Not Able To Lose Weight After Quitting Smoking
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FitFutureNurse
Posts: 3 Member
Hello,
I quit smoking over the holidays, and have not been able to lose a single pound since I quit. I’m doing all the same things I did while smoking that worked for me to lose about 1/2 a pound to a pound a week, but now I’m just maintaining. I’m beyond frustrated!! Any ideas what I can do?!
I quit smoking over the holidays, and have not been able to lose a single pound since I quit. I’m doing all the same things I did while smoking that worked for me to lose about 1/2 a pound to a pound a week, but now I’m just maintaining. I’m beyond frustrated!! Any ideas what I can do?!
5
Replies
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Are you counting calories?2
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Has your salt intake changed? Are you in a plateau? CICO?2
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Dr Schwartzbein explains how your body needs time to repair itself after stopping the toxic intake from smoking. You can't repair while dieting. Give yourself time to "transition"
You don't need to lose weight to be healthy, you need to be healthy to lose weight.
Choose the healthiest foods you can, get some sleep, walk/yoga for stress reduction. Let your body heal.
When you quit smoking, your body has a lot of cleaning up to do. Feed it, rest it, care for it. Then go after losing weight.29 -
Weird question but have your bowel movements decreased?3
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It's possible that you lost enough weight in those 2 months that your losing calories are now your maintaining calories too.4
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Dr Schwartzbein explains how your body needs time to repair itself after stopping the toxic intake from smoking. You can't repair while dieting. Give yourself time to "transition"
You don't need to lose weight to be healthy, you need to be healthy to lose weight.
Choose the healthiest foods you can, get some sleep, walk/yoga for stress reduction. Let your body heal.
When you quit smoking, your body has a lot of cleaning up to do. Feed it, rest it, care for it. Then go after losing weight.
how can this be right? she lost weight while she was still smoking9 -
First of all, congratulations on quitting smoking! That's great.
Just as there's nothing magical about smoking that causes weight loss, there's nothing about stopping that directly causes weight gain or stops you losing while in a deficit.
There are a couple of possible options. Firstly, how long has it been since you lost weight? At the rate of 1/2 lb per week, any loss can easily be hidden by water retention due to TOM/exercise/sodium or a change in bowel habits etc. It might be too early to worry.
Secondly, are you measuring your food intake and counting calories? Are you weighing solid foods and not guestimating, using portions or using generic database entries? It's possible that smoking caused a slight appetite suppressant and now you are eating a bit more without realising.3 -
Dr Schwartzbein explains how your body needs time to repair itself after stopping the toxic intake from smoking. You can't repair while dieting. Give yourself time to "transition"
You don't need to lose weight to be healthy, you need to be healthy to lose weight.
Choose the healthiest foods you can, get some sleep, walk/yoga for stress reduction. Let your body heal.
When you quit smoking, your body has a lot of cleaning up to do. Feed it, rest it, care for it. Then go after losing weight.
I agree with these points of interest.
Your body is in lack of nicotene shock! Give it time and be diligent!
Good for you for getting rid of that nasty habit!13 -
Congrats on quitting smoking! When I quit 30+ years ago, I was told to have a shot of lemon juice every morning and hot baths to leach the stored nicotine from my body. I could see and smell it in the tub. It can take a while to get rid of it. The good news is that it is possible to lose weight after you stop smoking. Give it a bit of time. Drink lots and lots of water. Avoid substituting something else like mints or candy. That was where I got off track and developed a scotch mint habit. I finally kicked that habit and was able to use MFP to lose 60 pounds.5
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the same thing happened to me, and sadly I still havent lost weight, I've gotten close
Someone no MFP actually mentioned how smoking dehydrates you so its possible your body is re-hydrating and your weight will be up a few pounds, I made a post about this too.2 -
Thanks for all the suggestions! No, my sodium intake or bowel movements have not changed. I do count calories, and aim for about 1,380 per day. I exercise 5 times a week for about an hour each time, alternating cardio with light strength training. I measure all foods & liquids with calories with a food scale & measuring cups and track everything I consume. I can’t figure out what’s causing this stall in progress!3
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Potentially your NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) has decreased. This is the incidental background activity in your life that goes on when you're not deliberately exercising. Things like fidgeting, housekeeping, gardening, any kind of movement that causes a slight increase in energy use. At 1/2 lb. a week this could contribute to not seeing the scale move. Nicotine tends to increase energy slightly, and you could be experiencing the unconscious effects of not getting that boost. Maybe take a look in that area and see if your energy levels have decreased slightly since quitting. Just a shot in the dark - I've read some articles that postulate this may be the cause for weight gain in some ex-smokers.
