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Giving up smoking

edited August 2012 in Not Sports Related
Being in the navy you are highly encouraged to give up smoking and constantly tagged, i.e : Dirty tabber etc..
So i have taken it on myself to give up and have done for the past 5 days using electric cigarettes which so far i have found a good way to give up and push through the two week barrier.

What are other lifers experiences with giving up smoking and what did you use, also how hard was it for you?

Comments

  • edited August 2012
    Interesting, good luck with it. I hope you can kick the habit. There was a smoking thread or two on here, if you want to read what people have said in the past. I had a colleague who used the electronic vapour cigarette and he seemed to love it (and especially smoking in "inappropriate" places, like an aircraft. He was a confrontational bar steward at the best of times, so I think he relished being able to wind people up and tell them it's harmless vapour and not smoke etc. when they confronted him or gave him funny looks.
  • Well done to you Crazy.

    No real experience really. I'd only smoked for a week or two as a kid when I gave up, so it it was easy as I had no habit to break. I offered my mate a fag and he said, "no thanks, I've given up". At that tender age giving up seemed a very grown up thing to do. Being as I only smoked because I wanted to act like an adult, giving up was taking playing at being an adult to a whole new level. I never touched a fag again. My mate on the other hand took it up again the following week and hasn't stopped since.
  • Started smoking when i was 15 and by the time i gave up i was on 40 a day. I was that bad i used to wake up in the middle of the night to have a fag. I gave up on my 30th birthday ( 13 years ago ) .
    Every time i got a cold i had the cough for 2 months so i was desperate to give up. I didn't use anything just sheer will power .
    Only Downside is that i'm 2 stone heavier but that's probably more down to hitting 40 than giving up.
    Funny thing is that i quite often dream that im still smoking . Can't stand the things now when i'm not asleep.
  • Good choice , hopefully it will work , to be honest the best way is just to look at all the horrible pictures of smoking affects , puts people right off, using Nicorette patches also helps
  • Gave up about a year ago, didn't use anything just really wanted to quit. You will only succeed in giving up if it is what you want not anyone else
  • Here you go; let the Charlton Athletic Community Trust help you to quit:

    http://www.cact.org.uk/community/education-and-health/kick-the-habit/

    Good luck.
  • Good luck with this, it WILL be the best thing you have ever done.....I smoked from aged 14 (1969) till I gave up in 2001....got towards 40 a day....then whilst on holiday in Greece sitting around a pool bar Mrs RM lit up a fag....took a couple of drags and then put it out saying and I quote, "that's it never gonna smoke again" in front of about a group of 10 friends....she never touched a fag again....1 month later she told me I smelt of stale fag smoke......and smelt horrible.....and on hearing that I also gave up....neither of us have touched one since.......I think the point I'm trying to make is that if the time is right....you don't need artificial aids, its a state of mind. I'm not pretending it was easy....but then that's half the challenge....I set myself goals...such as "I'll have a fag at 10 am" and when it got to 10 am I didn't have one but set myself a new goal ...."I'll have a fag at midday"......so on and so forth.....it took about 2 weeks to come away from the 'goals'.....like I said I never smoked since and its all about WANTING to give up....believe me if you really WANT to then don't be surprised what you can do, your body will help. I wish you well my friend...no longer the slave to fags....good luck!!
  • Used to smoke 60 a day. I tried everything, I'd be chewing nicotine gum and smoking at the same time. I even tried hypnosis, nothing worked. I finally decided that I wanted to quit more than I wanted to smoke, that was the key, I just stopped cold. That was 24 years ago. Now when people who smoke walk past me on the street, I can smell the awful smell on them. If I'd realised how bad I must have smelt I'd have quit much sooner.
    The key is "YOU HAVE TO WANT TO QUIT MORE THAN YOU WANT TO SMOKE".
    I wish you luck, if you succed you WILL put on weight, but so will your wallet.
  • limeygent said:

    Used to smoke 60 a day. I tried everything, I'd be chewing nicotine gum and smoking at the same time. I even tried hypnosis, nothing worked. I finally decided that I wanted to quit more than I wanted to smoke, that was the key, I just stopped cold. That was 24 years ago. Now when people who smoke walk past me on the street, I can smell the awful smell on them. If I'd realised how bad I must have smelt I'd have quit much sooner.
    The key is "YOU HAVE TO WANT TO QUIT MORE THAN YOU WANT TO SMOKE".
    I wish you luck, if you succed you WILL put on weight, but so will your wallet.

