I Quit Smoking & I'm STILL gaining weight

txfamilyof7

I quit smoking on March 27 of this year, so it has been 9 months now. At that time, I weighed 146 lbs. 9 months later, I'm up to 183. I don't understand what is going on. I know that after age 30, you gain weight when you quit smoking, but it's been 9 MONTHS!! How long does this go on???

In the last 60 days alone, I have gained 15 lbs. And yes, I have been working out. This is the first time in my life that I have had weight problems, and I'm getting extremely depressed over this. I don't want to go in public because I'm embarassed about being fat. I won't let my pic be taken, and I am obsessively watching what I eat.

Can anyone tell me how long the weight gain from quitting smoking is supposed to last????

Teresa527

I don't believe in gaining weight when you quit smoking.
Weight gain is from eating more calories than you are burning.
Certain medications and/or medical issues can cause weight gain but other than that you are simply eating too much.
Do you strictly track your calories? Exercise alone will usually not make you lose weight. You MUST watch your calories.

Latasha1988

It is scientificly proven you do gain weight after quitting smoking for not only the reason of eating more (out of habbit because of used to moving something to your mouth) but also because smoking speeds up your metabilism and when you quit it lowers it. So I'm not sure what they are but I know there are certain foods out there that speed up your metabilism.. I'm not 100% on this but I believe even certain exercises do if not all.. thats my asumption on that part. So if I were you I'd replace eating out of habbit of moving your hand to your mouth and instead drink water when you feel that need, and also research ways to speed up your metabilism. On a side note that could work for the habbit thing, my uncle went on an M&M Diet.. strange as it sounds he just ate M&M's all day and believe it or not he lost 100lbs doing this! So maybe try M&M's lol idk how accurate it is or if there were other things he did as well but he swears that was it.
Also... I've heard that if you eat under a certain amount of caleries a day it wont help you lose weight but will make you gain weight, so be sure to not be over doing it as well

TheFitHooker

I don't believe in gaining weight when you quit smoking.
Weight gain is from eating more calories than you are burning.
Certain medications and/or medical issues can cause weight gain but other than that you are simply eating too much.
Do you strictly track your calories? Exercise alone will usually not make you lose weight. You MUST watch your calories.

^^^ THIS!!!

My husband smoked for over 15 years and quit smoking has quit for about a year now, he'll flat out tell ya it's because he replaced food with cigs he has gained weight. He could have used to gain weight though, he was getting too thin. But I can't keep him out of the kitchen lol.

I'd suggest tracking your calorie intake and figure out what a good calorie intake for you to start at and go from there. If I could suggest to keep fried greasy foods out. It's helped me a whole lot to get that out of my diet. If you haven't already done that, then you'll be surprised at how much better you'll feel. My husband doesn't eat fried unless he buys it when I'm not with him, but he said that last time he ate something fried, he felt like he was going to pass out from how low it made him feel. Just a suggestion.

season1980

I quit smoking Feb 10th of last year and I have gained 20 pounds....but it started 4 months after I quit and I gained because I ate whatever I wanted and stopped exercising. Do you weigh all food? What kind of exercise do you do? If you are weighing every bite that goes past you lips and are still gaining perhaps see you doctor. There could be other things going on. Good luck to you.

Panda86

................my uncle went on an M&M Diet.. strange as it sounds he just ate M&M's all day and believe it or not he lost 100lbs doing this! So maybe try M&M's lol idk how accurate it is or if there were other things he did as well but he swears that was it.

Wow, that's seriously unhealthy. It may make you lose weight, but that definitely won't make you healthier....

austepants

Could you possibly not be eating enough food? Make sure you track both exercise and eating. I don't think that your weight gain is due to the quitting smoking. Hang in there. Excellent job quitting!!!

Latasha1988

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5305626_metabolism-quitting-smoking.html

AnarchoGen

I've only heard this but the nicotine supposedly increases your metabolism as well.. anyone hear this too?


Eat more raw foods, drink teas that suppress your appetite. I drink a lot of teas to replace the cigs & I've quite smoking almost 2 years ago. I gained weight the entire first year and now I'm steadily losing it. My problem I was taking medications that helped me gain weight, I quit smoking, and I was only getting 600-800 calories per day.

