Weight Loss: Could Your Belly Fat Be A Smoker’s Belly?

If you smoke and have weight around your waist, that belly fat could be the smoker’s belly! Most people have never heard of a “smoker’s belly,” but studies have been done in the past more than once that explain why you are thin (or fat) and have a protruding stomach.

Smokers tend to weigh less than non-smokers, but not all smokers are thin. And although smokers weigh less than non-smokers, they tend to have more belly fat. One of the studies that was conducted in England with 21,800 British men and women reported that although smokers have a lower BMI (body mass index), they have more abdominal fat.

And compared to never-smokers, smokers had a smaller waist-to-hip ratio than current smokers. And the more cigarettes you smoke, the bigger the belly. So if you start smoking even more cigarettes, it means that you will continue to increase your belly size. When current smokers were compared to former smokers or people who had never smoked, the smokers had larger waist measurements and smaller hip measurements.

This research suggests that smoking can lead to belly fat if you don’t have it now, and lead to more belly fat if you have it now, as well as a reduction in lean muscle mass.

Although smokers tend to weigh less than non-smokers, not all smokers are slim, of course. When smokers start to gain weight or fat, they are more likely than non-smokers to deposit it around the abdomen and this is verified in another study.

It is not yet known why smokers tend to accumulate more abdominal fat than non-smokers. But some researchers conjecture that smokers are more likely to eat foods high in saturated fat than non-smokers, but this has not been proven. It has not yet been discovered why the body tends to distribute weight in the midsection. Perhaps the chemicals in cigarettes or tobacco influence hormone levels.

What can you do if you have a fat belly? Quitting smoking is the first thing you want to do. When you stop smoking, your body will adjust and gradually lose belly fat, as long as you don’t take in extra calories. Combine this with a weight loss program or weight loss plan or diet that takes into account and you will lose weight and shed belly fat quickly. Your waistline will shrink and you will lose inches that have been around for a long time.