did eat out I cut out the appetizer or the sugary drinks, never ordered dessert and gave my left overs to someone else. I started eating breakfast regularly and working out at the gym and doing a boot camp. I lost 35lbs in a relatively decent amount of time by watching my diet, working out regularly, drinking lots of water and taking vitamins. I decided then that it was time to quit smoking. June 26th 2013 I quit smoking. Since then I've been VERY careful of what I eat as I've seen so many people pack on 30-80lbs after quitting. I bumped up my work out, now hitting the gym doing a mixture of weights and cardio 2-3 times a week and high intense cardio Kickboxing 3 days a week. I have not lost a lb since June. I have completely changed my lifestyle and I won't lie and say that I don't enjoy the occasional piece of chocolate, or a mini cupcake or ice cream. I don't deny myself cravings, I know that binging will occur and I won't put myself through that guilt. So I have switched it up. I've increased protein, decreased carbs. I've stopped eating 6 hours before bed as opposed to 4. I've stopped drinking ANY alcohol where I used to allow myself one night every other week to indulge in a few. All in all, NOTHING IS WORKING!!!! In the past I have lost massive amounts of weight relatively quickly with not nearly as strict of a regimen. At this point I am so discouraged. And I know I'm building muscle but for 6 months now????? If I get off my diet even the slightest bit for over 3 days and don't work out, i'll put on 4 lbs like its my job. Im starving and exhausted and all I'm doing is maintaining! Anyone else have this issue? I have read that when you quit smoking your metabolism goes down due to your heart not having to work as hard. Well what should I do? Start smoking again? FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reading your last few sentences/questions gives me the impression that you are looking for a reason to relapse into smoking. Are you looking for excuses to start smoking again? Don't think anyone on MFP will condone that and respond "yes".

    I went through a terrible ordeal if trying to find a diet that worked for me, as I too was not losing weight and had massive cravings, and feeling groggy, sick, etc. I discovered the LCHF diet. Free advice n www.dietdoctor.com. Just real food, no gimmicks, pills, powders, etc. it's something that worked for me, but you need to find something that works for you. Good luck.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Are you eating at a calorie deficit or just assuming that eating healthy is going to melt off pounds. If you are eating at a deficit you aren't putting on muscle so it has to be one way or the other. Quitting smoking really doesn't have any noticeable effect on your metabolism. Weight gain is usually because people replace smoking with eating.

    Also, whether you eat 4 hours before bed or 6 hours before bed will make no difference at all. Your body doesn't care when you feed it.
  • MichieN81
    MichieN81 Posts: 4
    On a daily average I'm not exceeding 1600 calories, most are calories from clean eating. I wont sit here and say that I eat like an Olympic trainee but compared to how I once was eating, this is a complete 180.

    No I am not making excuses to go back to smoking, that's ridiculous. That last sentence was sarcasm from aggravation.

    My work outs are pretty intense. Kickboxing, we burn about 1,000 calories an hour. I do this 3 times a week. My weight training is an hour of lifting heavy weights and quick intervals. I also do a few different challenges at home. I couldn't do a regular push up for the life of me and now I can bang out 25 of them no problem. My fitness level would probably be so much better if I could get some weight off me!!!

    The discouragement comes from losing 30lbs changing my diet slightly, to quitting smoking and changing my diet drastically and in different ways and not losing. I've had all kinds of blood work etc...

    So discouraged!!!!!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    When did the new intensity in workouts start? June, really? I've known people to retain water for months with a major change in workouts. Not six months, though. If it has really been six months and you are certain you are logging everything and eating under 1600 on average (not just on some days and then eating 2500 on others), and you are certain you know how to log accurately and aren't fooling yourself... change something. Take a week off from workouts. Or eat more for a week. Or less for a week. Or just walk for a week. Or stop logging for a week. Or start logging HARD for a week. Don't give up. Things change when they change. You can't really exercise and undereat and not lose weight (if you have fat to spare) forever.

    Your ticker says 13 lbs. lost. Was that in the April-June timespan? And your BMI is overweight or obese?
  • MichieN81
    MichieN81 Posts: 4
    13 lbs lost was what I've logged, I just started back with My Fitness pal to guage what I'm lacking with my calories. The work outs on average have been 3-6 days a week. 2-3 at the gym and then 2-3 doing a physical boot camp or recently in the past 2 months I started back with kickboxing. I was losing inches but not weight from June -August. I believe on top of the 30lbs I then lost another 25 inches. But not a lb in 6 months, only inches. Which don't get me wrong, im ok with inches lost, but at this point, the lbs HAVE to come off. I work out entirely too hard to not lose lbs.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    If you have 100 lbs to lose and are eating 1600 calories then burning off 1,000 there is seriously something wrong somewhere. No one with that much to lose can exist on a net of 600 calories and not lose weight. Either you're under estimating your food or over estimating your exercise. With no exercise you would lose easily on 1600 a day. I'm 115 lbs and maintain on around 1500.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    I think if you stick it out and are really tracking right and not just guessing, your plateau will break soon.

