How smoking can increase your body weight
People who quit smoking may gain weight. Yet, the weight gain is usually temporary. You can even be able to lose weight after you quit smoking.
In a study that followed a group of women who quit smoking, the increase in caloric intake and weight gain was temporary, and they returned to their former weight after one year. Going from being a smoker to being a nonsmoker does have an effect on metabolism, slowing it down by about 100 calories per day with smoking cessation, but that is not enough to account for all the weight gain.
The rest comes from eating more, moving around less, or a combination of the two. Fear of weight gain should not prevent a person from stopping smoking. The health risks of smoking - the increased risk of heart disease and cancer, impaired glucose tolerance, the increased risk of high blood pressure, and numerous other health problems - are far greater than the health risks of a small short-term weight gain when smoking is stopped.
One way to help prevent weight gain is to increase physical activity. Another is to use a nicotine replacement, in particular nicotine gum, to help delay weight gain. In a group of women who had not tried to quit smoking because they were afraid of gaining weight, a diet plus a nicotine gum regimen increased the success rate for smoking cessation and prevented weight gain. You may also prevent weight gain by taking some fat binder pills.
