I'm quitting smoking! Tips?

Well, I'll be 29 at the end of December and have decided to quit the nasty habit.

I have been smoking since I was in my early 20's.

I'm looking forward to it but kinda scared it might be really hard.

I'm a very active person and workout a few times a week (gym during winter and gym/cardio in the summer).

This is my first attempt at quitting.

Anyone here ever quit and have any helpful tips for when you get urges and such?

:)

My husband quit cold turkey. He's only been in the habit for 4 years though and he was not a chain smoker or anything. But, basically, he just decided he's not going to do it anymore when he decided to marry me (I'm allergic to smoke). And, when he gets the urge, he chews mint gum or a lollipop and gives me a call. I guess it helps if you have some solid inspiration.

Find a quiet spot, grab your iPod, and listen to Deadmau5 until your craving subside!

^.^

Your signature make me happy. In all honesty, I have never had a cigarette in my life, but I am glad that you have decided to stop. I support your efforts, and I hope you find some advice that aids in ending the habit for good!

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Originally Posted by cuda

Find a quiet spot, grab your iPod, and listen to Deadmau5 until your craving subside!

^.^

Your signature make me happy. In all honesty, I have never had a cigarette in my life, but I am glad that you have decided to stop. I support your efforts, and I hope you find some advice that aids in ending the habit for good!

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haha I didn't think anyone on here noticed who the sig was of.

:)

I love Deadmau5. I seen him live not to long ago in Philly. Great show.

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Originally Posted by cuda

Find a quiet spot, grab your iPod, and listen to Deadmau5 until your cravings subside!

^.^

Your signature makes me happy. In all honesty, I have never had a cigarette in my life, but I am glad that you have decided to stop. I support your efforts, and I hope you find some advice that aides in ending the habit for good!

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I cannot spell to save my life!

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Originally Posted by N4S

haha I didn't think anyone on here noticed who the sig was of.

:)

I love Deadmau5. I seen him live not to long ago in Philly. Great show.

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I have just discovered him in the last .. oh, 6 months or so. I like his style, and I love to support anyone that is doing their own thing ... making their own music and doing what they do well.

Its wierd, i thought i had replied to this thread:confused:. Anyway i think the key to quit smoking is to keep yourself busy! Good luck:gj:

Keep yourself busy, and remember that the hardest are the first 2 weeks, once 2 weeks have passed you will basically be over the nicotine addiction and the only thing left will be to get used to do things without a cigarette in your hand, good luck.

PS: 3 years ago I quit after 16 years, so you can do it too. :gj:

It took me three trys but I finally quit. I haven't smoked in 6 years! I would say stay away from alcohol! The cravings seemed ALOT worse after a couple drinks. Things to chew on like candy and gum seemed to help. Stay commited and you can do it! Food tastes so much better now and I can smell things I could'nt before.

Hopefully my Xbox 360 is back from repair before January. haha :D

I was a smoker
i started smoking at age 11 and i am 36 this year . i quit 3-4 years ago .

i did it a bit different i was a pack a day smoker so when i decided to quit ,i quit cigarettes cold turkey but i went to smoking cigars ( much stronger and you dont smoke as many ) .. i smoked cigars until i got sick of the taste of them which took about 2 months and i never touched a cigar or cigarette since then .

i did however start dipping (which i did off and on over the years )
and im soon done with that as well getting tired of the taste . but i have been now for almost 4 years smoke free . it wasnt easy but it shouldnt be to bad for you you wernt smoking as long as i was ..

I have tried to quit (unsuccessfully) 3 times :weirdface I have been smoking for 18 years - the scary part is that I'm only 31 :O I quit cold turkey 2 times when I found out I was pregnant with my kids - that was the easiest, since I knew I wasn't only harming myself but possibly harming my babies. I wish I never would have started again. The third time I tried to quit because my kids asked me too - I almost made it a whole year. Stressful things happened and smoking was like my crutch. Plus my husband smokes which makes it that much harder to quit.

