Almost smoked.......

[nsd_user663_62886]

I'm into my 5 month now. Couldn't be happier to have quit smoking, however, I've gone from struggling to put on weight to being a heffer!!!! A shock to the system to say the least. I've been in good humour about it but now I'm in tears......been healthy eating and exercising but to no avail! Got my hands on a cigarette tonight and a lighter but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm so close to loosing my quit all over this horrible weight gain 😔

[nsd_user663_42220]

An awful lot of smokers put on a reasonable amount of weight when quitting but it does even out over time.

I put on over 2.5 stone in 2.5 years!

Smoking increases your heart rate, which helps to increase your metabolic rate. When you stop smoking your metabolism slows down so you need to increase it in other ways.

You say you are exercising which is good, but what are you doing, for how long and how hard?

Healthy eating is also needed, but try and avoid too much fruit and fruit juice, bread and potatoes etc.

My weight is now coming down steadily and, through swimming hard 3 times per week for an hour at a time, I am toning up.

As Karri said, a bit of extra weight is far better than smoking and once you have a really solid quit you can put all of your energy into losing any weight gained.

[nsd_user663_63114]

I feel your pain! I've always been slim and at one point I was a size 6. I've gone from a size 10/12 to a size 14 in under 3 months. I wobble and I can feel the weight on my body when I walk. Please don't smoke, you aren't alone, I can promise you I completely understand. Whatever that wok bloke says, at present I do not look good naked and no amount of orange tan and subdued lighting is gonna fix it.

I'm looking at this as a healing time. I'm going to start exercising, just very gentle stuff and take it from there. Think if someone said to you when you were smoking that they could wave a magic wand and you would be a non smoker but a dress size bigger I know I would take it. We can always diet x

[nsd_user663_2681]

Hi hun, the key word here is "almost" you

Didn't do it that takes incredible willpower especially when you feel low, take the advice above about eating habits and be really proud of yourself for not lighting that fag, you are doing brilliantly xxx

[nsd_user663_62886]

Thanks everyone. I woke up this morning very thankful I didn't go through with it. I would have hated myself! All I can say for the diet is that nothing is shifting and it's really upsetting. As a size 8 all my life I'm finding the "new" me really quite hideous. I'm giving the cabbage soup diet a go this week just to kick start things. Anyone else tried that one?

[hellerscatch]

Well done for not smoking Dolores, 5 months is too much to lose!

Know exactly where you are coming from as it 'fleetingly' crossed my mind that smoking would help me get the stone off that I had put on.

I waited until my quit was properly established before I tackled the weight. I waited a whole year and then joined the gym and got the weight off.

Once again, well done for not giving in and keep up the good work x

[nsd_user663_63529]

Eat sensible - slimming world method works a treat for me.. Veg p, meat with the visible fat cut off, not frying as much..,

[kacmins 2 Years Smoke Free]

Max and some other members swear by 5:2 diet, which is a form of intermittent fasting, so that might work for you as well.

If you want to something different, I'd recommend calculating your TDEE , subtracting 500 calories and then you'll have your daily calories goal. You'll need to count calories in the beginning for this to work.

I lost 1 stone in last 40 days, but I take it slowly since I don't wanna lose any muscle mass in the process. The more weight you have, the more rapid weight loss you can get away with. Keep in mind that you cannot out-exercise bad eating habits. Focus on diet first and foremost.

Good luck!