Ex-smoking porker asking for help.

[evilqueen]

I'm sure regular readers of this board know about my post-Depo rants. No more of THOSE rants. This go-round, I'll rant about weight gain after quitting smoking.

It sucks, my friends. All through my quit--and even today--I ate clean, lifted hard, and still gained 7 pounds. Mostly around my waist and abs.

I know that nicotine lowers metabolism by as much as 15 percent. I know that the weight I am now is what I would have weighed had I never smoked. I know I am, at 22 percent bodyfat, at an "ideal" percentage.

Do I care? Not a whit. I want to get to 15 percent bodyfat again. And nothing I've tried seems to have helped. The only consolation I have (and it's a huge one, to be sure) is that I've done something good--good for me, good for my son, who needs me to hang around for awhile.

But I need to fit into my clothes comfortably again. Is there anyone out there who's experienced weight gain after quitting smoking, and who's lost it again? Please tell me what you did to lose it.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. This is what I'm doing now:

1. Wearing a nicotine patch for the past 3 weeks. Stupid, but I thought it might jump-start my metabolism.
2. 60 minutes of cardio, 5 days a week. (Should I up it to 2 hours, as long as I eat enough calories?)
3. Weight training: 2 bodyparts per day, 3 exercises each bodypart, 3 sets of 12-15 reps (I get bulky lifting low reps, heavy weight.)
4. A Schwarzbein-type diet: Lots of protein and good fats, less than 100 carbs a day. 120 grams protein, 98 grams carbs, 70 grams good fats--olive oil, sunflower seeds, natural peanut butter.

Is there anything else I can do? Any supplements I can take? Anything legal I can take to speed up my metabolism besides thermogenics? Should I eat low carbs, no carbs, more carbs?

BTW: I'm 39, so my "real" metabolism ain't as fast as it used to be. Also, I'm 5'2", 127 pounds, and my goal weight is 120.

Any tips, suggestions, entire programs would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[evilqueen]

On May 1, I was 15.3 percent.

About two weeks ago, it was 22 percent. And I SWEAR I was eating right.

The report said I lost NINE POUNDS OF MUSCLE. Hydration level was only 5 points lower than on the previous report. Is it even possible to lose that much muscle in 6 weeks?

Regardless of the numbers...I'm still fatter. Sigh.

 

[fitbitch]

Did you use one of those electronic scales to get your body fat measured??? Those numbers are almost impossible...what method did you use.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Congratulations. It's hard, but oh so worth it.

When exactly did you quit?

It sounds like you're doing everything right. I quit a year and a half ago with the patch, was taking thermogenics at the time, working out hard, not much cardio, diet was pretty crap compared to now, and somehow I actually lost fat, so I don't reallly know what to say to help you. I have heard though, that the metabolism slows down when you quit. Have you been dieting for a while? Could be you've shot your metabolism from 2 directions now.

 

[evilqueen]

Yes, I did. However, it is one of those "professional" Tanitas--bigger than the ones for use at home. The trainer at my gym did it.

It's possible my bf wasn't that high, but it's the upward trend that counts, right? And my clothes are definitely tighter.

It's not really the actual number I'm hung up on, though. It's this new fat around my waist and abs.

I stopped getting on the scale two weeks ago--it would make me sob. But I know I haven't gained any more.

Do you think the intense cardio will help? I know this is a BB board, but I've read that before competitions, competitors might do as much as two hours of cardio a day.

I haven't neglected my lifting, though. Maybe both lifting and cardio needs to be tweaked?

 

[evilqueen]

No, I stopped diuretics. They scared me.

Temple: You LOST fat? Wow. And if I remember right, you are also around my age. Were you blessed with a turbo metabolism from birth? And when you say "working out hard," how often, how long, etc? Maybe (probably!) I'm not working as hard as you did, and have to lift even harder.

Spatts: I've read that a smoker's metabolism "resets" itself about a year after quitting, but that could be bullsh*t. As an about-to-be doctor, have you ever heard this? Or is it theoretically possible?

It may be that the dieting has dealt a blow to my metabolism. But I have been very careful to eat enough to support that hour of cardio, and careful to eat enough protein, as well. My BMR is around 1300, add 500 calories for cardio, and I'm eating around 1600 calories a day.

About thermogenics: I did use Xenadrine for awhile, but it lost its effectiveness, so I never really did use it after that. Should I give it another try? I always half-believed that if you didn't get "wired," it wasn't helping to burn fat.

