Just Quit Smoking -Advice

E-cig really helped me beat cravings and also satisfied my need for the hand/mouth habit.... Pretty soon, I didn't even use that!

8 days in with an e cig....it gets much easier after the first few days. I don't even want a cigarette now. Good luck and stick with it, it's worth it. Make yourself a little savings account and plop that money you would have spent on cigarettes in there and then do something nice for yourself :bigsmile:

Hello! Long time lurker/user, first time posting.

I am looking for advice because I have JUST (this week) quit smoking. I am not even close to referring to myself as an ex-smoker yet but I am hopeful and feeling good about it.

I did want to see if anyone had any advice for me. I was logging before anyway, but I'm making sure to be extra precise as I don't want to replace cigarettes with snacks. I'm also concerned about how my metabolism may change.

Even when I smoke I still exercise on a regular basis (running combined with home work outs like calisthenics and lifting) so I'm hoping this change will only improve my stamina and overall fitness but I've heard quitting can have adverse effects initially.

Does anyone have any experience in this area that they can impart? I would be very grateful.

I smoked about 16 years. I have not smoked in 13 years. There were no adverse side affects of quitting. No one has ever died as a direct result of NOT smoking. However, I am sure someone will want to argue that fact. here are my suggestions.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

1. Avoid other smokers as much as possible.
2. Avoid alcohol.
3. Avoid carbs for a few weeks.
4. Avoid fatty foods for a few weeks.
5. Increase your exercise for a few weeks.
6. Expect the urge to smoke to creep up periodically and unexpectedly for years.
7. Don't try e-cigarettes. You'll just look like a douche.

While I agree for the most part the douche comment was a little unnecessary. If it wasn't for the e cig I'd probably still be smoking and if I look like a douche, so be it.

I quit last October using an e-cig. It's awesome, I didn't even want to smoke! It's the only think that ever worked for me.

7. Don't try e-cigarettes. You'll just look like a douche. History will prove me right.

I think people who make comments like this look douchey.

My e-cig does not contain any nicotine. You can get them without it.

You should think of yourself as an ex-smoker - you are an ex smoker. You will only ever be a smoker again, if you light one up. I went cold turkey 3 months ago - it was so much easier than I imagined. Everyone tells you its hard, but if you have your head in the right place, its not hard at all. I've tried before with nicotine patches, but to be honest anything that gives you a hit of nicotine is just prolonging the cravings & messing with your head. You don't give recovering alcoholics a nip of whiskey to ween them off drink - so why give someone who is trying to quit smoking a hit of nicotine. As another poster said - you are not going to die because you stop getting nicotine.

I wouldn't worry too much about your weight just now. Like you said, just try to keep tracking, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just try to get on with life as normal and when you are around your friends who are smoking, just remember that they are most likely jealous of the fact that you are not smoking. Most smokers don't really want to smoke (although we don't like to admit this) we smoke because we are addicted to nicotine - that's why we might say we 'enjoy' smoking. Its 'enjoyable' because you are feeding the addiction.

My husband husband quit the same time as me & now 2 of his friends are giving it a go. Like I said, they didn't really want to be smokers. They probably thought if he can do it, so can we!!

The way I see it. If I could quit smoking - which is supposedly very hard. Then I'm pretty sure I can now get motivated & succeed in shedding some pounds. Also, exercise will be much more enjoyable because my lungs actually work again;-) You should feel proud that you ditched them & take each day as it comes.

I quit last October using an e-cig. It's awesome, I didn't even want to smoke! It's the only think that ever worked for me.

Just out of curiosity, are you still using the e-cig or have you gone off that as well? My friends have used them differently, some weaning themselves off the e-cig and some just doing a straight swap to full on Vaping enthusiasts.

I still use it. I love it! I started at 24mg of nicotine and am now using 6mg. I'll probably drop it to 0mg soon.

I smoked for 40 years, quit cold turkey July 27th last year (So I guess yesterday was 8 months)
I bought (and barely used) a non nicotine disposable ecig (Blu) it gave my hands something to do when i got really antsy in the first few days then i tossed it after not using it for a week
First 2 weeks were tough, drank a ton of water went for walks etc. In the first month maybe 6 weeks i rarely drank and only then at home a cocktail with my wife. Alcohol and Cigarettes are closely tied with me and I needed to break the tie. By late fall I was able to go out drinking without caving. I ended up quitting drinking in December though as part of my weight loss plan
First 72 hours are true withdrawal from the addiction
the next couple of weeks it is all mental your brain saying hey why don't you do this anymore - just as hard as the physical addiction if you ask me

Every time you get an urge find something else to distract you for 5 minutes
the space between urges will get longer and the length of the urge will decline

I rarely get an urge now and they are fleeting

Good Luck with the quitting, it's the toughest thing I've done (and I have quit other more notable addictions)

Oh, I'm so good at quitting smoking I've probably done it 10 times and I'm 27. Longest stretch was 3 years and I DID use the e-cig. Worked like a charm. Didn't smoke at all and then I got stupid and proud and thought I was invincible. Started bumming smokes in public while drinking because I thought I'd look like a weirdo with the e-cig. What a dumb thing.

