How to Avoid Weight Gain After Quitting Smoking

Tons have been said about the negative effects of smoking to the body. There are so many clinical studies that have proven these claims. The bad chemical compounds and the smoke from cigarettes are known causes of various medical conditions. Despite several campaigns, there are still too many people who choose to take the risks. One of the reasons why some refuse to quit the habit of smoking is weight gain.

Weight gain is mainly caused by excessive food consumption. For smokers who are concerned about it, smoking is one of their preventive measures. They say that smoking helps to suppress hunger. What these folks fail to see is the real root cause of weight gain. Understanding how to properly manage weight loss is the key in managing health.

Harmful Effects of Smoking

Before enumerating the effects of smoking to weight loss management, it is important to outline its negative effects to the entire body. Here's a list of the many reasons why the habit must stop:

Heart related diseases - Smoking has various negative effects to the heart. First, it reduces the level of good cholesterol resulting to smarter bad cholesterol that leads to hypertension. Second, smoking increases the risk of clogging the blood vessels by downgrading the elasticity of aorta which leads to blood clotting. Third, the heart and blood vessels would have to work harder after smoking increases the performance of the sympathetic nervous system.

Cancer - Smokers have high risk of acquiring several types of cancers. Apart from respiratory cancer which is caused by cigarette smoke, the chemical substances contained in every cigarette stick also impair the proper functions of other body systems such as digestive and endocrine systems.

Effects on Weight

For weight loss fanatics, smoking is a great way to kill appetite. With less appetite, there will be less food to consume. What these folks do not realize is the real effect of smoking to metabolism.

Metabolism can be increased by smoking cigarettes especially after meals. Our body tends to burn more calories than it should. In some cases, you will notice sweating during and after smoking even if there are no physical activities taking place. It's an indication that our body's metabolism is working double time. Although they may seem to be a good way to burn calories, the negative effects such as hypertension and heart related diseases are still at hand.

Now you choose - die earlier due to the negative effects of smoking or live longer by choosing other methods of losing weight.

By carefully analyzing the root cause of weight gain, smoking can never be considered an option to achieve our desired body shape. In essence, weight loss management should work hand in hand with an optimum health program.


Al V is a former operations manager in the contact center industry. He has trained and developed different types of leaders. He now works at home as a project manager. Part of his job is content management. He loves writing articles on various niches such as health, self-improvement, personality development, arts, science, technology, business, real estate and a whole lot more.

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