I quit smoking last summer and gained about 15 pounds. I started this year around 169 pounds, occasionally fluctuating to 170. I've been sticking to my diet since the year started, eating 1300-1600 calories daily and drinking 64-72 ounces of water. For the entire month of January I hovered back and forth between 168 and 169, finally dropping down to 166 after my period that month. Now for the whole month of February so far I've weighed 166 with an occasional fluctuation of 167 or even 168. With the fluctuations it's hard to say for sure, but it seems like at most I've lost 3 pounds in six weeks. I do weigh myself daily, for which I'm glad - weekly would show almost no weight loss depending on the days I did it!

I've never had this much trouble losing weight before. The weight I was at before I quit smoking was after losing about 75 pounds. I've had my weeks where I struggled with a plateau, but not for this length of time and never at the start of weight loss.

I'm wondering if my metabolism has just severely slowed because I quit smoking and if anyone else has any experience with that. I'm even starting to wonder if I have a thyroid issue because if I go over my calories at all I gain weight. I don't think it's water weight, either, because it can take me as much as a week to lose it. (I've cheated twice since starting - both times to have a piece of cake on birthdays, but otherwise sticking to my diet all day.)

Anyone have any experience like this?

Do you exercise? And how hard? I found that very helpful to keep my metabolism humming along after I quit smoking. I'd even break it up and do 2 or 3 workouts a day instead of one long one to keep the burn going.

I know that they say that a pretty heavy smoker burns about 200 more calories a day than an nonsmoker, so maybe adding some heart pumping exercise will help make up for the difference.

Oh, and CONGRATS on quitting!!!!!!!!!! It's one of the GREATEST things you can do for your health and for your loved ones.

Admittedly, I'm not exercising at all, though I never have when losing weight. I did spend a couple months exercising this summer right after I gained the weight. I didn't lose any inches or weight--in fact I only gained--so I became frustrated and decided to tone up after dropping to a better weight for me. The weight gain there has made me fear picking up another exercise routine!

You will never gain weight from exercise unless you are eating it all back. It could have possibly been water retention or something of that sort, but for me, exercising has been essential for keeping weight off, and it is also a GREAT stress reliever. Which I really needed since cigs used to handle that for me.

Well naturally as we get older our metabolism changes.

That being said you might want to take up jogging or something to help you lose weight and if you are eating closer to 1600 a day that might be part of the reason why you aren't losing much. If you aren't exercising at your weight I'd say eat 1250-1350 calories a day and definitely keep it up with all that water

Is there any chance that you're underestimating your calories? Are you measuring out your foods, recording every, bite, lick, taste, crumb and sip. Have you had any *cheat* days?

Another thing. So you're not exercising. Are you active during the day or do you have a sedentary job? If you're doing no exercise and are in active on top of that, that 1600 calories may just be too high to create that all important calorie deficit needed to lose weight.

I'd try faithfully sticking to the lower end of your caloric budget and adding in some activity. Chances are that should get things moving in the direction that you'd like.

I usually eat closer to between 1300 and 1400. I do go up past that on occasion to try and shake things up, but I'm pretty religious about tracking things on the daily plate. I'll have to try going below 1300 if it seems like I'm eating too much. Sadly I cannot jog as I have a knee problem!

Again, are you accurately measuring your portions? How often are you going past that and by how much? And how would going past that shake things up??? The only thing going past that seems to be doing for you is stalling your weight loss.

There are LOTS of other exercises to do besides jogging. LOTS. Walking, dancing, swimming, biking, zumba, elliptical, aerobic classes, weight training and on and on. I think some exercise might just "shake things up" for you. Give it a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I use a food scale to measure everything I eat. I was alternating my eating from 1300 calories to 1600 calories because I started at 1350 and wasn't losing any weight. So I was sometimes trying to do a rollercoaster, which I have read recommended many times. Furthermore, I am hungry all day every day, so eating an extra 100-200 calories here and there--by which I mean maybe once a week if that--was kind of nice. But it looks like I will have to go to 1200 or so.

I don't have a job, so, joining a gym or buying exercise equipment is out of the question. The only exercise options for me are walking or doing DVDs.

I didn't join a gym until I hit goal, so don't worry one iota about not having enough money for one, cause you don't need one. The only thing I would recommend is purchasing an inexpensive resistance band.

You mentioned that you are hungry... what KINDS of food are you eating??? We are all different, but I find for myself I am completely satiated on 1200 calories - but those 1200 calories MUST come from fiber-full foods and from low fat proteins. So what I'm eating is very important, not only the calorie count. Maybe you need to change up the foods that you are consuming.

I do think I need to eat less carbs. I have been focusing on getting a good amount of fiber but a lot of my fiber comes from foods which also have a high amount of carbs. I try to start the day with some protein (Canadian bacon, yogurt, or reduced sodium bacon) and a Fiber One English muffin. I try to make sure most of my snacks have a good amount of protein, like yogurt or nuts. Usually my lunch and dinner will be a protein, like a tuna sandwich on low calorie wheat bread, with 2-3 vegetables on the side. At the end of the day I usually have way more than the recommended amount of protein but my carbs are a bigger portion of what I'm eating. I don't know if this was the case for me before because my previous weight loss involved a lot less cooking and more ready-made meals.