Quitting smoking unaided.

No patches, courses, self-help type books etc etc

It’s been a month now and I was fine until last night when massive cravings kicked in over a few cans of cider in a sunny garden (I didn’t buy any, but it was the first time that I felt as if I was on the verge of giving in).

I am eating a lot more chocolate, but am compensating for that by exercising more, which in turn is getting easier due to knocking the fags on the head.

Has anyone here achieved lasting success through the ‘just stopping’ method or am I destined to end up back on the fags AND fat too?!

I used gum for a couple of weeks.

Tried smoking again at the weekend… bloody disgusting. I’m cured.

Good Luck! 🙂

Gave up 7yrs ago for wedding. 30 a day to 0, cold turkey using Alan carrs (sp) book

I just stopped 14 years ago, I wanted to stop spending money on them and thought it was a pretty manky habit anyway. It seems to be working out OK.

I don’t get cravings as such, but I know if I had one I’d like it so I’ll never be one of these occasional smokers.

Went cold turkey last September, first 3 weeks were tough but not had a craving since. I’ve been tempted a few times when having a drink but nothing a quick word with myself didn’t sort. Biggest help to me was having the right kind of people around.
Good luck with it, my fitness and recovery improved massively despite eating like a horse.

Used the Lozenges for a few days but didn’t see the point in using them so stopped and have now been fag free for 19 months. Still get cravings though. 😕

Allen Carrs book is worth reading if you’re finding it hard.

It does get easier…

I only smoked when i had a beer, I ended up on 10 pints a night to justify the fags!! 😀 Stopped just like that, had a few weeks craving after stopping with a beer on the go, but now doesn’t bother me in the slightest… also £6 a packet of 20 FFS!!!

I used a hug ted

Whenever I needed a fag I would tell my teddy friend and he would give me a big big hug. It worked so well I take him everywhere now and he is always there to listen and give me a hug. He has been especially supported when I’ve been turned down at job interviews and double so when my wife left.

Closer to £7 now!

Have heard good things about that Allen Carr book…will check it out.

If you have an addictive personality, you’ll need another addiction..

Triathlons seem pretty all consuming.

Friday the 13th October 2006 had my last smoke and haven’t had one since. Found it easier than i thought i would to be honest. Still get the craving now and again, but it only lasts a few seconds. Feel a bit stupid when everyone goes out the pub for a fag and i’m left at the bar like Billy Nomates. Nice to ride up hills without your heart and lungs trying to burst out your chest.

LOL @ Roper

I managed a few weeks at the beginning of the year and have fallen back into it. Yesterday stopped again. But a new addiction you say TSY? Could be fun, I’d best choose wisely.

I just stopped about 15 years ago. For the first year I’d occasionally give in and have a sneaky fag, and once or twice since I’ve had a real desire to smoke. Buying a packet of 20 and chain-smoking them has tended to cure me of any desire to smoke for at least the next 5 years.

No book, patches, or self-help groups.

Have heard good things about that Allen Carr book…will check it out.

Got to be worth a go and seems to make more sense to buy something you can read over something you’ll just burn! You’ve got nothing to lose by buying it.

only ever smoked herbal cigs 😉 but fairly consistently at least 1 a day for 10 yrs anyway once the Missus was preggers was out in the garden and once Jr was here I stopped overnight still cravings with a beer but having a baby I just don’t have the time

6 years ago to the month, unaided after 15+ years. Found it surprisingly easy after making the commitment to give up weed at the same time.

Beer gardens in the summer bought all kinds of nice smelling temptations after a pint or few, but I stuck to my guns and got through it.

Not too difficult if you really want it.

Whippersnapper…

Don’t choose STW.. there are some dark hours on this place.

Can’t offer any help, but good luck with giving up the evil weed!

I went cold turkey too, didn’t bother with patches, books, gum, tapes etc.

If you’ve already done a week then you’re almost in the clear already.

I must have been “clean” for about eight years now. It doesn’t take long for smoking to just become somethign that other people do.

