Rapid weight gain caused by ecigs?
bumblebee
Posts: 53 Member
I gave up smoking in July. In the 4 months since then my weight went gradually up from 9stone 12lbs to 10stone 3lbs. It stayed there a while and has now gone up to 10stone 6lbs. I run 7 km 4 times a week and am sure I haven't been eating any more than normal. Could it be the ecig I'm using? Do they cause bloating or fluid retention?
Please help, it's very depressing
Please help, it's very depressing
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Replies
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No. I applaud you trying to give up smoking, but using e-cigs is still smoking--you are getting nicotine. If I were you, I'd take a closer look at how much I was eating and how accurately I'm logging. If you are consuming too many calories for your daily needs, regardless of exercise, you will gain weight.1
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I know a lot of people who quit using those. None have gained weight to the point I'd notice and none complained of weight gain.
Good for you, by the way!2 -
You've gained 8 pounds I think? Over 5 months, that is the equivalence of eating ~200 calories per day over maintenance. Not a drastic amount. Probably not the ecigs - more likely you are eating slightly more than before and not paying attention to portion sizes.
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Great job on losing the smokes. I quit smoking in July of this year after 30 years, cold turkey and have yet to gain. I would try to bag those e-smokes and start chewing gum or stir straws to keep your mouth busy.2
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I gave up smoking in July. In the 4 months since then my weight went gradually up from 9stone 12lbs to 10stone 3lbs. It stayed there a while and has now gone up to 10stone 6lbs. I run 7 km 4 times a week and am sure I haven't been eating any more than normal. Could it be the ecig I'm using? Do they cause bloating or fluid retention?
Please help, it's very depressing
No...I quite smoking and got on the fitness and weightloss wagon all at the same time. I used an e-cig to quit...I lost 40 Lbs pretty easily.
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I used to smoke, and while this never happened to me, many people say that they tend to eat more once they quit smoking because smoking served as an appetite suppressant. I actually lost weight after I quit smoking, and I gained weight while smoking.
So most likely your appetite increased, or it could be as simple as you've replaced smoking wtih nibbling on food and thus increased caloric intake. So chewing non-food things or maybe getting a vapor cigarette (no nicotine at all, but will emulate the sensation of smoking) would help.1 -
I also quit smoking in July and am using the e-cig. I had some weight gain, 6-8 pounds, and my only issue with that has been my clothes not fitting the same so to get that under control, I started walking more and doing some exercise in my house,and using this MFP, I am getting it back off slowly, one thing about e-cigs the weight gain is not nearly as bad as with chantix or patches or zyban. But it's some, you definitely want to drink more water while vaping. Just sip it more often. I was prepared for the weight gain though simply because that seems to happen to most people when I took chantix or used patches I gained 25 lb in one month ugh. But doing the walking and MFP is helping. Stick with what your doing I think you'll be ok. But definitely during more water because if you don't one of the side effects are constipation so I am thinking they may help retain water. Pretty soon you'll have the nicotine to zero. Don't give up.0
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I quit with vaping, too. I did put on 10 pounds in about 6 months, but it had nothing to do with ecigs. I agree with @ana3067 that the cigarettes in the past worked as a sort of appetite suppressant (somewhat, I was still carrying a little extra weight despite being a smoker).
Yes, e-cigs contain nicotine, but not all the other chemical sludge of cigarettes that curb hunger (and keep you hooked). Watch your food intake, keep your logging tight, and vape as you need to, or chew gum, not mindless eating as much as you can help it.
Good luck and congrats on giving up the smokes! It only gets better!2 -
**Disclaimer I sell E-Cigs at my job**
I have not heard of anything in the Vape "juice" causing weight gain. Your basic ingredients are Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerin, Flavorings and Nicotine. I have finally quit smoking after almost 40 years by using an e-cig. I just quit a little over 4 months ago. I did notice last Thanksgiving that I was vaping an Apple Pie flavor and after the meal I did not eat any desserts. The vape let me enjoy the flavor without having to eat the actual pie.3 -
caracrawford1 wrote: »No. I applaud you trying to give up smoking, but using e-cigs is still smoking--you are getting nicotine. If I were you, I'd take a closer look at how much I was eating and how accurately I'm logging. If you are consuming too many calories for your daily needs, regardless of exercise, you will gain weight.
Using e-cigs is not "still smoking" it's vaping. Going from over 4000 nasty chemicals, 43 of which cause cancer and over 400 toxins - to a product that contains 3 harmless ingredients used in food and sometimes nicotine (how do you know the OP uses liquid that contains it?) is not "smoking" nor is it anything near the same as a cigarette.
To the OP I gave up using e-cigs and have lost weight, there's nothing in the liquid that will cause you to gain. They're calorie free!
