Quitting Smoking.

[javyn]

Allen Car's books is great. I downloaded the audio version on mp3. In a nutshell it says to stop self-sabotaging with negative thought and worrying about how hard quitting will be.

If you want to quit smoking, just quit smoking. And don't see it as "Oh no I'm quitting I'm going to be a monster for 2 months", but as a positive thing.

I certainly worked for me. We all get the cravings, but the fact is, nic cravings don't last very long at all, so they are really easy to overcome. The hard part is not working yourself into a panic thinking that the cravings won't ever go away. They do.

The point he made that got me was that if nic withdrawal is that bad, why don't you wake up in the middle of the night fiending for a cig? Fact is, it isn't. The withdrawl symptoms are very mild, it's the self-sabotaging brainwashing we put ourselves through that makes it difficult.

 

[username79]

Originally Posted by antirabbit

I quit in January, kind of cold Turkey, but used the assistance of Oral tobacco products.
Funny thing is, I noticed that I was gaining weight, I was rather unsure why.

Quitting usually results in temporary weight gain. Did you notice yourself eating everything in sight?

 

[turbozed]

Originally Posted by antirabbit

I quit in January, kind of cold Turkey, but used the assistance of Oral tobacco products. Funny thing is, I noticed that I was gaining weight, I was rather unsure why. Turns out that Snus and chewing tobacco has tons of sugar in it and will really accelerate issues in your mouth.
Completely untrue. Snus is made with tobacco, water, salt, and sodium carbonate. There is 0 sugar and 0 carbs (unless you're actually eating the ground tobacco leaves). American "dip" (Skoal, etc.) sometimes contains added sugar. A lot of people gain weight when quitting cigarettes by supplanting the urge to smoke with eating. Maybe it was your diet. It certainly wasn't the snus.

 

[thekunk07]

i can't ******* quit either

 

[why]

I seem to have no addiction to them whatsoever. My father didn't either -- he'd smoke one or two while watching the Browns or the evening news (they had an identical effect on his behavior) but never more than a few per week. Then one day he decided he'd just stick to cigars when he found out a member at his club had a son who worked in customs.

 

[robertorex]

yeah I tried smoking a bit a few years back and I still light one up literally every few months, but I have never felt the craving for them. I think I'm a pretty social smoker, last time I smoked was about seven or so weeks ago when a heavy smoking friend of mine was having a going away party. He offered me one to light up and since I was likely not going to see him in years, I felt I could accept just this once.

 

[gattica]

Not sure I understand this. What is the difference in breathing methods you are suggesting?[/quote]

Any normal human being breaths in and his/her lungs expands and out, contracts. The amount of air getting in your body is just normal.
Now what I'm gonna suggest might be a little weird. You breath in consciously expanding your gut, pushing down on your diaphragm, expanding your gut and then your lungs. And you breath out your stomach contracts and you lungs contracts...

Now what it does is when you breathes out, you push out all the nicotine filled air out of your lungs air sacs.

Voice deepening exercises and yogic books suggests these exercises, to breath deeply and fully to maintain your body as a vehicle.

As for me, I just used it consciously when I was going cold turkey. Although I can't say for certain it helped me tilt things in my favour, on a conscious level, it made the nicotine cravings go away faster.

 

[TGPlastic]

You need something to take your mind off of the craving and the fiddling that comes with smoking. A good distraction would be to shave your balls. The discomfort will constantly be on your mind.

 

[Trapp]

I agree with advice previous in this thread that suggests you basically maintain your current lifestyle, just without cigarrettes.

Personally, I don't think it's a great idea to mess with everything at once, that is, get a gym membership, change your diet, etc. These major changes are easy to talk about, but not to do, let alone sustain. There's a good chance you'll set yourself up for failure.

