Quit 3 weeks ago - LOST 3 pounds!

No, I am not trying to sell you anything. Relax. I am just an ordinary person who got a tiny bit chubby prior to her 40th birthday.

2008 was a pretty tough year - death of my beloved father who died of throat cancer ... and then being downsized from my beloved job after the economy tanked ...

Once my super-busy jet-setting life was put on hold - to say the least - I finally had time to think about the year past and what it all meant. I was utterly grateful to have been able to spend the last couple of days of my dad's life with him in the hospice before he got "admitted to a better place". He had throat cancer, and yes, I hate to admit it, he smoked for as long as I have known him. Out of respect and dignity for him, I will not elaborate any further, except that I too smoked for about two decades, and even after I gave my speech at the funeral exactly a year ago, I could not bring myself to stopping. Well, you might attribute it to lack of discipline, character, or what have you ... I have no excuse other than bad advice on quitting. Again, this may sound like I want to sell some ingenious product ... trust me - it's not happening. 

So after I walked away from the funeral and the stress that came with it, I felt entitled to smoke that next cigarette, and then the next, and, of course, the next. I also drank champagne (the cheaper versions thereof) and ate whatever comfort food there was to deal with the grieving. My job took me to many different countries along with fency galas and other evening suarees, which added another few pounds, and before I knew it - both my size 4-6 physique along with my international job WERE GONE by the end of November.

So here I was with all the time in the world to try on fency outfits, except nothing in my wardrobe fit anymore, and being downsized, going clothes shopping for my new size, economically, made no sense (which is alternate lingo for: I could not afford it). So I came up with this grand strategy. Warning: it may not be what your doctor tells you to do, unless he/she is specialized in both weight loss AND addiction treatment:

I knew I had to quit smoking, and I knew I had to get back into my size 4-6 sizes. I knew that handling both at the same time is very difficult. So where did I start? Contrary to ordinary advice, I tackled the weight loss first. Why? I was approaching my 40th birthday, and I decided that losing weight was the easier project. My hope was that, if I persist, I will have all the energy, stamina and will power to lose some weight by my birthday, and then drop the remaining vice afterwards. I read plenty of internet blogs that adviced me of doing it differently - but they were not in MY skin, and they did not have specific advice for MY situation.

My first weigh in on Nov 17 showed 145 lbs. I did the best I could with the motivation of an average person, who can think of better things than sweating and exerting herself. I worked out four to five times a week - and by working out, I really mean exertion ... none of this walking-leisurely-on-a-treadmill holding-the-bar kind of stuff. I did some heavy-duty circuit training work-outs for about 17 minutes, 30 minute runs at 6.2 mi/hr and some 30 minutes pilates (in varying order throughout the weeks).

As my 40th birthday (Jan 22) came nearer, I got myself a prescription for Chantix and started taking it a week prior. More importantly though, I bought Allen Carr's book "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" and read it literally up until the last couple of minutes of my thirties. This book finally succeeded in what all the doctor's talk, the collective preaching from family members along with my friends should have elicited, but didn't. Not even my father's death did. Armed with the tools from the book, I went ahead and turned ... forty.

The scale registered 136 lbs the day before, which I vowed to keep whatever it takes. I did not want to gain back the 9 pounds I just lost sweating in my basement. And I knew that I could not substitute chocolate or other things for cigarettes. Really, that takes the challenge out of a challenge. I was hoping for Chantix to do the trick. After all, I had to pay $80 for the beginner and the follow-up pack. Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry and being well aware of placebo effects, I was ambivalent about the drug at first. I took it about twice a day, but sometimes I forgot. Sometimes, I wanted to eat some chocolate really bad, and gave in, only to find out the next day that I had forgotten to take the Chantix pill in the evening. AGAIN, I am not trying to sell you anything - this is just the tale of my own experience.

I also realized that I had to burn extra calories (the chemicals in cigarettes actually raise your heartrate - and so, when you quit, your heartrate needs to be kept up by other means! Since I already worked out pretty hard, I added another ten or so minutes to my workout regimen. if I make it sound like it is easy - don't be fooled - it is not easy, but I got some decent morale boosters from Carr's book as well as from looking in the mirror.

Ironically, my old Taneka scale broke exactly on my birthday. I thought it was some sort of devine intervention of sorts. So I actually dont' know how all my birthday partying, eating and drinking factored in. It was also the beginning stage of TOM - so who knows? I ordered a new scale from Amazon, which arrived on Feb 3, and was down to about 135 lbs, which pleased me - because it was less than what I weighed as a smoker.

Continuing on, on a 5'3" frame with a hypothyroid condition, I tried to stay on 1200 kcal on non-workout days, and 1400-1500 on workout days (for a reality check - I may have come in anywhere between 1100 and 1800 during those days).

After two weeks, despite the Chantix (and provided I actually remembered to take it), there were still cravings - but really not for nicotine - but for other foods. Like chocolate, peanut butter, nuts in large amounts, etc. Ironically, all the carots, cucumbers and celary sticks could not address those cravings. And here is my quintessential advice: PAUSE!!! When those cravings for the most dilectible things in life come over you, try to find a way to put everything on hold and start thinking:

a) Can I distract myself with any other activity (eating low-cal foods, watching your favorite soap opera, calling a friend ..., etc.)?

b) Oftentimes, when a) did not work, can I do something physical to try to take off the edge and then potentially endulge (given that I burned a few extra calories) later? Sometimes, jumping on my new-bought mini-trampoline (which - I shamefully admit - is in my living room at the moment) took off the edge, but for severe cases, I had to resort to the next step

c) if I absolutely could not (and still cannot) avoid the craving for something significant - I had to make it a significant event. Actually, after two and a half weeks of not smoking, nicotine was -thankfully - not a problem any longer. But chocolate cravings were. In anticipation of it, I bought some very dark chocolate (even though I prefer milk chocolate). When the cravings got really bad and neither Allen Carr's nor my plans a) and b) would bring me back to my senses, I would start my new ritual (this is just MY ritual - you would have to find your own: I would take my Italina Bialetti Moko Express can, unscrew it, slowly fill it with fresh filtered water; add a couple of spoons of espresso ground coffee; put it on the stove; wait until it percolates itself to heaven; beat some non-fat milk  (actually I use the dry-stuff) to a nice foam. Mix it with the espresso in a fancy cup (you gotta have something fancy here - I use the double-walled Bodum espresso cups). THEN - and only then - can you consider picking a piece of chocolate for about 100 calories or whatever your limit is (make sure it is measured), put it on a nice plate along with your drink. Put on your favorite music (classical works well - but disco may do it for some - including me); sit down and indulge every little piece of this culinary masterpiece. Don'tlet yourself get distracted. Try not to answer the phone or any other inquisitions. Don't answer to anybody. Just enjoy and, if you are like me, lick you fingers - slowly - when you are done. Take in a good deep breaths, and enjoy the fact that you embrace a healthIER living.

I say "healthier" for a reason: if you try to do everything 100% right - you just may find out that it takes up too much time of your day and your husband and kids will miss you - or research does not support it, or, or, or ... 

In any event, after three weeks of not smoking and continuing my healthIER eating pattern (which is much easier to do when you don't have a job :-), I have lost 3 more pounds. And just as some of you nee-sayers want to steal my thunder - I have indeed used my calipers religiously - I have lost actual fat.

So the message to all of you people who believe that quitting smoking necessarily means gaining weight - I prove you wrong. And if that is not enough - I am pear-shaped - and lost a quarter inch off my thunder thighs since quitting. It is possible. You need to have some good coping mechanisms though!!! I wish you the best of success. Tell me your success story.

Annett