Any smokers or Ex-smokers out there???

I smoked for 30 years. About 15 cigs a day. Quit cold turkey on Jan 1,2010. I tried many of the gimmics to include RX meds but none worked. I may not have been ready? Soon it will be 1 year. I still think about it and crave it every now and then. After about 2 minutes the craving goes away. I find that exercise really helps me get over the hump.

Well I quit last September 8, 2009! I may have gained 35 pounds but it is the best thing I have ever done for me and now I have lost that weight that igained. I used Quitnet.com an incrediable website

Hi there, first off.. you have to REALLY want to do it. I had tried several times to quit before eventually getting to where I am now. I can't tell you how, or what can help other than will power. After the first 2 weeks.. it's a lot easier... does that help? lol. I think what really helped me is my daughter.. when I first really tried to quit she was almost 1 year old.. of course I quit during the pregnancy but picked it back up after I was done nursing.. all of that together probably helped.. the cost probably helped too...

All I can do is be there for you.. honestly from what I've seen it differs from person to person with they're personal stories to what helps them quit... I seemed to have replaced that addiction with exercise... maybe you can find a positive addiction to fill it's place?

Hi! I totally understand your wanting to do it "on your own" but I am a big advocate for Chantax. I smoked for 8 years my husband for almost 20 years both of us quit with chantax within a month. I know that people like to use some possible side effects as excuses for taking the meds and quiting but for those people I think that they are looking for any excuse and are just not ready you really have to want it. So enough of my preaching I will be here to support anyone who is going through the tough but oh so worthy process to quit..

Not a smoker, but used chewing tobacco for 25 years. Quit on October 10, 2007.
There's no silver bullet, no magic elixir. You have to decide to quit, and quit. The first 3 days are a blur. You'll be an absolute wreck, and you'll think about nothing else. The next 10 days really suck. But the craves weaken and get farther apart. After 100 days, you'll gain confidence, and that's where the danger is - you'll think you can have one, or you'll buy a pack when you go out and you'll tell yourself that you'll throw it away tomorrow. But you won't.

When you have a crave... wait it out. FIGHT it. Do NOT give in. It's vital that you let everyone know, too. Tell your friends, family, everyone - that you're quitting. It's imperative that you have accountability.

Here's the thing - you'll never be prouder of yourself. Your smoking friends will try the whole time to sabotage you, because you're making them look bad. If it was easy, no one would smoke. It's hard, very hard, and you have to be ready for it, or you'll fail. Have a plan. Search the web - there are support groups all over the place. You CAN do it.

CHAMPIX helped me quit. I know people who used Zyban too!!

This is the second time... the first time i "Missed" smoking after 9 months and started to "Social Smoke" which lead to me being a full blown pack a day smoker once again!!! :laugh:

And this is how i Stay Motivated to continue the Non Smoking!!!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/megsta21/view/quit-smoking-motivation-44941

This here is why i will never smoke again... Cause i already "Spent my Smokin money"

(I cant put photo on here... =( Ahhh well a photo of Suz is on my blog...)

I smoked a pack+ a day for about the last 10 years. Chain smoked when drinking and playing golf, and had smoked for about 15 years total. My wife thought I was a lifer and would never quit ..... even though I tried about 500 times. I used/listened to an iphone app called "quit smoking b max kirtsen" (for about 1 month religiously). I was actually just trying it to see what it was all about and didn't actually start out to quit. I just started listening to it every night and I stopped smoking within a week.
Kind of a crazy thing to listen too, but I have absolutely no desire or cravings to smoke.
It's different than the other times I managed to stop smoking for extended periods of time - when I "quit" before. Previously, say I had stopped smoking for 3 months - well those 3 months felt like I was walking a knife edge. Always wanting a smoke and it never left my mind (in fact, I was probably still bumming smokes every now and then anyway).
This time, it feels like I never actually ever smoked before (at 99.99% of the time anyway). I didn't stop smoking when I started to listen to it, but my cigarette consumption stopped within a week. It just became a chore to smoke, I was forcing myself to smoke after about 2 days then just stopped a few days bought some OJ and then stopped all together. I also followed all the apps advice on cravings, nicotine withdrawls etc too. So if you listen to it, you'll know the OJ reference. When nicotine leaves your bloodstream, it dops your blood sugar levels and makes the cravings worse, so for those 2-3 days as the nicotine leaves your body, you drink OJ to spike your blood sugar and prevent from going too crazy.
Best $7.99 ever spent in january. That was about 34 pounds and 300 days ago. (yes, I also started loosing weight at the same time - gaining weight won't happen if you're strong and work on the MFP diary properly).

Also, I can drink to excess, hang out in bars and other places where smoking was the norm, I can wait, be bored, argue etc etc and not need to smoke. magic.
The trick now is to simply never take another puff. Just like this website says - which is also a good resource (I started reading it during my quit phase).
www.whyquit.com

Good luck. When you're ready, it becomes easier.

The one thing I never do is vocalize how good a cigarette would be right now. I just don't acknowledge that fact. Sometimes I do smell the smoke and think dam that's nice, but within a few seconds I shut that response down, and never say out loud how good it may be .... because it isn't and I don't want to lie to myself.

