Weight Control Tips

Statistics tell us that most people who quit smoking gain some weight initially. On average, that gain is between 4 to 10 pounds. And for a lot of folks, it is temporary and falls back off within the first year of smoking cessation.

Learn how smoking affects metabolism, and create a plan of action to minimize potential weight gain before you quit smoking. A little preparation can go a long way toward helping you avoid the need to invest in a larger wardrobe to fit your new, nonsmoking self.

Don't overload yourself with too many expectations. Smoking cessation, while far from impossible, is hard work for most of us early on. Starting a new diet at the same time you quit smoking can be a recipe for disaster. Aim instead to maintain your current weight while you manage nicotine withdrawal and the months beyond it. Once you're comfortable with your smoke-free status, you can turn your attention to shedding extra weight you're carrying. If you've only gained the typical 4 to 10 pounds, the task won't be too daunting. For many ex-smokers, food takes on a new importance that can quickly become an unhealthy obsession if we're not careful.

Why?

In part, it has to do with needing a replacement for the act of smoking. Smokers have a powerful hand-to-mouth association and eating is a hand-to-mouth activity. But also, food simply tastes better without cigarette tar clogging delicate taste buds on our tongues. It's not uncommon for ex-smokers to note that food tastes entirely different than it did when they smoked.

And then there is the fact that food signals comfort for many of us. A lot of people, smokers or not, use food to soothe and pacify. For those of us who are dealing with the discomforts of nicotine withdrawal, it's natural to turn to food to ease raw nerves and emotions.

While we cannot stop eating like we have stopped smoking, we can make choices that will help us avoid weight gain and even enhance how we feel physically. A diet rich in nutrients helps us be at our physical and emotional best, which, in turn makes it easier to maintain the strong will and determination that is necessary to successfully recover from nicotine addiction.

Use the tips below to help you start thinking creatively about how to use food as a tool for good health rather than a replacement for smoking. Pay attention to portions.
Downsize serving sizes: Use a lunch-size plate rather than a dinner plate, and stop after one plate full.Read labels.
Aim for foods low in fat and high in protein and fiber. And speaking of portion sizes, be sure to check packaged food labels for portion sizes as well.Keep temptation out of the house.
If it's not there, you can't eat it. Stock the fridge and cupboards with healthy food choices so that when the urge to snack strikes, the right foods are within easy reach.Indulge your sweet tooth at a restaurant.
Don't allow a half-gallon of ice cream shelf space in your freezer. Instead, head out to the ice cream parlor when you're in the mood for a sundae. Doing this safeguards against going back for another scoop, or worse, another bowl later on.Drink plenty of water.
If you have the urge to snack, drink a glass of water first. It will help fill you up. So you will eat less, and also beat cravings to smoke.Think 80/20.
If 80% of the meals and snacks you eat on a given day are healthy and in the right portions, you can allow yourself a few treats with the other 20% without throwing your diet out of whack.Eat more often.
Try eating 5 or 6 small meals throughout your day. The urge to snack is intense early on in cessation, so snack-size meals may suit your needs perfectly. And the good news is, small meals every few hours could give your metabolism a boost. Just watch your calories and keep the total for the day within the correct range for your body.Go for a walk.
Exercise will help you avoid weight gain. As little a half hour walk a day can be enough to help you keep your weight stable, as long as you're eating well too. And exercise improves mood too, a nice fringe benefit.Distract yourself.
Boredom is a big trigger for smoking and for eating. Make an abrupt change in what you're doing and you can distract yourself away from mindless snacking.Find some support.
The smoking cessation forum here at About.com is a supportive community of people who are working to quit smoking. Stop in and browse the message board of this active group as a guest, or register (free) and join the discussion.Early smoking cessation is an awkward, uncomfortable state for most of us. Add weight gain into the equation and we're ripe for a bad case of junkie thinking. Don't be tempted to return to smoking as a means to control your weight. Take it from one who knows. I lost a 6-month quit once because I was convinced smoking would help me lose weight. Wrong! When it was all said and done, I still had to diet to lose the weight I'd gained during smoking cessation, plus I needed to quit smoking again because I was back to a pack-a-day habit.

