I QUIT! The quitting smoking support thread.

[Wastedyouth]

I'm currently trying to quit, I was never hard core, smoke when I drink or one or two cigarrettes a day, but damn I keep falling off the wagon.

My brother has entered the life destroying phase of alcoholism and the stress just keeps putting me back on the cigs.

Kudos to everyone who quits, I am barely a smoker and I am finding it impossible.

[Deviaant]

How is the journey going for you folks? With Christmas time here I'm socializing more and whatnot. Sadly a lot of my friends are smokers so I've been exposed to it a bit lately but I'm happy to say I more or less focus on the horrid smell and I have not slipped.

I really hope everyone who has chosen to stop or slow down their smoking has had success with it. I know how hard it is.

My stint in the hospital with my lung infection has sure jolted me into action. So far I've managed to stop smoking, have some other minor and not so minor health things checked out and treated. My next major change is dropping 130 lbs. I am 5'9" and I'd guess I weigh close to 280 I'm not really sure I don't own a scale nor do I intend to get one. So I can't claim to be healthy until I get my weight under control as well. I'm not putting the pressure of following some weightloss plan on myself I'm just eating less and healthier. In one week I will be cutting as much sugar from my diet as I can. I've already switched to black coffee, I used to be a double double guy. I've spoken to my doctor and read loads of info on cutting refined sugar from your diet. Everything points to I'll be in a world of discomfort for a while but like my cigarette cravings...it will pass.

I was thinking of joining a soccer league. Soccer was something I was heavily involved in when I was younger and I still do follow it. So I figure why not join a summer league.

Thanks for letting me ramble on and on. It sure has helped me a lot just putting my thoughts out there.



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[redforever]

Originally Posted by Deviaant

How is the journey going for you folks? With Christmas time here I'm socializing more and whatnot. Sadly a lot of my friends are smokers so I've been exposed to it a bit lately but I'm happy to say I more or less focus on the horrid smell and I have not slipped.

I really hope everyone who has chosen to stop or slow down their smoking has had success with it. I know how hard it is.

My stint in the hospital with my lung infection has sure jolted me into action. So far I've managed to stop smoking, have some other minor and not so minor health things checked out and treated. My next major change is dropping 130 lbs. I am 5'9" and I'd guess I weigh close to 280 I'm not really sure I don't own a scale nor do I intend to get one. So I can't claim to be healthy until I get my weight under control as well. I'm not putting the pressure of following some weightloss plan on myself I'm just eating less and healthier. In one week I will be cutting as much sugar from my diet as I can. I've already switched to black coffee, I used to be a double double guy. I've spoken to my doctor and read loads of info on cutting refined sugar from your diet. Everything points to I'll be in a world of discomfort for a while but like my cigarette cravings...it will pass.

I was thinking of joining a soccer league. Soccer was something I was heavily involved in when I was younger and I still do follow it. So I figure why not join a summer league.

Thanks for letting me ramble on and on. It sure has helped me a lot just putting my thoughts out there.



Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Good luck.

[indes]

Thought I would bump the thread.

24 hours into quitting and it's the longest I've gone without a cigarette in 13 years.

I've decided to switch to a Juul and knock down the nicotine over the next 3 months to try kick the habit.

While vaping isn't the best alternative it's still a step up from smoking!

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by indes

Thought I would bump the thread.

24 hours into quitting and it's the longest I've gone without a cigarette in 13 years.

I've decided to switch to a Juul and knock down the nicotine over the next 3 months to try kick the habit.

While vaping isn't the best alternative it's still a step up from smoking!

I used Thrive lozenges. I will give you credit, quitting during these times is ballsy! Keep at it.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I’ve been off and on for about a year but currently cigarette free for the past 3 or 4 months. “Quit” for the better part of 5 years now.

[Deviaant]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I’ve been off and on for about a year but currently cigarette free for the past 3 or 4 months. “Quit” for the better part of 5 years now.

5 years, wow good for you. I'm at 1.5 years and I know how tough it's been. 5 years really is quite the accomplishment, keep it up!

[Wastedyouth]

14 days for me right now. Not feeling a lick of addiction.

But the weekend and a lot of motoribiking with buddies is coming around and this will be my greatest test.

Wish me luck!

[Deviaant]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

14 days for me right now. Not feeling a lick of addiction.

But the weekend and a lot of motoribiking with buddies is coming around and this will be my greatest test.

Wish me luck!

You got this! As stupid as it sounds whenever I would get a craving I would focus on my breathing. I found it would just let me focus on something else and next thing you know the craving had passed and I was on my way.

Have a great time with your buddies this weekend and enjoy the fresh air.

[dissentowner]

I hit the 3 year mark this past April. Even at that sometimes I catch a whiff from someone smoking and I think ahhh, that smells good. Not remotely enough to make me ever want to break but funny how after all this time that still happens.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by Deviaant

You got this! As stupid as it sounds whenever I would get a craving I would focus on my breathing. I found it would just let me focus on something else and next thing you know the craving had passed and I was on my way.

Have a great time with your buddies this weekend and enjoy the fresh air.

My plan is to chew some regular old gum and distraction.

It's totally a social thing for me right now, as my stress levels are at an all time low.

So the key will be staying off the booze and my willpower should win out.

