Any smokers out there?

charlieduc

I have carried this nasty habit for probably 4 years now. I really want to quit and know that I need to, but I just don't know how to put them down. I am a full time student and mom of three (reasons why I should stop). I am afraid that if I put them down I will drive my husband crazy and/or gain weight. Any advice?

LuckyLeprechaun

It sounds dismissive, but speaking from personal experience, just STOP buying them.

I was about halfway through a pack when I decided to quit. When that pack was gone, that was it. I refused to purchase any more. Period. That was six years ago, and aside from the first week of crankiness, sticking with quitting hasn't been as hard as I feared.

Cholbrook008

You might try the electronic cigarette. It has help me and my husband.

charlieduc

I actually have tried the electric cigarette. It just was not the same...especially when my sister is sitting next to me smoking a real one!

cmriverside

If that is a picture of your child ......that is all you need.

My mom was a smoker. I vowed to never smoke. But being raised in a house where it was not only practiced, but all the friends smoked, too - it was a foregone conclusion that I would start. Took me twenty years to quit.

Don't set this kind of example for your child. Or anyones' children.

eaheather

I quit with Chantix..it really worked for me except for the messed up dreams... it made cigarettes smell and taste awful!

ladyhawkgg

I was a smoker for 40 plus years and the only way I did quit was Chantax gave me that way to quit. I still love the smell of smoke and I know how hard it was to quit I would still puff away. Hubby had a bypass and had to quit and he had to go with the patches and he went 2 rounds of the patches. Good luck and the best to you. It can be done just stay with it.

Dayna154

I did the e cig also and it worked for me. OF COURSE its NOT the same as a real one. No copy will be the same. But set your mind to the fact that something will work be it cold turkey, hypnosis, e cig, candy.. etc... Pick something and believe in it and use it and find some will power..
You will find it gets easier as time goes on. Im 21+ months non smoker and I love it, I still love the smell of cigaretts and will deepy inhale when Im around them but that is as close to a cig I will get. Im clean and plan to stay that way.. Just do it!!

mlucarelli74

I quit a year ago. It was difficult. Especially during stressful times. I did gain weight, but I gave myself 6 months to not worry about it. Quitting smoking was so important to me, that a few months of gaining weight was worth it. Now, I am focusing on losing weight because I have the not smoking under control. And my ex-finace smoked whom I lived with at the time. It can be done if you are motivated. Don't worry about the weight. It will come off!! (FYI, my quitting smoking had nothing to do with our breakup...lol.)

theblondetrick

i'm a smoker and i want to quit...eventually.i really don't feel like now is the moment to stop.first i want to lose my weight and then try to quit smoking.i just think it's better to solve one problem at a time.

charlieduc

i'm a smoker and i want to quit...eventually.i really don't feel like now is the moment to stop.first i want to lose my weight and then try to quit smoking.i just think it's better to solve one problem at a time.

This is also my problem, but I also know that I would feel much better if I quit. Right now my sinuses drive me crazy.

CountryDevil

I tried to quit for years and smoked for about 26 years. Each time I failed because I was not mind set to actually quit. I would come up with excuses or subject myself to the "triggers" that led me to smoking, like others were smoking around me in the car or when I was out at the bar.

I quit 2 years ago and have not looked back. How?

1) I wanted to quit. I had enough and I genuinely wanted to quit. (This is key)
2) I eliminated the "triggers" or replaced the actual smoking with a different activity for the ones I could not or didn't want to eliminate that gave me the urge to smoke. Like after meals, alcohol, social events. For that after meal urge, I went for a walk instead. Alcohol, I noticed I would smoke if I were in a bar but not if I was at home. So I quit going to the bars. In certain social events like gatherings of friends, I would excuse myself if the smoke bothered me or I began to get the urge. Then return after it subsided.

I know this two step process seems trivial. But you have to WANT to quit before you will. Then it is just like dieting, you have to work at it and build the self discipline and keep moving forward and never look back.

AlSalzman

2) I eliminated the "triggers" or replaced the actual smoking with a different activity for the ones I could not or didn't want to eliminate that gave me the urge to smoke. Like after meals, alcohol, social events. For that after meal urge, I went for a walk instead. Alcohol, I noticed I would smoke if I were in a bar but not if I was at home. So I quit going to the bars. In certain social events like gatherings of friends, I would excuse myself if the smoke bothered me or I began to get the urge. Then return after it subsided.

This is what's clobbering me. Local bands playing dive bars and riding the motorcycle... without fail, I light up.