    I don't want to encourage anyone to not exercise because it is really good for you. But I think in general, exercise whittles off inches while deficit eating whittles off pounds. You sound overwhelmed and overworked. If you're tired of inch loss and want scale loss, take a week or two off the killer exercise regimen, take some relaxing walks, and log your food like it's your job. :happy:
  • arrseegee
    arrseegee Posts: 575 Member
    Are you getting 1600 net calories or 1600 before exercise? Because if you are only netting 600 calories per day and have been doing so for months then I think it is quite likely your body is holding onto every calorie it gets and your metabolism has slowed down. If you are netting under your BMR then this is quite likely.

    I doubt it is a result of quitting smoking. The metabolism changes from smoking are relatively small and the reason many people gain weight when they quit is because they eat more. If you haven't been logging your calories regularly since then then I think it is quite possible this has happened.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    Newsflash. Cigarettes don't contain calories. This is the key.
  • asimmons221
    asimmons221 Posts: 294 Member
    well it's def odd, whatever it is, it has nothing to do with smoking or not smoking. The best thing would be to keep an open log, because if everything you said was true it has to do with your diet. If not that than it's a medical condition or your an alien.
  • swoodco
    swoodco Posts: 14 Member
    Congratulations on quitting smoking!

    I quit smoking on September 17 and began tracking calories a couple of weeks later because I didn't want to gain weight. Through logging and a little exercise I've managed to lose 16 pounds. It's slow but steady. Be encouraged - even if you're not losing, at least you're not gaining and that's pretty impressive.
  • MichieN81
    MichieN81 Posts: 4
    I am an alien! Boo

    lol I see everything everyone is saying and I am seeing my dr. tomorrow actually. She has done blood work and everything came back normal, I brought her a food log and she got mad because I ate 3 oreos one day. I told her to get over it!

    Here's my thing. I am going to live my life. There are sometimes that food choices won't always be the best, but I have to be cautious and make the best choice with what I have. I am going to live my life. I'm going to drink beer, I'm going to eat pizza, I'm going to have carbs. Its the processed **** in the freezer section I do my best to avoid. Fast food is the absolute devil and I used to eat that ALL the time. I want to live my life! If I crave something I eat it, just not all of it! I can have it all just not all at once! However, I have made DRASTIC changes to my diet and work out regimen so It is odd that this weight isn't falling off of me. So I only did one day of Kickboxing last week and one day at the gym. I ate decent, about 1700 of healthy calories and I gained 3 lbs. This is my life. So I sat back this weekend and really evaluated and decided, I CANT LIVE MY LIFE lol. So Here it goes, I am cutting out anything unnecessary, If I go somewhere and the food choices are poor, instead of minimal amounts, I clearly have to avoid it completely. No more booze, little carbs, lots of protein, couple pieces of fruit and lots of veggies. It is what It is.

    and yes, I am always around 1,600 calories. On work out days I clearly need more because of the amount we are burning. if I don't eat before Kickboxing, I'm useless.

    I appreciate the feed back. I am not making excuses, I've changed my lifestyle very very much and have been working at it but clearly I need to work harder.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    I am an alien! Boo

    lol I see everything everyone is saying and I am seeing my dr. tomorrow actually. She has done blood work and everything came back normal, I brought her a food log and she got mad because I ate 3 oreos one day. I told her to get over it!

    Here's my thing. I am going to live my life. There are sometimes that food choices won't always be the best, but I have to be cautious and make the best choice with what I have. I am going to live my life. I'm going to drink beer, I'm going to eat pizza, I'm going to have carbs. Its the processed **** in the freezer section I do my best to avoid. Fast food is the absolute devil and I used to eat that ALL the time. I want to live my life! If I crave something I eat it, just not all of it! I can have it all just not all at once! However, I have made DRASTIC changes to my diet and work out regimen so It is odd that this weight isn't falling off of me. So I only did one day of Kickboxing last week and one day at the gym. I ate decent, about 1700 of healthy calories and I gained 3 lbs. This is my life. So I sat back this weekend and really evaluated and decided, I CANT LIVE MY LIFE lol. So Here it goes, I am cutting out anything unnecessary, If I go somewhere and the food choices are poor, instead of minimal amounts, I clearly have to avoid it completely. No more booze, little carbs, lots of protein, couple pieces of fruit and lots of veggies. It is what It is.

    and yes, I am always around 1,600 calories. On work out days I clearly need more because of the amount we are burning. if I don't eat before Kickboxing, I'm useless.

    I appreciate the feed back. I am not making excuses, I've changed my lifestyle very very much and have been working at it but clearly I need to work harder.

    There is virtually no way that you put on 3lbs eating the amount you said you ate. You would have to eat 10,000-11,000 over your maintenance calories to do that. You only ate 11,900 calories total last week according to your post.

    I quit smoking a little over a month ago, I eat 1750 calories each day, and those calories are pretty much whatever the hell I want them to be. Last week, they consisted largely of frozen pizza and hard cider because we were snowed in. I'm still losing weight, slowly but consistently. My point is that you are either eating more calories than you think you are or you are burning less calories in a day than you think you do.

    Do you weigh and measure all of your food?

    How do you figure exercise burn?

    How did you come to 1600 calories as your goal? Does that 1600 include your exercise calories or not? If you used a calculator or MFP, what stats did you enter?

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