How did you quit smoking?

TheNewJessieMae

Cold Turkey?

Cut back?

Patches/gum?

Inhaler?

How did you quit smoking and what made you say it was time. How did you decide your quit date? I was basing mine on weight and then I quit losing and I feel like I'm never going to get to the weight that I said I would quit smoking at. I really want to, But feel like I need to have some sort of deadline for whatever reason.

ashlee954

I have heart disease and cancer in my family. I did not want to die of something I did to myself and could have prevented. I smoked 2 packs/day for 7 years. I quit cold turkey. Suckers, straws, and gum helped. I needed something in my hand for that hand to mouth sensation. I am a certified smoking cessation counselor and cinnamon sticks are great for quitting too. In all honesty you won't quit unless you are ready to quit. The desire to be healthy has to outweigh the desire to smoke. You are nicotine free after 72 hours. After that it is a mental thing. Stay strong. You really can dot his. Just put your mind to it and make the decision to better your life and live a healthier one too! Good luck!!! :happy:

renae5

I used Chantix, I was supposed to set a quit date 7-10 days after I started taking the meds... so of course I chose 10... within 3 days my cigs tasted like licking a 2 year old, never cleaned ash tray and I was immediately down to about 4 a day, had completely quit by day 6, that was back in May, the smell still makes me nauseous and I never want to go there again. I did gain 10 pounds, but they are back off now and I feel better than I did in my 20s, literally! I wish you the Very Best Luck with this decision.... You have to do what is right for You, but believe me.... YOU ARE WORTH IT!!

WalkingGirl1985

Cold Turkey.

chelseyq7

I quit at the same time as starting MFP. I think that helped because gaining weight was always a concern with quitting smoking. As of this week it has been 2 months smoke free. Knowing the start date for diet/quitting smoking I started to cut back on smoking a few days ahead of time and then went cold turkey. First few days were rough, but it got easier after a couple of weeks and now I hardly think about it at all. You'll do great! Good luck

EE0710

I postponed my cigarettes. If I wanted it as I was leaving for the store I'd say..."I'm going to wait until I get there to have one." Then if I still wanted it when I got there I'd say "I'm going to wait until after I'm done shopping." Then it was "I'm going to wait until I get home." Eventually I'd forget that I wanted one and get busy doing something else. The hardest one to give up was in the car on my way home from work so I had a bag of cheap, hard bubble gum that I would chew as everyone on the road pissed me off :-) Good Luck!!! You won't regret it at all!

bobspdx

Cold turkey. I had only been smoking 2-4 cigarettes a day by then, my highest was a pack a day. I had started working out regularly and was having trouble breathing while doing cardio (plus I a lot heavier). I woke up one morning (Oct 31, 2004) and said "enough, I am done." I haven't looked back since. I went through spurts of being a "social smoker." I would have a few here and there while I was out but still considered myself an ex-smoker. I would go back to my normal routine and not even think about smoking nor crave it. Now, I really can't stand them at all.

annalisasoren

Cold Turkey. It costs nothing (at the time I had no money), and the only side effect is the weeping.
I agree it is one of the toughest things to do and TOTALLY worth it.
I was a 2 pack per day-er and it is one of my major life accomplishments to have quit and have it completely out of my life
I also agree that after day two/three the physical part is over, the nicotine is out of your system and all that is left is the (tougher) mental part . You may put on a little weight... don't worry that will come back down.
Keep yourself distracted, busy, or asleep. Its a great time to start a new exercise program (keeps you busy and helps you to notice the benefits of quitting). Change up the behaviors that go with the smoking, Coffee/Cig combo for example, drink the coffee at a different time or place without the cig
You can do this and you will never regret it
good luck!

PJilly

I used the gum and quit in '96 when my then-little girl pretended to smoke a crayon and said, "When I grow up, I'll smoke real cigarettes like Mommy." :noway:

rob1976

I used an eCig I ordered from Green Smoke. I started with the appropriate cartridge strength and then ordered a step down each time I re-ordered. Eventually I was down to 0mg nicotine and my battery died, so I just stopped.

jojoworks

Great question and I do equate some of the needed tools for quitting smoking as also useful for losing weight. I had felt for decades that I needed to improve myself by quitting smoking, losing weight and probably a few other things but I would try and falter or try and fail and felt like if I couldn't change everything at once it wasn't worth it. So, big psych outs. One thing about quitting smoking I always believed though was that trying and not succeeding wasn't the same thing as trying and failing. And I also knew that the more times you tried the better your chances became of succeeding.

