Does smoking help you lose weight?

• Smokers do tend to weigh less than nonsmokers - probably because smoking changes the way the body metabolizes ("burns") food. However, this small weight loss comes at a high price: your health, appearance, and feeling of self-control. There are other less costly ways of losing weight.
• Ironically, smoking leaves you out of breath and makes it harder to exercise. Cigarettes may make you a few pounds lighter, but they don't make you fitter.

When smokers quit, do they gain weight?

• Often they do, an average of 2-4 kilograms (4-9 pounds). That's one reason why people who quit should get regular exercise, such as bicycling, swimming, skating or working out. Another reason is that exercise helps them make it through the withdrawal period. It doesn't usually take much effort to lose the few kilos they've put on during the quitting process.

Does quitting smoking make you want to eat more sweets?

• Nicotine affects levels of blood sugar (glucose) in the body, so that nicotine withdrawal can trigger a craving for sweets. Sometimes, smokers who are quitting also snack more often to fill the "gap" that cigarettes used to fill. These withdrawal symptoms pass, however.

How do cigarette advertisements take advantage of women's insecurities about body image?

• Tobacco companies know that many women in our society think they should be thin, so the models in the ads are skinny, and the cigarettes are called slims, lights or longs. These ads feed the idea that all women should look like models. One group in the United States became angry at billboard cigarette ads directed at women, and pasted their own slogan on top. It read:

Love Your Body - Not Hers

• Associating thinness with smoking can start early. Researchers have found a direct relation between early smoking (before grade 6) - in both girls and boys - and low body satisfaction and fears about being overweight.

How does smoking affect your appearance?

• Nicotine constricts the blood vessels that bring oxygen to the skin. Without enough oxygen, skin ages faster - smokers end up with gray complexions and wrinkles.
• Smoking stains the teeth and fingers, turning them yellow. The smell of cigarette smoke clings to the hair and clothes, making them smell stale.
• Smoking also causes bad breath, which the smoker often isn't even aware of, except perhaps in the morning. "Smoker's breath" can't be entirely washed away with mouthwash or chewing gum, because it comes from the old smoke and tars that have accumulated in the lungs.

______________________

Sources:

Stop Smoking, Stay Trim (The Lung Association).

"Smoking, Weight and Appearance: Some Common Questions and Answers" from Facilitator's Guide: Diary of a Teenage Smoker  (Health Canada).