How do you NOT gain weight when you stop smoking?

Try sugar-free lollipops. That’s what I would probably try if I were going to quit. Usually I find I smoke out of boredom and just need something to do with my hands.

@mrentropy. GOOD point.

Chew sugar-free gum instead.

I found I replace the oral fixation with another. That being food.

So find a hobby that keeps you away from the fridge.

I started taking the stairs and walking everywhere! Taking the stairs all the time was a great reminder as to why I quit, too! After a few months had passed, I took up Gōjū-ryū. I’ve lost weight. And I’d drink water when I had that urge come on. The urge no longer comes, thank Bob.

Hammer Dance.

Try some Crystal Meth : P
J/K You might try buying low-cal/reduce fat food !! Some people take up running/jogging !!

I didn’t gain weight, sorry.

Studies have shown that weight gain from smoking cessation is temporary and within one year of quitting people are back to their smoking weight.

I stayed to a strict diet and exercised like a freak.I found that beating people up helped to get rid of the stress and burned a few calories.Good luck :)

Nicotine increases your metabolism, so if you have a slower one, you might have to find something active that does what the cigarettes used to. Also, I find the breathing aspect of walking to be really nice when I quit, just that it feels good to take deep breaths. Chewing gum helped me keep my mouth occupied, which is a huge component of my addiction.

Hoping to make the next time soon and permanent.

don’t eat…when you have a craving and when you do have a craving drink water…

Look at quitting as a total life change, and not just quitting. Start a vigorous exercise program, and eat a low fat diet. It works.

You gain weight by not smoking cigarettes because you weren’t eating very much when you were, thus slowing down your metabolism. Your only logical choice would be to eat normally again, suck it up (maybe literally for a bit) when you gain weight, but eventually you will become regular again.

I am almost a month without smoking, Yaaay!! I am so willing to gain a pound or two if I can stay quit. I also find I can’t sit around having one more cigarette before doing a chore so I am moving around more. Fingers crossed and gut sucked in!

I have a friend that quit about a year ago. She always kept a lot of sugar free mints in her purses and pockets.

great book to help quit smoking is “allan carr easy way to quit smoking” it really helped me…

@evil2 – Me, too. That’s the book I read when I quit for good.

@evil2 and @aprilsimnel – That’s what I’ve heard. I have it.. I should read it.

There are 2 reasons that people gain weight when they stop smoking.

1. When you smoke nicotine makes you heart rate beat 10,000 times more a day and it stresses out your heart. When you stop smoking your metabolism slows down those 10,000 beats a day. 10,000 beats a day does not take a lot of calories, but it does make a metabolism change. I teach a program called [Link removed by Fluther] and we teach smokers how to smoke as you are going through the program and learn to gradually detoxify from the nicotine slowly so you can deal with the metabolic change.

The reason that a lot of people gain weight when they quit cold turkey is that the change is so abrupt that body does not have time to adjust to such a quick metabolism change. That is why I have my students smoke for the first 6 weeks so they can detoxify slowly and adjust to the new level of nicotine.

2. The other reason that people gain weight when they stop smoking is that they substitute candy, gum,toothpicks, sunflower seeds, pie or lemon drops for the habit. You need to let the habit DIE of neglect. The worst thing you can do is substitute something else for the habit because you then keep it alive.

If you keep “feeding the habit” one of two things will happen. You will gain weight and then you will say I was thinner as a smoker and then go back to smoking or you will just keep the habit alive and eventually go back to smoking.

Lela Bryan