    The beauty of giving up now is i will be training for 17 weeks after september in the navy so the chances of me gaining weight are 0 this is why its such a good time it is now. The reason why i am giving up is i could be so much more fitter and it hit me in football the other day i couldn't carry on because of my chest got far to heavy. Which for me is so upsetting as i never have given up prior to that moment.

  • I gave up on 28th August 1994 after being a 20 a day man since I was 20 years old. (1 was 35 in 1994).

    As others have said you have to want to give up more than you want to smoke.

    The craving intervals became longer and longer until after a few weeks, I could go through most of the day without a craving.

    To me though the key is never to acknowledge that you have quit. I did manage to stop smoking a few years before for about three months only to let my guard down by telling myself and those around me that I had quit and kicked the habit. I remember being offered a cigar and thinking "no problem because I have quit cigarettes". I started smoking them again soon after. Now I say to myself that I am still a smoker but I have chosen not to smoke for my health and my family. I get a craving now every four or five years. It last for a few seconds.

    Keep it up. They didn't have the quit smoking aids when I did it. If I can do it, anyone can.

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  • edited August 2012
    Gave up 20th Sept 2010.
    When I found out I was going to be a Dad, I knew this would be the right time to kick the filthy habit.
    Had a great last night with the cigs in an airport hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where you can smoke anywhere.
    Then the next morning, that was it.
    Read the Alan Carr book (Easyway to stop smoking).
    He actually encourages you to smoke, while you read the book.
    Was fairly easy in the beginning, but was always going to struggle, if drinks were involved.
    Had acupuncture to try and treat my hay fever. Didn't really help a lot, but it did totally remove my cravings for cigarettes.
    'That' feeling in your tummy, when you want a fag just disappeared from one day to another.
    No more trouble breathing. Also, my tastebuds and sense of smelling has improved a lot.
    Exercise much easier too.
    More money in my wallet.
    Best thing I've ever done (apart from choosing to support Charlton, when I moved to London in 1999).
  • I just found myself gradually stopping , there are still rare occasions when I might have a drink and smoke one or two but I always feel dreadful both physically and in terms of conscience when I do this.

    I firmly believe that you are more likely to go back to smoking if you use the patches and the like instead of just giving up off your own steam.

    It's a dirty disgusting thing to do , why would you want to out smoke into your lungs , sooner it's banned altogether the better
  • In my experience; I gave up 3 years ago, my husband nearly 2 years ago, my mum, my dad and a few other people. People that give up on their own (no no-smoking aids) generally do better. I can name loads of people that have giving up 'lots' of times using patches or gum, or other aids. Problem with them is they are still having nicotine and often find the aids more expensive than the cigarettes so go back, or they find it hard to get off the aids because their body still hasn't gone without nicotine. I don't know much about the electric cigarette personally but I can imagine that while patches etc help your cravings that helps the 'habit'. I found the habit much harder to fight than the addiction but I think If I had help I would have probably started again because I wouldn't have got over it properly.

    3 days is all it takes to get evry trace of nicotine out of your body, then you have 2 weeks of fighting cravings before your breathing and your heart regulates to that of a non-smoker. From that point on it gets a lot easier. It does take years for all accects of smoking to leave your body but it is worth it.

    So basically anyone who really wants to quit should do it alone, all those no-smoking aids are just money making schemes, I read in a hospital that 80% of people that quit with nicotine aids will start again within 3 years and 80% of people that quit using just will power will never start again.

