"I would rather be a little overweight and not smoking than underweight and dead."




This thought provoking sentiment was one panelist's opinion of the 10 pounds she gained when giving up cigarettes. While it is not inevitable, many people do gain weight when quitting smoking. The reason is quite easy to explain - they eat more.

People eat more when quitting smoking for a variety of reasons. Food is often enjoyed more since the improved senses in ex-smokers make it smell and taste better. For some, cigarettes decrease the appetite. Others use cigarettes as their cue that the meal has ended. Take away the cigarette and they don't know it is time to stop eating. Social situations with food used to be easy as a smoker. When a smoker is done with their food, they can sit and smoke while conversing with others at the table. Without cigarettes, they feel awkward just sitting, so they often order extra coffee and dessert to last the duration of the conversation. All of these different behaviors add up to one result, extra calories eaten which result in gaining weight.

Weight gain can be extremely dangerous to an ex-smoker. But this is not because of the strain on the heart. An average ex-smoker would have to gain 75 to 100 pounds to put a strain on their heart equal to the extra risk associated with smoking a pack a day. And then, the extra weight would not cause the lung destruction, cancer risk and many other conditions caused by smoking. The real danger of the extra weight is that many ex-smokers use it as an excuse to go back to smoking. They think that if they smoke again they will automatically lose weight. To their unpleasant surprise, many return to smoking and keep on the added pounds.

One clinic participant told how after three months without smoking she gained 15 pounds. Her doctor told her that she must lose the weight. He said that if she had to, just smoke one or two cigarettes a day to help. If her doctor understood the addictive potential of cigarettes he would never have given her such advice. For, as soon as she took her first few cigarettes, she started smoking in excess of 3 packs per day. Her weight gain did not go away. When her doctor realized that she had returned to smoking, he warned her that it was imperative that she quit. In her condition smoking was extremely dangerous. So not only did she still have to lose 15 pounds, but once again she had to go through the withdrawal process of stopping smoking.

Smokers, ex-smokers or never-smokers can all lose weight the same way. The three ways to lose weight are to decrease the amount of calories one eats, increase ones activities to burn extra calories, or, a combination of both techniques. While dieting may be more difficult for some after smoking cessation, it is possible, and in many ways ex-smokers have major advantages over smokers for controlling their weight.

The most obvious advantage is that not smoking allows a person to do more physical activities, burning off fat in the process. When smoking, exercise is tiresome, painful and for some, impossible. But with the improvement in breathing and cardiovascular fitness accompanying smoking cessation, exercise can become a regular routine in the ex-smokers lifestyle. And while dieting may be difficult at first, ex-smokers should realize that if they had the capability of breaking free from cigarettes, they could also decrease the amount they eat. It is simply a matter of using the same determination initially used to quit smoking.

So, the next time you look in the mirror or step on a scale and feel that you are unhappy with your weight, start taking some sensible steps to deal with it. Become active, eat lower calorie, nutritious foods, and pat yourself on the back for once again taking control of your life. Not only will you lose weight, look and feel better, but you would have done it all without smoking. With that knowledge you should be extra proud. Diet, exercise and - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

Patience in weight control issues
Be patient with weight control efforts. Quitting smoking is harder than losing weight, initially. But weight control is a harder process in the long term. For once you quit smoking, not smoking eventually becomes a habit. And the battle line for successfully not smoking is clear and simple to understand. You are fighting a puff. You can't administer any nicotine. There is no gray area here.

Eating is more complicated. You will have to eat the rest of your life. When are you eating a little more than you should? A little more is a difficult concept. If you eat a little more once, it is no big deal. If you eat a little more every day, there is a problem. An example, let's say as a "reward" for not smoking, you have one extra cookie, say about 100 calories. Weight yourself at the end of that day and nothing would have happened. Now lets say you do this every day for a week. Weigh yourself at the end of the week and you probably still won't notice any difference. You would have consumed 700 calories, but basically it's not noticeable. If you do it for a month, you may have increased the scale weight by almost a pound. Now you would have consumed about 3,000 calories, and 3,500 calories is about a pound of fat. But think about this too, if you step on a scale one-month to the next and had altered a pound, that would be no grounds for panic. A pound, that can be scale error. Heck, you can step on a scale a couple of times a day and seem to vary a pound. So the pattern of the extra cookie still seems unimportant.

