need help from FORMER SMOKERS!

Read this book -

http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0615482155/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389376676&sr=8-1&keywords=allen+carr+the+easy+way+to+stop+smoking

It's worked for millions of people.

I quit 2 years ago after smoking a pack a day for 20 years. You can do this.

I smoked for decades, finally got mad at the waste of health & money and bought some Nicorette gum. I've been "clean" now for 7 years. Clearly, everyone has a different success story, and I hope you find yours.

I smoked for over 30 years. I ranged from half pack a day to 3! I tried every aid out there with no permanent success. I am at over 2 years smoke free but I made it to 3 years once. I guess I never believe I have truly quit so I never let my guard down. I view my addiction to nicotine like an addiction to any other drug. It is never ok to take another drag. This last time I quit cold turkey with no aids. The first few days are hell. You are not fit for exposure to others. Forewarn people around you and apologize in advance.

Accept you may gain a few pounds. I try to replace smoking with exercise so my weight has always stayed under pretty good control. But really, the most important thing is to quit so a few pounds shouldn't deter you. In time it will be better and you can lose them. I had a friend who ate oyster crackers instead of smoking and put on about 10 lbs which disappeared the next year.

It is probably one of the harder things you will ever do but it is possible. I managed to quit while my husband continued to smoke. He smokes in our cars and house so I never escaped it. All of my friends smoke. I am always surrounded by smokers. I have survived major surgery, several moves one of which was half way across the country then moving back several months later when we hated where we were, my husband having a bad accident and his continuing disability from that, unemployment, finals and a host of other stressors. My replacement addiction is running. It keeps me sane and pumps endorphins into my system so I can cope.

When you are ready, just take the plunge and grit your teeth. You can do it if you are determined.

I quit when I got pregnant. :-) Probably not the best choice for you, so my suggestion is to go cold turkey. Buy lots of gum and fidgets to keep your fingers busy. Everytime you want a smoke, pop in a fresh piece of gum or a lollipop. Keep your mouth busy. The 1st week will SUCK, but if you REALLY want it you can do it! Good luck to you!

Quitting smoking is much easier than losing weight. Not smoking gets easier with time, losing gets harder. You need to find a reason you want to quit that is important to you. Even if it is as simple as not dying young or saving money. Then truly believe in that reason every time you want to smoke. Also pick up a good habit to replace the bad. When you want to smoke do as many push ups as you can, take your mind off of it. If you make it a month or two cigs will start tasteing nasty again and you are good to go. I smoked 3 years, clean almost 3 now it isn't complicated, just do it.

I quit kind of cold turkey with a little help at the beginning. I didn't want to spend all that time and money on patches so I put on 1 nicotine patch as a kind of a security blanket I guess and left that 1 patch on for a week. The first 24 hours it helped with the cravings, by the second day I knew it probably wasn't doing much but it was a psychological thing for me to have the patch on anyway.

The other thing that was a huge motivator for me was the money side of it. Cigarettes are extremely expensive where I come from and the price just keeps going up. I worked out that if I quit smoking I could save around $7000 a year ($25 a pack, 5-6 times a week). I then wrote that figure down, along with a list of all the things I could buy with that money and put it somewhere I could see it as a constant reminder.

For the first week I plowed into the lollies, maybe not the best for the weight but it gave me something to do whenever I got a craving. I ate so many licorice and butterscotch lollies, but it definitely helped.

Good luck!

Cold Turkey, in October 8 years ago.

i had smoked for over 15 years. I tried a few times to quit using gum, patches, slowly cutting back, wellbutrin....you name it, i tried it. none of it worked. It wasn't until i fully accepted that i was going to have to just suck it up & suffer that i was able to stick with it.

One day, on day 3 of my umpteenth attempt to quit, i got laid off of work & a close family member fell gravely ill. The urge to smoke an entire pack hit me like a ton of bricks. Instead of breaking down & lighting up, I decided that i was not going to let my addiction control me anymore, and that i couldn't use "times are tough" as an excuse to quit later. I had this nagging voice tell me that i had to follow through this time or i might never do it. So i stuck with it.

I'm not gonna lie, it was a miserable experience for me & everyone around me. Especially after I got the quitters flu 2nd-3rd week. it was awful. Headaches, body aches, feeling off balance....i also got a little bit of a cough for a few weeks but it cleared up soon. I gained a few lbs, but not a whole lot, probably about 4-5 lbs. and I had to learn how to manage stress on my own. My cigs were a crutch, i have anxiety and the drug withdrawal left me feeling kind of off kilter mentally. it took me months to get back to feeling "normal" again.

i just reminded myself that it was only temporary and in the long run i would feel better. The withdrawal symptoms are harsh but it kind of fueled my desire to quit even more. i channeled my grumpy B#$%#% attitude towards the thing that made me feel that way. I got angry at the cigarettes. sounds dumb, i know, but it worked.

