[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
helga wrote:
TrainerinDC wrote:
If those commenting lost their best friend, and here we said well they never should have been your friend in the first place, we would be considered the slime of the earth and hated. But since it is a chemical friend lost, the victim becomes the criminal. This is total 100% BS.
As an ex smoker myself I agree with a lot of what you wrote but like some others have said, this statement is utter crap and I would suggest that these types of thoughts would have made quitting a lot harder for you than it had to be.
If you do your research on the effects of nicotene on the brain you will find this same answer. Social support is a key factor in altering behavior, so when the person is down from the loss of nicotene, people berating them will NOT help them achieve the goal.
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I am not berating the original poster, I came back with some information (weakly supported I know) that I found useful to myself to maybe help.
I just dont want anyone thinking that smoking is their best friend. Yes it may stimulate the same part of the brain, but thinking of smoking as a close personal friend is not going to help anyone quit.
[quote]helga wrote:
TrainerinDC wrote:
helga wrote:
TrainerinDC wrote:
If those commenting lost their best friend, and here we said well they never should have been your friend in the first place, we would be considered the slime of the earth and hated. But since it is a chemical friend lost, the victim becomes the criminal. This is total 100% BS.
As an ex smoker myself I agree with a lot of what you wrote but like some others have said, this statement is utter crap and I would suggest that these types of thoughts would have made quitting a lot harder for you than it had to be.
If you do your research on the effects of nicotene on the brain you will find this same answer. Social support is a key factor in altering behavior, so when the person is down from the loss of nicotene, people berating them will NOT help them achieve the goal.
I am not berating the original poster, I came back with some information (weakly supported I know) that I found useful to myself to maybe help.
I just dont want anyone thinking that smoking is their best friend. Yes it may stimulate the same part of the brain, but thinking of smoking as a close personal friend is not going to help anyone quit.[/quote]
Smoking is no different than any other pleasurable activity, drug-related or otherwise. They all sitmulate the reward center in the brain. It doesn’t make it any easier, though, for the smoker trying to quit. There is a real physiological attachment to cigarettes as everyone knows.
[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
I was not defending smoking in the least, I was simply orating how painful and dificult it is to do, and how non-smokers think it is so easy, and can be done overnight. I was making an analogy so that those who didn’t know might be able to get an understanding for the level of dificulty.
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I heard that nicotine can actually increase T levels, not that wouldnt be vastly overshadowed by the negative effects. But where have u heard that it lowers T?
It also supports what you heard about smoking initially raising T levels. I know after I smoke a cigarette (I smoke very rarely if your curious), I feel like crap and definitely have a decreased libido. I still remember those commercials with the guys walking around with “limp” cigarettes hanging out of their mouths.
Bottom line, if I want to boost my T levels I’ll be reaching for the new Alpha Male before I grab a cigarette.
I’ve been trying to quit smoking for several years, and stumble every single time. I honestly think I would have an easier time shaving the skin off my skull with a carrot peeler than I will with quitting smoking. It sucks sooooo bad trying to quit, and being around smokers constantly really doesn’t help at all.
I think that if I didn’t smoke I’d be much more successful with my training. Sadly, cigarettes probably have dropped my T levels a bit recently. One day I’ll get it right and quit.
[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
Cigarette addiction is worse than cocaine, heroin etc… [/quote]
BULLSHIT, worse than a heroin addiction!? are you fucking kidding me, how many people you know smoke? how many do you know who have quit? ill bet like most people you know alot or a few, ive known several people that after just one touch of heroin never ever looked back, no matter how hard they tried they would end up out of their way to do ANYTHING to get more heroin, there whole lives gone to shit in the space of a year leaving them in the gutter or dead, and you compare that to having cigarettes easily accessable?
thats some pretty weak, pathetic bullshit, you ever risk prison for a cigrette? or getting an std for cigarettes? hurting someone? even the chance of dying each time you have a cigarette? yeah cigarettes are way worse than heroin
[quote]littledevil wrote:
TrainerinDC wrote:
Cigarette addiction is worse than cocaine, heroin etc…
BULLSHIT, worse than a heroin addiction!? are you fucking kidding me, how many people you know smoke? how many do you know who have quit? ill bet like most people you know alot or a few, ive known several people that after just one touch of heroin never ever looked back, no matter how hard they tried they would end up out of their way to do ANYTHING to get more heroin, there whole lives gone to shit in the space of a year leaving them in the gutter or dead, and you compare that to having cigarettes easily accessable?
thats some pretty weak, pathetic bullshit, you ever risk prison for a cigrette? or getting an std for cigarettes? hurting someone? even the chance of dying each time you have a cigarette? yeah cigarettes are way worse than heroin
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Yes I do. If someone is trying to quit cocaine or heroin and they go to get a cup of coffee, they dont see cocaine or heroin. They wont go see their friends at a place where everyone is using heroin. They won’t be walking and have someone walk by them smelling like heroin and making them want some.
And if they try to get better the whole world will help a recovering heroin or cocaine addict improve. If it is a recovering smoker, the world will not be so willing to pitch in and lend a hand.
[quote]djoh615893 wrote:
I’ve been trying to quit smoking for several years, and stumble every single time. I honestly think I would have an easier time shaving the skin off my skull with a carrot peeler than I will with quitting smoking. It sucks sooooo bad trying to quit, and being around smokers constantly really doesn’t help at all.
