Quitting Smoking...

I'll tell you how I quit cold turkey 8 years ago as of yesterday.

I had just seen an interview of Christopher's Reeve's wife on TV (posthumously) about lung cancer, which is what killed her. She wasn't a smoker, but had gotten a lot of secondhand smoke over her life as a singer in bars. They asked her what was the hardest part of having cancer, and she responded it was having to tell her son that his mother was going to die and why. The idea of having to tell my daughter I was going to die, and worse, that it was from something I did to myself was unbearable. Totally unbearable.

So every time I thought about a cigarette, I first thought of telling my daughter that her mommy was going to die. Every time. I never smoked another puff.

I use the same tactic now to make good health decisions of all kinds, including staying on course with my new nutrition and fitness lifestyle.

I hope this helps. It saved my life.

You can do this.

A mother's love is the most powerful motivator I've ever experienced or witnessed!

You CAN DO THIS! :drinker:

I have not smoked a cigarette in over a year (approx 1 year and 3 months)

Here are my thoughts:

1) Expect to fail the first few times - its perfectly ok. You will then discover what works and obviously what doesnt.
2) Dont tell your friends or family - yep it sounds like the wrong thing to do but trust me its better. You dont want people asking you every five minutes how you are getting on.
3) Eat what you want and dont worry about the weight gain.

I wanted my body to do whatever it wanted and now I am getting the weight off.

So in conclusion (seriously) I would not go out socialising for a few weeks, dont tell anyone and eat what you want.

After a month you are over the hardest hurdle

QC

So in conclusion (seriously) I would not go out socialising for a few weeks, dont tell anyone and eat what you want.

I did this too.... but I avoided all situations with cigarette smoke for 4 months. I second not talking about it. People will be watching you which will add pressure.

Congrats to everybody who here who quit or is in the process of quitting. It's one of the best things you can ever do for yourself.

Hi Crystal,
Get your hands on a copy of this book: Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It's quite good and know it has worked for many around me. I often recommend it to patients that I see come through the ER.

+1 for Allen Carr! His book really made me focus on how disgusting the act of smoking is, and quickly helped me to view it as something I inherently disliked (FYI I'd been a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker for five years). He does say that you don't have to quit smoking until you finish reading it, so that you can really dissect the act and see why it's so gross – but I had already quit cold turkey and didn't want to re-do those first two days again, and the book still worked for me.

Other things:

– If you don't already run, take up running or some other form of exercise – you'll start to see immediately how much easier your lungs are having it. This really helped me.

– Put all the money you would be spending on cigarettes in a jar/secret bank account, and maybe use some of it to treat yourself every week – new book, new haircut, new necklace, or just a really good cupcake. The shame about how much money I'd been spending ($100-150 every week as a student!) was a huge motivator.

– If you're missing the fiddling with cigarettes, keep your hands and mouth occupied. Drink a lot of tea, take up origami, carry carrot sticks everywhere and munch them whenever you need the hand-to-mouth action. After the first month, it will suddenly get a lot easier and you'll wonder why you didn't quit ages ago.

– Make a point to enjoy how much you don't stink when you wake up in the morning (once you're ready to go out and be social and not smoke). I LOVED not having to wash my hair and clothes all the time!

I smoked for 35 years and quit on the patch. The important thing to remember is perseverence. Stick to it. Stay strong! Find something lo-cal to satisfy that oral craving. Start exercising. You can do this!

I quit a little over two months ago. I have never been happier about anything, save for meeting the man who is now my husband!

After many half-hearted attempts, I took the advice of a friend who recommended Alan Carr's The Easy Way to Quit Smoking.

I never even finished the book...half way through, I was just done smoking.

I thought about smoking once on the third day. I read a little more of the book. That was it.

Best $7 I ever spent on my e-reader! Good luck to you and enjoy taking your life back. It's amazing to almost never think of the thing I spent a lot of my time planning to do (I was a secret smoker and it took a lot of work to do and hide successfully!)

