Quitting Smoking...

Crystal01012014

I'm quitting cold turkey, I'm on day two. Yesterday was fine but today I've craved a lot and wanted too eat everything I see!

I guess my question is, how did you quit and lose weight'

I'm not dieting as such, just changing my lifestyle completely.

Quieau

I'll tell you how I quit cold turkey 8 years ago as of yesterday.

I had just seen an interview of Christopher's Reeve's wife on TV (posthumously) about lung cancer, which is what killed her. She wasn't a smoker, but had gotten a lot of secondhand smoke over her life as a singer in bars. They asked her what was the hardest part of having cancer, and she responded it was having to tell her son that his mother was going to die and why. The idea of having to tell my daughter I was going to die, and worse, that it was from something I did to myself was unbearable. Totally unbearable.

So every time I thought about a cigarette, I first thought of telling my daughter that her mommy was going to die. Every time. I never smoked another puff.

I use the same tactic now to make good health decisions of all kinds, including staying on course with my new nutrition and fitness lifestyle.

I hope this helps. It saved my life.

You can do this.

smkean

Oooo I'm on day 2 as well! I'm on champix, it's fab but it makes me a little nauseous, I did it before and did well, but I didn't do the full course and went back to it.
I'm dieting at the moment, so when I reach target weight I can have that lifestyle change (have a thyroid disorder that hasn't been stabilised with medication so don't lose weight v well)
Add me!

Crystal01012014

Thank you. Added you both.

Just the thought of telling my son brought tears to my eyes. I think that will help.

Kimbacca

Feel free to add me as well.I am on day 2 of quitting smoking as well. It is hard but I just start cleaning something when the cravings hit.

Quieau

A mother's love is the most powerful motivator I've ever experienced or witnessed!

You CAN DO THIS! :drinker:

HollisGrant

I quit cold turkey many years but signed up for a 6 week stop-smoking class anyway. Many hospitals have free ones. It was super helpful.

I chewed sugarless gum, read books to keep my mind off smoking, and traveled. Hot tea is good. If you always have a particular drink like coffee with a cigarette, avoid that. Exercise is a good thing to do when you have cravings. Remember the cravings will pass. Just ride them out.

Congrats and good luck.

QuestionableCarrot

I have not smoked a cigarette in over a year (approx 1 year and 3 months)

Here are my thoughts:

1) Expect to fail the first few times - its perfectly ok. You will then discover what works and obviously what doesnt.
2) Dont tell your friends or family - yep it sounds like the wrong thing to do but trust me its better. You dont want people asking you every five minutes how you are getting on.
3) Eat what you want and dont worry about the weight gain.

I wanted my body to do whatever it wanted and now I am getting the weight off.

So in conclusion (seriously) I would not go out socialising for a few weeks, dont tell anyone and eat what you want.

After a month you are over the hardest hurdle

QC

abadvat

Cold turkey for cigarettes and coffee 4 years ago.
Drank gallons of fluid everyday to flush the nicotine out of the system - started lifting - heavy - never looked back!
Picked up coffee again - but far from the amount i was drinking before!

HollisGrant

So in conclusion (seriously) I would not go out socialising for a few weeks, dont tell anyone and eat what you want.

I did this too.... but I avoided all situations with cigarette smoke for 4 months. I second not talking about it. People will be watching you which will add pressure.

Congrats to everybody who here who quit or is in the process of quitting. It's one of the best things you can ever do for yourself.

Crystal01012014

Thank you everyone. I am not talking about it too many people. Mainly on here to people I dont know and on a quit smoking app I downloaded. I've added many of you. X

JDURPS

Hi Crystal,
Get your hands on a copy of this book: Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It's quite good and know it has worked for many around me. I often recommend it to patients that I see come through the ER.

acpgee

I quit cold turkey in 1993. Here's something that helped me. I found that most of the motivation to quit smoking was related to negative re-enforcement (I don't to get lung emphysema or cancer, I don't want my clothes to smell, etc). I wanted some positive re-enforcement too.

Back then my smoking habit cost EUR 20 a week, which was the price of a new CD. At the beginning of the week I would buy myself a new CD, with the understanding that my contract with myself was to hold out on smoking until the gift was paid for. Any little gift that represents a week's worth of cigarette money would do. Could be a new lipstick or a manicure.

As time wore on, I would make the gifts bigger, representing longer periods. Ie, designer shoes with 3 months worth of cigarette money. Did this for maybe a little over a year.

Good luck with this.

