Quitting Cigarettes Thread

contract

contract

We're all gunna mine it brah.
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Well done. That is the hardest part over with in my experience.

4 years this November.

Feels good bro.

Pro tip - if you fall off the wagon get right back on. It is SO much harder to quit the second time but with will power - and gum - it can be done.

Hit the gym like a motherfucker and destroy.

Good luck.
 
I was 5 years in January, and I can safely say I'll never be a full-time smoker again.
I still have the odd one after a few drinks, but the urge is never there the next morning.

I seem to have replaced the smoking with eating though, I have put on about 30lbs since I quit.

I agree with hitting the gym as much as you can to keep the weight in check, something that I wish I had done.

2 months is good, you are over the worst of it!
 
I'm at the stage where I can go a few months without smoking then I buy a pack, smoke one and realize I'm killing myself then throw it away. This cycle repeats for ages
 
Cash Builder said:
I was 5 years in January, and I can safely say I'll never be a full-time smoker again.
I still have the odd one after a few drinks, but the urge is never there the next morning.

I seem to have replaced the smoking with eating though, I have put on about 30lbs since I quit.

I agree with hitting the gym as much as you can to keep the weight in check, something that I wish I had done.

2 months is good, you are over the worst of it!
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Nicotine is an INCREDIBLY strong appetite suppression, it's one of the reasons that models smoke so much. It's important just to recognize the suppression it gave you and try and peal back the calories.

I put on a similar amount straight after quitting and have lost almost all of that added weight now. Good luck!
 
built said:
I'm at the stage where I can go a few months without smoking then I buy a pack, smoke one and realize I'm killing myself then throw it away. This cycle repeats for ages
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It's rather tempting to smoke one...

But I know if I do, even if it's just one puff, I'll go right back to a pack a day.

:wonder:
 
Keep at it, you're already doing exceptionally well based on my experience!!

Don't succumb to the just one temptation.

You can dooooo iiiiit!
 
The book by Allen Carr helped me quit for good. Basically, it came down to changing the way I looked at a cigarette. I always saw them as relaxing, stress reducing, etc. But really a lot of my anxiety was being caused by them, not solved by them. I'd be feeling stressed and so I'd have a cigarette and I'd feel better. But a lot of times that was just my addiction stressing me out and then me quieting it by feeding it.

I know it sounds stupid but that really blew my mind. Because we all have perceived "upsides" to smoking. Mine was: it helps me deal with stress / relaxes me. Yoga works way better, meditation too, a cup of tea, a hot bath, etc. And none of those things make my anxiety worse if I don't do them 10 times a day. I've been quit for three and a half years now after dozens of attempts. Stay strong, it's totally worth it. My overall peace and happiness now are much higher than when I smoked while my perceived stress level is remarkably lower.
 
5-6 years here. You can do it! I'd be lying to you if I told you the urge will go away 100%, as I still on rare occurrence still get them.
 
I'm 23 now and it's been 2 years since I've quit. I started smoking when I was about 16 all the way until 21. 5 Years and it became a pack a day during my last year.

It took me multiple tries to finally kick it for good (cold turkey every time). Some of those tries were great for a few days, weeks, and months but I would always cave in the end.

What really kept me off was doing something very cardio intensive and for me, that was Muay Thai and BJJ. That shit made me realize how fucked my lungs were. It felt like they were going to explode and I was going to fall over and die. Whenever I wanted to smoke a cigarette after that, I would remember that moment and the craving would go away.

Like others, I do still get the cravings. I don't think they'll ever go away. I do the motion of smoking to help settle it.
 
backinblack said:
The book by Allen Carr
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I went in thinking it would be entirely fluff written by an over-hyped guru... Completely feel-good nonsense.

I was totally wrong after reading it!

That book is no joke. It really gave me a different way to look at smoking; a new perspective that I hadn't really focused in on before.

I can't say it was the reason I quit or a huge part of it, but the book definitely helped significantly.

Also Joel Spitzer is awesome! He has a video on literally every question through the entire process: https://www.youtube.com/user/joelspitz/videos
 
25+ years for me.

One day, I just thought enuf already. Simple as that.
 
It's amazing how these cravings come out of fucking nowhere....

I won't even be thinking about smoking for the entire day, then out of the blue... Bam!

Every time I get a bit excited, I feel the need for one to calm down.

If I'm meeting someone in 15-30 min, I feel the need for one to relax and burn time.

If I sit at my one desk where I used to smoke ALL the time... The old habit presents itself.

...

Starting to realize the longer stay a non-smoker, the more willpower I gain.
 
contract said:
It's amazing how these cravings come out of fucking nowhere....

I won't even be thinking about smoking for the entire day, then out of the blue... Bam!

Every time I get a bit excited, I feel the need for one to calm down.

If I'm meeting someone in 15-30 min, I feel the need for one to relax and burn time.

If I sit at my one desk where I used to smoke ALL the time... The old habit presents itself.

...

Starting to realize the longer stay a non-smoker, the more willpower I gain.
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Very occasionally I'll crack and have a single smoke and most every time I don't even finish it because I have this image in my mind of how it will taste and after so long off, it tastes horrible. Hopefully that's some conciliation. You're not missing out on anything. They were only great because you were giving your body the toxic that it got accustomed to.
 
Prentzz said:
Very occasionally I'll crack and have a single smoke and most every time I don't even finish it because I have this image in my mind of how it will taste and after so long off, it tastes horrible. Hopefully that's some conciliation. You're not missing out on anything. They were only great because you were giving your body the toxic that it got accustomed to.
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Yup, did this yesterday, made me feel like absolute shit afterwards so I don't even want to look at a cigarette right now
 
contract said:
It's amazing how these cravings come out of fucking nowhere....

