Nicotine Gum for Appetite Suppression & Cleaner Nicotine Use. Thoughts?

[max_]

Okey, I've always had weight problems. And after withdrawing from certain bad ass substances very recently, I found myself not being able to stop eating at all. I've put on 7 pounds in one week. So, not wanting to go back to smoking cigarettes, and not being able to help myself when a food binge begins, I've resorted to nicotine gum as an appetite suppressant. I have smoked before in my life, and by no means would go back to it as long as I can control myself (I have relapsed in the past, as have we all).
I know that this may lead me to smoke again.
I know nicotine on its own is a pretty hardcore drug.
I just want to hear thoughts on this matter, options maybe? I am not going to sit here and watch myself turn into a 300 pound binge eater. No way. I have been playing sports and running a lot, and not only can't I smoke if I want to make any progress, but also I need to stay lean.
Help. Please.

 

[addictivepersona]

If you have enough self control to not let the nicotine gum turn into cigarettes, you have enough self control to put down the fork. Seriously. I don't know your living situation, but don't bring the food into the house. If you live with someone, tell them which foods are off limits to you and if you eat that food, have them hold you accountable.

I personally would never take an addictive drug to suppress my appetite to lose weight. Sure, I lost a lot of weight while snorting heroin, but that was an unintentional side effect. I would never go back to dope to lose these stubborn last few pounds.

Not to mention, if you chew your food and eat slower, and drink more water you will fill up sooner, where it will be horribly uncomfortable for you to continue eating.

 

[max_]

thanks for your response. I would like to say that I know all the tricks for weight loss that are known to men (or at least a good number of them). I try to be healthy in most aspects of my life (drug use is of course not the case). As for food in the house.. well my super overweight father who lives with me, and whom I have been having an awful bad time with, and who is also the biggest cause of my binge eating problems, keeps bringing kilo after kilo of bread, crackers, fatty take out food, you name it, into the house. I had a month long vacation away from home and actually lost all my extra pounds and got to the weight I aim for,, but as soon as i came back, well it's not easy to say no to a fridge full of cheese and fried food...

 

[euphoria]

This is the good old "replacing one addiction with another". Been there, man! It sucks, and it's a natural instinct to do this. But eventually you'll come back to the eating if you don't learn self control over addiction in general. addictivepersona's got some good advice!

Somethin else you can try to do is plan out your entire day of meals the night before, and then religiously stick to that. Keep your food separate from your dad's, so his fatty foods are off limits to you. Once you get used to eating healthy and normal amounts again, it will become easier and easier!

 

[littlepenguin]

Have you tried an E-Cigarette? The electronic cigarette. It's not a smoke, it's a vapour. There are only 7 ingredients in the liquid you vaporize. Want more info, you can PM me. But it's a whole lot better for you than smoking cigs.

Although you have a tobacco addiction, also smoking carries an oral fixation. When I can't smoke, I will chew on a straw. When my mum quit smoking, she bought a fake cigarette and would pretend she was smoking it, or just even hold it in her fingers or between her lips. Sounds silly, but if it works than so be it.

 

[modern buddha]

Have you tried an E-Cigarette? The electronic cigarette. It's not a smoke, it's a vapour. There are only 7 ingredients in the liquid you vaporize. Want more info, you can PM me. But it's a whole lot better for you than smoking cigs.

Although you have a tobacco addiction, also smoking carries an oral fixation. When I can't smoke, I will chew on a straw. When my mum quit smoking, she bought a fake cigarette and would pretend she was smoking it, or just even hold it in her fingers or between her lips. Sounds silly, but if it works than so be it.

As good of advice as getting a fake cigarette sounds, I have to disagree with the E-cigarette for OP in his case.

I'm in the same boat as you, OP. I live with four other people (mom, stepdad, younger bro, and currently, aunt) who eat and bring home crap foods all the time. I've come to realize there isn't much more I can do about requesting other people to change their own diets and what they bring into the house, but I can change my perception. Before you grab, take a second to look (every single time you go to eat outside of your hunger zone!) at how the diet your dad eats affects his health. It's terrible, isn't it? Maybe that can help you arrange your thoughts. And don't get mad at yourself every time you get that instinct to go eat. Just be patient and you'll be fine.

Luck to you, friend!

 

[littlepenguin]

As good of advice as getting a fake cigarette sounds, I have to disagree with the E-cigarette for OP in his case.

I meant the fake cigarette and the E-Cigarette as two different things. The fake cigarette was just some one-hitter that looked like a cigarette just to simulate the physical motions of smoking. Just out of curiosity, why would you disagree with replacing regular cigarettes for an E-cigarette? E cigs are about a bazillion times 'better' for you than regular cigarettes.

