How to Avoid Weight Gain After Quitting Smoking?
It’s no longer a secret: quitting smoking helps improve your health and quality of life. However, many people fear the weight gain that can accompany this decision. But are these extra pounds inevitable? How can you avoid them? In this article, Reset Laser demystifies weight gain after quitting smoking and provides tips to manage and prevent it.
Gaining Weight After Quitting Smoking: Myth or Reality?
Weight gain is one of the symptoms of smoking cessation. However, it is not systematic and varies greatly. It depends on the individual and the treatment chosen to quit smoking.
While it’s true that some people gain weight after quitting smoking with a traditional cessation method (quitting without support, nicotine substitutes, electronic cigarettes, etc.), this is not the case for everyone. On average, two-thirds of former smokers gain weight. The amount of weight gained varies significantly from person to person. Generally, former smokers gain between 2 to 4 kg. Moreover, some methods, like laser treatment, allow you to avoid this inconvenience.
Why Do You Gain Weight After Quitting Smoking?
Several reasons explain this weight gain after quitting nicotine with a traditional method. Some are physical, while others are psychological.
Nicotine as the Primary Cause
Cigarettes contain nicotine. This chemical acts as an appetite suppressant and reduces our hunger. Additionally, smoking stimulates our metabolism, which increases our body’s calorie expenditure. In short, cigarettes make us eat less and burn more calories.
Therefore, if you quit smoking, your appetite returns and your body returns to its original metabolism. In other words, your body starts to function normally again, which can indeed lead to weight gain.
Compensating for the Craving
Smoking cessation creates a craving. To compensate for this irresistible urge to smoke and the stress it causes, former smokers have the urge to snack. They eat more and turn to foods that provide pleasure. However, this food is more caloric, rich in sugars and fats, and leads to weight gain.
The Return of Taste
Cigarettes influence the senses. They dull taste and smell. As a result, a smoker will generally have less desire to eat because they taste less of the flavors in food. However, when the smoker quits tobacco, the senses return, and with them, the gustatory pleasure. The former smoker will therefore tend to eat more than before, because they now find satisfaction in it.
Our Tips to Avoid Weight Gain After Quitting Smoking
Gaining weight during cessation is not inevitable and should not be a barrier to your process. This side effect can not only be limited but also avoided in some cases.
Watch Your Diet
To avoid gaining weight, you must eat healthily! To do this, you need to adopt good eating habits and maintain a balanced diet. Avoid processed foods, those that are too fatty, too sugary, and too salty. Also, limit your consumption of sugary drinks and alcohol. Favor lean foods, vegetables, and fruits.
Eating in a balanced way does not mean going on a diet! It is not necessary to create a new stressful situation during this period. So, enjoy yourself, in moderation!
Exercise
Nicotine increases energy expenditure. When you quit smoking, these calories are stored. Regular physical activity allows you to burn excess calories, maintain and improve your health. Exercise is also a good solution to compensate for the tobacco craving and limit snacking!
Seek Support
To better fight your addiction, it is essential to surround yourself well. Talk about your weight gain concerns with your loved ones, but also with professionals. Do not hesitate to seek help from a smoking cessation center, a nutritionist, a dietitian, or a sports coach if you feel the need.
Opt for a Symptom-Free Cessation
Traditional cessation causes side effects, including weight gain. However, there are alternative methods that eliminate any desire to smoke without experiencing negative effects. This is the case with the laser method, which stimulates specific points on the ear’s pavilion and cuts physical dependence in a single session. In other words, this treatment allows you to quit smoking without gaining weight!
Reset Laser, Your Anti-Smoking Center in Belgium
Do you want to quit smoking without gaining weight? Trust Reset Laser! Thanks to our proven laser method, you say goodbye to your tobacco addiction without symptoms. Don’t wait any longer to improve your health! Schedule a laser session at one of our anti-smoking centers in Belgium.
Make an appointment at a Reset Laser center
Do you want to stop smoking? Reset Laser welcomes you to one of its centres. Our therapists use the soft laser method to get rid of your addiction to tobacco for good. In just one session, you can say goodbye to cigarettes!
Why Choose RESET Laser Institute
The best method to quit smoking
Specialist
Our therapists are all addiction experts and specialists in laser auriculotherapy cessation.
Effectiveness
Our success rate after one session is over 86%.
Painless
Non-invasive and painless, our therapy is accessible to everyone.
No Stress
You free yourself from addictions and quit smoking without weight gain, stress, or compensation.
Personalized Support
Since each patient is different, we offer personalized support after the session.
1-Year Guarantee
We guarantee our therapy for 1 year in case of relapse.