    Good Luck Crazy, I hope you don't get too attacthed to the electric cigarette though.
  • I dabbled at school only the odd one here and there but got stuck in to them when I left the school and started work.Everyone smoked and I wanted to fit in.Snag was before I knew it I was doing 30-40 a day and more if I was on the pop.By my mid twenties I wanted to stop and was managing to stop for maybe a week or so but as soon as I was in a pub Id have a cigar or a few smokes but only in the pub.I realised this wasn't working when I was queued up out side my local at 11am for a beer so I could have a smoke! This pattern was repeating its self until a drink was involved.What I did to stop was use high strength patches and I went to the pub on the first day when patches were new and my will power was at its maximum.I stayed in the pub from opening time and staggered up the road about 9pm absolutely pissed but with out smoking.So I had beaten the previous stumbling block.I used the patches fore a few more days then only on pub trips for a few weeks and I haven't smoked since.Gave up in Jan 1993 so nearly 20 years.I worked off the excess aggression shifting weights in the local gym.Only snag was it took a good six months until I didn't want to smack people for little or no reason!!!I did just about manage to control myself however!!!!
  • Funnily enough id never even smoked until I went to Australia. The fact that you could have a break from work to have a 'smoko' pretty much when ever you wanted... meant I was smoking within a month of arriving.
  • So to bunk off work for a few more minutes every day you suck on Cancer Sticks, a habit you only took up to avoid working?

    Can't say I really understand that logic personally.
  • So to bunk off work for a few more minutes every day you suck on Cancer Sticks, a habit you only took up to avoid working?

    Can't say I really understand that logic personally.

    Unless he had a job as a fluffer for the local porn industry................................................. :-D
  • I don't want to sound sexist Tango, but the words 'he' and 'fluffer' shouldn't appear in the same sentence as far as I'm concerned. ;-)
  • After 25 years of smoking a pack a day, I switched ton electronic cigs 15 months ago. Cheaper, tastes nicer, no health issues, doesn't smell. Will never go back to cigs. Can even smoke at the valley without bothering anyone.
  • I only smoke after sex. Really easy for me to give up ;-)
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  • Smoked on and off from 16 to about 28 I think
    Went cold turkey - not easy but after 8 years it has most definately worked for me - family and friends might have noticed me being a bit of a nightmare but I honestly don't remember it being that bad.

    If you try doing the patches then I would imagine you'll then need to wean your way off those too which will lengthen the process even more.

    It was always easier to give up the first morning & last evening type cigs but my stumbling block whenever I unsuccessfully tried to quit was the social cigs - in pubs etc - guess that is now much easier though.
  • Carter said:

    I only smoke after sex. Really easy for me to give up ;-)

    Do you smoke after sex?

    Dunno....I've never looked.

  • Im 30 and smoked everyday since I was 14, ts been 7 days now since I last smoked. Its definitely getting easier and my breathing already feels better. It probably seems like a stupid thing to say, but I felt immortal upto maybe 28 and all of a sudden realized that I wasn't actually going to live for ever.
  • edited December 2013
    ^^^ good luck with this @shine166 ... not only will you be healthier, given the current tobacco prices, you'll be a lot better off financially .. keep it up
  • shine166 said:

    Im 30 and smoked everyday since I was 14, ts been 7 days now since I last smoked. Its definitely getting easier and my breathing already feels better. It probably seems like a stupid thing to say, but I felt immortal upto maybe 28 and all of a sudden realized that I wasn't actually going to live for ever.

    Good luck mate! I'm up to day 29 without now - about the 15th time I've tried to give up but never made it this long before. Have to say I'm not missing it that much, except for the odd passing craving. Nice not having to spend half of any evening out standing outside in the wind and rain.
  • Keep sticking the money away you would have spent on ciggies, and treat yourself. It's all in the mind, and once you've conquered it you can appreciate how easy it was.
  • Good luck to both of you.
  • MrLargo said:

    shine166 said:

    Im 30 and smoked everyday since I was 14, ts been 7 days now since I last smoked. Its definitely getting easier and my breathing already feels better. It probably seems like a stupid thing to say, but I felt immortal upto maybe 28 and all of a sudden realized that I wasn't actually going to live for ever.

    Good luck mate! I'm up to day 29 without now - about the 15th time I've tried to give up but never made it this long before. Have to say I'm not missing it that much, except for the odd passing craving. Nice not having to spend half of any evening out standing outside in the wind and rain.

    Cheers dude, you too !. Ive thought about quitting before but never tried.. have to admit that the cold weather has definitely helped so far.
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