Bodytalk
By Stephenie Karony
Friday, April 12, 1996
ANSWER: Without a doubt, smoking! SO QUIT!
The average amount of weight a person gains when they quit smoking is just 10 pounds. That is not enough to make a thin person fat. Besides, it's not written in stone that everyone who quits smoking gains weight. There's plenty you can do to avoid any weight gain at all.
In any case, the smoking habit - which kills 400,000 people a year in the U.S. - far worse than being overweight. Health management specialists say you'd have to gain 100 to 150 pounds after quitting smoking to have the same health risks as when you smoked.
If living a longer, healthier life is important to you, quit smoking now, and worry about the weight gain later. Once you're free of the smoking habit, any tendency to gain weight can be managed with a couple of lifestyle changes.
Eating less dietary fat and getting involved with regular aerobic exercise should do the trick. Once you clear your lungs and substitute the habit of regular exercise for the habit of smoking, you'll not only feel much better, you may end up thinner than when you smoked!
Q: I often have lower back pain. I haven't been injured. I believe I just have a weak lower back. Are there some safe exercises I can do at home to strengthen this area?
A:To strengthen the lower back, you have to work a group of muscles called the extensors. It's also important to develop the abdominal muscles. Both work to hold the body erect.
Here is an exercise that will strengthen the extensors (lower-back muscles) safely. It's rather like a push-up, only the hips and legs stay on the floor.
Lie on your stomach with your hands at your sides, near your shoulders, elbows bent. While keeping your hips and legs on the floor and squeezing your buttocks, use your arms to slowly raise your upper body. Stop when your arms are almost straight. If you experience any pain, don't push up so high. Hold and breathe for 20-30 seconds. Repeat two or three times.
When this exercise becomes easy, repeat the entire movement, then at the top of the push-up remove your hands from the floor and allow your back to hold your body up.
To strengthen the abdominal muscles, lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Place your hands behind your head. Exhale and curl up until your shoulder blades are off the floor, no higher. Then inhale and slowly lower your body back to the starting position. Don't bend the neck when curling up, and don't arch your back at all during the exercise. Repeat this one until you can't do any more repetitions.