Quitting smoking?

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2

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  • chizumlassstar
    chizumlassstar Posts: 49 Member
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    I have called the quit line and have a quit date set for January 12, 2013. I have smoked for 14 years and reall REALLY need some support from other smokers. I live in a house where everyone smokes. We are not allowed to smoke inside though so that is good that I won't have to smell it unless I go outside. Unfortunately smoking has become such a part of my life. I will do fine until I have to go to work. Break time means cigarette time and I will have to find something else to do for the 15 and 30 minutes that I used to smoke. Somebody please friend me because I have quit before only to start back up again.

    I need the support and help and I will do my best to support and help you in returrn. One way that I look at it is this, I have been "fat" almost my whole life, I have only smoked for half my life, if I can lose 30 pounds in four months, I can quit smoking. Right???

    Please friend me.
  • upgetupgetup
    upgetupgetup Posts: 749 Member
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    Hey! I'm knocking on my one year anniversary of being smoke free. My date is January 16th. I smoked for 33 years and quit using Chantix, but the stuff made me incredibly loopy. Really. It was a wonder I still had a job by the time I came off of it. Cinnamon sticks helped a great deal! I chomped at least a hundred of them.

    Congrats, that's great!!

    We can all do this!
  • MadtownMadisonian
    MadtownMadisonian Posts: 66 Member
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    I quit and restarted a number of times over 30 years. But five years ago my doctor gave me a scare (a false alarm, as it turned out, but hey, it worked!). I tossed the cigs while I was still on the phone with the doc, then freaked out at what I had done. But this time it stuck. Mostly because for the first time, I saw my non-smoking as a liberation and not as a denial. I was thrilled to be a nonsmoker. I experienced cravings, but they didn;t make me want cigs, they just made me mad, as I didn't want to have them. Spent the first week out of the house as much as possible with friends, and then went to sleep immediately upon coming home. During day when I had cravings I would sing to myself until they passed, Also would text friends until they passed, or go on internet and read no-smoking websites. Went twice a week to a very informal quit smoking support group run by a grad student from the pub health school here. And read (and re-read) and book: Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Although I had already quit I read the book over and over. It was really the key to feeling like I had freed myself rather than that I was denying myself.

    Good luck!
  • jetlag
    jetlag Posts: 800 Member
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    I quit smoking about 9 years ago after many many many failed attempts. I haven't smoked since and don't miss it.

    I quit cold turkey, had the support of my husband AND finally got it straight in my head. Quite simply, I didn't want to be an addict anymore and made that my mantra. Whenever I wanted to smoke, I repeated my mantra, really believing it, until the urge passed.

    You have to want it for what it is. By that I mean, you can't quit for health or weight or your husband. You have to deal with the smoking head on and for what it is.

    The truth is simple: you don't enjoy inhaling that foul smoke into your lungs. Your brain is addicted so has fooled you into thinking you enjoy it. What you ACTUALLY enjoy is satisfying your addiction. That feeling of calm you get is your jangling nicotine receptors getting their hit.

    There are only 2 things keeping you smoking: physical addiction and fear. That's it. Fear that you will never enjoy a social situation again, fear that you will be chained to your desk with no hope of breaking the mind numbing monotony of your daily grind, fear that you won't be able to cope with stressful situations without it.

    Well, you can and you will because millions of people who have never smoked all manage perfectly well!

    Read "How to stop smoking" by Alan Carr. It literally changed my life.
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
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    +1 for Allan Carr, I read The Easy Way and quit cold turkey after 20 years.
  • kellehbeans
    kellehbeans Posts: 838 Member
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    I'm also quitting. :)
  • workaholic_nurse
    workaholic_nurse Posts: 727 Member
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    Kudos to you for starting on the smoking cessation journey. My quit date is set for March 1st,2013. The last time I quit it was for 3 years during nursing school(hellacious time to quit right) but I figure if I could do it then I can go the distance now and so can you! Please add me and we can support each other...Fight the Habit:explode: :smokin:
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
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    2 1/2 weeks smoke free here! You can do it!
  • amzzzzz
    amzzzzz Posts: 8
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    Goooooooodluck!!

    I'm 21 & have been smoking for 6 years!

    My partner & I (it was his idea) have made the decision to live healthier lives, not only for ourselves, but the kids we plan on having together:)

    I WILL DO THIS!
  • capperboy
    capperboy Posts: 99 Member
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    I quit cold turkey twenty years ago. Quitting was the hardest thing I have ever done. I was successful with family support (nobody else smoked at home) and breaking the associations between certain activities (drinking) and smoking. Good luck with your journey.
  • rikwaynik
    rikwaynik Posts: 724 Member
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    I also quit 15 years ago. I agree with setting the quit date. On the way to the my quit date I made sure to pay close attention to every cigarette I smoked. I noticed the taste and the smell and how it made me feel. Ahead of my quit date I was prepared to stop, but I continued to the date I'd set. I can still remember the last one I smoked and where I was when I smoked it. I was so psychologically prepared. I had a few times afterwards when I wanted one, but it was not that bad. I could breathe better, climb stairs better and yeah food tasted better. :) I gained only a couple of pounds from quitting. Finding something to replace the cigarette is a good idea. My craving came after eating so I would pop a piece of candy in my mouth after a meal. Looking back I could have used sugar free candy. :) I wish everyone on this journey good luck. I have never regretted quitting.
  • goonas
    goonas Posts: 205
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    On Wednesday its my one year anniversary of being smoke free.