Dig your heels in and focus on losing your addiction to nicotine first and the weight second. Once you're comfortable in your nonsmoking skin, you'll be better equipped to apply your time and energy toward losing weight successfully. And speaking of success, there is absolutely nothing better for a person's self-confidence and ability to tackle challenges effectively than succeeding at smoking cessation.

Do what you need to do to boot this addiction out of your life now. If that means you gain a few pounds in the process, so be it. Weight can always be lost later, but your precious health cannot.

Source:

Forever Free -- Smoking and Weight. 2000. H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center and Research Institute at the University of South Florida.

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Weight Gain Health Risks

Question: What are the Health Risks of Weight Gain When I Quit Smoking?If I quit smoking and gain weight, won't that be just as dangerous to my health as smoking is?Answer: If you're worried about gaining weight when you quit smoking, consider this: as long as your weight is within the normal range for your height and age, it would take 80 to 100 pounds of weight gain before you'd even begin to approach the health risks you have from smoking. Don't worry about the 5 to 10 pounds that many people gain when they quit smoking. As long as your eating habits haven't changed, weight gained when you quit will come back off as your body adjusts.

Risks if you continue to smoke include: Death
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It kills more than 440,000 people in the U.S. every year. Global smoking statistics tell us that a person dies every 8 seconds due tobacco-related diseases. Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals, 40 of which are known carcinogens. Many of the effects of cigarette smoke on humans are still being researched. Cancer
Your chances of contracting lung cancer are greatly increased when you smoke. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. Smoking is also linked to other cancers: cancer of the esophagus, larynx, kidney, pancreas, colon, breast, and cervix. Other Smoking-Related Health Risks
Smoking increases the risk of stroke, COPD and emphysema, heart disease, periodontal disease, and circulatory problems, to name a few. Pregnant women who smoke have an increased incidence of premature birth and low birth weight babies.When you quit smoking, you are taking the single most important step possible to improve your health. Don't overburden yourself by trying to do too much at once. Instead of stressing about gaining weight when you quit smoking, focus on kicking the habit first. Losing weight will come more easily once you are comfortable in your new lifestyle.

Most people find that they become far more proactive about their overall health once they are tobacco-free. When you prove to yourself that you can quit smoking, it will give you the confidence to tackle whatever challenge you set for yourself successfully!

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Quit Aids and Weight Gain

I'm so afraid I'll gain weight when I quit smoking. I've heard that Zyban or Wellbutrin will help me avoid weight gain. Is this true?Answer: Bupropion hydrochloride, better known as Zyban or Wellbutrin, has a side effect for some people of a reduced appetite, which can be a nice benefit for people who want to quit smoking. Bupropion is a prescription drug though, and must be used under a doctor's direction.

Nicotine lozenges may also help curb appetite to some extent early on in a person's quit program. A year long study looking at the efficacy of nicotine lozenges was conducted in 2002. It followed approximately 1800 people who quit smoking using either nicotine lozenges or placebos. Indications were that those participants using 4-mg nicotine lozenges had 45 percent less weight gain 6 weeks after quitting than those using the placebo. At 12 weeks quit, weight gain was 21 percent less, and at 6 months, the difference in weight gain between the two groups wasn't enough to be of significance.(1)

Medications to Help You Quit Smoking:

Some of the above medications are available without a prescription, however, do check in with your doctor and discuss your options in order to choose a quit aid that's right for you.

See Also:
The Chubster
Minimizing Weight Gain When You Quit Smoking
Maia's Thoughts on Weight Loss at 6 Months Smoke Free

(1)Arch Intern Med. 2002;162:1267-1276

Updated: 2-20-2006

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Quit Smoking Today Without Gaining Weight

"If you weren't born with a cigarette in your mouth, you had to train and condition yourself to smoke -- and if you learned it, you can unlearn it."
~Paul McKenna, PhD

Born in 1963 in England, Paul McKenna is a hypnotist and self-improvement author who has written a host of books aimed at helping people overcome problems with issues like weight control, finances, self-esteem and smoking.

