Q: I quit smoking last year and put on about 12 pounds even though I didn’t change how much I eat or exercise. Is this my new normal or will the weight eventually come off?

A: Depends on what you do. If you increase your amount of exercise, cut back on the sugar, starches, and foods with chemicals in them, sleep longer, and drink more water, you probably will lose the weight.

To make sure you do, you need to increase your metabolic rate to where it was when you were smoking, and that is best achieved with increased exercise/physical activity, especially first thing in the morning.