Metabolism and Weight Gain in Quitting Smoking: Facts and Tips

If you're worrying about gaining weight a couple of months into your quit, you're not alone. Here are a few methods to study.

The dieting method

We all know that if we eat fewer calories, we will start to lose weight. Unless we burn fat, the weight loss will consist of lean muscle tissue and water. The metabolic rate is the rate at which our system burns calories. The metabolic rate is influenced by lots of things, such as what we eat. Were we to just decrease our caloric intake, our bodies would go into survival mode. In survival mode, our bodies try to retain as much fuel as possible and therefore try to keep as much fat as possible. Our bodies actually try to store fat. Lean muscle tissue is then burnt for fuel. What this in fact does is reduce the metabolic rate. This results in no fat burning at all.

The weight loss method

What we want to do is elevate our metabolic rate. Our bodies have to receive the message to burn fat instead. Muscle tissues are made of cells that use fuel. Fat cells are inert, they don't burn any calories. Muscles use fat as fuel in their calorie burning actions, and need a constant supply. The more they exercised, the more they burn fat, even when we sleep. So the method to stop using the wrong type of energy is to make the muscles burn fat as fuel. The main way is through exercise. The more we build muscle tissue, the more the fat the tissues will burn.

How to increase fat-burning

A research at Laval University shew that you can burn calories nine times faster by applying a 'burst' method to your exercise. Say you choose a walk as your preferred exercise. Walk at your regular pace, and at some time during the walk, speed up for twenty seconds or so, until you feel yourself breathing faster. This is an interval training many fitness experts recommend.

Body Building

Weight training, resistance training will increase muscle tissue. You can do a little by using cans of food from your cupboard for a few minutes every day, while you're in the kitchen waiting for water to boil, for instance. Put on some rhythmic music, set the microwave or oven timer for a couple of minutes, and voila, you've begun a simple kitchen gym program! Your metabolic rate will heighten by developping muscle tissue and using that muscle will result in fat burning. Building up lean muscle mass will heighten your resting metabolic rate.

Foods that elevate metabolism?

Researchers say that few types of foods will boost your metabolism, but they only do so for a short while. Some reputed to increase metabolism include grapefruit, cayenne pepper, chives, and curry. The last two are said to keep a low cholesterol.