reggiewayne

Hey everyone! Today is 15 days for me. Was pretty tired and lethargic today but I did make it to a meeting. Bascially, all of my efforts at the present are geared toward recovery. I know I'm very early on. The truth is I have two other things about me that I want to work on, but I'm afraid it will take the focus off of sobriety and might "doom" me.

I want to quit smoking and start working out / lose weight. Again, at this time all I do with my spare time is focus on recovery. I wake up drink coffee, smoke cigs, go to meeting. I basically eat like crap but I'm sober and feel (mentally) better than I have in a long time.

One one hand I think it might make recovery easier because I will feel better. On ther other hand, I know it is all I have right now to just stay in the moment and focus on recovery, AA, and reading... I find it hard to find balance. In other words, working out while eating like crap and smoking seems impossible.

Just looking for advice. Thanks in advance!!!

CarolD

Why not begin to walk?
That has a lot of benefits....makes you feel good...rest well...
lose weight.

Try to limit your smoking...cut back for awhile.
cinnamon drops help curb nicotine urges.
Let your body heal a bit more before tackling another addiction.

Food? eating healthy simply speeds up your well being.

Way to go on your 15 days of progress..

Dee74

Hi Reggie

I don't think there's any hard and fast rules. I think exercising and eating right are pretty basic things so they shouldn't interfere with your sobriety programme too much.

You can always stop if you find they do

As for smoking, I stopped both at the same time, but I must be lucky as I've seen many others fall by the wayside trying that approach.

As Carol suggested, maybe it's best to tackle one addiction at a time - nothing wrong with seeing how you go cutting back tho

D

tooling

Things like coffee and cigs are affecting your brain just like alcohol did in different ways that you feel.

I would suggest if you are going through hell sober from alcohol why not quit smoking at the same time and suffer once rather than twice?

Trust me, if you can make it through and except the feeling of being without both for long enough you'll come out the other end fine.

Let your lungs get used to fresh air and your liver relax to do it's job. Your body will repay you with health if you let it do it's job and don't fight against it.

reggiewayne

Good post tooling. Very well said!

tooling

Thank you and I hope you do the right things.

sunrise1

I was just thinking the same thing, Carol! Walking is awesome exercise and good for clearing your head at the same time.

You can also choose to eat better... I know how I get to feeling when we're on the road and simple, home-cooked fresh meals aren't available; Enough McD's and I feel like a slug. You could maybe up the veggies and fruits... think healthy eating overall... without doing anything drastic.

I have no experience with smoking so can't really help you there, only that I understand that it's harder to beat than other things. The only thing I'd say is don't take on too much at one time.

Congrats on your 15 days! What program or path are you following in your sobriety?

reggiewayne

I am in AA. I have had such a great expierience with it. I live at McD's. It's basically just poor planning. I never eat breakfast. Basically everything you could try to do to gain weight, I'm doing them... I haven't gained weight since quitting, but I thought I'd lose weight since not drinking about 10,000 calories in a week...

Antiderivative

If you think making drastic changes to your eating habits and smoking will affect your sobriety, then keep it simple. A Carol said, go for a walk or just do a couple sit up and push-ups a day.

You don't have to change your diet overnight, but maybe just try to incorporate 1-3 servings of fruits and vegetables into a day while keeping your same diet.

LaFemme

I quit smoking the same day as drinking...the two were linked and I couldn't quit one without the other. I started exercising at 4 months and tried eating well as soon as my stomach evend out. Listen to your body and what its telling you.

If you live at mcd's maybe you should try one of their salads with their fries

Isaiah

Like others, I would say you can start on other issues at any time. I think when people say "make sobriety your first priority" it doesn't mean that you can't have other priorities or causes. If not smoking and weight loss somehow drive you to drink then maybe it's a problem, but there's no hard or fast rule that says it has to be that way.

NoelleR

Hey reggiewayne-----

You say you're using AA for your sobriety/recovery, and you talk about you're going to meetings, but you haven't mentioned (or perhaps I missed it) having a sponsor, or working the steps.....

S0....., do you have a sponsor? .....have you, at least, been reading the BB, if not working the steps yet? .....or have you been working the steps with your sponsor; and if so, what step are you on?

Before I go on, I just wanted to congratulate you on your 15/16 days so far.....keep up the good work..... (o:

I agree with everyone else on here; you don't need to get into 'heavy' diet/exercise stuff right off the bat; nor do you neet to stop smoking altogether right now; start off slow (in these areas, or any other issues you see you want to work on) so as not to upstage your recovery (sobriety/recovery must be #1 or all else will just disappear).

....and as I said/questioned earlier, having a sponsor and working the steps (especially working the steps---that IS the program, after all)...building a good solid foundation for your sobriety/recovery is a very good thing. I'm willing to bet that if your recovery journey hits a snag (no sponsor or not working the steps, or some kind of recovery program) and you go back to alcohol; well, I bet everything else will 'go down the crapper' so to speak. I found that when I got sloppy with my recovery, everything else was worthless, but when I kept my recovery in first place, well, everything just seemed to fall in place..................... (o:

Keep on truckin' y'all.


(o:
NoelleR

BullDog777

be careful you aren't substituting one vice for another. fast food can be very very addictive not to mention harmful. Ever seen "Super Size Me" from Morgan Spurlock? it was a documentary of a guy who ate McD every day for all 3 meals for a month. the damage he did to his body was incredible.

But i started doing the same thing, just in a different way... I ate ice cream morning noon and night for about 6 months....so i put on some weight and now i have to loose it. oh well, live and learn.


i quit smoking 2 years before i quit the booze....(shaking my head) not sure how i did that. Anyway, if you just curb the crap a little bit at a time, it will go a long way. emotionally, i was like a rabid mad dog for 3-4 months when i quit smoking...emotionally it was worse than quitting oxy's, so be careful there.

baby steps my friend.

instead of eating McD 4 times a week, substitute that with 2 subway meals.that's what i did and i'm starting to loose the weight again too.

good job on the 15 days!

reggiewayne

Thanks NoelleR - yeah, I have a sponsor and am working the steps. I feel like my program is in good shape right now. I also don't think I'm substituting for booze. I've been eating like crap for a looong time. Basically, I think the poor eating habits arose from being hungover all the time. McD's sounds so much better when you're hungover than chicken / veggies. I am just in a rut and need to get out of it.

Having said that, I know the HALT phrase (Hungry, angry, lonely, and tired). Well dieting will make me hungry and excercise will make me tired. See what I mean? I'll be bringing two of the four problem emotions onto myself... That's my fear. Maybe I'll just start slow and eat healthier food and mix in some walking... Seems easy enough!