Shannonigans84

I quit smoking on Thanksgiving, and I'm finally getting a grip on my hunger. I wasn't eating out of habit, I was genuinely hungry all the time. Just keep at it, if you're eating right and exercising, things will turn around for you! And congrats for quitting!!

rileysowner

First, you can only gain weight if you are eating more calories than you burn. Since we can't see you food diary it is hard to comment. Nor do we have any idea on your MFP settings which also makes it difficult to comment. How carefully do you measure your food? If you think that exercise will make up for a bad diet, it simple can't. A person cannot out exercise a bad diet. Here is a Youtube video to illustrate it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQbuzsY_34Q

I measure everything with either my kitchen scale or measure spoons/cups. If I am being really careful I even weight slices of bread since usually they do not match up with the nutrition label.

Panda86

I quit smoking on March 27 of this year, so it has been 9 months now. At that time, I weighed 146 lbs. 9 months later, I'm up to 183. I don't understand what is going on. I know that after age 30, you gain weight when you quit smoking, but it's been 9 MONTHS!! How long does this go on???

In the last 60 days alone, I have gained 15 lbs. And yes, I have been working out. This is the first time in my life that I have had weight problems, and I'm getting extremely depressed over this. I don't want to go in public because I'm embarassed about being fat. I won't let my pic be taken, and I am obsessively watching what I eat.

Can anyone tell me how long the weight gain from quitting smoking is supposed to last????

I'll say what several people have already said- are you tracking your food? Exercising is good, but if you are consuming more than you are burning, you won't lose weight. Is it possible that you are eating a bit more now than you were before? Also, quitting smoking can affect your metabolism, but there are things you can do to speed it up again. Eat foods that are minimally processed, lots of fruits and veggies, fiber, lean protein. Make sure you eat breakfast- that will jump start your metabolism. Do strength training- the more muscle your body has, the more calories you burn, even while resting. But above all, DON'T give up. You did an awesome thing for your health, and its going to take time to adjust. My Mom quit smoking after 40 years, and 4 years later she is still having to adjust her diet because smoking changed the way her body works. Hang in there!

anavysos

could be a few years

Latasha1988

................my uncle went on an M&M Diet.. strange as it sounds he just ate M&M's all day and believe it or not he lost 100lbs doing this! So maybe try M&M's lol idk how accurate it is or if there were other things he did as well but he swears that was it.

Wow, that's seriously unhealthy. It may make you lose weight, but that definitely won't make you healthier....

Okay let me rephrase, I don't mean to only eat M&M's to lose weight, just that if he could lose weight doing that then maybe if when u snack instead of having a candy bar or w.e to have a couple M&M's might be better. Also might I add, my uncle is not the healthiest guy in the world. He'll go to fast food and order multiple tripple cheeseburgers for just himself and drink a diet coke with it. It's kinda comical to me actually. He's insane, he'll litterally eat an entire pizza to himself. So for him I'm guessing that M&M diet was healthier than his regular diet!!

DannyMussels

If you gain weight when you quit smoking, do you lose it if you start up??

moxette

One question, how long have you been MFPing? Just curious because although it is shown that nicotine does increase metabolism, it only relates to about 3-9 pounds of gain depending on your height and current weight. (I asked my physician). Are you just starting to log or have you been doing it consistently since you quit smoking?

LeonaB17

When I was 18 I smoked for about a year and a half (young - adult rebellious little phase I went thru)- got up to a pack a day for a while too!!. When I quit, I snacked more out of boredome, whereas when I smoked -if I was bored I'd grab a smoke. I gained a lot of weight almost instantly!! I didnt necessarily feel like I was eating more- but I was. Maybe a tad of the weight gain could be attributed to reduced metabolism, but I honestly don't know for sure.

Latasha1988

If you gain weight when you quit smoking, do you lose it if you start up??

It's quite possible because it supresses your appetite and speeds up your metabilism. But it's definitely not worth the weight loss... because first I'm sure it wouldn't be a great amount and second there are healthy ways to lose weight that dont include slowly killing yourself and robbing yourself blind.

judyw51

Hi,

I quit smoking 5 months ago after a 40 year habit and yes I did gain weight! You gain weight when you quit because (1) Nicotine does speed your metabolizim up so when you stop it slows a bit. (2) out of a habit you will eat more and snack more because of trying to replace the addictive nature of smoking. (3) quitting smoking you are just DOG tired and it is hard to get motivated and quitting smoking can be very depressive it is like losing a best friend! ( before I get yelled at for that last comment if you have never smoked you don't know what it is like)!

I gained about 15 lbs right off the bat but I had already got into an exercise routine so after about a month I seemed to have balanced out and started losing that 15 pretty quick.

