pregnant smoker

there was a spot on the news tonight about how smoking while pregnant is proven to cause Attention Defecit Disorder. Good luck quitting.

Food tastes so good now, boo hoo

ok, now I want fruitcake! I am so open to suggestion! The glass of water does help, and the water is wonderful for you, but if you want it to taste like oreos you are going to have a problem. Unless of course you start dunking oreos in the water, but that wouldn't solve the problem. For me, ciggies were my food substitute. If I was hungry, I lit up. Now my taste has changed. Things that tasted good to me before now taste funny to me and I don't like them. New things I had never tried before taste wonderful, but its always stuff I dont know how to cook for myself. Most days I live on salads and toast. One thing I have found is get the most flavor you can get. I use a low-cal raspberry vinegarette dressing on my salad (the spray is best because you use less), I use a lot of lemon now. I drink a lot of flavored teas. I LOVE fish entrees made with a red wine/ basalmic vinegar mix (1:1 ratio). I found if I really overload the tastebuds, I feel satisfied more easily. I also like the basalmic vinegar mixed in with my veggies when I cook them. For example use fresh asparagus, broccoli, carrots and use just a teeny bit of butter or margarine to prevent sticking to the pan and add some basalmic vinegar mix or a red wine vinegar. cook until still firm, but not crunchy. now my mouth is watering!

gained 100 lbs in 3 months

I haven't tried the low carb diet, mostly because I hate meat and everyone I know on the low carb diet always seems to have a plateful of meat.... I am willing to try anything. At this point I feel like giving up entirely. I have never had to diet in my life. I was always a size 9 -10 or less, and then BAM I am up to 250 in the blink of an eye. At least it sure feels that way. So yes, please send me the info so I can at least look at it and get an informed opinion. Thanks, sharon

gained 100 lbs in 3 months

Don't let the title scare anyone off of quitting smokes, it wasn't entirely due to quitting that did it. I have a chronic illness and tried a treatment for it that uses chemo-type drugs. I lost weight, lost my hair, threw up, you name it and I had the side effect. I quit smoking the same day I came off of treatment. Kind of my celebration to be done with it (it didn't work by the way, I am still sick). I was almost 39 at the time I quit, (it will be 4 yrs in May). The dr said most people gain weight when they get off of treatment, but a combination of my age, the treatment and quitting smoking "killed" my metabolism. When I quit, my favorite snacks were sunflower seeds in the shell (it kepts my hands and mouth busy) and twizzlers. They were something to hang out of my mouth. Ok they were fun-- I bit the ends off and used em as straws! After I gained the weight, I literally went to the gym and worked out between 2 1/2 hrs to 4 hours a DAY. That included everything from Yoga and Tai Chi to water aerobics to cardio and strength training. I gained 5 lbs. I was drinking 8 glasses of water a day and eating hardly anything. when I did eat it was veggies and salads. I have gone to a dietician (at the doctor's office, so she is legit) and she wants me to eat nothing but 1% milk (no can do-- makes me gag, but 2% is ok) and whole grain CEREALS and fruit as a snack. she then said that if I got tired of that, I could eat the cereal for 2 meals and maybe a healthy choice tv dinner a day. What is that?? cereal = people kibble???? Has anyone else heard of anything as nuts as this? By the way, I tried it for two months 1% milk and all and I gained another 6 pounds. I am eating 1200 or less calories a day. two weeks ago I gave up and ate 2 1/2 boxes of girl scout thin mint cookies and I LOST 2 lbs. Figure that one out. anyone have any suggestions??? I am at 250 lbs! I no longer go to the gym, but I walk my puppy for about 20 mins a day and I spin poi (I also spin fire) which is a really great workout and I do that anywhere from 1/2 hour to 3 hours a day. That and spinning the fire staff. Help please?

