quit smoking?!

Later this month will see me having been cigarette free for 8 years. I gave up cold turkey.

The very best of luck to you in kicking the habit. You *can* do it!

You CAN quit!

My birthday present to myself was to quit smoking, which I did 20 years ago this month! I had smoked for 25 years. I did gain about 10 lbs. at the beginning, but was able to lose that after a few months. In my experience, if you can make it without a cigarette for 30 days you have a good chance of being smoke-free. After 6 months or so I never really thought about cigarettes again.

At that time I calculated that I was spending about $20 a week on cigarettes. I put a $20 bill in a little box every Sunday morning for a year. On my *next* birthday, I took the $1,040 dollars I'd saved and bought myself a pair of beautiful diamond earrings. They are a permanent reminder that I can do whatever I choose to do with my time, my money and my life.

I have 3 friends who used Chantix and they are all smoke-free 4-5 years later.

P.S. Take up a hobby where you use your hands. I took up needlepoint and it was a wonderful way to keep my hands busy that was NOT smoking a cigarette! By the time I finished that needlepoint I no longer had cravings.

Coming up on almost six months, after 18 years of smoking.

After trying to quit periodically during my 18 years of smoking, i had relegated myself to just always being a smoker. I would always tell myself i'd quit some time down the road, but never really believed it.

My roommate, a fellow smoker, quit while reading "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking" by Alan Carr. It's available online or at large bookstores. After he quit, he lent it to me. The book encourages you to smoke while reading it. What do i lose then, but a little time? I lit a cigarette, and turned the first page. By the end of the book, i had smoked my last cigarette. Now my roommate and I are both smoke free. A friend of my father is now almost two months free, after smoking for 50 + years, after reading the book.

The book doesn't try to scare you out of smoking. That kind of crap only makes non-smokers feel better about not smoking. No adult smoker has any delusions that cigarettes are healthy. We know they stink, cost a lot, and make stairs an issue. The book just gives you a better perspective on how the addiction works, and demonstrates that it's almost 100% in your mind; the nicotine cravings aren't that big of a deal; it's all the behaviors we build into our lives as smokers, to facilitate smoking, that we need to address.

The real surprise isn't that i quit smoking temporarily. I'd done that before, cold turkey. But from the moment i put out my last cigarette, i didn't have any dread about "never being able to smoke again." I got the occasional craving, but never got frustrated dealing with it. Never got grumpy, never really missed smoking. Now it's 6 months later, and i'm not so much a "former smoker" as a "non-smoker".

So... for the price of three or four packs of cigarettes, i highly recommend the book. If you get fed up with the temptation, or if you ever find yourself smoking again and want to stop, pick it up.

Today is 68 days since quitting dipping. I used to smoke in college and for me it was not that hard to give up once I graduated, but as time went on I went back to smokeless tobacco.

I have tried to quit the habit for a while and failed at a few attemps, but this time, I think it has stuck.

My advice (if you can work it out), quit right before a big change in your daily routine. Quit right before a vacation, something that gets you out of your normal routine.

For me I was dipping at work (desk job), driving, and working around the house. I quit and went on vacation and when I came back home, it had been 10 day without tobacco, which helps to show that if you can go a short time without it, you can quit it for good.

Good Luck! You will be so much happier once you can say that you "USED to smoke"

Also try http://www.stickk.com/

This is a website where you sign up and list your commitment goal. You check in and it can help you stay on top.

Also you have the option of setting it up so that it will penalize you if you slip, of course you have to be honest and tell the app that you slipped and you have to set it up, but you can set it up to draw out like $1 if you slip up and it donates that dollar to a charity that you like or don't like.

If you are pro-life you can have it set up so that if you slip up it donates $1 to a pro-choice group or something like that.... its been a few years.

I joined a gym and then 3 weeks later quit smoking. 5 years later- lost 25 pounds and can run a 5-K in 27:00!

15 days in for me after smoking 21yrs. I'm using an e cig & learning to run!

Couldn't run for toffee on the TM earlier this year. But I'm already doing intervals up to 90+ mins now! Love that it's my legs struggling to keep up & not my lungs.

You can do it OP!

1st of Sept...start diet/exercise a new me!!!! tomorrow 3rd Sept Quit Smoking, now that will be the hard part....i need some support and help with is one!!! keep in touch

Today was my first day on the nicotine patch. We can do this!

I quit smoking a few times, I used chantix twice and it worked but gave me awful nightmares. I ended up smoking again due to stress and not knowing how to cope with it in a healthier way. Most recently, I quit smoking about six months ago, but had really tapered down long before that.

I didn't tell myself or anyone that I was "quitting" I simply decided to have an "open relationship" with cigarettes
meaning if I wanted a cigarette, I would have one (denying cravings makes the mind want it more).
On the flip side, if I didn't want one at a normal time I would normally smoke, I didn't have one.
I also found paying attention to why I wanted one helped me to analyze what my triggers were, I found practicing mindfulness techniques like that helped me to make healthier choices than reaching for a cigarette. Because I wasn't quitting, I was just learning to choose other things!

Way to go to all of the quitters! And to all of those who are newly quitting, or starting, we can do this! One day at a time! It had been 6 days for me today. I went to the mall, and just wanted a cigarette. I lit one up, took a few draws off of it, and honestly, it didn't even taste good. I put it out without even smoking half of it. That was the first cigarette in 6 days, and honestly, my hands stunk, my mouth tasted bad, and I really didn't know *why* I wanted it after that. I got some hand sanitizer out after that, and thought yep, that's it. If I *really* want one after this, I'll get an e-cig, or some nicotine gum. We can do this!

I'm finding the e cig great! I haven't even really had any cravings at all. Given myself up till Christmas to cut the nicotine replacement completely (6wk intervals dropping the mg). Plus it seems to be curbing any food cravings that can come with quitting smoking.

Just some food for thought if you go down that road.