Hi everybody!
wow I am so glad I found such a cool site & forum! :D
I was wondering if any of you quit smoking lately. I quit 3 weeks ago and want to begin my diet next week. I am 28 and smoked during 15 years! :mad:
I have been exercising, mainly cardio the last few weeks...man what a difference! I can breath now!
My problem is that I still crave for cigarretes and eat all day non stop (mainly gum and sunflower seeds). I don´t know if I will be able to handle such a strict diet as John did. Any comments? Somebody going through the same situation right now?

Well, I'm going through the same thing right now. This is about the 3rd time I've 'quit' within the last year or so, but the great thing is that I've never even come close to being at the smoking level I was at before the 1st attempt at quitting. So, all in all, it's done wonders for me.

Anyway, I'm actually wearing a patch right now. I've found those to be so much better than just quitting cold turkey. I used to have urges to eat all the time like you're experiencing and I just made sure to have gum, hard candy, straws, etc. around to just keep me occupied. I have an office job and have found that drinking something, water, soda, whatever, is great for making the urges go away.

One other thing to try is to take a very deep breath, let it out slowly, and concentrate on the reasons you actually quit to begin with. My cravings always go away.

You're at one of the rougher points. I've heard that the 3 week mark is one of the hardest to get past, so just keep that in mind and remain stubborn ;)

About that diet. To me man, don't worry about it as much right now. Seriously. Get the smoking part taken care of first and foremost. Do not under any circumstances sacrifice what you're doing right now just because you're reading a forum dedicated to fitness. Ease into it and remember that even if you are to gain 10 pounds, you're better off than you were as a smoker, and you can eventually get those 10 pounds back with less of a problem because you're going to be able to BREATHE.

*ONE OTHER IMPORTANT THING*
I don't know how social you are, but that is my biggest downfall, and ultimately the reason I fall back into the trap. Whenever I drink... I want to smoke... and obviously your resistance to retarded urges is not quite up to par when you're drinking. I've made a habit to only drink once a month max, so it's making things easier, but be prepared to avoid bars at all costs if at all possible.

Hi everybody!
wow I am so glad I found such a cool site & forum! :D
I was wondering if any of you quit smoking lately. I quit 3 weeks ago and want to begin my diet next week. I am 28 and smoked during 15 years! :mad:
I have been exercising, mainly cardio the last few weeks...man what a difference! I can breath now!
My problem is that I still crave for cigarretes and eat all day non stop (mainly gum and sunflower seeds). I don´t know if I will be able to handle such a strict diet as John did. Any comments? Somebody going through the same situation right now?
I quit cold-turkey a little over 3 years ago after over a decade of heavy (2-3 packs per day) use. When I first quit it was almost impossible for me to stay off them, but I made myself. I know how hard it is, but whatever you do don't give in. Take it one day at a time, drink lots of water and keep working out. When you are feeling healthy you tend to want to not do things to your body that will hurt it, and smoking certainly qualifies as harmful. I can tell you that in time it becomes much easier, and one day you'll realize you don't even want one anymore. I can't even stand to smell smoke on someone now ("there's no non-smoker more fanatical than an ex-smoker!")

My wife Lisa has been struggling to quit smoking for the last few years. It's been very difficult for her, but I'm really proud of her because she stopped smoking on January 1st, so today is her 26th day smoke-free!

:gl:

How did you quit? Did you go cold turkey? I just started working out 2 weeks ago, and am looking at quitting smoking in the next week or so. I've been smoking for the past 19 years.
I heard that you all always going to crave those cigarettes, just hang in there and good luck.

Hi everybody!
wow I am so glad I found such a cool site & forum! :D
I was wondering if any of you quit smoking lately. I quit 3 weeks ago and want to begin my diet next week. I am 28 and smoked during 15 years! :mad:
I have been exercising, mainly cardio the last few weeks...man what a difference! I can breath now!
My problem is that I still crave for cigarretes and eat all day non stop (mainly gum and sunflower seeds). I don´t know if I will be able to handle such a strict diet as John did. Any comments? Somebody going through the same situation right now?

