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Quit smoking or not when starting to lose weight.
littlemcbird
Posts: 11 Member
I'm needing to lose a few kilos... lots of kilos ha ha & the myth of quitting smoking add extra weight, so my thinking is; do I quit smoking because I'm doing extra work to make my body healthy ( feeding it correct fuel & working it out to maintain strong body ) do I still continue to smoke so I avoid adding those extra kilos I'm trying to lose..... or do I quit to make my body healthy but harder to shed the weight ?!
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Replies
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Quit smoking. Do whatever it takes. It's the best thing you can do for your health.14
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Typically people gain weight when they quit smoking because they are replacing the habit with eating more and eating unhealthy food. If you are replacing the habit with something healthy like exercise you should be able to get healthier by both quitting smoking and losing weight.12
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I agree with both posters above. The "quitting smoking leads to weight gain" myth... is a myth. I lost weight and stopped smoking at the same time, and I lost weight at expected rate.9
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Calorie counting while quitting smoking will stop that extra bit of weight some people add when they replace the hand and mouth simulation they get from smoking with shovelling extra food in their mouth.
If you replace your smoke breaks with walk breaks then you have a win/win.7 -
Smoking really curbs hunger. Once time I took up smoking to help me lose weight, and it worked. I suggest that you keep smoking until you lose the weight... smoke when you're hungry! That was my strategy & it worked. Quitting smoking & losing weight are both hard to do... do you really think you can do both at the same time? It doesn't sound realistic.6
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@littlemcbird !!! Absolutely quit smoking NOW! It is the BEST possible thing you can do for your health! Why are you worried about a few extra pounds of fat when you are killing yourself? Quit smoking by any means necessary and do it now.
I quit a pack-a-day habit and lost 40 pounds anyway. I used Chantix and a device called a QuitKey and went from 20+ a day to zero in about 34 days. You can do this.
Feel free to add me or ask me anything...good luck!3 -
I'd do one thing at a time. Stopping smoking can be a b1tch for some people as can losing weight. I'd stop smoking first and get through that, then work on weight loss.4
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I did both at the same time, all while adding resistance training. Interestingly enough, the lifting is what made me quit smoking, and also fed into the continued weight loss. Cause and effect chains can work out well occasionally.
I'm also apparently a masochist.4 -
OP, perhaps quit smoking and start logging here to ensure you stay at maintenance and don't gain any weight by soothing yourself with food/drink. This way you'll still get in the habit of logging. Then once you start to feel like "OK, I got this!" then change your goal here to losing weight and see how it goes.
Or if you can't wait, start by quitting and setting your goal here to lose a half-pound per week, and again, once you feel like you are in a groove, increase your deficit to really focus on weight loss.
Obviously you can try to do both at the same time, but sometimes changing everything all at once can be too stressful and cause you to hit the wall fast.
Either way, best of luck :drinker:6 -
I did both quits on the same day
Started logging and put on a patch the same morning. It's a matter of will power
and mental strength. If you don't add food you WONT gain extra weight. The smoking
urge will subside in a few days, you will get used to logging your meals and you will
be a winner at both. You can do this and everyone here is ready to support you.1 -
Quit smoking always. Now. Yesterday. Never smoke. If you haven't quit yet, quit now.4
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I highly recommend this book Alan Carr's Easy Way To Quit Smoking .....It helped me tremendously ...I have been smoke free for 3 years ....I smoked for over 20+ years .....Wishing you much success6
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I'm 4 weeks today without a cigarette. I was worried about the exact same thing. Honestly, if not for the exercising, I think it would've been hella hard to quit. While I haven't necessarily DROPPED weight, I haven't gained either
. If you want to quit, QUIT! Totally worth it, and I feel better than I have in years! 3 -
Quit smoking today. Your body will begin to heal itself immediately, why wait?
If you are exercising and eating healthy you will be OK. I was just eating everything in sight to keep from smoking, and I gained 30 pounds the first month.
This June will be 21 years since I quit smoking... It was the hardest thing I ever did, and I am so grateful that I did it. I am still fighting weight problems and an eating disorder, but at least I do not smoke!
You can do it!2 -
A very good MFP friend (who rarely visits the forums so won't see this thread) has lost almost 150 lb and has been in maintenance for about 6 months now. She also quit smoking about 2 months after she started losing. She did the "one thing at a time" thing originally, then realized that quitting smoking will give her body the additional help she needed to get the most out of her exercise.
Using her as an example, it might help if you get into a little bit of a groove with your eating first, then quit smoking. You know you better, though.
Either way you choose, congratulations on the decision to quit smoking. It is one of the best things you can do for your overall health.
ETA: my Dad quit smoking after a 50 year 2 pack a day habit. If he could do it, anybody can.
