Smoking v Obesity

[Faggy]

So,to cut a long story short,after several years of not smoking,I have had a few fags,and am planning to start smoking again (in full knowledge of the facts).
I have steadily and consistently gained weight since giving up and I am now classed as obese and the heaviest I've ever been.I've tried everything to curb my ever increasing appetite and just don't seem to be able to tackle the eating.I'm very unhappy with myself.

Far more disturbing from my pov is that I used to be very sporty,but now I'm finding my size is preventing me from doing the things I love to do.I know running would have too great an impact on my joints.I'm feeling tired so easily,sluggish and lacking in energy.I used to walk for miles,now I find its getting more difficult.

I know smoking holds its own risks,of course I do,but I can see my body struggling here and now,owing to my size.
I'm left with the one thing,that is smoking,that I know I can use as a tool to control my weight.

All I can see is continuing the same pattern of getting heavier and heavier gradually,and the thought makes me feel so bleak.
I have,before,given up smoking for a few years abd at the same time dieted so as not to gain the weight.This time I went about it all wrong,and didn't watch what I ate,so now its spiralled out of control.
I'm seeing smoking as a short term measure in order to lose the weight.I know I can give up again,but this time have a clean slate and not let over eating take its place like I did before.

I'm reckoning its better to smoke and be active,than not a get fatter,lose mobility,and feel miserable.

I'm pretty desperate.Anyone got any experience to share of a similar situation?

Pop over & we'll help get you started, Faggy (& then you'll have to name change ).

I smoked for nearly 40 years & am so happy to be vaping.

But isn't the jury still out on vaping? Nicotine is not an innocuous substance. It still causes harm.

eat more lean protein - eggs, tuna, chicken, even cottage cheese - with lots of fresh veg at every meal, again better at controlling appetite than smoking!

You lot are so fab with all your advice

Yes,even you lot telling me off.

I'm taking it all in and appreciate it all.

magi I will definitely pop over later.

so two wrongs make a right ?

Too much caffeine causes heart palpitations and other nasties. same as nicotine.

Humans can exist without either, you know. :)

My ddad stopped smoking in his 40's but it was too late as the damage had already been done well before. We lost him last year to COPD after two years, connected day and night to oxygen at home and in and out of hospital struggling to breathe.

Please please don't start smoking again to resolve a short term issue with your weight that can be resolved in other ways. The long term implications for you are massive and irreversible.

WeAll I'm so sorry about your dad.
I lost someone to COPD and I know how awful it is.
I've also lost someone to complications of diabetes 2 caused by poor diet.
Both scenarios suck.

why are you looking for an easy way out?

Why are you saying you can't fix your weight without smoking?

Have you taken on board any of the comments about why you overeat?

Are you actually listening and thinking about these points?

OP you will just be someone fat who smokes, adding COPD etc to the risks of complications arising from overeating

there are loads of fat smokers out there

As someone who has tipped over from cuddly to obese after giving up smoking, I would still say that the extra weight is worth it to be free of the horrible addiction, cost, guilt and smell of smoking.

I'm an ex-smoker who fell off the wagon dozens of times (and tbh still sees the lure of the cigarette, though I think I've kicked it now).
I think that the psychological addiction may never quite go away, that 7 smokes ( irrespective of the vile tarry taste) is more than enough to rekindle the physical yearning, and that you are now looking for an excuse to take it up again. I think so because I looked for excuses too, and if you look you'll find 'em!
Vape if you must. But don't smoke. Do NOT go and buy cigarettes. You know it's a stupid idea.
Exercise worked for me in quitting.

basically you are going to double your problem, not trade one for the other, only add to your misery by being fat AND wheezy

I've spent a lot of time in respiratory wards in the last few years. It was truly terrifying to hear smokers gasping for breath in the night, reliant on oxygen masks and unable to enjoy life any more. It kept occurring to me that if they had known what was coming, they would have given up earlier. Please have a think about that. Don't add smoking to your list of regrets.

Surely vaping is the answer, you get the benefits of nicotine without the health problems of smoking, it's a no brainer isnt it?