Anyway, I recently had to quit again after another 3 year smoking stint. I did it the same way. I used patches at first, then I bought the e-cig. It is a switchover for me. I will continue to use it so that I don't smoke. 3 years was the longest I'd ever gone without smoking. The patches work for a while, but when I get off the last step, I am always more moody than I'd ever want to be. It sucks.

Anyway, I didn't gain weight any of the times I quit. The thing I did the first time around before I got the e-cigs was chew gum. That was so that I wouldn't try to eat to satisfy an urge to smoke. This time, I would just say "okay, you JUST ate, you are not hungry, you want to smoke" then I'd sit back down and wait to actually feel hungry.

It's different for everyone. Good job making the decision and keep it going! You should be proud of yourself. Read up on how your body recovers the longer you've been smoke-free. That always made me smile and want to continue.

they way I stopped smoking was by reading Allan Carr's easy way to stop smoking. It's a bit repetitive but it really helped. I went into it total skeptic and not even trying to quit, read it over the course of 1 day... and by the time I finished the last chapter, I never touched a smoke again. I think you can pick up the small book for about 10 bucks.

I quit last October using an e-cig. It's awesome, I didn't even want to smoke! It's the only think that ever worked for me.

Just out of curiosity, are you still using the e-cig or have you gone off that as well? My friends have used them differently, some weaning themselves off the e-cig and some just doing a straight swap to full on Vaping enthusiasts.

I quit a year ago using an e-cig (as did some of my friends) and now I'm a vaping enthusiast. If you can manage without them, then do, but e-cigs are a vastly better, healthier, cheaper and tastier alternative to smoking, and after a while with them cigarettes taste disgusting so they're very effective for quitting. If you're really struggling with a craving to smoke, better an ecig than a cigarette.

Oh, and ignore the poster who thinks e-cigs cause cancer. Ignorance abounds!

Congratulations on deciding to quit. You won't regret it. Good luck!

Not sure about the looking like a douche part, but I agree. e-cigs are supplying nicotine just like the tabacco kind. Nicotine is what you are addicted to. Stop using nicotine. As data is collected regarding e-cigs, I believe we will see more and more young people getting cancer from using them. No smokes are safe. I don't care what the marketing says.

Maybe instead of marketing, you should look at actual research done on them.

http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/08958378.2013.793439

http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/10/5146

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-14-18.pdf

http://www.ecigarette-research.com/EUROECHO2013-ecigs.pdf

http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/10/ntr.ntt203.short?rss=1

www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/10/5146/pdf

publichealth.drexel.edu/~/media/Files/publichealth/ms08.ashx

http://www.healthnz.co.nz/ECigsExhaledSmoke.htm

http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract

While I agree they are better than Cigarette how much of that research was funded by the tobacco lobby? htey are notorious for biased research and have been snce it first came out smoking and cancer were linked in 1964,
Every big tobacco player is in the E-Cig game and they are the ones who fought to allow Nicotine in them. As long as they have you inhaling Nicotine they have you. I quit using several nicotine replacement sytems over the years and always ended up smoking again. You've not truly quit unless you have quit Nicotine. Big Tobacco knows this why do you think they are in all versions of the nicotine replacement game and why they fought to have it so readily available (it's less regulated than cigarettes some places and they are trying to sell vaping as cool - notice all the vaping boards etc, got news for you they are marketing tools for Big Tobacco

The best plan is quit Nicotine cold. it will clear your system in 72 hours. If you need it use the other drug therapies to help with the anxieties and get support form friends and family
(and vaping is not just water, it's water plus additives without long term testing or implications having been done -just substituting one habit for another and that never works long term

Not sure about the looking like a douche part, but I agree. e-cigs are supplying nicotine just like the tabacco kind. Nicotine is what you are addicted to. Stop using nicotine. As data is collected regarding e-cigs, I believe we will see more and more young people getting cancer from using them. No smokes are safe. I don't care what the marketing says.

Maybe instead of marketing, you should look at actual research done on them.

http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/08958378.2013.793439

http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/10/5146

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-14-18.pdf

http://www.ecigarette-research.com/EUROECHO2013-ecigs.pdf

http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/10/ntr.ntt203.short?rss=1

www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/10/5146/pdf

publichealth.drexel.edu/~/media/Files/publichealth/ms08.ashx

http://www.healthnz.co.nz/ECigsExhaledSmoke.htm

http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract

While I agree they are better than Cigarette how much of that research was funded by the tobacco lobby? htey are notorious for biased research and have been snce it first came out smoking and cancer were linked in 1964,
Every big tobacco player is in the E-Cig game and they are the ones who fought to allow Nicotine in them. As long as they have you inhaling Nicotine they have you. I quit using several nicotine replacement sytems over the years and always ended up smoking again. You've not truly quit unless you have quit Nicotine. Big Tobacco knows this why do you think they are in all versions of the nicotine replacement game and why they fought to have it so readily available (it's less regulated than cigarettes some places and they are trying to sell vaping as cool - notice all the vaping boards etc, got news for you they are marketing tools for Big Tobacco

The best plan is quit Nicotine cold. it will clear your system in 72 hours. If you need it use the other drug therapies to help with the anxieties and get support form friends and family
(and vaping is not just water, it's water plus additives without long term testing or implications having been done -just substituting one habit for another and that never works long term

Well said....completely agree with this.