One of the common fears associated with giving up smoking is that it will lead to uncontrolled weight gain. While it is true that some people can gain 9 kilos during the first year of abstinence, other more encouraging studies have shown that initial gains tend to peak after six months and that many people return to their normal body weight within twelve months of quitting the habit.
For those potential quitters who are not confident that they would be capable of such a feat, comfort can be sought in the finding that ex-smokers who take up regular physical exercise have a greater chance of controlling their weight than those who remain sedentary.
American researchers investigating the post-smoking gains of some 9000 women discovered that getting active was key to their weight control over the two-year period following cessation.
The ‘light’ smokers (24 or less cigarettes a day) investigated who undertook 1-2 hours of energetic physical activity each week were found to gain an average of 2.2 kilos compared with heavy smokers (25 cigarettes a day or more), who gained almost double this weight.
The researchers went on to discover that the more exercise the volunteers took, the better their weight control. When physical activity levels were stepped up to more than 2 hours a week, the light smokers were able to keep increases down to 1.5 kilos and the heavy smokers kept their increases down to 3 kilos.
Some of the tendency to develop stores of body fat is blamed on the slowing of the metabolism when nicotine is withdrawn from the diet because, like caffeine, nicotine is capable of slightly increasing the metabolic rate. Smoking and nicotine may also have other physiological effects that affect behavioural and sensory mechanisms that in turn affect food intake and trigger off an increased desire to eat, when withdrawn.
The mechanisms have not yet been identified but research does indicate that 70 per cent of the weight gains measured can be accounted for by increased calorie intakes. In one particular study, women were shown to have increased their food and drink consumption by an average of 227 calories per day.
For those who are planning to stop smoking but are concerned by the risk of increasing weight ……the key seems to lie in tackling the problem from both sides of the energy balance equation.
5 Point Plan
- Take up some form of regular exercise and fit in more than two hours over the week.
- Build in three 25 minute sessions of strength training to help reduce normal age-related drops in muscle mass and thus metabolic rate.
- Keep a food diary for five days prior to giving up smoking.
- Keep a food diary on giving up smoking. Compare it to your smoking diet diary and identify the times when you are eating more and the kinds of foods you are eating.
- Learn how to deal with difficult moments and have fruit and low fat snacks on hand to consume at these times.
References
- Journal of the American Dietetic Association (1996; 11:1150-1155).
- American Journal of Public Health (1996; Volume 86, Number 7).
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1986; Volume 43, 486 - 494).
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1982; Volume 35, 366 - 380).
FOOD TODAY 03/2000
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