Modest exercise after quitting smoking can help curb weight gain

For middle-aged women who worry about adding pounds when they quit smoking, a new study states that an increase in modest exercise can greatly help to curb weight gain. Nearly 7 of 10 U.S. adult cigarette smokers say they want to quit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and apparently, the fear of weight gain post the quitting scares them.

“We found even a little bit of physical activity minimised weight gain after women stopped smoking,” said study leader Juhua Luo of the School of Public Health at Indiana University in Bloomington. Even walking for a weekly total of about 90 minutes at three miles per hour was enough to minimise weight gain after smoking cessation. The best results were seen when women engaged in 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week.

“Women who had low physical activity and then transitioned to increased physical activity after they quit smoking had the same weight benefit as women who were physically active before and after they quit smoking,” Juhua said. For the purpose of the study, the researchers tracked women and gauged weekly physical activity levels by the type of activity, how intense or strenuous it was, and how long and how frequently a woman exercised to derive a value in so-called metabolic equivalents of task (MET).

“My hope is that women believe this study and it will convince them that stopping smoking doesn’t have to lead to weight gain,” said Dr JoAnn Pinkerton of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, who is also executive director of the North American Menopause Society. “There’s no clear gender difference in gaining weight after smoking cessation. I wish there had been men in the study to make it more comprehensive. Weight gain is equally important to men,” noted Dr Qi Sun of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, who was not involved in the study.