Table of Contents
- DOES VAPING HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT?
- INTRODUCTION
- WHY DO SMOKERS GAIN WEIGHT AFTER GIVING UP SMOKING CIGARETTES?
- CAN VAPING HELP YOU CONTROL WEIGHT GAIN?
- IS VAPING SAFE?
- DOES VAPING MAKE YOU HUNGRY?
- WHAT DOES YOUR BODY CONSUME WHEN VAPING?
- WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF VAPING WHILE FASTING OR ON CERTAIN DIETS?
- IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN VAPING AND WEIGHT LOSS?
- HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT VAPE TO LOSE WEIGHT
- DOES VAPING MAKE YOU LOSE WEIGHT - CONCLUSION
- REFERENCES
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-
No Proven Link to Weight Loss
While nicotine can suppress appetite slightly and increases heart rate, there’s no scientific evidence that vaping directly leads to meaningful or healthy weight loss. -
Appetite Changes Are Temporary
Some vapers may notice reduced hunger or cravings—especially ex-smokers—but these effects are short-term and vary from person to person. -
Focus on Health, Not Myths
Using vaping as a weight control method is not recommended. A balanced diet, exercise, and proper lifestyle choices are far more effective and sustainable.
DOES VAPING HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT?
The simple fact is that vaping doesn't make you fat. Reasons you may experience weight gain when you quit smoking are that nicotine is a stimulant and increases the metabolic rate. Nicotine is an appetite suppressant, reducing feelings of hunger. So when you cut nicotine out of your life, you may experience long term weight gain. However, vapes deliver nicotine at a similar rate smoking does, so most vapers should not experience excessive weight gain and may even lose weight!
INTRODUCTION
Some people ask if vaping really make you fat? Sounds like a silly question to some degree, but some people notice an increase in their body weight when they stop smoking. Whether the device is an e-cigarette or a disposable vape, a direct to lung or mouth to lungs inhale, if the only change you have made is making the switch to vaping, and you should not see an increase in your body weight.WHY DO SMOKERS GAIN WEIGHT AFTER GIVING UP SMOKING CIGARETTES?
When you give up smoking, it is likely to lead to weight gain. According to the Harvard Medical School (1), on average ex-smokers will gain 4kg to 5kg when they quit smoking. There are several reasons for this:
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Nicotine acts as a stimulant, which raises your metabolic rate, speeding up how quickly you burn calories. Cutting out nicotine will reduce these metabolic spikes, slowing the body’s fat burning rate. That's why French women and runway models smoke to help them lose weight and prevent weight gain!
- Nicotine suppresses appetite by inhibiting the body’s expectation of food to make up for energy spent and may help to lose weight. Cutting out nicotine will lead to your body demanding more food as it more accurately reports the energy spent, and therefore how much energy is needed to make up the deficit.
- Nicotine suppresses the insulin levels in the blood, increasing the blood sugar levels. This means energy is readily available in the blood, to deliver where needed. Cutting out nicotine will let the insulin levels normalise, reducing the energy freely available in the blood, which may lead to higher caloric consumption to make up for it.
- Stopping smoking will lead to a return of your taste buds! This in itself can lead to cravings and result in eating more as full flavours increase the pleasure taken when eating snacks and meals which can lead to weight gain.
- The action of smoking is a big part of the habit! So when people don't have a cigarette in their hand they replace it with biscuits, chocolate or crisps. This can lead to a rapid weight gain in the short term. Using a traditional smoking cessation aid like nicotine patches have problems with weight control as they are missing the hand to mouth habit.
- The cognitive effects of nicotine withdrawal can affect a lot of brain functions including mood regulation and dopamine release. As consuming junk food can lead to dopamine release, it is often used as a way of self-comforting. The dopamine release also encourages the behaviour, setting it up to become habitual - this is where the idea of eating to replace cigarettes finds ground.
Subtle as these effects may be, when stacked up they will exacerbate long term weight gain after you stop smoking.
CAN VAPING HELP YOU CONTROL WEIGHT GAIN?
Everyone is different when they try to quit cold turkey! As we know nicotine is a popular means of controlling weight gain with women, so totally removing nicotine when quitting smoking can lead to eating more junk food and other high calorie foods.
The concept of vaping is to deliver a consistent amount of nicotine without the harmful chemicals found in traditional cigarettes. So buy removing the 4000 chemicals, the tar and the carcinogens in tobacco, you can get a cleaner hit of nicotine. While vaping may help you lose weight, it is recommended to increase physical activity and a health lifestyle to manage your weight control in the short term.
The concept of vaping is to deliver a consistent amount of nicotine without the harmful chemicals found in traditional cigarettes. So buy removing the 4000 chemicals, the tar and the carcinogens in tobacco, you can get a cleaner hit of nicotine. While vaping may help you lose weight, it is recommended to increase physical activity and a health lifestyle to manage your weight control in the short term.
IS VAPING SAFE?
Tobacco products contain nicotine, which is a highly addictive substance. People who smoke often see more success when trying to quit if they use a stop smoking aid - traditionally these come in the form of nicotine patches, gum and the like, but vaping is proving to be a useful tool in the fight against tobacco smoking.