Don't use people telling you go smoke as an excuse to start back up. Take responsibility for your behavior while quitting and don't use quitting as an excuse to be a *****.

Of course, if you really, really want to quit, you will.


*I smoked for over 20 years and have been quit for 7 years*

Exactly this.

cold turkey.

Changed everything I did. stopped driving cause I smoked in the car. stopped going to bars. stopped drinking coffee. stopped doing crossword puzzles. stopped waiting for bus.

i was a miserable hermit for months, but it worked.

that was 20 years ago and am happy to say, can drive, wait for buses, drink coffee, do crossword puzzles, and thank god bars are non-smoking now!

Cold turkey

This.. I quit a little over 5 years ago. I got sick and wasn't able to smoke that day. I woke up the next day and thought if I can do it one day, let's try two.. I made it through!! So the next day I said, let's try three! 5 years later I wake up and say, let's try 1825! If I were to have just one, I would be a smoker again. I hated what it did to my health, but I liked smoking. It's tough, no lie, but it's sooo worth it. By day 3 my chest felt better, my throat felt better and there was no cough which was amazing!!

I compare quitting smoking to this losing weight thing. I have to push through the cravings, just like I did when I quit smoking. If I did that, I can surely lose weight!

Going on Day 2 smokefree for me. I am also doing cold turkey. I smoked the last cig out of my pack and that was it for me. Sometimes I feel like I am losing my mind because I have a strong oral/tangible fixation to be holding a smoke. So now when I want a cig, I reach for a few Jolly Rancher hard candies( you can pick what you like), cinnamon fire works for me. I will calculate the entire bag into my "diet" if I need less I can remove some. At least I can hit a treadmill to burn that off and help restore my body to a health state then, better than the damage you would do with cigs.

Just my 2cents, try using a hard candy to curb your cravings.

I quit in 1999 after 2 to 3 packs a day. I went to a hypnotist that only did solo sessions. I walked out of his office a non smoker, so I know it worked for me. I was a jerk to everyone for about 2 weeks afterwards and I did gain weight. All things that can be fixed easily!

I wish you the best of luck on quitting!

I was a two to three pack a day smoker. I quit with the patch and considered myself a non smoker from day one rather than a person who was quitting. It always felt better to be definitive and over it instead of being in the process of quitting.

Two words: Cold turkey.

It is literally the only thing that worked for me. The ecigs just made me feel really sick. They hurt my stomach more than actual cigarettes ever did. The patch didn't work, the gum gave me terrible side effects (heart palpitations, sweating, stomach pains, etc), and all those 'quit quick' tricks were about as effective as those 'lose weight fast!' scams. I always ended up cranky and after a month would start smoking again. I was a pack a day smoker, too. At one point, i was a two pack a day smoker. The first time we went to Michigan in the winter, it was 0 degrees outside and I STILL went outside to smoke. That's how bad I was addicted.

I finally realized that I couldn't do it anymore. Part of why I got so inactive was because I was so out of breath most days that I didn't want to do anything except sit on the couch smoking. This time, though, I just quit cold turkey. I ate a lot of mints during this time. Often, it helps to keep your mouth occupied (that was the idea behind the gum in the first place, I'm sure). So, chewing on mints or something like Big Red gum helps a lot for the first few weeks. I, also, gnawed on a few straws. You will get cranky. That's normal. This part really helps if you have supportive friends. I'm sorry that it sounds like you don't. The best thing I can tell you is that if you feel yourself getting cranky, just take a breath and walk away.

Best of luck in however you decide to do it.

Quitting smoking is much easier than losing weight. Not smoking gets easier with time, losing gets harder. You need to find a reason you want to quit that is important to you. Even if it is as simple as not dying young or saving money. Then truly believe in that reason every time you want to smoke. Also pick up a good habit to replace the bad. When you want to smoke do as many push ups as you can, take your mind off of it. If you make it a month or two cigs will start tasteing nasty again and you are good to go. I smoked 3 years, clean almost 3 now it isn't complicated, just do it.

You're absolutely right. I am having SO much more trouble quitting bad food, than I did quitting smoking. I guess because you don't need to smoke to live, so you can just give it up. Eating, you have to eat and always make good choices. I have no willpower yet