I feel like I'm finally on my way to eating healthy for the long term. I've never been able to stick to any diet but have managed to stay with (for the most part) the Atkins plan for three months now. However, I am still a smoker and would like to try to quit. Should I take my new found "will power" and try to quit now, or not mess with success and wait? It's a little scary.

I quit smoking after being on the plan for almost 2 months. I gained back between 5 and 10 lbs after quitting, which took me another month to lose that weight back. Honestly if I had to do it all over again, I would have kept smoking for a while....because my weight loss has never returned to the smoking levels.....but that is JMO.

but you will feel better if you quit personally, i think you would have a better chance to NOT gain weight by quitting now, just because you are somewhat limited in what you can snack on. Unless of course you think you might be tempted to cheat. You should read "Allen Carr's Easy way to stop smoking" it was very helpful for me, and i didn't gain any weight...

Where do I find this book on quitting smoking? What's the method he recommends?

There is no bad time to quit smoking - take it from someone who quit (and remains firmly QUIT) 3 years ago. I gained 10 lbs shortly after quitting which I still felt was a success and then? Disaster! I broke my foot and had to have surgery and a cast to the knee for 12 weeks (remember when you were young and you thought it would be so cool to have a cast? It's not...). Anyway, I ballooned up mostly due to the foot thing. Still was smoke free, however (slight consolation that it was).

Today? I'm back on track after losing most of the excess weight - not meaning I don't have a lot MORE to lose but I feel fantastic. At 45 (in June), I have more energy, confidence and self-awareness than I've ever had.

Quitting smoking is a very personal decision. When you finally get fed up with the odor coming from your clothes, from the musty smell of your hair, from the burn holes in your car, you'll do it. It's not as hard as everyone makes it out to be (at least it wasn't for me - I used the patches). Believe me, the end result is a fantastic new life where you won't have to worry about running out of cigarettes or go outside away from the crowd to smoke.

You can do this.

I was really suprised, but I was browsing the net last night and ran across two different articles on different sites that talked about smoking PREVENTING weight loss!!! Basically it was saying that "some people will not respond to the diet unless smoking is stopped. Smoking uses up vitamin C & stimulates the adrenal gland. "

I quit smoking 2 weeks before I started Atkins and really think Atkins helped me not to go back to it. (I did smoke 1 1/2 cigarettes last Friday after having a horribly stressful couple of days, but did not start back, thank goodness! That was my first cheat at all since I quit).

BTW...I took Wellbutrin for about three weeks before I quit (the third try with Wellbutrin before it actually took...lol).

L

Thanks for the input. I would really like to read the articles on smoking preventing weight loss. Might be just the push I need to make a commimtment.

<a href="http://www.shakeoffthesugar.net/low-carb-mistakes.htm">http://www.shakeoffthesugar.net/low-carb-mistakes.htm</a>

<a href="http://members.tripod.com/~Dietman2/plateaus.html">http://members.tripod.com/~Dietman2/plateaus.html</a>

<a href="http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/beginners.html">http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/beginners.html</a>


These are the ones I ran across. I'm sure if you do a search more might turn up. Hope this helps!


L

I will check these out..

I find that it is easier to quit smoking on the Atkin's diet, as I have in the past week, because Atkin's diet (to me) is a diet good for regulating nerves and crazy blood sugar rises and falls. I use to use smoking to compensate for these varying fluctuations in my blood sugar and different moods. Now I am kinda of at a homoeostasis (if you will) in my mood toward smoking. A key for me was, trying to smoke all my ciggarettes and have only one waiting at the end of the night, to desire for, then NOT have any when I wake up the next morning. THAT first ciggarette in the morning is the one that gets me hooked for the rest of the day.

Go for it. Now is the time. I quit in January and started Atkins in March, wish I had started sooner. It will make you feel great about yourself.

Good luck.

Dianne

The best time to quit is now, and the best way to quit is 'just do it'. I started low carb and quit smoking at the same time almost 2 years ago. Because I started both at the same time I lost weight, although I'm sure it was much more slowly than it would have been if I had not quit.

Just think -- all of the time you would have spent smoking can go toward exercise to prevent the weight gain, plus you'll have a lot more energy and breath to do the exercise!

Good luck -- keep us posted about how you're doing.

I wish I could quit but I don't think I could tackle quitting smoking and Atkins all at once. I have cut down to only about 3 cigarettes a day unless I am going out on the weekends. If you think you can do it that is great. I just don't have the will power. I don't know why I ever started again. I had quit for 5 years and started smoking again shortly after my daughter was born.....darn cigarettes!!!

The Allen Carr book is fantastic. You can usually get it at any bookstore, and i think that the softcover book is around $8. No guilt, no feeling deprived, no "this is so terrible for your health... blah blah blah", and best of all, he encourages you to smoke while you read it.... you should pick it up - it is the price of 2 packs of smokes, and you don't have too much to lose. I know several people (very hardcore smokers) who quit with no problems, and no looking back after reading it good luck!

Went to Amazon.com to look for his book...out of print. I will try to locate it elsewhere tomorrow. Thanks to all for your help.