I think that if I didn’t smoke I’d be much more successful with my training. Sadly, cigarettes probably have dropped my T levels a bit recently. One day I’ll get it right and quit.[/quote]
You can’t let yourself be around smokers. That will make it much easier. Avoid bars and being around friends who smoke for awhile. It will be worth it.
The evidence says you’re wrong. Smoking is very difficult to quit, but people quit successfully all the time. The percentage of people who successfully overcome a heroin addiction is infintestimally small.
[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
Yes I do. If someone is trying to quit cocaine or heroin and they go to get a cup of coffee, they dont see cocaine or heroin. [/quote]
Yeah, well anytime they see drug paraphernalia even on tv such as needles, there are physiological changes in their brain just like that of smokers. The reward center is activated and there is a fierce craving. Physiologically much stronger than that for nicotine, though exposure to adversive stimuli on a daily basis may well be less.
I smoked for 16 years. I trained my ass off for 12 of them. I made great gains. I was fine. I sprinted, I lifted hard everything. When I quit, I did improve. My endurance didn’t improve, but my strength went up pretty consistently.
On another note, you shouldn’t be ashamed to smoke. It’s your choice, your life, and your probelm. If you enjoy it who gives a flying fuck what people think. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
of the 4 people i know who’ve quit smoking 3 have started again.
my dad quit twice: once for 6 years but work stress got him to go back. he smoked another 3 years then quit for 4, before work stress got to him again. then an extended hospital stay got him off for good, coupled with early retirement. now that he’s retired he tries to stay stress free. he still wants to smoke and the hardest times are when there’s stress in his life…like when he thinks he might break 80.
the others i know quit for 2 years or more before going back. they all say it was stress that got them there. they all seem to think they “still have time” to quit.
the fourth guy i know has quit for 3 years or so…still i think it’s only a matter of time.
TrainerinDC wrote:
Cigarette addiction is worse than cocaine, heroin etc…
The evidence says you’re wrong. Smoking is very difficult to quit, but people quit successfully all the time. The percentage of people who successfully overcome a heroin addiction is infintestimally small.[/quote]
Please pardon my being blatant here, but what experience or knowledge do you have to speak from? Are you an ex heroin user, or an ex smoker? Have you spent your life studying addictive behavior? Because it seems to me as if you speak from a point of expertise, and I’d like some verification of what this expertise is.
[quote]jsbrook wrote:
You can’t let yourself be around smokers. That will make it much easier. Avoid bars and being around friends who smoke for awhile. It will be worth it.
[/quote]
So your advice to someone trying to kick nicotene out of their life is to remove themself from the people who’s company they enjoy? Doesn’t this seem like doubling the negativity? Hey don’t smoke and don’t see your friends. How would you expect this to actually help someone overcome a problem?
I heard that advise to which is the dumbest advise I ever got. I wanted to smoke whether I was alone, around people who smoked, walking around, pretty much all the time. The company I kept had nothing to do with it. I did enjoy the second hand smoke though, but it just ain’t the same.
TrainerinDC wrote:
Cigarette addiction is worse than cocaine, heroin etc…
The evidence says you’re wrong. Smoking is very difficult to quit, but people quit successfully all the time. The percentage of people who successfully overcome a heroin addiction is infintestimally small.
Please pardon my being blatant here, but what experience or knowledge do you have to speak from? Are you an ex heroin user, or an ex smoker? Have you spent your life studying addictive behavior? Because it seems to me as if you speak from a point of expertise, and I’d like some verification of what this expertise is.[/quote]
I was a psychology major in college and took many NBB classes. I have learned about the chemical pathways by which addiction takes place. I have observed animal studies performed by renowned scientists on the field subjecting the animals to nictoine, heroin, and cocaine addiction. I was a casual smoker at one point but can’t say that I was addicted. I know many who were and had a tough time quitting. Many who haven’t been able to yet.
Unfortunately, I am close to others who haved battled cocaine and heroin addictions. I’ve observed the struggles of both and besides the physiolgical and scientific evidence, it’s clear to me what the greater demon is. The statistics as to success rates on overcoming nicotine and heroin addiction are undeniable. I am not saying at all tobacco addiction is not very difficult to overcome. It certainly is. I would just not compare it to heroin.
[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
jsbrook wrote:
You can’t let yourself be around smokers. That will make it much easier. Avoid bars and being around friends who smoke for awhile. It will be worth it.
So your advice to someone trying to kick nicotene out of their life is to remove themself from the people who’s company they enjoy? Doesn’t this seem like doubling the negativity? Hey don’t smoke and don’t see your friends. How would you expect this to actually help someone overcome a problem?[/quote]
Sure as hell is my advice. The people I know and those who are close to me who were SUCCESSFUL in quitting avoided bars and smoky places until they were strong enough to do so. And it does not mean you have to dissasociate from your friends. You can still see them. If they are real friends they will be respectful and step outside the room to have a cigarette knowing what you are going through and the good you are trying to do for yourself.
I “gave” up smoking 40-50 a day,18 months ago.I started at the age of 11 and quit @ 27.However that dirty son-of-a-bitch still rears it’s ugly head and I occasionly smoke usually in social situations and when on vacation.Though I quit as soon as I get back.Im hoping after my last vacation that I NEVER ever touch one of those SHIT sticks again!!!
BTW Nicotene has been proven to help aid fat loss.A safe way to do this while dieting is via patches theres next to no health risks.Though you may get addicted to the nicotine and then start smoking???
