Dieting Leads to Smoking?

I just cannot understand ...

Firefighters wear protective masks with oxygen when going into fight a fire, to protect their lungs from the smoke. I've read more people die in fires because of smoke inhalation than from burning.

And yet - people still light up and inhale the poison of cigarettes, cigars, -anything they can roll up or stuff into a pipe - into their lungs!

I am so allergic to smoke now, (I too tried it as a teenager) - that if someone has it on their clothes my asthma is set off and I can't stop coughing. I watched my father-in-law die after having portions of his lungs removed due to lung cancer. My aunt was exactly the same. They both were smoke stacks.

Teenage girls are certainly not trying to improve their health by using cigarettes to lose weight. Is it that distorted body image again?

What is the trade off? It seems that people will try anything to lose weight (how about the pills?) exchanging one poison for another. This has nothing to do with their health. May the Lord help us all!! We look on one another with such contempt because of fat - and all those kids who will do anything to fit in.

This is interesting. Many supermodels are chain smokers so it would seem to go hand in hand with food deprivation for them.

However, I found the opposite true for me, as when I was larger I was a social smoker. But as I lost weight and became healthier I decided to stop smoking completely as part of my new healthy lifestyle. I have now kept the weight off for over a year and have not had a single cigarette in that time.

In my opinion, from a health point of view, smoking is far worse for the body than carrying a few extra pounds.

Croc said:
In my opinion, from a health point of view, smoking is far worse for the body than carrying a few extra pounds.[...]

Whaat? Poisoning yourself is worse than being fat? Blasphemy! :p

I love cigarettes. There were times smoking was so pleasurable. When I quit seven years ago, I was under 200 pounds. After quitting, I ballooned to over 300 pounds. Wow. They do take their toll and I'm glad I quit. Now to drop the remaining weight without tobacco.. I am living proof that cigarettes suppressed my weight. I feel healthier as a fat pig though, and recently finished a 10k. YOU should see me in my high shorts as my belly shakes...holy crap, I better try some spot reducing.

Yeah, a lot of celebs and models smoke. I would guess it's to distract them from eating or to make their appetite go away so the starving would be more bearable. I can't imagine doing that to my body though...cigarettes are a pretty nasty habit and they cut more years off your life than a few extra pounds would.

Swapping one addiction for another? Stop overeating, take up smoking? The whole needing to do something with your hands/mouth thing, perhaps - when I used to starve myself I would smoke more just to do something hand-to-mouth.

I was the same as Croc though, when I decided to become more healthy, smoking just didn't fit with that anymore. And because drinking makes me want to smoke (even now, nearly 2 years later), I had to stop drinking too.

I started smoking in high school partly due to peer pressure and partly because it did help me to lose weight. Now I am afraid if I quit I will gain all of the weight I've lost back.

i used to smoke cos it supressed my appetite, but as i quit i felt really healthy and it strangely led to healthier choices with food and i exercised alot more as well, so by quitting i lost weight instead of gaining...how weird is that?

Because of the appetite suppressing ability of nicotine, it's no doubt that teen girls who are on a diet are using cigarette.

Amy said:
The whole needing to do something with your hands/mouth thing, perhaps - when I used to starve myself I would smoke more just to do something hand-to-mouth.

I have to agree with Amy on this one. My food addiction has been mainly due to the fact that I need to be constantly doing something with my hands (not necessarily hand-to-mouth). At work I either play with my water bottle or hair tie, and at home, I have now picked up a few other hobbies (eg, blogging and crafts).

Luckily for me, I never had the desire to smoke after drinking my soda that was used as an ashtray (wasn't done on purpose) at the age of 12.

With the effects of cigarette to the appetite, it's no wonder that most models smoke just to maintain their figure.

Michelle said:
Luckily for me, I never had the desire to smoke after drinking my soda that was used as an ashtray (wasn't done on purpose) at the age of 12.

Ugh!! That reminds me of my younger (stupider?) days when my friends and I paid another friend $100 on a booze-fuelled New Year's holiday to drink the contents of an almost-empty Jim Beam & Coke stubby that had been used as our ash tray for a day or so. Not to mention the used band-aid that was in there. GROSS! The friend in question still smokes a pack-a-day though. I can't believe he did it voluntarily - and didn't throw up (straight away).

That would explain why I really enjoy smoking. I am not that skinny girl I wish to be, so once at 3 months I am trying to keep a diet. Well, it’s true, I don’t know if this is the reason I start smoking from the beginning. I think I did it more because someone told me that smoking can help you lose weight. Is this true? It’s true, I tried once to quit, but I felt like a gain weight again, so gave up with it. Is this a true possibility, or is just inside my head? If I would quit smoking, I am sure the only solution for me to lose weight would be to take pills, and I am scared I would take far too many and I would end in a drug rehab centre. lol

Don’t worry Ada! If you want, you may try pills (even if I think these will never work) but I know something for sure: Losing weight pills will never get you in a drug treatment center. They can damage your body and you wil need to go in a hospital, but not in a drug rehab, girl!

Smoking is a disgusting habit, and I feel like everybody smokes. I come home smelling of cigarettes even if I just went out for a walk with my dogs outdoors (you'd think I'd smell of dog instead). I need to get past the "picket line" of people smoking *outside the gym* to go in and to leave. Waiting at the door at school for 5m means inhaling smoke from 20 cigarettes at least.

While some of these are skinny girls, the vast majority are quite overweight. In fact, I see more fat people smoking than I see average weight people, so it is not really working to keep them thin.

I fantasize about moving to the region of Switzerland where they made smoking illegal everywhere except in your house.

Cigarettes are often a gateway drug for teens. They begin with cigarettes, graduate to alcohol and marijuana and then to harder, more addictive drugs. If there is a correlation between dieting, smoking and substance abuse in females, it is most likely because of an issue such as poor self-esteem (depression) and an undiagnosed dual diagnosis.

That seems a little extreme saying that if someone is watching their weight through the foods they eat, that there is a good chance they might start smoking.