Since January I am down about 65 lbs and went from a size 18 pants to a size 5 so quitting smoking and losing weight can be done.

After 9 months you probably have a little more going on then just the non smoking causing the weight gain. Might be worth checking with your doc to see what else might be going on.

Cigarettes have 4000 plus chemicals in them and when you quit your whole body and your bodies makeup gets all messed up. I even ended up in the ER with what they all thought was a heart attack and it turned into a panic attack. It even messed with my blood pressure so bad that I actually passed out when I was working out.

My suggestion is to drink a ton of water, see a doc and make better food choice. Anything is better than smoking again.

Good Luck Quitplan has a great support web site for people who have quit smoking! Add me as a friend if you would like support

Judy

kmtetour

If you gain weight when you quit smoking, do you lose it if you start up??

Yep. Crack'll help, too.

ravenone777

Congratulations on quitting. I quit smoking earlier this year and I've gained a lot of weight too. I think the gains have finally stopped (mostly due to me watching what I put in my mouth I think) but I'm having trouble getting any weight loss kick started yet. Tomorrow morning I am taking a power class and hoping to really start shredding this smoking weight. Feel free to add me anyone.

kmtetour

Whatever the science behind it, everybody's body reacts different to all kinds of stuff. There are so many factors to gaining and losing weight that it is literally impossible for a group of people with just that one bit of information to tell you what's wrong. If you have serious concerns about it, meet with a doctor or dietitian. They can ask you pinpointed questions. Be prepared to tell them everything you eat and every movement you make.

mrsskinny629

I quit smoking July 11th of this year, I haven't seen any weight gain. You just have to make sure you're tracking EVERYTHING, no cheating. Stopping smoking didn't make you gain weight, it's something else that you're doing that made you start gaining.

m0mmytiff

I am 24 years old and have been smoking since I was 15. I want to quit so bad, but don't out of fear of gaining weight!! Smoking is such a STUPID BAD HABIT, and I hate that when I was a teenager I wanted to be in the "in crowd" ... Any good ways of quitting? Does the patch work? I don't think I can quit cold turkey!!

KariePerez

I quit smoking May 19, 2009 and continued to gain weight all the way up to September 27, 2011 when I put a stop to it. We are eating when we would normally smoke so we are eating way too much. It sucks but hang in there you will make it!!!

KathyWel

I quit smoking mid May of this year, I have continued to lose weight but it has been very hard. Like what so many before me have said, you have to be careful and watch what you eat.

txfamilyof7

Thanks for all the replies...in response to the eating more: no, in fact I really don't eat that much at all. I have some Cream of Wheat for breakfast, then something small for lunch, and some type of protein for dinner. I don't eat much processed foods because it's unhealthy. I was watching my calories, but since I usually eat the same things I stopped since I knew how much in general I was taking in. I eat 3 meals a day and I eat healthy food. I don't always have snacks, but when I do, it's homemade applesauce or apples, grapes or other fruit.

As far as exercise: I walk on the treadmill (although with the holidays, that slacked off a bit) and I play games on the Kinect a LOT. I have exercise games for the Kinect that I do on a fairly regular basis.

Perhaps I am just not consistent enough...I don't know. There are days where I'm not able to do any traditional "exercise" due to being so busy, but most days I do get it in.

In the beginning (right after I quit smoking) I did realize that I was eating more without even realizing it. I find that the more I exercise, the less I crave unnecessarily sweet and unhealthy snacks (anyone else experience this??).

Honestly, the reason that I stopped tracking every meal's calories was due to the fact that no matter what I ate or didn't eat, I still gained weight. The more workouts I do, the more I seem to gain. It's getting extremely frustrating.

I don't have a doctor, which is why I haven't been checked. However, I looked up the symptoms of thyroid problems and the only symptom I have is the weight gain. Nothing else.

My current plan is to consistently burn 1,000 calories through exercise each and every day, while still watching what & how much of what I eat. I will save up the money in the meantime, and if I continue to gain weight, I will go to a doctor and get tested. I really don't know what else to do.

Perhaps what I have failed to do is to create a consistent environment in which my body can straighten itself back out after quitting...I keep changing my diet every month and a half to 2 months when the diet I was on wasn't working. Perhaps I just need to continue to eat healthy foods and small amounts as well as exercising twice a day.

ravenone777

I am 24 years old and have been smoking since I was 15. I want to quit so bad, but don't out of fear of gaining weight!! Smoking is such a STUPID BAD HABIT, and I hate that when I was a teenager I wanted to be in the "in crowd" ... Any good ways of quitting? Does the patch work? I don't think I can quit cold turkey!!

