Quit Smoking & Control Weight at Once

Today marks the 34th Great American Smokeout. Visit cancer.org to learn more about all the reasons you should quit, plus a guide to quitting and planning your quit day.

For women who want to quit smoking, there’s more good news on a how to better make that commitment. Some women choose their appearance over health, continuing to smoke to avoid the weight gain that may come from the absence of nicotine. However, one new study says that need not be the case.

A new analysis of the results of several studies reveals that women who quit smoking while also receiving treatment for weight control are more successful at quitting cigarettes. They are also better able to control their weight gain.

“Women who smoke often feel caught between a rock and hard place, because they’re concerned about their health but also concerned about their appearance,” commented Bonnie Spring, lead author of the study and a professor of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Spring said that now women don’t have to choose between health and appearance. Her study, published in Addiction, analyzed the findings from 2,233 smokers in 10 studies from 1991 to 2007.

Specifically, the study found that women whose treatment included smoking and weight control were 29% more likely to quit smoking short term (three months), and 23% more likely to quit in the long term (six to 14 months). These women also gained around 2.5 pounds less after quitting smoking.

That weight difference may not seem like much, but if the combined treatments help women be more successful at quitting, then that counts for a lot, especially considering that cigarette smoking kills an estimated 178,000 women in the US each year.

Are you making plans to quit smoking?

(Image of sticker via cancer.org)