Good luck giving up.
Why not work out how much money you will save in the next year and think about what you want to spend it on? 
Nitpick: cilia, not scylla. Scylla was the one who wasn’t Charybdis. I’ve been just over two months without a smoke, with the help of patches. I also quit drinking so as to avoid the tempation that comes after you’ve had a couple, so I may be the only guy who’s quitting smoking and losing weight.
When I quit smoking, I noticed my sense of smell had improved when my cat meowed in my face and her breath smelled like rotten catfood. bleargh!! Before then, her breath never smelled bad, or so I thought. Sometimes regaining your sense of smell is not a good thing.
It’s been 4 years since I quit and I don’t wheeze in my sleep anymore, have coughing fits when I laugh hard, spit up gross phlegm balls in the sink, breath heavily after going up the stairs at work and I smell good.
You might have heard that for a long time, but we’ve been smelling your stinky asses longer.
Spot on. The real key to quitting smoking it is being ready to quit. Really, really ready. That’s why so many people fall back into the habit, they just weren’t ready. I was, and that’s why I did quit, but before that I was a radical smoker who at one level enjoyed it if I was annoying these “prissy non-smoking do-gooders.” Once I decided it was time, I was motivated. Wasn’t it Ed Meese who called nicotine a stronger addiction than cocaine?
I was addicted by the age of fourteen and I didn’t quit until I was in my mid-fifties. I had constant sinus problems and by constant I mean they never stopped. I had upper respiratory infections one after another; if someone three counties away had a cold, I’d catch it. I went through three surgeries for oral cancer that was ‘probably’ caused by smoking before the light switch clicked on. When I stopped smoking, the sinus problems were gone within a week and I didn’t have a cold for a long time and haven’t had but a few since. I’ve now had the fourth oral cancer surgery and I suppose I will live the rest of my life knowing there is a good chance that the cancer will return.
Oral cancer surgery is NOT a pleasant experience, especially when it involves taking large chunks out of your tongue. You really should try to spare yourself that experience.
You’re probably right. I gave in and had one last night, today went much better. The desire to commit homicide was greatly reduced. I’m not sure I’m ready to throw in the towel and go back to smoking though, we’ll see.
To be honest, I’m not sure I’ll EVER really want to quit. I greatly enjoy it. Working in health insurance, I know all the health reasons to stop but I don’t know if that’s enough. I’ll see how tonight goes.
When you get to have sex with me - my bed is a “non-smokers only” zone.
But seriously, keep at it, and you’re doing really well! As you say the rewards are in fact not being a smoker, for the huge list of health benefits that you are well aware of.
I have no advice, but wanted to wish you luck and continued success!
Myself, I was quite sure I would NEVER want to quit. Absoultely convinced of it. I planned on being a lifelong smoker, and to hell with those stupid non-smoking know-it-alls. Believe me, you’ll quit if there ever does come a time you’ll want to.
What persuaded me most was a course in epidemiology that I took, in which the prof said the really irreversible damage occured after 20 pack years. A pack year is based on smoking one pack a day for a year; so if you smoke, say, two packs a day in a year, that’s two pack years. Etc. I figured I was pretty darned close to 20 pack years. Plus I’d just taken up with the girl who is now Mrs. Siam Sam, and she didn’t like the smell. The combination of the two had a tsunami effect, sweeping my smoking away almost overnight.
Acquiring a new hobby that you can’t do if you smoke is a really good motivator to quit. Examples are hiking, triathlon, mountain biking, and having sex with a really hot girl who doesn’t like cigarettes. These were my deal-makers.
going to the gym is helping, I’m channeling my desire to smoke and stabby feelings into exercise. I do have to admit that I broke down and am having a pack this weekend but plan on going back to quitting Monday.
That’ll never work in a million years. Everybody is different of course-- there’s probably some guy out there who quit by standing on his head drinking chamomile margaritas and reciting the Bhagadva Gita on St. Anselm’s Day, but I’m convinced that the only way to quit, and be truly be rid of the habit, and be happy about it, is to read Allan Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking. It adjusts your whole attitude toward the situation, which it sounds like you sorely need (ref. multiple references to being “stabby”.) Pick it up when you’re ready.
I quit smoking in July after 20-something years with a pack-a-day habit. It has been incredibly easy for me and I don’t crave cigarettes at all at this point, and I can even go to the casino where everyone is smoking right in your face and it doesn’t tempt me at all. I have ZERO desire to smoke. Most of it I can thank Alan Carr’s book, The Easy Way To Quit Smoking, or something like that- it completely changed my thinking about smoking, and replaced positive thoughts about smoking and cigarettes to negative and realistic thoughts. Plus I took Chantix, which worked for me because you can’t get any effect from smoking while you’re taking it, and I’m too cheap to throw away six bucks on nothing, and too proud to go around the neighborhood and work trying to bum them from people. Plus I took Xanax to rid myself of the feelings of murderous rage caused by the Chantix. I quit the Chantix early with no problems.
Life not smoking is so much better. A better sense of smell and taste is nothing compared to the other benefits- but I did appreciate better of both. A little too much- I gained 10 pounds, but now am in the process of losing 40. I smell good all day long. I don’t have to hide and feel defensive while smoking in public. I can laugh unexpectedly without a rattling noise coming out first. I use to live paycheck to paycheck to pay for cigarettes- now it’s rare for my account to fall below a few hundred. My clothes, car, and home smell good and normal now. I don’t have to stand out in the cold and rain in order to hurt myself. Life is sweet when you don’t smoke.
Please, please stop smoking in any way you possibly can. Good luck, and I’d be happy to be part of your support system- they come in handy.
Oh, yeah- the biggest key to quitting smoking is to make a commitment that you will never smoke again. Not just one here and there, not just on the weekends, not just when you’re drinking- NEVER. Ever. Make it not a choice- know that you just can’t, just like you just can’t flap your wings and fly.
By the way, I gained maybe 25lbs when I quit but I was underweight so everybody kept telling me how good I looked all of a sudden. It’s expected to gain weight, but quitting cigarettes is not going to make you gain weight if you’re dieting and exercising :dubious:. They’re not some magical fat-melting device or anything. The reason you gain is because you suddenly want to eat everything in sight; cigarettes are an appetite suppresant. And no cite for this but I think part of it is statistical, too: a lot of us quit between our mid-20s to mid-30s - a time when most people’s metabolism slows and they gain weight anyway.
“It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it hundreds of times.” ~ Mark Twain
I wonder about this. My husband quit smoking some years ago, didn’t smoke for a couple of years, and grew a gut. He’s a skinny guy. So he was a skinny guy–with a gut. Then we visited my mother and the experience caused him to start smoking again, and the gut melted away.
Ten years ago he quit for good. And again, the gut. He has always been the kind of guy who eats everything on his plate, and that didn’t change. It didn’t look like he was putting more on his plate. But now he’s a skinny guy who looks like he’s 9 months pregnant. He doesn’t get a lot of exercise, but he didn’t before, either.
I actually lost weight when I quit because I was too depressed to eat. And food tasted different. Not better, either.
I did not gain weight when I quit smoking. Of course, I was living in Hawaii at the time and was pretty active. Not many shut-ins in Hawaii, you’re just naturally out and about.
I haven’t noticed any significant health improvement in 6 years.
My clothing and breath smell better, though.
I noticed my sense of smell improving dramatically after 2-3 days; cigarettes really smelled wonderful, especially when I was at a stoplight and I could smell someone smoking in a nearby car. I smoked nearly 2 packs per day for about 10 years and it took me 3 weeks before the cravings stopped completely though. Today is actually my 1 year anniversary.