Does quitting smoking effect weight loss

shawn1112
shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I asked this question in a long post last week and it may have been overlooked amongst my other questions. I know the answer is yes if your not eating well and trying to lose weight.

So i have lost 67lbs in about 7 months and i averaged 2-3lbs a week sometimes a little more sometimes as little as a lb. I quit smoking 9-10 weeks ago and in that time I havent lost any weight at all, I'm the exact same weight I was when i quit smoking. I havent changed nothing at all eating wise from when I lost my 67lbs. I have done more cardio since I quit smoking, but not that much more. Some weeks I lose 1lb, some weeks I stay exactly the same, and some weeks I gain between 1-3lbs, all since i quit smoking. In the 7 months prior to me quitting I never gained even 1lb, I always lost something. Need help because this is getting really frustrating!!! My calories per MFP are 1610 a day, I eat the 1610 plus whatever I burn working out. Some days I'm maybe 100-200 calories under. I'm 6' 0" male 222 lbs and 38yrs old

In the last week from things i have read on here I have started the following., and I am exact same weight since last wed.

1) Started drinking EAS Protein shakes once in morning and once after cardio or weights
2) Went and joined a gym and started lifting weights 3 times a week. (light weights nothing heavy)
3) I have ate my calories that I have burnt off with exercise everyday

Replies

  • wnbrice
    wnbrice Posts: 244 Member
    Might just be a plateau, you lost a lot of weight pretty quickly. Your body might also be combining that with the withdraw effects?

    Still making good progress dont give up hope.

    Did you adjust your calories for your new weight? Also how are you counting your burned calories? If you are not using a personal HRM I would cut at least 20% of the calories I thought I burned.
  • gabbygirl78
    gabbygirl78 Posts: 936 Member
    Could be just a plateau or you could be mindlessly eating more when your mind is use to stopping for a smoke. A lot of people gain weight after they quit smoking and it is from mindless munching taking the place of smoking.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
    Honestly you're lucky that you've lost weight every week until now! My weight loss was so all over the place even when I was doing the same thing. I recorded my weigth and measurements monthly in an excel file and I averaged a 3.5lb loss per month. A lot of the time I would stay at the exact same weight for 3 weeks and then 3lbs would fall off during the 4th week. It's just not linear. You are clearly doing something right so hang in there! I highly doubt this has anything to do with quitting smoking since smoking doesn't have anything to do with calories in/calories out.
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    Thanks for the responses so far.

    @ Alpine
    from what I have read and people have told me, quitting smoking slows your metabolism down, hence the weight gain when you quit plus the snacking.

    @ Gabbygirl
    No munching at all, besides fruit. But i was doing that before i quit smoking.

    @ Wnbrice
    Adjusted my calories per my new weight. Not using a HRM, but do compensate for not using it. If MFP or my treadmill saysI burned 550 calories running for 30 min at 6.7mph I adjust it to 400 calories.
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    Also if it is a plateau, how do you work thru that?
    This site has been real informative from things i have read. I understand from reading on here my lean muscle is probably suffering from all the cardio, hence the reason i joined the gym last week.
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    Anyone else care to chime in
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    Well weigh in day was today, and I'm again exactly the same as last week to the ounce!!! What gives????

    MFP says i should eat 1610 calories per day. Now lets say I burn 400 calories working out in a day, should I be eating those 400 calories I burned also? Thats what I have been trying to do from what I have read on here. If I burn 400 I usually eat 300 back just because I'm unsure if the 400 burned is correct.
  • annekka
    annekka Posts: 517 Member
    Assuming you're weighing and measuring everything accurately with a food scale, your body went through a major change when you stopped smoking. Understandably you're going to need a bit to readjust.

    Have you been measuring so you can see how your measurements are comparing? You may have lost inches. Don't get disheartened. Continue doing what you are doing and that weight will eventually come off.
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    Assuming you're weighing and measuring everything accurately with a food scale, your body went through a major change when you stopped smoking. Understandably you're going to need a bit to readjust.

