So, ideally, it should not cause you to gain weight.
Infact, many smokers claim that nicotine from cigarettes helps them curb their hunger. So it helps them manage their weight.
Now, many of your smoker friends may be consuming fewer calories than you. Maybe able to keep a calorie deficit, too.
So, ideally, they should be losing weight and eventually have a flat belly. Right?
Because Calorie deficit is a universal concept. Eat less than you burn, and you lose fat. It's a simple logic, right?
Now, if you observe your long-term smoker friends, you will see a pattern that they may be lighter than non-smokers, their BMI may look fine on paper, but they have a disproportional amount of belly fat.
How is this even Possible? Someone on a calorie deficit storing fat? How?
If you care to know, I can quickly explain what's going on.
Smoking triggers a metabolic dysfunction.
Smoking causes chronic inflammation, and that Inflammation drives insulin resistance, even on a calorie deficit.
Insulin resistance means your muscle cells stop responding properly to insulin. They no longer absorb glucose and amino acids efficiently.
Because of this, when they eat food, their muscle cells can take in less glucose and amino acids from it. So these amino acids from protein and glucose from carbs circulate in their blood.
So, Insulin-resistant people need to produce higher insulin to handle this Glucose and Amino Acids.
While the body converts excess Amino acids into glucose and ketone and nitrogen waste, Extra circulating Glucose gets stored as Visceral fat.
So this belly fat is actually Visceral Fat, which is considered more dangerous than Subcutaneous fat.
They may be having visceral fat around their internal organs, too, which they can not see from the outside. Many of them may have Fatty Liver too.
Infact, because of Insulin resistance, they have high triglycerides even being on a Calorie deficit.
Now, one question you may ask?
If smokers are on a calorie deficit, but they are gaining visceral fat, but are losing overall weight. So what are they actually losing?
Answer is they are losing Muscle Mass and Bone Mass.
Yes, you read it right.
Because Insulin Resistance is known to accelerate muscle Protein Degradation, and Chronic Inflammation is known to inflame and irritate the Gut. And an Inflamed gut doesn't absorb nutrients from food efficiently.
So, when the body doesn't get minerals from food.
Where does it get them from?
It leaches them from its Bones.
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smoking insulinresistance visceralfat inflammation
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