I quit smoking 45 pounds ago - now what?

I have done the low carb and it was very successful, but I just do not have a desire to live off of meat and salad.  (I know there are more choices but it is restrictive and I just can not bring myself to going there again) I am concerned that now at 51 - I am not exercising, 45 pounds overweight and no clue what and where to go from here.

I have always been active and fit until the smoking started to take over and now I am ashamed of what I have become.  Not only that I have horses that are dying for attention but i am too heavy and my reflex's too slow.  I have never done calorie counting and I haven't a clue what foods to gravitate towards.  Salad - naturally, but I need more than salad.  i have had a craving for oatmeal - the old fashioned kind with bananas and maybe blueberries - yumm. Anyway I hope to make some friends and get some ideas.

As to exercise - I am statrting that. slowly but surely.  I started on my staionary bike and was doing some minor weight lifting and boxing with my husband.  I did it 2 nights in a row, and am an hurting all over right now!!!! So I guess it will be a little bit at a time.  So what is your story?  Favorite good foods? Motivation?

Finally 2 + years smoke free and now I am ready to embarke on another adventure!!! Getting my body back!

That is where I was a year and a half ago.  Only I was more like 70 pounds overweight and didn't have smoking as an excuse.  I joined a woman's boot camp so someone would make me exercise.  I thought I was going to die that first month.  I couldn't do half the stuff everyone else was doing and was sore every night.  I, who was once fairly athletic, felt like the fat kid in gym class.  I was soo sad about what I had let myself become.

I am a lot better now, but still have a long way to go before my body can do the things my mind wants it to.  I took a break for a while and its time to get back to work on the New Carol.  I go back to boot camp tonight.  We can be sore together tomorrow.

The approach supported here is not to "diet".  A diet is something you do for a limited time until you reach your goal or just give up and then go back to the habits that put that weight on you in the first place.  Here we advocate a "life style change".  The change means you eat healthier and exercise more, but you do it in a way that you can keep up for the rest of your life, because that is the only way you are going to keep the weight off.  The best way to get started is to just eat the things you like and are reasonably healthy and then log everything that passes your lips into the site's calorie counter.  That way you will learn what has a lot of calories and not a lot of nutrition.  Then you avoid that stuff as much as possible.  Buying a food scale to learn good portion sizes is also a worthwhile investment.  Then go ahead an eat your oatmeal, just make sure you don't eat too much and you have your meat and vegetables too.  The approach here is not to diet, but to change your eating habits so you don't eat more than you need.  Add exercise to keep yourself strong and fit.  While you weigh too much, make sure that you're eating less than you burn off by at least 500 calories a day.  Once you reach a good weight, increase the calories to a point to where you neither gain or lose, but you never go "off the diet". 

thank you Carol.  Your post is very encouraging!!! This is the year to make the healthy changes and to get on a healthy life style.  You are right -every time I think diet I automatically go into this appetite loss thing where the only thing I want is junk food.  That got here in the first place!!! Today is a new start and I look forward to the learning and the journey! Maybe thinking healthy and eating smaller portions and exercising more will be the ticket!!! thanks you so much!

This sounds a lot like me!  I quit smoking 2 years ago and have gained about 35 pounds since then.  And I was about 15 pounds overweight to begin with, so now I need to lose 50 lbs.  Well, I've lost 7 lbs, so I guess it's closer to 40 lbs I need to lose now, but I can relate to the feeling of "what have I let myself become?".  I was always thin and fairly athletic up until my mid-forties, but the smoking took my life over.  I'm soooo glad I quit!  I would rather be fighting my weight than smoking.  I've been going to the YMCA every day & doing a lot of cardio.  I've also been counting calories (as much as I hate doing that), but it seems to help.  I wasn't aware of just how much I was eating/snacking until I started keeping track!  I seem to have hit a plateau just in the last few days, but I guess that's normal.  I'm not giving up though.  If I could quit smoking I know I can lose weight!  I'm trying to use lots of herbs to bump up flavor.  I love to cook, but now I'm having to find different things to prepare.  Anyway, it helps to hear that other people are in the same situation as me!  Good luck to you!

Ann

Hey Ann, looks like we are in the same boat!!! I just don't like to cook unless it is for an occasion.  Survival just never seemed like a good occasion!!! Did you ever go on the FFS board in your quit?  I was laurir6425. I am letting  a few of my quit smoking buddies know about this place.  I am actually getting excited about this site and this way of life. 