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Yes. A study showed weight gain in rats exposed to glycols.
Comparative observations on the growth rates, blood counts, urine examinations, kidney function tests, fertility and general condition of the test and control groups, exhibited no essential differences between them with the exception that the rats in the glycol atmospheres exhibited consistently higher weight gains
From this abstract: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract
I went from 180 to 210 using ecigs, following five years of not having smoked at all.0 -
Yes. A study showed weight gain in rats exposed to glycols.
Comparative observations on the growth rates, blood counts, urine examinations, kidney function tests, fertility and general condition of the test and control groups, exhibited no essential differences between them with the exception that the rats in the glycol atmospheres exhibited consistently higher weight gains
From this abstract: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract
I went from 180 to 210 using ecigs, following five years of not having smoked at all.
Not causation. Only correlation. Alternative explanation: rats ended up having a higher appetite and thus ate more. Or if rats retain water, then.. maybe that. Etc.
Also, if you want to say that a study basically proved something, then at least read the entire article.5 -
Yes. A study showed weight gain in rats exposed to glycols.
Comparative observations on the growth rates, blood counts, urine examinations, kidney function tests, fertility and general condition of the test and control groups, exhibited no essential differences between them with the exception that the rats in the glycol atmospheres exhibited consistently higher weight gains
From this abstract: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract
I went from 180 to 210 using ecigs, following five years of not having smoked at all.
Not causation. Only correlation. Alternative explanation: rats ended up having a higher appetite and thus ate more. Or if rats retain water, then.. maybe that. Etc.
Also, if you want to say that a study basically proved something, then at least read the entire article.
I did read the entire article, a couple times over, actually, when I was on a vape forum. (It's amazing how many people around here think they're psychic, LOL. Based on your response, I wouldn't play the lottery this week!
Up to you, of course...)
No, correlation does not automatically equal causation, but because this was consistent among the animals, it warrants further investigation...and maybe a closer peek at the "there's no WAY PG can contribute to weight gain factors" assertions. Perhaps it can. We really don't know for sure yet...so it can't be ruled out any more than it can be deemed an absolute.
I also don't recall saying the study "proved" anything. I said it "showed" weight gain. And it did.
The OP asked, "could" (it be a contributing factor)? Obviously, it could be, as one of a variety of options, though it's not proven to be. But thanks for playing!
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Ecigs did not cause the weight gain. Over consumption of calories did.
I agree.
Once I started vaping, I became a wild animal digging desperately through the food. It was like a light switch. It was insane, I would be sobbing because I felt I couldn't stop, the tears would be running into my mouth even while I was shoveling in the food. I have never been able to figure this out (and obviously, did not even begin to connect the two for a long time, even as a supposition) and came across the above study only by chance - I was checking out the safety/studies board on a vape forum. I can't say definitively that it was the PG, but I did find the study worthy of note, at least. It could have all been an extreme coincidence of timing.
I do know not everyone on the vape board has this experience; in fact, we were the minority, but I wasn't alone...so as yet, who knows. Vape science is, comparatively, in its early stages. Perhaps for ALL of us it was a coincidence/timing. None of us can really know that yet.
This is obviously only anecdotal. But, yes, in my case, ultimately, it was obviously too many calories.
I do think that, if you're going to do one or the other, so far, vaping appears to be far safer than cigarette smoking. Studies are always underway so who knows what we'll find out in the future, but if it's between smoking and vaping, I'd say, vape instead...but that's just my personal view.
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Yes. A study showed weight gain in rats exposed to glycols.
Comparative observations on the growth rates, blood counts, urine examinations, kidney function tests, fertility and general condition of the test and control groups, exhibited no essential differences between them with the exception that the rats in the glycol atmospheres exhibited consistently higher weight gains
From this abstract: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract
I went from 180 to 210 using ecigs, following five years of not having smoked at all.
Not causation. Only correlation. Alternative explanation: rats ended up having a higher appetite and thus ate more. Or if rats retain water, then.. maybe that. Etc.
Also, if you want to say that a study basically proved something, then at least read the entire article.
I did read the entire article, a couple times over, actually, when I was on a vape forum. (It's amazing how many people around here think they're psychic, LOL. Based on your response, I wouldn't play the lottery this week! Up to you, of course...)
No, correlation does not automatically equal causation, but because this was consistent among the animals, it warrants further investigation...and maybe a closer peek at the "there's no WAY PG can contribute to weight gain factors" assertions. Perhaps it can. We really don't know for sure yet...so it can't be ruled out any more than it can be deemed an absolute.
I also don't recall saying the study "proved" anything. I said it "showed" weight gain. And it did. The OP asked, "could" (it be a contributing factor)? Obviously, it could be, as one of a variety of options, though it's not proven to be. But thanks for playing!
