Thoughts on Smoking?

13

Replies

  • mdepko
    mdepko Posts: 283 Member
    I promise you all I am not going to start smoking for the fact of it being a suppressant if anything, I don't want to pick it up at all!

    *Whew!*

    You really had me freaked out there! Lol.

    Yes, nicotine has been known to suppress appetite in some people...that's one of the reasons ppl gain a ton of weight when they quit.

    that's what my dad's going through right now

    People gain weight when they quit smoking because they replace the act of smoking addiction with eating. I quit over 100 days ago and have lost over 30 lbs since I quit. If you replace smoking with doing something active (walk around the block, ride a bike, whatever), and don't head for the fridge or cupboard every time you want a cigarette, you won't gain weight. Appetite suppressant???? I smoked about 2 packs a day and I got up to 342 pounds, the only thing smoking suppressed on me was smelling good!!!
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
    lung cancer
  • VeganLexi
    VeganLexi Posts: 960 Member
    I used to smoke 20 a day, I now smoke only when I have a drink (about once a fortnight) it is bad, don't do it.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    I'm not convinced that it's an appetite suppressant. If I'm hungry and have a cigarette, it seems the hunger pangs get worse. :smokin:
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    . And it's nice to know that it doesn't suppress hunger. That was mind blowing to hear so I am glad to know it's not true.

    mind blowing!? really?!
  • tekwriter
    tekwriter Posts: 923 Member
    Please check out the website whyquit.com . I quit seven years ago and wish I had quit much sooner. It is not an appetite suppressant. It does not calm your nerves, it is a stimulant. If you lose any weight smoking it is because you are spending so much time outside feeding that expensive addiction. go to the website and learn about tobacco.
  • links_slayer
    links_slayer Posts: 1,151 Member
    Just think of all the extra breaks you'd get at work. People I work with are out at the shack for at least an hour/day. Totally worth it.
  • justicer68
    justicer68 Posts: 1,223
    I smoked for 20 some odd years and the best thing I did was quit. It is actually a stimulant....It wasn't an appetite suppressant for me since when I quit I was topping 200 pounds. I actually quit and lost 60 pounds the first year.

    Now...I do still have cravings but I push through them. I refuse to start back and it is one of the most smelly disgusting things I ever did.

    As for the extra breaks that people take at work. I get mine to but just walk around the building now instead of going outside and smoking. :-)
  • cutchro
    cutchro Posts: 396 Member
    I smoked for um 30+ years.... I use to think if I quit I would gain weight.... and I did... blamed not smoking. But when I actually thought about it.. when I smoked.... I would not eat on breaks and lunch I needed that time to get my nicotine fix. Once I quit I was now eating food instead which made me initially gain. However, my weight soon stablized and then started to reverse.

    So no, I do not believe it is a suppresent just that most opt to smoke over eat...

    I have been smoke free for 3.5 years!
  • goldfinger88
    goldfinger88 Posts: 686 Member
    Not at all true. When I smoked and was young I ate like a pig. Moreover, smoking makes you look old and you wrinkle early. Your skin does awful stuff. You stink and look bad. And oh, it will kill you.
  • StarGeezer
    StarGeezer Posts: 351
    My grandmother died from smoking, gasping for breath until she could no longer maintain consciousness. My grandfather died from getting too drunk to realize his dropped cigaret had set his bed on fire.
    My parents smoked for years, in spite of their newly informed 5th grade daughter trying to convince them to stop through tear stained cheeks.
    A couple years ago I turned my folks on to the electronic ciggs. After a year dad stopped smoking but its too late. He has severe lung damage. Mom still smoking e-ciggs. Its such a shame that my dad will die from COPD. He is in otherwise great health. Can't live without lung function though. ITs only a matter of time now.

    I felt the withdrawal from cigarettes too when I moved out of my parents home. Scary what we do to our children when we smoke in our houses with them and in cars.

    Those are my thoughts on smoking.

    I've been using "e-cigs" (a moniker folks are trying to distance themselves from, due to the stigma of smoking) for over 3 years now. This, after being a smoker of both pipes and cigarettes for well over 20 years. They are, by several degrees of magnitude, safer than tobacco-based products. I've lost count of the number of family, friends and acquaintances that have quite literally saved their own lives by getting off the cigs and onto the PV's (Personal Vaporators, which is one of the preferred terms for these types of devices.)