I won't even be thinking about smoking for the entire day, then out of the blue... Bam!

Every time I get a bit excited, I feel the need for one to calm down.

If I'm meeting someone in 15-30 min, I feel the need for one to relax and burn time.

If I sit at my one desk where I used to smoke ALL the time... The old habit presents itself.

...

Starting to realize the longer stay a non-smoker, the more willpower I gain.
Click to expand...

I did some good guided self-hypnosis/meditation while I was quitting that were specifically for people that were quitting smoking. I can't say if they actually worked or if they just gave me something calming to focus on when my cravings got tough. Good ones free on youtube.

I played a game on my phone a few times a day like while I was waiting for something. It kept my hands busy and too it felt like a break (I missed having built in breaks from work.) I also chewed a lot of gum during that first month. So the combo of playing a game with my hands, chewing on some minty gum and taking some deep breaths basically checked off all the sensations of smoking for me except for the nicotine (and the part where I had been poisoning myself.)

You have to break each connection/trigger. They say you only have to break each connection once and I've found that to be mostly true. It's funny, two months ago I was in an airport that I have not been in since I was a smoker and even after three years of not smoking my junkie brain was still like "Hey are we going to smoke?" I just laugh about those moments now, the mind is a funny thing.
 
I am down to a couple a day. I find it hard completely to break the habit. I've smoked for a long time. I want to quit and I will, but I'm not going day to day. I will get down to 1-2 a day and then give it up.
 
I transferred my nicotine source from marlboro reds to an ecig (a pen-like evod, im not going to suck on a sodding mobile phone!) 4 1/2 years ago when my daughter arrived in the world.

Im still addicted but much fitter, smell better, do not have to stand in the freezing cold outside and am probably* not killing myself or those around me.
 
Still smoke free.

Urges are fading away.

Some days I don't even remember to think about cigarettes. Like they don't even exist to me anymore!

Takes 2-3 months for the dopamine to ramp back up in the brain. Feeling better every day...

Been going to the shooting range to blow off steam lately. Got some new toys to keep me interested.
 
I've always felt that cigarettes are the easiest thing to not get addicted to. It's like they constantly warn you off with their foul smell and taste, and the way the smoke's sourness gets into your clothes and hair. Fucking horrible stuff. I've only ever smoked when people have "gone for a smoke" socially so I could join them. But must take great effort to get addicted to it, vile stuff. That they make illegal drugs like marijuana and LSD (don't touch either), or frankly even cocaine, but leave that putrid pastime that affects everyone around you perfectly legal is just a joke.
 
A little over 3 months now.

93 packs... 1,860 cigarettes or ~15,000 puffs.

I am honestly quite shocked... After ~10 years of a pack a day. :surprised: I've never quit this long before.

No longer craving them, can pretty much do whatever and not think about it. Feels like the dopamine levels in the brain have returned back to normal.

Those things REALLY fuck with your mind. I mean shit is addictive as hell when you step back and look at as an outsider. You know how bad it is, but somehow they just make all logic and reasonsing fade away.

I don't want to smoke again. It's miserable having to inhale toxic chemicals and nicotine every hour just to not feel like shit. In reality, you can NOT feel like shit 24/7 without them because that's called being as normal human being.

Not going to lie though... I'm STILL in the contemplation stage from time to time. There are moments where I'm like what if I just say fuck it and smoke again. No one is going to stop me. It's only a few dollars. It's a simple legal high. I'm young (in my mind) compared to some of these 50 and 70 year olds that smoked, etc. etc and are still moving along. And so on...

But meh, those "urges" go away in like 5 min then it's back to focusing on something else. I know even just ONE puff will lead me right back to a pack a day. It's just not worth it. Like 5 min of horrible tasting buzz for a lifetime of regret/suffering/bad health/stink/etc.

Joe said:
It's like they constantly warn you off with their foul smell and taste
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There's some who hate the smell and others how find it exotic, inviting and seductive.

I'm unfortunately in the second group. I LOVE the smell of the smoke. Campfires, cigarettes, incense, 2 stroke motor exhuast, etc. Cigarettes smell DAMN good but smoking them is not even close. They truly taste like shit for the first week or so. After that your taste buds become so numb, you can't even tell what the taste is.
 
@contract Awesome job. It's seriously difficult to quit smoking and I'm still going strong, hope we can both keep it up.

Christopher Hitchens put it best, to paraphrase, cigarettes are the absolute perfect drug. They are great if you're hungry or full, waking up or going to sleep, angry or happy. That's why they are so darn addictive, because they make everything more enjoyable, at least, while you're accustomed to getting that constant dose.

But once you quit you realize that you can actually still enjoy the same experiences. I don't think I'll ever not want to smoke, they are honestly something I enjoyed, but the downside just isn't worth it anymore.

I get my buzz these days from going on a run or learning something new. Not quite as sexy and hedonistic, but a much more sustainable strategy.

Congratulations.
 
Prentzz said:
I don't think I'll ever not want to smoke, they are honestly something I enjoyed, but the downside just isn't worth it anymore.
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You still have the belief that there was something great about smoking, and that by quitting you lost something or gave up something. This is why people smoke or get back to smoking.

I would strongly advise you to read AllenCarr’s Easyway as it removes the belief that there is anything that you gain from smoking or give up.
 
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