Given up smoking-9 days

I have my taste buds back and I constantly think of food. My appetite is huge and I feel hungry most of the time. I know I have put on weight and want to lose it before it gets out of control. I am already Mrs Muffin Top. Any advice?

[Hidden]

Now personally i think that's a bit of a tricky one. Insofar as I would get used to being a non-smoker first and tackle the weight after I'd fairly settled into that new regime.

However, you could chuck out some of the worse bits of your eating regime so that perhaps you achieved a slow loss or at least no further gain until you were ready to focus on the food and the weight.

And getting into more active routines and activities might help to distract from the ciggies.

Whichever way, it's good to have a plan, so check out the NHS live well lose weight pages and find out your BMI. Then work out how much weight you want to lose. Then read up about diet, healthy food and all the interesting things you can find on the same web-site, including the free 12 week plan which is full of just straight forward good advice.

Then sit down and make a plan. Do you do it now, or perhaps in a couple of months time? What small differences could you put in place in the meantime (quick fixes)?

Those decisions will be very personal and may be very different from the ones I would make.

Good Luck with both those life changes.

[P.S. Giving up smoking was one of my best life decisions ever - certainly in the top three]

[mumma]

I tried to do both stop smoking and diet and it didnt work and I ended up eating more. Keeping yourself busy is the key and I also found drinking coffee helped me. You can do it!

[carbjunkie]

Forgive me butting in (first post). There was some clinical research carried out a few years back - in one of the Scandinavian countries, I seem to remember - which showed that people trying to lose weight and stop smoking at the same time were more likely to succeed at both. Seems odd, I know, but the research was sound.

I am currently trying to do both. Cigs down to 5 a day and BMI down from 53 to 42. This has taken me a year! Still a long way to go, but little steps and all that :>)