Success stories: quitting smoking without weight gain??

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  • I quit smoking July 24th (2 months ago). On July 24th I weighed 178. For the first week I overate to deal with the cravings. Being around other people that over indulged I knew I had to go on a diet. I did not want to be like them!
    By September 1st I had only lost 4 pounds. My doctor acted disappointed. I do not think he really understood how hard this was for me. Now on September 24 I have lost a total of 15 pounds. So 15 pounds in 2 months :) You can do it. Just focus on what you want for your life.

    It may be slow progress at first but remember any progress is better than giving up.
  • Hi,
    I started off with an e-cig and after about a month I accidentally left it at my mums house and couldn't get it back for a few days , but i just did not have the urge to have a cigarette after that ,so somehow I think the e-cig broke my habit with actual ciggarettes without me actually trying....would definatly reccommend getting one !! (i have been a non-smoker since beginning on July now)

    and as I was calorie counting and exercising at the time I never put any weight on, so I think if you are already recording what you are eating and burning it shouldn't make any difference really :) good luck!!
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
    I was a smoker for 29 years and eventually used those champex tablets to help me quit (they block cravings and seem to work). I can tell you exactly what day I stopped and while I can happily sit and drink and be around people who are smoking, there are still times, when I could happily have a cigarette but I don't and won't go there again.

    I put on two stone when in a year after stopping, sedentary lifestyle, no longer walking to the smoking area at work, eating more and a lot more red wine, always liked red wine but to suddenly be able to taste the different flavours in different varieties, I was in heaven.

    Now I am here, counting calories, logging what I drink (making a big difference there), getting exercise and losing weight, not sure I have ever been happier :happy:
  • invisibubble
    invisibubble Posts: 662 Member
    Smoked for 12 years, quit cold turkey in June 2011. Took up a habitual sugarfree gum thing, which I now keep up for oral health purposes anyway, just dialed it back a bit. I found exercise was much easier after a time and it spurred me on.
    I think I gained 5lbs initially, but that dropped off pretty quick, and then more after that. You'll be fine. I don't think the hard part is nicotine addiction - it's just the habit and ritual that are hard to break.
  • I quit smoking about 6 weeks ago. I started when I was 15 stopped cold turkey when I got pregnant at 24 and stupidly started again 3 years ago. I recently lost about 7 kg and since I stopped smoking in the last 6 weeks gained 6 of it back!!! I know it is bad but I don't feel sad about it. To stop smoking is hard but it is do-able I am now ready to loose what I gained as I feel strong enough now to say I am a non smoker. Don't be too hard on yourself to stop smoking is the best thing you can do for your health never let gaining a bit of weight stop you cause you can always loose that again. Good luck if I can do it so can you!
  • bridgie101
    bridgie101 Posts: 817 Member
    I also posted this question under general diet and weight loss forum but thought I would post it under success forum as well to see if I could get more feedback.
    Has anyone successfully quit smoking without gaining weight? Over the last couple of months I've lost 18lbs. I started smoking again around a month after the birth of my son in January simply due to so much stress and loss of will power. Ignorant choice I know! I started smoking when I was 15 years old and quit successfully when I was 24 without any slips for a year and half. I was so proud of myself and felt so good but I did gain 15 lbs when I quit. I don't remember if I was counting my calories at the time or not (probably not). I've came to a point where I simply cant afford the disgusting habit anymore but it has such a hold on me. Plus I don't want to see that scale moving up again.
    I read online (whether or not its true I'm not sure but it does make sense) that smoking due to increased heart rate etc. burns around 200 cals a day if your smoking an entire pack a day. Plus the things like increased hunger, better taste, boredom etc causes weight gain when stopping smoking. I'm going to try and burn 200 more cals a day by walking/running/etc or on lazy days that I'm not proud to confess to I will decrease my cals by 200. I really need to quit and will quit whether I gain or not but I want to hear that it is an option whether I gain weight and not an envitable consequence of stopping smoking!

    It's really hard to understand that it's a drug addiction. Buy 'easy way to quit smoking' by Allan Carr.

    if that doesn't work, and it might not, you might need a stronger dose, he has a second book which is even more effective.

