To consider re-starting smoking?

[SuperEkstra]

Three years ago I was a size 10. I ran 10ks 4 times a week. I looked great. But I smoked.

I quit smoking. It was really hard. And I'm now a size 20. I've put eight stone on. I've tried every way to lose weight. Everything's great for a week, then I can't stick to it.

Please don't recommend diets that have worked for you, as I guarantee I've tried them. I can't make it last. I feel like I need the dopamine 'high' from smoking which has been replaced by food.

I'm honestly at the point that I'm considering starting smoking again - I'm going to die of obesity at this point anyway, so I guess I'd rather be happier and thinner in the mean time.

I know it's a stupid idea, but I'm so so miserable. I hate myself and my inability to stick to a reasonable about of food. I'm disgusting.

YANBU. As my therapist once told me, do what works. Just be careful to watch your weight closely once you restart smoking, to make sure you are indeed losing weight again. Smoking and not losing weight would be doubly bad!

No, you'll regret it. There has to be another was.
I know you said diets don't work for you, but have you looked into intermittent fasting? It's worked brilliantly for me and I am someone who is awful at "denying" herself nice things.

YABU.

You could try vaping.

Don’t do it. Don’t. Just think how much worse you’d feel right now being overweight and a smoker. Fags will not make the weight magically drop off.

I gave up 4 years ago aged 45. I put on 1.5st and accepted it. Since Lockdown, I’ve exercised and downloaded the WW app. I know you don’t want to hear it but it’s worked. Lost 21lbs without starting smoking again.

Think how much it’d age your face
Think how much you’d smell
Think how much damage you’d be doing to your organs
Think how much it’d cost.

Well bloody done for giving up.

Ha! Yes. Tried intermittent fasting of various lengths. Tried 5:2. I just end up binging.

It’s the smell. As someone who also gave up smoking, I can now smell smokers a mile off and stale smoke stinks.

Yabu

Who's to say you won't start smoking again and not lose an ounce.

I am newly smoke free and see the extra weight I'm carrying, but it would not make me pick up another cigarette

YABU. There is no guarantee it would actually help you lose weight, meaning you could very easily end up both obese and at serious risk of lung / throat / mouth cancer. You will also have to deal with all the other associated crap - the expense, tooth decay, the grip of addiction, being a person who smells all the time etc.

You would be far better spending the money on therapy imo. You aren’t disgusting, you are a person worthy of being loved and respected, and therapy is something that can help you understand and take control of that. That, more than anything, will give you the tools to live a healthier and happier life.

There's definitely more going on here than just not smoking and eating more. In your case I'd approach my gp and ask for help as you seem to have replaced one addiction for another.

What happened to your 10ks? You're unlikely to just start running them again immediately but you can definitely build up to them. You could try the couch to 5k/10k, might be a way to get you going again.

I'm also overweight and trying to reduce it and have just stopped buying stuff I don't want to eat and have switched to click and collect supermarket orders. It means I'm not tempted as much. There's definitely still times I give in and do buy things as a treat but it means I'm not as tempted by the nice stuff at home. I'm also decreasing my meat intake as have switched meat based meals for their veggie versions like chilli and curries. They're super easy and increase my intake of veggie portions (I'm not a fruit person) and don't really take any extra effort.

Smoking is SO bad for your health and having watched someone close to me die of a smoking related illness I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Children of smokers are also more likely to smoke themselves. It also smells really bad to non smokers (most people). It also impacted your teeth and mouth too.

I think you need to seek help for your addictions and look towards regaining other activities you did while you did smoke, just not the smoking.

Yeah. Smoking again won't help you not eat. You didn't put all that weight on because you stopped smoking, you won't lose it because you start smoking.

You obviously have a strong will because stopping smoking is not easy at all, so just remind yourself of it. Maybe an extra motivation would be that there is a research now that stopping smoking raises risk of diabetes. It certainly motivated me to start losing.

Did you give up running as well when you gave up smoking? I would say that was more the problem than not having the fags. I bet it was the running keeping you slim really! Can you re-start that instead?

I broke my ankle about a year later, which didn't help. I deffo put on more weight after that and then I was too big to run. I found it really really hard to start from the beginning and to see with every run how very very low I've sunk. I just can't maintain it.

