and going on a 1800 calorie diet all at the same time? It's my sixth day without smoking and I've been trying to cut the coffee (hence sugar in it) and I have found myself shaking an starving around 5:00 pm which yesterday turned into a junk food disaster...
I've been feeling dizzy and today had to take some ibuprofen because couldn't stand the headache. Is this related with the not smoking or with the less food... anyone can give a hand? anyone gave up smoking and felt the same? heeelp!

The headache is from quitting coffee. Try blending half caffeine/half decaf and WEAN from coffee. Coffee cold turkey is painful.

And if you are shaking/starving at 5:00 pm, then plan a small snack with protein at about 4:30

I agree that the headache is your lack of caffeine. I read something on MSN about people being more likely to succeed at things (such as weight loss) if you incorporate things slowly. For instance, if you try to eat good and work out and completely change your life all at one time, it won't be as successful. If you are shaking and starving first thing is, BE CAREFUL. Make sure you are getting enough to eat. I would say do a little at a time, don't go cold turkey on everything, you're just setting yourself up for disaster.

What are you eating on your 1800 calorie diet? Maybe show us a sample of your daily diet and we can help out a bit?

I also agree that weaning from coffee might be a good thing. Try the 1/2 decaf that was suggested - and a little less sugar. Then slowly eliminate the sugar and then the caffeine.

Trying to do it all at once and cold-turkey does sound like a recipe for failure.

Safe? Sure. But it will NOT be easy...so many addictions going on at once!

Can you maybe let yourself have the coffee while giving up the rest? The combo just seems so extreme to me, and that might help the headaches so you can focus on the other two. Caffeine definitely seems like the lesser of the three evils, to me.

Thanks for all the information. I will give decaf a try. An example of food for a day is half a cup of cereal /cup of milk and half a cup of fruit for bkfst, midmorning snack half yogurt w/fruit lunch 4 oz. grilled meat/chicken with one cup salad, a piece of bread, midaft. snack and supper half cup salad or veggie soup (cup), lots of water and only allowed two - three spoonf. sugar a day (i put one per cup of coffee)... and coffee is allowed any quantity if not adding sugar... what do you think?

A few things stick out here:
One - that doesn't sound like 1800 cals worth of food to me
Two - you aren't eating any protein after lunch (unless there's a tiny bit of chicken or beef in your soup).
Three - 1/2 cup of salad is simply not enough for an evening meal, even if you are sedentary - you need enough food to carry you through the night when you're not eating.

You need more protein in your diet definitely.
You prob. need more calories overall. If that diet = 1800 cals then I would think you're eating full fat yogurt and milk, a fairly calorie laden cereal, and maybe fruit in syrup or something.

Here's what I ate today (including what I plan to eat for dinner) and it comes to less than 1400 cals:
Bkfast - coffee w/ cream, baked oatmeal (my own recipe which includes eggs, nuts, milk, and dried fruit)
Lunch - brown rice salad made with chickpeas, tomatoes, parsley, sesame seeds and an olive oil dressing
Dinner - beef pot roast with onions, carrots, celery, and 1/2 a potato
Dessert - 1 tbsp peanut butter on a graham cracker

(oh, and I had an apple about 2:30 which was ~65 cals)

I quit caffeine a few months ago. The first week, I thought I was going to die. Afterwards though, I felt great! I never ever want to go back on caffeine again.

Okay, that is not 1800 cals.

You are not eating enough. Use a calorie tracker like fitday.com and enter your foods. Don't guess... measure, weigh, and enter in a tracker. Or look foods up in a calorie book. You're eating too little. No wonder you feel shaky!

You seem to be trying to do too much at once and going to too much of an extreme. Slow down! Give up the smoking, yes, completely, but the rest of it all at once is kind of punishment, don't you think?

Jay

Heeheheheh. That's what I wanted to say, but I wasn't sure it wasn't too harsh! And the smiley is particularly appropriate.

.

I agree - that is no 1800 calories, based on the amounts you entered.

I aim under 1400 a day, and I eat a TON of food for those calories. How are you calculating this??

I eat two eggs (with no butter or oil to cook them) and fruit for breakfast or cottage cheese and fruit. I think a decent amount of protein in the beginning of the day is IMPORTANT. For me, if I don't have protein for breakfast (even if I have it at lunch) I will be shaky in the afternoon. of course, that is just me.

So you are drinking coffee? So you're not trying to go cold turkey off of caffeine then?

maybe more protein and less simple carbs, these tend to not make you feel full as long and for me, that either makes me eat more or develop a headache. I also eat a ton of salad with green veggies rather than just a cup or whatever because it makes it feel like i'm eating more (though I don't ever use salad dressing, if you do, be sure to figure it into your calories. I find that things like banana peppers, olives, or balsamic vinegar add enough flavor without too many calories that I don't need salad dressing).

I agree. I don't know about the rest of you, but when I have a headache and am miserable, I'm much less likely to care about other things, so I'd be more likely to fail in things like calorie intake and/or smoking. Headaches aren't good for maintaining willpower. You can always give up the caffeine another time, or slowly.

I'm lucky that I love salad and raw veggies. I just did a quick lookup here:

3 cups of mixed salad greens = 60-ish calories
Add some broccoli, carrots, celery, cabbage, and you're still around 100 calories or so.
Add in a sprinkle (1/8 cup) of sunflower seeds and you've only upped it by 100 cals, but added healthy fats and nearly 4g of protein there.

Yeah, 1/2 cup of salad is just nothing.