Quitting smoking

I recommend this book ..... I have been smoked free for a year now www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0615.
Wishing you much success ..... It was not an easy thing for me until I got my hands on this book

You are very welcome ...You can quit

I quit sometime this summer just went cold turkey. Of course I had to it was starting to cause health issues like vomiting in sleep and making my Gerd worse. I admit I have one every 4 to 5 months. But usually when I'm drinking and always from other people. It's hard but you can do it. I smoked about half a pack a day and only for about 2 years before I started having serious issues. The day I quit is when I stopped choking on vomit in my sleep. I miss it everyday but ot gets easier

I just stopped the day I brought my baby boy home.
My motivation was that I wasn't going to have my children grow up seeing me smoke and thinking it was OK or normal.

There's loads of different strategies to suit different people but it starts and is successful due to your motivation. And that's going to be personal to you. Whether that's health, money or vanity (no-one wants to smell like an ashtray and have lips like a cat's bum plus dull skin do they?) is up to you.

Ps I decided to stop after a chest xray showed a shadow on my lung. Turned out to be a chest infection but there's nothing like shock and despair for putting you off cigarettes for good

Quitting is easy. Some weeks I'll quit like 4 or 5 times!

Staying quit is the hard part. At least for me.

While I was never a heavy smoker (about 1/2 pack a day, max), I smoked and dipped for years. When I finally succeeded at quitting, some things that made it easier:
1. Pick a day/time, mark the calendar, and just do it.
2. Easier if my last smoke was the night before. I feel like I have a 6-8 hour jump start.
3. Realize that if you can hack it 3 days, the physical pull is out but mental is still there.
4. Recognize factors for wanting to smoke (for me it was stress, 100%).
5. Substitute with a "healthy"(er) alternative. I stayed inside for 3 days over a long weekend, refusing to drive anywhere, knowing that if I did, I would probably grab a pack.
6. Find a support group. Even if it's a peer that tells you to stay strong, or encourages you to get back on the horse, or maybe grabs the pack you just bought and tears each one in half while you watch... Support groups are in-person or online.

Good luck!

I quit using electronic cigarettes. Yes, it's true the FDA and big Tobacco hate them. I, personally believe it's all money related; the tobacco companies were losing customers so they funded lobbyists to hammer the government for a ban. It took a while, but by mid-year next year if nothing else changes they will have succeeded in taking them off the market. So there's some time left if you want to try them to help you quit.

I used e-cigs for about three years. Funny thing is within three weeks of starting to use e-cigarettes I had quit smoking and didn't even realize it. At first I did both, I just cut down on smoking cigarettes a bit. Eventually the e-cigs make the cigarettes taste like crap so you smoke them less and less. At least that's how it worked for me. About a month after starting to use e-cigs I realized I had a carton of cigarettes I hadn't touched in weeks. It felt so good to give them away. As a smoker I'm sure you'll understand that feeling you get when you are either out of smokes, or almost out. I had none of that, I happily handed them over to a smoker who wanted them.

Anyway, it's not for everyone. Smoking is a dry/combustive smoke, and if you remember how it took getting used to inhaling smoke when you first started it's a lot like that with e-cigs. It's a moist vapor with e-cigs so you're going to likely cough at first, but if you stick with it, it's an easy replacement for cigarettes. After the third year I decided I wanted to quit them too, so I started cutting down the nicotine levels in my liquid I was making (yup, I made it myself, it's easy, another reason the FDA hates it) until I hit 0 nicotine. Then I just started leaving my e-cigarette at home when I left the house, went to work, etc. and eventually didn't need it at all. I've been both smoke and vapor free for about five years now. I've been free of cigarettes for almost 9 years.

zahndja wrote: »

I've noticed that even that prohibits my working out ability.

i'm not an ex-smoker, but please believe that being a smoker does not prohibit exercise.

i'm not sure if you meant 'prohibit' or just 'inhibit' actually, but wanted to say that just in case. i swear i've come across some pretty odd attitudes around here (i.e. where i live). like somehow if a person smokes it's incomprehensible they might also walk or ride a bike or be working on strength.

you can work with what you've got while you're working on the smoking issue. don't make the limits it imposes a reason not to do it at all.

I used Chantix. Made it very easy. I now very, very rarely puff on an E-Cigarette, only when I am drinking, I sometimes go for several months not even thinking about smoking and when I do puff, it is usually just two or 3 drags and then it gets put away. Chantix makes Cigarettes taste awful but I liked that they allow you to taper down and it isn't a cold turkey kind of thing. It has been about 2 years now and I will never smoke another cigarette again I am certain of that, Good luck!

Had the same problem-smoked and wanted to lose weight. I couldn't catch my breathe which was no surprise after smoking 15 years (1 pack a day). In any case, I went to a general MD after starting a walking program. And found out from years of smoking I had an irregular heartbeat-and was diagnosed with angina. I had to go to a cardiologist for a follow-up and then I was finally given (my insurance company covered it 100%) Chantix, the smallest dose. Took me a month to quit smoking but it worked. And despite reports of nightmares I only had three "crazy" dreams...although one was very scary to me... dreamed my 10 year old dog died (I love my old man). That was 2 years ago. Haven't smoked a cig since.

After I quit smoking my doctor was proud of me and my physical performance improved. I traded my walking program for yoga. I look and feel soooooo much better.

Good Luck.