Any smokers out there?

I used to be an occasional smoker. I think I've smoked maybe half a pack in my life. I never really found anything about tobacco addictive....maybe I'm just odd rsrs

I've quit smoking almost a year ago (the one year mark will be on the 1st of March this year) and in the process I've lost 101 lbs too.
So with the authority that these achievements give me (if any) let me demistify a few things:

If you quit you'll put on weight.
Well I've 101lbs that say otherwise. Quitting coupled with a change in eating habits has brought me more energy then ever before, I didn't get as tired as before and could keep exercising for longer thus making weight loss easier and not harder.

I' can't quit, it is too hard to quit.
You can, if I could so can you and let me tell you something else, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The way I describe it is First week = Hell, First Month = Nightmare, First Trimester = Bad Dream, First Year = Liberation.
Yes you'll crave, yes I still have occasions where I feel like I'd like a cigarette (very few and far between), but these go away almost immediately, in the early days they'd last for a couple of minutes or so and then once you focused on something else they'd go away. Now they last only a tenth of a second when a behavior or action where you used to pull a cigarette triggers the memory and you feel like you should have one, but almost immediately you dismiss it.

I like the smell / taste!
Really? So next time you're going for that chocolate on your press why don't you try to eat one of your cigarettes instead if you like it so much? Next question.

I don't really want to quit, it is a social occasion.
I never had a problem socializing as a non smoker, as a smoker however there were plenty of times where I had to break a conversation to go satisfy the nicotine demon outside.

Smoking calms me down.
Really? I've never had the feeling of "I'm running out of cigarettes and everything is closed, what do I do now?" again since I've quit smoking. I'm calmer and can concentrate easier as a non smoker then I ever could as a smoker when I had, for instance, to take regular breaks from whatever I was doing to go have some puffs outside.

So to all the smokers in this thread...

If you knew with 100% certainty that the next cigarette would be the one that would cause you lung cancer, would you smoke it?
I'm pretty sure what your answers were, so STOP now as the next one may very well be THE ONE!

I'll leave you a resource that I've found very useful, there's a group of really helpfull people out there and there's a bunch of great advice and support on those forums, so take some time to register and just quit.

http://quitsmoking.about.com/

You can do it!

I quit smoking two and a half years ago after smoking for 15 years. It took me losing someone who was like a father to me to cancer for me to finally quit (cold turkey). It was a huge eye opener for me, my kid's were my reason for quitting.

My mom and dad smoke. Like chain smoking one right after another. They are trying to quit now with the electric ones it works for my dad but not my mom. So I guess it is a hit and a miss with it. When they quit they are going to take all the money they would be spending on cigarettes and are going to spend it on a new car payment :glasses: it's good incentive for my mom especially.

I smoke and haven't been able to quit.... Everyone says cold turkey but I've done that before and it only lasted a year and I was back smoking again.

bump

I've smoked for 10 yrs. I've tried time and time again to stop and nothing has stuck. The longest I quit for was about a year. Everyone I know smokes. EVERYONE. That has made it extremely difficult. But why I posted was to inform some of you that chantix can make you has suicidal tendencies. Not saying not to try it. But be aware of that. My mom took it and wellbutrin and both made her try to kill herself. Shes a little nutty to begin with so that might has something to do with it

I quit with Chantix..it really worked for me except for the messed up dreams... it made cigarettes smell and taste awful!

ME TOO! Chantix was my miracle!!! Messed up dreams, but it really works! I was a smoker of 15 yrs. I will be smoke free for 2 yrs on April 19th! If your insurance covers it, give it a try! If not, well, its is really expensive. Good luck to you! I know what your going through!:flowerforyou:

My husband and I both used Chantix, he used it twice. While I think it worked well for me (I am back to smoking due to seperation and bad choices...I wouldn't blame it on a failure of Chantix), he had a horrible time with it. We both had very vivid dreams, but he became suicidal.

I am currently waiting for my ecigarettes to come in the mail. If I can't stop all together (yet), I will at least eliminate the tobacco and toxins.

Yeah, all I had was the vivid dreams, but I know that it can cause depression and suicidal thoughts, especially if you had depression issues to start with. Such a shame that he had that reaction. Good luck with the ecig, my brother in law got that, but he only uses it when he is somewhere that you are not allowed to smoke...lol I hope you have success!!!

I've been smoking for years and I'd like to quit. I've tried a few times. I tried Chantix once and it did help but I had bad side effects from it. I had vomiting and diarrhea. I am going to quit but not right now. Having a hard enough time watching what I'm eating, I'm gonna lose weight first and then deal with the smoking thing

I used to say this very same thing. Then I finally asked myself, what would I rather have, 10-20lbs to add to what I have to lose, or lung cancer? And I couldn't workout either, made my lungs hurt too much and I could not breathe! Sounds to me like you just don't want to quit, I don't mean that as an insult. Its just the way it is. You have to really want to quit. Good luck to you on your weight loss/health/fitness goals! And good luck on quitting smoking some day!

I quit 9 months ago exactly today!!!

I used the champix tablets for a few weeks to get over the initial withdrawals

you just need to keep at it and be strong

I feel amazing for stopping and the smell - my god I never thought I smelt that bad, not only that my kids were smelling like that going to school as well

I can't stand the smell of it anymore and I can tell a smoker a mile off