Mint addiction

[newromantic]

Since getting of the Nrt i have become addicted to mints just as bad as the smoking and the weight gain has not helped and for the life of me i cannot get rid of it. I reckon we should be put on a healthy living plan after the quit smoking plan grrrrr

[Friezfriend 13 MONTHS WINNER]

Well in a weird way that's what I was grinding on about yesterday, what am I missing, from where I am now mints seem a fine alternative but I'm sure if you've gained weight you will probably find that distressing. I think I need to do much more reading on emotional intelligence and find out what I have been hiding from all of these years. Craziest thing of all I have been a life long nail biter, and guess what I now after five weeks have nails! Our minds are so flipping powerful and play so many tricks on us. Perhaps my next war is on my head! Good luck hun.

[newromantic 3 YEAR WINNER in reply to Friezfriend]

thank you for your response and another thank you for not saying that it is the eating habit getting worse since quitting which it wasnt eating habit didnt change that is what makes me mad about the weight

[Friezfriend 13 MONTHS WINNER]

Oh that is annoying! That's an absolute sod of a side effect and not flipping fair. I wonder how that works, maybe Emjay has some info for you. I hadn't realised that vivid dreams were part of the process as well so there must be many many other changes our bodies are going through as well.

[andi22]

I lived on mints when I gave up (didn't use any nrt) and found that as time went on I would sometimes go days at a time without having one. Can't get out of the habit of having them about me though, even 17 months later.

When you quit smoking, your metabolism goes down by 10%, then we tend to snack more to help with the cravings so consequently gain weight. I put on about a stone and am only just back to what I was a year ago with more to lose. I have managed to acheive this by doing lots of exercise and cutting all the crap. It is hard work, but like quitting smoking, is definitely worth it.

[Friezfriend 13 MONTHS WINNER in reply to andi22]

Really? Good grief I didn't know that, I wonder how that works and why, sorry I mean the bit about your metabolism slowing down? I do know (From my mother's life long wrangling with weight) that you can speed your metabolism up by snacking on something very small and healthy every 15 minutes, apparently it acts as though you are stoking a fire constantly, actually rather than me talking about this in an unqualified capacity I wouldn't mind betting there is a lot of info on other parts of Health Unlocked as it seems to be a mine of info about all sorts of issues and conditions. My friend who wants to stop had a look at the site and has found all sorts of really helpful stuff about MS (She is newly diagnosed) and thought it was great. Anyway thanks for the info, something to think about. I actually got too thin because I was smoking rather than eating so there is a bit of slack fortunately for me but things can turn round if you aren't on your guard can't they?

[Marion0151 1 YEAR WINNER]

We all seem to be in the same position with the weight gain (mine in 6 months a stone) it's alwful ! but is it nics way of saying come back to me? well no nic NO - i hope this helps but i have just done the cabbage soup diet - please dont let the cabbage bit put you off my hubby loves the soup you can eat it unlimited along with a daily list of what you can and can't eat day one fruit and veg day two just veg etc etc. I found it on the interenet ive already lost 7lb and not hungry. I am more than happy to send the diet sheet and receipe for soup if its something you'd like to try. good luck and well done on keeping up the non-smoking ! x

[newromantic 3 YEAR WINNER in reply to Marion0151]

oh yes please i would give that ago anything and i do like cabbage

[EmJay Partner]

Hi Everyone, lots of good chat here

JillyGirl has suggested a healthy eating / recipe category which I think is a great idea. I'll action it in a mo.

Marion0151, it would be great if you wanted to share your diet sheet, maybe you could pop it up in the new category?

JillyGirly posted some brilliant information regarding al kinds of top tips including about eating;

healthunlocked.com/quitsupp...

[yellowsnowdrop]

I drink gallons of peppermint tea,might be a bit better than actual mint sweets, it's pretty good too.I also joined a well known slimming club (the one that Isn't weight watchers) & can still eat loads but healthy stuff instead of maybe not so healthy stuff.I lost 3 and a half pounds the week before last and another pound last week.I really crave sweet things tho.