I quit smoking after about 15 years as well 2 years ago. I quit with the patch and didn't really notice cravings after I quit except due to habit. I was used to having a smoke during my breaks and lunch hour and I needed to find something new to do during that time. This was the hardest because it was a habit for so many years. I filled the time eating and grew about 25 lbs of mostly fat. I had enough and knew I had to change my diet.

Quitting smoking and weight gain are very common. I never changed my diet until a year after I quit which was when I was at my heaviest. I went from 215 lbs to 182 lbs in about 2 months of strict diet and exercise. 95% of the loss was fat. The way I started my diet change was to fast for the weekend before I started my program. Therefor I ate nothing but drank water and fruit juice for 2 days (Sat and Sun) and began eating food on Monday before my workout. This shrunk my stomach a lot and I got very full on 1200 calories a day. I increased this to 1500 calories and had even better results. Obviously you need to be careful doing this and you should never fast more then 2 times a year.

As for what stops me now from over-eating, it's 99% will power. I crave chips and crackers and the odd soda but like smoking, the craving passes with a bit of time if you don't succum to it. As you know when you smoke, if you go 6 hours without a smoke, that's all you seem to think about when it's at it's worst. When you quit smoking you get cravings and you get past them. To me food cravings are about 90% less intense then cigarette cravings. My best advice is to use your strength you used to quit smoking and use that to push through your addiction to unhealthy food. After a few weeks the cravings subside a lot.

Xtropy

How did you quit? Did you go cold turkey? I just started working out 2 weeks ago, and am looking at quitting smoking in the next week or so. I've been smoking for the past 19 years.
I heard that you all always going to crave those cigarettes, just hang in there and good luck.

I think that somewhere, subconciously, we will always 'crave' a cigarette. I personally think it's just a mental reaction to an external stimulus that we used to respond to in a different manner before smoking, but since smoking we'll always make the association to a cigarette.

I've found the best way to quit, for me anyway, was the patch. I tried to quit cold turkey and it just didn't work for me due to the fact that all of my friends smoke and we were constantly at bars. That's nearly an impossible situation.

Congratulations on quitting smoking. Are you going cold turkey?

When it comes to stopping smoking, there are two things to overcome. One is the physical addiction of nicotine, and the other is the habit. Physical addiction comes with withdrawal symptons -- headaches, nervousness, irritability, that sort of thing. If you think you'll need help with the symptons, talk to your doctor or pharmacist to see if the patch, gum or pills are best for you. From your post, it looks like you've been able to cut cold turkey. :tucool:

Breaking the habit is the hard part. If you always crave after dinner, it's habit. You'll want to recognize your triggers and make a plan to deal with them ahead of time. A lot of the tips you'll get will probably sound cheesy, like making sure you always have a healthy snack and bottle of water around, and setting goals, but they really do work.

Go to your pharmacy or doctor's office, as well as websites for Nicoderm and Nicorette for information and tips.

As a pharmacist, nothing make me happier than seeing people come back and telling me they've been able to kick the habit. :gl:

and probably the most effective thing. Do what you're doing right now and talk to people who have been successful.

If you do decide to get the patch feel free to try the generic brands. I used Walgreens brand because it was so much cheaper than the Nicoderm and it worked fine for me.

i'm also trying to quit smoking as part of my personal fitness overhaul. so far i've cut it down to just 3 a day so far, down from ~10.

i'm also trying to quit smoking as part of my personal fitness overhaul. so far i've cut it down to just 3 a day so far, down from ~10.

I know about 10 people that have quit smoking and have maybe 15 or so close friends that smoke. Not once have I ever seen anyone that has quit smoking do it by "cutting back". I smoked lighter cigarettes and cut back thinking that I would quit. I never did and never would have. You either smoke or you don't smoke. I hate to dampen your motivation to quit smoking gigapower, but if you want to quit, quit. You are just torturing yourself by cutting back and the first thing that comes up (fight with the kids/wife/boss) and you'll puff back a few smokes. It happens to all of us. When you say to yourself, "No more", that's when you will quit, not when you are down to 1/2 a pack a week.

