Research shows that 70% of smokers want to quit.
We know quitting smoking can be difficult. Heres 4 ways to help you quit smoking without gaining weight.
It is quite possible to kick the nasty habit without adding extra pounds and here’s how.
Understand Nicotine Burns Calories
The first thing to understand is why some quitters usually gain weight.
The first reason is that nicotine is a stimulant and it will actually burn extra calories every day give or take 100 calories a day and it can take weeks or months for your metabolism to catch up and start burning those calories again.
To balance out those calories, take up some form of exercise or increase your activity if currently training.
That could be as simple as an hour walk on a Sunday or adding an extra 20-minute intense circuit to your week’s training.
Nicotine Makes You Feel Good
Nicotine just like sugary fatty treats will release dopamine within your brain, which is the “feel good” hormone.
Once we stop the nicotine your body will look to get the dopamine high from other sources, which generally tends to be junk crap food.
Smoking also gives you something to do with your hands and dulls your taste buds. When you take away the fact that you’re not smoking any more you then replace it by eating.
Suddenly when you stop smoking you remember how good everything tastes and smells so, you want to eat everything again.
So, guys what can we do about this?
1. Eat More Protein & Green Vegetables
You will crave crap food so rather than looking for healthy alternatives to crap food, try to include more lean proteins from meat and green vegetables in your diet to keep you full, which will mute your cravings for food.
The first thing that we can do is conquer our triggers. And what I mean by triggers are times when you have to get up and smoke.
So, for example, after a meal, most people would normally get up and go for a smoke.
Instead, try something else.
2. Drink More Water From a 500ml Bottle
Try downing a glass of ice-cold water. Try getting up and going for a brisk walk after you eat.
The next thing that we can do is very similar. It’s to conquer our oral and hand fixation. So always doing something with your hands and mouth?
We can quite simply replace that with something that isn’t food. Try carrying a small bottle of water about 500 MLS around with you everywhere you go. Every time you feel like you need to fidget or do something with your hands take up your small bottle of water and have a drink.
The last thing that we can do is to change the composition of our food. So, because we’re not burning those extra calories anymore from smoking what we can do is change the composition of our food so, that it keeps you fuller for longer and as a result, you’re not so hungry anymore.