Ex-Smoker here (since July 16th 2002) and have some controversial opinions on quitting but its what worked for me and maybe it will work for you.
The first thing to know about quitting smoking is that its easier than anyone wants you to know. Sadly, most folks wont want to see you succeed and they'll empower your desires to 'have just one' because it lets them off the hook for all the places in their lives where they fail (folks who are losing weight know this all too well, dont we?) But that is all a rouse and since I quit cold turkey, I feel like I can say that confidently.

Here is the great thing about quitting - you have no reason to smoke (unlike eating for instance) so all you have to do is simply never have one again. I know it sounds trite, but if intellectually you can really internalize that concept you'll be way ahead of the game. It takes some effort - to demand you be your word and quit because you said you would - but there is literally no reason to smoke again that is valid. When I would want a smoke I would ask myself 'Did you quit smoking?' the answer of course was 'Yes' which means that you cant have another cigarette and quit smoking. The two dont go together, trying to be both will make you liar.

I actually bought Nicorette when I quit. The game I played with myself was that instead of trying not to smoke, I was trying to not open the Nicorette. So every time I wanted to smoke I would look at the box and ask myself if I could resist opening the box and would focus solely on trying not to break down and open the box. (Eventually I gave the unopened box to someone who already used Nicorette and had run out.) I also kept tiny jawbreakers with me to nosh on when I wanted one.

And here is the other thing, and I swear if you can get this, like really get it mentally, you'll do stellar. The urge to smoke is like any other urge which means it doesnt mean anything that you have it. You have urges all the time that you dont honor - the urge to go off on the person in front of you in line who insists on giving exact change even though they cant find it, going off on someone at work, (insert your version here). Smoking is just another of those urges that we, as people, give weight and relevance to when none is inherent. It doesnt mean anything that you want to smoke. You dont have to do anything about the thought that says 'but I REALLY want a smoke right now.' LIterally. There is no reason to honor that thought, and any reason you come up with is a lie. What is true is that you said you quit and having a cigarette would mean you havent.

And yes, I still think about it. Folks still talk about how much I loved it (I was an unapologetic smoker who said they would never quit). My best friend still talks about how good I looked doing it. And I know I wont have another. Why? Because I love it. I love the way it tastes. I had a pretty impressive inhale that I miss doing. And like all smokers, the whole thing will almost certainly go downhill after just one. Dont believe you can, for a second, have another one ever. But thats what makes it easy, that's all you have to do. Just never smoke again.

Anyway, I could talk about this forever. Best of luck to you!

Honeslty, if you only do one thing from these posts go out and get yourself the book written by Allan Carr titled "The easy way to quit smoking."

I know it sounds ridiculous, and self help books are silly and whatever.
It will be the best $20 you've ever spent.

I am almost to my 1 year anniversary of quitting. I did jumping jacks (10 of them) every time I wanted a smoke. Breathing deep and refocusing your mind helps the cravings and being uncoordinated made jumping jacks something that got me focused and obvioulsy I would breath deeply after I did them. I quit cold turkey and I am doing great. occasionally I have an urge but I then I think about all the healthy things I have done for my self since I quit and I don't want to ruin it. Good luck.

Hi,
I have smoked off and on for years. I quit for both pregancies and nursing. I also quit for another 1.5 years. I don't smoke in my home, car or work. I do smoke when I'm drinking (which is not much). However, I had to have two a day or I went insane.

I am working from home now and the temptation to end up on my back porch, puffing away, was too strong for me. I'm now smoking e-cigs for awhile, which has helped me tremendously. I haven't wanted or craved a cig in 2 weeks. I love mine. Ihope to not be using it forever, but it's working for me right now. If you are interested, do a ton of research (U tube really offers the most legit reviews). I got a JOYE510 and love it.

Tracie

Ex-smoker here too. I quit May 23, 1996, after 20+ years. Yes, I remember the date. It was THAT big of a deal. My inspiration was my almost-4-year-old daughter (now 18), who picked up a crayon, stuck it in her mouth, and said, "When I grow up, I can smoke real cigarettes like Mom." She doesn't remember that, but she is very proud to take the credit for my quitting. I am very happy to say she did not grow up to smoke cigarettes, real or otherwise.

I'm an ex-smoker too, stopped about 3.5 year ago. I'd given up a few times, including during pregnancy and breast feeding, but always gone back to it. The last time I used Alan Carr's The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently book, which just highlighted how much I'd been deceiving myself.
I didn't use anything, and I don't remember the exact date, I just decided I didn't want to smoke anymore and then it was easy. As long as you are stopping because you want to, and not because you feel you must it's easy. I also didn't gain much weight on giving up, my weight gain came from starting work and having children.

Smoked a pack a day for almost 17 years. Quit using Chantix back in May 2010. Yes, I gained 10 pounds right off the bat but weight gain was one of my absolute biggest fears so I used exercise to battle the cravings (not that there was many with the Chantix, made my ciggy taste like a dirty ash tray) but if I wanted a cigarette, I'd jump on the treamill or go outside and take a walk or bike ride. Now, after a couple months I had lost the ten pounds and feel better than I have in YEARS!!! I wish you all the luck in the World and would Gladly be a support buddy if you need it!!
Cindy