Smoking Weight Loss
I've heard many people say that people who pick up smoking lose weight. I'm not planning on using this is a fast diet trick.. since its like handing in one health risk for another, but I was wondering why this is so? Is it just that people smoke in place of eating or does it have something to do with the chemicals?
It suppresses your appetite so you don't want to eat as often...but once when you try to quit it makes you want to eat everything in sight to get your mind off of wanting to smoke so badly...
Nicotine is a stimulant, so it can act as an appetite suppressent. Also, it gives you the funky taste in your mouth so you might be less tempted around food in general. I smoked a long time before quitting this past Jan, and yeah..I wanted to eat a lot less when I was smoking. It also kept me more regular, so I felt thinner, and lighter due to that.
But..it messes up your skin, teeth, nails etc and smells, and ruins your lungs..not worth it.
I feel healthier since I stopped and my skin is a lot nicer. I've invested too much in laser resurfacing, facials and creams to go back now!
Glad you are not considering it as a diet aid. I quit 6 months ago and gained 20lbs ... precisely how I ended up on this site. When I quit I could literally eat from the time I woke till the time I fell asleep! I'm just now getting it under control again.
When I was a smoker, I found that when I was bored I would go for a smoke, now that I don't smoke, I'm more inclined to snack when I'm bored. So for me, the activity was what stopped the weight, rather than an actual loss of appetite. But there are all sorts of terrible things that smoking can do to make you eat less/not feel hungry, unfortunately they'll also kill you...such is life.
I don't think it's really like handing in one risk for another, since you can still be overweight and a smoker, so it's not like you're guaranteed to become thin when you start smoking. It's really like adding an extra risk with the possible benefit (if you call it that) of being disinclined to eat.
I smoked for 35 years. Every time I quit I gained 10 pounds so I would start back. Starting back did not take the weight off for me- what did was watching what I ate and exercise. There was another time when I quit and I did not substitute food instead I used exercise. I walked when I needed to smoke - did push ups, worked out - I did not gain a pound. This time which is now 2 years and 7 months I allowed myself to gain weight with the mind set that I can loose it when I am ready. I went from one extreme to the other. I would suggest working out - bike riding - hiking - all sorts of activity in addition to the right foods - smoking causes teeth problems, circulation problems (actually leading cause of heart attacks), thinning hair, COPD and bad skin (ages you real fast) just to name a few of the side effects of smoking. Now take exercise - increases circulation, strengths every muscle in your body, improves skin, strengths teeth , sharpens the mind - well you get the gist.
Quitting smoking does lead to gaining weight, but I found that the opposite is not true. I quit smoking 15 years ago and gained 25 lb in record time. I could not stop eating. I did not mind the weight gain at that time because I was skinny (5'7 - 128 lb).
I fell off the wagon and started smoking again 5 years later. I did not smoke again to lose weight, but subconsciously I hoped it would happen. I did not lose a single pound. On the contrary, I have been gaining a couple of pounds every year while smoking.
I want to quit smoking and this is one of the reasons I joined CC. I want to lose all the excess weight (I've already lost half of it) then quit smoking for good while trying not to gain too much weight. I already have a quit date close to my weight loss goal date. I also have a quit plan. This time I want to leave it for good.
Smoking is a terrible habit. I felt much better and healthier during the five years when I did not smoke. It is very very difficult to quit. I think losing weight is ten times easier than quitting smoking. Anybody who does not smoke should not start. Sooner or later you will either quit voluntarily, or be forced to quit by your Doctor. Quitting is not as easy as non-smokers think it should be.
Thank you tuff_n_nuff. I like the idea of using exercise as opposed to food as a nicotine substitute.
Once again, starting smoking does not necessarily lead to losing weight. I started again and did not lose!
yeah, a lot smokers are skinny as hell. when i see a really tiny skinny girl at school or something i think to myself damn how is she so tiny- then i see her whip out a cigarette and it aill makes sense. they also tend to have MAJOR sun damage and look all tawny like mummy husks....
