How can I shed the extra pounds I gained when I quit smoking?
Since many people gain five to fifteen pounds after they quit smoking, and would like to get rid of it, we know over two years later most people have returned back to their presmoking weight. Not everyone does and if you still have weight that is still lingering, and you are passed that one or two year mark, what I would encourage you to do is to ask has anything changed in my eating patterns during this time since I quit smoking? Am I nibbling more, am I snacking more? What is it that I'm doing? So if that's not the case, then you need to say maybe it was just the change in my metabolic rate. I didn't do anything to increase my metabolic rate, so when I quit smoking it dropped. That's what happens with nicotine's effect on the appetite center and the metabolism. So you may need to pick up a new exercise behavior that burns off more calories. You may need to talk to a nutritionist about changing some of the portion sizes that you eat or the types of food that you eat. You may need to just get rid of some empty calories, calories that don't bring you much nutrition, like drinks that have calories in it; fruit juices, soda drinks, and alcohol beverages. Basically you are looking to get rid of the extra fat in your diet. Talking to a good nutritionist is probably important for people who are really overweight and really have a significant amount to lose in addition to just the 5-15 pounds that they put on that makes them have a bigger clothes size and they would like to get back into their wardrobe before. So I encourage you to take it seriously. Ten or fifteen pounds can increase your blood pressure so losing that again, is a good thing in your long term overall health. But remember the risk from smoking is equal to gaining one hundred pounds. You have to gain over one hundred pounds to be at a long term health risk to you, compared to continued smoking. So you've done a good thing. Just be good to yourself too and lose the weight in a healthy way. Don't go back to smoking.
