How can I keep from gaining weight after I quit?

I am sure that you have heard horror stories of some people gaining much more weight than just five pounds, and these stories are what often cause you concern. Planning and preparation can help you feel more in control of your weight management when you quit. If weight management is a concern for you, start early in your quitting preparations to identify helpful weight management tools that you believe will be helpful.

First, I also recommend finding a dietary plan that works well with your metabolism and your level of activity, and one that you can use as an eating lifestyle and not as a weight-loss diet only. Weight management is best when done consistently and not as a "yo-yo" diet. You may find that the best diet for you is the popular high carbohydrate and low fat approach, or the high protein and low carbohydrate approach, or the balanced diet approach. You and your doctor are the best people to decide on which dietary plan will work best for you.

One of the best weight management tools, and one that gives you the highest rate of successfully quitting, is exercise. Exercise increases your level of physical health, your level of self-management, and your level of self-esteem. It is the fastest way to improve your health and heal the effects of your smoking habit. Exercise also changes your brain chemistry so that you feel better in addition to looking better. It helps to raise endorphin levels so that you feel more relaxed and less stressed, just like when you smoked! Exercise also increases the oxygen in your body and helps to clean out your lungs.

If you find that you are often too busy to exercise for thirty minutes at a time, research has shown that three ten-minute exercise periods are just as effective. If you can integrate more movement into your lifestyle, you can keep your metabolism up throughout the day. Walking, climbing stairs, dancing, house cleaning, or gardening are all healthy activities that you can include in your daily routine and increase your level of activity. Research has also show that exercising as little as six times a month has a positive impact on your health. Highly positive health effects can occur with as little as four exercise periods a week lasting thirty minutes each time.

Starting an exercise program and improving your diet are considered BIG lifestyle changes. Give yourself time to get these new behaviors into place before you quit, even if you take three or four months to prepare. The powerful and positive impact of these new behaviors will greatly increase your chances of successfully quitting. They will be of great support with craving management and stress management. Your time is well spent when you prepare in advance for quitting so that you will have these effective tools already integrated into your life.