[Closed] Quitting smoking

That's a good point, I hate dentists. Never had a filling, but a scale and polish is enough to get my heart racing.

I think you have to reach some sort of tipping point that pushes you into the right mind-frame. Unfortunately i'm not quite there yet.

A number of years ago i thought i was on the right path - and if you don't really want to give up, but want to cut down and save some money it's worth a try - i was really hard on myself and clock-watched -

Nothing before 10

1 at 10

1 at 12

1 at 14

1 at 16

1 at 18

1 at 20

1 at 22

nothing after 22.

Good god you are fully aware of what time it is at any point of any day, but one found it doable.

I managed to knock the pre-pm one on the head to bring it down to six per day, and lived this way for approaching a year, then ****ed it up completely for reasons that aren't worth going into. I wish i'd just kept going with the above regime when i compare it with where i am now, but there you are.

I'm going to be a lot harder on myself next time, but i'm cutting myself a bit of slack now because the only realistic option for me next time is cold turkey.

I Have to agree with what others have said about you starting on the wrong foot. I tried to quit in a similar way, time after time, and failed

I’ve now not had a cig for coming on 4 years. After nearly 30 years of 20 a day.

i didn’t set a date. I got to the point where I genuinely said “**** it! I’m done with this shit!”. Until you reach that point, and you really mean it, you’re on a hiding to nothing. Doomed from the outset.

I got an e-cig and that did it for me. Still do the coffee and a fag thing in the morning,except it’s not a fag. Still do the fag after a meal thing. Except it’s not a fag. You get the picture

What I did do .... and you NEED to do this.... is put the money I would have been spending on fags into a pot and in well under a year I bought a rather nice Cannondale Trigger. So I’m going out riding on a lovely bit of kit that represents what I would have spent stood outside the pub in the rain

and i’m Now the very worst thing in the world. A born again non smoker. When someone comes back in after going out for a cig I think the smell is absolutely gopping! Really minging!

you’ll get there. Best of luck. It really is genuinely liberating

I haven’t read through the posts so im sure plenty of people have already recommended e cigs. Im 40 years old and have smoked since i was 12. Over the years i have tried everything from patches, gum, the alan carr book etc but the only thing that has actually worked for me is the e-cig. I have been smoke free now for 11 months. I enjoy the taste, still get my nicotine fix, it doesn’t smell, i dont cough up flem in the mornings any more and I haven’t had to break habits which was always the hardest part... i can still smoke after eating, when i drink etc. Ive no doubt that e-cigs come with there own health issues which im sure we will find out about in time but you can be sure that it’s nothing compared to the health risks that come with smoking tobacco! I hope you find something that works for you.

My Step Daughters boyfriend works for a E Cig company so I can get him to pick one up for me.

I really really want a Triban Rc500 road bike so by the 11th January I'd be able to buy one.  And after 35 weeks that's £1956 that's enough to pay holiday off and have some extra spends on holiday.

A Work colleague quit smoking last year and spent 6 months on a e cig and has now banished that and is happy.

My health will improve massively, my bank account will look healthier and my clothes won't stink.

And I'll be able to ditch the blood pressure tablets.

I'll get online and get a vape ordered. My Missus still smokes but she wants to give up also.

She has cut down massively, from 20-30 rollies a day to about 7. I'm on posh fags at £8 a pack.

If your OH still smokes it might make it difficult.

There are a few things which have been shown to improve your chances of quitting.  First off realise that most people are not successful the first time.  If that happens to you, don't let it discourage you from trying again.  Use the time between now and your quit date to figure out when you smoke, what makes you want to smoke and any events or setting s where you smoke more.  Figure out ways to deal with those situations.

If money is your motivator, 2 things have been shown to work.  1 take an amount of money, not enough to bankrupt you but enough to hurt.  That's your stake.  If you have a cigarette you lose it (pick a charity, give it to your mum, whatever) 2 get a jar.  Every time you go however long a pack would last you put the cost of a pack in the jar.  If you manage to stay quit for about 8 weeks - the common threshold for success, you get the stake and the jar. Enjoy whatever you buy with it.