edited for clarity6 -
FitFutureNurse wrote: »Thanks for all the suggestions! No, my sodium intake or bowel movements have not changed. I do count calories, and aim for about 1,380 per day. I exercise 5 times a week for about an hour each time, alternating cardio with light strength training. I measure all foods & liquids with calories with a food scale & measuring cups and track everything I consume. I can’t figure out what’s causing this stall in progress!
Same thing happened to me when I first quit. Even though I substituted exercise whenever I had a craving I was at a standstill for awhile. Every time I felt a craving I'd go walk around the block, do squats at my desk, take the stairs, etc until the craving past. Counted calories, drank lots of water. Even so, I didn't lose anything for several weeks. Keep doing what you're doing and it'll kick in!
Congrats and good luck to you!4 -
Mabey cut a few more calories and up your cardio a bit. Nothing better to tell you how bad smoking is than having air fill your lungs on a run and your not gasping. Please don't start back smoking, you got this!5
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Same thing here when I first quit. Honestly I was eating more as well. This led to me saying forget it all and let me bulk. I am now 6 months out from quitting and cutting weight. My body seems to have found normal. Nicotine depresses appetite and can increase metabolic rate.
Give it some time. The weight will come off. You just made the best choice ever! Don't give up!1 -
Cigarettes speed up your metabolism. Your heart beats faster when you are a smoker and hence you burn more calories even when you are sitting and doing nothing. When you quit, heart rate goes down, metabolism lowers and it becomes harder to lose weight.
Trust me you are doing the best you can do for your body by quitting smoking. In start you might gain some weight but later you will have more energy, you will be able to exercise more and ultimately you will be able to lose weight more easily.4 -
Potentially your NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) has decreased. This is the incidental background activity in your life that goes on when you're not deliberately exercising. Things like fidgeting, housekeeping, gardening, any kind of movement that causes a slight increase in energy use. At 1/2 lb. a week this could contribute to not seeing the scale move. Nicotine tends to increase energy slightly, and you could be experiencing the unconscious effects of not getting that boost. Maybe take a look in that area and see if your energy levels have decreased slightly since quitting. Just a shot in the dark - I've read some articles that postulate this may be the cause for weight gain in some ex-smokers.
edited for clarity
This could be the culprit, especially if you were moving around on your smoke breaks and then stopped doing that. If you were getting up and going outside to smoke several times a day, then unless you're continuing to move that much without the cigarettes, maybe your exercise calories decreased enough to put you in maintenance?
Either way, congratulations on quitting!2 -
Are you weighing your food?
Perhaps subconsciously your portion sizes have increased. When I quit, I gained weight because food tasted AMAZING all of a sudden. Tighten up your logging, add a walk after dinner, and see what happens.0 -
Cigarettes speed up your metabolism. Your heart beats faster when you are a smoker and hence you burn more calories even when you are sitting and doing nothing. When you quit, heart rate goes down, metabolism lowers and it becomes harder to lose weight.
Trust me you are doing the best you can do for your body by quitting smoking. In start you might gain some weight but later you will have more energy, you will be able to exercise more and ultimately you will be able to lose weight more easily.
From what I've been able to read, find and discuss with a family of medical professionals...smoking can burn an extra 200 to 250 calories a day. Having failed this process many times in the past, I prepared myself as much as possible this time around. Although yes...losing that extra 200+ calories a day is a bit disheartening.0
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