The patch has made it very easy for everyone I know it quit and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in quiting smoking. I never did it earlier because of the cost but after only a month on it, I never needed to use the patch and haven't had a smoke again.

Good luck,

Xtropy

no i think you are right X, but with so many other changes going on in my life right now, I just don't think I'm ready to drop them completely. Even after 3 weeks, I'm still adjusting to my new diet.

Yup, that's all so very true. We constantly look for reasons to have another one. It's so sad too because you can keep it up for a good while. 'I'll just have one in the morning' works for about a week, and then you start having one at lunch, and then another before bed, and then another after watching that tv show, etc. Eventually those 3 turn into 6.

Think about it this way. None of us who made it up to 1 pack + a day started off at 1 pack a day. We started off with 1 somewhere, then bummed some here and there from friends at social gatherings, then bought a pack and smoked off of it for a week or two, then bought a pack and smoked off of it every couple of days, and then bought a pack and smoked it all in one day...

Hi everybody! First of all thank you for your support!!! :tucool:

Kicking the habit makes me feel really proud of myself. I love seeing myself as a non-smoker! I must admit that I sometimes feel scared as I think I will start smoking again; everybody around me smokes (including my girlfriend)

Yes, I quit cold turkey. I prepared myself pretty well for it; read a lot and got motivated for my quit. I am also attending accupuncture sessions. I had never been in one before but a friend recommended it so I tried it out. I´ve had 5 sessions now; it´s really relaxing and you feel great afterwards, but the cravings are still there.

I started my workout 2 weeks ago to help me deal with the cravings. Since I quit smoking I gained 4 kg (about 8 lbs) and just wish I could start with the diet but it just seems impossible. I need to have something in my mouth/fingers all the time... :(

I was just wondering how long will this last and when will I be able to start with the diet! I am a Kite-surfer and want to be in shape for the spring when the wind starts blowing. ;)

To all of you who did quit: how much weight did you gain? how long did it take for you to get rid of those extra lbs?

how much weight did you gain?
Gained 10 pounds in the first month, 25 lbs in 1 year.

how long did it take for you to get rid of those extra lbs?
Took 2 months to loose 33 lbs with daily cardio and weights 3x a week and a calorie intake of 1200-1500 calories.


No one will be able to do the work for you and we are reaching a weight epidemic in North America because exercise and diet are hard. If they were easy, everyone would look like John. If you want to get there, quiting smoking was probably the easy part. John looks like maybe the top 2% of all north american males and there is a VERY big reason for that. I'm 186 lbs right now and my goal is to get my body fat below 9%. I don't have plans for loosing weight, but rather to get rid of access fat and increase muscle mass.

For me, the key to weight loss is:

1. Dedication
2. Diet
3. Exercise

Everyone that has dreamed of the perfect body has fallen short of their goals because of #1 which kills #2 and #3. Get the first part in order and the other two will follow.

:gl:

Xtropy

yeah smoking pot isnt to helpful either. it Gives you the MUNCHIES! :eat:
seriously

WOW! Really good thread, please keep it going, I need the motivation. Going with a quit date of next monday. I was going to try that slowing down thing, but I think that's just fear.
Def doing it next week. Don't know if I'm going to use the inhaler or the patch yet. If anyone has try the inhaler, please post your views.

I smoked my last cigarette on March 1st of last year, and I'm to the point now where I know I will never smoke another one ever. I quit because I was really scared about the health risks, but now I know it was the best thing I ever did in my life.

I had tried to do it multiple times before then, but the fact that you can go just about anywhere and buy it (I had started smoking before legal age) made it difficult. It got to the point where it hurt to smoke and I knew it was time to quit. I just threw the one I was smoking down and said never again - and I haven't looked back or regretted it (although, sometimes I remember that smoke after a meal).

I always had the mental addiction, so I know it's harder for the people out there addicted to the nicotine, but I promise it's the best thing you can ever do...and stopping now will help out so much in the long run!!! Good Luck!!!