I may be able to give up bands at dive bars, but I'll never give up the mc. So I think I can make it work.

hpsnickers1

You're addicted to "having something in your hands".

The only thing nicotine is is addictive (there are actually some benefits to nicotine. There is ongoing research - scientists are trying to figure out how to put it in a drug).

It's all the toxic chemicals in cigarettes that make them bad.


Enjoy an eCigarette. I know it isn't the same as drawing smoke into your lungs but the addiction part is from the nicotine and that's it. And nicotine isn't harmful to the body.

Just recently read that nicotine aids in releasing free fatty acids from adipocytes to allow humans access to the energy stored in their fat cells. Nicotine is an archetypal slimming drug. Hell, sugar's addictive and no one seems to belive and/or care about that drug. And sugar is more dangerous to the body than nicotine.
Heard last year (on the radio) that cigarettes actually rais the metabolism a bit (you expend more energy).

Maybe this is why when you quit smoking you can gain weight (nothing to do with "snacking" or "overeating"). Your body's metabolism changes when you quit.

scapez

You just have to keep trying and trying until you can make it stick for good. Most people try (and fail) a number of times before nailing it.

I smoked for nearly 30 years and am pushing 2 months without them. I know that's not a lot of time but I also know that I won't smoke again. I have too many reasons in my life now to not go back to smoking.

Best of luck!

AlSalzman

You're addicted to "having something in your hands".

This is true. If I don't have something in my hands, I'm a nervous twitchy wreck.

I1ahunt

My wife and I both quit nearly a year ago...we did gain a weight which is why we are here, but it has been well worth it....we used nicoderm and for motivation, we opened a seperate bank account and what ever we would have spent monthly for cigarettes we put in the bank....we still do that part, it's amazing how much we saved and how fast....makes me wish I had never started and just put the money in the bank from the begining. For me the hardest part was the "habits".... smoke when you get in the car, another half way to work, one more before you get there, one after eating, one when you wake up etc etc......Country Devil has the right idea replace the cigarette at those times with something else, gum, hard candy etc......it all helps......as far as working on 1 issue at a time, ask your physician or PT what they think.....I wanted to quit before I deployed and the Army Doctors flat out told me, " We'll worrry about it when you get back." Good luck!

Hellbent_Heidi

I'm using the patch right now and this is day 24 of not smoking for me....no weight gain so far and it feels great to be free of that hold that cigarettes have over us!

I did lose 35 lbs before I quit, so obviously I felt like a lot of you did, that it was better to tackle one thing at a time...but its SUCH a huge improvement to my lung function when I work out, I can't even believe I didn't do it sooner. I started the couch to 5K running plan the day I quit, and my chronic cough is pretty much gone and I can work out HARD without wheezing and coughing. Food tastes better and my sense of smell has improved tenfold.

I'm not going to lie - I definitely have more urges to eat more junk food right now, but I think of it being like when I started my weight loss mission where I had to cut out the bad things I was eating before, and eventually it will get easier (plus, I got rid of all my old clothes, and am NOT going to buy bigger ones again!)

MelanieAG05

I gave up in Sept 2010 and put on about 7lbs. I used Nicorette Gum for about 4 months but then switched to regular gum. I had tried on and off for about 5 years to stop. Even tried hypnotherapy but I just didn't have the willpower to stop. When my now-husband and I moved in together I had to stop so that was my motivation! I was recommended a book by Alan Carr but never got around to trying it. Apparently it is quite effective. Or Paul McKenna - he helps you to stop smoking AND lose weight! I don't know anyone who has tried these books but surely they are worth a go. I think the idea is that you read them first then stop.

Good luck anyway!

hpsnickers1

You're addicted to "having something in your hands".

This is true. If I don't have something in my hands, I'm a nervous twitchy wreck.

I am a smoker. I'm battling a sugar addiction right now, though. One addiction at a time.

I'm addicted to drawing the smoke into my lungs.

Interesting that the French smoke more than us, eat more saturated fat than us yet have less lung cancer and heart disease. Maybe saturated fat protects the body from the bad effects of smoking. I tell you, since I started eating mostly fat (and mostly saturated fat), even as a smoker my lungs have cleared out and I don't cough like I used to. Saturated fat is such a wonderful fat (in the absence of carbs).

liroez29

I quit with Chantix..it really worked for me except for the messed up dreams... it made cigarettes smell and taste awful!

