Welcome to the Group

Welcome! We would love get to know you, so please tell us a little bit about yourself. You can choose any format you'd like, but most of us here share some or all of the following details:

1. Reason for joining this group:
2. Some interesting details about yourself, such as your job, your family, your pets and your interests:

And now just go ahead and make that first post!

Hello,

My name is Cassandra I am 31 yrs old and have been smoking since I was about 14 years old. i have never thought of myself as "addicted" to smoking. But there have been occasions when I didnt have any that I looked for the longest bud in the ashtray. I don't have a problem slowing down or cutting back, but all together is another story. I have recently started going back to the gym, so I have cut down to 2 a day. One in the morning and one on the way home. But I would like to cut them all out all together, any suggestions?

It may seem vain or selfish but the only reason that I want to quit the smoking entirely is because I loose my breath faster when I am at the gym and that effects my results. I weigh 230 lbs. and I want to be 140 lbs. by August 2010.

Thanks and good luck to all,

Cassandra

I wish I could only smoke 2 cigs a day. LOL   I smoked 30 plus years,i would say at least the last 5 yrs. a pack and a half,  I have been smoke free 8 months now. I Just quit cold turkey.  I Sucked on a sugar free, fat free lollypops.  They really worked for me.

Hi Cassandra, Im Jenny.  We have a lot in common, similar goals for weight loss, quitting smoking and our age.  I wish I could say I have joined a gym too.  If all goes well with my recent and upcoming heart procedures I will be able to join one. 

Don't think for a minute that quitting smoking to breathe better would be selfish.  And all of America has the vanity thing going for it, :) so no worries there either.  I have never met someone that was perfect in every way, and see nothing wrong with improving who we are.

My mom was a smoker for forty years, cold turkey quit on September 1st!  I am talking about a 2, sometimes 3 pack per day smoker!  She got real sick and spent a week in ICU, unable to breathe due to pneumonia, COPD, and asthma.  She told me that she never wanted to quit, she loves smoking, and misses it.  But she wont do it cause she would rather breathe.

I want to quit long before I experience her misfortune.  Keeping busy on the computer helps me get past some of my urges, gum, lots of gum.

Good luck and take care!

Hello all, 

I quit smoking 15 days ago (have not even touched a cigarette) and I can fill my pants are a little snug.  I joined CC one year ago and lost 30 lbs.  I'm very happy with my size now (size 8, 5ft8", 145lbs) and I certainly didn't take off all that weight just to put it back on because I decided to be healthier and quit smoking.  So yesterday I decided to get back on the saddle and go back to CC.  I've been charting my food, exercising and using my stop smoking strategies.  I did some research and found out that we don't just gain weight because we are reaching for food instead of cigarette, but that smoking increases your metabolism and burns an extra 200 calories per day so you have to make up for that too! 

 I've never blogged  before but I felt it couldn't hurt.  I not only have to keep my mind off of smoking (I need to stay away from the scale for a bit longer), but must stay responsible about food too!  I am going to have to fight for this, I can tell.  This week I have removed the grout from two bathtubs and regrouted, cleaned out the linen closet, cleaned drawers, washed the dog (he is exhaoused from the long, brisk walks!),  cleaned the fridge, oven, drawer under oven (found missing pot lid once drawer was open all the way!) made my own earth boxes and planted a garden, weeded the pavers, laundry is up to date and ironed, toilets and showers are clean, and a healthful meal on the table at the end of the day!   My husband (he quit too) and son are enjoying it.  Anyhow, thanks for letting me vent and please share your secrets to success. 

Hi all,

I will be smoke-free for a year and a half on November 6th, and I wanted to join this group for 2 reasons- to offer any support I can to those still trying to quit, and to see what resources others are using to quit.  My husband still smokes, but he's been slowly getting to the point where he is almost ready to quit... and I'd like to have as much information as possible to help him out!

I've been a member here for almost 2 years and I've lost 40lbs, even though I quit smoking in the middle of it.  I think this website and the community here is awesome!  If the support people get with their weight management goals is any indicator, I'm sure anyone looking to quit smoking will get a lot of valuable support here!

