Off Topic attn ex smokers:How did you finally quit?

[slukather]

Cold turkey, l used to smoke 30-40 smokes a day, one day l just had enough and stopped, l tried to stop a few times, but failed due to l just loved to smoke.

When l quit the money l saved was awesome.

Scott.

 

[ba2m]

Many people have to have serious illness to stop their smoking habit (kidding)

When i quit smoking 3 years ago i just stop and stop thinking about it, tell my family, and push myself for not smoking for 45 days.. after that i've got used to it and feels that smoking is no longer part of my life.

careful with your smoking friends and situations where you like to smoke (ex:the place you used to visit to hang around, etc) , that's the most difficult part of quitting (in my experience)

I need to tell you that i think stop smoking makes the people around you/family have a happier life.

there's nothing you gain from smoking cigarettes anyway.. FYI, i heard that the stress reducing effect when you smoke is not coming from the nicotine, but the way you breathe when you smoke (slow and regular breathe).

 

[marvo]

It took me 4 attempts before I gave it up for good now for about 18yrs.
I quit for 6 mnths started again,then 1yr started again,4yrs started again.
I bought some weights an exercise bike and a boxing bag,1st time I rode the bike for 5 min thought I was going to die,but as I kept at it I got better and better,then whenever a craving struck I beat the **** out the bag,lifted weights e,t,c
To me the physical part was hard enough to get over,but then your for in a long mental battle, quitting smoking is not easy,Ive quit the drugs and booze no problem but the ****ing smokes was the hardest
You really have to your mind to it and stick to your guns.

 

[gtrman66]

Cant offer you any great advice, but can relate, I too am a smoker, one of those who actualy enjoys it but it still sucks and i am in the same boat promised myself to be smokeless by my 50th bday coming soon, I have cut way back recently, and as Scobby said will power.

Why do you say e-cigs are expensive, my Doctor recommended it to me and really not that much, my only problem is she recommended a specific brand and cant find it local and I live in a Big Azz City. Just going to have to order online.

Anyways my adivice is to try e-cigs, cut back now, stop the habit/routine cigs, you know the one after eating, with the first cupof coffe after sex etc.

And make lifestyle changes, eat better excercise more and for me a new job, hope this helps you and i wish us both good luck

After doing some research it looks like the e-cigs can be found at a reasonable price.My price shock was based on friend's opinions so now it's an option.

gtrman I also am making another run at trying to quit. I have tried the gum some years back and it flaired up my ulcer so that was a no go. I succeeded for 2 years by doing it with the patch but after going back to smoking and trying again with the patch, for some reason it bothered my stomach. Chantix was working but I started having some really strange dreams and just did not feel right on that stuff. I have the E-Cigarette now and find it to be very useful, and to be honest it was not that expensive. If you go on there web page there are promo packages which is what I got and the Cigarette, charger and 1 box of cartridges with each cartridge being equal to a pack of smokes was like $70. I have the one that is flavored like a cigarette and to be honest it is really a great help and you can still smoke regular cigarettes with no effects..

But just as everyone has stated the biggest and most important tool is our own will power and wanting to quit which has not been my strong suite the last decade. I started smoking at 16 but was very athletic and boxed for quite a few years, so I could turn it on and off at will. But once I blew my back out at 35 and did not go to the gym much the last 13 years I have been smoking a pack and a half a day. To be honest when I play guitar or fish I can really light them up, but I just had a check up and at 48 have been seeing signs of medical problems for the first time in my life so I think it is time to STOP.Good luck and lets get rid of these things before something really bad happens.

Which brand did you get?There are a bunch out there and it's tough to sift through the b.s. to find the right one.

yeah, stopping is the easy bit. not falling back is the hard part. for me, it was the addiction. i'm too arrogant to be addicted. it was too humiliating to be in the hands of a chemical.

I agree and am starting to feel the same way.......but a cold turkey quit would be like going from DR jekyl to Mr Hyde for me....been there before.

Never smoked, but you guys definitely look cool.

Yeah...the oxygen tank kinda looks like Boba Fett's jet pack

OP: I never have smoked, but congrats on losing that 50lbs. Whatever will power and self-discipline you invoked to lose the weight will go a long way towards kicking the habit. Best of luck!

It's called the gin and tonic diet lol.......seriously though......most of the time these days when i order food like subs,etc I try and get the small instead of the large,or save the 2nd half for another meal.The biggest help was not having beer or ice cream in the house.I don't like the taste of and my stomach doesn't handle any light beer I've ever tried,plus the light beer hangovers are the worst!The only beers my stomach can tolerate are heavier beers like guinness,yeungling,sam adams,heinekin etc so now if i want a drink i'll get a g&t or an occasional 2% milk white russian (otherwise known as a "caucasian" in my house lol).The ice cream was actually alot easier than i thought it would be.I grew up in a house that had ice cream every night,and carried that into adulthood.It was probably my father's way of trying to give us what he didn't have as a kid while growing up during the great depression.I think that's what those of us that are parents try to do for our kids...to try and give them the stuff that we didn't have,and not to make the same mistakes that our parents did with us...nobody's perfect but we try our best.

Quitters, Inc.

Hah!Stephen King rules!

Good thread. Very informative. Interesting timing as I am working towards making some changes as appears there will be 40 candles on the cake this year ....

cheers always, eh

Joel

Yeah....I've got 45 candles staring me down in a few months.....my wife said that they were probably just going to use a 4 and a 5 candle...she was afraid 45 individual candles would set off the fire alarm lol

Here's incentive- just imagine how many EBMMs you can buy when you save all the cash you're spending on smokes.

As many as the wife will allow (and finds out about hehehe)
Seriously thanks to all for taking the time out to reply to the thread.I would have replied sooner but had a week from hell....a trip to the dentist on monday which turned into a trip to an oral surgeon on wednesday to have a wisdom tooth removed...work sucked the rest of the week,and disasterous gigs on thursday and saturday nights topped off a complete sh**ter of a week for me but it's all good now.The mouth feels better and the bruises on my ego from the crap gigs are fading......plus I got french toast,eggs and coffee from the fam for father's day.....plus a promise of mexican food tonight so all is right with the world again
Anyway I've narrowed it down to the nicorette quick-desolve mini lozenge,the e-cig or chantix.Once i decide which way i'm using it's on and I'm determined to make this one work.DONE!
Once again thanks for your help and advice and I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[peterd79]

Hey Man-
Gongrats on the quitting or at least the road too... my dad was a life long smoker and for as many years as i could remember he tried to quit and never made it happen... about five years ago now... he made the choice to quit once and for all... the first few months were tough but he pushed through and it's five years strong. Just know that when it gets tough just push through and dont give in... think long term he and my mom planned a trip after the first year to celebrate... maybe you and your wife could do the same thing or a BFR after the one year mark... or BOTH!!!!

and congrats on the 50lbs loss... sounds like there's a lot of great things going on for ya... even with the few setbacks this week...

Cheers mate!

 

[Astrofreq]

Glad someone got the Stephen King joke. LOL

 

[DrKev]

Here's incentive- just imagine how many EBMMs you can buy when you save all the cash you're spending on smokes.

I've just quit (again) and that's a thought that definitely goes through my mind! I've had a grand total of five cigarettes since Thursday but I'm actually finding it remarkably easy this time round. I see no cigarettes in my future soon!

And FWIW, I feel so much better already - only five days in but I'm sleeping better and I have more energy!