[Hidden]

It's the nicotine in cigarettes that speeds up the metabolism. As soon as you light up and the nicotine gets into your system your heart rate increases and metabolism over time increases. I suffered with an over active thyroid about 5 or 6 years ago. I lost a stone in the space of a couple of weeks while eating whatever I wanted. An overactive thyroid causes metabolism and heart rate to increase quite dramatically hence the rapid weight loss. However smoking had very adverse effects (I carried on smoking despite that though ) I couldn't have a cigarette before putting makeup on for two reasons, the nicotine caused my heart beat to go up even more and I would shake so much that I couldn't keep my hand steady enough to put eye makeup on, coupled with that my vision would also blur so I couldn't see properly either. When you stop smoking your metabolism just goes back to that of a non smoker. It's the smoking that gives you an artificially faster metabolism. Because my metabolism shot up with the untreated thyroid problem, smoking was just putting an even bigger strain on my metabolic rate and my heart.

It's probably the reason why people tend to suffer constipation when they first stop smoking. Your whole system suddenly slows down without the constant 'reving up' from nicotine bursts. After a couple of weeks though, I suppose everything settles down and your bowels learn to work properly again without artificial speeding up from nicotine shots.

[andi22 in reply to Hidden]

Well, you learn something new every day! I always thought it was my first cup of tea that helped in that department, not the cig. Looking back though, I don't think I've been quite the same there since I gave up smoking. I just put it down to age. :/

[puppieseatchairs 13 MONTHS WINNER]

Putting on weight was one of the things that put me off stopping smoking, but I'm hoping this time with all the extra exercise I'm having with our puppies and generally eating less might stave it off this time, smaller portions and moving more. I can always live in hope!

The last two times I've stopped I have had exactly 11 pounds of smoking weight, which falls off within 2/3 weeks once I've started again.

I nearly had a fag yesterday, and my kids said please don't mummy, we'd rather you shouted at us.

How come? I asked them

Because shouting won't kill you they replied

Out of the mouth of babes so they say. So I didn't and I didn't shout either, we all just had a hug instead.

Happy Saturday everyone

P x

[Hidden in reply to puppieseatchairs]

Awww, that's lovely. Kids are so cute sometimes.

[Friezfriend 13 MONTHS WINNER in reply to puppieseatchairs]

What lovely kids, they love you a lot methinks.

[quit 14 Month Winner]

Very good morning to everyone

All sorts of issues going on here at the moment that are most interesting !!

I seem to have entered a new phase and perhaps having NOT gone this long without a cig in 30+ years I was not prepared for how I now feel !! Not going to be too negative (as I keep posting the importance of being POSITIVE!!) but have felt down over the last week and also been suffering from weight gain which is somewhat uncomfortable (!!) - so everyone's posts about the weight gain is helpful and I will try and do something about it.

I am however still soooooo glad to be free from the cigs and all the damage that smoking was doing and perhaps life is just more real now ........

Best wishes

Jonathan

NOPE

[Coccobo in reply to quit]

Hi Jonathan, I couldn't reply to your sorry, posts has been removed. But hey don't worry I believe everyone has a bad or sad fair, that's makes us all more human a little smile is all what it takes

[Coccobo in reply to quit]

Two boys were arguing when the teacher entered the room. The teacher says, "Why are you arguing?" One boy answers, "We found a ten dollor bill and decided to give it to whoever tells the biggest lie." "You should be ashamed of yourselves," said the teacher, "When I was your age I didn't even know what a lie was." The boys gave the ten dollars to the teacher. Lol

[Friezfriend 13 MONTHS WINNER]

This has all been really interesting, constipation as well, hadn't realised thats what the cause was, have gone out and got some uber high fibre serial which appears to have saved me! Thanks for all the info and advice here.x

[YvonneMittens]

Yes I'm in the same situation. I gave smoking up twelve years ago and everything will be fine until i get stressed. Well, I've been stressed for eight months now. Lost my job,I'm going through the change of life,found out I've got High Blood Pressure. I need Crown Mints because they're strong and I crunch them, one at a time.

[newromantic 3 YEAR WINNER]

Ok so i looked around the net and found out that the reason for being addicted to mints maybe because of an iron deficiency so i am going to get myself some iron tablets and see how it goes got to get of these mints its just as bad as smoking grrrrrrr.