Hi brtaylor,

My husband and I quit 17 days ago.  We are using Chantix. It is expensive but our insurance covered it.  It blocks the receptors in your brain from sending the dopamin that gives you that smoking satisfaction.  You take it before you quit and after about a week the cigarette starts to taste yucky and you find yourself putting it out after a few puffs.  You are supposed to set a 'quit date' approx a week after starting the pill, it took us 3 weeks but we are now doing great.  Haven't even touched one.  Now I am trying to do a balancing act, not gain the weight I lost (30lbs) and stay not-smoking.  I know I can do it, I just keep telling myself that.  Good luck and nice cat!

Cena

I am 52 and both my parents smoked my entire life with them. my mother smoked while pregnant with me, and 7 of us kids grew up in a smoke infested house. All of us kids took up smoking as teeneagers and we all smoked along side our parents!! So I really consider myself a smoker for 52 years--counting the second hand smoke from infancy! Oh, and by the way--I was 3 weeks early and weighed 5 lbs.--knowing what we know today, my mother does feel guilty and has said--"they just didn't know the dangers"!

I have been smoke free now 4 months. The daily struggles of weight gain is the hardest at this point! But my house smells clean--my lungs are getting healthier and I feel good about it!! Someday I want to retire healthy and enjoy grandchildren.

Good luck to you.

jayree78...

It is so great to hear that other people are battling with the same issues, well not great because it would be great if we didn't have these issues to begin with. Rather i should say comforting. I lost my grandfather to emphezema (did I spell that right? prob not). i was in my mid-teens so it really didn't seem relevent at the time but I don't want to suffer the way he did. My goal is to be able to wear a Wonder Woman costume for Halloween next year. Well not just wear it, but look GOOD in it.

good luck with oyour efforts and with your heart procedure!

Hi, I have smoked for 42 years (minus the 5 years I did not smoke which wuld make that 47).  Anyway I started smoking last summer and have been struggling to quit again.  I find that drinking and stress are huge issues for craving smoking for me.  I try to stay away but it is very difficult.  I still smoke some for now.  I can smoke 1 a day or as many as 7 or 8 when I am out.  I will never give up trying though.  Last time I quit it took me years!  Literally.  What I learned was that the more times I quit the longer I was a non-smoker until eventually I didn't smoke more then I did and it was much easier to give it up totally.  I always craved it...I don't think that ever goes away but it just gets easier to say no. 

Anyway, I am smoking again.  I am more worried about gaining weight like most here are.  I had lost 65 pounds 7 years back (oh I was smoking then) and once I hit my goal weight I truly threw the smokes away.  I have since gained 30 back and am trying to shed that baggage also.  I didn't gain it back because I quit smoking, I gained it back because I started slipping on my nutrition and not exercizing. 

To those of you who have quit...GOOD JOB and keep it up! 

To those of you in the process...never give up.  It can be done.  We where all non-smokers at one time in our lives and we will be again.

Hi, day three without a smoke, first day at work without a smoke. I am 51 started when I was 15, mabe quit  for a total of seven moths during those years.

I used "Smoke Away" could only get it on-line, last time I used it to quit, I got it at Wal-mart. I really like smoking, Hate the cost!

Hope to avoid the wt gain, so I have lost 11 lbs in preperation for it. Hate to excercise, so I hope diet will do the trick. Anyway....as I ramble, strange not being drugged after all those years of smoking. Wise me luck

Hi!

I'm Tina.

I turned 30 and decided I needed to make a few changes to my life.  Since July I have lost about 30lbs and have made some big changes with my diet. 

However, I have not quit smoking.  At this point, I have to.  It is totally contradicting to my whole new lifestyle.  I want to be healthy. 

So, I have come here in the hopes of finding some support as I begin this perilous task.

Also, my mother (54yrs old) has a slew of health problems from smoking.  She just had a stroke a month ago (probably more related to her weight?).  Thankfully she has quit smoking...for the most part.  However, I am still smoking and sometimes smoke indoors.  I know this is bad for her to be around and definitely causes her relapses.  I've worked a lot with her on her diet and now would like to be 100% and quit smoking.  This way, we can both focus on making our futures healthy.

I would love any helpful tips or even support.  I'm very scared to quit but I know it can't be impossible...can it??

Thanks!