How Smoking Affects Metabolism
I have smoked for about 25 years and recently stopped. Now I am fighting weight gain. What can I expect and what can I do to keep the weight gain to a minimum? What is it that happens to the metabolism that causes the weight to go on so fast?
Congratulations on your wise decision to stop smoking. More Americans die from smoking-related diseases than from AIDS, drug abuse, car accidents and murder - combined. You have taken a big step towards better health for yourself as well as for those around you.
Nicotine, one of the components of cigarette smoke, increases energy expenditure by stimulating the central nervous system. Once this drug is removed from a person’s system, energy expenditure returns to normal. This difference is not very significant and the person should adjust to it in a short period of time. Smoking also appears to ease feelings of hunger. Smokers can usually overcome hunger signals by lighting up. Consequently, weight gain is often experienced soon after a person quits smoking. The average weight gain for people who quit smoking is less than 10 pounds. Being aware of the problem will help in avoiding or minimizing the weight gain. It is often necessary to adjust eating habits and physical activity to maintain weight during and after quitting.
Smoking cessation, however, lengthens life expectancy by an average of 2-4 years and is well worth the effort. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid the weight gain:
- Eat three balanced meals every day.
- Choose plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, avoiding high-fat and high sugar items.
- Avoid skipping meals. It leads to hunger and a tendency to snack on high-calorie foods.
- Keep fresh fruit and cut-up raw vegetables handy and choose them when the need for snacking arises.
- Keep busy to keep your thoughts away from food. Choose an activity that you enjoy (except eating) and do it more often, especially if you feel the urge to smoke or eat.
- Increase your physical activity: join a gym, walk more, use the stairs.
- Initially, stay away from other smokers and situations that led you to smoke (or eat).
- Join a support group.
Never let the fear of weight gain keep you from accomplishing your goal. With a little effort and determination you will succeed in achieving both goals: quit smoking and avoid putting on weight. Your health depends on it.
I smoked for 18 years and quit last march. I gained 25 lbs and can’t lose it. I have always been physically active, but since smoking cessation, I do aerobics almost 5 days a week and watch my caloric intake. Everyone I have spoken with, and all accounts I”ve read show very few that have gained LESS than 15 or 20 lbs. I’m not saying that one should continue smoking, quitting was the best thing I’ve ever done, but the info given here is wrong, medical or not. To tell someone that weight gain cannot be laid at the feet of smoke cessation is blatantly wrong and misleading. My doctor told me that I should continue to work out for general, overall health, but until my metabolism evens out from the beating it took when i quit smoking, I was pretty much out of luck.
I have to agree with Lorenda here… I smoked for 27 years and I am going to be 42 next week. I quit smoking a month ago and have worked out like a dog since day one. I have gained 10 pounds so far. I have to keep encouraging myself that it will even out.. I know I am improving my over health as well but it sure is hard when you try on those jeans that you now cant button!!! lol… I know there has got to be light at the end of the tunnel.
I am twenty five. I quite smoking a few months ago and, anticipating possible weight issues, I worked out every day and when I had the munchies, I ate carrots or grapes. I still gained. I am very sensitive about weight. I got weak and started smoking again and lost what I gained. I do, however, want to quit again. I am not a smoker!!! Will I balance out or am I doomed to weigh an extra 10 lbs as a non-smoker??? Help!
You know, i have smoked for three years with my metabolism remaining at the regular activity level. But once i quit, it slowed dramatically. I had ended up in the hospital becuase of the lack of nicotine.
what do you have to say about that?
I’ve smoked for 12 years. I’m 24 years old, and have ALWAYS had a very high metabolism. My wife and I have decided to quit smoking together. My metabolic rate changing does not worry me. What I want to know is this. Seeing as I do have a high metabolism, does that mean nicotine is passed to receptors quicker, and adversely, does nicotine get removed from my bloodstream quicker? I suppose what I’m really interested in knowing is, after my final cigarette, will it take less than the average 72 hours for the nicotine in my body to be filtered out?
I quit a month ago yesterday and have gained about 5 lbs. I have been doing cardio 6 days a week, resistance 3 days a week, and am on Nutrisystem (approx. 1500 cals/day). I am 37 and started smoking at 11, eventually smoking a pack+ per day since I was 15. I am never going back to smoking but this weight gain is very aggravating. I guess it will just take some time for my body to adjust. It’s nice to know I’m not alone. Besides, a few lbs is still better than sucking in that poison all day every day.