Here's a little funny and even true story I like to tell: I used acupuncture to quit smoking. Yup, I had 3 sessions and 10 years later I quit! (ok, I'm a smart *kitten*, but its true).

So, for my final, successful run at quitting (18 yrs smoke free after 20 as a pack a day smoker) I employed several strategies:

1) listed first because it speaks to my main motivation: both my parents had heart attacks and I had multiple family members from older generations who had died from heart attacks. I faced the fact that heart disease ran in my family and not smoking may not prevent it but it sure wouldn't help me down the road with dealing with it.

2) a friend gave me a smoking cessation self-hypnosis tape (yeah, 18 yrs ago it was "tapes"). One side of the tape was a deep relaxation hypnosis side and the other side was just subliminal messaging you couldn't hear, it was just ocean wave sounds and some flute music set over the sounds. I'd listen to the hypnosis side every night and the subliminal side during my evening bath. The hypnosis side asked you to mentally set a date for quitting. Initially I would mentally say "I will quite smoking when I am ready to". Eventually I picked a date 6 months out. I picked the memorial day holiday because it seemed easy to remember. So, for more than 6 months not a day went by that I didn't listen to 2 hours worth of quit smoking messaging. I smoked a pack the day before I quit. And on the day I quit I bought a pack of nicorette gum to have on hand. I chewed a couple pieces a day for only a couple days. The hit of nicotine made me dizzy. So, I quit and haven't smoked a single cigarette since (nor have I even wanted one!). One thing I did mentally write into my hypnosis program was that I couldn't care if others around me smoked, even in my car or home. I didn't want to care at all about cigarettes. That has held true even to this day. I really don't care (except for some reason I do care that my sister smokes, but I let her smoke in my car anyway). Because I feel strongly that the self-hypnosis method was a huge help to me in breaking my smoke habit, I have now been using weight-loss self-hypnosis CD's for my weight loss efforts and find them very helpful and the messages incredibly positive and reinforcing. It doesn't hurt to reprogram that little voice in your head if its been telling you stuff that undermines your efforts to make positive changes in your life.

3) I was dating a pulmonary doctor during the time I was trying to quit. Whenever I saw him I asked him to tell me about any of his patients battling smoking related illnesses. It wasn't pretty. Negative imagery may or may not work for everyone, but I tell ya, imaging my nostrils eaten away by cancer scared me a lot! He also told me an observation he had about counseling people to quit smoking: 1/3 can quit cold turkey, 1/3 can quit via a program and 1/3 can't or won't or don't quit. I resolved to being one of the people who COULD quit.

SORRY this was so long!!!! I know that everyone needs to come to their own method that will work for them, but gathering information about how others succeeded can be very helpful. I also think that often a multi-faceted approach is very helpful. Go at it from several layers.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JoJo

mamara79

Well, you already know my story! lol! I got Dr. Approval to use patches and other suppliments like lozenges and gum at the same time. He said "with as much as you smoke, your body should tolerate that just fine." Gee thanks. But it's the first time I've done patches for long term and gum or lozenges for short term fixes and it's working like it never has before.

Aside from that.......I always looked at cigarettes as a reward, a friend that was always there too. I finnally relized, that it is NOT a reward......that it is NOT my friend. Something just "clicked" in me.

I did buy some cigars......black and milds ......for my husband mainly, but I've had a little bit of one like twice since I quit 6 days ago.

I keep busy, I FEEL the differnce when I exercise and THAT is some totally awesome motivation!

And if at first you don't succeed, try try again.........hardly anyone actually quits on their first try.......I honestly don't even know what number of "tries" I'm on.........but this one isn't a try......this is IT!

turbojanem

i quit smoking cold turnkey on March 18th, 1999. i put that cigarette out telling Jesus that He would no longer smoke through my body. that whatever he wanted for me, i would do.

my Husband, took Chantix. he set his stop smoking date according to his work schedule, he wanted a couple days off for his start date. he took the first week of meds, stopped smoking the next week, got a stomach bug, stopped taking the meds and never went back to the meds or the smokes. he has been smoke free over 2.5 years.

cheering you on!

sillygoose1977

Quit cold turkey. It is all mental. If you are truly ready you can do it. Also helped that I was faced with paying an extra $100 a month for my insurance for being a smoker.

