What is worse?

I am torn.  I just quick smoking 48 days ago.

Which is worse?   Smoking or being Obese? 

I have gained over 25 pounds in the 48 days.  I was very confortable in my body at 165 wearing size 10-12 and smoking.  Now I have to buy new pants, shorts every 2 weeks, watch what I eat, count calories and work out.  My face looks like a 16 year old with BAD BAD acne.    I really dont know if I made the right choice.  I dont want to HAVE to watch what I eat, work out and count calories.  I was a healthy woman at 47 (except smoking).  You know what else is bad?  My health insurance renews in October once they find out I am no longer in the HEALTY weight zone, I will have to find new insurance and pay more.  

I guess my next visit to the doctor with be which will kill me first.

Forget about the smoking and start a journey to get your weight under control and start working back towards a weight you are comfortable with (obviously as long as that is still in a healthy range). :P

Smoking for weight control is not a solution, its replacing one problem with another.  :O

Congratulations on quitting smoking!! Both smoking and being obese are bad for your health, but you are much better off quitting smoking and gaining a few than continuing to smoke.

My advice.. (I quit smoking in January after 10 years of 1 1/2 packs a day, and have since gained and lost 23 lbs):

1. Continue to watch what you eat, and count calories carefully.

2. Start exercising -after getting cleared by your doc- both for losing weight and well-being, and to help heal your heart & lungs from the smoking.  Walking 1 hour every day is a good start.

3.  Your body will kind of self-regulate after a while.  It needs to learn to process food again without the extra stimulant.  If it helps you at all, drink a little coffee.

Also, your insurance would be OK with you being a smoker, but not with being 25 lbs overweight?  That seems kind of strange.  Either way, your health is way more important than what some crazy insurance company thinks.

Good luck!!! :)

Hi tinsey-

HOORAY for you! It's been 48 hours for me too!!!! So, I'm going through the early stages of not smoking also. I know it's very very difficult. I am using the patch, which helps tremendously. I drink a LOT of water, especially before meals so I get that full feeling, even though it's water weight...

But all in all, if I had to choose, I'd rather live overweight than be dead forever from lung cancer. You can always attempt to lose weight at any age when you're overweight, but you can't do that ten feet under...

We can do this together!

Ooops. *double post*

I am just depressed.  I hate the way I look.  I hate the way I feel.  I dont want to do anything anymore with our friends.  I know it is not helping with my HORMONES are way off too.  Maybe I just picked a bad time to quick smoking. 

It's NEVER a bad time to quit smoking! You'll see-you'll start feeling better soon. Whenever I think about smoking, I picture my Mom lying on the hospital bed dying from lung cancer and visualize all the fluid and blood getting sucked out of her lungs. It was the worst sight I had ever seen in my life...

What I've also done is begin a list of reasons why you SHOULD stop smoking now. I've got 384 reasons already.....

Then make a list of why you should keep smoking...

Quitting smoking is HYOOOGE!!!!!  And belive me, all the cravings and weight gain will pass.  I'm 2.5 years out from when I quit and I don't think about it at all now. Okay, the occassional passing thought when I have a drink... but it's really nothing.

Losing weight is about changing your lifestyle.  It takes a lot more time and continual commitment.  Since I quit I've lost about 20 pounds total and I have more to go, but I am so much healthier. 

You've quit for this long and really it's all smooth sailing from here.  I even go outside and hang out with friends who smoke and it doesn't bother me a bit anymore.   You DID make the right choice and things will level out and you will lose the weight.  It can be done. 

25 pounds in 48 days is crazy!  What are you doing?  If you are not having a candy bar every time you feel the urge to smoke and not eating more than you used to, you should talk to a doctor about this.  It is common to use food as a substitute for cigarettes, but you have to be really careful what food you grab.  Can you carry a bag of baby carrots and have one of them when you feel the urge to eat?  Look carefully at what you are doing and how your eating has changed.

Choose option C quit smoking and begin an overall healthier lifestyle

You can do it!

Tinsey... sigh!  I hear you!  I quit smoking in 2004 and I gained about 25 lbs in 2 months.

Quitting smoking changes your metabolism and that is terribly unfortunate.

I think about smoking ALL.THE.TIME and how skinny I was!!!  I miss it... still... years later and occassionally when I fall of the wagon and have a drag I'm surprised at how bad it tastes in real life as opposed to how good it tastes in my imagination.

