How to exercise if you’re a smoker?

[coffeemeup]

I’m in my 40’s and I have smoked since I was 14… I know I desperately need to quit and have tried pretty much everything over the years.
Over the last couple of years I have also steadily put on about 3 stone and I feel so rubbish about myself.
I really want to start some sort of exercise but I feel like not being able to breathe as soon as I do is holding me back.
I know I should try and quit smoking first, but then I also know I’ll put even more weight on and I certainly don’t think I can quit and diet at the same time!
What I’d like is to lose some weight and then quit when I feel I’m in a better headspace about myself, but I’m in this viscous circle of being so unfit I can’t exercise.
If you are a smoker how do you do it? What exercise works for you?
I don’t want this whole post to be about me quitting smoking, as I end up just feeling nagged and then definitely don’t do it.

Not advocating for smoking or vaping but I think @Waitingforthesunnydays is right. When I went for my scuba diving test, they tested my lungs, said I recorded a good number for strength/capacity, I'm not really sure, they asked if I smoked, I said yes and they said it's common in smokers to record higher numbers. Higher numbers were definitely a good thing, I remember that.
I think the lungs are having to work harder and while they can cope, you get away with it, but eventually they can't cope and then you suffer the consequences.

Was going to suggest paying for WLI with the money you are not spending on cigarettes.

I agree with what some others have said- look at your diet first. I lost 4st by making dietary changes and only small changes to everyday activity levels eg walking more. You might find exercise easier once you have a bit of weight off. I used slimming world but I know others who swear by calorie deficit models. Good luck!

I'd focus on eating really healthily and building up walking for longer each day. I quit smoking a decade ago, but was drinking too much on weekends until around a year ago.

I worked on gradually increasing the amount of exercise I was doing, whilst cutting back on the alcohol. Go for consistency over pushing yourself for the first month or so until you've built up the habit of exercising. I found that increasing my fitness made me want to drink less, as I improved my strength and energy levels.

I smoked and started couch 2 5k, by week 5 it gave me the motivation to quit smoking as I wanted to improve but couldn't due to the smoking. I quit and repeated week 5 for a few weeks until I felt able to move on. Now I can run for 30 mins x3 a week.

First step is to start walking as much as you can and try to build up to a 1.5 hour brisk walk. The weight will start shifting even without too much of a diet change. Incorporate weights and resistance training and make some changes to your diet - incorporate more protein, stop snacking or chose healthy snacks, track your calories on one of the many apps available and don’t drink calories - keep soft drinks to water only. If you drink a lot reduce how much you’re drinking.

Agreeing with the people who say you can't outrun a bad diet! You need to burn around 3500 calories to burn a lb fat. For women (ok, depending on height & weight) you'll burn around 100 calories for every mile you run. So if you keep your diet the same you need to run around 35, but probably more like 40 miles a week to loose 1lb a week. Hence you need to reduce the amount you eat and move a bit more.

I found things like light cycling or even short home workouts easier than anything too intense at the start. It’s not about going hard straight away, just getting your body used to moving again. Once your fitness improves a bit, it actually gets easier to think about the bigger changes too.