Does vaping make you fat?

What vaping actually does to weight

The act of vaping has almost no caloric impact. PG and VG contain tiny amounts of energy but the total absorbed across a typical day is around 5 calories or less. You would need to vape astronomical amounts to gain weight from the e-liquid itself.

Where vaping does affect weight is through nicotine. Nicotine raises your resting metabolic rate by roughly 7 to 15%, which works out to around 50 to 200 extra calories burned per day depending on how much you use. It also suppresses appetite by acting on receptors in the brain that control hunger.

On paper, vaping should make you lose weight, not gain it. In practice, that is roughly what happens for most users, especially compared to non-nicotine users.

Why some vapers gain weight anyway

If vaping has a slight thinning effect, why do some people gain weight on it? Usually one of these reasons.

Vaping is not a weight loss tool

A 2017 study found that 13.5% of adult vapers reported using vaping to lose or control weight. This is not a recommended approach.

Yes, nicotine does suppress appetite and raise metabolism. But the same nicotine that does this also:

• Impairs absorption of key nutrients including vitamins C, D, calcium, magnesium and iron. You can maintain weight while becoming nutritionally depleted.
• Masks real hunger cues, leading to skipped meals and rebound overeating later.
• Creates dependence that becomes hard to manage if you want to stop later.
• Affects sleep, and poor sleep is itself linked to weight gain through hormone changes.
• Raises cardiovascular strain, which is a much worse problem than carrying a few extra pounds.

Health professionals, ourselves included, do not recommend vaping as a weight management tool. If you want to lose weight, exercise and dietary changes are vastly more effective and do not create new health problems.

What happens when you quit vaping

This is where most actual weight gain happens. Quitting nicotine reverses the metabolic and appetite effects above.

If you are worried about weight while vaping

A few practical points.

1. Track what you actually eat for a week

   The number one cause of unexplained weight gain in vapers is unconscious snacking. A week of honest tracking usually reveals it.

2. Try a non-sweet flavour

   If you currently use dessert or fruit flavours, switch to tobacco or menthol for a few weeks. See if your sugar cravings drop.

3. Build in basic exercise

   A 30-minute walk most days burns roughly what nicotine's metabolic boost was doing. Plus all the other health benefits.

4. Eat regular meals

   If nicotine has been suppressing your hunger, you might be eating less protein and fewer nutrients than your body actually needs. This causes rebound overeating later.

5. Watch the dopamine swap

   If you reduce or quit vaping, watch out for replacing it with food. Both trigger dopamine. Going from one to the other is easy and often unconscious.

The bottom line