Off the smokes, eating all round me

PogMoThoin

Was a 20+ a day smoker for years but i'm off them since new yrs day. Goin cold turkey, no patches, gum etc. Not finding it too bad as long as i keep myself busy. Thinking bout the cost of the dirty ba$tards helps me too. My wife is off them also, which makes it a contest.

Problem is, I'm eating all round me, What usually does me till 6 in the evening is eaten by 11 in the morning. I'm having to buy chocolate & treats at 3 or 4 just to keep myself going till i get home for dinner. I feel i'm now cross-addicted to food, gonna end up huge if i keep up this eating habbit.

Will this eating binge last? How did you others cope?

Any advise would be great.

Pog

JHMEG

First off, keep up the good work!

The fags were great for drawing a line under a meal. ie the fag marked the end of proceedings.

The only thing that signals to me now that the meal is over is a bit of chewing gum (the ordinary kind). Chocolate tastes kinda crappy straight after chewing gum.

ali.c

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Will this eating binge last? How did you others cope?

Any advise would be great.

Pog

Tbh it will last as long as you decide to let it last. Feel the need to chew on someting sugar free gum or something low cal like celery sticks will work too. I eat pretty regularly anyhow at least 6 times a day what stops me muching on crap is the fact that i have some more filling healthy food with me!

Caveat

I've heard that a glass of lukewarm water is good for both staving off cravings and supressing appetite.

Archeron

JHMEG wrote: »

First off, keep up the good work!

The fags were great for drawing a line under a meal. ie the fag marked the end of proceedings.

This was what got me at first. Used to be a smoke would always signify the end of lunch or dinner, but without one, it felt like the meal was still open. To deal with that, I started to close off a meal with a bar of chocolate, or a donut, or both. Or both and then something else. I done this for about a month, and put on a stone and a half.
I was happy that I noted what I was doing, so I surrounded myself with water, and mandarins (clemetines, satsumas, small oranges, whatever they are called). While I wouldnt eat millions of them, I would still go through about 6-10 a day at least.
Generally speaking, I would drink lots of cold water when the craving hit to smoke or to munch rubbish, but if it was strong, I'd have a mandarin instead. Happily, this seemed to work for me.

I also found that deep breathing and concentrating deeply helped the cravings for smokes to pass without feeling the need to substitute something edible instead.
Keep up the good work OP, and best of luck with it!

Boom_Bap

I'm in the same boat, knocked the bifters on the head (butt) for new years, all is well apart from the excessive eating.

But, i dont think its a substitue or drawing a line under anything (well, there is a bit of food being a substitute!). I think it is more that your taste buds are growing again and you have the ability to taste food again.
Your body is actually developed new cravings of taste rather than diry nicotene.
I'm no doctor but i read in some journal that taste is a huge attribute.

Noticed that chocolate is tha bit nicer, or that sandwiches taste better?

Archeron

Yeah, the taste thing is probably a factor too alright. I found when I stopped smoking that I didnt like Chinese food much any more because for the first time, I was able to actually taste it!
I've also lost my sweet tooth for chocolate.

On the revived senses thing, I couldnt believe how much my sense of smell improved as well. The first time I smelled cut grass after giving up was incredible, I had never smelled it so strongly in about 14 years.

Boom_Bap

Archeron wrote: »

Yeah, the taste thing is probably a factor too alright. I found when I stopped smoking that I didnt like Chinese food much any more because for the first time, I was able to actually taste it!
I've also lost my sweet tooth for chocolate.

On the revived senses thing, I couldnt believe how much my sense of smell improved as well. The first time I smelled cut grass after giving up was incredible, I had never smelled it so strongly in about 14 years.

I dont look half as cool anymore either haha

PogMoThoin

Ya, I'm finding it hard to relax after finishing meal, sometimes i cant sit, i just get up and do something. The smoke usually finished a meal for me. I'm gonna spend some cash on fruit, there's really only so much of it you an eat anyways.

18 days done so far, never thought i'd get this far

Thanks for all yer thoughts

Pog

markesmith

Eating chocolate or biccies as a substitute is going to put weight on you anyway. You'll put on the weight if you're taking in more calories than you're letting out.

Bring fruit to work with you. Apparently, mandarins/clementines work well, as you have to peel them - something to do with your hands. Apples, pears, blah blah. Nuts are good too.

Also, sign up to a gym or go jogging or swimming. This helps the nicotine get out of your system that bit quicker. A few people I know gave up the smokes and became quite the fitness fanatics. Getting fit could be a good way to draw a line under your past smoking self.

Good luck with it!

cance

hey op,

i literally ingested everything in sight when i first quit, 1000's of calories a day and blimped... i still didnt mind as i found loosing the weight afterwards much easier than quitting the fags!

the suggestions above sound very clever, chewing gum after a meal etc.

Grawns

3 years ago or so I gave up smoking and went on the Atkins diet at the same time. Had just been dumped so was going to be pretty miserable whatever happened. Just did Atkins for 4 weeks until the worst of the cravings were gone and my appetite pretty supressed. Stayed off the fags, lost weight, looked fantastic. A year later went back on the fags, met someone special (smirting outside ron blacks) jus married we've now both given up 10 days ago and after Easter I'm going to do Atkins. Currently I am eating Everything ( can't get enough goodies). yum yum yum yum yum....

Anyway my advice is to diet at the same time. Exercise is better too as you have a lot more energy. Am also a big fan of chewing um, but not the nicotine stuff.

controller

Without a doubt the weight creeps up after giving up the ciggies. I'm off them nine months now (cold turkey) and am eating like a horse, have gained 1.5st weight and am disgusted! Didn't realise they were such an appetite suppressant.

controller

controller wrote: »

Without a doubt the weight creeps up after giving up the ciggies. I'm off them nine months now (cold turkey) and am eating like a horse, have gained 1.5st weight and am disgusted! Didn't realise they were such an appetite suppressant.

Update. I've hit the gym lost just over half a stone & am one year smoke free.....woohoo!

Ballyman

Well done.