A couple of days before New Year's Eve, I felt something stirring inside me. I felt myself getting sick of everything abot myself. I smoked a pack of Marlboro Reds a day for 12 years. I had become 30% body fat. I knew something had to change, and soon. I started to scale back my smoking to a few per day. A few days later, it was New Years Day. I had decided that I was smoking my last cigarette. I quit cold-turkey that day. The cravings were rough the first couple of days but I made it through. Immediately after, I started my transformation. I feel much healthier and more confident today than I had a couple of short months ago.

Don't get me wrong; every once in awhile I will get a craving. Even now, 5 weeks later. But, te cravings o not last long and can be controlled. I know now that I will never smoke another cigarette again and that I will make my goal of 10% body fat by summer!

I started smoking when I was 12 and smoked heavily until March 25, 2000. On that date at 8:02 am, I smoked my last cigarette. I tried to quit cold turkey but the cravings consumed me night and day. I decided to try the patch but it did nothing for me at all. I tried nicorette gum and it worked! I chewed the devil out of the gum. It took me 6 months to get completely off the gum but it did work for me. I slowly started substituting the nicorette with Eclispe gum over time and now I am a huge sugar free gum chewer :nod: .

Quitting smoking has definitely been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but the rewards are well worth it. I encourage anyone that smokes to keep trying. Find a plan that works for you and stick to it. If you need the patch or the gum or whatever, use it. The main thing is to stay the pace. If you fail, stand up, brush it off and try again until you finally succeed. :tucool:

To all of you who did quit: how much weight did you gain? how long did it take for you to get rid of those extra lbs?

Since I quit smoking I have gained about 30 pounds but I do not attribute that all to not smoking. I would give smoking about half of it. I haven't lost yet (hence why I joined this forum :) ). Don't let the fear of weight gain keep you from quitting. The health risks of smoking FAR outweigh the risks of continuing to smoke.

You can always lose weight but you can't grow new lungs.

Go for it! You can do it!!! :claplow:

One thing that really surprised me was how bad smokers smell. You will not realize this until after you have not smoked for a few weeks. I can't believe I smelled like that for so long.

To quote Mark Twain:

"Quitting smoking is easy...I've done it hundreds of times."

I also tried, hundreds of times, to quit smoking, without success. I was finally able to do it cold turkey a little over six years ago. What finally gave me the extra motivation to follow through was watching my mother suffer a slow and horrible death through the ravages of emphysema. Trust me, it is not a pretty sight.

I would highly recommend reading "The Easy way to Stop Smoking" by Allen Carr.

I became a non-smoker last June using Mr Carr's method and can honestly say that i NEVER fancy a cigarette and I didn't gain ANY weight when i stopped. Its a simple and easy way to stop and I know loads of people who've had success with it (some didn't even want to stop before they read it).

As a non-smoker I now feel stronger, fitter and leaner. Taking the decision to stop took me one step closer to making myself truly happy.

Sorry for sounding like a commercial. :o

Let me tell how addictive it is. When I joined the Army we weren't allowed to smoke in basic and that was a harsh way to quit :eek: . But after I arrived at advanced training after weeks of not smoking what was the first thing I did milling around the processing center? Went up to the vending machine and got a pack of smokes. I still smoke and yeah I will quit but I'm just not comitted to it now. The point is that I don't think you are ever free of cigarettes you are just in a continual state of recovery like with any other kind of drug addiction.

I think the only way to do it is cold turkey. I wish I would not have bought that pack of smokes and started again but what can I say? I'm a junkie and so is anyone else who smokes. For you guys quitting just take it one day at a time. Hopefully I'll get my shit together and quit soon enough but I got to get motivated to do it. Otherwise I'll just be pretending to quit. :rolleyes:

You could always try out Acupuncture.

Zybain worked for me. Either that or welbutrin... same thing just different name. The drug was originally marketed as an anti-depressant under the name welburtrin. People started to notice that people who were on Welbutrin were quiting smoking. So now they market Zybain as a anti-smoking drug (zybain is not covered under very many medical plans, welbutrin is... so get your doc to perscribe welbutrin0. Basically works like this... you start taking the drug and they tell you to continue to smoke for the first two weeks. After about 3 or 4 days cig's start to taste like crap... the little high you get from them is gone. After 2 weeks you drop the smokes... continue on the zybain for 2 - 3 months and then you stop. I noticed no one had mentioned it so I thought I would... I have stopped smoking several times... but now I have quit.

