There can be gain and anxiety after quitting smoking. I know that many people are trying to quit smoking right now and now that we are in the third
weekend of the new year they are really struggling to keep away from the cigarettes. I wanted to let you know that I understand how tough things are but the end is in sight and you will not have that urge anymore.
Anxiety After Quitting Smoking
One of the concerns that many people have is gain and anxiety after quitting smoking.
Weight gain after quitting smoking is actually one of the reasons why many people refuse to quit and why others will start smoking again when they see that they are starting to gain unwanted pounds.
Most people will notice some gain when they quit smoking and on average the increase in will be approximately five pounds.
There are however many ways to make sure that you won’t put on and these are healthy lifestyle choices such as the correct food and good exercise.
Considering the major benefits you will be making to your health both now and in the future by quitting smoking you might as well go all the way and boost your fitness levels too.
The advantages of quitting outweigh weight gain after quitting smoking
Smoking with does help people to keep their weight down and some fashion models smoke cigarettes because the nicotine in them speeds up the metabolism and that helps to burn fat due to the increased demand for energy. By burning more calories to supply the energy demands it is easier to remain thinner.
In addition to speeding up the metabolism nicotine acts like a stimulant and that can help to suppress the appetite.
A third way that nicotine helps people to stay thinner is because it causes the food to stay in the stomach longer and reduce the feelings of hunger.
These are definitely not good enough reasons to keep up the nicotine habit!
So you will need to make some lifestyle changes to avoid anxiety after quitting smoking. The easiest and most obvious step to take is to make sure that you are drinking enough water throughout the day.
This will help you to remain hydrated and it will also give you a fuller feeling in your stomach that will reduce the amount of hunger pangs you get.
This will stop you from eating excessively and it will also help to boost your energy levels which will make it easier for you to do some form of exercise that will help to boost your metabolism in much the same manner as the nicotine has done but without the negative effects on your health.
This is not to say that gain and anxiety after quitting smoking is unavoidable as a good percentage of people will actually lose weight. Just monitor your and no matter which direction it goes in you will always be better off from quitting even if you do gain a few pounds.
Anxiety problems while quitting smoking
Many people use the effects that nicotine can deliver to self medicate for depression and anxiety. It has been shown that the nicotine and other chemicals in cigarettes can help to improve the mood of a person and also to lessen the effects of anxiety.
While this is a temporary fix there is a need to tackle the underlying problem that is causing the depression as it can lead to more serious consequences.
Depression after Quitting Smoking
It is also very difficult to quit smoking when you are feeling depressed as the withdrawal symptoms that can come from quitting smoking and not getting the nicotine fix can cause a person to feel depressed.
By treating the depression properly with counseling, medication or other means a person will have a better chance of quitting smoking.
Anxiety attacks will also need to be sorted before any attempts at quitting smoking are attempted as once again cigarettes contain chemicals that help to release norepinephrine which lessens the effect of anxiety and depression.
Without the cigarettes to release norepinephrine a person who is feeling depressed or anxious is likely to have increased levels of anxiety and this makes it difficult for them to maintain their composure when on a program to stop smoking.
This is a situation where other alternative methods of quitting smoking such as hypnosis and acupuncture can help add support to mainstream method such as nicotine patches, pills and gum.
Yoga is an excellent discipline to train the correct breathing techniques and by using these techniques in times of stress and anxiety similar feelings of control to those achieved from smoking can be experienced without the detrimental affect to health.
So what if it is really that easy? What if all your beliefs about how hard it is going to be to quit are completely false? What if, after just one session of hypnotherapy or NLP you find it incredibly easy to become and remain a happy, confident non-smoker for life?The reason why hypnotherapy & NLP are so successful is because both our beliefs about smoking and our habitual smoking behaviours reside within your unconscious mind. So whilst consciously we may wish to quit, all too often our all powerful unconscious mind simply would not let us.
If you are quitting smoking and notice increased levels of anxiety it might be necessary to use a higher strength medication for your nicotine replacement like uping to instead of 30 or 20 and drop the strength at a slower rate to help cope with the changes.
