Best of luck, Making the choice to make an effort to give up is difficult in itself.
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Best of luck, Making the choice to make an effort to give up is difficult in itself.
good luck man.
i smoked my first cig when i was 14 and smoked pretty steadily from the ages of 16-24.
quitting cold turkey worked for me. i got really sick for about 2 weeks and just flat out didn't want one so that helped me jump start the process. i also started getting in shape as i quit. started mountain biking as much as i could and started to really embrace the fact that my breathing and stamina were improving on longer rides.
i'd really advise you to immerse yourself in physical activity as that's when you can reap tangible benefits and it just feels great. keeps giving you a better outlook on the whole quitting process.
the hardest part for me was going out to bars and just drinking in general. the smoking ban here doesn't go into effect for another year here, so almost every bar here is inundated with smoke. i had to learn to be around smoke and want a cig so bad, but not have one. then i had to learn to like this self-deprivation in an almost masochistic sense. you always feel like a million bucks when you wake up the next morning and know you made it through the night, completely wasted, and didn't have a smoke.
that said it's been 4 years and 4 months since i've had a cig and although the times i want a cig are fewer and farther between, i still get the itch and recent studies show that just one freaking cigarette can have detrimental effects on your dna.
+1 for the physical activity, if you can get focused on a healthy hobby it will be easier to take your mind away from the idea of smoking
Good luck, I hope you make it.
I've been thinking of quitting myself lately. I did quit once before, a few years back. It was ultimately unsuccessful but I managed to stay off them for a good 10 months or so before buying a pack one day during a moment of weakness. That time I had initially used the patch (first month or so only, I didn't do the "steps") and it did help a lot.
Keep us posted on your success. Maybe it will help motivate me to give another go at it too. =)
Glad that I don't smoke. I need my lungs for the sports and activities I enjoy doing.
It's a good feeling being in damn good shape too...
one year before the world blows up and doomsday decides to quit smoking for his health?
tried quitting at least 3 times, i just love nicotine going through my body and it's an oral fixation too
ill quit some day.......... yeah
[QUOTE=gts]one year before the world blows up and doomsday decides to quit smoking for his health?[/QUOTE]
:lol
This thought did come into my head as well.
how many times did it take you guys to quit smoking? and what method did u use?
[QUOTE=Stuckey]how many times did it take you guys to quit smoking? and what method did u use?[/QUOTE]
Before I actually stopped, I first cut down on the ritual smoking. No cig when first waking up, no cig after a meal, no cig before bed, etc. This got me down to probably 4-5 per day.
Around that point I told everybody I knew that I had quit, and was forced to smoke when nobody else was around. And I couldn't reek of smoke either. Anyway, eventually I was down to just one or two per day whenever I could sneak them at which point stopping was easy.
One other thing I did was always keep cigarettes in the house, for months after I quit. The strongest ingrained behavior for me was buying cigarettes when I didn't have any. If the thought occurred to me that I had no cigarettes, muscle memory kicked in and 20 minutes later I was 3 into a new pack. Crazy stuff.
i hear ya
i'm down to 2 cigarettes a day
only thing keeping me from smoking more is that it costs 10$ a pack here in canada for decent quality
havent found a great reason to quit yet, my friend even offered a bet if i could quit he'd pay me 1000 + vacation but i'd have to pay double if i failed
[QUOTE=Abd El-Krim]Before I actually stopped, I first cut down on the ritual smoking. No cig when first waking up, no cig after a meal, no cig before bed, etc. This got me down to probably 4-5 per day.
Around that point I told everybody I knew that I had quit, and was forced to smoke when nobody else was around. And I couldn't reek of smoke either. Anyway, eventually I was down to just one or two per day whenever I could sneak them at which point stopping was easy.
[COLOR="Red"]One other thing I did was always keep cigarettes in the house, for months after I quit. The strongest ingrained behavior for me was buying cigarettes when I didn't have any. [/COLOR] If the thought occurred to me that I had no cigarettes, muscle memory kicked in and 20 minutes later I was 3 into a new pack. Crazy stuff.[/QUOTE]
wow, that is really interesting right there...
I have quit now for a while, but I know what you are talking about...if you don't have any smokes, you are going to think about buying them all time...
Good luck dude.
Your body will go through physical and mental withdrawl symptoms and it will be tough.
But mind over matter man. If you have the discipline, it will pass. Nothing hard ever lasts.
[QUOTE=RidonKs]I was walking to work the other day and I exhaled my cig smoke over my shoulder, directly into the face of a middle aged woman riding her bike. She started coughing and I got out a quick sorry, which she just laughed at. That was awkward.
G'luck on your mission. What's your history? Lifetime smoker? How much do you smoke?
[B]I'm only smoking a pack per week - as dictated by a strict self-enforced rule of only buying on Saturdays[/B] - so I still feel like I can quit whenever I want. I did for about three weeks back in early December. I'm a young smoker though, so I'm still enjoying the pros much more than I'm weighing the cons. I'm sure there will be a gradual shift over my life and eventually I'll convince myself to give it up. The limits I set for myself are really helpful though, and stop me from absentmindedly going overboard.[/QUOTE]
Haha. I do the same except I buy mine on Fridays.
I quit smoking a couple of months ago, and I'm doing pretty fine. Hope you do well.
For me quitting smoking was relatively easy. It was [I]deciding[/I] to quit smoking which was hard for me. And I think that's it, to realize that quitting implies never smoking again, knowing that if you do, your pride will be forever hurt by admitting you are failing.
Honestly, once I was decided and actually quit, the only time I miss smoking badly is when I take a sh*t and at parties after getting drunk.
One thing that helped me is buying a water pipe (I casually got it before quitting). I realized I was uncapable of studying a night without smoking. The water pipe has stepped in, and my life without cigs has been good.
*should have added this: I have smoked for 11 years, been a heavy smoker for 6 years. I started by reducing the cigs before quitting, but before that I had been smoking a pac per two days.