I've been doing some reading about smoking and metabolism. Two weeks ago I quit smoking, since then my weight loss has been negligible and frankly it's way too early in this process for me to be having plateau issues. So I started looking at other culprits and it turns out that smokers actually burn 100-200 extra calories a day over non-smokers, which is roughly a 15% metabolism boost. It has to do with the way a cigarette causes your veins to constrict driving up your blood pressure, making your heart work harder and thereby increasing metabolic rate. This is also why contrary to what I thought heart disease is the number one leading cause of smoking related death, not cancer.
So knowing this the question is : Am I going to go out and buy a pack so I can re-boost my metabolism? No, I'm not. I'm going to keep plugging away. Although if I'm being completely honest had I known this beforehand I might have waited to quit smoking until I had lost a bit more weight. On the other hand I'm doing things right now that were difficult for me when I was 220 lbs and exercising daily. Doing Just Dance 4 this morning my HR was between 160 and 175 the whole time and I still have enough air left to sing along, which I know I would not be capable of, had I not quit smoking. It kind of surprised me when it popped that I had a unlocked an achievement for singing, I didn't realize the Kinect was listening... spooky!
I have kept my promise to myself and not weighed although I really, really want to because I have a sneaking suspicion there's going to be good news. But I will wait!
Week 6 : 21 lbs down, 159 lbs to go
Current Weight : 304 lbs
Start Weight : 327 lbs
Goal Weight : 145 lbs
Way to go Kate! I'm so proud of you. I don't smoke, therefore, I don't know how hard it is. But I can simply think it must be similar to loosing weight or cutting any other dependance. And congrats for not weighing in this morning. I must admit I was tempted as well ;-)
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