Those who ever regularly smoked and decided to quit?

[Nogi bear]

I'm going through my first week of quitting.

So far, it doesn't feel too bad and fortunately I don't seem to have replaced the habit with anything else bad (e.g. overeating) - but it has only been a week.

Out of curiousity, how much of an improvement was quitting smoking for you? So far, I've noticed at BJJ only after a week of quitting, a big improvement.

Perhaps its mind over matter and I'm the same level of fitness but I feel that I have that extra bit of stamina that I wouldn't of had a couple weeks back.

 

[Justice 4 All]

I quit a couple of years back, and it was one of the best things I ever did. It wasn't easy, but it sure as shit was worth it! It improved my general health dramatically. Simple shit like running after a bus no longer made me gasp for air the next 10 minutes, and no more chest pains, breathing problems, etc.

If you've been clean for a week, you've passed the hard part. Now you just need to figure out what to do with the time you'd normally be having a cigarette.

 

[Big H]

i got a new well-paid job, added 100lbs to my squat and lost my virginity.

 

[Nogi bear]

i got a new well-paid job, added 100lbs to my squat and lost my virginity.

And still took the time out to attempt to make your internet friends laugh? Cool.

 

[D4rthKitty]

I'm going through my first week of quitting.

So far, it doesn't feel too bad and fortunately I don't seem to have replaced the habit with anything else bad (e.g. overeating) - but it has only been a week.

Out of curiousity, how much of an improvement was quitting smoking for you? So far, I've noticed at BJJ only after a week of quitting, a big improvement.

Perhaps its mind over matter and I'm the same level of fitness but I feel that I have that extra bit of stamina that I wouldn't of had a couple weeks back.

Dude! Sunflower seeds, if you get a craving start eating some of those

I have three friends who quit smoking because of sunflower seeds

 

[VoodooPlata]

I quit and it SUCKED. I had the hardest time doing it. But it was completely worth it. Honestly, life as a non-smoker is incredibly much more rewarding, and on top of that you have the knowledge that you beat something that is very hard to beat. Keep at it, man, you can do it!

 

[Poison Tree]

Im battling with smoking now

bascially i never realised that smoking is a anti depressant, when i try to quit, i get really bad thoughts just rushing me like a tide. then i break

as for health improvements, its enormous, i used to go the gym lots but stopped when i started smoking, when your pushing like that it just feels fake, you feel like your pushing your heart too hard and if you keep going its only becuase you are willing to damage yourself.

i got into smoking ciggarettes through smoking weed and vice versa. when i smoke a ciggarette now i wish it was a joint lol

the only way to quit smoking is to HATE IT. for example, who on the wire smokes ciggarettes??? OH THE GAY OMAR GUY, YEHA WHAT A GAYLORD is the kind of thinking i have tried to make myself think.

as long as you still like the idea of smoking it will be very hard to quit, when i stop smoking i feel so much tougher, everything.

CARDIO PEOPLE CARDIO, right now i would gass in like 1 second if i got into a fight. before i started smoking i used to run 11k nearly every day

 

[Poison Tree]

People say, oh its not easy.

um, its crazy hard for me, i think it matters whether you are a "thinker"

really, like every bad childhood memory will come and rape you before you go to sleep and you lie there clawing at the wall for your mind to stop punishing you

yeah i get it pretty bad lol, its worse cuz my gf smokes so im allways having to face it head on.

the depression part is the bit that gets me, not the physical part.

 

[Cypriot]

Smoking what cigarette or pod?

 

[Nogi bear]

I quit and it SUCKED. I had the hardest time doing it. But it was completely worth it. Honestly, life as a non-smoker is incredibly much more rewarding, and on top of that you have the knowledge that you beat something that is very hard to beat. Keep at it, man, you can do it!

Thanks man. So far I have just been doing it cold turkey and it seems to be going OK.

@Kitty - I've read that before, might have to give it a try if I start to get cravings.

 

[Now]

I know it sounds cliche but its key to quitting. You cant view yourself as a smoker whos quitting, but simply as a non-smoker. Non-smokers dont crave cigarettes, why would they?

Really its all in your mind. You shouldnt be resisting something all the time. However, it does take mental strenght to not fall back into the "Im a smoker whos quitting" frame.

