You got this, you got this!
I had to quit a big list of drugs i used to frequent including smoking both pot and cigarettes about 3 years ago. I did it cold turkey and was completely clean for a long time. What got me back into it was the club scene/girls/and ignoring the gym. If i was to give you some advice, remove yourself from situations where you want to smoke and even people that you are more likely to smoke around helps. Remind yourself that you are not a smoker anymore whenever you crave one. And remember that there is a difference between stopping for a while , and actually quitting. Do you want to completely stop smoking forever?
On vacations, when you are out with friends, and when you are stressing from work/school tend to be difficult areas from my experience.
Starting again was stupid, I went to Europe to party in the summer and well… everyone smokes, including the girl i was seeing. I picked it up again casually… you know , only when I drink ,which turned into … only on weekends, during breaks at work, and finally whenever I got the chance… I had maybe 2-3 smokes this week and am planning on just casually smoking once in a while, I’m not the type of person to quit. Now maybe down the road if I calm down and stop going out to chase tail every weekend, settle with a nice girl who isn’t a smoker… I’ll drop it completely, without much trouble.
It’s going to be easy because all I have to do to quit using anything cold turkey is tell myself that’s not who I am anymore, and I find when I know who I am and what I am doing with my life it’s not difficult making the right choices when it comes to anything.
The biggest pain in the ass when you quit, and I’m not sure if this applies to other smokers is that you are reminded constantly that damage has been done and its not going to get better. Having to hork every time you need to spit because you can’t bring up phlegm and other stuff because of the damage is a disgusting, constant reminder.
Smoking is selfish, who wants to increase their chances of spending their last few years alive in a hospital bed suffering while draining everyone in their lives of energy and happiness.
Some random thoughts.
thanks everyone 
the pics gave me combo of ‘ew, yuk’ and ‘damn i want a smoke!’
i smoke rollies. have smoked around 30 a day for about 18 years now :-/
would roll them bigger or smaller depending on the occasion, but used to frequent smoking, yeah.
first time i quit (lasted 3 months) i started with a 7 day taper of not more than 10 per day.
know it sounds strange but that is the first time i ever resisted an urge to smoke instead of lighting up every single time i felt like one.
i always thought i’d die a smoker. like my father. like my grandfather. and so on.
then my supervisor told me that he knew a psychologist who managed to quit smoking not by quitting nicotine but by quitting smoking.
she cut the gum into smaller pieces and would have a piece of gum instead of having a smoke.
i thought that maybe that would be possible for me.
i do respect the decision to quit nicotine. for myself, i don’t really have quitting nicotine as a goal, however. merely quitting evil delivery mechanisms like smoking.
the strangest thing happened about 1 month into my quitting of smoking, though… i gradually reduced my gum usage because i simply didn’t feel like the gum anymore. i’m really not a gum person and find gum makes me feel a bit queasy (both the nicotine and non-nicotine variety). upsets my stomach / digestive system a bit. i was getting weird buggy eyed and jittery feelings from the nicotine, too.
for me… quitting nicotine is easy. it is the quitting of smoking that is hard.
not quite sure why that is. psychological, i guess.
P.S.,
i don’t think nicotine is much worse for people than related drugs like caffine. that is to say, it is a stimulant so there may be problems for people with high blood pressure… but there is evidence that it perks you up and helps you focus. can be used for good or ill, i guess.
nicotine (not smoking of course!) seems to play a role in preventing parkinsons and alzheimers, too. i’ve heard that they are doing some experimental trials with prescribing people who are identified as being high risk with nicotine patches.
i do understand the desire not to be a slave to addiction, though. i guess my discovery that it doesn’t take terribly long after the quitting of smoking for my desire for nicotine to go away means that i don’t feel like i am a slave to nicotine, though.
there must be other addictive components in smoke…
or maybe it is psychological.
most animals are afraid of fire. people have mastered fire. they put fire between their lips and puff the smoke lolz.
of course it turns out to be pretty stupid…
but there is some mastery connotation for me. psychological crap of course.
I quit on June 1 of last year after ten years.
My advice is don’t be a bitch. When it’s time to quit, you quit, and that’s it.