It sounds like you exercise alot and are already active. I was in a similar boat a few years as a smoker; I smoked but was also active on many fronts. I was able to quit cold turkey and I haven't had a puff since April of 2005. The only change I made to my lifestyle, besides not smoking, was that I channelled my activity into a specific cardiovascular routine that I knew required good lungs. For me, that was running. Like any exercise, it helps work out anxiety, which you may have a good deal of during the first few weeks off smokes. And with cardiovascular exercise, you will really get tuned in--quickly--to the condition of your lungs. At 24, smoking 1/2 pack a day, you can still skate by on your youth, and you probably don't yet feel the affects of your smoking when you exercise in a general way. But I think if you start running consistently, you'll get up close and personal with the way your lungs burn when your tackling a hill and you'll get to feel in a physical way, not just abstract knowing, how important they are to you. Also, you guarentee yourself an hour or so every day when you definatley do not want to be smoking a cigarette. After a few weeks, you may even recognize that your wind has improved, which is will be welcome encouragement.

 

[coldarchon]

Originally Posted by Trapp

Personally, I don't think it's a great idea to mess with everything at once

personally I think there is a reason why hypnotizing helps to quit smoking. because the cigarettee industry is kind of hypnotizing it´s buyers by implying it´s hard to quit smoking. it´s not. just do it. if you fail you have been fooled ..

 

[peaklapel1089]

After 20 years of 2 ppd, I quit relatively easily with Zyban ( I had previously tried hypnosis, which was amusing but had zero effect). You take it for like 2 weeks before you quit. I actually lost my urge to smoke before the end of the two weeks, so I quit early. It was kind of spooky, actually, since I'd had a very strong urge to smoke since high school.
Anyway, I also found that Zyban helped control my craving for food, too, so I was able to actually lose a couple of pounds in the process (I did a lot of exercise also). I actually found it helpful to concentrate on my diet instead of on my smoking.
I understand it doesn't work for everybody and some people don't like it. I didn't notice any side effects at all -- just a reduction in craving.
Another part of the smoker's habit is that you get to take many breaks during the day, from work or whatever, to go have a smoke. So I had to learn to substitute other breaks, other rewards until I retrained my brain...

 

[username79]

Originally Posted by Trapp

It sounds like you exercise alot and are already active. I was in a similar boat a few years as a smoker; I smoked but was also active on many fronts. I was able to quit cold turkey and I haven't had a puff since April of 2005. The only change I made to my lifestyle, besides not smoking, was that I channelled my activity into a specific cardiovascular routine that I knew required good lungs. For me, that was running.

I picked up running also when I quit. Felt great to be able to run farther each day, smell things again, and become more fit at the same time.

 

[robertorex]

Originally Posted by coldarchon

personally I think there is a reason why hypnotizing helps to quit smoking. because the cigarettee industry is kind of hypnotizing it´s buyers by implying it´s hard to quit smoking. it´s not. just do it. if you fail you have been fooled ..

This is actually a pretty good point. Too many people I know say they should quit but have internalized this thought process that keeps telling them that it's too hard and that the pain and anxiety will not be worth it. They don't know that all they need to do is not reach for the cig and that the wellness and health waiting for them at the other end is quite pleasant as well.

Sorry if I come off as insensitive to people who actually have cravings on the visceral level, but I just find the idea of such programming completely believable.

 

[mensimageconsultant]

Maybe the exercise routine is adequate. What about nutrition? It can be helpful in quitting smoking.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...oking&aq=f&oq=

 

[Fuuma]

Originally Posted by javyn

Allen Car's books is great. I downloaded the audio version on mp3. In a nutshell it says to stop self-sabotaging with negative thought and worrying about how hard quitting will be.

If you want to quit smoking, just quit smoking. And don't see it as "Oh no I'm quitting I'm going to be a monster for 2 months", but as a positive thing.

I certainly worked for me. We all get the cravings, but the fact is, nic cravings don't last very long at all, so they are really easy to overcome. The hard part is not working yourself into a panic thinking that the cravings won't ever go away. They do.

The point he made that got me was that if nic withdrawal is that bad, why don't you wake up in the middle of the night fiending for a cig? Fact is, it isn't. The withdrawl symptoms are very mild, it's the self-sabotaging brainwashing we put ourselves through that makes it difficult.

A lot of people do smoke a mid-night cigarette....