    If you've never been a smoker, don't start. If you have, and are looking for a FAR healthier alternative, consider the electronic versions.
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
    lung cancer

    Yeh, shock tactics, right on.

    My dad died of lung cancer thanks to smoking unfiltered roll-ups but guess what ... Mindlessly Parroting " Lung Cancer" will not make a jot of difference to making a committed smoker give it up even having seen their parent die of a smoking related disease.

    I assume most people are here to lose some blubber, some fat? Fact is if you give up the smokes you are likely to need some serious strategies to help you both cope with the cessation of the habit and replacing it with something more in line with your goals ( a walk, some creative time, etc).
  • goonas
    goonas Posts: 205
    On a purely anecdotal level and from 20 years experience, it's a great appetite suppressant.

    People quit and tend to pack on fat, that is pretty much the rule.

    But, if you can quit AND learn how to eat/exercise well then you'll be set for a better future all round.

    Allen Carr's Easy Way did it for me and started a chain reaction that has led me here. I totally understand why people smoke, no judgement here but if you want to quit it AND get fit you can, absolutely, but only if you want it. Really $)(;ing want it. Are you willing to pay the price? A bit of psychological torture that dims with time?

    I still get thoughts of starting again but they are fewer and further between, good luck y'all if you want to quit. If you don't then good luck also.

    Completely, 100%, the truth!

    You must REALLY REALLY want to quit, once you realise that you REALLY REALLY want to, it is not hard at all.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Smoking is a foul and destructive habit. It amazes me that people still start it up. I mean, I get the older addicts being stuck in their ways, but when young people do it it's just flat out DUMB. Don't we all know how unhealthy it is by now?

    Plus, who would purposely want to smell like *kitten* and be alienated from society in public places? Back in the day it was cool to smoke, so I could see why some people would want to fit in by smoking, but nowadays smokers are often ostracized and excluded. I just don't understand it.

    I always feel pity when I see a group of desperate-looking nicotine addicts huddling in the rain to get their fix because they aren't allowed indoors to pollute the air. Sad. (Although relieved to not be exposed to the poisons.) :cry:
  • ms1978
    ms1978 Posts: 26 Member
    they don't suppress my appetite, they do keep me from beating ppl senseless

    Here, here!!!
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    Try watching a family member die a prolonged and agonizing death from lung cancer or emphysema, then ask yoursel if maybe there are better ways to deal with your appetite.
  • monjacq1964
    monjacq1964 Posts: 291 Member
    Of course everyone knows the bad things about smoking but what are your thoughts on the nicotine being a suppressant?

    what kind of supressant?
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
    Completely, 100%, the truth!

    You must REALLY REALLY want to quit, once you realise that you REALLY REALLY want to, it is not hard at all.

    Everything starts from the mind, everything ... Get the mind right and it all flows, I swear it.

    Smokers will find every justification to keep going ... I've been there and done it, I thought I'd lose my very personality by giving them up, I smoked because otherwise I'd be bored, etc.

    None of it is real.
  • onwarddownward
    onwarddownward Posts: 1,683 Member
    I started smoking at age 11. I quit when I was in my thirties. I am never looking back. If weeds are what it takes to be thin, then it's not going to happen, but fortunately, it's happening for me without the smokes.
  • goonas
    goonas Posts: 205
    Completely, 100%, the truth!

    You must REALLY REALLY want to quit, once you realise that you REALLY REALLY want to, it is not hard at all.

    Everything starts from the mind, everything ... Get the mind right and it all flows, I swear it.

    Smokers will find every justification to keep going ... I've been there and done it, I thought I'd lose my very personality by giving them up, I smoked because otherwise I'd be bored, etc.

    None of it is real.

    Smoking is completely a mental game.

    After deciding enough was enough, I quit 18 months ago, never looked back.

    Biggest regret, other than starting, was not giving up sooner. I've wasted 16 years of my life stuck with cigarettes - now I see what I've achieved without them, it is my biggest regret :(
  • justicer68
    justicer68 Posts: 1,223
    Completely, 100%, the truth!

    You must REALLY REALLY want to quit, once you realise that you REALLY REALLY want to, it is not hard at all.

    Everything starts from the mind, everything ... Get the mind right and it all flows, I swear it.

    Smokers will find every justification to keep going ... I've been there and done it, I thought I'd lose my very personality by giving them up, I smoked because otherwise I'd be bored, etc.

    None of it is real.

    Smoking is completely a mental game.

