Quit smoking, gained 50 lbs.

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jakoe430
jakoe430 Posts: 3
in Introduce Yourself
I quit smoking about two years ago, but gained 50 lbs. I have some health issues that make exercising a bit difficult sometimes, but am trying to do what I can. Just started counting calories w/ Myfitnesspal since I've been unsuccessful with my other methods. I'm also a vegetarian and am finding it difficult to get my protein and staying at 1200 calories.

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  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
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    when i quit smoking (20 years ago) I too gained weight, a lot. At the same time I became a vegetarian, (the pasta, cheese, bread variety) and bought a car. A trifecta of weight gaining factors! Without knowing your stats, height, weight, age, its hard to say for sure, but I sense you can eat more than 1200. I too struggle to reach protein goals, but every day I make my best attempts to eat a well-balanced diet, including greek yogurt, and egg, beans, leafy veggies. Do your best.
  • wwstewart
    wwstewart Posts: 135 Member
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    My doctor wants me to quit smoking. I'm kind of afraid of the weight gain and not really sure what's going to happen to my ability to focus. I'm already pretty sketchy in the focus-on-things department.
  • JengaJess
    JengaJess Posts: 109 Member
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    Congrats on quitting smoking! I quit after I got some pretty bad injuries and between the injuries and the quitting, put on over 30 lbs. But this is a great decision and you should be proud!
    You can most likely eat more than 1200 calories. I don't know your height and weight, but unless you are extremely tiny, you can afford to eat a little more.
    Calculate your TDEE and subtract 15-20% from it: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

    Or if that's too overwhelming and confusing at this point, try lowering your desired weight loss from 2 lbs a week to 1 lb.

    Also, I'm not sure if it would be possible, but even adding an after dinner walk to your routine could help with weight loss.

    Feel free to check out my diary. I'm also a vegetarian and I aim for around 120 grams of protein a day. I eat about 1,500 calories on weekdays because I eat at (sometimes accidentally above) maintenance on the weekends. I've still managed to lose almost 22 lbs since starting on MFP and I'm almost smack in the middle of a healthy weight range for my height!

    Good luck! If you quit smoking, you can do this!
  • jakoe430
    jakoe430 Posts: 3
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    I see your eating the Quorn food - just saw it in the store and almost bought it. Does it taste decent? It is quite pricey.

    If I can get my pain under control I think I'll want to do more. Of course, being overweight is not helping my pain (plantar fasciitis, arthritis).

    I'm hoping to lose a few pounds quickly for a psychological boost. I already blew it one day and will take the advice of "Do your best". I will shoot for 1200 cal/day, but if I ate 2000/day I'm sure I'd lose weight compared to how I've been eating/binging.

    Thanks for the support.
  • KimberlyLBergman
    KimberlyLBergman Posts: 39 Member
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    JKoe430:m not a vegetarian, but another household member is and am gravitating towards it. With that being said, I can vouch for the Quorn products. They are good. Pricey, but you use very little. Gardein makes some very good products, too. they have some "beef" tips that look and taste like beef so my real meat eaters never knew! We eat a lot of beans and lentils, both good protein sources. Egg whites are high in protein with very little fat, too. Do you eat Tofu? We eat it frequently with stir-fry's and I make a killer Ceasar salad dressing with it and it's better than the high fat kind one usually makes. Again, no one knows it has tofu. Hope this helps. I'm getting ready to quit, so am amping up Vitamin C and walking alot to counter act what I know will happen when I quit!
  • SaintGiff
    SaintGiff Posts: 3,679 Member
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    I gave up smokeless tobacco on June 1. In the following 90 days I gained 32 pounds. The first 10 or so I'll own in that my eating was a bit off the rails. After that I got things under control and was eating at the same calories and macros that I lost weight at before. I kept gaining. And gaining. And gaining. I have finally accepted that, metabolically speaking, I'm not the same I was before I quit. I'm not just waiting for my body to decide who I am now so I can move forward. In the meantime... that extra weight ain't so bad when you start hitting PRs on your squat or dead lift every other week.
  • bekanswer
    bekanswer Posts: 25 Member
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    I am vegetarian, have been for about 8 years now. I love the Quorn products. I only have one product a week. I dont like the idea of it being so processed or whatever. I have a lot of vegetables and fruit in my diet, eggs are where I get most of my protein. I have a lot of "whole" foods, brown rice, wholewheat breads and flour. For dinner tonight, I had a mix of fresh stir fried vegetables, corn, red & green bell peppers, red onion, mushroom, spring onion, garlic shoots and spinach. Thrown together with a cup of brown rice and two scrambled eggs.
    As above has said, beans and lentils are really good! Mashing, adding flour and flavor makes an excellent "burger patty"
    Mix things up and enjoy yourself!

    GOOD JOB ON QUITTING SMOKING TOO!!!

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