Quitting Smoking without fear of Gaining Weight include seeking for help, advice and support from the family
You have been in a weight loss class and your instructor noticed that you are smoking. He tells you that smoking is not only harmful to your health but will also rearrange your facial appearance. And because you want to look good you desire to quit is primarily to look good both on the body and on appearance. But wait a minute you missed appoint and you have just remembered, that he also said that while quitting you will gain a little more as a result of losing. This point sends you thinking of the great contradiction. You registered to lose and not to gain, the instructor tells you to quit smoking which is going to work against your desire to lose weight. You are in a dilemma and I totally agree with you. This dilemma is what I want to address in this article. Our focus is going to be on quitting smoking without fear of gaining weight.
We spoke to doctor Dalal Akoury who is a medical doctor specializing on addiction, obesity and weight gain and also the MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center to help us in unlocking certain all your concerns. Doctor Akoury has been in the medical practice for more than two decades and has help many people deal with their addiction alongside weight gain and yours will not be a problem if only you can schedule for an appointment with her today. Doctor Akoury says that if you are a smoker, the best thing you can do for your health which is the most valuable asset you have is to eliminate and completely kick out the smoking habit from your life.
Even though cigarette smoking is addictive and difficult to quit, it is not impossible either. The challenges will always be there including the dilemma we are focusing on. Eliminating cigarette smoking often goes hand in hand with weight gain. Is it possible to be both slimmer and smoke-free so long as there is a resolve commitment to do so in the right way with the guidance of professionals? While appreciating the likelihood of gaining some weight when you stop smoking, the gain will not be that threatening as you may passive. Yes it is true that cigarette activates your metabolism and that you will burn about 250 calories because of smoking and quitting will mean that your metabolism rate will slow down leaving you with a pack of 250 calories to deal with resulting in weight gain for many people. Doctor Akoury says that under normal circumstances majority will gain some two pounds on quitting the first time in a few weeks. This is likely to cause a concern to people that what would be the impact in a few month is in just two weeks you add two!
The feeling is mutual in this case however this should not motivate you to go back to smoking to have you metabolism reactivated. Doctor Akoury advices that you need to hung on because the increase will not escalate to unhealthy weight. Your focus should be on the end result not the temporal obstacles. In this case you could compare the benefits of quitting with not quitting and the negligible weight gain and you will be able to see that the gain is a lesser sin. The benefits of a smoke-free lifestyle both inside and out to those few extra pounds means nothing. Take for instance the possibilities of your vital organs like the lungs, heart, and the arteries start repairing themselves almost immediately after the last puff. And not only that, your skin clears up and starts to look smoother, your fingernails stop looking yellow, your breath improves, and your teeth can be bright again. All these less-obvious benefits of smoking will have you looking great, even if you put on a few. If this has convinced you to take the worthy challenge then you can schedule for an appointment with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center for professional assistance. But in the meantime, let us consider the best approach to go about it the whole exercise.
People will often take the quitting challenge differently with some people just opting to stop by making up their mind and literally disposing off the cigarette. This is fine however experts recommend a systematic approach to be the most effective. Therefore it is important than up on the resolve to quit, you need to set a quite date and prepare for it by setting aside some extra time to start a regular physical activity, like walking. And do your best to bypass the buffets and start eating healthier.
During this time ensure that you make improvement on your diet, make it healthy and this will help in the minimizing weight gain.
Next, start to pinpoint what situations which may trigger the urge to smoke and get ready to deal with them.
The urge for a cigarette tends to be the most pronounced the first few days after quitting for most people. After the fifth day, the number of urges starts to decrease.
While it varies from person to person, the urges will typically continue although less frequently for several weeks or even months. But they are still as annoying as when you first quit, so be prepared to tackle them head-on. With this mechanism in place, you are now ready to quit.
When it comes time to quit, the following are tips to help you minimize cigarette cravings and weight gain:
- Drink more water at least 8-ounce glasses of water a day. This will keep you hydrated, help you feel full, and give you something to do with your hands.
- Make smart choices when snacking. Quitting smoking will increase your snacking appetite. While you should avoid substituting food for cigarettes, you should plan healthy snacks, like cut-up veggies, fruit, or almonds or pistachios (in limited amounts.) Try to avoid sugar and unhealthy starches. If you feel you must have sweets, go for sugarless and fat-free ones. But keep in mind that fat-free snacks often have just as many calories due to the added sugar.
- When a craving for a cigarette strikes, be prepared. If you want certain snacks around, make sure they’re handy and healthy. Have water around. Take a walk, have a soda. Think these things through so when an urge hits, you are prepared. It’s all about careful planning.
- Keep up the physical activity and the healthy eating. This will help you quit smoking as well as trim your waistline, explains Purcell.
- Be ready for challenges. You have to have the right mindset and be prepared for challenging times. If you can get through the first two weeks, chances are you’ll make it.
- Most importantly, even if the needle on the scale starts to creep upward, don’t reach for that cigarette! Just stick it out and let your metabolism even off. It’s only temporary, and you can address the weight later after you’ve quit.
