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The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

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  • Hi All,

    8 months smoke-free today!!!!

    My regular monthly post to:

    1. Give myself a little pat on the back but, more importantly:
    2. To prove to all the new quitters out there that it can be done!

    Thinking about smoking less and less now - though it still passes through my mind at least once a day, it is fleeting and not painful!

    Had my first smoke free holiday last month which I thought would be REALLY tough - and it wasn't! It was so wonderful to be able to fully relax and not worry about how I could escape from the DH and kids to sneak a quick fag!

    If you are just starting on the quit journey, please read and re-read the thread and take inspiration from those who have kicked the habit - I know that I could not have done it without you all.

    And no matter how tough it gets, remember that the cigarette does not solve the problems - it causes them. No-one has ever, in all of recorded history, died of a withdrawal pang (though they can be a bit fierce at times!) but millions die every year from smoking-related diseases.


    Good luck, and remember - THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ONE CIGARETTE (NOT EVEN ONE PUFF OF ONE CIGARETTE!!!)

    XXX
    :T SMOKE FREE SINCE 3rd DECEMBER 2008 :T
  • larmy16
    larmy16 Posts: 4,324 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Go Lily, Go Lily. Ah I remember you well. We both belonged to the Secret Smoking Society. Well it was your success and determination that made me follow you, not so far behind but far enough to be inspired by your posts. Well done! :j
    Grocery Challenge £139/240 until 31/01
    Taking part in Sealed Pot No.819/2011
    Only essentials on Ebay/Amazon

  • 3XsAlady
    3XsAlady Posts: 58 Forumite
    Hi everyone,

    Still on the wine gums & chocolate etc & have now somehow managed to put on 1 stone since quitting smoking with my binge eating. I'm rather disappointed that healthwise I don't feel ANY different than I did when I smoked, I hoped I would feel more energised or something. I MUST now try to get my eating under control & strangely enough I am finding this much more difficult than quitting the ciggies. GOOD LUCK to all you fellow quitters out there, reading the thread you're all doing marvellously.
  • larmy - thanks for the thanks! It seems that we both have found this thread a massive help. I can remember spending hours each day reading and posting in the early part of my quit - I couldn't vent to my family because they didn't know I smoked so being able to rant on here when the going got tough and to ask and receive advice from people who understood every part of what I was going through was totally invaluable. If my quit can inspire just one other person then that will balance all those who bore the brunt of my ramblings in my early days!

    3XsAlady - I have managed to put on the best part of two stones since I quit :eek: How revolting is that!?! However, I think there are only two reasons to worry about weight gain and I dealt with them like this:

    1. Worrying about your health. An extra two stone is not going to kill me - it is certainly not ideal from a health perspective but it is not in the same league as all those filthy cancer-causing poisons that I inhaled hour in, hour out, day in, day out for years and years and years.

    2. Worrying about how you look. I now look chubby and wobbly and utterly hideous in a bikini BUT whereas before I may have been slim, there wasn't a great deal of point in looking hot when I smelt completely and utterley and undisputedly REVOLTING!!! Sure I could wear skinny jeans but I STANK!! I walked past a really pretty girl the other day who was slim in all the right places and she looked a million dollars - but the stale smoke smell that leaked from every pore of her beautiful body really made me want to heave! So I may be a bit porky but at least I don't smell.

    I gave myself a year to quit and get the nicotine addiction totally out of my system. I vowed to deal with one thing at a time and if I gained weight whilst I quit I would deal with it later. Well, later has come in less than a year so once I get back of hols in two weeks, I am going to diet, diet and diet until I can do up a pair of jeans without cutting myself in two. And wear a bikini without causing small children to cry and grown men to turn pale for all the wrong reasons.

    Good luck all

    xxx
    :T SMOKE FREE SINCE 3rd DECEMBER 2008 :T
  • larmy16
    larmy16 Posts: 4,324 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Myself and another poster are supporting each other with the weight gain thing. It is really helping. Why dont you LittleLilly and 3xaLady (ooh that song will be on my brain all day now) advertise on here for a support buddy?

    It is after all part of the quitting process for a lot of us. I think smoking is very often covering up a comfort eating problem.

    I can barely wait for the day when I can post that not only am I smoke free, I am also truly happy with my body weight too!:)
    Grocery Challenge £139/240 until 31/01
    Taking part in Sealed Pot No.819/2011
    Only essentials on Ebay/Amazon

  • PROLIANT
    PROLIANT Posts: 6,396 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Hi, just popped in to give the low-down on my quest for giving up smoking.
    I have been contemplating giving up for some time however due to worked related stress I could never take the big step and actually do it.

    About a month ago I fell very ill and spent a week in hospital with spleen and liver problems, never smoked for a few days before I went in to hospital and never smoked while I was in hospital - I couldn’t, once I was discharged and after a further week on the sick I did not think nor did I crave a smoke, I used to roll my own see the financial aspect was never an issue, however here am today smoke free and saving myself £50 per month, I feel great and wish I had of quite earlier, it is hard and the more support you get the better and this thread is a great idea, well done.

