Research
Energy balance
Smoking cessation causes significant weight gain (mean 1-5.9 kg at 1 year) primarily through increased caloric intake, decreased resting metabolic rate, and increased lipoprotein lipase activity in subcutaneous fat.
Expect to gain 1-6 kg after quitting. This is normal and driven by metabolic changes and increased eating. Use nicotine replacement (gum/patch) or bupropion to help manage this gain and improve quit success rates.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The mechanism of weight gain includes increased energy intake, decreased resting metabolic rate, decreased physical activity and increased lipoprotein lipase activity.
Why this rating
Review of multiple prospective and cross-sectional studies; notes methodological variability.
Source
Smoking cessation and weight gain
Claudia Filozof et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2004
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-789x.2004.00131.x
narrative_reviewCited 525×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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