 

[modern buddha]

I meant the fake cigarette and the E-Cigarette as two different things. The fake cigarette was just some one-hitter that looked like a cigarette just to simulate the physical motions of smoking. Just out of curiosity, why would you disagree with replacing regular cigarettes for an E-cigarette? E cigs are about a bazillion times 'better' for you than regular cigarettes.

Right, but he says he wants to avoid dependence on nicotine / cigarettes. I assume, even if I'm not positive, that E-cigs probably have nicotine in them. From what I can tell, he's trying not to use other drugs / drug alternatives for his true problem: appetite and having a bunch of crap food in the house all the time.

 

[max_]

Thanks everyone for answering.
@littlepenguin I'm not sure you got it right, I don't smoke ATM, I used to do it and now I'm considering (actually using) nicotine as an appetite suppressant (ie dietary supplement ¿?). And I don't want to get hooked on the cigs again. I was thinking of using the e-cig but it would bring back my cigarette addiction much easier than nicotine gum would (I guess), plus gum is a lot cheaper.

As for the results of this experiment, it's certainly too early to tell yet. I found next to no info on this topic online. There are a bunch of sites which talk about cigarettes being used this way but they say don't nothing that one wouldn't already know. I heard somewhere that tobacco makes you hungry after smoking it, I actually felt a little hungry once after chewing the gum, but in general I have been suppressing my hunger pretty efficiently.
My dose is 1/2 a gum (4mg/gum, so 2mg/dose). I eat one a coupld of hours after lunch and another a couple of hours before dinner. This way I have lunch at 13, chewing gum at 15, eat something small at 17, gum at 19, dinner at 21.

 

[addictivepersona]

My dose is 1/2 a gum (4mg/gum, so 2mg/dose). I eat one a coupld of hours after lunch and another a couple of hours before dinner. This way I have lunch at 13, chewing gum at 15, eat something small at 17, gum at 19, dinner at 21.

May I ask why your meals are spaced so far apart? Our bodies were designed to eat every 3-4 hours, with breakfast being the largest meal and each meal being smaller after that. Ideally, you should aim for 4-6 meals each day. I know not everyone's schedule can accommodate that (I know mine can't currently), but I see you eating lunch at 13, not eating again for 4 more hours which is okay but this should be a small meal instead of a small snack, and dinner is much too late. You shouldn't go to bed within a couple hours of eating a heavy meal as it can disrupt your sleep, cause heart burn or GERD, and a whole slew of other issues. What time do you normally go to bed and wake up?

Also, where's breakfast? I have found over the years that if I don't eat within an hour of waking, and that if I don't eat something substantial (at least 400 calories), I will be ravenous every two hours throughout the day, and nothing will satiate me. But, if I eat a good breakfast (upwards of 400 calories [which is not all that much food if it's nutrient-dense]), I'm not hungry for four, five hours, and when I eat again, that sustains me a lot longer.

 

[max_]

Oh! I eat right, when I'm not binge eating I eat super healthy. Since you're asking, here's a little sketch of what I eat (would love suggestions, but I think it's really balanced)
7:00 breakfast, cup of tea, 2-3 fruits, maybe milk, maybe cheese, maybe cereal. Nuts and raisins when I'm not out.
10:00 snack, 1-2 fruits, maybe cereal, maybe coffee.
13:00 lunch, always a fruit, maybe cheese, if I'll have meat, this is when i'll have it.
16:00 tea time, coffee or tea, cereal and milk if i didn't have any earlier, raisins, fruit, if i'mm too hungry a bit of meat leftover from lunch or anything with high protein.
(now, this is a long break until dinner)
21:00 dinner, usually vegetables, or white meat.
If I'm up until past 23 I have an instant soup or a fruit.

Now, I think that this is not only good, but great! I mean until about a year ago I didn't pay any attention to food. I just ate whatever I found on the fridge or whatever I felt like cooking at the moment. I started having weight problem (damn 20's I'm still young but I'm not a kid anymore, I used to devour everything in my sight when in my teens and still remain lean.)
Soooooooo, I tried several diets, I went vegan, I went atkins, now I think I found a good dietary plan. The issue here is that once a week or so I would eat 8000 calories or more in one sitting. Yes man, 8000 calories. Once I wrote down everything I ate and it added up to 8000, and I stopped 'cause it seemed too much, if I hadn't had the notebook (which I usually don't) I would have kept going.....

EDIT: On the nicotine use subject, I've been on it 3 days. I can recognize the cigarette's high in the chewing gum high, but it's not the same. It feels cleaner, straight forward stim action. Appetite suppression is not as strong as i'd like but combined with coffee and a lot of tea it seems to work. On the down side, it's been 3 days and I'm already craving nicotine, and even worst, it's making me crave the lifestyle i associate with it: stronger stims. I even went out to score some coke last night (and had my first gum of the day while walking down there). Luckily I turned back before buying anything. But that's material for a whole other post.