Showed basically means that you are making a causal claim. If you had said "an article found an association between rats exposed to PGs and weight gain" then it would be association/correlational claim.
Also, dude... the paper was submitted in 1947. Might be better to look for up-to-date findings. If you have the link to the actual full paper (which I'm unable to find, both online and from my university's database), then might as well share it. Especially since the mention of weight gain in the abstract does not allude to any of the potential explanations or third variables. THe study was also not conducted for this purpose, so you might also want to search for up-to-date articles that are specifically related to this substance and weight gain.
But most likely, if the rats gained weight it was probably because they wound up eating more food, as I doubt the experimenters controlled the food consumption of the animals. In one study about caloric intake in rats, the experimenters found that rats consuming both a sucrose and zero-calorie sweetener drink ended up consuming more of the sucrose solution than the control group. This led to weight gain. So the zero-calorie drink didn't cause the weight gain, but simply led to rats consuming more calories, which in turn caused weight gain. Much like in the study you mention, it's probably not the case that PG caused hte weight gain but instead somehow led the rats to eat more than the control group. Because i'm terrible at summarizing, here is the abstract and information about the study (title, authors, journal, volume)
"Animals may use sweet taste to predict the caloric contents of food. Eating sweet noncaloric substances may degrade this predictive relationship, leading to positive energy balance through increased food intake and/or diminished energy expenditure. These experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that experiences that reduce the validity of sweet taste as a predictor of the caloric or nutritive consequences of eating may contribute to deficits in the regulation of energy by reducing the ability of sweet-tasting foods that contain calories to evoke physiological responses that underlie tight regulation. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were given differential experience with a sweet taste that either predicted increased caloric content (glucose) or did not predict increased calories (saccharin). We found that reducing the correlation between sweet taste and the caloric content of foods using artificial sweeteners in rats resulted in increased caloric intake, increased body weight, and increased adiposity, as well as diminished caloric compensation and blunted thermic responses to sweet-tasting diets. These results suggest that consumption of products containing artificial sweeteners may lead to increased body weight and obesity by interfering with fundamental homeostatic, physiological processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)"
Swithers, S. E., & Davidson, T. L. (2008). A role for sweet taste: Calorie predictive relations in energy regulation by rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 122(1), 161-1731 -
I am not a dude.
The Psychic Meter of the know-it-alls on the board seems to be set at Low today. 
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ecigs deliver nicotine differently then smoking .... smoking is highly targeted to brain delivery, and delivers much higher nicotine percentage dose to brain. This is aloso the reason for easy addiction.
ecigs deliver by absorption, thru lung, nasal, etc membranes ... much the same as any nrt.
So .... the circulating level of nicotine is typically MUCH higher from ecigs/nrt .. to get the same level delivered to the brain.
what this means is you will have a higher average blood nicotine level through out the day ... but lower peak nicotine blood levels.
try to avoid constant/frequent vaping ... nicotine is not harmless ...
as well, since the nicotine hit from vaping is less immediate, users tend to over vape waiting for the hit ... but the delayed hit always mean you over do it. (kind of like eating)
the delayed hit from nrt/vaping is what makes it less addictive.
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frankfutter wrote: »ecigs deliver nicotine differently then smoking .... smoking is highly targeted to brain delivery, and delivers much higher nicotine percentage dose to brain. This is aloso the reason for easy addiction.
ecigs deliver by absorption, thru lung, nasal, etc membranes ... much the same as any nrt.
So .... the circulating level of nicotine is typically MUCH higher from ecigs/nrt .. to get the same level delivered to the brain.
what this means is you will have a higher average blood nicotine level through out the day ... but lower peak nicotine blood levels.
try to avoid constant/frequent vaping ... nicotine is not harmless ...
as well, since the nicotine hit from vaping is less immediate, users tend to over vape waiting for the hit ... but the delayed hit always mean you over do it. (kind of like eating)
the delayed hit from nrt/vaping is what makes it less addictive.
that's interesting, thank you!
how is nicotine delivered through cigarette smoke more effectively targeted to the brain, though? chemically it's the same, and it's also going through the lungs.0 -
I quit smoking a year ago and used ecigs. I started dieting at the same time and lost 25 lbs over 6 months. I started being really serious about losing weight at the same time I quit because I knew I would gain weight otherwise. In fact I'd put off quitting because I wanted to lose weight first.
What helped a lot was I started running. It really makes you appreciate your new lung capacity (which ecigs do not affect). Good job quitting! It's worth a few lbs. either way.
Edited- just noticed you already run. But no, I don't think that they would cause any weight gain.0 -
Never mind. Old thread.0
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Yes. A study showed weight gain in rats exposed to glycols.
