smokers that are quitting or have quit for motivation

Hey

I wrote a few tips for general diet/fitness/health advice here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1198789-how-to-stay-motivated-while-being-depressed-after-a-relapse?page=1#posts-18769318

And while I did not quit smoking entirely yet, I reduced (from 100 cigarettes week to ~15 a week). I'm just a 'social smoker' now.
If you are actually addicted to nicotine, I heard that it takes 3 days to endure the nicotine withdrawal. But I cannot give any more advice here, as I am not addicted to the nicotine, I just like smoking itself a lot. I have no problem going without a cigarette for a week or so.

What helped me; Figuring out which moments make me want to smoke.
I used to starve myself and smoke to ignore my hunger. I quit smoking at home totally.
I used to smoke when I was stressed out. Now I do yoga and try to actively relax my body.

Besides this, I heard that you should try to do some sports every time you crave a cigarette, be it some crunches or something like that, because by time, your brain interpretes this craving that you had for a cigarette for a craving for sports, so it'll help you being active.

And well, to the healthy living itself, just look into that thread, I don't want to repost it. But maybe it's helpful for you. Good luck!

For me, being married to someone who wanted to quit was enough. But that was sort of like an ultimatum. But it certainly motivated me!

Another resource, and this is a genuinely good one, is the book Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It wasn't great for me, because I knew my smoking days were over, but it is pretty convincing and brings up some really excellent, really common sense arguments against smoking.

Best of luck! If nothing else, at least cut back to only a few per day and that will be healthier than whatever you're doing now!

I'm here. Feel free to add me. I'm in the "I need to quit" phase. I've cut down by about half.

Quitting's hard. You feel a lot of people pass judgment when you slip. Just gotta pick a date and do it. I quit for a long time and started again about a year ago.

It was easy that time. Not sure why its so hard now...

one of the hardest thing i've ever done is quit smoking. it's tough. i realized about 5 years ago that i needed to quit when i started to need a smoke on my way to work.

there are a lot of methods to quit smoking. ween yourself off, use patches or gum. pick a date a couple of weeks in the future to really quit and announce it to everyone. whatever.

you'll fail. it'll suck. but just like having one bad day of eating doesn't make you fat again, one day of smoking won't make you a smoker again.

i smoke rarely now, like a cigarette once every two months. and they generally make me sick that i don't even want a second one.

learn to recognize your triggers. one for me was drinking with friends. fortunatly i don't have a lot of friends that smoke. but if i'm out with people, i'll say a bunch of times to everyone "man i'm glad i quit smoking." that way, if i bum a cigarette off of someone, i'll feel really guilty and not do it.

ETA, that while i decided to quit 5 years ago, i had several relapses. it's not until about a year and a half ago when i started to really take fitness seriously that i finally quit.

I have just quit after smoking for 50 years - my last one was the beginning of November. I found after many attempts, the only way for me was to seek medical help to quit, so my doctor prescribed Champix for me and with the help of my local anti-smoking clinic, I have finally stopped. Unfortunately this did lead to an increase in food intake - and is the reason why I am on here now. As quitting smoking is by far the most difficult of the two, I decided to concentrate on that as I knew that I could lose weight later and I didn't want to be battling with two things at the same time.
Good luck

Quitting smoking was three of the most difficult, cold turkey days of my life. It was also only three days!

It is also the most important thing you can do for your health. Weight loss, exercise? They pale in comparison to the benefits you get from kicking tobacco to the curb! I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but if you're serious about quitting, and want a friend who can help you through it, I'd be happy to help. It's not an exaggeration at all to say that you won't believe how much better your life gets once you're done with it!

For me too! Days One and Two were g-d awful. Day Three started out a little better but got progressively worse. By Day Four I knew I could probably do it, this whole non-smoker thing, and then I was off. It's been 2 years.

Honestly OP, focus on one thing at a time. Forcing yourself to quit smoking, eat healthy AND add exercise all at the same time is not going to work the way you'd like for *any* of the three things.

I want to second the recommendation of Allan Carr's Easyway book. You can get it for really cheap used on amazon. This helped me quit after two previous failed attempts and I've been without tobacco for over two years. I've been in all the situations where I'd formerly have been smoking without feeling tempted. I know two other people who were much heavier smokers than me who quit with this book and have stayed quit. Good luck!

the Carr book is seriously like what a lot of people have already posted. It basically describes the unbelievable benefits of not smoking, which don't seem obvious while you're a smoker, but do after you quit. I had cut down so much by the time I quit that I didn't feel a lot of the benefits, but I will say that I no longer get dizzy when I bend or squat down and then stand back up quickly.

I had been a smoker for 20 yrs (ack!), tried the patch, gum, Champix, Zyban, inhalers, cold turkey, hypnosis, Alan Carr....despite these things being worth exploring and trying as they will work for some folks, they did not work for me. I finally got myself an e cig about a year ago and have not had a cigarette since. I am still weaning myself off the nicotine, and have done a pretty good job of hitting my half way point. I started noticing health benefits within 2 months of stopping tobacco. Whatever you decide to do, just keep trying!

I smoked for 12 years, had to have two on the way to work, two at break, 4 at lunch, 2 at second break, and two on the way home. Then at least another 4 during the evening, and DEF after eating dinner. I wanted to quit, I would look at my friends on break, say, look, they are standing there, not smoking, I can do that. So, I started with cutting out on break. Only lunch. Then I cut the drive to work, boy was that hard! Then I cut to two at lunch, and only one on the way home. Then only one after dinner. Then cut the one on the way home, then, no smoking at home, including weekends. Then I stopped all together. It's been 11 years now. I smell it now, I cringe and say thank goodness I quit!! You can do it. You can. Just cut it back. Trust me, you can. Good luck.

I still remember the day I quit for good....10/10/2009. Yes, I had tried a million times and many ways before. I guess for me it was that my health was on a steady downward slope, I ate too much, drank too much and smoked too much...it all sucked! I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol and I could barely walk to the end of my driveway without being exhausted. I think looking back on it, that was really my "rock bottom". I picked the day and decided that was it. I knew that for me smoking and drinking went hand in hand so I had to stop both at the same time. At 4am on 10/10/09 my husband was carted off to the hospital via ambulance, was in a coma for 3 weeks, almost died of sepsis in the process.....the withdrawal period from cigs and booze were the least of my problems. There was no smoking allowed anywhere on the hospital property and they certainly didn't sell alcohol in the cafeteria. I had no choice. I don't wish any of that on anyone to help with quitting but it really helped me to realize we were a couple of very unhealthy sad sacks. Fast forward to today...I still have not drank or smoked. Our diets have turned to clean nutritional foods, we have both lost weight. I still have about 50 more to lose but I am so much closer to excellent health. My blood work is perfect, hubby still has some challenges but for the most part we are doing great. Why do I not back slide? I lost my only brother at age 56 to a massive sudden heart attack on 4/17/2011. Appreciate the fact that your health is in a delicate balance each and every day. Whatever the vice, understand what it is doing to your ongoing health, when you are ready and ONLY when you are ready will it be possible for you to make the necessary changes using whatever method works for you. The main thing is don't give up trying!!