I’m not going to say that I haven’t had the occasional smoke when super-drunk, but I always wake up wishing I hadn’t because I feel so crappy and I NEVER have had the urge to go back to smoking because the difference in how I felt was remarkable, and I’d never be able to box if I was smoking.
It’s hard the first week and then it gradually gets easier. But seriously, stop with the “Attempts” and either shut up and smoke or quit and be done with it. As Yoda once said - do or do not, there is no try.
From now on, you’re a non-smoker. There’s no “I’m trying to quit.” There’s only, “I quit.”
If you go back to smoking, you’re a nancy with no willpower. Nothing pissed me off more than guys who were always “trying to quit” but in reality just quit buying packs and tried to bum butts from me all time.
By the way, when you quit, you’ll realize how fucking gross you smell when you just come in from having a smoke. It’s fucking awful. I truly can’t stand it when my clothes/hair/body smells like smoke anymore, to the point where I don’t like riding in cars with smokers anymore if they’re driving.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
My advice is don’t be a bitch. When it’s time to quit, you quit, and that’s it.
I’m not going to say that I haven’t had the occasional smoke when super-drunk, but
But seriously, stop with the “Attempts” and either shut up and smoke or quit and be done with it. As Yoda once said - do or do not, there is no try.
From now on, you’re a non-smoker. There’s no “I’m trying to quit.” There’s only, “I quit.”
If you go back to smoking, you’re a nancy with no willpower.[/quote]
Congruence fail.
thanks for those pictures, they were pretty cool
I’ve been smoke free for 6 months
Drink alot of water OP. Your here for a reason, you want to focus on getting stronger or your body (bodybuilding) You can not achieve that level of greatness by smoking.
Replace it with proper nutrition.
The cravings eventually go away if you let it. If you let it bug you it will, if you let it make you mad it will. It’s your choice really. It doesn’t have to make you made. It may give you irritable bowels for like a week, but after that it’s not bad. Maybe some issues sleeping, but working out hard will eliminate that issue.
You will quit, if you choose to. It’s a mental game.
It’s interesting how parents who smoke affect their children. My siblings and I despise it and none of us do it, but our Dad has been a pack-a-day guy for almost the entirety of our lives. He quit for about two years once, then smoked one cigarette and picked right back up where he left off. So I’ll echo what a lot of others have said: don’t smoke anything, ever.
Also, try dum-dums. My Grandpa successfully quit by shoving a dum-dum in his mouth every time he had a craving.
[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
It’s interesting how parents who smoke affect their children. My siblings and I despise it and none of us do it, but our Dad has been a pack-a-day guy for almost the entirety of our lives. He quit for about two years once, then smoked one cigarette and picked right back up where he left off. So I’ll echo what a lot of others have said: don’t smoke anything, ever.
Also, try dum-dums. My Grandpa successfully quit by shoving a dum-dum in his mouth every time he had a craving.[/quote]
When I was 12 or so, I was going back home with a friend (he was going to stay that night) and I saw an ambulance at the door. My aunt was there and she told me that my mother had had a heart issue. She had some heart thing and it was made much worse by smoking. That alone was enough for me and my brother to not even want to try it ever.
My father using a smoking pipe. I have to say that the smell of the smoke is actually good…
[quote]Edevus wrote:
[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
It’s interesting how parents who smoke affect their children. My siblings and I despise it and none of us do it, but our Dad has been a pack-a-day guy for almost the entirety of our lives. He quit for about two years once, then smoked one cigarette and picked right back up where he left off. So I’ll echo what a lot of others have said: don’t smoke anything, ever.
Also, try dum-dums. My Grandpa successfully quit by shoving a dum-dum in his mouth every time he had a craving.[/quote]
When I was 12 or so, I was going back home with a friend (he was going to stay that night) and I saw an ambulance at the door. My aunt was there and she told me that my mother had had a heart issue. She had some heart thing and it was made much worse by smoking. That alone was enough for me and my brother to not even want to try it ever.
My father using a smoking pipe. I have to say that the smell of the smoke is actually good…[/quote]
My Dad reeks of smoke at all times, has a nicotine stained mustache, and has lost several of his teeth. He’ll almost certainly die of a heart attack, so I just hope he holds off into his 70s. There isn’t enough money in the world to convince me to do that to myself.
[quote]Vicomte wrote:
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
My advice is don’t be a bitch. When it’s time to quit, you quit, and that’s it.