You are so right, if we can quit smoking and we have - then we can do all the way and loose this weight.  We can be thin, hot non smokers!!! At any age!!! We need to start a group of ex smokers on this site.

Hi everyone !  I too guit smoking...but 8 years ago. Before I quit I was to thin. At 5' 10"  I was 130 pounds !!  Yaaa, really gross. But when I quit the weight came, and fast. IM now at 209...lost 5 recently.  I am so humiliated at how I look now. I wanted some weight so I would look healthy, but damn, not this much !!  :)  lol   So, here I am , wanting to lose 50 pounds. I feel like I quit one habit, and just picked up another to replace it. IM a nibbler. I LOVE to nibble lol     Sooo, my thought is to replace this nibbling habit with a new habit. Excersize.  I live In CT, so its ridiculous cold right now. So, I make sure I go to the gym right from work. If I go home first...theres no way IM leaving the house to go back out to the gym.  I dont always WANT to go. But once Im there, I feel GREAT !! 

 Im so glad I found this place today.  I really look forward to getting to know you all, and bein g there for each other.

Hi, all:  Great topic!  I quit smoking 7.5 years ago and I'd like to say I put the weight on then, but actually I became obese when I quit drugs in 1989.  Same principle, though - substituting one thing for another.

When I first started eating healthy in September, I had to break the daily habit of stopping at a convenience store before my commute home to get some junk for the ride.  So I used substitution in my favor:  I started packing 1 oz. of turkey jerky and 6 oz of baby carrots - I crunch on them all the way home.  I do that to this day - by having this snack I also keep myself from arriving at home STARVING.  Hungry is not a good place for me to visit - I make bad choices.

Years ago I once started smoking so I could lose weight.  End result:  Fat smoker.  Yeah, I'd much rather fight the flab than suck the stick.

Carol's summary of the CC philosophy is SO where I am this time - I'm in for the lifestyle change, not a rigid diet.  I'm so happy my daughter showed me this site!

Lemme know if anyone starts an ex-smoker's group!

It is so great to hear and meet other ex-smokers.  I am reminded that I am learning a new lifestyle and a new approach.  It may take a while!!! The smoking was a daily thing for 35 years!!!  This is brand new!!! You know guys we can all be lean beautiful non smokers!!!

I quit smoking 2 years ago, after I had a triple by-pass.  I have gained weight since i quit, but for my health sake, i have got to stay off the cigarettes and try to focus on healthy eating and get some of this weight off.  It does feels really good to say that i am a "non-smoker". 

People who have not quit smoking do not understand what an accomplishment it really is, it has such a strong hold.  2 years smoke free is wonderful and a major accomplishment.  congrats to you!!! That is so wonderful.  Don't let anything get  in the way of your quit or cause you to forget why you quit. I say if we can quit then we can handle this next chapter in our lives!!! One thing is for sure that smoking again won't make you slimmer or healthier.  You are worth the effort and you can do this also.  Not everyone can quit smoking for a day much less 2 years!!! We are a special breed!!!

It's great to be a ex-smoker.  I've started whitening my teeth; the whole bit.   It's tough to stop because I would eat more.  Exercise helped me.  Now, I just want to get my son to stop.

Original Post by gammie_k:

It's great to be a ex-smoker.  I've started whitening my teeth; the whole bit.   It's tough to stop because I would eat more.  Exercise helped me.  Now, I just want to get my son to stop.

 How long have you been smoke free?

Only four months.

Hey there guys,

My husband and I quit smoking Decmber 9 and it has been wonderful not to go to work(RN) and have patients tell me I smell like smoke. I too got my teeth whitened. I have only gained about 8 pounds but I was already almost 150 overweight. My husband is 6'2" and 170 pounds and has gained a couple of pounds. My twin sister is obese as well as my mother and all my aunts but one on Mom's side were greatly obese. I just want to have someone who doesn't mind my talking about losing weight, my hubby doesn't want to hear it. He likes me overweight, not quite this much, but does not want me to lose much. I have a bad back, bad heart valves (phen-phen) and really bad knees. My knees hurt constantly and I have heard that losing 5 pounds is like losing 20 for your knees. Well, ramble, ramble. Just want to hook up with a few buddies who are close to my age and have common goals.

Sounds like you have a lot of reasons to lose the weight.  I'm about 40 lbs. overweight and my knees have been bothering me too.  I've lost about 10 lbs. and already I can tell a difference!  Most of my weight gain came when I quit smoking 2 years ago.  I also have back problems and I'm hoping losing the weight will also help that.  But I do know that I would rather be overweight than smoking again.  Keep up the good work!!!