Pintado

+1 for Allen Carr! His book really made me focus on how disgusting the act of smoking is, and quickly helped me to view it as something I inherently disliked (FYI I'd been a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker for five years). He does say that you don't have to quit smoking until you finish reading it, so that you can really dissect the act and see why it's so gross – but I had already quit cold turkey and didn't want to re-do those first two days again, and the book still worked for me.

Other things:

– If you don't already run, take up running or some other form of exercise – you'll start to see immediately how much easier your lungs are having it. This really helped me.

– Put all the money you would be spending on cigarettes in a jar/secret bank account, and maybe use some of it to treat yourself every week – new book, new haircut, new necklace, or just a really good cupcake. The shame about how much money I'd been spending ($100-150 every week as a student!) was a huge motivator.

– If you're missing the fiddling with cigarettes, keep your hands and mouth occupied. Drink a lot of tea, take up origami, carry carrot sticks everywhere and munch them whenever you need the hand-to-mouth action. After the first month, it will suddenly get a lot easier and you'll wonder why you didn't quit ages ago.

– Make a point to enjoy how much you don't stink when you wake up in the morning (once you're ready to go out and be social and not smoke). I LOVED not having to wash my hair and clothes all the time!

JanisMay67

Hang on in there !

I did the same in March next year. I've tried giving up before by various means, and all failed. So this time I went cold-turkey, also giving up the strong black coffee I was also addicted to - and which went hand in hand with the *kitten*.

It was hell for a week. I really felt as though I wanted to die. But - it worked!

I'm really glad I did it the way I did. And I wouldn't say I have the greatest willpower by any means.

Wishing you every success

onlyanegg

I smoked for 35 years and quit on the patch. The important thing to remember is perseverence. Stick to it. Stay strong! Find something lo-cal to satisfy that oral craving. Start exercising. You can do this!

margiea7

Allen Carr's book helped me quit too (and I'm not generally a "self-help books" type of person). I recommend it. I've been "clean" for nearly four years, after upwards of 20 years as a smoker.
The further you get away from your last cigarette, the easier it gets. So hang in there!

futuresize8

I quit a little over two months ago. I have never been happier about anything, save for meeting the man who is now my husband!

After many half-hearted attempts, I took the advice of a friend who recommended Alan Carr's The Easy Way to Quit Smoking.

I never even finished the book...half way through, I was just done smoking.

I thought about smoking once on the third day. I read a little more of the book. That was it.

Best $7 I ever spent on my e-reader! Good luck to you and enjoy taking your life back. It's amazing to almost never think of the thing I spent a lot of my time planning to do (I was a secret smoker and it took a lot of work to do and hide successfully!)

teerae326

I quit back in April. It was a good choice. I quit before I started working out to give my lungs a fighting chance. That helped. I also used an electronic cigarette for the first couple of weeks, which was nice. It helped with needing something in my hands and the need to puff. I realized that my need to smoke was based more on my routine, so I changed it up. I would always want one with coffee, so I stopped drinking coffee as my usual morning drink. I would always want to right after I ate dinner, so instead, I would do dishes right after eating. Replaced it with other things. I still have cravings from time to time, but it's gotten dramatically better. I feel better, I breate better, I smell better and dang it I have more money, too! Good luck.

jigsawxyouth

First of all CONGRATULATIONS to EVERYONE who is quitting! I was a smoker for almost 10 years and quit when I got pregnant, which was fairly easy because of morning sickness, and have been smoke free for over two years.
Even before I got pregnant, I wanted to quit because I was tired of being winded walking up a flight of stairs, tired of smelling like smoke, and (super gross) noticed I was getting nicotine stains on my upper lip.

I built an arsenal to assist me quitting (my personal opinion, I think it's really super gross to smoke while pregnant) so I bought some hot cinnamon toothpicks to assist with the oral fixation part of quitting. I did buy some nicotine gum, but only needed it for maybe two weeks? Like I said, I got really lucky with the morning sickness since the smell of cigarette smoke made me want to hurl.

After I was over the cravings, I noticed I was able to breathe much easier! I didn't wake up with smoker's cough in the morning! I COULD SMELL EVERYTHING! Food tasted so much better! Not to mention, I was saving money since I wasn't spending the 6 bucks a day on a pack.

I wish you the best! You're not alone, and your body and health will thank you when you conquer this.

sigsby

I quit cold turkey 9 months ago. My philosophy was to not try and diet while I was quitting. Even my doctor told me it that it is better to have the extra weight that it is to smoke. That being said. I have since gained what in my mind is a lot of weight. I am finally in a place where I feel like I can focus on losing the extra weight without going back to smoking. Don't compund your issues. Make quitting that nasty habit your one and only lifestyle change until you have it under control. Just my two cents.

sigsby

Hi Crystal,
Get your hands on a copy of this book: Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It's quite good and know it has worked for many around me. I often recommend it to patients that I see come through the ER.

