I NEED TO QUIT SMOKING

I had tried quitting several times as well using the methods that you listed.
What finally worked for me, and I believe the only thing that will ever truly work.... decide that you WANT to quit, and then just DO IT!

To me, trying to quit smoking using patches, gum, etc. is like trying to lose weight using pills, 48 hour drinks etc.

i agree 100%!!!

First of all, you should research it before taking it. That is just taking control of yourself and knowing if there is something in it that could do more harm than good. Dr's do not know everything either. It is our responsibility to find the real truth.
I used Chantix and honestly I would not recommend it to anyone. It tore my stomach up and made my tounge feel very thick. I only stayed on it for a very short time, for these reasons.
A couple weeks after going off of it, I just one morning woke up and had no desire for any more cigarettes.

And here's the miserable part.
Your hunger will BURN for a month after that first week. Just BURN!

I must respectfully disagree with this statement, and it's statements like this that can set up a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm on day 15, and I was somewhat hungrier for the first few days (hungry may not even be the right word - during the nicotine withdrawal stage it may be more of a nervous need to fill the void), but my appetite went back to normal soon after. I made a serious commitment to regular exercise, which may help, but again, everyone is different, and what was true for you may not be true for another, so why set up negative expectations for them?

It's different for all, but he wanted actual experience - not opinions.
I believe in prepping for the worse, and if the worse doesn't come, all the better.

And congratulations to you for quitting!
No matter what, it's never easy; if it was nobody would still smoke after the teenage "coolness" wears off.

WOW, LMAO, ask my dr, most epople gain 20 lbs when they stop smoking! My appetite was insane, I could not stop eating. All I wanted to do was get through not smoking and knew that I could lose the weight later.

I discovered that if I took 2 bee pollen in the morning before breakfast and 2 before lunch, I would not be so hungry that I would want to chew my arm off.

So as I agree that all people are different, MOST people expereince weight gain(and the reason some people give for not wanting to quit just yet) and if someone is not ready for that, it can be very frustrating, so kudos for bring it up.

I agree that many people DO gain weight when they quit, but that doesn't mean that they have to... You have a choice as to how difficult or easy you make quitting smoking, just like anything else in life. If you expect to want to pig out for months, you probably will. If you expect it to be hard and miserable, it will be. If you expect that it's going to be a very positive experience, you take steps to keep your blood sugar stable, and deal with the psychological cravings by developing new healthy habits like hitting the gym to deal with stress, taking walks on your breaks, drinking tons of water, snacking on fresh fruits and veggies, you'll feel really good really quickly (note that this applies after the first few days of nicotine withdrawal, which only lasts 72 hours if you go cold turkey but it is pretty miserable). But I agree with joakool - smoking is much more damaging to your health than gaining a few pounds, and you can deal with that later, so don't let the fear of that stop you. If you need to give yourself permission to go crazy for weeks or months, by all means do that and get off the cigarettes :-)

BTW, I did read somewhere that smoking actually burns about 250 calories a day (increased heart rate), so quitting by itself does mess with your metabolism - but a good brisk walk will burn that off for most people :-)

And here's the miserable part.
Your hunger will BURN for a month after that first week. Just BURN!

I must respectfully disagree with this statement, and it's statements like this that can set up a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm on day 15, and I was somewhat hungrier for the first few days (hungry may not even be the right word - during the nicotine withdrawal stage it may be more of a nervous need to fill the void), but my appetite went back to normal soon after. I made a serious commitment to regular exercise, which may help, but again, everyone is different, and what was true for you may not be true for another, so why set up negative expectations for them?

It's different for all, but he wanted actual experience - not opinions.
I believe in prepping for the worse, and if the worse doesn't come, all the better.

And congratulations to you for quitting!
No matter what, it's never easy; if it was nobody would still smoke after the teenage "coolness" wears off.

WOW, LMAO, ask my dr, most epople gain 20 lbs when they stop smoking! My appetite was insane, I could not stop eating. All I wanted to do was get through not smoking and knew that I could lose the weight later.

I discovered that if I took 2 bee pollen in the morning before breakfast and 2 before lunch, I would not be so hungry that I would want to chew my arm off.

So as I agree that all people are different, MOST people expereince weight gain(and the reason some people give for not wanting to quit just yet) and if someone is not ready for that, it can be very frustrating, so kudos for bring it up.

I've never heard of anybody who didn't until the above person chimed in.

W.E.
Again, prepare for the worse and be battle ready.

Well nevermnd my last post! Congrats on being able to quit... I felt the same way with smell.... i couldnt believe how awful people who just smoked smelled and that i use to smell that way. Even worse i felt bad for all the non smokers who told me i smelled bad back when i smoked and i thought they were just being negative pushing their views on me.... turns out they were right i did smell bad