How to exercise if you’re a smoker?

I found things like light cycling or even short home workouts easier than anything too intense at the start. It’s not about going hard straight away, just getting your body used to moving again. Once your fitness improves a bit, it actually gets easier to think about the bigger changes too.

Agreeing with the people who say you can't outrun a bad diet! You need to burn around 3500 calories to burn a lb fat. For women (ok, depending on height & weight) you'll burn around 100 calories for every mile you run. So if you keep your diet the same you need to run around 35, but probably more like 40 miles a week to loose 1lb a week. Hence you need to reduce the amount you eat and move a bit more.

First step is to start walking as much as you can and try to build up to a 1.5 hour brisk walk. The weight will start shifting even without too much of a diet change. Incorporate weights and resistance training and make some changes to your diet - incorporate more protein, stop snacking or chose healthy snacks, track your calories on one of the many apps available and don’t drink calories - keep soft drinks to water only. If you drink a lot reduce how much you’re drinking.

I smoked and started couch 2 5k, by week 5 it gave me the motivation to quit smoking as I wanted to improve but couldn't due to the smoking. I quit and repeated week 5 for a few weeks until I felt able to move on. Now I can run for 30 mins x3 a week.

I'd focus on eating really healthily and building up walking for longer each day. I quit smoking a decade ago, but was drinking too much on weekends until around a year ago.

I worked on gradually increasing the amount of exercise I was doing, whilst cutting back on the alcohol. Go for consistency over pushing yourself for the first month or so until you've built up the habit of exercising. I found that increasing my fitness made me want to drink less, as I improved my strength and energy levels.

I agree with what some others have said- look at your diet first. I lost 4st by making dietary changes and only small changes to everyday activity levels eg walking more. You might find exercise easier once you have a bit of weight off. I used slimming world but I know others who swear by calorie deficit models. Good luck!

Was going to suggest paying for WLI with the money you are not spending on cigarettes.

Not advocating for smoking or vaping but I think @Waitingforthesunnydays is right. When I went for my scuba diving test, they tested my lungs, said I recorded a good number for strength/capacity, I'm not really sure, they asked if I smoked, I said yes and they said it's common in smokers to record higher numbers. Higher numbers were definitely a good thing, I remember that.
I think the lungs are having to work harder and while they can cope, you get away with it, but eventually they can't cope and then you suffer the consequences.

This is what AI says about mountain climbing, lol

Some studies suggest smokers may have a lower risk of acute mountain sickness (AMS) and experience fewer initial symptoms at high altitude, possibly due to nicotine's effects or increased hemoglobin, but this does not mean they perform better. Smoking actually impairs long-term acclimatization, reduces oxygen transport capacity, and increases overall health risks.

Key Findings on Smoking and Altitude:

• Initial Protection: Research indicates a potential, though debated, protective effect against AMS, where smokers sometimes experience less severe symptoms upon rapid ascent.
• Physiological Impact: Smoking can increase hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. While this sounds beneficial, it is offset by increased carboxyhemoglobin (carbon monoxide poisoning) and higher airway resistance, ultimately reducing efficient oxygen delivery to muscles.
• Long-Term Impairment: Smoking hinders long-term adaptation to high altitude, which is critical for safety and endurance.
• Not a Preventative: Experts do not advise smoking to prevent altitude sickness, as it severely impacts cardiovascular health and lung function.

The best way to handle high altitude is through proper acclimatization, not smoking.

Yes I think Vapers have been sold a bit of a pup there, its really bad for you.

Vaping and smoking definitely do not increase your lung capacity! People with bad copd may live with lower oxygen levels but this is because they have destroyed their lungs - it puts their overall health at considerable risk and they would not be able to walk up the mountain you mention to enjoy the benefits!

Im not sure what the issue is OP, are you saying your breathing isnt good, or just that you fear it wont be good when you start?

You dont have to go hell for leather, a brisk walk will get your heart rate up (do you have a health watch which tracks your heart rate and steps etc?) so that you can know you're in an aerobic state

Or another exercise which is toning if thats what you're after which wont get you really breathless

The other thing to think about is your focus, is it weight loss primarily or are you worried about lack of exercise?

If its weight loss, I would just calorie count, be accurate, weigh and measure everything by grams (not cups) and do that for 3 months. Exercise brings in very few exercise calories.

The irony for the UK is that we have given up smoking largely but put on loads of weight, it would be hard to do both OP so think about your priority.

A lot of the language used is quite defeatist. Establishing new habits is hard, but you aren’t a victim to your smoking addiction or to eating poorly/ not exercising. Those are choices.

Could you try non-cardio exercise that doesn't leave you out of breath? Lifting weights, or pilates - things that build muscle. I always think walking and swimming are great for people who aren't fans of exercise as they can be really gentle or ramped up depending how you feel. Weight loss is mainly done through diet though, so it is super important for health to exercise, but to lose 3 stone I'd focus on calories going in first.

It’s going to be hard, but if you stick at it your body will respond and it will get easier. I promise you, it’s like magic. Just go slowly and judge your progress against yourself a couple of weeks ago. And find something to distract you a podcast or an audio book work well. I put a cross trainer in my garage and exercise in front of Netflix and I only allow myself to watch certain shows while exercising - it works for me.

OP at your age, unless you have a diagnosed lung/heart condition, I think the shortness of breath will primarily relate to fitness rather than smoking. Of course the smoking is destroying your lungs, but that probably wouldn’t manifest itself hugely at your age.