Now the catch. If you continue this pattern of one seemingly harmless cookie for a year, 10.4 pounds of fat will be the result and if you don't catch on after that and do it for 10 years, 104 pounds of fat is the outcome! 104 pounds from the addition of one cookie a day!

Here is where substituting food becomes treacherous. You do it with the idea that it is only for the early days of quitting but it often is extended to it's own pattern. One cookie or 100 calories is probably minimal compared to the number of actual calories substituted by many people.

If you eat a little more, you can exercise to offset the difference. But you must be realistic about how much exercise is needed to offset caloric intake. You have to exercise quite a bit to burn off a relatively small amount of food.

An example, let's say you sit down at a feast. You start out with a drink before dinner. Next you have a dinner roll or two with a little butter. Followed by a salad, with croutons and a teaspoon of salad dressing. Now the main course, meats, potatoes, vegetable with cheese sauces, another helping of meat to top it off. You're pretty full now, better stop. Oh, but wait, dessert is being served. You have a pie ala mode. Boy you are stuffed now. Almost sick to your stomach in fact. You know what you decide to do? You are going out for a walk. You actually drag yourself outside and walk for 20 minutes. Your hope may be to burn off the meal. In fact, you will burn off the teaspoon salad dressing. You won't touch the calories of the appetizers, drinks, main course or dessert. You will burn the equivalent of the salad dressing. I am not saying don't go for the walk. I am saying don't eat food with a shovel, go for a short walk and expect to rectify the meal.

OK, now what's the upside here. Basically, making a little change can cause a significant weight alteration. But this process works in reverse too. If you "deprive" yourself of a cookie daily, and go for a walk, weigh your self at the end of a week and see no change, you get discouraged. If you are patient and weigh yourself at the end of the month and lose a couple of pounds, you can be furious. A couple of pounds after all that deprivation and work, what's the point? Again, even a couple of pounds could be scale error. But if you stick with it even though it seems initially futile, over the year you could lose 20 pounds and likely keep it off. Again, a little change adds up to a big difference over a lifetime. Patience is crucial. You are not starving yourself or working yourself to exhaustion, just not taking one food item and a simple 20-minute walk. Slow, but constant. By making a small modification to daily eating patterns and sticking with it over the long term, you can lose significant weight.

Take simple steps here to alter the daily patterns. A little less food, a little more activity. The reward is not immediately obvious but will be with time. Improved health, self-esteem, just overall feeling of well being. You can do this as an ex-smoker, but you must prove it to yourself. But again be patient. Quitting smoking had great benefits that are often immediately felt. Weight control efforts are a little harder to see and feel initially, but the rewards will be forth coming with time. So start today off right, watch what you eat and Never Take Another Puff!

Joel

Can smoking help people lose weight? You bet. Here is a personal testament from a person who lost lots of weight really fast just by smoking:
"I'm too skinny. I can't fight anymore," he whispered to his mother at 9 a.m. June 3. He died that day at 11:56 a.m., just nine weeks after the diagnosis.
photosmoking kills and as you can see it cost Bryan his life

From http://www.whyquit.com/whyquit/BryanLeeCurtis.html

Patience in weight control issues
Be patient with weight control efforts. Quitting smoking is harder than losing weight, initially. But weight control is a harder process in the long term. For once you quit smoking, not smoking eventually becomes a habit. And the battle line for successfully not smoking is clear and simple to understand. You are fighting a puff. You can't administer any nicotine. There is no gray area here.

