[gorgon_123]

the weight thing has me a bit worried. i've already gained 30 pounds in the past 3 years. (from 170 to 200 pounds - i'm an even 6 feet tall.) my sister is trying to get me into running. it's a whole weird subculture, full of people who take it way too seriously and .. uhhm. nevermind

i like Hirch's comments:

"I'm not going to say good luck, that's not what you'll need. Determination, persistence, and sheer bullheadedness are more important. "

sheer bullheadedness is The Name of the Game for sure. tonight after work I cracked and bummed a smoke off some guy on the way home. I didn't have a light which gave me time to reconsider and it took an act of god to get me to chuck the smoke into a sewer but i DID IT. felt damn good. now i can't sleep and i feel like a damn fool.

my mother says the hardest part for her when she quit smoking was the fact that she enjoyed smoking so much. She claims that when she is old and grey and 85 years old she's taking it up again. in anycase i agree with her, smoking is a wonderful hobby. It punctuates your day. example:

Wake up. Smoke. Eat, shower, get dressed. Smoke. Check email while smoking. Go to class. smoke between each class. etc etc etc.

something life affirming about having a puff between the various activities in the day. clears the head, relaxes the mind, gives one a chance to gain a little perspective on what's coming up and what just happened. and social smoking! don't get me started. smokers are MORE FUN, MORE SOCIABLE than non-smokers. i swear it's true.

okay.. i'm ranting.

sorry.

</rant>

 

[gaineso]

Patches helped me a lot. I only used them for a month and I used Eckerds store brand but they really did help.

After 2 weeks, I started cutting them in half and that seemed to be okay. I quit using them after a month and seemed to be all right, althogh, when I'd get stressed, somehow I didn't want a smoke, I wanted a patch. Transferring addictions I guess.

I had tried Nicorette gum once and stayed off cigarettes for abou 6 months, but I was so addicted to the gum it was costing me a fortune. It was still prescription then. The thing about the gum, if you chew it like regular gum, you get a hell of a rush. It's almost drug like and it's about as addictive. After all, nicotine is an addictive drug.

Hang in -- One Day At A Time.

One Minute At A Time if that's what it takes

I agree that luck has nothing to do with it. Tolerant friends, co-workers, bosses and SO's help. Mostly though, it's this is what I want for me!!!

Hang on

 

[JMT]

Unfortunately, I am addicted to that nasty habit. Have been since I was 16. The funny thing is that I can't smoke in my house, will not smoke in my car, can't smoke in the office (when I am there), and am embarassed by the fact that I am a smoker. You would think that all of that would make it a tad easier to become a non-smoker.

However....I do not drink alcohol.

Good luck gorgon_123, may you find some strength with this community's support.

 

[Onix]

Quote:

Originally posted by chadbang Aiotron's comment about trying to quit was very interesting. QUOTE: "The #1 thing to remember is that even if you relapse once after quiting for months the urge will be back at 80% strength... If you relapse within a week of that relapse the urge will be almost full power again.

That's so true. I am 33. I stoped drinking at party animal-go blind levels when I was 26. Stopped smoking pot when I was 30. Haven't smoked, except a two or three pufs with friends, like every three months or so, since March 2000. And I haven't drink a Coke in a week. And believe me, what I miss the most are both cigarrettes and Coke. But as soon as I get a puff, I don't really like the taste anymore and forget about tobacco for another trimester. On the other hand, rigth now I would kill my cat for a Coke.

PIECE OF ADVICE: Before I became the human hog I am now (since I got married, my body fat swolled to non-human levels. Well, perhaps I just have a gut now) I was doing pretty good at the gym. One of the first things you don't want to do when you go to the gym is smoke a cigarrete. Give it a try.

PIECE OF ADVICE NUMBER TWO: If you really feel like you need a nicotine fix get a cigar, like a White Owl or Blunt. Give it a few puffs (remember, it's a cigar, so do not inhale) and then turn it off. You can carry it around or keep it in the fridge.

Another solution is to go and get a nicotine patch or nicotine gum, but only if you are a wuss and your adiction is killing you (just kidding).

Keep the good effort Gorgon and forget about those nasty vices. WE ARE BEHIND YOU DUDE.

 

[Onix]

Quote:

Originally posted by rickcr42 But hey,gotta die of something.Would really suck to go on a health kick,quit smoking,eat the right foods,workout,take up jogging then ............. [size=medium]WHAMMO !!!!!!![/size] "New Fairfield man hit by schoolbus while jogging,family mourns" (national guard called out to quell riot)

Hell Rick, I'll rather die of too much sex and Batman cartoons. But that's true. If you are going to die, you are going to die, no mater what. My wife's grandpa is like 83 years old and he still smokes, and for some reason I think that if he decides to quit smoking he will be a goner as soon as his lungs open back again and he gets his first wiff of (semi)pure air in decades. That's why is better to quit whatever adiction you have when you are young. That way your body adapts better to the change and can take the most advantages from it.