First of all CONGRATULATIONS to EVERYONE who is quitting! I was a smoker for almost 10 years and quit when I got pregnant, which was fairly easy because of morning sickness, and have been smoke free for over two years.
Even before I got pregnant, I wanted to quit because I was tired of being winded walking up a flight of stairs, tired of smelling like smoke, and (super gross) noticed I was getting nicotine stains on my upper lip.

I built an arsenal to assist me quitting (my personal opinion, I think it's really super gross to smoke while pregnant) so I bought some hot cinnamon toothpicks to assist with the oral fixation part of quitting. I did buy some nicotine gum, but only needed it for maybe two weeks? Like I said, I got really lucky with the morning sickness since the smell of cigarette smoke made me want to hurl.

After I was over the cravings, I noticed I was able to breathe much easier! I didn't wake up with smoker's cough in the morning! I COULD SMELL EVERYTHING! Food tasted so much better! Not to mention, I was saving money since I wasn't spending the 6 bucks a day on a pack.

I wish you the best! You're not alone, and your body and health will thank you when you conquer this.

Hi Crystal,
Get your hands on a copy of this book: Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It's quite good and know it has worked for many around me. I often recommend it to patients that I see come through the ER.

This was an excelent source of motiviation when I was quitting.

+1 for Allen Carr! His book really made me focus on how disgusting the act of smoking is, and quickly helped me to view it as something I inherently disliked (FYI I'd been a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker for five years). He does say that you don't have to quit smoking until you finish reading it, so that you can really dissect the act and see why it's so gross – but I had already quit cold turkey and didn't want to re-do those first two days again, and the book still worked for me.

Other things:

– If you don't already run, take up running or some other form of exercise – you'll start to see immediately how much easier your lungs are having it. This really helped me.

– Put all the money you would be spending on cigarettes in a jar/secret bank account, and maybe use some of it to treat yourself every week – new book, new haircut, new necklace, or just a really good cupcake. The shame about how much money I'd been spending ($100-150 every week as a student!) was a huge motivator.

– If you're missing the fiddling with cigarettes, keep your hands and mouth occupied. Drink a lot of tea, take up origami, carry carrot sticks everywhere and munch them whenever you need the hand-to-mouth action. After the first month, it will suddenly get a lot easier and you'll wonder why you didn't quit ages ago.

– Make a point to enjoy how much you don't stink when you wake up in the morning (once you're ready to go out and be social and not smoke). I LOVED not having to wash my hair and clothes all the time!

LOVE all of these suggestions. I smoked for 16 years and I quit a number of times but always went back to it in times of stress. One thing I always thought "I should do this" but never DID do was the "– Put all the money you would be spending on cigarettes in a jar/secret bank account, and maybe use some of it to treat yourself every week – new book, new haircut, new necklace, or just a really good cupcake. " one. Oh how I wish I had!! This last time I quit, the final time (it just feels different somehow and I know it's the real deal), if I had just saved the $35+ a week, I could have easily funded a trip back home for the holidays. Instead we spent Christmas by ourselves, all lonely and sad. Save the money, save the money!! Use it to buy yourself something. Use it to buy your Christmas gifts next year. Use it for a trip or a super expensive date night or anything but don't just let it get absorbed back into your household budget. The visual impact alone will be awesome.

I quit nearly three years ago by going cold turkey like you.

I drank lots of water, kept my hands busy by doing housework, and for me, it's that first nicotine rush from a drag - I HATE it. Sick, dizzy, weak, smelly...

When the cravings were really bad, I told myself that I'll have one if I still feel as bad after I've done the washing up/ironing/hoovering the stairs etc.. By the time I'd done 1 or more of those types of things the craving had passed.

Keeping busy and drinking water were the main keys for me.

Good luck, it's difficult but can be done and it's worth it. I couldn't afford to start up again now even if I wanted to - they are so expensive.

Stumbled upon this thread... Y'all have persuaded me to read Allen Carr's book! I want to want to quit, so wish me luck!

I quit smoking November 1, 2013. I used nicotine lozenges to help with the cravings. I gained almost 20 lbs in the first 2 months, so I came here and now I'm losing weight smoke-free. Be patient and persistent. You can do this!