Smoking

[k1die]

A new member, turbulance45, in her first post said that she quit smoking to lose weight. Here is my question: Except for the fact that i know, that smoking doesn't go that well with exercise... does smoking affect your diet ? I am a smoker and i don`t plan to quit smoking . In fact i think it helps me go through the diet. Any thoughts ?

[mecompco]

I believe (but don't quote me) that tobacco can be an appetite suppressant. Mostly folks gain weight after quitting--I know my wife did. I'm glad to say that of all the bad habits out there, smoking is one that I somehow avoided .

Regards,
Michael

[taubele]

Michael is right Some of the additives in smoking are appetite suppressants. Most people find that they'll gain some weight when they quit. I also know a few people who had quit that ate more often simply to have "something in their mouth" when a craving struck.

So, if you quit, it may lead to some weight gain if you're not careful about food. I think that quitting smoking is a great health move and I'd take the few pounds in compensation (cause I know I could lose 'em! ) but to each their own.

[Misery16226]

When I quit smoking, I did gain a little bit of weight. But within 6 months later i notice a lot of health changes.
1) Sinuses and eyes seem to be clearer. I didn't realize my sinus and eyes were a problem.. but a few weeks after quitting i noticed the air i breath smells freshers, my eyes stop watering.. etc. Meaning that while smoking i was obviously damaging my eyes and sinus.

2) Heavy breathing doesn't lead to needing to catch breath as much. When i was a smoker, after a 15 minutes of running, i would cough and have wheezing as i try to catch my breath. 6 months later NO COUGHING OR WHEEZING AFTER RUNNING

3) When I got completely past the cravings to smoke 1 month in, I also got a huge boost of energy!

And now that I'm following this weightloss path, i know that my 30 min runs would be 10x harder if i was coughing and wheezing, with no energy. So even though i gained a few pounds ( fat already so they werent even visible.) I'm very glad i quit.
I advocate quitting for anyone!
And trust me, after 2 weeks your cravings are just barely a whisper in your stream of thoughts easily ignoreable. Also sugarless gum and celery helps!
Now its smells gross when I smell cigarette smoke. EWW

Anyways it will for sure HELP your friend lose weight! Maybe not in the first month, but after that they will have a big difference in their body. With the extra cash to maybe buy some healthier food!

[TheNannyTina]

I had actually quit smoking AND lost weight. Dum dum suckers where my best friend! I would carry a couple around with me, and when I was home, I would almost use it like a cig, and then set it down on the wrapper like I would a cig in the ashtray, and go throw a load of laundry in, or whatever I happened to be doing, go back to that same lollipop, and it would be like a cig.

And one dum dum lollipop is like 25 cals. (51 cals for two). So really, I didn't add too much more calories into my diet. Esp since I would have maybe one dum dum lollipop in the entire day. It helped to keep my hands busy too. Cross stitch, quilting, ect.

Smoking IS a appetite supressant. Totally. Though there are ways to quit and keep loosing weight, you just gotta get creative. I never chewed gum, because I have terrible TMJ in my jaw, and chewing gum just makes my jaw sore and click constantly. Ugh, which is so annoying.

Tina

[Saskiasrhythmbeads]

I'm a smoker too, and heavy. I would love to quit and I think I will try it with suckers. I eat gum but I don't like to have it long in my mouth, so that won't work. I like the dum dum sucker idea. Not so dum, if you think about it.

[TheNannyTina]

Hope the dum dum sucker idea works for you. It was a lifesaver for me. Once my friend even said "hows smoking that dum dum going?" I guess I was exhauling everytime I took it out of my mouth. LOL! Well, it worked though.

I would recommend patches too. They seriously help big time. =)

Tina