4 months is awesome!!! You have been through the really - really hard parts.  It was around 3 or 4 months when I went through what I call the just one syndrome.  I started feeling very successful and my inner mind kept saying I could handle just one.  Drove me crazy!!!! I always knew that just one would lead to just one pack to just one carton to just one month - back to a total addiction wondering how will I ever be able to quit and wondering what is really going on inside of me that I can not see.

What you are doing is wonderful - brave and very rewarding.  Don't ever let anything get in the way of your quit.  Now that you are incorporating stage 2 loosing the weight - you have come to a good place.  For me part of my quit reason was to be healthy enough to exercise once again and finally I am starting that.  It feels so good.  I know I will loose this weight.  Maybe slow - but just like smoking this time in my life is just a small page in a thick book.  Some days it reads fast and others slow, but there is still so much more ahead to enjoy - I plan to enjoy it as a thin, fit non smoking hot cougar!!! LOL!!!!

Okay so there I go on and on and on - But 4 months that is fantastic and you are so worth the effort!!

Original Post by aleset:

Hey there guys,

My husband and I quit smoking Decmber 9 and it has been wonderful not to go to work(RN) and have patients tell me I smell like smoke. I too got my teeth whitened. I have only gained about 8 pounds but I was already almost 150 overweight. My husband is 6'2" and 170 pounds and has gained a couple of pounds. My twin sister is obese as well as my mother and all my aunts but one on Mom's side were greatly obese. I just want to have someone who doesn't mind my talking about losing weight, my hubby doesn't want to hear it. He likes me overweight, not quite this much, but does not want me to lose much. I have a bad back, bad heart valves (phen-phen) and really bad knees. My knees hurt constantly and I have heard that losing 5 pounds is like losing 20 for your knees. Well, ramble, ramble. Just want to hook up with a few buddies who are close to my age and have common goals.

 Hey it is nice to meet another successful ex smoker!!! Way to go.  I can totally relate to the pain from carrying around the extra weight.  I to have had knee problems and back problems.  I realized hey I quit smoking so I could do things and now I am so heavy I can't do anything!!! Hello!!! What is wrong with this picture? LOL

So now I am enduring  a new pain form the gym. Ouch!!! It will get better but I already feel better about me.  Your husband may be comfortable with you as you are now, but you have to do what works for you.  I am sure he will love the new thinner you!!! He just might not be the support you need in this arena. Men can be clueless and still good men.  My husband is totally clueless!!

So you hang in there - I know you can do it!! You quit smoking and that is huge!!!! So you can do this.  We can do this!!!

Thanks tuff.  I've started doing many self-improvement things.  I dyed my eyebrows and eyelashes; I'm ironing my clothes; rolling and fixing my hair.  I know this sounds very trivial, but it's the little things that make us feel the best.  I heard a great tip for exercising.  I read that we need to discover if we are "morning" or "evening" people.  I'm definitely a morning person.  It says to exercise when you have the most energy.  Also, says drink coffee, wait 10 minutes, then exercise.  You wouldn't believe what a difference.  I get on the machine with twice as much energy; go through the program, and feel great.  Just a tip. 

 I need some tips right now.  I posted on another thread that I am flat out tired!!! I have been doing a very intense workout schedule and maybe not enough calories.  I love coffee but I have to work out after work and that would keep me starring up at the ceiling all night long! LOL  But the thought has crossed my mind.  There isn't anything that we do for ourselves and appearances that is trivial!!! Can you imagine what someone like Angelina Jolie goes through to maintain?? Yikes! That has got to be time consuming and expensive.  If she is worth it - so are we!

Thanks tuff-n-nuff. I do hope I can win the battle this time for the long haul. It seems I always lose weight and then 'forget'that I can't eat like other folks and gain it all back with interest. I really love the encouragement on here without having to go into a whole big group of people.You are a good resource.

Connie

I know what you mean.  I had lost 23 pounds last summer and then a friend of mine died unexpectedly and well here I am working to get it all off.  I am hoping that this approach which is different from before that maybe I can learn how to eat and change my lifestyle and hopefully prevent this again.  My weakness is cake.  Bakery - birthday cake, there must be something in it that triggers this deep bedded addiction.  I eat one piece say here at work and I will end up buying a cake and eating the whole thing by myself.  So I am trying to stay away from sugar.  Sugar seems to break down all my resolve!!!