Eating is more complicated. You will have to eat the rest of your life. When are you eating a little more than you should? A little more is a difficult concept. If you eat a little more once, it is no big deal. If you eat a little more every day, there is a problem. An example, let's say as a "reward" for not smoking, you have one extra cookie, say about 100 calories. Weight yourself at the end of that day and nothing would have happened. Now lets say you do this every day for a week. Weigh yourself at the end of the week and you probably still won't notice any difference. You would have consumed 700 calories, but basically it's not noticeable. If you do it for a month, you may have increased the scale weight by almost a pound. Now you would have consumed about 3,000 calories, and 3,500 calories is about a pound of fat. But think about this too, if you step on a scale one-month to the next and had altered a pound, that would be no grounds for panic. A pound, that can be scale error. Heck, you can step on a scale a couple of times a day and seem to vary a pound. So the pattern of the extra cookie still seems unimportant.

Now the catch. If you continue this pattern of one seemingly harmless cookie for a year, 10.4 pounds of fat will be the result and if you don't catch on after that and do it for 10 years, 104 pounds of fat is the outcome! 104 pounds from the addition of one cookie a day!

Here is where substituting food becomes treacherous. You do it with the idea that it is only for the early days of quitting but it often is extended to it's own pattern. One cookie or 100 calories is probably minimal compared to the number of actual calories substituted by many people.

If you eat a little more, you can exercise to offset the difference. But you must be realistic about how much exercise is needed to offset caloric intake. You have to exercise quite a bit to burn off a relatively small amount of food.

An example, let's say you sit down at a feast. You start out with a drink before dinner. Next you have a dinner roll or two with a little butter. Followed by a salad, with croutons and a teaspoon of salad dressing. Now the main course, meats, potatoes, vegetable with cheese sauces, another helping of meat to top it off. You're pretty full now, better stop. Oh, but wait, dessert is being served. You have a pie ala mode. Boy you are stuffed now. Almost sick to your stomach in fact. You know what you decide to do? You are going out for a walk. You actually drag yourself outside and walk for 20 minutes. Your hope may be to burn off the meal. In fact, you will burn off the teaspoon salad dressing. You won't touch the calories of the appetizers, drinks, main course or dessert. You will burn the equivalent of the salad dressing. I am not saying don't go for the walk. I am saying don't eat food with a shovel, go for a short walk and expect to rectify the meal.

OK, now what's the upside here. Basically, making a little change can cause a significant weight alteration. But this process works in reverse too. If you "deprive" yourself of a cookie daily, and go for a walk, weigh your self at the end of a week and see no change, you get discouraged. If you are patient and weigh yourself at the end of the month and lose a couple of pounds, you can be furious. A couple of pounds after all that deprivation and work, what's the point? Again, even a couple of pounds could be scale error. But if you stick with it even though it seems initially futile, over the year you could lose 20 pounds and likely keep it off. Again, a little change adds up to a big difference over a lifetime. Patience is crucial. You are not starving yourself or working yourself to exhaustion, just not taking one food item and a simple 20-minute walk. Slow, but constant. By making a small modification to daily eating patterns and sticking with it over the long term, you can lose significant weight.

Take simple steps here to alter the daily patterns. A little less food, a little more activity. The reward is not immediately obvious but will be with time. Improved health, self-esteem, just overall feeling of well being. You can do this as an ex-smoker, but you must prove it to yourself. But again be patient. Quitting smoking had great benefits that are often immediately felt. Weight control efforts are a little harder to see and feel initially, but the rewards will be forth coming with time. So start today off right, watch what you eat and Never Take Another Puff!

Joel

Can smoking help people lose weight? You bet. Here is a personal testament from a person who lost lots of weight really fast just by smoking:
"I'm too skinny. I can't fight anymore," he whispered to his mother at 9 a.m. June 3. He died that day at 11:56 a.m., just nine weeks after the diagnosis.
photosmoking kills and as you can see it cost Bryan his life

From http://www.whyquit.com/whyquit/BryanLeeCurtis.html