Can Vaping Help You Lose Weight?

Behind only smoking, obesity is the second leading cause of cancer in the UK. The previous government planned to tackle this problem with various measures, including weight loss drugs.

For many smokers, there are concerns about an increase in weight once they give up cigarettes. So, can vaping e-liquids as a replacement lead to weight loss or gain?

This guide aims to solve this question by explaining the link between vaping and cigarettes, how many calories are in an e-liquid and what the best course of action is to help manage your weight in the long term.

Do Vapes Have Calories?

First, we must start by addressing the elephant in the room. Because we're all encouraged to watch our daily calorie intake - the measurement of energy in daily food and drink products, are calories found in vapes? Because you do not consume e-liquids but instead vaporise them, technically, they are not counted in the same way as food or drink.

Even if you did, the calories per 10ml of e-liquid (roughly less than 10) are a very small amount anyway.

Therefore, you're not consuming more energy than you burn when vaping, so it does not count towards your calorie intake and therefore isn’t directly linked to weight gain.

Does Vaping Break a Fast?

One method many people follow these days to curb any excessive weight gain is the popular routine of fasting. This is where you have a smaller window to eat and intake liquids containing sugar. And a greater amount of time during the day when you do not eat or drink (water is the exception).

Technically vaping should not break a fast, but the moisture and levels of nicotine can lead to dry mouth, and soon after dehydration. Because either method can have mixed effects based on the individual, it's best to consult your doctor.

Does Vaping Make You Gain Weight?

The next important question is whether vaping leads to weight gain. What we know from very few scientific studies or conclusive evidence is we have not seen a direct link between putting on weight due to vaping.

As e-liquids contain very few calories and there are a wide range of circumstances to consider with weight gain; such as exercise, diet and genetics, vaping cannot be pinpointed as the sole reason why a person gains or loses weight.

Instead, it’s more important to recognise the role of nicotine. Because this addictive substance acts as a very powerful appetite suppressant, this means that vapers have less hunger during the day.

Can Smoking in Contrast Lead to Weight Loss?

The exact same rule applies to smoking because cigarettes contain nicotine. As smokers lose weight naturally due to consuming fewer calories, it can be difficult for someone to wean off cigarettes when they’re fully aware weight gain can occur once you stop smoking.

As you put down cigarettes, appetite suppression stops and a need for a replacement habit begins. Cue the desire to snack more among many smokers looking to quit.

Although nicotine is the main substance in cigarettes that acts as an appetite suppressant, leading to eventual weight loss, excessive amounts of tobacco can cause excess fat which largely forms in the belly.

After a person quits smoking, this tends to lead to an increase in calorie intake, with research suggesting this happens as the metabolic rate decreases.

As another study highlights, the effects of vaping on weight increase is like smoking, but after vaping cessation, weight gain is lower and comparable with nicotine non-users. Interestingly, in a study on animals, blood glucose was higher in group B (exposure to smoke) than in groups A (vapour) and C (no nicotine exposition) 24 hours after the last exposure to nicotine and two weeks after nicotine exposure cessation.

What Happens After You Stop Inhaling Nicotine?

However, if a smoker were to go down the route of going  ‘cold turkey’ and completely cut out nicotine from their normal routine, then eating more food than normal may help to curb those cravings for cigarettes.

Depending on how much food is consumed and how little exercise is undertaken, a few unwanted extra pounds might be added to the scales over time. By vaping e-liquid, the nicotine continues to suppress appetite and will keep the body in its current state, but in a far less harmful way.

Because of lower energy due to a decrease in physical activity and high-fat diets, weight gain can last several months or even years in some cases until nicotine levels even out, with a smoker gaining on average an additional 4.5kg between 6-12 months after quitting.

Nevertheless, you have to outweigh the positives against the negatives. A bit of light exercise, a healthy diet and no cigarettes will not only help to shed the pounds that will inevitably happen initially but inevitably lead to a better life, free of combustible tobacco and reduce the level of tar and dangerous toxins in the body.

Vaping is clearly not a food alternative but helps to replace the nicotine cravings or withdrawal from not touching cigarettes anymore. With no carbohydrates or added sugars in vape juice, rest assured it’s all about the puff with each inhale and getting the right nicotine hit, which can be adjusted, unlike cigarettes.

How to Speed Up Metabolism Naturally after Quitting Smoking

Neither smoking or vaping is recommended for your well-being to lose weight but neither do they contribute to excess fat. Nicotine, the natural appetite suppressant, found in cigarettes and vaping, leads to weight loss but not in a natural way.

Instead, nicotine reduces your appetite and speeds up your metabolism, so your body burns calories at a faster rate. Here are a few tips to follow to lose weight naturally:

1. Chew your food at a slower pace. Food is not just for fuel but also a pleasure, so take your time!
2. Try and allow your food to digest for at least 20 minutes after finishing a meal to feel full. Eat smaller portions and try some snacks if you start getting peckish after to stabilise your metabolism.
3. Exercise regularly to ensure a high metabolism which will be lower due to nicotine consumption.

Understanding the Link Between Vaping and Weight Loss

As one cross-sectional study demonstrates, it’s still early to understand for sure whether vaping contributes to weight loss, or leads to weight gain.

During a systematic review of various groups, the study concluded that ‘to understand more about e-cigarettes for weight loss, scientists would need to see more studies that highlight vapers who have not smoked before, vapes that do not contain nicotine, the flavours accounted for and vaping frequency’.

Because data shows a ‘ high prevalence of e-cigarette was noted among obese population’ but this data is cross-sectional due to not knowing smoker history, it would take separating the groups and obtaining lengthy historical data to understand the links between weight loss and gain before and after vaping as we do with smoking.

Final Thoughts

To date, there are no clear links between vaping and losing weight, or putting on weight. Nicotine controls your appetite, which via smoking or vaping can have an impact on what you eat. Despite containing a few calories, through natural flavourings and PG/VG, as we stated earlier, e-liquids are not consumed so they can not be attributed towards an individual's diet regime.

Instead, it’s important to remain as healthy as possible, for adults to quit smoking whenever they can and if needed, vaping to act as a substitute, followed by hopefully stopping both to no longer need nicotine.

For now, vaping should not be a concern for those who are worried as a smoker about replacing one with the other and putting on weight. And also importantly, vaping should not be seen as a way to lose weight.

We hope this article has been helpful and has shed some light on an important topic to so many. Understand that this is just general information about vaping and smoking backed up by medical research and it should not be relied upon for medical advice or guidance.