ETA2: she replaced the hand-to-mouth habit of smoking with a glass of water or diet soda and a straw. win-win
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If you CAN quit, DO IT!4
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littlemcbird wrote: »I'm needing to lose a few kilos... lots of kilos ha ha & the myth of quitting smoking add extra weight, so my thinking is; do I quit smoking because I'm doing extra work to make my body healthy ( feeding it correct fuel & working it out to maintain strong body ) do I still continue to smoke so I avoid adding those extra kilos I'm trying to lose..... or do I quit to make my body healthy but harder to shed the weight ?!
I find the healthier I in all ways the easier it is to lose weight.1 -
I used the glass of water as a cigarette replacement method of giving up smoking;it helped a lot.
One of the nice things about not smoking is that you start to taste food properly and everything tastes better. I found I was enjoying foods I hadn't much liked before. So you may find that lower calorie foods actually taste good.2 -
Worthy of note...I quit smoking on Feb. 19th. I've noticed a huge change in my muscle tone and overall strength gains. I feel stronger and better every time I lift. Just saying...that is one positive benefit.4
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I played the "which should I do first" game in my head for years and all it did was result in me neither quitting smoking or losing weight, at least for any decent amount of time. The mind is good at playing tricks like that. One minute it's "It's too hard to do both" and the next it's "well I'm smoking so why should I care about eating this pizza?" or "If I'm eating crap food, who cares if I have one little smoke?"
As many others have said, people gain weight when they quit because they replace cigs with food. The nicotine craving also feels a bit like hunger, so it's easy to confuse the two. But think of it this way, the nicotine is gone in 3 days. Any craving after that is mental. So take that little craving monster and say, "F you, cigs! You don't run my life! I am NOT a smoker!" Then take that energy and go for a walk, or drown it with some water or tea.
I also recommend Alan Carr's book "Easy Way to Quit Smoking." I NEVER thought a book would help me, or that I'd be one of those people who recommended it to others, but I bought it out of desperation, and it changed the way I looked at smoking forever. Three years ago, my husband and I both quit with the help of that book, after being smokers for over 10 years and having tried other methods of quitting for several years (patches, gum, cold turkey, etc.) You're actually encouraged to continue smoking WHILE you read the book too, which helps make the prospect of giving a shot a little less scary
But if feel you need to choose one or the other, QUIT SMOKING!7 -
You can do both. I quit smoking December 5 and started MFP January 3. Haven't smoked yet, and I'm down 15 pounds.5
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I took a year to change my eating habits, then I started exercising, then I quit smoking 3 weeks ago, with help from the patch...I've lost 5 lbs in the last 2 weeks....you can do it ALL, however you want to5
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Worthy of note...I quit smoking on Feb. 19th. I've noticed a huge change in my muscle tone and overall strength gains. I feel stronger and better every time I lift. Just saying...that is one positive benefit.
Precisely why I quit. Them deadlift PRs don't pull themselves, and you'll not pull them either if your body isn't getting sufficient oxygen.3 -
I agree with the quit smoking first, start logging at maintenance to be aware of what you are eating, and move to a deficit when you are ready. You will feel so much better about yourself, and the food you can eat will taste better when you do start to log a deficit.2
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Do both, but keep a log and identify all the bad habits and behaviors that you associate with smoking and overeating. One by one replace each bad habit with a good habit that reinforces good health. Never tackle more than two habits at one time. Best to stick to one.2
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I quit smoking 10 years ago. After 50 years of using. I started following The South Beach Diet to make sure I didn't gain weight. I tried Atkins and gained. I started walking everyday up and down hills. I watched every bite/sip that went into my mouth and I gained 30 lbs in 3 months and after 10 years, I'm still trying to get rid of the last 10.
I was never overweight in my life until I quit. The Dr. suggested Weight Watchers. I counted every point religiously. And I still did not lose. Then she put me on thyroid meds. Still no loss.
For some of us, our metabolism crashes when we quit smoking. It is not always a lack of control over food/drink. It is not always inactivity. It just happens.
My suggestion is to quit smoking as soon as possible. Unless you need to lose weight for a medical reason. But, do not feel that you are doing something wrong if you gain weight. I felt guilty for years when I could not get rid of the weight no matter what I did. I would hate for anyone else to feel the way I did (like a total loser), because people say that everyone who gains weight does it from hand to mouth disease.
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Obviously do what's best for you.. But I used to use the excuse - only tackle one thing at a time. Only fight one fight at a time. Not with smoking, but with other life events happening. There is never a "good" time to start losing weight. There is never a "good" time to quit smoking. If you've made it to this point in your journey, give yourself enough credit that you are strong enough to do it. I've learned I'm a "pull the band aid off" type of person.
There's never a good time or fight one fight - become road blocks and excuses that keep pushing your progress back.
Commit to your good health.3 -
I quit smoking Dec 6th and i gave my body a month to get over withdrawals before I started exercising and clean eating. I have lost 15 lbs since January 3rd and I am so glad to be free of the addiction to tobacco.8
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