I wish you the best of luck because it IS hard. If you find something that works....LET ME KNOW!!!

I am doing better though...a pack lasts me almost a whole week now, and I used to smoke almost 2 packs a day :weirdface

i quit buying smokes and starting bummin them off everyone. noone at home smokes so i had to go the whole time at home with no smokes then after a short time everyone your bumming smokes off start to tell you no get your own pack. so you basicly slowly wean yourself off. plus everyone gettin a little pissed off at you everytime you try to smoke kinda helps you not want one. getting people mad and smokeing become one in the same.

good luck ive been smoke free going on 3 yrs after smoking for 16

I applaud your decision and wish you success. I, too am a quitter, 12 years ago after an eight year smoking stretch. I started when I divorced in 88. Anyway, a statement a co-worker and fellow quitter made a couple years before I quit prepared me for the road ahead. "even after 6 years (the length of time she had been smoke free) the urge has never gone away, it doesn't come often or strong but it is there." In the past 10+ years for me it has been true. Even to this day the urge comes upon me even though the smell of cigarette smoke makes me ill. I am not saying this to discourage,but it prepared me for whale lay ahead. I did the sucker thing, especially since I had a 45 minute drive to work and after about 6 months weaned myself off those but that was a breeze! I knew after the first 2 weeks of hell I would never restart because I would have to go through those first 2 weeks again! You will never regret quitting! Just post here anytime you need encouragement! Again, GOOD LUCK!

It's definitely not easy. I have been smoke free for 9 days now, Karl for 12.

What helped us both - we got sick with the flu. Every time we'd take even one puff of a cigarette, we would hack up a lung and we were both wheezing at night when we slept.

I can honestly say that I rarely think of a cigarette now. Every now and then a craving hits where you think "wish I could just buy ONE cigarette and not a pack and I'd be good". In fact, today, I almost did buy a pack so that I could have ONE cigarette and was going to put the pack away until I needed just ONE again. Thankfully, I talked myself out of that rediculous idea.

I'm hoping to be smoke free permanently. We're both doing cold turkey.

I had a co-worker quit for a year, but she chewed the gum daily - so she never freed herself of the nicotene addiction - she's smoking again now.

Here's my 0.02:
- Smoking is a mental addiction. You get so accustomed to having a few minutes in the midst of your "stress" to have a breather or some down time. It calms you down, helps you relax, so you begin to "need" a cigarette all the time. Slowly start substituting your cigarette cravings with a few minutes of slow and controlled breathing. Not only are you clearing those polluted lungs out (:gj:) but you're making the commitment to develop a healthier solution for your stress. You can find something else that you enjoy doing instead; just keep your mind preoccupied. Music? Art? Reading? Just do it (no Nike reference intended)
- Your body is the center of your existence. You've slowly been killing and destroying yourself from the inside out since you've started smoking. You've been ingesting formaldehyde and several other toxic chemicals just to have 2 minutes of stress relief in your day. Is this really necessary? Just remember that.
- You will smell better. Your food will taste better, and you'll physically feel much better if you follow through. You've decided you want to quit, so don't turn back on your commitment. Don't quit quitting ;). The benefits will be sure to deter you from going back to smoking. No amount of stress is worth your health, especially not by adding onto it with the yuckiest stuff. Stress is also related to 99% of all illness.

Just something to think about; hope it helps.
Good luck and good job on making the choice to quit:gj:

COLD TURKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! what a stupid phrase that is....but it is the only way to quit. switching to dipping or gum or lozenges or cigars is not quitting. That is like switching to shooting up heroin because you get a bloody nose when you snort it. I quit shortly after I found out I was gonna be a dad(march 19th woot woot). I murdered some dum-dums but I used no substances with the exception of caffiene. I quit on my one year anniversary of being drug and alcohol free. One thing I will say for smokes, and that is they kept me sober, lol. I am sure I will always have cravings....people who quit often do for the rest of their lives. If you were to try any cessation aids I would use meds. Chantix will block the nicotine from your receptors instead of dosing you with it.