[ResAlien]

I’m at 8.5 years without smoking. The brain still fires up the happy juice when I see someone smoking on tv or see someone packing smokes but the instant I smell it it’s stomach churning.

It can be done just stick with it. You’ll get there.

[Wastedyouth]

Weekend mission successful.

I don't really know what different about this time, but I have no drive to have a cigarrette anymore.

16 days and counting.

[indes]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

Weekend mission successful.

I don't really know what different about this time, but I have no drive to have a cigarrette anymore.

16 days and counting.

I had the same thing, just all of a sudden I found smoking disgusting.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

Weekend mission successful.

I don't really know what different about this time, but I have no drive to have a cigarrette anymore.

16 days and counting.

Another 30 days and multiple chances to breakdown, and I am doing well!

Had a few nights after a couple whiskeys where I pretty much told my friends "Ok, I am going to bed, because if I don't I will end up smoking", so it was touch and go!

Anyways, just touching base with everyone, seeing if anyone needs some support!

[Jacks]

You're pretty much past the worst of it now, the physical addiction should be gone, it's all mental now. Just remember that if you do give in you have to start all over, and for what?

If you smoked a cigarette now you'd be so dizzy you'd have to sit down and would probably feel sick for an hour. Keep up the good fight, it gets easier as time goes by.

[Roof-Daddy]

Never tell yourself you want one. Never.

Whenever you see someone smoking, or think about smoking, tell yourself "I'm never smoking another cigarette as long as I live"

I'm serious.

I quit for 13 months once, but every time I saw someone smoking, or smelled someone smoking, or thought about smoking I'd think "man I wish I could have one" or "geez a smoke would be great right now"

I'm telling you, if you do that it's only a matter of time before you give in and have one. I started again after 13 months and gradually worked my way back up to a pack a day for several years again before I successfully quit again, and now it's been almost 7 years, and I will never have another cigarette in my life time.

[Red Slinger]

It's been just over 5 years since I last had a cigarette and it kinda feels like I was never a smoker. Some days I can't believe that I wasted so much energy, focus, health and money on it. When I see people smoking now it doesn't bother me at all, in terms of wanting one, and I find the smell gross. But the first few times I quit I never stopped being a smoker I was instead a smoker that wasn't smoking. If I saw someone smoking, even in a movie, I'd start craving a cigarette and telling myself how much I wanted one and how good it would be. I may have quit physically but otherwise I was just torturing myself mentally. There are a few small things that helped me, that may or may not help others:

-There is no such thing as just one cigarette. In my previous attempts at quitting I'd sometimes go out, have a drink and think I'll just have one smoke. It never worked and I'd find myself smoking again eventually. I'd remind myself that one cigarette always leads to more.

-When you are craving nicotine it's because your body is trying to feel normal, or like a non-smoker. Then when you have a cigarette your body feels satisfied for a short period of time. What it's really doing is feeling normal. The nicotine withdrawal, or craving, is your body's way of telling you it wants to feel normal. When you are a non-smoker you feel this 'normal' all the time.

-Nicotine is a highly addictive substance but it also leaves your system relatively quickly and the body recovers fast. It's just a matter of days before you are no longer physically addicted to nicotine. The rest of the addiction is around the habit and the stories/lies we tell ourselves. "It relaxes me" and other similar excuses are the brainwashing we do to ourselves. Most of the problems we have quitting is around our internal narrative and the relationship we have with smoking. We need to treat it like a toxic relationship and get out and never look back. Each cigarette you choose not to smoke is a choice to end that toxic relationship.

-"I don't smoke". It's not about will power. Once you get over the relatively short-lived physical withdrawal (can be 3 days in a lot of cases) you are basically no longer addicted to nicotine. The harder thing to get over is changing our habits and even our identity. For me the hardest thing about quitting was the routine that I had built up around smoking. You could set a watch to when I had a cigarette and a lot of my day was watching the clock for when I could have the next one whether I was craving one or not. It became interwoven into my life and eventually was the nucleus around which everything else revolved. At one point, after many failed attempts using will power, gums, and other methods, I told myself that I was no longer a smoker. It wasn't my identify anymore. I began the process of reversing the brainwashing I had been doing to myself for years. I replaced my habit of smoking every hour to getting up and doing a short walk, even just down the hall at work or something similarly simple. Eventually, I didn't need to do that. If I thought about smoking I'd remind myself that "I'm not a smoker" and "there's no such thing as one cigarette" and "I'm almost completely physically clean" and it would help.

-I've never met any smoker that quit fully on their first attempt. You may have to try several times as you learn your own triggers and peel back the brainwashing you've done to yourself. You will get there eventually as long as you're a non-smoker and not just a smoker who isn't smoking.

Most of this I learned from reading "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking". It's a great, short read and helps to unravel the lies we tell ourselves about nicotine addiction.

[indes]

Originally Posted by indes

Thought I would bump the thread.

24 hours into quitting and it's the longest I've gone without a cigarette in 13 years.

I've decided to switch to a Juul and knock down the nicotine over the next 3 months to try kick the habit.

While vaping isn't the best alternative it's still a step up from smoking!

Day 139, don't miss smoking at all. Still use the Juul occasionally on long drives and when drinking but not really habitually. Down from a pack a day to a 4 pack of Juul pods every two months.

[81MC]

That’s for the update.

I started smoking pretty hard again, and decided I should quit last night. So I’m taking this as a sign.