Nicotine interferes with caffeine processing.  However much caffeine you take in now you'll want to cut it in half as you go off the nicotine.  After the 8 weeks or so you can gradually increase it back.

Nicotine affects you chemically and psychologically.  Willpower helps.  Nicotine is more chemically addictive than most hard drugs.  The replacement methods (patch etc) increase your odds of success by 50-70% by helping with the chemical side.

OP - good luck. Ive never smoked, hated it all my life so i know i cant really comment .. but it does sound like you need to just drop it all of a sudden.

my ex boss did this after years of smoking and he managed..friday he smoked sat he didnt. and he's lasted and now hates the things!

All the best, your health will love you for it!

I quit when they put those horrible pictures on the box. Not sure how long ago that was now ?

Stopped cold turkey and didn’t look back. One of my mates was really struggling to quit and pissing him off was my motivation.

Not sure I was addicted to be honest.

I know I need to quit, because it's making me gag in the morning, and when I got colds in the past they would be gone in 3-5 days. Now it's taking nearly three weeks get rid of the phlegm cough.

Honestly wish I'd never started, I despised it in my teens. I started because it wound my ex up, then progressed into social smoking, then into a full blown habbit in 2009.

Just don't want to quit and end up boozing again either.

I don't know if this helps, but I shall tell you how I did it in case it does.
It was a few years ago. Before e-cigs.

The main point is to decide to do it. No matter how many goes it takes.

It took me a few goes and about 6 months to do it, but I haven't had one since.

I was on 20 Camel a day. So I thought 'how hard can it be'?
So I cold turkied it.
That lasted about a week.
A month later had another go but with some patches, managed a couple of weeks.

By then I worked out that it wasn't as easy as I expected it to be.
So, I set a plan. It involved a few different aspects to be prepped.

I started to cut down while preparing. Even one less a day makes it slightly easier to give up.
I realised that the patches that were available were not as high in nicotine as I was consuming.
The habit is quite a thing. So I planned to not go to the pub for a fair while. Remove myself from those environments.

Then I started.
Changed my routine. So, for example, instead of getting up and having a ciggy, I did a few light weights. (This moved on to cycling to work)
Found stuff I enjoyed eating. To treat myself. Nice snacks are WAY cheaper than ciggies. I can always lose weight once stopped smoking. Also some nice fruit juices and squashes. Stock up on these beforehand. You need no excuses.
Doesn't matter if you spend more than you would smoking in the short term on things like patches snacks swimming etc, it is worth it in the end.
Set yourself a target (which you have already done) financially. It is a free bike. How cool is that?
I used to make an effort to make sure that I went and got cash out and lined it up on a shelf every day that I would have spent on smokes. You could set aside an account and transfer it across. But do it every day. It is quite a good one I found.

Then, I hit the patches, would go for walks to distract myself. Whatever you find to take your mind off it. Exercise, games, whatever. Then, in the early stages, when I was on the patches and the urge got HUGE, I would pop a nicotine mint as well.

So, things then had a progression. I found I needed the mints less and less, then I could reduce the dosage of the patch. The money was building up quickly and I was getting fitter (if a little tubbier).

OH, and I tricked my mind into thinking if I had a cigarette while wearing a patch, I would die.
🙂 Silly, but it helped. Then I made sure I ALWAYS had a patch on.

At the very beginning though, I decided that this was IT. Whatever it took, I needed to stop this stupid, stinky, unhealthy, expensive habit. So, when I failed the first time, it was a case of 'OK, how do I make this work?'

Think of yourself as a non smoker.

Warn your friends and family.

JUST DO IT!!!!

You will be SO pleased when you have done it.
Then never ever ever have another one.
I hear so many people fail because of that.

I think my last one was about 18 years ago.

I wish you well.

Still cold turkey since Mid-late October. Just promised self to stopped buying it, near-empty baccy-pouch, worked out I smoked last one or two after a bike ride to pub, then quit. Didn't want to set a 'date'because even that seemed like handing too much significance to the filthy gaspers.