Be strong, don't be afraid to cry when it seems like too much, talk about it, talk to yourself, scream, sing, make weird noises at even weirder times, eat good food, run, smell stuff, enjoy some lollipops, when you want a smoke find out why(observe the thinker)....those are some things that have worked for me.

By the way we have $500.00 extra a month in our home when we don't buy smokes.....That just got me a nice LCD TV.

“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it a thousand times.” Mark Twain

Been smoking for around 9 years, been quitting for about 2. lol.

I DIIID lessen the sticks I smoke, from 2 packs a day to 10 sticks. Did it gradually though (-1 stick a day), cold turkey way drove me insane, especially when I see people smoking, even the ones on TV, it made me crazy. I used nicotine patches too.

It also helps if you have a girlfriend/wife to support you. Go jogging or something that will tire you out. I jump rope every other day for 15 minutes.

This january 2009 will be the 3rd, I think, year that I will make quitting smoking my new year's resolution :D

Good luck on your first and hopefully last attempt at quitting smoking haha.

The biggest thing that helped me quit was putting $5 a day in a jar every day and I spent that money on a new snake once I felt pretty comfortable off cigarettes.

Thinking about smoking was hard to get over, just becoming aware that you are thinking about smoking, and diverting that thought is a big step (if that makes any sense)...

Good luck, it's tough

bio lectures on how carcinogens cause cancer to happen is what did it for me. I didn't have all that serious a habit - like 5 a day - but quitting was still pretty damn hard. After we learned the details about how every drag is another roll of the dice (it's not exactly cumulative) I walked out of the lecture hall a non-smoker, and I was easily able to ignore subsequent cravings.

It's difficult not to become complacent and eventually relapse, but refresher research usually does a good job. Exercise also reminds me how much i like having fully functioning lungs, and therefore also helps keep me in line.

lol i sent myy 360 in for repairs too to 360 pros

sounds like you are setting yourself up for failure by saying "my first attempt". here's a tip...you need to replace that bad habit with a more constructive one. the patch works great. i used it with great success. but when you have your morning coffee or that late night beer....what is the 1st thing you want to do....smoke, huh. try getting yourself a good supply of sugarless gum. you don't want cavities! good luck...it is mind over matter. and reformed smokers are the worst. after a couple of years i started up again, i know it is out of boredom. but good luck, i need to quit again also, this hackin up blood has me a little concerned.

Well people.

Today is my 8th day smoke free (cold turkey).

It was hard last week with a few cravings throughout the day and night but they seem to be lesser and lesser now and pass more easier.

My 2nd day I had a craving that almost made me cry that's how hard it was.

Hopefully I can continue this along. :gj:

Congratulations! Don't give up!:banana::carrot:

Congrats to you, that's a great achievement!

I quit 3 years ago January 1st after 15 years of smoking. I used the nicotine patch, and jumped on the treadmill every time I had a craving. The bonus to quitting smoking was that as my lungs were clearing I was also getting in shape. It takes dedication, and it's really hard to do, but it's the best gift you can give to yourself. Hang in there, it does get easier!

congratz ive been trying to stop for 20 years with no success:bow:

I love cold turkey...

Good in Sandwiches..

:P

Guess what everyone??????

Still butt free?

????????

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Originally Posted by N4S

Guess what everyone??????

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*Everyone says what* :D



im just messing with you....and increasing my post count!

totally kidding!

almost
:banana:

I started smoking when I was 14. Nicotine Gum and Jolly Ranchers, which I'm still hooked on both, lol.

I started smoking at the age of 12. I smoked for 36 years. For the last several years that I smoked, I smoked 3 packs a day. I quit by chewing nicotine gum, following the program outlined in the instructions with the exception that the program is based on a 1 pack a day habit so I tripled the amount of gum. I quit almost nine years ago. When I was sure that I had it beat, I paid my Dentist to bleach my teeth. I recommended this method to my cousin and it worked for him also. If I can quit, anybody can. I lit a cigarette every 15 waking minutes.