I havent touched one in 9 months now after smoking for 7 years.

 

[knightmayorfw]

Keep at it man. When I quit I didn't just cold turkey, I cut right down, eventually to 3 a day, then 1, then none. found that way pretty easy. It is hard, but definitely worth it.

 

[freeski]

I smoked for around 10 years, up to a pack a day at times. I quit by cutting down the number of ciggs a day I smoked. It took about a month to go from a pack a day to zero. It was very hard for the first 6 months but eventually got easier. I have not had a cigarette in almost 3 years. It took almost a year before I went with out craving a smoke if I saw someone smoking or smelled it. Now, the smell makes me nauseous.

 

[paolo27th]

I quit a couple of years back, and it was one of the best things I ever did. It wasn't easy, but it sure as shit was worth it! It improved my general health dramatically. Simple shit like running after a bus no longer made me gasp for air the next 10 minutes, and no more chest pains, breathing problems, etc.

If you've been clean for a week, you've passed the hard part. Now you just need to figure out what to do with the time you'd normally be having a cigarette.

TBH I think the first week is actually the easy part. It`s the next 6 months whenever you have a drink or some coffee (I used to have loads of coffee) you just really want to light up. And the tricky bit is that you may think you`re past it and say"oh well, I`ll just have one" and before you know it you are back to smoking a pack a day.

 

[pjmeunyc12]

if your gonna try to quit smoking cigs you need to quit drinking alcohol for the time being as well. You dont wanna be clean all week and then smoke cigs on the weekend when your drunk. Thats what I did and I kicked the habit in a month.

 

[Morganation]

I was smoking a pack a day when I quit.I really havent noticed any health benefits.Mostly just how much money Ive been saving.

 

[pliftkl]

TBH I think the first week is actually the easy part. It`s the next 6 months whenever you have a drink or some coffee (I used to have loads of coffee) you just really want to light up. And the tricky bit is that you may think you`re past it and say"oh well, I`ll just have one" and before you know it you are back to smoking a pack a day.

I think that week gets you through most of the physical withdrawals from nicotine. But I agree that for me it was the psychological triggers that bugged me for the longest time. I quite when I was a grad student, and I was so used to lighting up on particular occasions - getting into my car, leaving a building, etc. Those trigger points continued to bother me for a long time (and I would still get occasional cravings from some of them years later).

 

[Nogi bear]

TBH I think the first week is actually the easy part. It`s the next 6 months whenever you have a drink or some coffee (I used to have loads of coffee) you just really want to light up. And the tricky bit is that you may think you`re past it and say"oh well, I`ll just have one" and before you know it you are back to smoking a pack a day.

Those are the moments I am mostly likely to slip in a social a drunken scenario so as another poster said I may try lay off the drink for a while and see if I can gradually seperate the two.

I think that week gets you through most of the physical withdrawals from nicotine. But I agree that for me it was the psychological triggers that bugged me for the longest time. I quite when I was a grad student, and I was so used to lighting up on particular occasions - getting into my car, leaving a building, etc. Those trigger points continued to bother me for a long time (and I would still get occasional cravings from some of them years later).

You're absolutely right. I myself have trigger points where I am lighting a cigarette without actually considering if I need one. At work I noticed that I would smoke around the same times a day but on my weekends I wouldn't. I think its that mental 5 minute escape which is addicitve.

 

[Saruhiko]

We talking about ciggs or bud? Well either way both are pretty hard to quit. In my case I stopped smoking weed cold turkey.. The first 3 weeks were the worst. But after that it's not so bad. After about two months you feel great. You notice lots of changes in your attitude, training etc. Just keep it up it will surely pay off. Someone mentioned sunflower seeds which I have to say is a good way to distract yourself from your cravings. It's all in the mind.

 

[Endo]

I quit for 2 months last year. In just two months I had seen major improvements in general health, capability to just do random things and not get exhausted (house work and shit), my performance in all areas related to training went up big time, etc..

However, I thought I could control my habit and decided to have one every week or so. Eventually I was back on after 3 months of being off. Dumb decision, and I'm still smoking now. Every weekend I say I'll quit, and I never do it.

So if you've made it a week, you can most certainly do it. Don't be a fucking retard like I was.