Time to fess up...

I think everyone on this board is wonderful.  It took a lot of courage to do what we all did.  We are all human though.  I too am a stress eater.  With all the stress around here lately, I have not lost a pound in two months.  Add to that the addiction to cigarettes and I feel really screwed.  It's to the point where my dh and I have a choice... smoke or pay bills and eat.  We figured it up and we spend about $600/month on cigarettes!  That's why we are always behind.  Anyway, we are making the effort together this time.  I am scared to death that I will gain weight doing this.  I have been thinking about the pouch test too.  I also have a problem with carbs.  I stayed away from them for forever and did fine except that my mind was going from not getting enough.  I started adding them to my diet and I swear, carbs make me want to eat.  I don't know what to do.  I think I'd rather be senile.  Can't wait to meet all of you on Saturday.

As a former smoker (quit when they were about $1.25 a pack), I often wonder how people can afford to do it now with them being so expensive. $600 a month is HUGE!!! Think of all you could do with that, not to mention how your health would improve!

I know people who have had success with Chantix, maybe you could look into that.

Now, the carb thing. You DO need at least 50 grams of carbs a day for healthy brain function. But, if you eliminate "white" carbs and keep to things like fruit, sweet potatoes, brown rice, etc., you will do better. Don't forget, you can subtract the fiber grams from your carbs to give you the NET carb total. Does that make sense?  Let me know if it doesn't and I'll try to explain it better.
Anyway, try to start your day with a mainly protein breakfast, then maybe a protein drink as a snack mid morning. I find that if I keep the protein up during the day then I can add my carbs later in the day/evening when I have less time to eat more carbs.

Hope this makes sense. It's early and I'm still groggy....lol

Thanks Susan.  I understand about the net carbs.  I also agree about the white carbs.  Those are the ones that get me going.  We're on day 3 of the not smoking battle.  It doesn't seem so hard this time.  We're not even taking anything, just going cold turkey.  I like to just put it out of my mind and keep busy but Val wants to talk about it all the time, lol.  I guess we both have to deal with it in our own way.  As long as we both quit I think it will be easier to stay that way.

Sybul, thank you for having the courage to post. Isnt that a wonderful feeling to let it out. See we are all human. It can happen to any one of us at any time. You have taken the most important step and that is to admit you have a problem.

So many of us hide it and put it out of sight out of mind so to speak.

I did great all day yesterday on shakes and water only then I started to feel like crap. The smell of the shakes made me very sick to my stomach. I ended up eating soup and then major fell off the wagon with popcorn.

Today I had two eggs for breakfast, I will do shakes the rest of the day until dinner and it looks like my other half is cooking some kind of pork in a green tomatillo salsa. I rarely do bread and rice. I dont eat alot of veggies......I usually have a corn tortilla and queso fresco (fresh cheese).

Anyhow, when I eat like this....my ulcer acts up for about 1-2 days then it calms down. I can do this but it is going to take some tweaking. I am still with trace ketones in my urine which is good....hope to get higher on the stick.

My family all smokes. My sister spends about a grand or more on her and her husbands smokes. She smokes Carltons (highest on the market) and she goes through a couple packs a day as does her husband with his. I dont get that......I have never smoked and could not imagine such a costly habit. I know it is a horrible addiction and feel for all who try to quit and applaud all who do.

well have a good wednesday, I will try to stay on track today.
By the way....there is a BACK ON TRACK group on here....I joined. It is under the groups tab, ask to join....

Bye
Tammy....see u saturday.

I'll check out the back on track group.  I was put on another 15 days of antibiotics yesterday.  It seems the salmonella isn't quite done with my old body yet.  I have never tried using the ketone sticks but I guess they are the indicator as to whether or not your body is in the zone.  I might give them a try too.

You can do this Sybul.  As a former smoker, I know how hard it is to kick those things.    I've been off of them for over 25 years now and I am pretty sure I have kicked the habit for good this time.  It was very hard, but worth the effort - both from a health and financial perspective.  We are pulling for you.

Thanks Steve.  I'm doing it this time.  Val is quitting too (even if he doesn't know it yet, lol).  It's too easy to backslide when your mate has cigarettes laying around to tempt you.  Actually he is doing really well with it too.  I told Tammy that it doesn't seem so hard this time.  Of course, I'm only on day 3...

It's been since New Years Eve 2005 when I had a cigarette.  I have COPD, diagnosed in 2002.  Nothing could get me to quit smoking.  Not my lung Dr, not my regular Dr.  No it was when I went for my gastric bypass in 2005 and had everything set to go, epidural, IVs anesthesioligist did the okay, pulmonologist checked me out, and finally gave ok.  Then they are getting me ready to go to the anesthesia room and I start coughing and coughing and have asmtha attack within minutes of them pushing the versid in my IV.  The pulmo said NO SURGERY FOR YOU, anesthiologist doubled that statement and Dr. Wellborn repeated it.  

It took me a few months to get quit for 8 weeks.  And then New Years Eve I had a cigarette, so even though it wasn't a whole cigarette, I changed my quit date anyway. 

Im happy now!  No cigarettes for me, and looking at the prices now, whoo I am glad I had quit earlier. 

My mom quit for 10 weeks on the chantix but had such horrible side effects (she had the mood ones, where she was mean, and had bad thoughts, and also was sick horribly to her stomach everyday) She got off the chantix I think at 8 or 9 weeks, she couldn't stand being so sick all the time.  And stress got her smoking a week later.  I think if she hadn't been one of the few who get bad side effects, she would have been a poster child for chantix.  Been smoking since the 70s, so over 30 years.