What is worst for health, smoking or being overweight?

B

baliodude

Joined
Apr 18, 2009
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Hi girls and guys:)

like the title says, What is worst?
I am not trying to choose one :D But I gave up smoking 3 months ago and I am 15 pounds heavier than when I was smoking. It is discouraging.

There is no way I can go on a diet and give up smoking at the same time. I would feel too deprived .:mad:
 
Forget about dieting! Really, worry less about the food, start exercising more. Whatever you like to do-hike, bike, lift, walk. Just do something! It will help with the cigg craving immensely. I quit smoking last spring, and lost about 20 lbs. the few months following. Of course, I gained it back last winter, but that's because I'm a lazy bastard:D I promise, though, that the exercise will help a lot, and you'll feel a ton better about yourself because you're not just giving up a bad habit, you're picking up a good one too!
 
You gain weight when you stop smoking. It's natural to gain 10-15-20lbs when you quit. Combat the cravings with extreme exercise. :) Swimming/Running/Biking/Free weights are what I'd recommend.

Overall, personally, in my unprofessional opinion, being grossly overweight is worse then smoking. Grossly is subjective however.
 
That's easy -- statistically, smoking is far worse for your health than 15 pounds overweight.

Besides, the weight gain is temporary.
 
In your case, you are doubtlessly much better off trading the cigarettes for ten or twenty pounds. Right now, get off of the cigarettes. You can deal with the weight later after you've beaten the cigarette addiction.

In the mean time, if you haven't already done so, switch to diet soft drinks; I know, the taste isn't as good, but the calorie savings is huge. If you haven't done so, switch from beer and wine to hard liquor without sweet mixers (better yet, cut out drinking entirely) because there's a lot of calories in beer. And step up on exercise a bit if you can.

But do trade the cigarettes for the weight.

In general, the question is impossible to answer because there are such extremes of each. Smokers vary from two or three cigarettes per day to two or three packs a day. And overweight varies from ten or twelve pounds to four or five hundred pounds. If someone asked which problem to attack first, smoking two cigarettes per day or being four hundred pounds overweight, my answer would be exactly the opposite.
 
You're probably going to gain some weight when you quit smoking anyway. So rather than have to work on your diet and exercise twice, quit smoking first then work on getting back in shape.

Take the money you'd be spending on cigarettes every day, and put it in a jar next to your bed. At the end of the month, buy yourself a new knife, or something you want but wouldn't normally buy.

Heck, take up a sport to get your mind off the cigarettes, and pay for it with the money you're saving by not smoking!
 
I've heard of smoking being one of the worst things a person can do to oneself. A little weight isn't really going to be that detrimental to one's health. The health effects due to weight are a bit of a hot topic at the moment. Just look at Sylvester Stallone. The guy's got a BMI of 34, which would put him into the category of obese. The whole weight issue isn't so much a problem as much as the fat percentage.

If you're having trouble giving up smoking, I've heard interesting arguments towards switching to a pipe or, the newest sensation, switching to an electric cigarette.
 
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