title: Can physical activity minimize weight gain in women after smoking cessation?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine prospectively whether exercise can modify weight gain after smoking cessation in women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were analyzed from a 2-year follow-up period (1986-1988) in the Nurses' Health Study, an ongoing cohort of 121,700 US women aged 40 to 75 in 1986.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average weight gain over 2 years was 3.0 kg in the 1474 women who stopped smoking, and 0.6 kg among the 7832 women who continued smoking. Among women smoking 1 to 24 cigarettes per day, those who quit without changing their levels of exercise gained an average of 2.3 kg more (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.9, 2.6) than women who continued smoking. Women who quit and increased exercise by between 8 to 16 MET-hours (the work metabolic rate divided by the resting metabolic rate) per week gained 1.8 kg (95% CI = 1.0, 2.5), and the excess weight gain was only 1.3 kg (95% CI = 0.7, 1.9) in women who increased exercise by more than 16 MET-hours per week.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Smoking cessation is associated with a net excess weight gain of about 2.4 kg in middle-aged women. However, this weight gain is minimized if smoking cessation is accompanied by a moderate increase in the level of physical activity.
authors.affiliation: Channing Laboratory, Harvard University, Boston, Mass. 02115-5899, USA.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Troisi
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Rotnitzky
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Coakley
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Colditz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D015430:Weight Gain