The article highlights what a person can do to ensure their weight is under control as they go via the recovery process from drug addiction. The article also discusses the steps you can follow to ensure weight gain does not hinder your obligation and inspiration to quitting smoking.

Reasons You Gain Weight Once You Quit Smoking

Numerous factors that lead to weight gain after a person quits smoking are included in this article. To start with, smoking has a slight effect on metabolism. For instance, heavy smoking may make you burn approximately 200 extra calories daily, which results in a slight overall metabolism increase.

Also, research discloses that stopping smoking cigarettes makes the brain look out for nicotine replacement. It leads to augmented cravings for diets high in sugar and carbohydrates. This compensatory conduct plus subsequent weight gain contributes a huge portion to people going back to cigarettes.

After quitting smoking, it is normal to gain approximately 10 pounds of weight during the first cessation months.

Why a Person Wants to Eat More

Quitting smoking throws your body into shock. Once you quit tobacco, one of the key side effects you may experience is increased appetite. Several reasons why a person may find themselves wanting to consume more after they quit smoking are:

Cigarettes Suppress Appetite

Smokers regularly avoid meals by smoking. Being a stimulant, nicotine interferes with hormone insulin release. Insulin regulates levels of glucose in your blood. Once this role gets hindered, you become slightly hyperglycemic, which eventually makes your brain and body slow down the signals and hormones that trigger hunger feelings.

Food Acts as a Smoking Replacement

During the early days of your journey to quit smoking, there is a frequent and uncomfortable urge to smoke. Many individuals thus see it simple to replace the habit of smoking with eating. This may lead to weight gain due to overeating and therefore it is good to seek healthier substitutes for smoking.

Dopamine Impacts the Craving or Urge to Snack

Food and nicotine have a similar chemical reaction in your brains: dopamine's release. Dopamine formulates a sense of happiness and well-being. Once dopamine is not available, people regularly eat to get that boost.

Food provides emotional comfort due to the chemical reaction in your brain. Also, exercise releases dopamine, thus, you ought to be active to improve your mood and reduce cravings. Besides, it will help you to accelerate a slow metabolism as well as avoid weight gain.

Health Risks Contributed by Weight Gain

When quitting smoking, weight gain is frustrating. It may influence your inspiration to quit smoking. You may as well get worried thinking that you are going to replace one health issue with another because weight gain increases your susceptibility to other health problems such as heart disease and stroke.

While weight gain tends to be prevalent with cessation of smoking, the benefits of quitting are more than the health risks linked with gaining weight. Although people who quit may encounter increased BMI, they have a very low risk or exposure to cancer, cardiovascular disease, plus chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than people who continue to smoke.

Hot to Avoid Weight Gain as You Quit Smoking

It is good to understand what happens to your body once you quit smoking along with what you should do to avoid discomfort since it can assist you to follow and maintain weight. Several ways to help you reduce cessation-linked weight gain include:

Sufficient Exercise

Exercise releases dopamine. Thus, it is an excellent way to keep off smoking cravings. Also, it can assist you to maintain a stable weight.

Approximately half an hour of exercise for five days weekly is enough. You don’t have to engage in a high-intensity exercise.

Consume Healthy Snacks

Stock snacks ahead of time to ensure that once the munchies kick, you have nutritious food selections with you. You should consider things such as frozen grapes, nuts, fruits, seeds, and low-fat yogurt, among others. Also, you should have hydrating beverages within reach, for instance, seltzer, water, or herbal tea.

You should as well take into consideration what shouldn’t get stocked in the pantry. For instance, in case you have extreme craving for decadent desserts, you ought to go out and enjoy one serving, instead of eating a whole cake on the counter.

Avoid Alcohol

Alcohol is high in calories and it is as well a strong trigger to smoke. Besides, alcohol relaxes your inhibitions, while for smokers, this spells trouble. You should avoid the calories in alcohol and avoid putting yourself at relapse risk by drinking during your quit program.

In case your habits of eating stayed the same, that is, as they used to be when you used to smoke, your weight will come back off in a few months.

Staying Inspired to Quit

Weight gain that follows the cessation of smoking can obstruct attempts and effectiveness in quitting. Overweight people are prone to gain weight as well as have additional concerns of weight connected to smoking cessation.

If you are finding it hard to remain inspired to quit smoking due to weight gain, numerous things can help you to stay motivated. You should remind yourself of the multiple advantages of quitting smoking.

• Quitting smoking enhances your quality of life

• It minimizes your susceptibility to premature death

• It reduces your risk for COPD, stroke, cancer, etc.

• It minimizes the financial hardships of smoking

Besides, quitting smoking is helpful for your psychological well-being. It is linked with multiple mental health benefits along with overall life quality plus decreased stress, depression, and anxiety.

How to Cope with Weight Gain

Individuals who decide to quit smoking also make similar positive decisions in other areas of their lives. That's awesome, but you must be careful. Trying to do many self-improvement things at once may expose you to not work on the most crucial projects and the effort and time they require. 

There are several things you ought to do to remain motivated to stop smoking and deal with weight gain and they include:

- Be patient. Smoking cessation takes time. It doesn’t get accomplished overnight. Thus, you should allow yourself sufficient time to heal. You shouldn’t underestimate the significance of your act.

- Be good to yourself. Smoking cessation is an enormous achievement, and you ought to reward yourself for the progress you’ve made regularly.

- Accept yourself. You should practice self-acceptance since it’s crucial as you cope with the hardships of smoking cessation.

- Change your mindset. You should develop a fresh mindset that looks at challenges as opportunities that will be beneficial. You should view the process as an effective way of accomplishing healthy living.

- Find social support. Supportive people will assist you to stay inspired as you progress toward your goals. You should share your struggles and intentions with trusted friends, especially those who have gone through the same thing.