Hey Sireen
when you get ready to quit please check out the FFS Online program at American Lung Association - they have a great plan that works and some really awesome people on the message board. Also in the meantime Why Quit .com is a powerful site to visit and study while you are loosing the weight. I know you can do it and it sounds like you are right on track!!! Best of luck to you.
I am a smoker, I have been smoking five years and everytime I've tried to quit (except the last time, when I was dieting at the same time) I have gained weight. When I picked up smoking again, I lost the weight I gained.
Smoking can boost your metabolism, stifle an urge to snack, and suppress the appetite. However, it can make it very difficult to exercise, since you do lose a lot of your lung capacity.
I'm not a skinny little thing, either, in fact, I am more than 50 pounds overweight. Smoking does not guarantee thinness, but I sort of shudder to think how heavy I might be if I didn't smoke.
It is not a good habit, I am sorry that I picked it up. I am planning to quit again when I am ready.
xo ari
Smokers thinking of quitting...Please go to an online purveyor of books and order "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" by Allen Carr (on sale here). I'd heard about it from several people and decided (after 31 years of smoking) that it might be time to think about quitting, so I bought the book to get me in the mood to stop. 3/4 of the way through I put out my last cigarette and KNEW it would be my last. I don't quite understand how the psychology works, but it does. The text is often repetitive and seemingly obvious, but it gets under your skin! I'm not prone to suggestion and in fact generally rebel against being told what to do, so I am still completely expletiving astonished that 2 & 1/2 years later I have no desire to smoke and am pretty sure I will continue this path (never say "never". It will set you up for failure!). Friends have read it with the same result, why not you? Give it a try, it will cost about the same as 2 packs of smokies and it may just work.
Be good to yourself! --surfkitty
Original Post by airee:
Smoking can boost your metabolism, stifle an urge to snack, and suppress the appetite.
Smoking will not boost your metabolism. Gaining muscle, being active and eating well can boost your metabolism, inhaling ANYTHING will do nothing to your metabolism. The other two can definitely be true though.
Smoking increases your heart rate and therefore ends up burning calories. It is said that a person can burn up to 200 calories a day smoking (usually a heavy smoker) and that is why when people quit, even if they do not increase their eating, they can still gain weight if they do not increase their exercise.
That being said I quit 1 year ago May 12, and have only gained 10 pounds and that was my own fault for not having as much discipline as I should have had.
Well, I'm not sure exactly where you got your information there, and I know for sure that I'm not a medical practitioner of any sort, but the doctor that runs the Quit Club meetings here, and my own GP told me that smoking can boost your metabolism. Additionally, the number of pamphlets, books and journals I have read on the subject of smoking and smoking cessation do say that it can do that.
However, as I've said, I don't have any personal training in medicine, or anything of that nature. I may be wrong, but that is what I have been told by those who should know. :P Didn't mean to throw out misinformation if it is.
ari
I know that when I smoked I was hungry less and some times I would smoke instead of eating.
Myself, being a smoker, and trying to quit smoking (off and on throughout a 2 year period) notice craving food when i am thinking about having a cig. When I smoke, I will often smoke a cig. instead of eating, but, not always. As I am about 189 trying to lose 50 or so lbs. I am NOT skinny as a result of smoking. But, I hope to quit in the next year and a half. I have to set goals for each thing I am trying to change (Eating habits + weight loss being the first). I hope nobody starts smoking to lose weight. I can't stand my habit. The smell, the taste, the NON-smell, the NON-taste, the chemicals, my lungs, uk....
On top of all the other negative impacts of smoking already mentioned, there is a big one that no one has mentioned and having had friends and family directly impacted by it and suffer terribly, I couldn't not mention it.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/ Tobacco/cancer
Yes there are all kinds of other things that cause/contribute to cancer but you can't ignore it is a major risk to not only your health but potentially your life.
