Week 1 is over!

Hi all. Just found this forum today - boy, could I have used you guys a week ago! I've smoked since I was 14 (will be 39 tomorrow) and never really gave a whole-hearted attempt to quit. I joined CC Oct 14 with a huge desire to lose weight for real...no fad diets or wonky pills...and started counting calories and walking. Then I added DVD's and elliptical. Lost 25 pounds quite quickly, but noticed that I had a limit to my workouts - if I worked too hard, I couldn't catch my breath. I decided that the cigarettes had to go if I wanted to lose the remaining 50 pounds.

I went on Champix and started to feel really sick. After a couple of days I noticed that if I didn't smoke, I had no nausea. Well, I had a choice of having a  smoke and feeling like I was going to hurl for the next hour or not smoking and feeling fine. Needless to say, I just stopped! Just like that! wow! And now it's been a week and I've gotten past the irritability and frustration and wonder why I never tried before.

The best part is that quitting smoking did not affect my weight in any way. In fact, I'm losing more because I am exercising more often and having higher deficits each day. I refused to turn to food as a crutch for quitting and used exercise as my way to get past it. It feels to good to get to the 40min mark on the elliptical and not be gasping!

They say to reward yourself after you quit - to acknowledge your achievement. My reward for quitting....being a fit and trim non-smoker.

Great job stick with it!  I am on Week 3 myself and it's getting easier every day!  The exercise is getting easier and feeling better as well!

new_dawn u r so right! i haven't been smoking now for about a week and i can already tell a huge difference! i used to smoke close to a pak a day and now i smoke maybe 1 every other day so im totally excited! and cngrats, on 3 weeks, i just hope i dont fall of the wagon!

lilygirl, sounds like you are on the right track. keep up the good work. I quit smoking 8/17/2002, but I also rewarded myself with a brand new nikon camera.  At $3 a pack, 1 pk a day it just made sense to spend that money on something for myself.