gained 100 lbs in 3 months

I no longer have health insurance, so surgery is out, as well as another visit to the dietician (can you say quack??? lol). I would consider it though. My dr. did mention it before we lost our insurance. And thanks for asking about how I was doing. I still have some health issues, but the treatment made me so incredibly ill and messed up my mind so badly with brain fog that I don't think I will ever do another round of it. So I will just go day to day and see if they ever come up with a new form of treatment. I expected to put on maybe 20 to 30 lbs after quitting, but I just don't understand how I can continue to gain weight on a 1200 calorie a day diet with up to 3 hours of hard-core aerobic type exercise a day (spinning poi). I am very frustrated by this and as some of you may have seen in my introduction post, being triggered by the weight gain and having dreams about smoking. Well, I just started spinning the poi a few weeks ago and I know I am toning up quite a bit, so maybe right now I am gaining some muscle mass? For those of you that don't know what spinning poi is, we spin glow poi, sock poi and fire poi. And I spin fire staff too. It really is an aerobic workout. My friend went from a size 10 to a size 4 in one year by spinning poi. I hope it works for me. I have noticed my clothes are looser, now if the scale will just move off that 249 mark! Wait, let me rephrase that-- if it will LOWER from the 249 mark! Thanks for taking the time to share and suggest. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/12/2003 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1414 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 103,222 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $12726 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 137 [B]Hrs:[/B] 13 [B]Mins:[/B] 57 [B]Seconds:[/B] 53

hi! just found you guys

I am new here, but many of you probably don't think I should be here. In May it will be 4 years since I stopped smoking. I used a nicotene patch for the first 2 weeks and after that went cold turkey. I smoked for 24 years, an average of 2 packs a day until the last 2 years when it went up to 3 or 4 packs a day. I was fine for a long time, except for my dreams. Up until recently I would dream that I smoked a cigarette and then would suddenly wake up all upset with myself for having done that. Then I would realize it was a dream. Sometimes I would even get upset with myself IN the dream. Recently the dreams have taken a really nasty turn. I am still dreaming that I am smoking a cigarette, but now, I feel no remorse for having done it. Instead I am reveling in the joyous feeling I had when smoking it (much like the first ciggie of the day). I am waking up with severe cravings. In everyday life I can no longer stand the smell of cigarettes and being around them actually makes me physically ill-- sore throat, coughing, headaches. But I feel like I am losing my mind. Any suggestions?

hi! just found you guys

I filled out the workbook thingy right before I posted here. I know I had originally planned to do really neat stuff with the extra money, but in reality it always goes to pay bills (where did I get the $ to pay bills to begin with???). So maybe that is kind of a subconscious thing, that I haven't rewarded myself. After all, looking at my quit meter I have saved myself over $12,000 at this point-- heck I could have gone on a really great cruise for that kind of money!

hi! just found you guys

Thank goodness someone else knows what I am talking about with the dreams. My dr. said she had dreams too for the first couple of years. I was just worried because the dream had changed from being upset that I had blown it, to not caring and maybe a little "in your face- I can do it if I want" attitude. I told myself when I quit that I can have a cigarette anytime I want one. I just have to walk over to kwik shop (about 2 blocks away) and buy a pack. Laziness helps in this case! I am trying to lose weight and when I smoked, I didn't eat. So that is probably my trigger. And CONGRATS to ANGEL on your almost year! sharon [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/12/2003 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1414 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 103,222 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $12726 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 137 [B]Hrs:[/B] 13 [B]Mins:[/B] 55 [B]Seconds:[/B] 3

hi! just found you guys

Thanks so much Butterfly Swimmer! It's just nice to hear that someone else has these disturbing dreams! Not that I want anyone to have them, just nice to be understood. I am not sure if wanting to lose weight is what triggered them (because when I smoked I didn't eat) or if it's the weather, or if it's because I have been learning a new ummm sport, for lack of a better word, that requires learning tricks and choreography, so that is very challenging. But yeah, I see your point, just realize that it's a dream and not to put too much into it. On a positive note, my hubby's band won a battle of the bands contest today, so he is very happy and I performed at the event spinning LED poi. It was my first real public performance. So- I suppose the smoking dreams could have related to the performance anxiety for my first good sized show. I guess I will find out tonite if I have the dream again or not lol. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/12/2003 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1414 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 103,231 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $12726 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 137 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 11 [B]Seconds:[/B] 14

hi! just found you guys

spinning LED poi is really great fun and exercise. I also spin fire poi. Basically POI is any sort of ball at the end of a string or chain that you swing around in patterns. LED poi shines in the dark and makes really big tracer patterns when you spin them because they are lit inside with LED lights.