Quitting Smoking & Getting Healthy

I don't think that a drastic change is necessarily the right path. Drastic changes are often hard, or even impossible, to sustain. In my experience, I have done best when easing into things and making small changes. For example, when I started MFP I made the quintessential beginner mistake by reducing my intake to about 1200 calories. It was unsustainable for me (30s F, 5'10 and 165lbs) and I quit. The second time I restarted MFP I made a much more reasonable goal of losing 0.5lbs a week but for the first week, all I did was log what I normally ate and then I slowly started making some changes. I found that weighing food helped significantly with my logging. I found that a small mandarin orange provides me with the sweetness I love and has far fewer calories than the chocolate I also love (and still eat, just not as often). I learned that no matter how hard I try I cannot "eye" a serving of potato chips so I need to weigh out a portion because it is too easy to eat the whole family size bag in one sitting. I learned that a serving of rice and a serving of pasta is significantly smaller than I ever realized. I also found that adding several serving of vegetables to my pasta and rice dishes helps to fill me up much more than a double serving of pasta or rice.

I gave myself a goal of walking 10000 steps a day. This has mostly been while walking on the spot in front of the tv since it has been way too cold for anything outdoors and the gym in my building has been closed since December due to COVID. I can't wait for things to warm up so I can get outside. Obviously, your goals will be different and your own experiences will also vary significantly. What works for me may not work for you but making it easier for yourself is likely to make it more sustainable and an overall more enjoyable experience. I wish you all the best with your goals.

Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I have ever done in my 57 years. I quit when I was 40. I've had numerous fall-off-the-wagon moments but, thankfully, they have mostly been limited to an hour or a day, or a pack, and did not restart that terrible habit. It was hard to quit and it has been hard for 17 years to stay quit, if you can even say I've quit, with my 2x or 3x a year breakdowns.

Which brings me to my advice. Don't try to do everything at once. Quitting smoking is the single biggest investment you can ever make in your life. The rewards of quitting may be measured in decades of additional life and additional healthy life. Absolutely nothing even comes close to the cost-benefit ratio of quitting smoking. Quit smoking NOW. Do it. Buy a month supply of Nicorette or whatever you need, and get that filthy habit in the rear-view mirror. THEN tackle whatever else in your life needs to be tackled.

Quitting smoking is a challenging project that is emotionally exhausting. You cannot do it together with other major life changes. Do it first and nail it down. Approach dieting as an ex-smoker, later.

At that point, dieting for you will be like dieting for anyone else. You won't be trying to boil the ocean. You won't be overwhelmed and feeling like your life is out of control. You'll just be one of the many millions who has to get a calorie target, hit it consistently, and deal with feeling hungry once in a while. Very doable.

I just quit smoking in September. I don't think I could have done both at the same time. I used the patch to quit, and itcwas much easier than I thought, and I'd smoked for 30 years. When I came off the patch, my energy level really took a nosedive for about 2 weeks. The sugar cravings were like nothing I'd experienced before. I was craving sweets that I don't even normally eat!

I did gain 5 pounds really quickly, and that's on top of 15 I put on before I quit. I'm feeling better after 5 months, and trying to get this weight off now.

Good luck, and don't be too hard on yourself as you quit. If you're anything like me, you'll be emotionally vulnerable.