Anyone quit smoking and lost weight?

I was a smoker since I was 17. (Am 36 now). I quit smoking November 19 2012.
I gained the 28lbs I am now trying to lose.

I quit cold turkey. Just woke up one day and decided I was done.
It was hard! It still is....but, I keep on keeping on.

The only thing I can suggest for the cravings - as I too would eat more - is to drink a large glass of water - CHUG IT - for me, it helped in the beginning.

Also, the first 3 days are the physical addiction you are fighting.. after those 3 days, it is the mental battle. As with any addiction, take it one day at a time, and remember who you are doing this for!

I know e-cigs are controversial but I do know of several people who were able to quit smoking by using them.

I was a smoker since I was 17. (Am 36 now). I quit smoking November 19 2012.
I gained the 28lbs I am now trying to lose.

I quit cold turkey. Just woke up one day and decided I was done.
It was hard! It still is....but, I keep on keeping on.

The only thing I can suggest for the cravings - as I too would eat more - is to drink a large glass of water - CHUG IT - for me, it helped in the beginning.

Also, the first 3 days are the physical addiction you are fighting.. after those 3 days, it is the mental battle. As with any addiction, take it one day at a time, and remember who you are doing this for!

Pretty much my story too.

Hang in there, it was the hardest thing I ever did, now I am so happy that I quit!

First of all - congrats on making the decision to stop smoking! I quit 2 months ago after 8 years and started a full healthy lifestyle 1 month ago tomorrow and have lost 11lbs so hopefully I can offer you some advice and support

It is possible to lose weight and quit smoking at the same time but you are going to have to prioritise one whilst working on the other (I say this from personal experience, a smoker generally falters at temptations and stressful situations... and by falters I mean smokes... so if you fail at healthy eating you're more than likely going to want to turn to cigarettes to compensate for how you are feeling and vice versa).

For me, quitting smoking was a far more urgent goal to fix and would have got in the way of my weight loss goals. I found that after a week or so my mind was feeling so much stronger and I was starting to make healthy food choices at the same time which is where a full restructure of my eating and exercise choices came from and have worked so far.

But here are some tips that helped me and I have no cravings or thoughts of cigarettes anymore.
- get the smoke free app (or another app that will tell you how many days you've been quit for, how much money you've saved and makes you think about your cravings during the day - that part is important, you need to completely change the way your mind is attached to smoking and the only way to do that is find out what triggers your cravings/what makes one craving worse than another).
-put the money aside that you have saved from not smoking... it's just amazing to see that total go up everyday.
- use reddit quit smoking site. thousands of people going through the same thing and it gives you something to relate to and be motivated by).
- tell your friends and family you've quit.
- be honest with yourself about why you want to quit and get advice from professionals. I went to see a dentist and got the shock of my life so that really helped but I know doctors can test your lung capacity at different stages so you can see how it's improved without cigarettes.
- don't see it as though you're depriving yourself from cigarettes, see it as improving your life (as of right now, I have "gained" 16 days due to not smoking). Your food will taste better, you won't wake up feeling horrible every morning and your clothes won't smell all the time.
-I used nicotene patches for the first 3 days and then didn't need them anymore... I have massive respect for people who go in cold turkey - it's not impossible
- exercise! That is like one direct measure to see how not smoking is improving your body functions.
-Talk about it with people and do some research - get smart of what smoking really does to you and then you can make better educated choices when cravings strike.

Sorry this is quite lengthy, I just know the struggle all to well! Feel free to add me if you want some help or need someone to talk things through with

Also, this is all from personal experience - different things work for different people.

I quit smoking cold turkey about two weeks ago. It's hard sometimes, mostly because I have anxiety, but I haven't gained any weight because of it. I had to quit for medical reasons though. I had asthma as a child, grew out of it, and because I smoked for a while, my asthma came back. I think the hardest thing I have encountered since I had to quit because of asthma is that my friends still smoke and if they smoke while I'm hanging out with them, I have to walk away until they're done.