I quit about two months ago. Cold turkey. I thought about all of the money I'd save, I bought a purse, and I went for it. Having that extra $30 plus a month back is worth it alone.

I'm quitting too :D
I'm using the candy method, and trying to paint/build more stuff to keep me busy.
I can't afford the gum or the patch so I have to deal with the withdrawal on my own.
Last week it was 2 a day (individual cigs)
The beginning of this week 1 a day
The last 3 days none
I'm on BP.net a Lot... keeps my mind occupied.
The candy keeps my mouth occupied (candy cigs, and suckers)
I started smoking at 14, I’m 27 now.
At least I’m not the only one :D

I started @ 13 I'm 23 now. Just got done smoking a cigarette. I hate the way it makes my clothes and breath smell. It is expensive and a waste of time. I wish you the best of luck. Let us know how it is going.

Wish I could quit, I am getting me some Chantix in Feb and i am gonna try and quit that way.

Mike

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Originally Posted by hoax

I started @ 13 I'm 23 now. Just got done smoking a cigarette. I hate the way it makes my clothes and breath smell. It is expensive and a waste of time. Mike

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Know what? You're getting there already. I wish you all the luck in kicking the habit, and staying away from it for good.

i quit with chantix. i smoked for 22 yrs. havent had a cig in about a year and half.
still have small cravings every once in awhile. but they go quickly.

I have never smoked a cigarette in my entire life. When someone would ask me if I wanted one I would say Sure. Then I would crumble it up and drop it on the ground. They would stand there in shock and be speechless.
I would explain that they gave it to me and it was mine to do with as I please. Whether I smoked it or crushed it,it didn't really matter its still gone.
I don't have a problem with cigarettes or smokers I just like to freak people out.
But I do know that quitting is the hardest thing to do. I have been chewing my fingernails for about 30 years. I have tried everything. The only thing that is working is putting band aids on my fingers. When I try to eat a nail I run into the band aid and I remember that im trying to quit. I can chew off all 10 nails before I realize what im doing. So it was making it impossible to quit.
What you should try is carry around an empty box of cigarettes. But not totally empty. Fill it with Gum. You will subconsciously reach for the smokes out of habit and run into the gum. It will remind you that you are trying to quit.
But carrying around the box will give you the subconscious feeling that you have smokes and you wont think about it so much. But you will chew lots of gum.

I just decided to quit a few weeks ago but its not working out. You have to be certain its what you want otherwise it will never happen. I was good for a week then once I went to the bar I smoked half a pack which is actually still pretty good for me but still not exactly mission accomplished but I have cut back ALOT from a pack + a day to only a pack or soo a week. I just use lots of chewing gum. That nicorette stuff sux.

It may have been mentioned but you could smoke cigars for a while and then quit those.

But, personally, I have never smoked cigarettes and never became really addicted to either shisha or cigars, I kind of quit smoking cigars a long time ago. At one point I smoked 8 a week, then I just stopped one day, and then I smoked them again, and then one every week or so when with friends, and ultimately just very irregularly (a quarter or so of one every few weeks) and then I pretty much just quit entirely because I forgot how to smoke them right (they ceased being smooth and became harsh and bitter, I figured out what I was doing wrong but the desire left me) and then one day my coworker told me there was a tobacco store nearby with hookahs, and I picked one up and a couple things of tobacco and, well, it's awesome. Some times I use for days straight, other times I go without.

All in all I'd say that the cigar is less addictive and could be a decent stepping stone, but again I've known people who smoke cigarettes and weren't really addicted. It's probably more based on your personality than actual chemical addiction.

But I've always thought that if you could move to cigars they would be a nice stepping stone. If you smoke them you could enjoy the kick at first and then later gradually fall out of favour with them. Personally I inhaled them, all the time with every puff. Good way to kill yourself, but as I said they could well work for you to get you out of the habit.

Day 23!!!

Wow, sounds like a bot, is trying to sell a product, and bumps long dead threads.