Crap! I quit smoking!!
 

I'm on day four and doing great but this morning the scale was at 293lb. I have no idea how that happened. I must be eating mindlessly because I don't recall eating. Ooohhhh! I' have been snacking a little bit more but thought i was doing good and drinking my green tea more.

Tips and tricks anyone?

I quit smoking last year in October after having a 2 pack a day habit for 21 years. Admittedly, I didn't have any withdrawals or cravings (thankfully) but I missed always holding something, heh. I just focused my mind and energy elsewhere...working puzzles, taking walks, playing games, reading blogs and forums..anything that would keep my mind "busy". Congrats on quitting :hug:

I quit smoking in February 2008. I smoked about 2 packs/week for 20 years. The first few weeks were a little hard. It was hard keeping my hand and mouth busy with something other than a cigarette or food. Also, I discovered I suffered from anxiety and smoking was my way of dealing with it. There were 2 things that helped me more than anything.

1) Exercise. I replaced one habit for another. When I was doing my cardio and my lungs were screaming at me from all the damage I had done over the years it reinforced my desire to quit and become healthy again. Plus, exercise is the best way for me to control my anxiety.

2) Support. Just saying out loud to my husband that I wanted a smoke would somehow give me my power back. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I felt better and helped me not give in to the cravings.

The other things that helped - don't leave home with extra money. If you don't have money you can't buy any cigarettes. Also...sugar free gum.

Good luck and know it can be done.

You can totally do it!!! I quit smoking back in August of '07 and haven't looked back once. I just didn't give myself the option. ;) I remember the most difficult part was wanting to keep my mouth busy, but I'd say I managed to get over it in about three weeks.

I was never a smoker, so I've no advice for you.

I just wanted to send you my support and tell you how proud I am of you for tackling this. I wish you all the best. I'm excited for you. Hang tough. It will be so worth it.

Proud of you for quitting!! I admire you for tackling two such hard things at once, but it is SO WORTH IT!!!

I am so happy and excited for you! You can definitely do this.I have heard from another person that smoking and quitting messes up your insulin levels resulting in a slight weight gain so that could me part of your slight increase. Just keep doing what you are doing...this is a huge step in really making you and strong and healthy as possible.

I quit in October last year too. I gained a bit when I quit because for many people nicotine is an appetite suppressant and when you quit you might eat more without noticing. It can also mess with your metabolism. Don't worry about a little jump in the scale from this, it will go back down after you get free from the cigarettes. Whatever you do, do not let the weight make you start smoking again. Like bobo, I also found it quite helpful to state aloud to someone that I wanted a cigarette, sometimes I had to say it a few times. Cranberry juice is also helpful (other acidic juices too, but cranberry is best) - it actually helps your body filter out what is left of the nicotine to help you get over the physical parts faster. Just make sure that if you do grab some juice it doesn't have sugar. If you do have a craving force yourself to wait for 5-10 minutes and go do something else, it will probably be gone. Exercise and deep breathing can be helpful. Hubby says that deep breathing made him feel as if he were fortifying his resistance. He also says he got p*ssed of AT the craving, not by it, at it, and that helped a lot. Make sure you have some really low cal snacks in the house, celery sticks and what not. I really liked cucumber slices at that time. Drink more water. Try to get extra sleep if possible, that helped me loads. Of course, make sure you stay away from others while they are smoking. One really gross thing that helped me a whole lot was to google pictures of smoker's lungs, mouth cancer, and other horrible things smoking can do to you - it made me not want a cigarette or food. I also wrote all the reasons I wanted to quit and the benefits of doing so and copied it by hand over and over again in a notebook. It kept the reasons on my mind while giving my hands something to do other than reach for junk food. The first 3 days are supposed to be the hardest, so remember that you are already past the worst of it. I'm sorry about the weight gain, but it will be temporary and the quitting smoking is just as important for your health as the weight loss. Congrats and good luck.

The patch is amazing!!!

I quit in 2001. It's the best thing I ever did. Yes. I gained weight. Much better than not being able to breath.

Good for you! That's awesome!

Good girl!!!!

I quit in Oct 2003, I gained a TON of weight, but I attribute part of it to quitting my job to stay home as a housewife/mommy at the same time. I'm now working on losing the weight from it all. I wouldn't trade the weight I gained for smoking in a million years!