Quitting smoking is a hard enough task to accomplish as it is. But for some people, smoking cessation is accompanied by unexpected weight gain. This means a person needs to exert twice as much effort to say no to smoking because they will also have to work on avoiding too much weight gain.
But how does stopping smoking cause weight gain?
Before we go deeper into that, you must understand what cigarette does to the body. One of the many effects it has on the smoker's body is an elevated heart rate. A smoker's heart rate is around 10 to 20 beats faster than a non-smoker's. This increased beating of the heart speeds up metabolism in a way.
So naturally, if you suddenly stop smoking, you'll notice a bit of a dip of your metabolic rate. Now, if you're one who has very little physical activity throughout the day, a slowed down metabolism can mean you get to store the undigested calories in your body as fat, thereby causing a weight gain.
Another possible reason for why smoking quitters gain weight during the process is because a lot of people tend to substitute food for those moments when they want to pop a cigarette stick into their mouths and light up. And for other people, food serves as a pacifier for times when they feel depressed because of the nicotine cravings.
Although it does work in helping you take your mind off of cigarettes and smoking, the weight gain that comes along with it may not be as healthy as you'd think. There are a lot of health complications you may get from it, like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.
So how do you avoid weight gain during your quit smoking period? Exercise. Not only will exercising help you work out and burn the excess calories, it may also keep your mind preoccupied enough to keep you from smoking and, who knows, maybe overeating too. It would be like hitting two birds with one stone.
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