Everyone knows that smoking is harmful. And those with decades of smoking experience, and those who never picked up a cigarette. Quitting smoking is much harder than starting. And only people who are not familiar with this terrible habit believe that quitting smoking is a simple process and does not require special efforts. In fact, psychological discomfort (poor sleep, increased irritability) and almost always weight gain are mixed with the real longing for nicotine. Of course, the harm that smoking causes to the human body cannot be compared with these troubles, especially when you consider that after a few months everything returns to normal. Why get fat when they quit smoking? But can this be avoided? We will discuss this in detail in the article.
Why get fat when they quit smoking
When you stop smoking, weight gain does occur. To minimize it, you need to understand the reasons for this process. So why get fat when they quit smoking? The reasons are as follows:
- A smoke break is replaced by a snack, which inevitably leads to a set of extra pounds.
- Why, when people quit smoking, do they get better? After giving up the cigarette, the taste buds gradually recover, the food seems more delicious, and the appetite increases.
- Nicotine affects the digestive processes, slowing them down, in addition, cigarettes significantly dull the feeling of hunger.
- Restoring the mucous membrane of the stomach and esophagus when you quit smoking leads to an acceleration of digestion of food and increased appetite.
- Why do people get fat when they quit smoking? The smoker's metabolic processes under the influence of nicotine are much higher; when you stop smoking, they slow down to a normal level.
This is important to know: when you stop smoking, all these troubles are temporary. After getting rid of a bad habit, all body systems recover over time.
Milk and Dairy Products
Now you know why they get fat after they quit smoking. To minimize the risk of gaining extra pounds, you must try to review the diet. And it’s absolutely not about a diet, since combining refusal from cigarettes with a certain diet is not worth it. Under these conditions, the body receives double stress, and the likelihood of breaking down and smoking again is very high.
You just need to make sure that the number of tea parties and snacks does not increase due to refusal of a cigarette. From an acute desire to smoke, consumption of 0.5 cups of milk or kefir can help in small sips. This additionally enriches the body with calcium and vitamins of the PP group (nicotinic acid), reducing the acute desire to smoke.
In addition, it has long been noticed that milk and dairy products change the taste of a cigarette, making it more nasty to the smoker. The consumption of butter, cottage cheese and cheese will be especially beneficial in the early days of quitting. However, it should be remembered that high fat dairy products can cause weight gain.
Juices
So that you won’t be bothered by the question why, when you quit smoking, you begin to get fat, you need to increase the amount of juice consumed. Tomato, carrot, apple and many others that replaced cigarettes will not let hateful kilograms be deposited and are just a storehouse of vitamins and minerals.
Vegetables
The consumption of cucumbers, bell peppers, eggplant and broccoli will make the process of giving up cigarettes less painful in psychological terms, prevent overweight and make it easier to transfer the first, most difficult days of giving up bad habits, because they contain large amounts of nicotinic acid, the lack of which the smoker especially feels.
Fluid intake
In the initial period of smoking cessation, it is necessary to consume a sufficient amount of liquid. It can be plain or mineral water, soothing herbal teas, such as chamomile and mint. However, you should abandon drinks with a high content of caffeine, tea or coffee, as well as energy and alcoholic beverages. Not only are they high in calories, their consumption can lead to a breakdown and a return to a hated cigarette.
What is better not to do
Why, when you quit smoking, gain weight? You already know about this. Therefore, remember that you should not replace the smoke breaks with the consumption of crackers, chips, seeds or candies. All these products contain a large number of calories, and most importantly, with such a replacement, the task of abandoning a bad habit is not formed, it is simply replaced by a new one. As soon as the understanding comes that due to the consumption of cigarette substitutes, excess weight appears, hands will reach for the cigarette again.
In order to refuse cigarettes was less complicated, it is necessary to exclude from the diet spicy and smoked dishes, reduce the consumption of sweets and flour products. Replace fatty pork, for example, chicken or turkey and increase the amount of lean fish and milk porridge in the diet.
