Anyone quitting smoking?

[KristinaM]

This is a great thread guys-- Congrats on your awesome efforts to quit.. and thank you for honestly showing us how hard it is even when you REALLY want to quit.. how easy it is to fall off the wagon and make mistakes.

Best of luck to you girls and I'm hoping your experiences will inspire me and I need to quit and have wanted to quit for so long. I just can't get myself together to actually do it! I kind of made a mental note that I'm going to wait until I move out of my house because it will be impossible to quit with others smoking in the house still! We'll see!

 

Good luck guys, stay strong and we're all supporting you!!!

[Betsy]

How is everyone doing? Lent is almost over! But hopefully I will stay done smoking.....I have been doing pretty good, although I have gained 5 lbs already What are you guys doing to NOT gain weight?? Any tricks? Duh I know I should be not be eating crap and I should be working out but I have been chewing gum and it's like I can only not do 1 thing at a time, ya know! Like either not eat crap or not smoke LOL

[DRB]

I haven't been on this thread for a while since I still haven't managed to make it back on the wagon yet I'm going to try again at the end of this week (I have an exam on Weds so trying to quit again right before probably isn't a good plan). I'm still kicking myself for giving in but they say that it takes a bunch of tries to quit right?

 

Betsy that's awesome that you're still on the wagon! I'm sure that the weight gain sucks but it could also just be water weight, your body is going through detox after all. Have you tried drinking more water? I've heard that that can also help with cravings. I know that I'll be drinking a lot of water when I quit again and I'll probably be working out like crazy (I'm a bridesmaid in my MOH's wedding at the end of May and the dress is already a little tight in the waist which worries me!).

 

How's everyone else doing?

[nickicolb123]

I'm doing ok not great. I am cheating a little (about 4 or 5 a week). I need to get motivated again to quit completley. I keep telling my FH that we gotta keep trying even if we cheat. I am fearful of slipping back into my pack a day habit.

[Betsy]

At least you are cutting down.....that is the first step! I think it is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life! And the first time that I really don't want to smoke. I've always liked it, and now, I just don't........wierd huh!

[petunia]

Aaah....I just signed onto the Biggest Loser thread and now I find this one. I'm with you ladies. I haven't started to quit yet, but I got a free starter kit of patches from New York State, just waiting for me. No one's mentioned the patch. Is anyone using it? My fiance quit two weeks ago and is doing wonderfully using the patch. I'm sooo proud of him. We are both in our late 50s and have been smoking all of your lives and then some. It's really hard for us.

 

I used Chantix about a year ago. Just kept taking the pills, but never quit. I had vivid dreams, but no other side affects. They did help me cut down on smoking. I am considering taking welbutrin to take the edge off the anxiety I feel even before I quit.

 

I'm a teacher and go most of the day without a cigarette, except for the one or four I grab during lunch break. I live alone and most smoking is done at home. I am off for a week next week and am afraid it will be very hard to try to quit smoking while at home. Perhaps over the Easter weekend.

 

I'll continue to read here for inspiration. I hope that all of you who are struggling will continue to have successes, big or small, in ending this addiction.

[doblauvelt]

This is a great thread! I've been on and off smoking for about 4 years now ever since meeting my then boyfriend. We just felt it was a good start to a great relationship. But nope, every single time either I would fall or he would and we would start right back up again! It's frustrating like all of you know but I am tired of the craves but at the same time am so scared that I will start gaining weight. I have to say I've put on about 10lbs since this whole quitting and starting up again, btw.

 

I've tried Chantix 3 times. Each time it's worked, but again either I or my FI would fall of the wagon. Chantix worked the best for me (aside from the patch) but it made me very nauseous every single time I took my morning pill, one time I had to call out of work 3 days in a row! Anyway, I never completed the recommended 12 week program. Usually by my 8th week I can go without cigarettes no problem and this would last for 6 months.

 

I'm ashamed to be a smoker and I hate the smell, but I constantly need one. HELP!! I will check back for support.

 

Best of luck to everyone!

[nickicolb123]

i am totally sucking! i am back to smoking again. New quit date set for monday. i hate the fact that i can't seem to quit for any extended period of time. It is so awful. i wish i could kick my 16 year old self in the face!

[KristinaM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickicolb123 i am totally sucking! i am back to smoking again. New quit date set for monday. i hate the fact that i can't seem to quit for any extended period of time. It is so awful. i wish i could kick my 16 year old self in the face!

Right??! We didn't know what idiots we were for starting that first one or two cigarettes then! UGH.

Well girls, I am supposed to try to quit because 1. I am trying to pay off a large amount of debt and the current price of cigarettes just doesn't fit into my budget! and 2. I am so tired of the smell, the grossness, the cough, and everything else icky that goes along with it.
Notice though-- I put the money first as a reason. I think part of me still doesn't WANT to quit. I've been prepping myself to cut down, and eventually quit but instead the thought of it has made me start smoking so much more! aaah. So anyways, I'm hoping to pick a quit date soon and I will keep you guys updated!

Good luck to everyone!

[petunia]

I quit smoking on April 11. My fiance quit 3 weeks before I did. His success and relative ease was a good motivation. He was using the patch. I found that New York State was giving away a free patch starter kit, so I signed up. The starter kit sat in a drawer, out of sight. Then, on April 11 the skies opened to torrential rain. I had 4 cigarettes. I smoked them in halves, giving me 8 smoking times that morning. At last I was out and it was still pouring. I put on the first patch and haven't had a cigarette since. I'm hopeful I never will.

 

For me, it's a little bit different. I'm quite a bit older than most of you. This is the first time I've ever quit, but I've been smoking for 42 years. I was smoking at least two packs a day. I could no longer breathe, living on Mucinex and waiting to be one of those old ladies who walk around with hoses in their noses attached to tanks of oxygen. Noooooooooooo! What hurt me a lot, too, was that I could no longer sing. Not that I ever really could do it well, but I just loved to sing.

 

Now I'm breathing a whole lot better and singing my heart out. My goal is to learn to scuba dive. Yeah!

 

But now I need someone to follow me around slapping food out of my hands. Ugh.