A lot of people gain weight when they stop smoking simply because they expect to do so. Other people tell them they will pile on the pounds, so they believe that and set themselves up for failure. In the end many people get so tired of gaining weight that they start smoking again. Then they’re worse off than they were before because they smoke and they are also obese.
Don’t let this happen to you. Not everyone puts on weight when they quit smoking cigarettes, and you don’t have to either. Stick to the following tips and it is possible to quit smoking and wind up in even better shape than you were before.
1Exercise
Once you quit smoking cigarettes, you will find exercise much easier, and if you do it regularly, that will help you keep off the weight. So make sure you make regular exercise a part of your lifestyle if you don’t work out regularly already. As well as burning off calories, exercising several times a week will increase your metabolism, and that will make up for any small decrease in your metabolic rate that you get when you quit smoking.
2Don’t Keep Temptation in the House
Some people stock up on sweet and fattening snacks when they stop smoking, because they anticipate eating more. If you don’t do this, you won’t eat them. In the first couple of weeks you may be tempted to eat more, especially if you are not using a smoking replacement tool like an e-cigarette. So keep your house stocked with healthy snacks, like fruit, veg and dips. Avoid nuts as these tend to make people want to smoke after eating them, but apples have the opposite effect so keep plenty of those on hand.
3Drink Plenty of Water
Cravings for cigarettes feel similar to hunger pangs, and these can cause you to eat more when you’re not really hungry. This is especially true if you don’t use some form of nicotine to help you quit. But drinking a glass of water will help these feelings subside.
4Chew Gum
Most people agree that nicotine chewing gum tastes unpleasant. But ordinary gum can give you something to do with your mouth, and prevent you from over eating. So chew gum instead of snacking. Regular gum isn’t addictive so you may only need to use it for the first few weeks.
5Don’t Reward Yourself with Food
You deserve to give yourself small rewards when you manage to stay off the cigarettes. But don’t reward yourself with food. Treating yourself to an occasional meal out is fine, but try to keep most of your rewards non-food based. What about new clothes, or taking up a hobby you have always wanted to try, or saving your cigarette money for a dream holiday?
6Don’t Convince Yourself That It Is Inevitable
Many people fail to prevent weight gain when they quit smoking because they believe that putting on weight is an inevitable part of the quitting process. This shouldn’t be the case, especially if you are using a great tool to that doesn’t deprive you of nicotine or something to do with your hands and mouth, such as an e-cigarette.
Remember that for all the people that tell you they put on weight when they quit, there are plenty who didn’t gain weight at all. These are the ones that didn’t accept weight gain as their fate. If you follow all these tips you won’t gain weight when you give up smoking tobacco. In fact, if you exercise regularly, you should end up more healthy and toned than you were when you were a smoker.
