Quit Smoking Thread

[opensesame]

As a former smoker I thought I would put in my two cents. My background: smoked a pack a day for twenty years. I offer the following as what helped me, not to belittle others thoughts or experiences.



This far in the nicotine should be out of your system. Now you have to kick the habit. By that I mean, learn to do things without smoking. Whether I was assembling something my wife bought, under the sink or the car, playing golf, drinking....I always had a smoke, it was part of the process. Its like that silly commercial with the people sitting in the car backwards. You have to learn to do things w/o a cigarette in your mouth/hand again. Thats the hard part.


Weight gain is also a concern. Get to the store and get some stuff that won't hurt you. I made sure I had fruits & veggies, nuts & berries...the stuff you could eat w/o worrying about having too much and I always had it with me. Again its the hand/mouth habit you have to break.

I quit cold turkey and did not use any aids. To me it became a mind set. I decided I would stop smoking. As one who believes I am in command of my actions, to fail at quitting would be admitting to myself that I am not. That would be unacceptable. I quit 8 years ago and that belief kept me from going back.

Good luck to all of you who endeavor to stop, its worth the trip. You will soon feel the benefits. As a smoker you forget what it feels like to feel good!!!http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

Also your tongue palate improves when you quit smoking. Everything now tastes better and more flavourful than it once did. Because of this I tend to eat more. But I've started to go back on the intermittent fasting so I should maintain my weight and not gain more. Currently I am 172 lbs and 5'11 so I am not overweight or underweight.

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[TiE2000]

As a former smoker I thought I would put in my two cents. My background: smoked a pack a day for twenty years. I offer the following as what helped me, not to belittle others thoughts or experiences.



This far in the nicotine should be out of your system. Now you have to kick the habit. By that I mean, learn to do things without smoking. Whether I was assembling something my wife bought, under the sink or the car, playing golf, drinking....I always had a smoke, it was part of the process. Its like that silly commercial with the people sitting in the car backwards. You have to learn to do things w/o a cigarette in your mouth/hand again. Thats the hard part.


Weight gain is also a concern. Get to the store and get some stuff that won't hurt you. I made sure I had fruits & veggies, nuts & berries...the stuff you could eat w/o worrying about having too much and I always had it with me. Again its the hand/mouth habit you have to break.

I quit cold turkey and did not use any aids. To me it became a mind set. I decided I would stop smoking. As one who believes I am in command of my actions, to fail at quitting would be admitting to myself that I am not. That would be unacceptable. I quit 8 years ago and that belief kept me from going back.

Good luck to all of you who endeavor to stop, its worth the trip. You will soon feel the benefits. As a smoker you forget what it feels like to feel good!!!http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

So far, I find the nicotine addiction was the easiest to quit, it's the activity of not smoking I find the hardest. Like you smoking was a key part of the process for everything I did. It's like this mini reward for everything I did.

Clean house, have a smoke first. Finish cleaning, have a smoke. Have a big project at work that needs some thinking, have a smoke while thinking it through. Ohh shit, about to have a conference call, better get my smoke in!

Having to relearn how to tackle everyday activates without smoking has caused me the most stress. it feels like i'm no longer getting rewarded for everyday activities. The first part of the quitting process was causing me a great bit of anxiety.

One of my favorite activates has always been cleaning my car, as I had the process down pat, with scheduled smoke breaks to look over my work. Smoking that one cigg was always the perfect amount of time to pause the work, and admire what you just did and rewarding myself all at the same time. Thinking about cleaning my car now feels like chore and I have nothing to look forward too. I've told this to a few of my friends who don't smoke, and they seem confused.

Thanks Double D, you are spot on with the mindset. Took me 5 years of telling myself I need to quit to finally step up last week and just do it. I was always giving myself excuses or "time lines" so I could continue to smoke for just that bit longer.

I finial just told myself you’re done. And made a decision not to buy a new pack when I filled up my car on Friday night. I'm now 116 hours smoke free, and it's getting easier every day.

 

[opensesame]

Always remember the most important part. Every two cigarettes you smoke, you reduce your life by 30 minutes. So imagine how much your gaining by quitting.

 

[TiE2000]

Always remember the most important part. Every two cigarettes you smoke, you reduce your life by 30 minutes. So imagine how much your gaining by quitting.

according to my app - 29.04 hours! that more than a day!

 

[SVTFreak]

I quit smoking too! About 64,780 hours ago!!!

Let me share a little trick I learned myself. I was surprised no one ever studied this or screamed it from the roof tops but it helped me tremendously

After a few days, it's not the nicotine your body craves. It's the habit of smoking. Replace the habit. Do exactly what you used to do.

Example. I used to walk outside and drink a glass of water and smoke. I still did that just removed the cig. To this day, 7+ years later, I still walk outside and drink a glass of water. I still stop at the old smoke pens at work (no longer allowed to smoke) and stand around for a minute and relax. I still crack the window of the car and ride a little ways. Keeping the habit up that my mind associated with smoking made a huge difference in my ability to quit. I dare say I couldn't have done it had I not stumbled upon that.

Good luck to you all. It's well worth the short term discomfort

 

[opensesame]

according to my app - 29.04 hours! that more than a day!

Now think about how much money we're going to save, buy something nice for your Mustang.

