Quitting Smoking: Keeping Weight

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Many people fear that as soon as they say goodbye to cigarettes, they will gain weight. This can be prevented with a little planning. If you do gain weight slightly, you should keep in mind: One to two kilos more is significantly less harmful to health than smoking.

Healthy alternatives

The reasons why smokers generally weigh less than non-smokers are only partially known. Nicotine suppresses the appetite. It also increases the body's basal metabolic rate, but only slightly by around 150 to 200 kilocalories per day or 25 grams of fat.

This can be easily compensated for after quitting smoking, for example, by snacking on a piece of fruit or yoghurt instead of chocolate or chips, drinking water instead of alcohol or just spreading butter thinly instead of generously.

Muscles are a plus

Keeping weight under control is even easier with exercise. Half an hour of brisk walking a day consumes around 200 kilocalories, roughly the same as 20 cigarettes before. Sport is not only good for the pounds, it also improves well-being, reduces stress and is good for boredom. Those who exercise regularly also get more muscles. And muscles consume energy even when they are at rest. Therefore, the basal metabolic rate increases, the metabolism is activated and the body burns more calories.

Enjoyable food

The senses of smell and taste wake up just two days after quitting smoking. In addition, the appetite is no longer artificially suppressed. This is also one of the reasons why former smokers sometimes eat more. Or maybe you always smoked a cigarette after a meal and without this ritual you keep eating until everything is off your plate. To prevent this, you should immediately clear all plates, pots and plates from the table when you feel full.

The trick is to eat more often but little. This is how you avoid cravings. We recommend three larger and two to three small snacks a day. That may sound like a lot, but it isn't. It's about controlling the appetite, not the amount of food. Try the following:

• Instead of eating a sandwich, yogurt and fruit for lunch, you should only eat the bun.
• Eat yogurt and fruit in the morning and afternoon, respectively.
• You should always have the following at home: bananas, oranges, grapefruits, reduced-fat yogurt, etc. This will help relieve hunger pangs when you get home.
• Don't go shopping on an empty stomach - if you feel hungry you will find it hard to resist temptation.

Carbohydrates are important

Carbohydrates should make up the bulk of your diet, that is, more than 50 percent of your daily caloric intake. This is recommended by the German Nutrition Society (DGE). The brain is even dependent on carbohydrates as the only source of energy.

But avoid foods that contain large amounts of household sugar, grape and malt sugar (so-called simple carbohydrates). The same goes for honey and syrup. These sugars are absorbed relatively quickly by the intestine into the blood and cause blood sugar to rise rapidly and sharply. In response, the pancreas releases the hormone insulin. It smuggles the sugar into the body cells - the blood sugar drops again. This low blood sugar makes you hungry again after a short time.

Complex carbohydrates in the form of high-fiber starch products such as whole grain rice, bread and noodles, legumes, vegetables and potatoes are therefore much more suitable. The starch, a long chain made up of many grape sugar particles, is gradually broken down in the intestine. The individual glucose is absorbed slowly and evenly into the blood, which means that the feeling of satiety lasts longer. The fructose in fruit and the milk sugar in milk and dairy products also cause blood sugar to rise only slowly. You should therefore include these vitamin and mineral-rich products in your diet in abundance.

Small sins are okay

For some people, food becomes a substitute for the daily smoking routine. Smoking 20 cigarettes a day means moving your hand to your mouth around 200 times - so not surprising if the person in question brings cake, candy or chips to their mouth after quitting smoking. If you do the same, come up with a cigarette substitute for your mouth that you can chew on. This could be a lollipop (sugar-free!), Chewing gum, pieces of carrot, etc. Toothpicks do it too, if necessary. Should your craving for sweets become irresistible: choose sweets, wine gums or liquorice that contain a maximum of 2 g fat / 100 g. It's better than chocolate, which has a lot of fat in it.

Don't think: "I'm not allowed to"

Strictly banning yourself from all desserts and sausages is not a good idea. It is difficult for the head to cope with the words “no” and “not”. If you try not to think about food, you will achieve just the opposite, which is to keep thinking about it all the time. And that makes you hungry even more. The first hunger pangs are a sign that you need a healthy snack. In this case, do not clench your teeth in order not to have to eat; instead, grab a piece of fruit, for example.

Perhaps these tips will help you manage your weight better. But the most important thing is not to panic if you put on a few pounds after quitting smoking. You would have to become significantly overweight in order to achieve a health risk similar to that from smoking.

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