So you need to put aside the smoking issue, and start exercising like anyone else who was starting a fitness programme. Build it up gradually. Start with walks, then make the walks faster and longer, then try running. Also, don’t have a cigarette just before you exercise. The carbon monoxide that enters your bloodstream when you smoke displaces the oxygen from your blood cells, so you have less circulating oxygen when your muscles need it.

I think if you can develop a good exercise regime it’ll help you quit smoking. I run regularly, and I can’t imagine coming home from a run, feeling healthy and virtuous, and then doing something that I know will undo my hard work!

I purposefully did aerobic exercise to help me quit.
Swimming was good but anything aerobic.
I found the more I did the less I wanted to smoke. Your lungs start clearing out the shit that's accumulated in them too and that gives you more motivation to quit.

Weight is much more about diet than exercise. Obviously exercise is an important part of health buy I would focus on diet first if weight is you’re biggest concern. WLI are currently in trials for supporting coming off physically addicitive substance so they maybe worth considering.

I'm a smoker. Started yoga mid forties - was a great, gentle exercise.
I also second WLIs. I've been on Mounjaro for eight weeks and am saving so much money on food, so it doesn't cost what you think it does. It has reduced tobacco cravings, too.
I used varenicline (on prescription) to stop smoking a few years ago. It was really effective. Unfortunately started again a year later when my dad died. Should never have made that trip to the shop!
Anyway, agree with others, walking and yoga. Get yourself to a few yoga classes so you know how to do the poses correctly, then download the Down Dog app and you can do it from home. I did yoga for an hour a week at classes, and was seeing changes in body shape after eight weeks. It's also really great for your mind, too, and I found the feeling it gave me quite addictive - all that stretching feels so good!
Being able to feel my tummy muscles get stronger made me not want to ruin it by over-eating, too.
Good luck!

How I did it (also around your age, smoked since young, overweight) was changed only my eating habits first. NOT calorie counting, but swapping junk food for food with nutritional value. Did that for a few months to let my system adjust. Then (spring time by then) I went out for gentle walks EVERY day. 10 minutes at first. Then 15, 20 and so on. When I could walk at a gentle pace for 30 minutes, I started to up the pace. Just gradual increases, and slowed down when I felt short of breath or uncomfortable. So maybe a short 'burst' of speed for a minute then a minute at a gentle pace. I didn't time this, I listened to my body and adjusted accordingly. Over time, I found I could walk for 30 minutes at a brisk pace without any breathing issues. I can't stress enough how gradual this increase was.

I'd agree that yoga (a hatha yoga class, not a 'gym bunny' yoga class) helps with the breathing/lung capacity and heart/muscle function too.

In the meantime, I banned myself from smoking in the house or the car. Then I stopped taking my cigs out with me on short trips (under an hour) out of the house - I mean, if I was THAT desperate for a cig when I was out and it couldn't wait then I could just go to a shop and buy some. Then I delayed my first cig of the day by 10, 15, 20 (and so on) minutes. Did other stuff to distract myself from the craving and obsessing about it.

Then I got a horrendous chest infection literally out of nowhere (what I'm now convinced was covid as it was the Xmas before the first lockdown) - I couldn't breath yet I was still trying to light a cig up and I just had 'a moment' of What The Fuck Am I DOING? Why does this little stick of leaves have such a hold over me?

I won't lie, I had a few false starts (or stops) but each time I started smoking again, I felt disappointed in myself, at how far I'd come just to 'ruin all the hard work again'.

I lost 4 stone and now regularly walk 8-10 miles with my walking group. Something I'd never imagine being able to do, once upon a time.

TLDR; small changes, start slow, listen to your body, increase gradually, delay and distract.

I ran two marathons as a smoker, and a 45-minute 10k 😅 It doesn’t have to stop you. Although my strategy for quitting (alongside vaping, which I still do) was to only allow myself my first cigarette of the day after my workout.

Try nicotine gum to help you give up, it worked for me, start small with the exercise, too much cardio will make you cough, but do lower impact until the coughing the rubbish out of your lungs phase is over. Good luck, you can do this 💪

I was a competitive rower and a smoker. Rowing is pretty full on. I'd say don't worry about your breathing, build up your fitness and cardio strength. Start doing things that get you out of breath so you get used to the discomfort of it.
Try working out in zones, so you do a minute of high intensity where you're breathing out your arse, then 5 minutes where you feel like you could hold a conversation (no rest in between), then build up the "breathing through your arse".
Have a look at free HIIT apps for workouts.

Find a gym with pool and steam /sauna Swim and steam so do 5 length steam 5 length steam 5 lengths then increase slowly 6 5 5
6 6 5
666 and so on

Slow gentle walking increase speed and distance incrementally

Go to GP for COPD test

To stop smoking only smoke the ones you are desperate climbing the walls for then patches and hypnotherapy

Have you tried switching to a vape? I used to smoke but switched to a vape years ago (I now vape (with nicotine) way too much and need to quit that! But it’s better than smoking) I do loads of exercise- play football, weight train and kickboxing. I’ve also lost 3 st in the last year. The weight loss has helped massively with stamina. It takes a lot for me to get out of breath now, I actually notice when I do classes at the gym I’m way less out of breath than everyone else around me, sometimes not at all, after 2 min full pelt on an exercise bike. I really think it’s partly down to the vaping increasing my lung capacity. Apparently smokers do better climbing mountains when the air gets low on oxygen cos they’ve got higher lung capacity. So possibly it isn’t the smoking making you out of breath..just a thought. Although if it is..I wonder what it is in cigarettes that isn’t in vapes that makes you out of breath…