I read a book by Allen Carr and quit cold turkey. It really made me change my thinking about what I got out of smoking a cigarette. You still smoke while you're reading the book and then you smoke your last one near the end. Definitely works and I had very few cravings once I quit.. My partner has smoked for over 30 years and he's quitting with champix, almost 3 weeks now although he's struggling with cravings.

jenn_is_trouble

If you gain weight when you quit smoking, do you lose it if you start up??

Yep. Crack'll help, too.

Or Meth!

zlem

I am 24 years old and have been smoking since I was 15. I want to quit so bad, but don't out of fear of gaining weight!! Smoking is such a STUPID BAD HABIT, and I hate that when I was a teenager I wanted to be in the "in crowd" ... Any good ways of quitting? Does the patch work? I don't think I can quit cold turkey!!

You might want to look into electronic cigarettes, they have helped me a lot..
I smoked since my early teens and only time I stopped was while I was pregnant, I am 26 now and have not had a "real" cigarette since early October.
All it is is a battery with a small heating element inside, you put "juice" into it, which is a mixture of propylene glycol/vegetable glycerine, nicotine, and flavoring. You inhale it and exhale out a vapor that looks like smoke, without as many chemicals. You can get loads of different flavors, from tobacco flavors to coca cola to desserts and I have even seen bacon flavor (gross).

I am slowly cutting my nicotine level down, and will eventually ween myself off the e-cig, but it has really helped me, I feel a lot better and breathe much easier, if you're interested to know more google "ecf" and the top link should be a forum where you can learn more info

rileysowner

Thanks for all the replies...in response to the eating more: no, in fact I really don't eat that much at all. I have some Cream of Wheat for breakfast, then something small for lunch, and some type of protein for dinner. I don't eat much processed foods because it's unhealthy. I was watching my calories, but since I usually eat the same things I stopped since I knew how much in general I was taking in. I eat 3 meals a day and I eat healthy food. I don't always have snacks, but when I do, it's homemade applesauce or apples, grapes or other fruit.

As far as exercise: I walk on the treadmill (although with the holidays, that slacked off a bit) and I play games on the Kinect a LOT. I have exercise games for the Kinect that I do on a fairly regular basis.

Perhaps I am just not consistent enough...I don't know. There are days where I'm not able to do any traditional "exercise" due to being so busy, but most days I do get it in.

In the beginning (right after I quit smoking) I did realize that I was eating more without even realizing it. I find that the more I exercise, the less I crave unnecessarily sweet and unhealthy snacks (anyone else experience this??).

Honestly, the reason that I stopped tracking every meal's calories was due to the fact that no matter what I ate or didn't eat, I still gained weight. The more workouts I do, the more I seem to gain. It's getting extremely frustrating.

I don't have a doctor, which is why I haven't been checked. However, I looked up the symptoms of thyroid problems and the only symptom I have is the weight gain. Nothing else.

My current plan is to consistently burn 1,000 calories through exercise each and every day, while still watching what & how much of what I eat. I will save up the money in the meantime, and if I continue to gain weight, I will go to a doctor and get tested. I really don't know what else to do.

Perhaps what I have failed to do is to create a consistent environment in which my body can straighten itself back out after quitting...I keep changing my diet every month and a half to 2 months when the diet I was on wasn't working. Perhaps I just need to continue to eat healthy foods and small amounts as well as exercising twice a day.

It is possible to not eat enough. The calories MFP assigns, assuming you used the goal setting tool, are a goal to reach, not something to say way under. Since you don't log what you eat because you are sure you are eating the same amount of calories every day, you food log would be useless to anyone who might want to help.

My question is do you measure your food carefully or just eye ball it. I have noticed with myself, even after doing this for a long time, if I start just estimating I am pretty close at first, but the serving size gets bigger as time goes on. This is especially true if I free pour cereal and milk. I know it can be a pain to always measure, but the difference in calories in many things as the serving goes up even a small bit is substantial. If you are like me your serving sizes may be off. Also, for the food you are eating, if the entry in the food database here has a * beside it, it was entered by a user, and often I have found those ones to be wrong. I remember one said there were 0 calories in a certain foods serving size, but when I checked the nutrition label the food actually contained several hundred calories. I don't know why some people have done that, and they added it to the main database, but it can be annoying. I always make sure the calories are correct for the ones with an * before I trust them.