Smoking

i too am trying to find the ?strength to give up smoking. i am afraid it will ruin everything i have done so far in my weight loss journey. have you set a "quit date"?

Good luck with kicking the habit, i have been off them for 6 months tomorrow, and since then I have lost 35lbs. Just DO NOT replace having a ciggie in your mouth with having food in there. Use nicotine replacements for the first few weeks if you struggle. Also save the money you would have spent on cigarettes and pay for a gym membership.
Good luck.

I go the same struggle....Im bumping so I can read more later after work.

I was a heavy smoker for 10yrs. I watched my BF's mother die of lung cancer. To see wha the cancer and chemo and radiation did to her body made me realize I didn't want to die the same way. I quit over 6months ago with no turning back. I chewed a lot of gum drank a lot of water and gained 20lbs. I realized that 20lbs was just as bad as smoking so I'm not eating healthy as well. It wasn't easy but it can be done. I don't know if you are a christian but every time I wanted a smoke I'd pray God would take that away from me and keep me strong. I'm applying the same prayer method to my weight loss!

I haven't smoked in 20 years,but I still smoke in a dream now and then! It does get deep into the corners of your brain.

good for you for working on it! I quit smoking a few years back... successfully, only to start back up again recently. sigh. I used Chantix which REALLY helped me a lot. as long as i took it on a full stomach I was fine. I did have some crazy dreams, but most of them were awesome! Anyway other things I did... when I was sitting still I had a sudoku book that i kept in my lap. kept a pen in my hand to play with, and that would keep me busy. I also found these great toothpicks at wholefoods that came in a little box and were mint or cinnamin flavored. they were awesome cos i'd chew on them, get a taste, and i'd even "ash" them, something to keep my hand and mouth busy. that helped a lot. Oh and btw i'm a vegetarian too! ;p good luck!

Twenty year smoker, lazy, fat, no exercising at all until my 40th birthday Jauary 14th of this year. I quit smoking and didnt know what to do or how I was going to keep from starting back. Well, long story short, 40 pounds later, still not smoking, and exercising my butt off. One thing about smoking, you cant smoke and exercise to the best of your ability. You cant get on that mountain bike and knock out 5 to 10 miles without feeling like your lungs are gonna jump out of your chest. Same with any cardio machine. If you continue to smoke and try to exercise, you will not be getting the best results possible at all. Its a waste of your time. Those things are the devil!!! hahaha Good luck

this probably isn't what you want to hear....but...for ME (and this is just me, not saying everyone) willpower was what was most important. I avoided alcohol for the first few weeks until I felt fairly confident, and when I made it through my first night of drinking without a cig, i was so proud of myself! So what worked for me was 1)setting not only a quit date but a quit time. I told myself i would NOT smoke in 2011, so I brought 1 cig to my NYE party I was at and smoked it at 11:30pm. 2) I told EVERYONE my plans to quit. I said "you will not see me smoke after dec 31". Having other people help hold me accountable was good, and people were SO motivating! Friends were skeptical, but when I would say "it's been two weeks" or "i'm at a month!" they were genuinely SO excited. And 3) just as someone else mentioned, you will become SO aware of how strong the smell is. I always thought I could smell smoke, or tell whether I smelled or not...if I smoked in the car on the way to see a friend, I'd pop a piece of gum and splash myself with some body spray and think i was fine...WRONG. People can walk by my cube at work, 10 feet away, and without looking up I know it's a smoker who just got back from break.

Good luck, you CAN do this! I kept a count-up on my nightstand so every morning I woke up and said "ok, today is day 5 without a cig"....I stopped counting when I got passed 30. (but i didn't stop rewarding myself )

good luck to all the potential quitters! YOU CAN DO THIS.

Just some motivation/inspiration: I actually GAINED 80 pounds as a pack-a-day smoker. I have lost 73.6 of it since quitting two years ago.

Just watch your portions and exercise most days, same as any other non-smoker, and you can still lose weight as a non-smoker. :flowerforyou:

I quit 16 days ago. I have been exercising a lot.

I am just so terrified of gaining a lot of weight.
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Im same as you i have to give them up want to but im terrified to gaining weight. when i gave them up before i put 15lb on and just started smoking again but i did snack.. Its so frecken hard. its willpower.. But smelly good all the time again will be nice..

I quit for 3 months with the help of this site. I did not gain any weight and still lost some. I took it up again because of stress from my job and have been hiding it from my husband.... I feel awful about it.... I want to quit again, but everytime I think I am not going to buy another pack, I do. I have not been running because I can't breath as well since I started again....
I have one smoke left.... I am going to smoke that tonight and then I am done. The hard part is, I can't chew a lot of gum anymore, which was my savior.... I know I can do this..... I will report back tomorrow....
Thanks for being here.
Chaz, you CAN do this....:) Good luck everyone!

First off, congratulations on taking the 1st step...WANTING to quit. :drinker:


I quit when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter and did not smoke until she was about 8 months old...then I picked it up again slowly. The hardest part was being around smokers while drinking...that is when I fell off the wagon and next thing I knew I was buying a pack that would last me a week...then it was only lasting a few days. :embarassed:


I have quit again...this time it is better because I remember how I feel when I am not smoking and how I don't smell.

Best advice I can give...don't cheat yourself...when that craving rears its ugly head exercise your will power and don't give in. Do anything you can to distract yourself...work out, tackle a project you are putting off, brush your teeth...anything!

Oh and I smoked menthols and I found these eucalyptus toothpicks at a health food store to chew on...they are a life saver!


Good luck, you CAN do this! :flowerforyou:

Thank you for all the support friends. Today is day one. I am mostly just starving because we have been moving everything and I haven't had time to eat. Today I am catching up with all of my calories that are hanging in the bermuda triangle. It was weird driving to work today without having a cigarette. The key, is that my window still has to be open. I think I will survive this.

I can continue to update on here if you do not mind. Just to let you know how things are going.

Great job!! Stick with it, and definitely keep us posted!!