Keep track of everything you take into your system. Weight gain/loss is calories in / calories out. If you aren’t putting calories into your system, you are not going to gain weight. Even non-smokers struggle with weight gain/loss and I usually just give them a sheet of paper and say, here, for the next 3 days, eat like you normally do and write every morsel and how much down, then bring it back to me. Then we sit down and assess their caloric intake versus what they are doing for activity to burn calories. I’ve yet to see anyone who is still eating healthy (not starving yourself, because your body will go into survival mode and hang onto every calorie it can), is engaging in physical activity and not able to lose weight. Running for one hour, 5 times per week, for 4 weeks is what is takes to lose one pound of true fat, so you need to know what your exercise regime is really doing. Each pound is 3500 calories, so it takes time and patience to lose unwanted pounds but very little to pack it on. I’m so tired of people complaining and saying oh I haven’t changed my diet and then I see them pounding back a 300g bag of chips. I’ve done it myself and know exactly what my weight gain is related to but also know exactly how to get rid of it - number one thing for me was getting real with myself on what I was consuming and what I was doing for exercise. Good luck out there.
Linda, nice advice, but it isn’t working for me. I have quit 2 months and have tracked every morsel of calories in and out from food in, and activity out. I am on a lose-two-pounds-per-week calorie level, and I have not lost an ounce, and am now steadily starting to gain.
it is NOT calories in / calories out. Smoking breaks something. I just hope it doesn’t stay broken forever, or I will have that to kick myself for, as well as all the other things smoking has taken from me.
Today I googled “smoking and metabolism”… and here I am…. Like most of you, I quit smoking 4 months ago and gained 20 lbs… Prior to quitting I worked out daily for over 3 years burning on average 700 calories during each workout. Since I quit smoking I bumped my cardio up to 50 minutes from 15 and eat healthier/less calories than ever before, which is always under 1200. I count each calorie and follow it faithfully on an app on my iphone. Since January, I have lost about 8 of that 20 gained. I kill myself in the gym and see very little results. I will never go back to smoking, obviously the benefits far outweigh the side effects of quitting, however I will have to agree that Linda’s calories in/calories out theory, which is EXACTLY what I thought when I quit, has not held true for me either…. It is frustrating, depressing and discouraging. I will continue to work just as hard every day and I am glad to know that I am not alone in this fight, but I would love to know WHY. I have been 2 my Dr. twice and he has run the gamut of tests on me. He is baffled as well and attirbutes this issue to the fact that smking has seriously screwed up my metabolism and that it takes on average 6-12 months to see a balance return. He said to just continue doing what I’m doing and wait for my metalism to balance out. It’s hard to be patient!!! Anyway, STAY STRONG FOLKS! Keep working out and eating right. We’re BOUND to see results… WE HAVE TO! LOL! Good luck to all! Here’s to a long, healthy life!
I’m a long-time (25+ years) smoker who has quit and re-started many times. My opinion’s based on my own experience, talking to friends who have quit, plus years of reading umpteen books, journals, websites, etc. Smoking obviously screws with your metabolism - but no one is sure exactly how. Expect to gain up to 10 pounds within the first 6 months after quitting. Gaining more than 10 pounds in that time probably indicates overeating. It takes your body about 1 year to re-adjust its metabolism. Accept the idea that you will likely gain a few short-term pounds after you quit; consider it a “symptom of recovery.” 10 pounds is not that big of a deal, though it certainly grabs your attention. After 1 year, your weight will slowly return to normal if you keep exercising and eating right. Managing the weight gets harder as you get older, so start NOW. Having said all that, I know people who have quit smoking and never gained an ounce, so hope for the best. Stay strong everyone, stay motivated, and Good Luck!!!
ok so think of this smoking burns 250 more calories a day(when you smoke around a pack a day) you have to eat right… go to http://www.thedailyplate.com this will help you caculate on your normal activity level what you need to intake to lose say 1 to 2 pounds a week i suggest going with 1 pound then subtract two hundred more caloreis … DO NOT go under 1200 your body will just store what you have keep your fat grams 25 and under give yourself a small ice cream or something once a week… i gaurantee for you to lose weight. I have quit for once for about seven months i maintained my wieght of 130 went up and down to 135 sometimes but that was all water…
I am currently doing a bobybuilding program in an attempt to GAIN weight. i put a stone and a half on in about 2 monthys but it has involved force feeding myself along with training hard…..i gave up smoking a weeka ago…should i expect to find it easier to gain the bulk im looking for now???
I am 45 yrs old, I quit smoking 6 months ago and have gained 10lbs, I hate not fitting into my clothes, and trying to find new stuff with this aweful body is horrible, I really want to smoke again, they should make a pill to help our metabolism make the adjustment and I am sure more people would quit and stay smoke free. I am glad to read about what other people are dealing with, atleast I am not alone, thanks!