Can Smoking Help You Lose Weight?

Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 7:02 pm

by Christian Goodman

One of my good friends who is a smoker, recently came to me expressing a desire to quit smoking.

This was a surprise as she has always told me in the past that she refused to stop smoking if it meant any weight gain.

Since she came to me this time, I was greatly intrigued.

She had seen a commercial recently which had beautiful women wearing tight, provocative clothing but written on the clothing was a different smoking related disease – “Heart Disease,” for example.

My friend thought this was an excellent commercial to reinforce for those that as a weight loss aid, smoking leaves a lot to be desired.

We both gained an education from the conversation that followed.

My friend admitted that she had tried to quit smoking a couple of years before but it was difficult, she gained weight and she started smoking again.

Her “plan” was to quit and that was it – she never considered what would happen if she experienced trouble in the plan.

Additionally, she hadn’t taken into account just how ingrained smoking was in her life, not just the addictive nature of cigarettes.

To help her in her second attempt to quit smoking, we decided to look at what was wrong with her first plan to stop smoking.

The first thing my friend did was to completely quit cigarettes without gradually cutting back. She thought this would be the easiest way to give them up.

This worked for her until she realized that she needed a substitue for the cigarette on her drive to work, coffee breaks, lunch breaks, after dinner and the like.

FOOD! That was obviously an easy filler. Who doesn’t like food? Food doesn’t cause lung cancer! This plan actually worked for awhile since she wasn’t smoking. What was the result? Pretty much what you’d think – she gained weight. Of course, this didn’t fit well with her second goal of dieting to lose weight. The diet she chose was a poor one, based on her likes and dislikes. While she stuck with the plan for awhile, the choices were limited.

As predicted, the diet quickly disolved and she gained even more weight.

Exercise – what could be wrong with that? Nothing, until I discovered that like her rigid smoking cesation plan and diet plan, she was working out twice a day, six days a week. Keep in mind that her existing exercise routine was to walk to and from her car in the parking lot at work. She stuck with the plan for a couple of weeks and then quit.

“Moderation in all things.” I asked my friend to keep that as a daily mantra and to use that as the basis of her next plan to get healthy.

I helped my friend to see that the goals she set were simply not realistic and certainly not acheivable for her to start with.

We first looked at how she approached giving up cigarettes. The “all or nothing” approach was difficult for her the first time.

For my friend, she needed to gradually reduce the amount she smoked each day until she could eventually give them up altogether.

What happened if she did backtrack? My friend had no support system in place – no one to tell her she isn’t a complete failure and that she doesn’t have to give up. My advice was to find a “buddy” to quit with.

Diet – this approach also needed to change. I suggested that she first see her doctor to discuss all three things she wanted to accomplish – stop smoking, diet, exercise. Her doctor could recommend a diet plan she could stick with as well as ascertain her current fitness level.

I suggested that my friend see a doctor to determine her current physical condition. This would enable her to chose an exercise routine based in reality.

She could also join a gym and let the professionals there, who already have the expertise, design a program for her.

I was able to show my friend that breaking down her large goal of overall health into smaller, acheivable goals was the best solution for her.

Over time you will see results in the way your clothes feel, how you feel fuller with smaller meals and hopefully, feel better without the cigarettes and their undesirable attached health issues.

I ended up recommending my Weight Loss Breeze Program. Exercises that almost everyone, regardless of current fitness level can do are included and feedback has proven amazing results. There are also special exercises for smokers or those who’ve quit that cleanse the lungs and increase oxygen level.

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About the Author:

Christian Goodman is a well known health researcher and author of several revolutionary natural health alternative methods. One of his recent breakthroughs is his natural Weight Loss Breeze Program. You can learn more about Christian on his Natural Health Alternative Blog.

Can Smoking Help You Lose Weight?

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