    It helps you understand and unpick why you actually smoke, and why people can't give up. and what they think they're doing when they light up. It's an incredibly educational book and was utterly vital to my ability to quit smoking.

    Which I did by not quitting smoking.

    I have never quit smoking. I have quit nicotine. I quit it cold turkey and I smoked honeyrose herbal cigarettes while I did it. Honeyrose have exactly the same draw and mouth feel as a normal cigarette. I threw all my *kitten* in teh bin the night before, and the next day I remember lying in bed having a quick panic attack - I had quit smoking. Oh the relief flooded through me when I realised I could still smoke. I could get out of bed. i could have my coffee. it was going to be okay, I could still smoke.

    I went through 2 packs a day for the first couple of weeks. I experienced every single withdrawal pang but it was okay - it was okay cos I could still have a cigarette. Heh.
    Next couple of weeks it petered away.
    one day I realised I hadn't had one for days. I had one.

    If I ever want one,I can have one. I haven't wanted one for a couple of years now, but there's a pack of honeyrose on the windowsill, there for me if I want them.
  • bridgie101
    bridgie101 Posts: 817 Member
    Oh - didn't gain an ounce.

    :) and I didn't end up feeling robbed or like I'd had to give up something I wanted.

    the logic?

    If i only smoked because of addiction, and my psychological need for a cigarette was an outworking of that addiction - I would no longer want cigarettes when the addiction faded.

    If I smoked because of needing a crutch, a helper, a reason to go on - then I could continue to do so at $6 a packet instead of then $12 and climbing.

    The logic was bulletproof. Utterly bulletproof. :D
  • Gettinfit242
    Gettinfit242 Posts: 200 Member
    Im right there with you!! I have been smoking since i was 17! Ive quit a couple times (when i was pregnant, and then again for about a year) well i am DONE with it. I actually hate it, i hate the smell, i hate everything about smoking except that it keeps me from eating! LOL So this has been a stuggle for me (weight wise). I recently did P90X and lost 13 pounds, was doing great! Well then i got a new job, moved, new house, and all the stress that comes with it! needless to say my working out came to a halt, and my eating went to crap too. well we are settled in now, im back to working out again, and eating healthy. But this time i threw in quitting smoking! ive been quit for over a month, with no desire to go back! I have gained about 8 pounds of the weight i lost back again. But im working on getting that OFF! keeping healthy snacks around for when i just want to pick (fruits, 90 cal fiber one bars). im feeling better and i cant wait to get fit!!! my new motto is "SMOKEFREE AND FIT!!" Give up somethign bad and replace with something great! GOOD LUCK TO ALL WHO ARE GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING!!!
  • Gettinfit242
    Gettinfit242 Posts: 200 Member
    OH AND... that $20 a week i spent on smokes is now in a jar for Black Friday shoppin!!! :)
  • Kadoober
    Kadoober Posts: 289 Member
    Thank you ALL for the hope infused in this thread. I am quitting Monday, I'm taking Chantix, and I'm a bit terrified!
    I'm hitting Half Price Books on lunch to see if they have the Allen Carr book.

    :)
  • emirror
    emirror Posts: 842 Member
    Wellbutrin XL, 150mg once daily, (if you go generic, make sure you get the 150mg once daily, and not the 300mg, as those are being proven to be not effective) did it for me.

    I was taking it for seasonal depression, and it is often prescribed to help stop smoking. After a few days, cigarettes tasted nasty. I'd light one, and then after one or two pulls, I'd look at it and think eww, I don't want this at all, and put it out.