 

[gaineso]

I probaly shouldn't say this, but I'm in AA, 11 years, and believe me, quiting smoking was a lot worse than quitting drinking.

Use whatever help you can find, and just do it one day at a time..

 

[gorgon_123]

interesting that you brought up AA. I know a few people in AA and they are the heaviest smokers i've encountered by far - i'm talking 2-3 packs a day. chain smoking, literally, all day long.

replacing addictions.

anyway... i'm still smokeless right now, at the end of Day 5. woohoo for me

 

[dngl]

congrats! i hear first week is the hardest, you're almost there!

 

[gorgon_123]

~12 more hours and i'll be smoke free for 7 days. Last night was the toughest so far - went to the hockey game and hit ye olde smokee bar afterwards. but i managed to not light up. Got home around 3am, called my girlfriend so she could offer me some praise

pretty geeky i know... thank god she was awake or else i would have gotten a lashing... hehe! anyway! i almost have that first week behind me!

 

[legoman]

Congrats and good luck for the next weeks! Two things

1) Don't forget to paypal me 50% of the money you save by not smoking

2) If you want to make the running thing work, the things that made it work for me (an anti-runner for decades) were a) go slow so it feels effortless, even if you feel stupid and b) sign up for a charity 5k sometime in the future; while i am a fairly slow runner the thought of finishing behind ALL (as opposed to some or most) the old ladies or having to stop running and walk halfway through the 5K keeps me going to the gymn and at least run 2-3 miles three times a week.

Legoman

 

[redshifter]

good for you, gorgon!

i smoked for 10 years and was only able to quit completely using this method:

take the points in the day you smoke:
1) wake up cig
2) cig with coffee
3) break cig
4) after lunch cig
5) after dinner cig
6) after sex cig

start with the easiest (ha), say your 2nd break cig. go for a week without having a cig on your 2nd break, but continue smoking at the other times. next week cut out your after lunch cig, etc. you can continue smoking any other time, as long as it is not one of your ritual cigs that you have already cut out.

smoking gets wrapped up in your daily life and i found these are the hardest but also the key to quitting. once you have weaned yourself off these "daily cigs" you can work on the incidental smoking. keep at it, you will feel soooo much better after you quit 100%.

 

[mbriant]

I quit just today. In 4 1/2 more hours it will be a full day. Unfortunately this is the 7th or 8th time I've tried to quit this year. But you have to keep trying. Yup. Yup. Yup.

 

[gaineso]

Quote:

1) Don't forget to paypal me 50% of the money you save by not smoking

I've been quit now for 1 year, 11 months, 4 days and 13 hours, but who's counting?

I'm still trying to figure out where the money is.

2 packs a day @ approx. $2.00 = $4.00 per day.

704 days times $4.00 per day = $2816.00

I'l be damned if I've had any extra money. Maybe we're eating out more. Eating more anyway.

When I quit drinking, there should have been $140.00 a week extra.

I'm still waiting to find that money too.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

I quit smoking for the 423rd time on Halloween 1997... and it worked. I haven't had a single puff since. What made the difference after 422 times of failure? I found the Achilles Heel of the smoking cycle...


(drum roll)



----------******* Your hands *******-----------



(bada bap tah daaaaahhhhh!)


Your hands are the weakest link. Sounds simple, but it isn't.

Cigarettes are a complicated addiction... multiple desires are intertwined within it and a TON of powerful physiological hooks usually beat your will to a pulp. It's a tough game... like chess... except the rules keep changing... so play to win:

Attack the weakness, and ONLY the weakness.

Make a pact with yourself to NOT TOUCH THEM. Hang around your smoker friends all you want, inhale tons of secondhand smoke, paw the Marlboro Man ads in the paper, write long poems about how wonderful it is to smoke, draw pictures of cigarettes with wings flying through the sky, slobber, sniff the pack, want the hell out of them, tell other smokers "you da MAN"... whatever... anything... ANYTHING BUT TOUCHING THEM WITH YOUR HANDS, GOT IT?

(lighters OK, packs OK, cigarettes NO, butts NO)

That's it. That's the weak spot. That's all there is to it. No patches, no gum, no expensive tricks to buy. Stick to that and you'll break the chain. Your own mind will reel and fight you to find a loophole... but there isn't one. Not this time.

(BTW... don't get cute and try to smoke with your toes, either. Neither let a friend hold one for you. Sheesh.)

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Oh, and let's do the math:

1/2 pack per day since Oct. 31, 1997 reclaimed:

(assuming $2.50/pack)

365 * 4 = 1,460 days

1,460 days + 30 days in November and 4 days in December = 1,494 days

$1.25 * 1,494 = $1,867.50

Say, that's a Melos SHA-1 each year!