So... I want to quit smoking. I'm a kind of afraid to quit because I'm told people bloat and gain weight when they do. But I do want to be healthy! But I don't want to gain weight! haha.

Are there any people here who have quit smoking? How did it affect your weight loss?

The 3-5lbs you could possibly put on from quitting is much better than what will happen if you don't quit. I see so many people come thru the hospital doors and never leave because they could never quit for one reason or another, and in women weight issues is the biggest excuse we hear. I wish you luck in your journey!

my husband quit smoking and he didnt gain any weight...in fact he started working out more because he felt better!

I'm pretty sure one of the main reasons people gain a little weight when they quit is the whole oral-fixation thing replacing cigarettes with something else... usually with candy all day lol. a girl i work with just quit smoking like 3 weeks ago and shes just constantly eating chocolate and hard candys now so i can see how that would all add up to gain like 5lbs. I really want to quit too, i would LOVE to actually go for a run without feeling like im dying after 5 minutes! One of these days... but good luck on quitting and dont even worry about any little gain you might get because in the long run you'll be sooo much better off, i would gain 5lbs automatically just to be able to quit.

I am totally with you. I want to quit smoking too. I started running a little over a month ago and I love it but its hard to run any longer than 20 minutes because I feel like I might lose a lung. I am going through a break up, starting school again full time in a week, and going through this weight loss journey...sometimes I feel like I don't want to add another stress to my already full plate. But on the other hand, I am ready, and for the first time in my life WANT to quit. I am going to make an appointment with my doctor after school starts (let me get settled into a routine) to try the chantix. She has been trying to get me on for two years anyways.

I would really enjoy being able to breathe.

I heartily recommend that you just quit the smoking. Don't worry about a minor weight gain, you can deal with that. Just quit, now.

I quit smoking, and I am so glad I did. I would undoubtedly be dead if I hadn't quit the smoking.

Smoking is a killer - we all know that!!!

Thanks guys. I have 1.5 packs of cigarettes (I bought a carton) and then I'm going to quit. I'll just be extra careful not to munch on things when I crave a cigarette. I'll just do pushups or situps everytime I want one. LOL!

I have heard the same thing. I'm a smoker, too. I smoke much less during the week because I am at work all day...on the weekend I smoke more because I have the freedom to, and my mouth is bored (not on the phone all day).

Approach it like weight loss. Figure out what your triggers are when you smoke the most (watching tv, driving somewhere...) and concentrate on giving your hands and mouth something else to do (chewing gum, or on a straw...).

I know, giving the advice is the easy part, doing it is tough. I wish you all the best in the world!!

My dad quit smoking when he was 50, and he'd been a 3 pack a day guy for over 30 years. He was already a very overweight man and he lost 50 pounds in the span of the next year or so without major changes. He didn't know exactly why, but I would attribute it to the fact that he was able to start sleeping better through the night because his emphysema let up. He no longer had to take a nap during the day, and he was able to work harder and longer because his breathing was so much better. After that he was able to take a jogging class when he went back to college. Then he no longer needed medication for his blood pressure because he corrected it himself. He was living a much happier and healthier life after he quit smoking.

He quit cold turkey too... he tried using nicotine patches a few times several years previous but it never worked for him. He just had to get it all out of the house and not be tempted.

I quit smoking about 4 months ago now, I definitely understand being scared of the weight gain. When I did it I quit cold turkey, I got up one day and decided I did not want to smoke anymore. It was not easy to resist the temptation to smoke but well worth it!

As for the weight gain people talk about, I didn't gain any weight. I'm pretty sure the reason people gain weight when they quit is because they replace smoking with food. The motion of bringing your hand to your mouth over and over like smoking a cigarette is very comforting since its such a habit. I think the reason I didn't gain weight was simple, I tried my best to be very aware of what I was eating and when. Before I put anything in my mouth I asked myself 3 questions. 1. Am I really hungry? 2. How close is my next meal? 3. Is it healthy?

Good luck with quitting!

When I quit I didn't gain any weight. I quit cold turkey. I learned that nicotine takes 3 days to be out of your system and that after those 3 days any cravings you experience are only psychological, even if they feel physical. Drinking acidic juices (especially cranberry) during those 3 days can help rid your system of the nicotine more quickly and easily. I cleared my schedule for 3 days and stayed away from people as much as possible so as not to be *****y at anyone and not to be around anyone smoking. I got myself a notebook and I wrote down all the reasons I wanted to quit smoking. Whenever I wanted a cigarette, I got my notebook, read my reasons and then sat there copying them over and over and over again. I had in the front of the notebook pictures of healthy lungs and of smoker's lungs that I had printed from the internet. I would also look at those when I wanted a smoke. When I wanted to replace my cigarettes with food I would ask myself questions similar to those that Isis mentioned. I would also drink 4-8 ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice before having any snack. When a craving for a smoke was really strong I would call a friend or my DH at work and talk to them about it until it passed. After the first 3 days I was able to remind myself that the craving was only in my head and I would tell myself that over and over until it passed. I haven't had a cigarette since October 20, 2008. It is the best thing that I ever did for myself. I do not think I could have managed this weight loss if I had not stopped smoking first. I am able to exercise more. My healthy food tastes so much better and I don't need to add tons of calorie and fat filled sauces to things just to get some flavor to my smoke deadened taste buds. Plus, I know that I can do this because I have already done that. If I can quit smoking then I can do anything, right? Good luck to those of you wanting to quit and please don't let potential weight gain stop you because that can be controlled and any that you do gain will be much easier to lose as a non-smoker.

I recently quit smoking, just dropped it cold turkey, and haven't thought of it for the whole time, going on a month. It wasn't too hard for me, and I actually have lost weight and never bloated. To be honest, for me it's a trillion times harder even when I first quit to go without a diet soda everyday.

If you're used to losing weight, then you're already learning a lot about strategies that will help with smoking too. I'm sure there's plenty of good advice out there. I think I've heard that chewing a liquorice stick can help (the root, not the candy), although of course you need to like the taste!

I recently met someone in my partner's family who has always been a heavy drinker and smoker. He looks like he's in his late sixties or older, with greyed skin and hair. His health is extremely poor, he needed help getting up from a chair, and when he contracted pneumonia four years ago he went into multiple organ failure and was in the ICU for a month (normal is 2-3 days). He's far less sprightly than my stepfather, who is 77 with a heart condition. The age of this man is 47. It gave me a **** of a shock, I hadn't expected him to look anything like that. You really don't want to end up like that, hon. You've made an excellent decision, and I wish you the best of luck in carrying it out.

When I quit smoking the first time I gained about 15 pounds BUT I used it as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted and in massive quantities. The hardest part was the first couple of weeks, that is when most of the weight gain happened. The second time I didn't gain any weight and was quit for about 4months. Planning on quitting the third and final time before the end of the year.

Good luck! It's tough but so worth it, the energy boost alone makes such a difference.