Agree that you've replaced one addiction for another

I would try vaping without nicotine but one which tastes of nicotine before you try 'real' vaping

Plus building up exercise if you feel able

Are there other life events that have been really difficult in last 3 years?

YABU. You don’t know that you’d lose the weight and you can’t be sure it was quitting that made you put it on in the first place. If you’ve got an addictive personality then you need a healthy addiction to swap in for food.

Your children deserve a fit healthy parent who’s going to live as long as possible.

I'm currently in the process of stopping smoking. Down to 1-2 cigarettes a day and all things smoking are consuming my every thought. I need to stop as I have pre-cancerous cervical cells which there's a good chance have been caused by my habit and are unlikely to regress unless I stop.
I'd rather be a size 20 and a non-smoker.

I'd also be wary of starting again and the weight not magically dropping off.
You're then back addicted to the fags and overweight to boot.

Tbh, that weight gain doesn't have as much to do with stopping smoking as you think, going by your latest update.

YABU. And I speak as an ex smoker who LOVED smoking. I went to a vape and haven't looked back. One of my major fears when stopping smoking was weight gain. Try a simple 0mg nicotine stick vape (Vapouriz do some fab, simple, non 'cloud chasing' ones). Good luck!

I'm from a family of smokers who gave up and restarted again multiple times. Going back to smoking DID NOT have a positive impact on weight.

I've never smoked and never will but am also struggling to lose weight. It's hard and I have no will power. You do. You gave up smoking. Have you actively found something to replace the habit of smoking instead of food? My Mum ended up holding her fingers to her mouth and inhaling and she said it made her feel a million times better. She's successfully given up for 2 years now.

I'm currently not trying a diet - I'm trying to make small changes with new habits forming hopefully. So at the moment afternoon biscuits with coffee have been replaced with fruit. I'm drinking less alcohol but replaced it with a nice drink. At the moment I love the Fever Tree Mexican Lime Soda and the Spiced Ginger Ale as I realised that half the attraction of alcohol was having the taste of something different.

Hope you find something that works for you.

You might start smoking and not lose any weight. Start walking, get a Fitbit, and build a bit more distance each week. Eventually you'll be able to start running again and you can get back to your 10ks. I think you know that starting smoking is a bad idea. Are you looking for some validation to pick it back up from elsewhere? I'm glad it doesn't seem to be appearing in this thread.

I think you need to work on finding exercise that you like, rather than re-taking up a cancerous habit.

You seem to be blaming stopping smoking for your weight gain, when it's more likely to be the lack of exercise.

Rather than getting disheartened because you're not at your previous running level, why follow Couch To 5K or something similar, so you've got goals. Then do 5K three times a week, and slowly up your distances.

YABU. Smoking won't make you magically lose weight and it stinks, really unpleasant for anyone you work/live/socialise with and really bad for your health.

What else has changed in the last 3 years? Pre menopause? Hormone changes from contraception? I'd guess you are now in insulin resistant due to being overweight and having yo-yo dieting history. If that's the case, your body will struggle to lose weight regardless of taking up smelly smoking.
I know you said you tried IF, but have you read Feast Fast Repeat? It's new and the best explanation of what's going on when you can't seem to shift it or sustain anything. Please read that first. Lung cancer is no picnic.

No don’t start smoking.....or vaping. I understand it must be so tempting especially when you remember how you felt in yourself when you did smoke.

Rather than thinking about dieting And particular diets maybe taking time to focus on your well being in general would help. Looking at your emotional connections to eating/smoking etc.

I agree with PP that you're unlikely to lose the weight if you take up smoking. You appear to have an addictive personality (this isn't a criticism) so when you gave up smoking, to cope you started binge eating. However, it doesn't work the other way around. If you take up smoking again, you'll still be addicted to food and you'll just have two addictions instead of one.
I'd recommend trying to replace your food addition with an addiction like exercise - no addiction is healthy but if you want to be thin then it's worth a shot. If you start to exercise every time you're stressed or anxious or nervous then within a couple of weeks it'll be your new coping mechanism.

Vape?