Any smokers out there?

I quit in April 2008, havent had one since but still carry a pack around with me all the time (the same pack I bought the day I quit). It's no coincidence I'm having to lose weight now .

Anyway, if you want my advice...nothing is going to make it easy. Just suck it up and do it. Take a week to taper down a bit, then just go cold turkey and suffer through the next two weeks until you get over the nicotine withdrawal. After that it's pretty easy, but the actual HABIT of smoking...as in the repetitive motion of it...is really hard to stop. That's why I gained so much weight...I substituted food for smoking. There is absolutely no way whatsoever I could have simultaneously quit smoking along with dieting. No way in Hades, and I actually have some pretty extreme willpower once I set my mind to something. My advise would be: quit smoking first, then start your diet 2 or 3 months later. If you can do both at the same time, you are a stone cold killer.

So this is something I posted back in April and I certainly do not mind repeating it if it can help another person to be strong so here it goes - it is a long story but the total truth.

I used to hate it when ex smokers would lecture or warn me about smoking. Hell, nothings going to happen to me.

Ok - let me put it to you this way - diet and look great and smoke the cigs - or diet and look great and no cigs. I am currently lugging around a 15 lb oxygen tank with a plastic tube stuck up my nostrils, most likely for the rest of my life, and that my dear doesn't look good. Better just stop now and show those cigs that you are stronger than them. They will and believe me, perhaps not now, but they will eventually ruin yr life later.

I too like everyone else tried to quit smoking w/o success, tried pills, patches, hypnosis and nothing worked. I really needed my mouth stapled closed. Finally I tried Chantix and it worked (totally wierd dreams) but then my Dad got sick suddenly & I spent everyday & moment possible from July 5th until August 25th by his side until he died. Believe me, I was smoking the entire time my Dad was ill and smoking more than ever. After he passed away I would smoke the usual at work but at night I would go out on my deck and chain smoke and would talk to my Dad in the heavens. I wasn't feeling well as I was already diagonosed with Emphysema but that didn't matter. Each cigarette, to me, was my time alone with myself to be alone and think. Not that I was thinking about the actual act of smoking, just smoking and thinking. Well this went on and on thru the winter and I would sometimes feel dizzy when walking back into the house, but it didn't matter. Spring came and so did the pollen. On April 14th (my wedding anniversary) I went out after lunch at work and had gone outside for my usual cigarettes but started coughing and choking like a was kid smoking for the very first time. I went back to my desk and literally choked until 5pm and I know this was annoying some people but others were truly concerned. I thought it was just the pollen. Went home driving and choking (not an easy task to do) and suddenly seemed to stop choking for a while which made me think that it was definitely the pollen around my job and there different kinds of trees by my house and I was ok now. So I went out on the deck and lit one up and started to choke. Didn't feel well & called my husband to say I couldn't celebrate our anniversary like we had planned. I went to bed with about 6 pillows to support me bcuz I couldn't lay down from choking. I spent the night like that - texted myself out of work the next morning and my husband insisted that I go to the hospital. Being pig headed I argued and then 3 hrs later said I would go but needed to take a shower first - vanity b4 health. Well, I didn't know that my oxygen level was basically depleted and when I stepped into the nice hot shower I suffocated - or respirtory failure as the paperwork read. The most horrible feeling ever - I grabbed the shower curtain and walls. Lucky for me my husband and daughter were right there bcuz they knew how bad I was (my son stayed in another room) - I literally watched as they faded from my sight. Next thing I know I am in the ER with tubes down my throat, IV's in both arms like I am was pincushion. I spent 14 days in that hospital and 2 months later another 5 days. I have Emphysema and COPD. My lungs are at 49% total capacity. I cannot get better but if I continue all my meds, breathing treatments, inhalers, oxygen 24/7 I may maintain my current status or may not. But let me tell you...Spring - pollen kills me - Summer heat and humidity - not a good mixture for me - Fall - pollen once again - Winter - cold air takes the wind right out of my lungs that actually hurts.

So, please do yourself a huge favor now and get a prescription for a pill, patch or whatever. Just stop and don't be so stupid as I was - I wish I could have suffocated years ago and perhaps I wouldn't be in this situation today. It is not a good place to be. I still miss my Dad every single day - still go to pick up the phone to call him and realize that he's gone. The cigarettes weren't going to bring my Dad back to me. The cigarettes aren't going to take away any sadness I feel. The cigarettes aren't going to make any problems go away. Smokers will smoke bcuz we are happy, sad, nervous, excited - pls just stop bcuz they will hurt you.

I will have been quit for 6 wks Tuesday. And I am on Chantix. Works wonderful. Downsides: make me nauseous, so I only take the night dose. I have gained weight but not sure if from not smoking or Chantix. Either way, thats why I joined here to curb any weight gain and maybe lose a little. I have smoked for 7.5 years and quit so many times it laughable. I don't go public anymore b/c everyone has seen me quit a million times. You just have to be ready to quit, you really can do it. You have to have willpower, you can control any action you make, just takes a little discipline....and maybe some medication lol! Good luck:)

I used Chantix as well and it worked for me. I didn't even have to use the whole program.

