Your goal is: stop smoking without gaining weight? It is often claimed that stopping smoking without gaining weight is not possible. This discourages many smokers – especially women – from saying goodbye to the smoker and finally becoming smoke-free. The fear of having a few kilos more on the ribs is too great. If there is no increase in weight after stopping smoking, this can contribute to a reduction in the relapse rate and successful smoking cessation.
Whether you will inevitably gain weight after stopping smoking and what you can do about it in your fight against tobacco addiction, we tell you here.
Is the fear of gaining weight justified?
In fact, several studies have shown that giving up smoking can lead to weight gain. For example, about 4 out of 5 smokers will indeed gain several kilos after stopping smoking. However, the extent is very different, but in any case manageable. The increase in weight for a period of up to 5 years after stopping smoking was in the range of 2.5 to 10 kilograms. Some smokers even hardly gain weight or not at all. Rather there are also studies, which show: Daily smoking makes you fatter.
Fear of it after the Entwöhnungsphase at weight to increase, nobody should have, and at all this fear should not be the reason for it only not at all to try smoke-free to become. Stopping smoking without gaining weight is feasible. Smokers should have fear only and rather before the consequences of smoking.
Not only “harmless” consequences of the tobacco dependence such as yellow teeth, unpleasant smell and cough, but also serious diseases such as cancer and lung illnesses can be the result. If you take this risk against a possible and if then usually small weight gain, you can see how harmless this is. Moreover, unlike the consequences of years of tobacco addiction, it can be easily reversed. Stop smoking? This is feasible for everyone and the fear of the kilos should not stop you.
Reasons for weight gain after stopping smoking
The nicotine in tobacco smoke influences our metabolism in such a way that the so-called basal metabolic rate is increased. This means that a smoker burns more calories at rest than a non-smoker. Nicotine inhibits appetite.
This effect does not apply if you stop smoking. In addition, your metabolism normalises. For heavy smokers with at least 24 cigarettes a day, this means that the changes in basal metabolic rate mean that about 200 kilocalories less are burned per day. This is the reason why some smokers increase their body weight after stopping smoking if they eat the same amount of food.
To make matters worse, many smokers who want to quit smoking seek a substitute in their diet, for example by eating more unhealthy and high-calorie sweets. Such a shift in addiction – instead of holding a cigarette with a chocolate bar in your hand – should be avoided at all costs. This behavior naturally hits the hips very quickly and is not healthy in the long run. Therefore, chocolate is not a good nicotine substitute.
Stop smoking without gaining weight – what helps?
Becoming a non-smoker without gaining one kilo after another is an achievable goal! With a few simple tips, every ex-smoker can manage not to gain weight after stopping smoking. If you are careful to eat a healthy and conscious diet after stopping smoking and exercise enough, you can fight weight gain without any problems.
Motion
The approximately 200 kilocalories that are burned less after stopping smoking should be consumed correspondingly more elsewhere. In this way you will be able to stop smoking without gaining weight. Exercise is therefore the be-all and end-all! 2 to 3 times a week, light sporting activities should be incorporated. Sport and stopping smoking are closely related. This has the positive side effect that withdrawal symptoms such as irritability and fatigue can also be alleviated.
You will also see a few weeks after stopping smoking how easy physical activity and sport can be for you again. Breathing will be a breeze again. This increases the fun factor and makes you want more! So losing weight is only half as difficult.
But also in the everyday life the movement should not come too briefly. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, ride your bike instead of your car to work or go for a long walk after work. Or what about a new hobby like dancing?