When you vape nicotine, the body still absorbs it in the same way as smoking, but without the tar or 2nd hand smoke. Countless medical studies have shown that vaping is a much safer option than smoking. According to Public Health England "vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking traditional tobacco".
When you vape nicotine, the body still absorbs it in the same way as smoking, but without the tar or 2nd hand smoke. Countless medical studies have shown that vaping is a much safer option than smoking. According to Public Health England "vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking traditional tobacco".
Vapes contain a nicotine based liquid called e-liquid. E-Liquids or Vape Juice ans they are sometimes referred, contain 4 main ingredients - Propylene Glycol (PG), Vegetable Glycerin (VG), Flavouring and Nicotine. When you inhale a vape properly, the nicotine gets into your system quickly and without the tar and chemicals when you smoke.
Other leading medical experts also support the notion that vaping is safe. Cancer Research UK state that:
Other leading medical experts also support the notion that vaping is safe. Cancer Research UK state that:
- E-Cigarettes contain nicotine but not cancer causing tobacco
- Nicotine is addictive, but does not cause cancer
- Tobacco is the biggest cause of preventable death in the UK
- Passively breathing vapour from e-cigarettes is unlike to be harmful
- Growing evidence shows e-cigarettes are helping people to become ex smokers
So whether you look to use a vape short term as a smoking cessation alternative or you want to keeping vaping to help you lose weight and as a means of weight control, knowing the experts agree that vaping is safer than cigarettes should be welcome news.
DOES VAPING MAKE YOU HUNGRY?
Many smokers who start vaping or using an e-cigarette do not experience an increase in hunger. Current smokers and vapers alike are getting nicotine in their system which has been proven to suppress appetite and has been used to prevent weight gain and lose weight.
One beneficial side effect when people quit smoking is their taste buds come back to life like a non smoker! So the natural response is to eat more of the high calorie foods you love. But if you maintain a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet and control your food intake, you will appreciate the amazing flavours of fruits and vegetables again when quitting smoking!
Quitting cigarettes should not mean you will automatically start gaining weight as long as you have a bit of willpower about what you put in your mouth!
One beneficial side effect when people quit smoking is their taste buds come back to life like a non smoker! So the natural response is to eat more of the high calorie foods you love. But if you maintain a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet and control your food intake, you will appreciate the amazing flavours of fruits and vegetables again when quitting smoking!
Quitting cigarettes should not mean you will automatically start gaining weight as long as you have a bit of willpower about what you put in your mouth!
WHAT DOES YOUR BODY CONSUME WHEN VAPING?
With some truly delectable flavours in the e-liquid market, and some users of these flavours experiencing weight gain, we start to see the rather outlandish notion that vaping the liquid gives you calories, and these calories are causing the weight gain. This is incorrect. While any substance has a caloric value, this is established by oxidising (burning) the substance - science lessons spent watching crisps go up in flames is a great example of this. The e-liquid will therefore have a caloric value, however it should not be consumed as food or drink, and when inhaled, not all of it will be absorbed by the lungs.
E-liquids are made up from Propylene Glycol (PG), Vegetable Glycerine (VG), flavourings, and nicotine (unless it’s a 0% nicotine liquid). The liquid is heated into an aerosol by the coil in your vape device, then inhaled into the lungs. Here the nicotine gets absorbed into the blood. As the caloric value of most e-liquids is around 5 calories per millilitre, even if you were able to absorb all of the liquid via the lungs, this would equate to approximately 10-15 calories a day (assuming regular heavy use resulting in 2-3ml e-liquid consumed per day).
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF VAPING WHILE FASTING OR ON CERTAIN DIETS?
Vaping nicotine when you quit smoking may well have an effect on a variety of diets. As mentioned before, one of the side effects of nicotine is an increase in insulin resistance, which basically means cells don’t respond well to insulin and have trouble absorbing glucose from the blood.
One of the results of fasting is that the body responds better to insulin, and insulin levels in the blood drop, making body fat more accessible as an energy source (2). Nicotine has a counter-effect to this, making your body respond worse to insulin, and keeps blood glucose levels up. As fasting is more about eating in a time frame, the issue of the contents of the food remains a problem. If you still eat sugary foods and vape nicotine while fasting, the effects may cancel each other out, as the nicotine will reduce the body’s ability to process those sugars during the period of fasting.
The Ketogenic diet, often called ‘keto’, functions by reducing the intake of carbs while still eating fats and moderate amounts of protein. This forces the body into ketosis, using fats as the energy source, which it doesn’t do if it has carbs available. Consuming nicotine in this instance may have little effect if no carbs or sugars are in the body, as the body will still have to use fats as an energy source. So from our research, vaping does not appear to have any impact on ketosis or a keto diet.
So now matter what diet you follow when you quit smoking, if you eat healthily and stay away from pizza, crisps and processed food, weight loss should not be an issue.
So now matter what diet you follow when you quit smoking, if you eat healthily and stay away from pizza, crisps and processed food, weight loss should not be an issue.
IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN VAPING AND WEIGHT LOSS?
