Quitting Smoking Weight Gain

5 months ago I quit smoking and have experienced ‘quitting smoking weight gain’.

Quitting smoking was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. In fact, I failed at the attempt around seven times before finally finding the key to quitting. Since then I’ve packed on a few kilos, I’d say at least 6 kilos in total which I’m now in the process of trying to lose.

First of all, the 7 times I failed to quit smoking in the past eventually led to discovering what worked for me, so I don’t regret going through those failed attempts in order to finally find an effective method of stopping.

I first tried cutting down, which was absolute torture, then cutting out cigarettes cold turkey which was a nightmare. It seemed that stress would appear in my life in the first two weeks of trying to quit, however I tried to avoid it. It felt like ants were crawling over my skin every time I tried to quit and sometimes I would just go to bed in a depression, finding nothing in the world particularly enthralling.

I tried Alan Carr’s Easy Way to quit smoking which came closest to helping me quit. However, I found that the first three weeks especially when stopping was almost unbearable.

So I did a search on YouTube and found a drug called Bupropion which even though it helped me, I wouldn’t recommend it as I experienced many side effects. I actually set a date for stopping smoking after 2 weeks with this drug, but I managed to quit after just 1 week. Then I started experiencing the weight gain, but it’s been worth it as I don’t have that black cloud hanging over me anymore like I did when I was smoking, I’ve saved a lot of money and don’t have to worry about people smelling cigarette smoke on me anymore. However, ‘quitting smoking weight gain’ has finally caught up with me.

I found out that eating more often had nothing to do with ‘having the need to do something with my hands’, but had more to do with elevating my mood which was down after quitting as I missed smoking.

In fact, I can now see why some people are aggressively anti-smoking if they have been an ex-smoker, it’s because they are worried about breathing in cigarette smoke passively and getting drawn into the habit again.

Belly fat I discovered is mainly visceral fat instead of subcutaneous fat, where the fat collects around your organs and has the effect of causing swelling too, giving that beer belly shape that is so hated by men especially. Belly fat puts you more at risk of heart disease, back problems, cancer and type 2 diabetes. It also affects your mood.

So I’ve stopped drinking beer at home and having snacks between meals. Funnily enough, I have some part of that feeling – as if ants are crawling over my body – when giving up beer now or snacks and drinking water instead. In the day my diet is very good, but in the evenings I seem to change and desire beer, pizza and snacks. Water, exercise and reading in bed instead sounds healthier, but let’s be honest, it’s not as exciting as beer, a pizza plus some snacks whilst watching a movie on the sofa.

So, regular exercise is on the menu now to combat the ‘quitting smoking weight gain’, and I’m trying to resist beer at home in the evenings and snacks now. It’s not easy though.