Nicotine Patch and Weight Loss?

I recently decided to finally quit smoking after about 6 years.

I signed up for a program offered by my University where they offer free nicotine replacement therapy, ie. the patch and gum.

I was always a little concerned about the potential for weight gain when quitting smoking, given what everyone says but I'm actually really liking the patch so far. The weight gain seems to come not just with quitting smoking, but partly with quitting nicotine.

A quick overview of what I've gathered is that the patch provides a constant supply of nicotine. Nicotine raises the metabolism, causes the body to release glycogen and suppresses appetite.

So far on the patch I've noticed I haven't really been hungry at all nor have I had any real food cravings. Old habits die hard so I'm using this to my advantage for weight loss at the moment.

Hopefully I can pull this off....

I do fear gaining weight once I'm off the patch but that won't be for 2-3 months and by then I will be resuming a physically intensive job, which will hopefully prevent that from happening.

Either way, having hunger and cravings more under my control hopefully I can prevent binges, eat healthy and lose weight.

The sick part of me is screaming for me to restrict and fast.

In the past 48 hours all I've had is coffee, tea and soup, and nothing today.

I'm just going to focus on how I'm making myself healthier by quitting smoking, rather than on the re-emergence of some old, persistent demons.

Quitting smoking is very important to me and linking the quitting process to weight loss helps motivate me, as weird as that may me.

Smokers

Not smoking