I quit smoking a few months ago and I'm concerned about my weight. I need motivation!

Glitterwinds

I quit smoking 5 months ago and I gained weight. I didn't have a scale, but I know I went up a pants' size or two. I have been reading about ex smokers metabolism being pretty bad afterwards. I just now started tracking my calories, and I am worried I won't lose weight for being an ex smoker. Anyone lose weight successfully after quitting smoking? How much harder do you think it was? I was reading it could take 1 to 3 years for your metabolism to go back to normal. No matter what, I'll do my best to be healthy, but some stories or advice would help a lot.

LizSmith55

I was in my late 20's when I quit smoking (now 46) and maybe that had something to do with it but I feel like I was able to bounce back fairly well. I use to run back then, nothing major, but 2 miles maybe 4 times a week, & it was enough to keep things on track. If you are not already, I would add some cardio workout to your lifestyle to try & boost that metabolism and cut back on carbs...it doesn't sound like you are WAY out of control...try not to let it get like that. CONGRATULATIONS on quitting smoking!! Best thing you could have done for yourself.

Seffell

I quit smoking 9 months ago cold turkey (after about 20 years of 20-30 cigs a day). I started gaining (because I started eating more) but I didn't care so much as sticking to smoke free was super important for me. I gained 5kg (11lbs) in 5 months. 5 months after I quit I felt secure enough (i.e. not afraid I will start smoking again if I don't eat so much) to start losing the weight by counting calories here. I already lost the extra 5kg plus another 2kg and going down.

Glitterwinds wrote: »

I am worried I won't lose weight for being an ex smoker

You can't seriously think ex smokers can't lose weight, can you?

dbashby

Let me first say I in no way advocate smoking but this is sort of one of the unspoken parts about America's rise in obesity rate with adults (notice I said adults) and if you overlay smoking cessation rates in the U.S and the rise in obesity there is a very strong correlation between the two. There are other factors as well and this likely explains like high fructose corn syrup in almost everything and the fact most people don't do enough physical activity to allow them what the average person would call a satisfying meal. This is where cigarettes made up the difference buy doing two things to your body. One it was a stimulant that acted as both a metabolism enhancer (it acted like poor substitute for exercise from a calorie burn perspective only) and the second and probably more important of the two it acted as a appetite suppressant.

Some of the following can't or has not yet been proven, as it has never really been studied and without the science sometimes people can make crazy assertions that have no merit and sadly all too often become accepted as fact. That said I'll try to not go to far afield. I don't know if your metabolism has really been damaged by smoking, although I do feel like smoking can take your wind which in turn makes you less likely to do physical activity, which in turn means you burn fewer calories if that makes sense? As to the question of are you burning fewer calories now than you would have if you never smoked I think is unlikely holding all other variables the same. To support my argument but clearly not confirmation on that, I would say none of the Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculators address if you are a former smoker or not when trying to figure out your calorie burn rate, of course those are estimates anyway. The weight you immediately gained after quitting is in my opinion is the metabolism enhancer portion of the cigarettes. It would likely have been you normal weight at this point in life if the second part didn't ultimately take over and drive that number higher, this is where it gets a little difficult to discern between the two. The appetite suppressant portion I referred to is ultimately the part that you have to be aware of as one day of over eating isn't really of any concern or consequence. The problem is when there is no appetite suppressant effect you will now likely want to over eat and by over eat I mean consume more than your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), when done on a regular basis is the cause of obesity. I suggest that if you find yourself in this position as most do. You should know hunger is almost exclusively driven by hormones (as opposed to an empty stomach). What foods you choose to eat influence those hormones and in my experience being able to manage hunger/appetite is the key to success. If in doubt I try to use the science to guide me and there are a lot of contradictory and poorly designed studies (often to get a certain result) but you will notice certain themes do tend to ring true, also more than what I or anyone says including the science if it works for you keep doing it.

The hardest thing for me to accept when I first started losing weight was that exercise doesn't cause weight loss only under eating my TDEE does that. It is slightly easier to do that though when you exercise and even though that means diet is the key to weight loss or gain or maintenance. Studies show consistently that people who lose weight and keep it off exercise and those who don't generally put it back on. This makes exercise a correlative behavior not a causal one. This makes sense since the person who is exercising is likely still watching what they are eating, while the person who quits is more likely not to be doing that. That last sentence was my opinion, I just don't think that is too much of a leap. Good job quitting I too was a former smoker and I know it wasn't easy.