What can I do to stop eating after quitting smoking? -
I quit smoking a couple of weeks ago, but I-ve fount myself eatting more then what i need. Does anyone have any ideas to keep myself from eating so much? I can-t chew gum for long, it hurts my jaw. I stay at home most of the time, I have a hard time getting out, so all the advice i can get will be appreciated.
Congrats on quitting smoking! You have made it past the hard part for sure. As a former smoker myself that gained 60 lbs after quitting, let me assure you that I KNOW where you are coming from. Let me provide a few tid bits that may help.
A lot of the hard part of quitting smoking is the constant hand to mouth motion that you-ve been used to as a smoker. So, find something that replaces that that won-t be full of calories. Hard candies can work ok, but try and shoot for something sugarless. As many have suggested, keep a bottle of water around and drink it instead of eating something.
2nd, nicotine is an appetite supressant....soooo you have now hit your normal appetite for the first time in awhile. Don-t panic and go out and take up CRACK or something to compensate...it won-t help your health issues! No seriously, start looking at your diet (I did this a year or two late, but its been effective). Lots of sugar in your diet will keep your appetite high. I-m particularly fond of the South Beach diet and philosophies. The book is cheap and it will teach you some principles of eating healthier and it will decrease your appetite for the better and take care of your heart too. If you are eating more but of the right food, you may find that you can even LOSE weight despite the increased consumption, and eventually your portion sizes/cravings will drop naturally if you eliminate alot of the sugars and bad carbs in your life.
As always, a good excercise program will help with everything, clean your lungs out, get rid of those built up toxins, build some muscle, and start feeling REALLY great about yourself.
Good luck!
first of all you should know why many former smokers eat too much. when you smoke your digestive system becomes very inefficient, therefore your body requires more food to do what it needs to do and you feel hungrier so you eat more. once you quit smoking, your digestive system will return to normal with just a few days but in your brain you still want to eat the same amount of food because your brain doesn-t jive with your body yet. right now you physically need less food than you did just a few weeks ago so be patient and watch your portion size, your brain will catch up soon.
drink lots of water and tea...keep busy..whenever you think you need to eat..go do something.Clean house,scrub the tub..do some laundry..bargain with yourself..dont eat unless its breakfast lunch or supper...a fruit snack would be nice...plain popcorn is good..you get used to it...keep at it..you are doing well
Start doing yoga.
You can do it anywhere, more than once a day. When you are stressed from the lack of a cigarette, you can go -down dog.-
Almost immediately, you-ll de-stress because you will focus on breathing and loving yourself and your body.
You can also take a walk outside and enjoy the fresh air.
Good luck.
Find something to suck on like starlight mints. Or a candy of somesort. It has sugar but eventually you can stop sucking on those and be over the eating habit.
water, lolipops, shopping
i drink Yogi Tea -fasting- it-s an appetite suppressant and tastes good too. Long pretzels are also good to snack on.
Drink water, or take a walk when you feel like smoking
I quit smoking two weeks ago too. I found myself overeating as well. I quit smoking with hypnosis so I bought a hypnosis CD to control overeating, so far it has worked well.