Quit Smoking, Now Time to Lose Weight

Hello everyone! I am a 36 year old woman who had smoked for 20 years. I'm almost 6 months cigarette free. Unforutunately, I also have put on about 20 lbs since I quit smoking. I went for my annual wellness exam and my thyroid was enlarged, and my blood pressure has gone up considerably, and I am waiting on a battery of tests to find out why my hormones are totally out of wack.

I am pretty sedentary and I used to eat healthier - but I guess I was using food (junk food!) as a reward for not smoking anymore.

So now, I feel kind of back to square one. Today I joined this website because eating right is difficult for me -- I am having to learn to cook things from scratch that my BF can also eat it.

My biggest challenges will be getting out of the house to exercise, which I am going to try to do every day this week for 15 minutes. Also finding interesting meals to cook will be a challenge.

I quit smoking to be healthier, so I can't go back to smoking, esp. with all these new health issues I may have. My only choice is to lose this weight and get out of the house to walk 15 minutes a day.

I am heavier than I have ever been -- 203 lbs. I have lost weight in the past and my ideal weight is around 140. But I can only take it a day at a time. I have 3 months to get my blood pressure down!