    I have gained more than I thought possible, feel better than I thought possible and learned a lot about not having my life run by a small white stick that will eventually kill me, I learned how anti-social it is, you will realise just how bad it smells, how your taste buds liven and your senses grow.

    My biggest tip is to put whatever money you would spend on cigarettes in a clear jar and watch it add up - as off Wednesday I will be £2,600 richer !

    I've also learnt - If the money, the health improvement, or the good you'll be doing for the loved ones around you doesn't motivate you - nothing will.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/770883-my-success-results-of-quitting-smoking
  • rae_rae330
    rae_rae330 Posts: 39 Member
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    I'm quitting too. Have been a pack a day smoker for about 1/2 my life and enough is enough. I just did the math and i spent at least $1500 on cigarettes this past year. Thinking of setting up a new savings account and each week moving $35 (which would normally be spent on cigs) into it and when i hit my one year anniversary i'm gonna treat myself to something nice! maybe a vacation! :-)
  • goonas
    goonas Posts: 205
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    I'm quitting too. Have been a pack a day smoker for about 1/2 my life and enough is enough. I just did the math and i spent at least $1500 on cigarettes this past year. Thinking of setting up a new savings account and each week moving $35 (which would normally be spent on cigs) into it and when i hit my one year anniversary i'm gonna treat myself to something nice! maybe a vacation! :-)

    This might sound weird, but I find looking at numbers on a screen doesn't help, seeing cold hard cash makes the difference, I used to put £50 into a jar (every week) near the kettle in the kitchen, and I would see that jar get fuller and fuller with cash money... I hit 1 year tomorrow and there is £2,600 in there.
  • bobbisplayin
    bobbisplayin Posts: 4 Member
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    I applaud you for quitting. I used to smoke years ago, and just wanted to share with you a breathing technique that helped me at times ... Give it a try...

    Inhale for 4 counts (big breath)
    Hold your breath for 2 counts
    Exhale for 8 counts (slow and controlled)
    Repeat twice more for a total of 3 times

    Now sit quietly for a minute and just relax. Pretend you just finished a cigarette.

    Good luck to you.
  • ebrown30
    ebrown30 Posts: 31 Member
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    Good luck to you.

    My father in law never smoked, since years before my husband and I hooked up but he used to say

    "I'm a smoker I'm just not smoking today."
  • Richie2shoes
    Richie2shoes Posts: 412 Member
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    I quit 15 years ago after smoking 1-2 packs a day for 10 years. When I quit, I used a fake cigarette. It was essentially a cigarette length filter. I carried a couple around in an empty pack and when the urge hit I would take one out and hit on it like I was smoking. After a couple weeks, i was done.

    Good luck to everyone quitting!
  • lorcart
    lorcart Posts: 406 Member
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    I'm very very proud of all of you who are quitting. In Nov. it was 3 years for me. It SUCKED, I'm not gonna lie! It's also so liberating to not worry about it anymore, to not SMELL like it anymore and just be FREE of it! It's funny because sometimes I still really love the smell of it when someone lights up and then sometimes it gags me.
    I had some "weird" things that I did to help me. On the other hand I say find what works for YOU to help you and DO THAT THING! I loved that my hair didn't stink anymore and when I had an urge to smoke I would smell my hair! lol I TOLD you it was weird! lol Weird as it is, it worked for me! I took a LOT of really deep breaths as well. It seemed to help to get that influx of oxygen that my body had been missing out on for so long.
    You can do this! It's not easy..but worth it!
  • BrenWOW
    BrenWOW Posts: 95
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    I quit 12 days ago cold turkey- I've been smoking a pack a day for 25 years. I'm doing good but I joined a smoking support group too and it helps! I was "lucky" enough to get a bad respiratory infection and I absolutely could not breathe- I was going to go to the hospital. I slept through my withdrawals because I was sick! I feel like I'm not tied to the gas station anymore and I feel FREE!!!!
    Anyone who needs support should get and give it because it's a godawful habit to break. Good luck to everyone:) :)
  • lorcart
    lorcart Posts: 406 Member
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    I should say one of the other things that SERIOUSLY motivated me was this: If you're trying to quit you ALREADY know you aren't going to be a smoker the rest of your life. At SOME point quitting has to work! The beginning of quitting sucks BIG TIME! Every time you start back again, you have to go through that AWFUL beginning all over again!!! Why would you want to keep going through that over and over? Do it and be done! :)

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