Obesity Discussion Forums

[johngreenink]

Hello group - I just joined this group recently, this is my first post. I'll give a little info about myself and some of my background.

I am an artist (painter) and a web developer ('job'), and live in Boston, MA. I'm a 41 year old male. I have had weight issues for my entire life - I have been many, many different weights! I'm 5' 8" tall, and have weighed (in my adult life) in ranges from 180 to 300 pounds, back and forth, over the years.

My big concern is that I've quit smoking (good thing) and within the four months I've been off cigarettes, I've put on about 30 pounds... that's a LOT of weight to gain in just 4 months. My current weight is 264 pounds. It's a rather crushing blow to me because many people around me have no idea how difficult it was for me to quit smoking (I smoked for 21 years), and instead all they can see is that I packed on tons of weight. In other words, as I said to a friend, 'It's been a thankless mission.'

I have made some shifts in my habits and am on a course to lose weight now, but as it's happening, I'm recognizing that I have a problem with binge eating. I did not recognize this problem until I quit smoking. I suppose I was binge smoking and I've replaced it with food. I'm trying to turn it all around, but it's very, very hard. I hope to speak with some people out there who've had similar experiences and who can give me some ideas.

Thanks for reading this intro, and I hope to speak more with the group!
JGI

[MichaelB]

Welcome aboard, John... You're in good company here.

Congratulations on quitting smoking...that's a hard habit to kick, but you'll definitely feel better and live longer as a result.

[johngreenink]

Thanks Michael - Yes, I do try to give myself credit for quitting smoking, but it usually takes quite a bit of cajoling on my part to do it :-)

[matt007]

Hi and welcome to the forum John. Congrats on quitting smoking, losing weight probably isn't any harder than quitting smoking so you've got the willpower to make your next improvement.

[johngreenink]

Thanks much Matt - I hope to derrive inspiration from the sources here - Very doable!

[monique]

Welcome John!

I think to some extent you need to have a bit of an addictive personality and a problem with overeating to become obese in the first place. So most of us are dealing with the same issues you are in breaking bad eating habits. But if you can quit smoking you know you can change bad habits! Good luck and I'm sure you'll find a lot of people dealing with your same issues here.

~Monique