I dont think the O.P should be criticized for looking for an 'easy way out' she's just looking for a way out, we all know that being very overweight is very tough to deal with, anything that makes it easier or more approachable needs to be considered.

Good luck OP :)

Well actually exercise and eating less is the answer and I say that as someone who needs to lose weight.

Definitely vaping is a great idea if you can't stop smoking. It isn't harmful so go for it.
Starting smoking again will only have negative affects. Getting a bit thinner through smoking cigarettes won't make you healthier, if it even does which is unlikely.

Faggy, I hear you and completely understand where you're coming from. I gave up over 5 years ago now and 3 months later, coinciding with stopping the nicotine patches, I put on 3+ stone just like that, going from a fit and slim 10 and a bit stone to 14 stone and some. Which means that I'm too heavy really to ride my horses which is a real bummer. I can't get the weight off, I probably do need to eat less than I do, but I'm still very active and it's a pretty healthy diet being gluten free.

Have you had your thyroid checked, and if you did and you were told it was normal, get a copy of the results. There is a huge connection between hypo thyroid and smoking, it is believed the smoking masks the complaint and it only really manifests itself after you've given up. I certainly feel much better for getting a (private) diagnosis of hypothyroidism and taking medication, but the weight loss is eluding me. NHS has reputation for not diagnosing hypothyroidism where blood tests are "normal" and ignoring the symptoms. Just a thought. If you do keep smoking, I'd be interested to know if it works and you lose the weight. I've often wondered about doing the same thing.

If smoking kept people thin, there'd be no fat smokers, would there?

PP- gluten-free doesn't necessarily mean a healthier diet. Gluten isn't bad for people- only if they are allergic or intolerant. Lots of gluten-free substitutes are carbs and sugar and probably higher in calories than the gluten version!

I'm with pinkfrocks on this one. You are getting more and more overweight...due to eating more than your daily activity levels can burn up. So now you are getting The Bad Feelings (which we all get from time to time its just part of living). So you think by smoking you can make The Bad Feelings go away because you have an image in your head of a lovely slim you, all due to Lovely Fags. No matter what you do you will always continue to experience some degree of The Bad Feelings. A lot of smokers are overweight as well.
This latest brainwave to come out of your mind is just a nicotine-addicted brain trying to make you take up smoking again, possibly because you recently had a couple of cigs. Because your mind is trying to protect you from Bad Feelings so it thinks Lovely Fags are the answer. Your mind thinks its found a brilliant excuse to increase the addiction, and now its making you go on the internet to seek advice or look for scientific evidence to back it up. Cue picture of you telling all your mates, oh yes I'm down to a size 10 now all due to Lovely Fags. They are so good for you. I'm fabulous and happy now that me and the Fags are back together.
What you are doing is a bit like getting off with an abusive ex boyfriend who's very nice and charming and tells you he's changed...until he's making you feel like shit again. Because you are only remembering the 'good' feelings of the drug entering your system (30 seconds of a high that's about the extent of the good) or the relaxation that comes from alievating withdrawal symptoms.
What makes you think that adding smoking into the mix is going to make you slim.
This is a ruse by your mind, it is cunning trickery of thoughts that you are falling for hook, line and sinker. Don't believe everything you believe. You need to watch your mind and what it is telling you because its trying to get rid of The Bad Feeling with food and now it wants to use Lovely Fags too.

Nicotine raises metabolic rate and acts as an appetite suppressant. Add this to the behavioural aspects (hand-to-mouth action of smoking in place of comfort eating) and it's no surprise that the majority of smokers put on weight when they quit.

I second vaping. I packed up smoking 3 years ago and started vaping - haven't put an ounce on. The jury is out on vaping still - but only the juries belonging to the 'I hate anything to do with smoking and/or any alternatives that I know nothing about', or the government/tobacco/pharmacy funded scaremongering report readers who are too stupid to realise why these studies are funded.

Not RTFT yet but I think that although you know smoking has helped your weight in the past, there's no guarantee it'll have the same effect on you this time. Your body has changed so it may react differently.