Truly the best thing I have ever done for myself.

brwnsugababe

I posted something about 2 weeks ago. Well more like replied on someone else post regarding smoking. I have been a smoker for a very long time. Out of everything I have tried Chantrix was the only thing that worked but I stopped taking it when it caused my abdomen soreness and I was angry all the time for no reason. I have thought about quitting cold turkey. But I will be honest, eventhough I know all the risks and benefits, quitting cold turkey really scares me. BUT, I will try because I really would like to quit. I know its more of a mental thing than anything else. I have begun smoking at scheduled times now instead of smoking at random. I will have a smoke about every 2-3 hours now. And thats a great start for me since i'm somewhat of a chain smoker. I will quit cold turkey. The day after Thanksgiving will be my first cold turkey day.... I will pray and see how it goes from there. I want to bring 2011 in smoke free. Hmmmm maybe those of us who are trying to quit can form some type of smokers support group. Just a thought though.

MassiveDelta

Cutback/cold turkey

I quit December 25th 2006 at Noon. I weened myself off through November and December till i was down to 3 cigarettes a day the week before Christmas. Drive to work, Lunch, Drive Home. I knew I would need lots of support and felt that my best opportunity would be over the 7 day Christmas break surrounded by my family. It worked out perfectly. I still struggled with the cravings for a month or so but getting a good start before I headed back to work helped even more.

I still get cravings sometimes. I just deal with them as they come.

I quit because I knew it was pointless for me to try and lose weight and get healthy as long as I was still smoking. I wanted to start getting healthy for myself but more importantly I wanted to quit smoking for my family.

Ravyn1982

I quit cold turkey. Just decided one day that I should quit instead of going to the store for a pack cause I had run out. Instead I spent the money I would have spent on the cigs on something nice for me:) I wasn't a heavy smoker though. I usually was only smoking 5 to 10 a day. Wish I could give some advice on what to do to quit though. I just toughed it out until I didn't have anymore cravings. My husband did the same thing when he quit.

I really hope you find something to help you out. I know I'm not much help right now....But I'll help support you on that journey as well:)

cmriverside

Cut back/ then cold turkey nearly 20 years ago, after many many attempts. I was down to 5-10 a day by then.

I had to quit drinking at the same time, I found that when my inhibitions were lowered after a couple drinks, I would smoke.

It was way past time. I did it for my peace of mind - not giving in to an addiction that was going to kill me. I smoked for many years.


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tex43

Cut back/ then cold turkey nearly 20 years ago, after many many attempts. I was down to 5-10 a day by then.

I had to quit drinking at the same time, I found that when my inhibitions were lowered after a couple drinks, I would smoke.

It was way past time. I did it for my peace of mind - not giving in to an addiction that was going to kill me. I smoked for many years.


____________________________________________

That's what I think would be my worst challenge,drinking and not smoking.I want to quit as well.Good info on this post

NMay50

I found something I wanted to do more....

I just quit 10/29/10.

I registered for a 5K on Thanksgiving morning. I bought new running shoes. I started the C25K, and couldn't get past 2 minutes of running at a time. I couldn't understand why...

Great friend, motivator and inspiration told me to quit smoking for the weekend, and on Monday we'd "run".... she promised me the run would be much more successful. Monnday morning the running was good enough to see improvement and be able to breath better. We ran the actual 5K course twice so far. Week 1 (2 days no smoking) 54 minutes. Week 2 (9 days no smoking) 47 minutes. I hope that I can complete the Thanksgiving Day 5K in 45 minutes or less. I could never do that as a smoker.

Find something that you want to do more than smoke, and remember smoking is an addiction... I know that one puff, and I'm back at it! :smokin:

Good luck!
Nancy

Joscelle

Cold turkey and I stopped hanging out with other smokers. I still want to sometimes.

cmriverside

Cut back/ then cold turkey nearly 20 years ago, after many many attempts. I was down to 5-10 a day by then.

I had to quit drinking at the same time, I found that when my inhibitions were lowered after a couple drinks, I would smoke.

It was way past time. I did it for my peace of mind - not giving in to an addiction that was going to kill me. I smoked for many years.


