Smoking and Obesity When people stop smoking, they
commonly gain weight. Most people think that they are
substituting food for cigarettes. This is partially
correct. Smoking is usually a different form of oral
gratification that obviously does not involve the
consumption of calories. However, smoking does have
another effect - it actually increases caloric
requirements by increasing resting metabolic rate.
People who smoke require approximately 10% more
calories to maintain their body weight than when they
are not smoking. Therefore, if you stop smoking but
maintain constant food intake and exercise, you would
expect body weight to increase. It usually will
increase between 5% and 10%.
However most people who quit smoking eat more than before so
they gain more than 5%-10%.
Ora