Let me ask you guys: If you were ME, and this was happening to YOU, what. exactly, would you do?

 

[SteelWeaver]

Temple? Actually, that's a compliment, to be mistaken for her

Yes - I lost fat - lord knows how - I didn't know anything near what I know now about nutrition at the time, except that I should eat whole foods 6 times a day. I used to do an upper-lower-upper-lower split (4 weight sessions per week) for about 2 hours at a time, and I think I did a few aerobic classes now & then. I never really used to go to complete failure or do forced reps, though. Just drop sets now & then. And I lifted as heavy as I could, which wasn't very heavy at the time, but was as heavy as I could get. Mmm, I might have dropped the aerobics by then and was riding my bike to work and back a few times per week. Actually, that's quite a lot of cardio ...

I'm a fairly typical endomorph. It's hard for me to lose fat - you should have seen me pre-comp a few months ago, lol! I was a wreck.

I'm not sure I'd too much more cardio if I were you - you'll just waste away muscle mass and then it'll be even harder to lose fat.

If I were you, I'd experiment with increasing my cals and doing a double split with weights, and doing intervals for cardio. But I'm no pro or anything.

As for thermos - I read somewhere recently that even if you can't feel the buzz, they're working, and that they actually take a couple of months to really start working full blast ... I was about to post a thread about that.

And BTW, I'm not sure ANY Tanita, big or not, is accurate, but I hear you on the tight pants.

 

[evilqueen]

I R Stupa

I don't know what's with me lately. I'm really screwing up on people's names. And Spatts, I knew you'd left med school! Don't know where the "about-to-be" came from.

Yes, I've checked pubmed, etc. I did find a study on how likely ex-smokers were likely to STAY ex-smokers according to how much weight they gained. The conclusion wasn't good. Stuff on how quitting smoking reduces glucose tolerance. (Great.) Several studies on weight gain and quitting smoking, but they weren't much help. As usual, the researchers advocated eating less and moving more. This was published in a new medical journal called "Duh."

Steelweaver: TWO HOURS OF LIFTING? No, I definitely am not working as hard as you. Approximately how many exercises per body part, and how many sets? Could you be as specific as you can, given that this was awhile ago? I may try this for six or eight weeks. (Just not with squats--sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Can't do intervals right now--my knees are shot. I'm doing 15 minutes on the rowing machine, 15 on the elliptical trainer (which I hate) and 30 minutes on the stepper, four or five days a week. Is this too much cardio? Or do you mean 1 hour a day is fine, but not 2?

going back to the thermogenics--3 a day, because of the patch.

any other still-lean ex-smokers out there? I need your advice before I bust any more seams.

 

[SteelWeaver]

LOL. You also wrote that nicotine LOWERS metabolism, when actually, it RAISES it. Having problems concentrating? heh heh - it'll go away, and you'll be sharper than you've been in years.

Um, NOOO. Don't do what I was doing - I was working out too long - I couldn't maintain enough intensity this way, which is why I said I wasn't going past failure etc. - I keep it to max 1.5 hours nowadays, including warm-up and stretching. I have my workout journals at home - I'll post my exact routine tonight, but in general, I do 3-4 exercises per bodypart with 3-4 sets per movement.

2 hours of cardio a day is a LOT of cardio, and I wouldn't want to be doing anything like that except in the last few weeks before a comp. One hour seems fine. If you're doing so much activity, restricting cals, and the weight isn't coming off, something's wrong. You've either gotta take a complete break from dieting and change up your lifting somehow, or you need to take some strong drugs. (which doesn't seem like a good idea, vicious circle and all that)

Did you give up squats and deads altogether? They're the real body composition changers, you know. Why not just do them with high reps? I swear you will notice a big difference having them in your program - on a fundamental level, they burn more calories, amongst other things.

 

[wilson6]

Start lifting heavier, it will increase your metabolism both from the higher intensity workouts and the increased muscle mass. Better to be bulky from muscle than fat.

Cut your fat intake down to about 25 grams per day, you're fat intake is way too high. Cut you carbs on some days to 50 g, the others around 125g. All complex, mostly veg.

No need to increase cardio, just lift more intensely and heavier.

The other thing that comes to mind is that you're cheating someone with the food intake driven by the "gotta have something in your mouth" compensation for not smoking. Be sure you're being honest with yourself here and not snacking, particularly on high fat items like seeds, nuts, etc.

W6