I am 28 and smoked during 15 years! :mad:
I have been exercising, mainly cardio the last few weeks...man what a difference! I can breath now!


I was a heavy smoker for many years - something that helped me was saying "I'm not a smoker". Define yourself as a non-smoker.

My buddy Mel had another approach (which, to me is gross). He got a pickle jar and save all his butts. When it was halfway full, he topped it off with water (just enough to cover it), and screwed the cap on. Whenever he had a bad craving, he would swish it around, open the cap and take a deep breath while thinking "this is the future of my lungs".

BTW, he had an easier time quitting than me....

Let me tell how addictive it is. I'm a junkie and so is anyone else who smokes.

It's true - ciggies are more addictive that almost anything. I used to say it would be easier to quit eating that to quit smoking.

But, you can get past it. I don't get cravings anymore. But it's up to you to get past it - and it's going to be hard.

Personally, I feel particularly accomplished as a ex-smoker. And when someone tells me that they quit, it raises my estimation of them.

You won't be sorry you quit.

First, check this chart out: http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Benefits_Time_Table.html

Wow! I'm amazed at how many people that are into fitness use to smoke, including MYSELF!! I'm 27 years old and started smoking when I was around 18. I was highly against smokers until my senior year in highschool when I started experimenting with the many evils teenagers fall trapped too....other drugs included. I was in very good shape because I played football and ran track. Anyways, I started smoking just during drinking alcohol which was a couple times a week and maybe only smoked about 5-10 cigs per week. Well, over the years, through college and up until this past year I had moved up to 2-2.5 packs of cigarettes per day. I stayed in really good physical shape up until about age 21-22, eventhough I smoked, when I finally started partying in college really hard and pretty much stopped working out.

I attempted to get back in shape through the years, but failed. I think the one thing that held me back was SMOKING. I smoked and would go to the gym and think I was doing good, but, WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? I smoked!!! Oxygen is vital for protein synthesis to occur which is needed for muscle growth. We don't get the oxygen we need when our lungs are full of tar! I was gonna attempt going to the gym again. I sat down one day to review some articles on bodybuilding.com and came across "smoking" articles, so I decided to check them out. I just become disgusted with myself for what I had been doing to my body by SMOKING. I was out of college and never partied anymore. I wasn't around friends who smoked, so I was just there wondering what the f**k I was smoking for?

I started doing "stop smoking" searches on google and came across this site: http://whyquit.com/ . THE whyquit.com SITE MADE ME STOP!! I had always thought that since I was young I could NEVER GET LUNG CANCER. Well, after doing some reading on that site I found this article (http://whyquit.com/whyquit/BryanLeeCurtis.html) . This article sealed the deal with me quitting. I ordered and bought this herbal stop smoking kit called 'smoked away'. It consisted of some pills and this aroma therapy stuff you put under your nose when you get cravings. Well, I quit on 8-5-03 and am still smoke free. I still occasionally think about cigarettes, but the benefits of not smoking heavily out weighs those of smoking. I basically quit cold turkey. I really don't think those herbs did anything to ease my cravings. I had a desire to quit and that's what ultimately made me quit. You have to want to do something before you can get into a mind set to do it. That article about the young guy getting lung cancer was enough to get me motivated. I only thought older people got lung cancer, and, boy, was I wrong.

If anyone can get through the first 72 hours, it starts getting easier. Once the body gets totally nicotine free is when the severe cravings get easier. Any normal craving has been proven to last only about 3 minutes which seems an eternity to some people. If you can learn to re-focus your attention on something else when you start getting a craving then it'll be easier to avoid the craving. If you can stay away from or learn to cope with "smoking triggers" which is what gives the urge to smoke then that will also help in the journey to quitting. I say to anyone to read the WHYQUIT.COM site I mentioned above. It has a great message board for total support and LOTS of good info and facts about smoking. Good luck to anyone trying to quit. It's a hard road to take, but once you get on the road, stay there because you will only come out a winner!:)