This was an excelent source of motiviation when I was quitting.

LoggingForLife

Another plug for Alan Carr's Easy Way to quit.

Phrick

+1 for Allen Carr! His book really made me focus on how disgusting the act of smoking is, and quickly helped me to view it as something I inherently disliked (FYI I'd been a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker for five years). He does say that you don't have to quit smoking until you finish reading it, so that you can really dissect the act and see why it's so gross – but I had already quit cold turkey and didn't want to re-do those first two days again, and the book still worked for me.

Other things:

– If you don't already run, take up running or some other form of exercise – you'll start to see immediately how much easier your lungs are having it. This really helped me.

– Put all the money you would be spending on cigarettes in a jar/secret bank account, and maybe use some of it to treat yourself every week – new book, new haircut, new necklace, or just a really good cupcake. The shame about how much money I'd been spending ($100-150 every week as a student!) was a huge motivator.

– If you're missing the fiddling with cigarettes, keep your hands and mouth occupied. Drink a lot of tea, take up origami, carry carrot sticks everywhere and munch them whenever you need the hand-to-mouth action. After the first month, it will suddenly get a lot easier and you'll wonder why you didn't quit ages ago.

– Make a point to enjoy how much you don't stink when you wake up in the morning (once you're ready to go out and be social and not smoke). I LOVED not having to wash my hair and clothes all the time!

LOVE all of these suggestions. I smoked for 16 years and I quit a number of times but always went back to it in times of stress. One thing I always thought "I should do this" but never DID do was the "– Put all the money you would be spending on cigarettes in a jar/secret bank account, and maybe use some of it to treat yourself every week – new book, new haircut, new necklace, or just a really good cupcake. " one. Oh how I wish I had!! This last time I quit, the final time (it just feels different somehow and I know it's the real deal), if I had just saved the $35+ a week, I could have easily funded a trip back home for the holidays. Instead we spent Christmas by ourselves, all lonely and sad. Save the money, save the money!! Use it to buy yourself something. Use it to buy your Christmas gifts next year. Use it for a trip or a super expensive date night or anything but don't just let it get absorbed back into your household budget. The visual impact alone will be awesome.

timmer74

Grab a copy of Alan Carr's book: "Easyway to quit smoking". If you lets his words sink in you should be equipped with the right mindset to continue quitting without feeling like it is a sacrifice (sounds magical but it ain't). I was able to quit without gaining weight using his perspective.

Santasmincepie

I quit nearly three years ago by going cold turkey like you.

I drank lots of water, kept my hands busy by doing housework, and for me, it's that first nicotine rush from a drag - I HATE it. Sick, dizzy, weak, smelly...

When the cravings were really bad, I told myself that I'll have one if I still feel as bad after I've done the washing up/ironing/hoovering the stairs etc.. By the time I'd done 1 or more of those types of things the craving had passed.

Keeping busy and drinking water were the main keys for me.

Good luck, it's difficult but can be done and it's worth it. I couldn't afford to start up again now even if I wanted to - they are so expensive.

bogo_baby

I quit cold turkey on the first as well. I have done it before, and I have been successful for about 6 months at a time... then hit a weak day and caved... Once I cave, I lose all of my will power. That's my problem.

My advice is to find your triggers to a "weak" day and plan ahead how you will handle them.

Also remember why you are quitting

The eating thing is hard, but if you can stretch or move instead of eat, it will get easier... drink ice cold water, too... that's what helps my cravings... lots and lots of ice water

Good luck! Happy New Year!

elleshimn

Stumbled upon this thread... Y'all have persuaded me to read Allen Carr's book! I want to want to quit, so wish me luck!

cmira5ol

good for you. My quit date was May 22 2013 after smoking almost a pack a day for over, well many years

I used the patch to help me with the physical part of withdrawals, then the rest was behavioral.

rogerhartford

I quit smoking November 1, 2013. I used nicotine lozenges to help with the cravings. I gained almost 20 lbs in the first 2 months, so I came here and now I'm losing weight smoke-free. Be patient and persistent. You can do this!

jaxbeck

Congrats!! Give yourself a pat on the back, quitting is NOT easy! I've been smoke free for 2 & a half months & will NEVER go back!
Unfortunately, I did gain a few pounds but I also quit when I wasn't logging, during a really stressful family crisis & the Holidays so I'm not beating up myself over it.