Obesity is a growing problem, one that is looking to claim the top spot as the primary preventable cause of conditions including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. For this reason, the effects of nicotine on weight lose is being examined.
The weight gain after stopping smoking can be a cause for relapse - understanding the effect nicotine has on the body helps explain this, and this is why vaping and losing weight is being studied. At this stage, it is the understanding of the mechanisms that nicotine affects that suggests vaping would help with weight loss, as well as anecdotal evidence, but there is not enough solid evidence for public health advocates to approve vaping as a weight control method (3).
One study does indicate that weight gain from quitting vaping is less than weight gain from quitting tobacco (4), which indicates vaping has a similar effect on metabolism as smoking, but less exaggerated. This is reflective of the amount of nicotine absorbed from vaping versus the amount absorbed from smoking tobacco - nicotine absorption from vaping is lower than the absorption from smoking (5), suggesting that consuming higher volumes of nicotine results in a more drastic effect when you cease consumption. This could mean that tobacco smokers who quit via the vaping route may see less weight gain and even lose weight as a result of the quitting process, than someone using other methods.
While we don't encourage a non smoker to start vaping to help lose weight, nicotine is an appetite suppressant (6) and has been shown to help minimize weight gain. But getting your nicotine in a cleaner and less harmful manner may help with weight loss.
We do not recommend that a non smoker should start vaping to help lose weight. However, if you are an adult smoker leading an unhealthy lifestyle with a bad diet, switching to electronic cigarettes or vapes will be better for your health.While we don't encourage a non smoker to start vaping to help lose weight, nicotine is an appetite suppressant (6) and has been shown to help minimize weight gain. But getting your nicotine in a cleaner and less harmful manner may help with weight loss.
HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT VAPE TO LOSE WEIGHT
With so many different types of vaping devices on the market, find the right vape to help you quit smoking without the weight gain, SMOKO has 2 easy to use vapes to choose from.
All our products are Made in the UK with finest ingredients.
The SMOKO VAPE POD has 16 amazing flavours to choose from.
The SMOKO VAPE POD and E-Cigarette are at least 80% cheaper than cigarettes.
Over the last 10 years, SMOKO has prevented over 600,000,000 cigarettes from being consumed and we have helped 10,000's of people kick the habit for good!
So why not check out the great offers below and you can get a FREE VAPE of FREE E-Cigarette Starter Kit when you buy a pack of refills!
The SMOKO VAPE POD and E-Cigarette are at least 80% cheaper than cigarettes.
Over the last 10 years, SMOKO has prevented over 600,000,000 cigarettes from being consumed and we have helped 10,000's of people kick the habit for good!
So why not check out the great offers below and you can get a FREE VAPE of FREE E-Cigarette Starter Kit when you buy a pack of refills!
DOES VAPING MAKE YOU LOSE WEIGHT - CONCLUSION
Vaping does not make you fat! In fact, some of our customers who put weight on when they went quit smoking cold turkey found that vaping makes you lose weight because of the nicotine! Vaping nicotine may well keep your metabolism up and suppress your appetite, so in addition to a healthy diet, vaping nicotine may encourage your body into a caloric deficit. So vaping may help you lose weight. Definitive information on vaping and its effect on weight loss or gain is yet to be compiled - so just make sure that the great flavours you vape don’t lead to indulging your sweet tooth!
So if you are ready to quit smoking but you were worried that switching to vaping would pack on the weight - have no fear. Quitting smoking can give you more energy and motivation to be more active and to eat a healthier diet. Why not check out our popular vape and cigalike starter kits and change you life today!
FAQ VAPING AND WEIGHT LOSS
1. Can vaping help me lose weight?
There’s no strong scientific evidence that vaping causes weight loss. While nicotine may reduce appetite temporarily, it’s not a healthy or reliable method for managing weight.
2. Why do some people think vaping helps with weight control?
Nicotine is a stimulant and can slightly suppress appetite or boost metabolism. This can lead to the perception that vaping helps with weight loss—but these effects are mild and short-lived.
3. Is it safe to use vaping as a diet tool?
No. Vaping should not be used as a weight management strategy. Relying on nicotine for appetite control can lead to dependency and other health issues. A balanced diet and regular exercise are safer and more effective.
4. Do vape flavours like dessert or fruit reduce cravings for sweets?
Some people report that flavoured e-liquids help curb snacking or sugar cravings, but this varies by individual. It’s more of a psychological effect than a metabolic one.
5. What’s the best approach to quit smoking without gaining weight?
Combining nicotine replacement (like vaping or patches) with mindful eating and light physical activity can help you manage weight during a smoking cessation journey.
REFERENCES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Written by Mike CameronMike Cameron is a former smoker of 15 years (2 packs a day) until he successfully quit using a cigalike. Mike is the Co-Founder and CEO of SMOKO E-Cigarettes and over the last 10 years, SMOKO has prevented 600M+ cigarettes from being smoked, helped their customers save £320M+ of their hard-earned money from going up in smoke and helped 10,000’s of adult smokers in 25+ countries to live smoke-free.
Last updated 01/08/2025