I quit smoking 4 years ago and have lost weight (about 115-120 pounds). Smoking was holding me back from losing weight because I didn't see the point in exercising or getting healthy when I was doing something so unhealthy. It's possible, you just have to get your mind right and not expect to always be perfect. I have slipped up and had a cigarette a couple of times but I didn't let that derail my efforts...just like I haven't let my occasionally poor food/alcohol choices mess up my weight loss.

It's all mental - there's no law saying you have to replace cigarettes with food. : ) I read a book -the Easy Way to Stop Smoking and it helped me to quit. I still have cravings every once in a while but I associate smoking with being 300 pounds and I don't want to go back there...smoking a cigarette is not worth it now.

Good luck and congrats on making this choice!!

I quit smoking after 20 yrs. I gained 20 lbs without changing my diet or exercise. After 2 yrs, I started again. That lasted 2 yrs and I quit again. This is when I started using this site about . I changed my diet and exercised 3 times a week at the gym. I also played an occasional game of tennis. I only gained 4 lbs.

It can be done. Just don't lose focus. It's a lifestyle change.

I quit cold turkey 4 years ago (almost to the day) and lost about 30 lbs (sadly bad habits made me gain it back which is why I'm here now). I found when I really needed a smoke I'd do something active (forcing myself to breath heavy helped a lot with cravings). I'd do jumping jacks or "run" on the treadmill or even go to a park and play on the swings lol. I found distraction the best thing for cravings. And if it really came down to eating or smoking I'd pick eating. I wanted to both but I decided quitting smoking was my first priority. And after a week or so without smoking I had more energy so I'd get up in the mornings and workout. You can do both but you may need to pick which is your top priority.

Good luck to you!

I quit smoking three months ago, and used Wellbutrin to do so. I had no ill side effects, no horrible cravings, no weight gain. Wellbutrin also causes weight loss, and it shows, I've lost 19 pounds already! (with calorie restriction and exercise as well)If you have insurance they will most likely cover the entire cost. It would be worth talking to your doctor if you are really worried about weight gain.

The smoking habit has several elements, each of which can be addressed separately to help end your dependence:

1. Nicotine. You can either endure withdrawal cold-turkey, or ask your doc for a patch or chantix.
2. Mouth activity. You can address this chewing gum, eating celery (which has fewer calories than you expend chewing it), or tying cherry stems in a knot with your tongue. Be creative. Give your mouth something to do.
3. Hand activity. Pen twirling helps here. Juggling. Writing by hand. Keyboard entry. Something to keep your hands busy.
4. Stress break. The typical smoker gets a craving, stops work, walks outside 10 minutes for a cancer stick, and comes back inside to resume working. When you get a craving, stop work, walk outside 10 minutes to take a walk around the building or neighborhood, come back inside, and resume working.

You can probably think of other things that are part of your smoking habit--rituals that you can skew just slightly to give you the same satisfaction without the actual cigarette. But these are among the most common.

add: continue to watch your calories. But if nothing changes, you will gain weight over about a 3 month span because you are not expending the metabolic overhead to detoxify all the poisons in the cancer-sticks. Give your body some time to heal and don't sweat the weight if its 10-20 lbs. After 3 or 4 months of healing, then you can work on diet and exercise to bring your weight back down. Trying to control or reduce weight while fighting nicotine addiction may overstress your self-discipline--why make both quitting and weight control any harder than they have to be?

Other factors to consider--the average smoker quits 7 times before quitting forever. People who are both cigarette and heroin addicts report that cigarettes are harder to quit than heroin! So go easy on yourself. Just like dieting--if you have a cupcake, don't abandon your weight loss effort. If you have a cigarette, don't abandon your quitting effort. Log it and move on. Later you might analyze what factors lead to your transgression & figure ways that situation won't trip you up again.