Smokers?

*Head down, raises hand* I REALLY want to stop! I'm hoping as I get more in shape me quitting will come naturally.

This is a post I put up a few weeks back. I'm a runner too & like yourself was a smoker & a runner too, have a read of it & see if it help any. Best of luck & if you try & quit & stick it out you'll feel 10 times better & enjoy your running a hell of a lot more I promise you.

Read on...

I know this isn'y a calorie related topic but I thought I'd share my success of quiting smoking so that it may help those of you wishing to do the same.

History: -
How long I smoked for: 11 years
How many a day: 40
How long quit: 17 months.

Like everyone I started smoking casual and at a silly age of 22, just because everyone else I live with at the time did and the biggest mistake I made was buying that first package. Once you've gone down that road it's the beginning of a battling journey.

I smoke for 11 years and tried so many times to quip, I tried acupuncture, hypnosis (spent €700 on that), Nicotene patches, and Nicotene gum.

I can't say I enjoyed a single cigarette I smoked and it was a pure habit, but being out of breth walking up a stairs, having a heavy chest every morning and depending on these little white sticks everytime I got a little stressed was something I knew I didnt want to endure my entire life. Apart from that I didn't want all the health risks that smoking brings, maybe it wouldnt effect me today but tomorrow comes quicker than we'd all like. I was also afraid of gaining weight which didn't happen as I keep myself busy in the garden or went for a cycle or run & I made sure I kept of sweets etc.

In the end I managed it cold turkey without the help of any products. I found that exercise was a great motivator and I enjoyed running, which I done before I quit & I always said that I could enjoy running a hell of a lot more if my lungs were clearer.

It's your choice to quit and only you alone can manage that. Picking new years day it not a goot idea, instead pick a random day during the year and aim for that, but you have to really want to quit and quit for yourself and not others.

The first few days are though I won't lie, but try some fruit and lots of water and in time it will get a little easier.

17 months on and I don't miss them in the slightest, my wife smokes and thats a battle I hope she wins one day, but even if she smoke in the car or house it doesn't bother me in the slightest, in the early days of quiting it did.

Today when I see people standing outside a pub or office or where ever I wonder how I let myself be controlled by cigarette.

Quiting isn't easy, help from your family is great as long as they don't nag you or keep mentioning smoking, but it can be done, I did it and it was one of the hardest things I've done but I'm free at last & if you've started to quit or would like too then I wish you all the best, stick with it because it's a fantastic feeling when you know for sure you've beaten them.

Colin