    Have you been measuring so you can see how your measurements are comparing? You may have lost inches. Don't get disheartened. Continue doing what you are doing and that weight will eventually come off.
    I havent been weighing and measuring anything. I have never done it since I started and I havent changed anything food wise. Havent measured, but my new size 34 pants I bought about 8 weeks ago are feeling somewhat looser, not much but noticeable.
    Thanks for the words of encouragement, just really fustrated.
  • nytrifisoul
    nytrifisoul Posts: 499 Member
    When i quit smoking 6 years ago I used exercise to stop the cravings.
  • annekka
    annekka Posts: 517 Member
    STart weighing and measuring that food then! You could be taking in more calories than you think you are! Good luck!
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    When i quit smoking 6 years ago I used exercise to stop the cravings.

    this. only my quitting for good is much more recent.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    Nicotine elevates your heart rate some, which in turn will raise your metabolism slightly. People say that after a couple of months your body tends to even itself out. Most people gain because they eat more, though. If you aren't eating more, then don't worry about it and keep doing what you're doing. If you are, then eat less.
  • nohaynicknamesdisponibles
    nohaynicknamesdisponibles Posts: 94 Member
    When I quit smoking I earned myself 30 kilos by eating stuff for each cigarette I had not smoked..
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    Nicotine elevates your heart rate some, which in turn will raise your metabolism slightly. People say that after a couple of months your body tends to even itself out. Most people gain because they eat more, though. If you aren't eating more, then don't worry about it and keep doing what you're doing. If you are, then eat less.
    Exactly my thought. So should I be eating back the calories I burn every day working out?
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    Nicotine elevates your heart rate some, which in turn will raise your metabolism slightly. People say that after a couple of months your body tends to even itself out. Most people gain because they eat more, though. If you aren't eating more, then don't worry about it and keep doing what you're doing. If you are, then eat less.
    Exactly my thought. So should I be eating back the calories I burn every day working out?


    Yes, but beware of the burns MFP gives you, they are generally WAY too high. If you have a heart rate monitor, use the number it gives you. If you use the MFP database, I'd change it to like 60-65% of what it says.
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    Nicotine elevates your heart rate some, which in turn will raise your metabolism slightly. People say that after a couple of months your body tends to even itself out. Most people gain because they eat more, though. If you aren't eating more, then don't worry about it and keep doing what you're doing. If you are, then eat less.
    Exactly my thought. So should I be eating back the calories I burn every day working out?


    Yes, but beware of the burns MFP gives you, they are generally WAY too high. If you have a heart rate monitor, use the number it gives you. If you use the MFP database, I'd change it to like 60-65% of what it says.
    Thats pretty much what I do. If MFP or my Nike running app say I burnt 550 calories I will put it in as 400-425. Also I have been eating back most of those calories daily or close to it. I'm going to get a heart rate monitor very soon.
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    Well another week and lost 2 ounces. This week though I weighed myself every day just to try and figure out what was going on.
    Here is what my weight looked like last week, I weigh in every Wed at 5:30am when I get up and weighed in at that time every day except Sat. Now every day except Sat I was rite around my 1610 cal per day, and ate back anything I burned with cardio and or weights training

    Wed 222.8 lbs
    Thursday 222.2 lbs
    Friday 221.8
    Sat 226.2 lbs, weighed in after 3hrs at gym and drank about 10 cups of water in those 3 hrs.
    Sunday 227.8 lbs, Sat is my cheat day, was about 800 cal over on Sat including what I burned off at gym
    Monday 226.6 lbs
    Tues 223.8 lbs
    Wed 222.6 lbs

    Thoughts??????
  • MaggieSporleder
    MaggieSporleder Posts: 428 Member
    I lost sixty really quickly then got stuck for almost 4 months. I'm just now starting to lose again, and I didn't quit smoking. I'm thinking so long as your eating the same its not the quitting smoking that effecting you, it could deff be just a normal plateau.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    Well another week and lost 2 ounces. This week though I weighed myself every day just to try and figure out what was going on.
    Here is what my weight looked like last week, I weigh in every Wed at 5:30am when I get up and weighed in at that time every day except Sat. Now every day except Sat I was rite around my 1610 cal per day, and ate back anything I burned with cardio and or weights training

    Wed 222.8 lbs
    Thursday 222.2 lbs
    Friday 221.8
    Sat 226.2 lbs, weighed in after 3hrs at gym and drank about 10 cups of water in those 3 hrs.
    Sunday 227.8 lbs, Sat is my cheat day, was about 800 cal over on Sat including what I burned off at gym
    Monday 226.6 lbs
    Tues 223.8 lbs
    Wed 222.6 lbs

    Thoughts??????

    I would track it for a bit longer than a week, personally. You have a pretty large deficit for a 6'0 male. I don't think that nicotine would cause your heart rate to elevate enough to put you at maintenance without it. A week isn't really enough to gauge whether or not your numbers are correct.
  • shawn1112
    shawn1112 Posts: 94 Member
    I lost sixty really quickly then got stuck for almost 4 months. I'm just now starting to lose again, and I didn't quit smoking. I'm thinking so long as your eating the same its not the quitting smoking that effecting you, it could deff be just a normal plateau.
    Did you try changing anything in those 4 months, or just kept the same routine?

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