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The
best action you can take to improve your health is to quit smoking.
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Many
people gain weight when they quit smoking. Even so, the best action you
can take to improve your health is to quit smoking. Focus on stopping
smoking first. Then you can continue to improve your health in other ways.
These may include reaching and staying at a healthy weight for life.
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Will I gain weight
if I stop smoking? |
Not
everyone gains weight when they stop smoking. Among people who do, the
average weight gain is between 6 and 8 pounds. Roughly 10 percent of people
who stop smoking gain a large amount of weight—30 pounds or more.
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What
causes weight gain after quitting?
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When
smokers quit, they may gain weight for a number of reasons. These include:
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Feeling
hungry. Quitting smoking may make a person feel hungrier than usual.
This feeling usually goes away after several weeks.
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Having
more snacks and alcoholic drinks. Some people eat more high-fat,
high-sugar snacks and drink more alcoholic beverages after they
quit smoking.
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Burning
calories at normal rate again. Smoking cigarettes makes the body
burn calories faster. After quitting smoking, the body’s normal
rate of burning calories returns. When calories are burned more
slowly again, weight gain may take place.
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Can
I avoid weight gain? |
To
help yourself gain only a small amount or no weight when you stop smoking,
try to:
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Accept
yourself
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Get
regular moderate-intensity physical activity
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Limit
snacking and alcohol
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Consider
using medication to help you quit.
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Do
not worry about gaining a few pounds. Instead, feel proud that you are
helping your health by quitting smoking. Stopping smoking may make you
feel better about yourself in many ways.
Stopping
smoking may help you have:
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fresher
breath and fresher smelling clothes and hair
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fewer
wrinkles and healthier-looking skin
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Get
regular moderate-intensity physical activity |
Regular
physical activity may help you avoid large weight gains when you quit
smoking. It may help you look and feel good, and fit into your clothes
better. You will likely find that you can breathe easier during physical
activity after you quit smoking.
Try
to get 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most
days of the week, preferably every day. The ideas below may help you to
be active every day.
Ideas
for being active every day
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Take
a walk after dinner.
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Sign-up
for a class such as dance or yoga. Ask a friend to join you.
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Get
off the bus one stop early if you are in an area safe for walking.
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Park
the car farther away from entrances to stores, movie theatres, or
your home.
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Take
the stairs instead of the elevator. Make sure the stairs are well
lit.
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Having
more high-fat, high-sugar snacks and alcoholic drinks may lead to large
weight gains when you quit smoking. The ideas below may help you make
healthy eating and drinking choices as you quit smoking.
Healthy
eating and drinking choices as you quit smoking
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Do
not go too long without eating. Being very hungry can lead to less
healthy food choices.
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Eat
enough at meal times to satisfy you.
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Choose
healthy snacks, such as fresh fruit or canned fruit packed in juice
(not syrup), air-popped popcorn, or fat-free yogurt, when you are
hungry between meals.
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Do
not deny yourself an occasional ”treat.“ If you crave ice
cream, enjoy a small cone.
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Choose
an herbal tea, hot cocoa made with nonfat milk, or sparkling water
instead of an alcoholic beverage.
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Consider
using medication to help you quit |
Talk
to your health care provider about medications that may help you quit
smoking. Some people gain less weight when they use a medication to help
them stop smoking.
Medications
that may help you quit smoking
The
patch and gum are available without a prescription from your health care
provider.
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Will
weight gain hurt my health? |
A
small—or even large—weight gain will not hurt your health as
much as continuing to smoke will. The health risks of smoking are dramatic.
Health
risks of smoking
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Death—tobacco
use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
It kills more than 400,000 people in the U.S. each year.
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Cancer—smoking
greatly increases the risk for lung cancer, the leading cause of
cancer death in the U.S. Smoking is also linked to cancer of the
esophagus, larynx, kidney, pancreas, and cervix.
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Other
health problems—smoking increases the risk for lung disease
and heart disease. In pregnant women, smoking is linked to premature
birth and low birth weight babies.
By
quitting smoking, you are taking a big step to improve your health. Instead
of worrying about weight gain, focus on quitting. Once you are tobacco-free,
you can work toward having a healthy weight for life by becoming more
physically active and choosing healthier foods.
These
brochures from the Weight-control Information Network (WIN) can help you
adopt healthy eating and physical activity habits:
Energize
Yourself & Your Family
Healthy
Eating & Physical Activity Across Your Lifespan: Better Health and
You
Just
Enough for You: About Food Portions
Walking…A
Step in the Right Direction
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For
more information on quitting smoking, contact:
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American
Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org
1-800-ACS-2345 1-800-227-2345
American
Heart Association
http://www.americanheart.org
1-800-AHA-USA1 1-800-242-8721
American
Lung Association
http://www.lungusa.org/
212-315-8700
National
Cancer Institute
http://www.nci.nih.gov
1-800-4-CANCER 1-800-422-6237
1-800-332-8615 (TTY)
National
Institute on Drug Abuse
http://www.nida.nih.gov
301-443-1124
Office
of the Surgeon General
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/
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Weight-control Information Network
1
Win Way
Bethesda, MD 20892-3665
Tel: (202) 828-1025 or 1-877-946-4627
Fax: (202) 828-1028
E-mail: win@info.niddk.nih.gov
The
Weight-control Information Network (WIN) is a national service of the
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of
the National Institutes of Health, which is the Federal Government’s
lead agency responsible for biomedical research on nutrition and obesity.
Authorized by Congress (Public Law 103-43), WIN provides the general
public, health professionals, the media, and Congress with up-to-date,
science-based health information on weight control, obesity, physical
activity, and related nutritional issues.
WIN
answers inquiries, develops and distributes publications, and works
closely with professional and patient organizations and Government agencies
to coordinate resources about weight control and related issues.
Publications
produced by WIN are reviewed by both NIDDK scientists and outside experts.
This fact sheet was also reviewed by Robert Eckel, M.D., Professor of
Medicine, Physiology, and Biophysics, University of Colorado Health
Sciences Center.
This
e-text is not copyrighted. WIN encourages users of this e-pub to duplicate
and distribute as many copies as desired.
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NIH
Publication No. 03-4159
May 2003
e-text posted: June 2003
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