ME TOO! Chantix was my miracle!!! Messed up dreams, but it really works! I was a smoker of 15 yrs. I will be smoke free for 2 yrs on April 19th! If your insurance covers it, give it a try! If not, well, its is really expensive. Good luck to you! I know what your going through!:flowerforyou:

liroez29

I quit with Chantix..it really worked for me except for the messed up dreams... it made cigarettes smell and taste awful!

ME TOO! Chantix was my miracle!!! Messed up dreams, but it really works! I was a smoker of 15 yrs. I will be smoke free for 2 yrs on April 19th! If your insurance covers it, give it a try! If not, well, its is really expensive. Good luck to you! I know what your going through!:flowerforyou:

mleipe

Quitting smoking is easy - I used to do it several times a year!

But seriously... been off the smokes for 8+ years after 20 years of a pack a day or more.

So let me enlighten you as to the revelation I had that made that last quit stick.

The only reason that having a cigarette feels good is because you're physically addicted to nicotine, period. When you have a smoke you feed that addiction and remove the discomfort of withdrawal.

Remember the first smoke you ever had? Ever quit for months or more and then start again? It wasn't pleasant, was it? In fact, I'll bet it was pretty darned unpleasant, tasted awful, made you cough, you hated the smell, you felt guilty, etc. Didn't get the relief you thought you'd get, did you? That's because you weren't addicted any more.

Now if you can get through two weeks without a smoke, you have overcome the physical addition. That means that once you've made it past two weeks without cigarettes HAVING A SMOKE IS NOT GOING TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD! In fact, as noted above, it's probably going to make you feel pretty bad.

Of course, if you have two or three smokes, it'll start to feel good again - this means that you're addicted again.

So, bottom line: Get through the first couple of weeks to get over the physical addiction and every time you think you want a smoke after that, think about how crappy it's going to make you feel and remind yourself that it's not going to give you the relief you crave.

How do you get through the first couple of weeks? I planned my quit date to coincide with the start of a couple of weeks of vacation, which took me out of my normal day-to-day routines and habits and thus the events, places, etc. that habitually triggered me to have a smoke were gone.

Good luck - it's worth it!

liroez29

I quit with Chantix..it really worked for me except for the messed up dreams... it made cigarettes smell and taste awful!

ME TOO! Chantix was my miracle!!! Messed up dreams, but it really works! I was a smoker of 15 yrs. I will be smoke free for 2 yrs on April 19th! If your insurance covers it, give it a try! If not, well, its is really expensive. Good luck to you! I know what your going through!:flowerforyou:

TheKitsune6

Honestly? I just stopped. The only thing that makes sense is that I decided I wanted to be a runner more than I wanted to smoke. If you want something enough you'll find a way to make it happen. You just have to... stop

Hellbent_Heidi

I quit with Chantix..it really worked for me except for the messed up dreams... it made cigarettes smell and taste awful!

ME TOO! Chantix was my miracle!!! Messed up dreams, but it really works! I was a smoker of 15 yrs. I will be smoke free for 2 yrs on April 19th! If your insurance covers it, give it a try! If not, well, its is really expensive. Good luck to you! I know what your going through!:flowerforyou:

Be careful with Chantix though...Its really helpful for some people, but side effects can be really bad! I tried it in the past and the dreams were absolutely psychotic for me, so I stopped using it, but have heard of some people having crazy suicidal thoughts while using it too.

LuciaLongIsland

I have carried this nasty habit for probably 4 years now. I really want to quit and know that I need to, but I just don't know how to put them down. I am a full time student and mom of three (reasons why I should stop). I am afraid that if I put them down I will drive my husband crazy and/or gain weight. Any advice?

You haven't been smoking long. I smoked for 45 years and gave it up. You dont want to do it like I did. I was in a coma. Just do it.

stcar

I am quitting (again) with the patch and also using the nicorette inhaler when I have a bad craving. The inhaler is as close to a real one as you're going to get. I've gained a few pounds in the past two months, but I'm refusing to let that bother me, because that's the reason I always fail at quitting. If you loose weight now and quit later, you'll put on some weight anyways, so I'd focus on the smoking first. I'm staying away from my smoking friends in settings like bars etc for now. Drink lots of water and set your mind to it! Good luck

Myslissa

I quit with Chantix..it really worked for me except for the messed up dreams... it made cigarettes smell and taste awful!

This ^^^^^^^^

4lafz

Bump for later

KitTheRoadie

I smoked for near on 20 years and I have recently stopped... I used patches to help me through the first few weeks, they're the toughest part. I am off them now and now I am working out again I am really starting to see the difference and I am only a month or so in...

Do it and don't look back, it will be the best decision you will ever make!

Good luck!