    After deciding enough was enough, I quit 18 months ago, never looked back.

    Biggest regret, other than starting, was not giving up sooner. I've wasted 16 years of my life stuck with cigarettes - now I see what I've achieved without them, it is my biggest regret :(

    Yes it is a total mental game.

    As the above poster said...I wish I would of given it up sooner. I know once my mind was made up it wasn't nearly as hard. I just thought of how much better I would feel, my chances of getting emphysema or cancer had lowered considerably and not to mention on this new way of living journey I would never have been able to work out like I do much less even do cardio without going into a coughing fit trying to breath! Every time I even start to get a craving I think...do I want to take that chance and give up how I feel now and everything that I have accomplished since I quit....I think not.
  • I smoke....meats. Pork chops, chicken breasts, salmon. Even bacon. Doesn't suppress my hunger, but it does take care of it!
  • Iron_Lotus
    Iron_Lotus Posts: 2,295 Member
    I definitely gained a bit of weight when I quit 2 years ago, but that was due to the oral fixation aspect. Once I found something else to put in my mouth we were all good.
  • Fit4_Life
    Fit4_Life Posts: 828 Member
    A little story goes back when I was 11 years old. After seeing my mother hunched over holding her chest- as a child, I felt so helpless seeing her in such pain. I promised myself that I would never pick up the nasty habit of smoking. My mother never did quit smoking and today, she carries an oxygen tank, she has emphysema and takes a bunch of medications to counter-act the other. If and when she walks 15 to 25 feet...she is out of breath. My 2 brothers had open heart surgery in their mid-40's, and they STILL smoke! I made the remark to my brothers and asked them both if they understood what the reasoning was for the scar on their chest?! Of course they knew..My Dad also had open heart surgery and thank goodness he quit. My sister had died in her mid-40's due to cardiac arrest.

    I would much rather have a longer healthy life, than to pick up a cigarette and spend all that money to burn for 10 minutes to each cigarette.

    Growing up and going to school, kids would always complain about the cigarette smoke that was in my clothes. Kinda embarrassing..and it did stink.

    Why would you want your life like what people are going through that do smoke?? Just WHY??

    Not only the expense of buying cigarettes...it's medical self inflicted and your life.
    A life is priceless.
  • TdaniT
    TdaniT Posts: 331 Member
    my goal is to not smoke at all...it is just a fact I found interesting

    It is an interesting fact. A lot of things in today's society that are addictive started out as a use for something else. There used to be actual cocaine in Coca-Cola...things like that. Very glad to hear that you aren't thinking about picking up the habit. I hope you kick the "second hand withdrawals" soon. :) My husband is in the process of quitting smoking and my son and I are in heaven! :)
  • goalss4nika
    goalss4nika Posts: 529 Member
    Ewww smoking is gross! So glad I NEVER picked that habit up. Plus the price on them suckas are terrible! No thanks :noway:
  • EddieHaskell97
    EddieHaskell97 Posts: 2,227 Member
    No, it isn't "100% mental". That's a huge part of it, but nicotine addiction is a physical process.

    I quit "cold turkey" last year, and the headaches, non-stop diziness, "deafening silence", pain, sweating, etc... was due to physical withdrawal from nicotine. Once it was all gone on day four, then all that remained was the mental addiction.

    It was one of the most difficult things I ever had to do, but I'm so very glad that I quit it. Hopefully, doing so saved my life.
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
    I don't care if it's a suppressant, clears acne, programs your VCR and does dishes. It's stinking and suicidal.
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
    Try watching a family member die a prolonged and agonizing death from lung cancer or emphysema, then ask yoursel if maybe there are better ways to deal with your appetite.



    THIS. My dearly loved father took four miserable and agonizing years to die from smoking-induced cancer.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    People gain weight when they quit smoking because they replace the act of smoking addiction with eating. I quit over 100 days ago and have lost over 30 lbs since I quit. If you replace smoking with doing something active (walk around the block, ride a bike, whatever), and don't head for the fridge or cupboard every time you want a cigarette, you won't gain weight. Appetite suppressant???? I smoked about 2 packs a day and I got up to 342 pounds, the only thing smoking suppressed on me was smelling good!!!

    Watch the scene in the movie Clean and Sober where Michael Keaton meets with his sponsor ... By the end of the scene, the sponsor has several empty ice cream dishes in front of him. Which demonstrates: replacing one unhealthy habit with another gets you nowhere.