Secondly, I noted that someone said you should make it public that you are quitting. I did the OPPOSITE. Making it public made it worse the times I tried to quit before because then everyone kept asking me about - which made me THINK about it - which make me CRAVE. Keeping it to myself and then telling everyone I love it had been 3 months since I had a cig (they knew I had been cutting down) was a great feeling and a huge surprise for everyone.

I am in the same boat as everyone else. When you decide to quit OP let me know. Maybe we can all do this together.

Im a smoker too =/ I really want to quit for my health but I just have serious issues with stopping =(

This is me. :grumble: I've been on and off for SO long now. I'm going to try tomorrow again, didn't buy any cigs today and only have a few left for the night.

I smoked for 14 years, quit for a year then started again... I quit smoking about 5 months ago when I started my new way of living.. I'm an all or nothing person.. Plus my lungs couldn't handle the work outs that I was doing. It's just starting to get better now (cardio)

Vaping is where it's at. All the pleasure without the health issues. Get a good E-cig not the crap they sell at the mall. There are allot of good onliine retailers.

Check out ECF the E-Cigarette Forum.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum

I like LiteCigUSA good prices & service.
http://www.litecigusa.net

I completely second this! I too quit with an ecig. It's soooo important to get a good one. The ones at the mall and the convenience store are lousy. Check out the forum above for recommendations for a good starter kit. Most can be had for around $50. And you can buy the nicotine liquid in different strengths - you can start out with high and gradually wean yourself down to medium, low, then none if you wish. And it comes in hundreds of flavors - everything from traditional tobacco flavors to fruity, desserts, you name it.

I have no financial interest in this model, but I will say that many people start out with a Joye 510 model. It gives excellent vapor, taste and performance. Another good one is the Joye eGo model. Do some research and get one - you still get your nicotine without all the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. You can work on the nicotine addiction later. Get off the smoke first and your health will improve quickly. I know from personal experience. Good luck!

I've noted some people commenting about my saying to go public with quitting....obviously I guess some things work better for different people. If you were able to do it alone, you're definitely stronger than I am. But when I would be out at the bar and a friend would ask me to go smoke with them...I found it a lot easier to say "yes" if I hadn't told anyone I was trying to quit. I've tried to quit before and had told people, and even when it was obvious I had failed I didn't feel stupid- this was my habit to conquer, not theirs. but now my friends are so proud of me, I have certain friends that every time they see me they'll ask how I'm doing with the smoking, when I say I'm at 6 months they are so excited and proud of me. For me it was about other people knowing to help hold me accountable. Otherwise it was way too easy to make excuses and try to "sneak" a cigarette.

I smoked for 25 years. Since the age of 17 or so. I always played hockey and baseball, so in my mind I thought I was staying healthy, enough though I smoked (Yep, I was lying to myself)
All those reasons that smokers state.. I can't quit until this happens.. I can't quit because of xx party coming up in xx weeks.
I can't quit until after xx gets married. We have heard them all.

Smokers will make excuses. I was one. I know.

I smoked a pack a day - 1 1/2 packs on the weekend if I was drinking.
I smoked in my house, beside the computer. The cigarette would burn away as I played poker, and then when you won or lost a hand, I would have to light up another cigarette.

At work, I went out for a smoke break and 1 cigarette didn't seem like it satisfied me enough, so I would cram 2 cigarettes in 10 min smoke break. I had a 15-20 min drive to work, and could easily have 3 smokes in that time.

I quit previously years ago for 3 months, and I thought I had control.......
A lot of us go through this same scenario, since we are "non smokers" and are in control.
I would have a drag, I would share a cigarette. Then I would have 1/2 a cigarette.
Then borrow a cigarette from someone, then you were buying a pack.
or has some have said, their spouse still smokes, so it's in the house. (That make it very tough for those people)

I quit Feb 14th, 2011 using champix - I only had very visual dreams.
- I used a straw(cut to size of a smoke) to suck in air. I'm sure this is a cheap version of the electronic cigarette
- I also used gum for the first little while.
- I still get tempted, but I know I can not have one drag. Just like an alcoholic can not have one sip.

Cigarette smoke DOES NOT smell good.
Before, I thought it smelled ok as a smoker. I sat in a house when smoking, heck I sat in my washroom or a car and have had a smoke
After - I can smell someone smoking 20 feet away. I'll be jogging down the street, and I can tell someone is having a cigarette at the front of their house. I can't go into the house of one my friends. He still smokes in his house. I refused to sit in a house full of second hand smoke even though I did it to myself for years.

Last year I was down 35 lbs, but could not jog very far because I was still a smoker.
This year. I gained back 20 lbs(before I quit smoking), and I find I can jog easier and breath easier .
I now walk/jog 8kms in an hour several times a week

If you are serious about smoking. download and read this e-book.
http://whyquit.com/NTAP_large_print_212_pages.pdf
There is a lot of information on this website as well http://www.whyquit.com