Yeti, I have been here far too long. This place is ingrained on the back of my eyelids. Smoking gives, sorry gave, me something else to do 😕

I read the Allan Carr book and went cold turkey nearly 4 years ago.Feel a lot better for it.

i gave up when i met my gf she is a lung cancer specialist nurse

off them for 10 years now althoughu =i have got a couple of king edwards hiding in my fishing bag 😉

If you have an addictive personality, are weak willed, you’ll need another addiction.

FTFY

Gave up with no help 4 years ago, just when my job changed so that all there was to do whilst on-shift was drink tea and smoke tabs. I think it helped that the public place cigarette ban came into force in Scotland around the same time. My tea intake has increased exponentially, but now I very rarely get the nicotine cravings. I might have a cigarette maybe twice a year now, and each time I do it reminds me why I stopped. Keep it up OP, it’ll get easier.

Wife got me the Allan Carr book about 6 years ago and I realy didn’t feel like stopping smoking at the time, so first book went missing second book got chewed up by the dog when the third book turned up I thought ffs just read the damn book as it Say’s not to stop smoking while reading it !!! So use to read it when I went out for a smoke, last chapter says something along the lines of now smoke your last cigarette and enjoy the rest of your smoke free life and so I had a smoke put the book and the remaining ciggies on the shelf went to bed and I’ve never had a ciggy since !!!!!! I still have the packet of ciggies with 16 left in the pack !!!! Don’t know how or why the book works but it was the best money the wife has ever spent tbh, worst thing about stopping was that I didn’t do it years ago ! Oh and notice I never call it “giving up” because because trust me your not giving anything up, your gaining loads ! 😀

I quit 3 years ago only thing I did was read the Allan Carr book.

trust me your not giving anything up, your gaining loads !

So true.

🙂

I used NRT for 6 months. Now 18 months smoke free. The Allan Carr book just irritated me and made me want to punch his face in. Load of bolloxs psychobabble.

I still get bad cravings now

Been off them just over two weeks, after 3 days i felt fine apart from feeling angry a lot more than i usually do.

Have found that i want to cycle more for some reason but that may be down to trying to keep my mind occupied

Load of bolloxs psychobabble.

testimony above, and my own experience, suggests otherwise. you may not have liked the way it was written, but you can’t dismiss it, as the evidence says that it’s worked for a great number of people.

Psychobabble, yes.
But you have to suspend your cynicism to get the best out if the book. Doesn’t. Surprise me that someone who has a tendency to always think hes right had trouble working with the psychology of the Carr book.

but you can’t dismiss it

Have you met TJ before? 🙂

In fact I think tj’s post rather neatly illustrates his “unique” character nicely.

All it shows is different things work for different people. I found it impossible to suspend my cynicism about his methods so it didn’t work for me. Just a load of irritating twaddle. Loads of STUFF IN CAPITALS! And stock self help phrases.

Gave up for 5 years or thereabouts until I found myself sat outside a bar in Santiago de Chile a couple of years ago and couldn’t help myself. Smoked on and off since then, at the moment I give up at weekends and when I run out in the week. Seem to spend a lot of time angry for some reason 🙂

Filthy habit but there you go. As soon as I get my arse into gear and start training properly again I’ll knock it on the head when I realise I can’t breathe.

OP – in my experience it doesn’t matter what method you use, if you don’t REALLY WANT to quit you won’t. Trying to force yourself to quit for anything other than purely selfish reasons will result in torture and a wife that hates you 🙂

Has anyone here achieved lasting success through the ‘just stopping’ method … ?

Yes, me. Six years and counting, from ~20-a-day. No NRT, no pharmaceuticals, no Allen Carr, no hypnotherapy, nuffink. You need to be really, really bloody minded and stubborn. Promise yourself rewards (you’re saving the cost of a very shiny new bike every year, after all), and feel as smug as you like for doing it the hard way. It can be done. Stick with it. Good luck.

TJ – agree completely. I read Alan Carr’s book and it just made me want to smoke even more to prove what a load of tosh it was. He makes some good points about the brainwashing we receive from a very early age, but on the whole IMO it is psychobabble in the extreme.

sorry, forgot who i was talking to for a minute. 🙄
allen carr’s book works for a lot of people. the data shows that it does. if you didn’t read it all the way through….
well. it didn’t work for my sister, or rather, i think she read it, but couldn’t stay on the wagon. as you say. different things work for different people, and i will certainly agree on that.