____________________________________________

That's what I think would be my worst challenge,drinking and not smoking.I want to quit as well.Good info on this post

tex,

It took me a few tries to figure that out. I can drink now and not smoke, but no way I could do it at first. The first two weeks were the toughest, and really only a couple times did I have to fight hard to not smoke. Smoking is nothing but a coping tool. One that will kill you...

It's so so worth the effort to stop.

Both my parents had heart attacks young. They both smoked. My dad died at age 41. My stepdad died of lung cancer. Ex-smoker.

They say your lungs recover fairly quickly. There is a lot of info about it online.

I think any time that anything has a hold on you like smoking, that it is killing your spirit. It is making you think you have no control - that you are powerless. It creates fear in your life. I'm here to tell you you are more powerful than you can ever imagine.

Try it for a week. You can do it. :flowerforyou:

ChellieIrish

Hey :bigsmile:

Cold Turkey :drinker: I was a 20 + a day smoker and am now smoke free the last 13 days :bigsmile: For me this is my 3rd attempt and not to put a downer on it but the previous 2 times were over 2 years :grumble:

In saying that the reasons this time for quitting are for my new lifestyle It's hard to be working out when emmm you cannot breathe lol Also I wasn't a member of any kind of support group ie MFP the support on here is priceless update your status you are having a bad day, need a ciggy etc and within mins usually you have someone helping you out :laugh:

I agree you have to set the idea in your head and really want to do it For me it was after my hols I said to myself once the Duty free smokes are gone that is it I am QUITTING!! I had the ritual with the last box and made sure I enjoyed every last one and said right ... that is it!!

Once I had quit before I went to bed I washed all the ashtrays and sprayed the rooms with a nice airfreshener so the following morning I wouldn't get the smell of stale smoke That did help :flowerforyou:

Now when I feel I need one I go and burn some cals instead by going out for a walk, getting on treadmill or doing a workout DVD

You can do it :flowerforyou:

maurap26

I quit smoking 9 yrs. ago. I used a pill, which I can't remember the name of it. With my Dr. I choose a quit date, which was based around what was coming up in my life. Then I started using the pills 10 days before my quit date.
I kept a quit diary, during this process, which I found a while ago.
The process was still hard, but made easier by the pills.
Good luck !!
YOU CAN DO THIS !!!!

superwmn

I was ready to quit for a while before I put them down. That's the key. You have to really WANT to stop (and thinking "I really should stop" or "I'd like to stop" while happily lighting up doesn't count). I was smoking for a good month or so and each time I lit up I thought "I really don't WANT this".

I quit officially in July when I changed jobs. So not only did I WANT to quit, I was in a totally new environment when I had no smoking buddies, not smoke breaks built into my day, a commute that didn't involve my car...

It was the perfect storm and I've not looked back

Charmagne

poolcue

I am just starting to quit. I am on chantix right now. I've been smoke free for only 2 days, but to prepare for this I had started to cut down from my normal pack and a half a day(20 years) to 10, to 5 right before I quit. I had attempted to quit multiple of times, one time I even did it for 6 months but I was young and didn't have anything to look forward to. This time I am much older and with three children, where one was actually pretending to smoke like daddy, so I told myself it's time and this time I need to do it not just for me, but also for my family. I didn't really pick a start date, instead I let my body tell me when to quit, I was one chantix for 2 weeks before my body was actually ready, then it came just one day I said that's enough and I haven't smoked in 2 days. The funny thing is, I still have a pack of cigs in my pocket right now, I actually told myself if I need one I will burn one up, but everytime I needed one I would put out a photo of my baby girl(the one that pretended to smoke) which just turned 3 four days ago and I would put it back down.

Serenifly

I used Chantix, I was supposed to set a quit date 7-10 days after I started taking the meds... so of course I chose 10... within 3 days my cigs tasted like licking a 2 year old, never cleaned ash tray and I was immediately down to about 4 a day, had completely quit by day 6, that was back in May, the smell still makes me nauseous and I never want to go there again. I did gain 10 pounds, but they are back off now and I feel better than I did in my 20s, literally! I wish you the Very Best Luck with this decision.... You have to do what is right for You, but believe me.... YOU ARE WORTH IT!!