Getting started quitting and staying off the tobacco can be hard but it is so incredibly satisfying to know that you are improving your life and that you have quit for good so you may need more help quitting smoking. Weight gain and anxiety after quitting smoking can be avoided but make sure you quit smoking no matter what.
The article said the usual gain is 5 pounds HA! I have stopped smoking for about a year now and I have gained seriously like 20 something pounds since I have stopped I also stopped drinking diet soda and eating sugar free foods at the sametime so I’m not really sure if that has anything to do with it but I don’t know how to stop this gain I went from a size 3/5 in pants to now a size 13! Crazy does anyone have any ideas on how to maybe eat less or something because I do eat more now and I don’t really have a lot of time for exercise but some light stuff could be suggested as I do walk and stand all day at work. Any ideas would be great thanks!
michelle rodriguez is a feisty little girl, i like her very tough girl attitude though.’.
Couldnt be More true.
nice post!
michelle rodriguez is a bad ass woman, i like her tough woman personality-‘*
I just started quitting smoking today.. It really sucks. I honestly didnt think I was that addicted. Iām not too sure on how to continue quitting smoking.
I have both Anxiety and Depression. This is the wost sickness that you could possibly have in this world. I try to mange it naturally using 5-HTP food supplements.
I dont have the anxiety issue. I miss having ‘something to do’ and that was go have a cigarette. I do not miss smoking at all. I did gain extra and I am looking at gyms now to help that. Nothing can be worse than actually smoking so I am ok with these side effects. They are onese I can change š
every time i quit smoking i cant control my eating, i eat 3 dinners every day.
I quit smoking 2 weeks ago, after 17 years of a pack a day.
Used to suffer from anxiety attacks and saw a psychologist about them.
Since I quit, anxiety’s reared it’s ugly head again. Yuck!
Still not planning on ever smoking again though š
I hope the feeling will subside again soon. If not; it’s back to the couch again for me š
9 months of not smoking and have noticed my depression and anxiety getting worse. Does any one know when it starts getting better?? hate it
I’m glad they banned smoking in many public places.
As a panic attack sufferer for 20 years myself, I find your topic very interesting. In my experience you need to realize that you have this problem, and be open about it. It helped me.
I quit smoking about 3 months ago and I have been loosing . The only bad thing is, that I have had problems breathing since I quit, and anxiety problems as well.
i have the same thing i cant breath as well like im drowinging my own lungs and anxiety soo bad i feel im deing. what do u do?
I have tried all these fancy programs and had terrible luck. Met for a family reunion where my sister-in-law attended. She’s a no bull kind of person. I noticed she’d lost and she noticed I’d put on a lot. She awkwardly begins to talk, saying, “Now hear me out on this…” Sheepishly she goes on to tell me about FatLoss4Idiots and that she and her husband had lost a total of 35lbs together. I signed up for it as soon as I got home. My spouse, surprisingly, joined me and we both lost a total of 22lbs in our first round. This works great!
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Smoking is a way to distract yourself from something thats bugging you. If you quit, you need another distraction. That’s why people put on so much . It’s almost all psychological.
This topic is quite hot on the Internet at the moment. What do you pay the most attention to when choosing what to write about?
I’ve been smoking for 20 years and I just turned 30. I’m the kind of person who worries alot and I get extremely emotional or anxious. Smoking a cigarette helps me curb those spaz outs. When I quit smoking, I snap at people and I get “bitchier” even meaner. Do you have any advice for those issues and how to control or eliminate them if I were to attempt to quit smoking again?
Michelle, I feel this way now, any advise on if this get’s any better?
Jeepers, I have put a pound a week on for every week I’ve stopped. That is 18 weeks now and I’m not impressed. I walk 30 miles a week and cycle now too. God only knows what I’d be like if I didn’t exercise. Jeepers. My sister started gaining and has gone back on the cigarettes and her excess just went in a fortnight. Jeepers.
In my opinion if you want to quit smoking it is a purely psychological thing. If you need medication to get off cigs then you will be back on smokes after a time. If you want to quit smoking your own will is the only thing that really can help you staying of those killers forever.