I’m not going to say that I haven’t had the occasional smoke when super-drunk, but
But seriously, stop with the “Attempts” and either shut up and smoke or quit and be done with it. As Yoda once said - do or do not, there is no try.
From now on, you’re a non-smoker. There’s no “I’m trying to quit.” There’s only, “I quit.”
If you go back to smoking, you’re a nancy with no willpower.[/quote]
Congruence fail.[/quote]
There are many people who have a cigarette when they are very drunk and not quite aware of what they are doing. There are many people who do much worse. By no means was I even hinting that I was remotely what people call a “social smoker.”
You, and everyone else here, knows exactly what I was saying, so keep your smartass comments to yourself.
Chantix. 2 1/2 weeks I was smoke free, I was smoking 2 packs a day minimum.
Try this website : www.quitnet.com
They have a thing where you punch in your quit day and how much you usually smoked and it will tell you how much money you’ve saved and how many days of your life you’ve saved as well as how many cigarettes you’ve NOT smoked.
I quit on March 15th 2003 and if you can believe it at an average of 15 cigs a day I’ve not smoked 41519!!! HOLY SHIT!
It also says I’ve saved 10 months and 17 days and that I’ve saved $6,000. Though for the money you’re supposed to enter your zip code and I guess the website tracks cigarette prices over the US so since I’m Canadian the only zip code I knew was Beverly Hills’
I also chewed the nicotine gum for about 4 or 5 months after I quit. Don’t let anyone tell you that the gum is just switching one addiction for another. That’s bullshit.
Many people in my office chew some stuff called “Snuff” or something like that.
took me a few times to quit, I quit once I began training. 5+yrs w/out them now, I smoked a pack a day in my 20’s.
keep at it - days become weeks, week become months. you’ll become more and more stoked that you’ve quit as time passes. eventually you will think, why the fuck did I ever smoke?
I think about them, miss them sometimes. If I’m ever drinking a scotch or whiskey in a rocks glass & gambling; I use to travel and play one pocket, banks, straight and nine ball on the road.
traded in that lifestyle for fitness and haven’t looked back. do things to promote not smoking/discontinuing old shitty habits. ultimately you’re right…you have to quit for yourself, for your own reasons.
smoking goes against everything I do in the gym, not smoking is an easy choice.
Rent a cheer squad… and change your name to Gary.
My girlfriend quit about 1.5 years ago, she just one day went cold turkey… she had half a pack left and we still have it in a the cabinet… when she really wants a cig she smokes one, they are sooo stale she hates it and after a few puffs throws it away and is good for a few more months… at first it was 1-3 months, now its 7-8 months inbetween a stale cig…
does not help I enjoy a good cigar or hookah about once per week, but I try not to do that in front of her if i can avoid it to help not add temptation.
[quote]Ratchet wrote:
My girlfriend quit about 1.5 years ago, she just one day went cold turkey… she had half a pack left and we still have it in a the cabinet… when she really wants a cig she smokes one, they are sooo stale she hates it and after a few puffs throws it away and is good for a few more months… at first it was 1-3 months, now its 7-8 months inbetween a stale cig…
does not help I enjoy a good cigar or hookah about once per week, but I try not to do that in front of her if i can avoid it to help not add temptation.
[/quote]
You can always avoid it.
[quote]alexus wrote:
i always thought i’d die a smoker. like my father. like my grandfather. and so on.
[/quote]
Dying of lung cancer, a family legacy that you don’t have to carry on. My maternal grandparents both died of emphysema. They had one child who smoked, and she also died from emphysema in her 50’s, way too young. It’s a horrible way to go. Interestingly, our family participated in a research study and I found out that I lack a protective enzyme in my lungs. My brother and I both inherited this. We were told that if we smoke, we have a 100% chance of getting emphysema. Good thing I never started, right? I avoid being in closed spaces with people who smoke, and hobbies like furniture refinishing where I could be exposed to toxic fumes.
I was thinking about your post today, and I just feel so happy for you, Lex. You’ve inspired so many of us with your OLY lifting. This is HUGE. Nothing you can accomplish in the gym will improve your health more than this one thing. You just have to get through these next couple of weeks and you’ve got it. You are going to feel GREAT so hang tough!