Cigarettes and Calories

               Pretty much everyone has seen the famous commercial with the thousands of people marching to what is learned the headquarters of a big cigarette company. Then, everyone falls (representing death caused from the cigarettes) except for one who holds a sign in which represents the number of people that cigarettes kill in a year. From lung cancer to cancer of the esophagus, cigarettes kill an estimated 440,000 people per year. But besides all this, there are other things to worry about. Whether your satisfied with your body type or working on creating yourself into your own subjective masterpeice, cigarettes have their way of interfering.

           Trying to build muscle and/or improve muscle function?

             Not gonna happen with smoking.  The main purpose of your blood is the delivering of oxygen to your muscles. When you work out, your muscles expand which is caused by the demand of oxygen by your muscles. The blood moves into the muscle, giving it oxygen to carry out the task which is exercise. The carbon monoxide steals this oxygen from your muscles which makes your whole body work harder. This can be extremely health damaging, especially if you have heart problems.

           Calorie Killers

            Yes it’s true. Although not many, a cigarrete kills about 10 calories. For ectomorphs (people who have a hard time gaining weight) who are trying to build muscle or get bigger, smoking can severely inhibit their efforts. If a pack contains 20 cigarettes and one smokes a pack a day, they kill 200 calories per day. In a week that would be 1,400 calories. For ectomorphs, 1,400 calories are crucial to a healthy diet. But all this doesn’t mean bigger people should smoke to lose weight/calories. Bigger people tend to have more heart issues do to the energy and effort it takes to get the blood around to the muscles. Smoking is bad for people with heart issues as it is, so it’s definitely NOT recommended to bigger people.

            Kicking the Habit

           True it’s hard to quit “cold turkey” style and just stop. Nicotine is after all one of the most addictive drugs there is. There are many types of patches, gums, and shots that can help you stop smoking and kick your habit. Yu just have to look. When one quits, there blood pressure improves, heart rate gets better, carbon monoxide levels are normal along with numerous other side effects of quitting. In most cases, quitting is actually cheaper than the habit. In todays economy, maybe quitting is the best way to go…even if you don’t want to.