That being said... I like that I am rarely breathless, that food tastes better and I am more active.  But I recognize that I will never, ever have that body back... the one that smoking built. 

Better I live longer and be a bit heavier (I've managed to convert a lot of the weight to muscle... but those 25 lbs have never gone away... and to be fair I was about 10 lbs underweight).

It is the hardest, HARDEST, thing I've ever done and the one that hurt my body image the most... but I don't regret my decision... I don't LIKE my decision but I don't regret it.

Talk to your doctor about your strategy and maybe there is some way to work around your health care requirements... and if you get strict with yourself now (as opposed to when you are at the end of your quitting journey) you can stop the weight gain and probably even lose some of it...

Original Post by gilt:

That being said... I like that I am rarely breathless, that food tastes better and I am more active. 

 I'm wondering if that is part of the weight gain that comes with quitting? I'm thinking it is, and I think being ready for it will help me. (i'm quitting next week)

i dont know whats worse, but the absolute BEST is quitting smoking AND starting to exercise simultaneously...

i pick quitting smoking AND getting thin.

I think if you tell your health ins company that you quit smoking, they will lower your rates...

If you gained the weight b/c you're eating instead of smoking try chomping on raw veggi's, if you gained the weight b/c you're consuming other stimulents (like drinking too much soda) then swap to unsweet tea.

When my mom was alive and had her heart attack, the dr. did want her to loose weight and go on a heart healthy diet, but he also told her that the MOST IMPORTANT thing for her to do was quit smoking b/c it was more harmful to her heart then any of her other bad habbits. 

Original Post by tinsey:

I am torn.  I just quick smoking 48 days ago.

Which is worse?   Smoking or being Obese? 

I have gained over 25 pounds in the 48 days.  I was very confortable in my body at 165 wearing size 10-12 and smoking.  Now I have to buy new pants, shorts every 2 weeks, watch what I eat, count calories and work out.  My face looks like a 16 year old with BAD BAD acne.    I really dont know if I made the right choice.  I dont want to HAVE to watch what I eat, work out and count calories.  I was a healthy woman at 47 (except smoking).  You know what else is bad?  My health insurance renews in October once they find out I am no longer in the HEALTY weight zone, I will have to find new insurance and pay more.  

I guess my next visit to the doctor with be which will kill me first.

 Congrats! Quitting smoking is DAMN HARD! You just need to find another outlet other than food/snacking when you want that cig. bc honestly, that is the reason you gained weight. Did you health insurance know you smoke? Bc as you get older..smokers have a VERY VERY VERY hard time getting health insurance without paying out their as$$.  You've quit smoking..now continue with that healthy trend. Don't buy junk food and/or have it in your home. Soon, you will be at a healthy weight and smoke free!

Original Post by crazydiamondchrysalis:

Original Post by gilt:

That being said... I like that I am rarely breathless, that food tastes better and I am more active. 

 I'm wondering if that is part of the weight gain that comes with quitting? I'm thinking it is, and I think being ready for it will help me. (i'm quitting next week)

why start next week

start now.

I think both are equally dangerous for your health actually.  If you look at deaths by smoking and obesity.  You should try to get both under control.  I know how extremely hard it is from experience trying to lose weight myself and my husband quit smoking after smoking since he was 13 (he's 39 now).  He, too, is having a hard time and gaining weight.  Anyway, even though it is hard you should do your best at getting everything in order for your health.  You can do it.  I know ppl who have before :) I'm not doubting it is HARD though, possible yes.

Also, you will be telling them you quit smoking even though you have gained some weight?  Maybe they will see it as being equal?  Good luck, remember you CAN do it :)

Depends: how obese vs. how much smoking.

25 lbs overweight is less risky than 5-10 cigarettes/day.

The number of deaths from obesity is contested and has been vastly overstated in the past - nowhere near the number from smoking. However, one could make the case that obesity leads to more morbidity (diabetes, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, etc.)

The weight you gained is not likely from metabolic changes, but from the oral fixation thing that makes you eat instead of smoking, not to mention the "pleasure gap". Chewing sugarfree gum might help.

Do NOT start smoking again. Says the woman who spent today looking at CT scans of people with metastatic cancers secondary to smoking, mostly in their 50s and 60s (in medicine that is considered young!)

EDIT: insurance companies don't consider you a nonsmoker until one or two years of abstinence - stats show most people relapse before then. Kind of like how you can lose weight and most people gain in back within a year or two.