Hi, YouOme. I've been working on changing my eating and exercise habits for the last couple years (Since February 2006 and have taken off about 15 pounds and kept it off and am still moving in that direction. Only 15 more years to go and I'll weigh what I "should" LOL.

I started with Kathleen's Daeleman's, Cooking Thin Daybook and recording what I was eating in there. I joined a gym and went religiously for a couple months but then had to quit because my asthma got out of control and my minimum membership came to an end. This last summer I joined my local Curves but then my shoulder/arms had issues :-) so I had to quit there too. I did, however, learn some at-home exercises while I was working with a personal trainer at the gym.

One thing I learned from before is you can use any stairs as "exercise". I read a story in a magazine about a women, talking about her next door neighbor, the neighbor was a large woman in the Fall and a small woman in Spring and it turned out she had been running up and down her stairs all winter and had lost a lot of weight and gotten fit! Occasionally I do that too; climb the stairs for no "good" reason :-) or extra times and/or use the first step as a "step exercise" block and just do stepping exercises for a bit. But hand weights are buyable at the drugstore and one can just sit and stand with the weights in one's hands and do other such exercises and the TV has lots of exercise "channels" that have people exercising that one can join in with. I also bought a "ball" that is not real hard, about kickball size at my dollar store and "squeeze" it between my legs for working on my thighs. That can be done when watching TV or any other activity where you sit.

I don't know about the smoking. I don't think it helps with trying to breath well? :-) If you do exercises to help your heart, the smoking is going to get in the way of breathing well.

Nothing makes losing weight impossible if you have had a physical and taken care of any medical (hormones/thyroid/other meds) problems that may get in the way. I've had my best success with substituting some choices for others and working on regulating my portions. If you "can't live without" some food, don't start with that food! Start with something you find easier. I try to eat more fish when I'm eating out, for example, because I don't dislike fish but my husband isn't keen and I'm not keen on cooking it in the house. So, I order it when we go out. I try to eat less when we eat out and not take home any leftovers and if we order pizza delivered, I throw away what is not eaten right then as I'm the only one who eats leftovers in a timely fashion and I don't "need" pizza :-) I have a few new habits, I eat a banana and an apple a day and try to drink more water (I have Deerpark water delivered to my house).

But what you might do for yourself would depend on what you like and feel you need to do.