Time To Kick The Habit

N/A | 7 September 2012 | Randy Larsen

[Randy Larsen]

I've smoked since I was 15 years old. I turned 55 last March and now it's time to quit!

[Randy Larsen]

My first task after retiring last week is to quit smoking. I've quit before, but gained a lot of weight and couldn't function at my job so I started again.

I know many here on FR have quit smoking and I would like to hear how they did it.

Please help me on my quest to be smoke free?

[brivette]

I’ve quit 20, 0, 40 times.

[bigheadfred]

I need to quit. Again. Was using Chantix. I’m going to do it again. Knowing now what I didn’t then until later.

[DallasDeb]

You sound like my Dad. He was very young when he started smoking (maybe 14); smoked 3 packs a day; went to smoking cessation and stopped, cold turkey, the year he turned 59. Hasn’t smoked since then. Quit the day before he drove on a trip form Dallas to Denver. Sucked on cinnamon sticks and hard candy. I have a sister who did the Chantix thing—hasn’t smoked since. Good luck. It’s nearly as hard as losing weight.

[50cal Smokepole]

I stopped with e-cigs.
I like the stuff they have at Halo
http://www.halocigs.com/

[DuncanWaring]

Quitting’s easy.

I did it dozens of times.

[Randy Larsen]

I know what you mean...

I quit for 12 years and gained 70 + lbs.

I couldn’t tie my own boots until I started smoking again. After losing 65 lbs. it was still a struggle.

[chrisser]

I have found e-cigarettes to be helpful.

Worse case, you can keep your nicotine addiction and get a lot less nasty stuff in the process with them.

But, if you refill the cartridges with liquid, you can control the dosage and slowly step yourself off nicotine.

I find I like the e-cigs so much I keep vaping even without nicotine. I like this brand http://www.vapor4life.com/ but there are plenty of others.

[Java4Jay]

Lots of roasted soy nuts, helps habit of hand to mouth thing

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

I started smoking when I was 13, I quit when I was 31, cold turkey thats it. First month the hardest, after the first year much better. Form new habits especially in the morning and after meals. You can do it. Think of how much money you will save (less for Uncle Sam), it has been 12 years since I quit.

[RegulatorCountry]

Just lay them down and create substitute behaviors to deal with the craving until it passes. I did two things. First, whenever I wanted a cigarette badly I’d go for a brisk walk if I was able, get winded, that helped. If I was unable to do that, a very strong breath mint, the burning sensation upon inhaling was close enough to get me through it. You need to have something to counter the weight gain, it isn’t all food substitution, your metabolism does seem to change.

There is an hour by hour list of the physiological changes that occur upon stopping, that was helpful too, two hours, blood pressure declines X%, on and on. It reminded me that there was immediate benefit which helped keep me from going back.

[Randy Larsen]

My Dr. recommended E-Cigs, what do they taste like?

[Sawdring]

Write up a list of all the cons to quitting smoking and then write up a list of all the pro's to quitting smoking. Get the list handy, get a prescription for Zyban, lock up your guns in a friends gun safe, and buy a carton of cigarettes. Take the Zyban, chain smoke the carton and then make sure you have a date of quitting that coincides with what your prescription says. Once you stop smoking and feel like killing yourself quit the Zyban and then every 6 to 8 minutes pull out that list and look at it. Study the list, envision the list, be the list and keep telling yourself that a tobacco habit has to be easier to quit than a heroin or crack habit.

Keep the list handy for three days. After the end of the third day go collect your guns because you no longer want to kill yourself (because of the Zyban) and you don't want to kill others because of the withdrawal and keep telling yourself that life gets easier.

[chrisser]

I have had mixed results with the battery-powered e-cigs.

But I’m in front of a computer most of the day and got myself one that plugs into a USB port - no charging. My wife calls it my hooka. I’m puffing on it right now and do throughout the day and occassionally at home at night when I’m checking email and FR.

[Edyie]

I’ve been smoking since I was 13. I recently decided to quick & am on day 3. It’s been easy since I replaced Marlboro 100s with an E-cig.
Good Luck!

[Mark]

If you want info on e=cigs start here- I haven’t had a cigarette in over 2 years.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/

[E. Pluribus Unum]

If you quit smoking, you will still die some day.

[ColdOne]

I smoked 2 packs a day 7 years ago. I moved to another state and they didn’t carry the brand I liked. I smoked a generic menthol and didn’t like other brands. I just stopped when I moved here. It was hard let me tell you. For at least 1 year I craved to smoke. My husband still smokes so it was rough.

I just stopped. I know my neighbor now has stopped and she smoked for her whole life and she is in her 70’s. She just stopped as well. She also had health issues which helped her to that dicission.

2 other neighbors just stopped as well. 1 went back to smoking then quit. the 2nd person is going on 2 years.

All the best in your quest to be smoke free.

[Sawdring]

What did you do with the extra skin after you lost the weight? I told my obese mother in law that if she gets one of those fat surgeries maybe she could recoup the cost of the surgery by selling her extra skin at a burn ward.

[I see my hands]

"I've quit before"

No you didn't, you paused.

There is but one way to quit smoking. Cold turkey. Everyone who has quit smoking was a smoker one day and a non smoker the next.

I smoked for 15 years. 1.5 packs of One Humpers per day. I picked a day a few months in the future on which I would pick a day to quit. A cute little psychological step. I picked the day and quit on that day with the resolve I would never smoke again. NO MATTER WHAT.

Pick a day, cold turkey, resolve.