I'm on week 10 of Champix ... I still smoke ... but I'm down to4 a day from 20 a day ... Hypnotherapy didn't work either... I have no idea how to quit, I'm at a loss ... completely lost on this. champix though was the first pill that made me feel like i couldn't be bothered to smoke. They make me want to throw up after taking them for about 20 minutes - even with food...

I'm convinced it will take me getting preggers to quit

poolcue

I'm on week 10 of Champix ... I still smoke ... but I'm down to4 a day from 20 a day ... Hypnotherapy didn't work either... I have no idea how to quit, I'm at a loss ... completely lost on this. champix though was the first pill that made me feel like i couldn't be bothered to smoke. They make me want to throw up after taking them for about 20 minutes - even with food...

I'm convinced it will take me getting preggers to quit

You will get there. I've been smoking for 20 years, back then two of my best friends and I would smoke all the time when we get together, even now we still hang out together. The only difference is, one of them has Emphysema(still smokes at age 35), the othe had quit for 6 months(smoker for 20 years and non-filter at that), using Chantix, and me that's trying to quit smoking. You will noticed while using Chantix you wouldn't want to smoke as much, the time you do want to smoke is in your head, give what I do a try(actually this is from the friend that had quit), buy some dum dum pops(small suckers) and take one whenever you want a smoke, it takes about the same amount of time to smoke a cig as eating the sucker, it helps take the edge off. If you still need to smoke after that, just push it off till your next smoke break.

Hope this help.

Oh, to test my will power, I have an almost full pack of smokes in my pocket that tease me all the time, but I am telling it that I am stronger than it is, instead I reach in other pocket for my dum dum.

PC

Serenifly

I'm on week 10 of Champix ... I still smoke ... but I'm down to4 a day from 20 a day ... Hypnotherapy didn't work either... I have no idea how to quit, I'm at a loss ... completely lost on this. champix though was the first pill that made me feel like i couldn't be bothered to smoke. They make me want to throw up after taking them for about 20 minutes - even with food...

I'm convinced it will take me getting preggers to quit

You will get there. I've been smoking for 20 years, back then two of my best friends and I would smoke all the time when we get together, even now we still hang out together. The only difference is, one of them has Emphysema(still smokes at age 35), the othe had quit for 6 months(smoker for 20 years and non-filter at that), using Chantix, and me that's trying to quit smoking. You will noticed while using Chantix you wouldn't want to smoke as much, the time you do want to smoke is in your head, give what I do a try(actually this is from the friend that had quit), buy some dum dum pops(small suckers) and take one whenever you want a smoke, it takes about the same amount of time to smoke a cig as eating the sucker, it helps take the edge off. If you still need to smoke after that, just push it off till your next smoke break.

Hope this help.

Oh, to test my will power, I have an almost full pack of smokes in my pocket that tease me all the time, but I am telling it that I am stronger than it is, instead I reach in other pocket for my dum dum.

PC

That is GREAT Advice, and you're right about when I need a smoke. I told my doctor that the morning smoke is the only one I truly crave, and the only one that I enjoy in the day, the other three are out of pure 'habbit' - 2 at lunch and 1 on the way home from work ... When I'm at home, I don't even think about it ... it's just that morning one that drives me nutty.

123456654321

Cold Turkey. 3rd time was the charm;) It's been 6 years now Wooohooo!

thumper44

I just did this. I'm 1 month of not smoking.(20+ year smoker).. I took champix, and it does take away the cravings.
Smoking out of habit is a different matter. You need to keep busy, and change your routines slightly.

I used gum and a straw for my first week to get through the oral fixations.

This website helped.
http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Benefits_Time_Table.html
There are 3 stories near the bottom, and I didn't read all of them, just Bryan's
http://whyquit.com/whyquit/BryanLeeCurtis.html

This FREE 200 page Ebook was VERY VERY informative, and a lot of stuff I was not aware of as a smoker.
http://whyquit.com/NTAP_large_print_212_pages.pdf

I've changed the normal question of "how much do you smoke?".
The normal answers are always "a pack a day, or 1/2 pack a day". (never sounds like a lot) :smokin:

Now I might ask them, how many is that in a month, (let the smoker calculate it ):noway:

If I knew I smoked 750 cigarettes in a month, I might have quit a long time ago. :embarassed: :grumble: :explode: :mad: :embarassed: :sick:
That's just gross, and stupid.