 

[mj]

Clean house, have a smoke first. Finish cleaning, have a smoke. Have a big project at work that needs some thinking, have a smoke while thinking it through. Ohh shit, about to have a conference call, better get my smoke in!

One of my favorite activates has always been cleaning my car, as I had the process down pat, with scheduled smoke breaks to look over my work. Smoking that one cigg was always the perfect amount of time to pause the work, and admire what you just did and rewarding myself all at the same time. Thinking about cleaning my car now feels like chore and I have nothing to look forward too. I've told this to a few of my friends who don't smoke, and they seem confused.

So much this! Especially how things feel like a chore now.

When working on my car(s), I would always go for about 30 mins and then enjoy a smoke break, and then have that final smoke after the job was completed while admiring the work.

This I miss.

 

[FATTBoss]

I have smoked since I was 14, and am now 47. I have stopped a few times, once for a year and again for 6 years. When I stopped for 6 years I did it cold turkey and had ZERO cravings. I was to the point that I did not enjoy it, so I bought a carton and told myself every time I smoked how much I hated it. I could literally del myself getting sick when I smoked. I finished that carton on a Thursday night, and the next day I had no cravings at all for the whole six years.

Fast forward six years and I am in the middle of a divorce. On the phone with the soon to be ex-wife and we get into a very heated shouting match, well mostly me shouting. Once off the phone I went outside and sat down when my best friend and room mate at the time came to check on me. He smoked. I said "Gimme a cigarette", and six years was out the window.

I will try again soon. Vaping helps but it leaves me a little weird, so I will do it cold turkey again. Best of luck to you!

 

[opensesame]

I have smoked since I was 14, and am now 47. I have stopped a few times, once for a year and again for 6 years. When I stopped for 6 years I did it cold turkey and had ZERO cravings. I was to the point that I did not enjoy it, so I bought a carton and told myself every time I smoked how much I hated it. I could literally del myself getting sick when I smoked. I finished that carton on a Thursday night, and the next day I had no cravings at all for the whole six years.

Fast forward six years and I am in the middle of a divorce. On the phone with the soon to be ex-wife and we get into a very heated shouting match, well mostly me shouting. Once off the phone I went outside and sat down when my best friend and room mate at the time came to check on me. He smoked. I said "Gimme a cigarette", and six years was out the window.

I will try again soon. Vaping helps but it leaves me a little weird, so I will do it cold turkey again. Best of luck to you!

Getting into a fight with your SO was my excuse to start up again. The hardest part is not deciding to quit, but once you have quit and stay off it. Avoid peer pressure, hanging out with people who smoke. Give your self a reward for quitting.

 

[Runner12]

I quit smoking only 2 years ago. It's helped my health so much. Best advice is like others have said, man up and go cold turkey. All the patches in the world never helped me quit.

 

[Utedog7]

Yep,
A few of the boys here have given you great advice. I had a lung collapse in 2003 after smoking from the age of 16 until I was 32. The Doc in the Emergency Dept said if he didn't do the emergency surgery to reinflate my lung I would have died. Had to go cold turkey and the hardest thing was like DoubleD said doing things that you always do with a smoke. Had to stop doing a lot of stuff, but only until after the cravings became less frequent. Had to do things to take my mind off the smoking, kind of distract myself. Drinking water instead of having a smoke helped too like SVT said. I'm still not Anti smoking like some people are though.
Best advice I can give you is- every day gets easier than that first day you stopped smoking.
No matter how hard it is don't give in, you have beaten that thing already.
Good Luck.

 

[TiE2000]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys! Keep the stories coming, it really does help knowing that other people have endured the struggle.

BTW I'm now 161.55 Hours Smoke free. At 5pm today will be one full week of non-smoking

 

[Monster_Load]

I started vaping this week. Haven't touched a cig in a week. I went to a local shop and got setup with a decent battery and atomizer. Got some e juice that I liked. So far so good.

What I like the most about it is no smell on my clothes or breath. I can vape in my vehicle and just crack the window a bit to let the water vapor exit.

 

[Boff]

I quit for the first time in 1998 after my daughter was born, but have relapsed many times since then. Over the past year got right back up to a pack a day. I resolved to quit at the New Year, and started taking Champix (I think it's called Chantix in the USA) 2 weeks before. Smoked my last dart the morning of Jan 30th and have been clean since. It is going very well...I can elaborate on the mechanism of action of the drug in more detail is anyone in interested...the only problem is that I get pretty nasty nausea for about 30 minutes after taking a pill. I'm considering stopping the drug early.

A couple pointers from a many-times quitter.

1) Even if you relapse, try and try again. You learn a little bit more about your addiction and your relapse triggers every time.

2) Most people need some sort of help, be it pharmacological or a support line. Use it.

3) You'll gain wait. Find healthy snacks and stock them well.

4) Gradually introduce new, healthier habits (like exercise or primal scream therapy). Don't expect to remake your life and routine in one fell swoop. That's too hard to maintain in the long run.

Good luck to all my fellow addicts!

:cheers:

 

[opensesame]

3) You'll gain weight. Find healthy snacks and stock them well.


:cheers:

Went from 160 to 178 since quitting. :(
Also eating so much junk food. Gotta watch my diet and get back to working out again.

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