Other ways to not gain weight
Strengthened sports, which many try to combine with the period of smoking cessation, are a big misconception. You cannot combine multiple goals. This almost inevitably leads to a breakdown. Returning to a cigarette often convinces a person of the futility of his attempts, drives him into depression and discourages his desire to get rid of his addiction for a long time.
The role of sports
To succeed, priorities must be identified. In this case, giving up cigarettes will be a priority. At the same time, playing sports allows you to diversify your leisure time, find like-minded people, and prevent weight gain. During this period, classes should not be too intense. Hiking, cycling, scooter or roller skating, swimming in the pool are perfect. The main thing is to make these classes regular, and to replace the habit of starting every morning with a cigarette, get a new addiction to a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise.
It is necessary to remove from the house all items related to smoking: lighters, an ashtray and other attributes of a smoker. It is not worth replacing a regular cigarette with an electronic one, there will be no sense in quitting smoking, after some time the smoker will definitely return to the cigarette. To quit smoking was more comfortable, you need enough sleep to give the body time to recover. In addition, lack of sleep leads to increased aggressiveness, and it is quite high even during smoking cessation.
Often, people who quit smoking neglect the advice to increase physical activity. With this approach, weight gain in the initial period of abstinence from a cigarette is almost inevitable. If the sports complex is far away, and you don’t feel like skating, you can just get out of transport when you return from work 1-2 stops to the right one and walk this distance.
Dancing
So that you are not interested in the question of why, when you quit smoking, you gain weight, dancing classes are recommended. This will help to get a charge of positive emotions, find new friends and like-minded people and provide the body with the necessary physical activity. For women and girls who quit smoking, dancing is a great alternative to the usual activities in the gym, which many seem simply boring.
Support for loved ones
The role of family members in supporting a person who has decided to quit smoking is difficult to overestimate. Usually, even the most malicious smokers realize that addiction to a cigarette negatively affects not only their own health, but also the health of all family members. Especially affected are children who are forced to be near a smoker. They not only receive a charge of nicotine by inhaling harmful cigarette smoke, but also constantly see before their eyes not the best example of disposing of their own health. No conversations with children will produce the desired result if mom and dad smoke. Under such conditions, having matured, the child will certainly reach for a cigarette. Indeed, unfortunately, children copy the behavior of adults, especially those that are credible to them.
Outdoor games
Quitting smoking, spend more time playing with children. Outdoor games with the whole family will provide the necessary physical activity, give joy from talking with your own child and distract from thoughts about a cigarette. Ball games, badminton and even regular jogging are great. In winter - ice skating, playing snowballs, skiing. All this will unite the family, and the smoker will help to forget about the bad habit.
Conclusion
Why get better when they quit smoking? You already know the essence. Sooner or later, every smoker comes to the need to refuse a cigarette. Some are bored of spending impressive amounts of money on a bad habit, others, having noticed the first malfunctions in the work of their own body, decide not to aggravate the situation, while others realize that loved ones suffer from their addiction. Often the decision to quit smoking does not come immediately, and the smoker tries to move the moment of parting with the cigarette as far as possible.
Quitting smoking at any age and with any length of service will bring nothing but great benefits. Recent medical studies have shown that smoking cessation will restore organs and tissues affected by nicotine. A person gets rid of coughing and shortness of breath attacks, complexion improves noticeably, many diseases that the smoker considered incurable cease to pursue. Even kilograms gained after refusing a cigarette go away quite quickly. By the way, in fairness, it should be noted that not all people who quit smoking gain weight. Very often this does not happen at all.
But the fact that giving up a cigarette will give you a few extra years of a healthy, active life is beyond doubt. Refuse a bad habit, stop looking at the world through a veil of tobacco smoke. And let the question of why they get fat when they quit smoking no longer bother you. Be healthy and happy!