Comparative observations on the growth rates, blood counts, urine examinations, kidney function tests, fertility and general condition of the test and control groups, exhibited no essential differences between them with the exception that the rats in the glycol atmospheres exhibited consistently higher weight gains
From this abstract: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract
I went from 180 to 210 using ecigs, following five years of not having smoked at all.
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How appropriate...Easter in two days, thread resurrection.
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No.0
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For anyone still looking for a decent answer to this. Propylene glycol wouldn't cause weight gain... The products it turns are basically energy though, lactic acid and pyruvic acid.0
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you gain weight from eating too much, not smoking or vaping. The reason WHY people gain weight after quitting smoking is primarily because they are 'filling the void' with food of some sort.
i quit over a year ago using e cigs and went from whatever nicotine level i started at to 0 over a few months time. breaking the hand mouth addiction was MUCH harder than breaking the nicotine addiction LOL!
Since I wasn't tracking my weight then, I can't tell you for sure if it went up or not, but I wouldn't doubt that it did.0 -
@LAWoman72
You are actually on to something! Not only is there this study, but also, propylene glycol is an endocrine disrupter. Meaning, it can cause weight gain and inevitably make it impossible to lose said weight. Anyone can look it up, this is a fact!
When I first started vaping, I was telling everyone how amazing it is and how it helped me quit smoking, and blah blah, and I am grateful for that. But I'm on a STRICT diet (with guidance of a licensed dietician) of seafood and veggies, healthy fats, and few fruits, and averaging around 1,200 calories per day, and I'm already quite thin, just dealing with some food sensitivities.
I quit vaping a few months ago. And once I started again a month ago, I suddenly gained a lot of weight, WHILE ON (WORLD'S HEALTHIEST) SAID DIET! I haven't smoked a cigarette for well over a year so it has nothing to do with that.
It is now strongly suspected by both myself and my dietician that this was disrupting endocrine function. I've already lost some weight just from putting the vape down -- while maintaining the same exact diet AND lifestyle. Hm... Peculiar? I think NOT.
This doesn't mean it will affect everyone the same way, so who is to say whether or not it is affecting someone else differently? It seems there's a lot of people in here who think they're more knowledgeable than they actually are. Stop being so closed-minded! Just because it works for you, doesn't mean someone else is an idiot for suspecting it doesn't work for them. There's some validity to this!
Propylene glycol is a chemical, "dudes!" You're straight inhaling chemicals! Why do you think there are labels on beauty products that say "no propylene glycol"? That's because it actually IS harmful and it's still getting absorbed into the blood stream and can wreak havoc for some. Just like sugar wreaks havoc for diabetics but not so much for non-diabetics. Get it?3 -
@LAWoman72
You are actually on to something! Not only is there this study, but also, propylene glycol is an endocrine disrupter. Meaning, it can cause weight gain and inevitably make it impossible to lose said weight. Anyone can look it up, this is a fact!
When I first started vaping, I was telling everyone how amazing it is and how it helped me quit smoking, and blah blah, and I am grateful for that. But I'm on a STRICT diet (with guidance of a licensed dietician) of seafood and veggies, healthy fats, and few fruits, and averaging around 1,200 calories per day, and I'm already quite thin, just dealing with some food sensitivities.
I quit vaping a few months ago. And once I started again a month ago, I suddenly gained a lot of weight, WHILE ON (WORLD'S HEALTHIEST) SAID DIET! I haven't smoked a cigarette for well over a year so it has nothing to do with that.
It is now strongly suspected by both myself and my dietician that this was disrupting endocrine function. I've already lost some weight just from putting the vape down -- while maintaining the same exact diet. Hm... Peculiar? I think NOT.
This doesn't mean it will affect everyone the same way, so who is to say whether or not it is affecting someone else differently? It seems there's a lot of people in here who think they're more knowledgeable than they actually are. Stop being so closed-minded! Just because it works for you, doesn't mean someone else is an idiot for suspecting it doesn't work for them. There's some validity to this!
Propylene glycol is a chemical, dudes! You're straight inhaling chemicals! Why do you think there are labels on beauty products that say "no propylene glycol"? That's because it actually IS harmful and it's still getting absorbed into the blood stream and can wreak havoc for some. Just like sugar wreaks havoc for diabetics but not so much for non-diabetics. Get it?
Seriously? You resurrected a necro thread for this??,2 -
Some people are more sensitive to some things, like chemicals and foods, than others. Like some are lactose or gluten intolerant... others are not. I am sensitive to chemicals, and many foods. This includes wheat, but not dairy, interestingly.
So please, I beg of you, stop being so closed-minded. The science of medicine, physiology, and biochemistry is much more complex than you make it out to be.0
This discussion has been closed.
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