If you are ready to try quitting smoking and weight gain is a concern of yours, do not let this stand in your way. There are ways that you can avoid gaining weight when you stop smoking. There are so many benefits to quitting smoking that the possibility of weight gain pales in comparison to the health benefits you will realize when you quit smoking.

There are two reasons why smokers gain weight when they kick the habit. First of all when you stop smoking you still have an “oral fixation” and want to put something in your mouth. Your sense of taste and smell improves when you quit smoking, making you want to eat more. Secondly, nicotine increases your metabolism and quitting smoking slows your metabolic rate down, making it easier to put on a few pounds.

Now you know why you may put weight on when you quit smoking, now let’s take a look at how you can avoid this. Here are three tips that will help you keep the extra pounds off when you stop smoking.

Exercise-This is the most important way to avoid weight gain. It may seem obvious but exercise not only burns extra calories, it also helps to burn nervous energy that is a potential side effect of quitting smoking.

Keep your mouth busy-Keep healthy snacks like sugar free candy, gum, or carrot sticks handy. When that “oral fixation” strikes you and you want to put something in your mouth can combat it with something that is good for you instead of a cigarette.

Remove the Cravings-Quitting smoking and weight gain often go together because of the cravings that you experience as your body breaks the nicotine addiction caused by smoking. Ex-smokers typically fight these cravings by eating. There are quit smoking programs that are very successful by targeting the removal of these cravings. Programs like the Quit Smoking Today program use NLP techniques to make quitting smoking without weight gain easy by removing cravings.