Mr. McKenna never smoked, but lost an uncle prematurely to a smoking-related disease. His father was a smoker who quit successfully and as of this writing, is living a healthy, smoke-free life.

Compelling and motivational, Quit Smoking Today Without Gaining Weight delivers exactly what a self-help book should: hope and inspiration.

From the introduction by Mr. McKenna to the final thoughts he offers at the end of the 7 sessions included in the book(plus bonus weight loss session), he teaches us how our minds work and offers simple techniques to reprogram and correct behaviors that don't serve us.

Mr. McKenna refers to generalization as a learning principle employed by our minds. Once we learn a new skill or create an association, our minds generalize about it, telling us that it is true for all things, even though it might not be. He uses the example of learning how to open a door, saying that once learned, our minds generalize the technique to be true for all doors. In practical terms, this allows us to learn and move on. Without the ability to generalize, we'd be stuck learning the same thing over and over.

As smokers, we quickly learn to associate stress with smoking. Physically, our bodies are stressed because of smoking. When the nicotine level in the blood drops, it makes us feel anxious, and when it's topped off with a cigarette, we're relieved. This is addiction to a drug, but the mind generalizes the association to mean that smoking = stress relief.

Emotionally, we learn to use smoking to control our feelings. We smoke when we're angry, sad, happy, and so on. Over time, the generalization becomes powerfully ingrained that cigarettes help us cope, again reinforcing the idea that smoking = stress relief.

Each chapter(session) in the book begins with some discussion about the topic at hand, and ends with a visualization exercise that helps readers begin to make the mental shift that will break down the generalizations we all have built up around smoking over the years. With session headings such as A Healthy New You, Never Again!, and An End to Cravings, Paul McKenna offers practical tips about how to calm our minds on command, and later, how to imagine in great detail the smoke-free life we want for ourselves.

By changing how we respond to stress, and what we associate with stress, we can, with practice, reprogram ourselves to automatically react to stress with healthy choices. At the same time, we can teach our minds to automatically respond negatively to smoking.

Periodically, Mr. McKenna offers what I think of as troubleshooting advice for those of us who are not having success with the techniques offered in the book. They are helpful checkpoints that add to the usefulness of this quit smoking primer.

A guided hypnosis CD is included with Quit Smoking Today Without Gaining Weight. Paul McKenna's voice soothes and relaxes, taking the listener into a state of self-hypnosis quite easily.He suggests listening to the CD daily for at least two weeks while practicing the visualizations in the book.

The Pros

Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight is engaging and a quick read. The visualizations provided are easy to follow and are useful in changing the destructive relationship we all had with smoking. The cd is a valuable companion for the book, reinforcing the path to creating new associations with smoking that, if used faithfully, can help readers kick tobacco to the curb for good.

The Cons

Paul Mckenna's book would benefit from a mention about the importance of including some support in a person's quit program.

As a former smoker who found the key to long-term release from nicotine addiction through an online support forum, I know how critical it is to have a group of like-minded people in your corner as you move through smoking cessation. I found the change of mindset that Paul teaches in this way, and know that for those who are trying to quit smoking, support will solidify the concepts he shares.

A word about smoking cessation and weight gain...

With the exception of a few remarks throughout the book, the topic of avoiding weight gain while quitting tobacco is not tackled until readers reach the bonus weight loss session at the end.

That said, I don't feel this should deter anyone from reading Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight, because the cessation information is top-notch and certainly the first priority. The weight control section of the book is simple but decent, and if you follow the principles, you should be able to manage the ups and downs of cessation with minimal weight gain.

If you want to change your life, change your mind.

As someone who knows how critical a change of attitude is for lasting freedom from nicotine addiction, I fully endorse Paul McKenna's approach to smoking cessation. His guided visualizations and audio cd are solid tools that, along with the support mentioned above, can yield a change of perspective that will transform the reader's relationship with smoking.

Smoking cessation is not out of reach for any of us. If you have a strong desire to quit, Mr. McKenna's book will help to fuel that fire within you.

Remember: Once you change what cigarettes mean to you, you can truly leave them behind and move forward with your life, happily smoke-free.

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