    Regards

    Proliant
    Since when has the world of computer software design been about what people want? This is a simple question of evolution. The day is quickly coming when every knee will bow down to a silicon fist, and you will all beg your binary gods for mercy.
  • penelopedee_2
    penelopedee_2 Posts: 2,698 Forumite
    At work safely without smoking. The real test will be this evening- its normally all I can think about whilst I'm driving home.
    This time I haven't smoked since 6th Jan 2014 and still going ok.
    Fingers crossed x
  • larmy16
    larmy16 Posts: 4,324 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    At work safely without smoking. The real test will be this evening- its normally all I can think about whilst I'm driving home.

    Yes I remember that feeling well too. The mouth would start watering and a real craving would set in - obviously a very psychological thing. You are going to need to have some routine set up to replace the cig you would have.

    My thoughts, cup of herb tea (the other has associations with the cig), jump in the bath quickly, brush your teeth. Have you got a picture of you smoking? Maybe have a good long hard look at it as a reminder.

    Chew on a couple of carrot sticks, chew a pen - otherwise you will be like me on here moaning about being heavier!:D

    Walk up and down the stairs twenty times. Whatever you can think of, anything that will stop that scheming Nick nagging you to go out and some cigs and then you can stop tomorrow!Have you read the Allen Carr book - highly recommended and cheap on Amazon?
    Grocery Challenge £139/240 until 31/01
    Taking part in Sealed Pot No.819/2011
    Only essentials on Ebay/Amazon

  • 3XsAlady
    3XsAlady Posts: 58 Forumite
    Thank-you so very much for your support Larmy & Little Lily. I was hoping to go for my 3mile round walk (to my local sainsbury's) with my grandson today, but as usual weather is crap. My DH has bought me a mountain bike would you believe, I haven't ridden a bike in 30yrs & it's really taking its toll on my backside, but heyho I'll give it a go if it helps me lose weight, so weather permitting I'll be out most days. Incidentally I have just seen the Allen Carr 'Easyway to stop smoking' (paperback edition) for £1.99 in my local Poundstretcher........absolute bargain. This book has become my bible & I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone seriously thinking of quitting this odious nicotine addiction. Once again good luck all & many thanks to everyone.
  • Sue-UU
    Sue-UU Posts: 9,667 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Hi there everyone!! :wave:I'm back from a great week in Brittany where the weather was great.:D Only one wet afternoon and a wet journey to the port when we were coming home. Totally different from over here apparently!:rolleyes:

    It's great to see you all still hard at it and still so very determined to get to your goals. I haven't had a thorough look at the posts, but will do my best to do so. Welcome to all the new faces I see too, quitting smoking is the greatest gift you'll ever give yourself, it's the gift of LIFE! Take hold of it and you'll soon feel all the great benefits it's giving you.....and just thinking of ALL the nasty things you'll steer clear from as a result is marvellous itself.

    larmy's given you great advice penelopedee, use it all and you'll find it makes the testing times so much easier to bear.

    To you penelopedee and many other new ones, unless you really do not won't to receive PM's (Private Messages) then go to the the top left of the page and to the "User CP" and allow PM's and I'll send you an info sheet that may well help at such times, though I think larmy has the greatest ones covered above.

    One other thing to try to keep away from whilst at your vulnerable stage is drink! It's not too bad if you only have one perhaps, but if you're used to drinking more, then beware of getting tipsy and not having complete control over yourself. You may well regret it next morning...even if you can't recall having "just one"!!! Other 'friends' may even try to entice you to have a puff and with a weakened will due to alcohol you might easily accept and undo all that hard work! Even if you've only quit for a few hours or days, there's still a great deal of hard work gone into it and so much you've already achieved, never risk losing it and being filled with regrets!

    Well done Chrissie!:T Not just you larmy with Lionel's 3XsAlady stuck in your brain after chatting to Chrissie or simply seeing her name. I love that song and guess we must all be of the same era! Go on Chrissie, pedal away on your bike and try getting off those wine gums if you're still taking them. Any means of exercising you can think of...and enjoy, do it and stick at it, it'll work wonders if you're determined to get the weight off as well as releasing endorphins to make you feel so much better. When losing weight, go by what you look like and dress sizes, as what the scales show isn't always the best way.

    Well done indeed larmy, you are doing wonderfully!:T

    Keep it up everyone as the feeling on reaching your goal is ecstatic and the good health you know you've acquired is worth the world! Stay strong, you WILL do it.

    Sue For all new(ish) quitters, don't forget to open up your PM facility.
    Sealed Pot Challenge 001 My Totals = 08 = £163.95 09 = £315.78 10 = £518.80 11 = £481.87 12 = £694.53 13 = £1200.20! 14 = £881 15 = £839.21 16 = £870.48 17 = £871.52 18 = £800.00 19 = £851.022021=£820.26[/SizeGrand Totals of all members (2008 uncounted) 2009 = £32.154.32! 2010 = £37.581.47! 2011 = £42.474.34! 2012 = £49.759.46! 2013 = £50.642.78! 2014 = £61.367.88!! 2015 = £52.852.06! 2016 = £52, 002.40!! 2017 = £50,456.23!! 2018 = £47, 815.88! 2019 = £38.538.37!!!! :j
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