Advice for a soon to be non-smoker?

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  • zendarah
    zendarah Posts: 91 Member
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    I quit cold turkey five months ago. I had been smoking for 4 years. I decided to quit without patches because I did not want my body to be addicted to nicotine any longer. Just remember that the first 72 hours is the worst. It gets alot easier after that :) i drink tea instead of smoking. Nice "break", not too many calories. I found that remembering the quitting timeline really helped me because i did not want to undo the good I had already done by smoking.

    http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Benefits_Time_Table.html

    Good luck! You are about to do the best thing of your life!!!
  • paulwgun
    paulwgun Posts: 439 Member
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    I went cold turkey 26 years ago, mainly because my girlfriend (now my wife) was a non smoker. I bought a car on hire purchase which the money i was spending on cigarettes had to pay for, so i could not afford to go back to smoking

    Watch your diet as this is the time i started to put on weight and did not keep it in check until now
    I cant stand the smell of cigarettes these days, but can sympathise with your plight I hope you succeed
  • coxy1968
    coxy1968 Posts: 77
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    I quit smoking January 17 of last year, when I turned 40. I had smoked for 26 years!! I was told about a book titled THE EASY WAY TO STOP SMOKING by Alan Carr. What a great book! I read it and didnt pick up another smoke since. I really recommend buying it, Found it at Borders for $13.95. Good luck!!


    I also read this book and i found it so easy and i didnt have any cravings at all, i have been a non smoker 5 years in February.
    In my experience i have found that all of my smoking friends that have set a quit date have not had any success and the smokers that just said thats it ive had enough im quitting NOW and they have had the success and are still non smokers.

    All of my family have also read the book and ALL of them quit and the biggest surprise of all was my mother in law who smoked 20 per day since she was 15 and she quit at 72 and is still a non smoker.

    Good luck and you can do this..!
  • Cooriander
    Cooriander Posts: 2,848 Member
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    I quit on my wedding day, had my last one right before I walked into the church. It worked for me to quit on a special day. I used the nicotine gum for a year and then quit the gum. The gum definitely helped with the craving. I quit the gum by mixing it with regular gum, with less and less nikotin gum.

    I was a heavy smoker (2 packs per day), but I ran road races even when I smoked, didn't really prevent my from exercising. I stepped it up though after quitting, my DH and I ran 5Ks and 10Ks the first few years of our marriage - before our careers got really busy....(and having kids)...
  • IronmanPanda
    IronmanPanda Posts: 2,083 Member
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    I always told myself I would never quit until I actually stopped enjoying it. If you still enjoy smoking you will never quit because you'll always want one. Somewhere in the back of your head you will crave it.

    Luckily for me, one day I woke up and decided I didn't enjoy it anymore. Quit cold turkey almost 2 years ago and haven't looked back.

    I can guarantee you if I still enjoyed it though, I would have been back on in a day.
  • stuart959
    stuart959 Posts: 33 Member
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    Firstly, congrats on making the choice to and practicing a healthier life style to support your decision. Though I'm not a smoker, I can speak from addictive behaviour. I've found that when major changes are made especially with my favorite way to de-stress alternatives will pop up. Instead of overeating I'd be tempted to watch TV as an example. So be aware of negitive emotional/behaviour patterns that can undermine your goal, also you're taking a wise approach by focusing on what positive things do I want to do to enrich myself instead of negitive re-inforcement. Good luck!
  • Cooriander
    Cooriander Posts: 2,848 Member
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    I always told myself I would never quit until I actually stopped enjoying it. If you still enjoy smoking you will never quit because you'll always want one. Somewhere in the back of your head you will crave it.

    Luckily for me, one day I woke up and decided I didn't enjoy it anymore. Quit cold turkey almost 2 years ago and haven't looked back.

    I can guarantee you if I still enjoyed it though, I would have been back on in a day.

    NOt true for me - I enjoyed smoking, and I still remember enjoying it. The trade-off if it being dangerous to your health AND breathing better helped me stop for good. If you smoke (a lot) you will eventually get cancer, the statistic is overwhelming - my mother smoked for most of her life and quit, but did not escape getting lung cancer. She is now motivating me to get more healthy, lose weight and get in shape. I am grateful that she does. It was worth it to quit. I am grateful. You can do it.

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