    After 2 weeks, I was completely smoke-free, and after 1 month I didn't even think about it anymore. It has been over a year now. I quit taking the Wellbutrin a few months ago, and I have no desire to smoke at all.
  • mimi337
    mimi337 Posts: 107 Member
    I smoked for more than 30 years (which blows my mind) and quit using the Alan Carr book. Weird how it works -- it's positive brainwashing instead of negative brainwashing. I highly recommend it. I also think it's important to quit when you want to quit. By the time I picked up the Alan Carr (and as mentioned before, he tells you "go ahead and smoke while you read this book") I was so sick of my smoking. I'm old enough now to know as well that I was simply tempting fate to continue. It's one thing to smoke at 20 it's another thing to still be smoking at 50. My final point is: you will be able to work out better when you quit smoking. I won't lie, I was able to run, weight lift, do ballet and walk up five flights of stairs daily while I smoked. But I was young. It catches up with you. The reason I feared exercise (by the time I was 45) was because I knew I didn't have the breathing strength. And like everyone else has said: a few pounds is nothing compared to the long term effects of smoking. Read the alan carr book, continue to ask for support and start to take a nice long walk every day. Try to walk up a hill. See how it compares after you've quit. I know you'll do great. And PS -- I managed to get fat while smoking so the idea that it is what allows us to remain thin is really bull****.
    I also posted this question under general diet and weight loss forum but thought I would post it under success forum as well to see if I could get more feedback.
    Has anyone successfully quit smoking without gaining weight? Over the last couple of months I've lost 18lbs. I started smoking again around a month after the birth of my son in January simply due to so much stress and loss of will power. Ignorant choice I know! I started smoking when I was 15 years old and quit successfully when I was 24 without any slips for a year and half. I was so proud of myself and felt so good but I did gain 15 lbs when I quit. I don't remember if I was counting my calories at the time or not (probably not). I've came to a point where I simply cant afford the disgusting habit anymore but it has such a hold on me. Plus I don't want to see that scale moving up again.
    I read online (whether or not its true I'm not sure but it does make sense) that smoking due to increased heart rate etc. burns around 200 cals a day if your smoking an entire pack a day. Plus the things like increased hunger, better taste, boredom etc causes weight gain when stopping smoking. I'm going to try and burn 200 more cals a day by walking/running/etc or on lazy days that I'm not proud to confess to I will decrease my cals by 200. I really need to quit and will quit whether I gain or not but I want to hear that it is an option whether I gain weight and not an envitable consequence of stopping smoking!
  • sunsetzen
    sunsetzen Posts: 268 Member
    I quit smoking cold turkey in 2007, after...too long. I had pneumonia and had to stop, so I could breathe. Never started again. I didnt gain any weight. But I also didnt use anything else in lieu of ciggs, like candy or other things. I also was cycling more and faster because I could breathe better.
  • cmarr7
    cmarr7 Posts: 1 Member
    I have been smoke free for 11 mos. quit cold turkey on 2/28/17 after smoking for 47yrs. I had bottle water with a nozzle and gum ready-every time I wanted to smoke I reached for one or the other. Also would deep breath every time I got the urge. I have LOST 15lbs. I also quit Diet Coke with caffeine that I drank every day for 45yrs. Sublimated with Low sodium V8 juice and pedialyte. I switched to a dairy free,sugar free,gluten free diet. Have not had a migraine in 2 1/2 months. Prescription free except I take minimal dosage of hormones and Vitamin D. My diet consists of brown rice,antibiotic/cage free chicken,beans,veggies in olive oil,fruits and veggies. Definitely a banana and avocado a day. It’s all in the head. You can do it!
  • The_Ta
    The_Ta Posts: 59 Member
    I was a 5-10 cigarette per day smoker for about 15 years. I decided to finally quit after getting really sick (digestive nightmare) the week before surgery to remove my ovaries due to cancer risk. The week of being laid-up in bed being sick and then a few more days after the surgery was enough to stop the habit. I was fortunate because I never was a “I gotta have a smoke” smoker.

    Use MFP, and you shouldn’t gain weight if you are honest with your logging. You might need a plan for what to do if you are craving a cigarette. Not keeping snacks around is a good idea, and doing a burst of exercise is a great idea.

    You can totally do this!! If you should have a set-back...just pick yourself up and try again. It’s not easy, but just focus on being stubborn with your goals.

  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    I lost weight the first time I quit, but I started a new job that kept me active. The second time, I changed little, but food tasted so much better, so I assume I ate more.

    It can be done, just watch how much you are eating. I'm pretty sure most weight gain that happens when people quit is related to hand-to-mouth habit in combination of food tasting better, plus searching for a new coping mechanism to replace smoking.
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