What is the best way to quit smokeing and to start working out and get on with my life?

Question

I have tried for about 7 years to quit smoking. I have pretty much tired everything possible going from the patchs, gum, commit, cold turkey, etc. I just don tknow what to do now. I want to get on with my life and leave this habbit behind, but it is so hard to. The longest i have quit for 3 months which is kinda sad but it was a start, but somehow ended back to where I started *smoking*

Answer 1

How great that you are being persistent in your desire to quit smoking! (And congratulations to the other postees as well :) In addition to the ways that you have tried to quit -- patches, gum, commit lozenges, and cold turkey, have you thought of Nicotine Anonymous? That is a 12 step self-help group for those that would like to stop smoking very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA). They are free and the only 'requirement' is that the person has a desire to stop smoking. With the 12 step groups, one typically goes to different meetings that are hopefully in the area and also finds a sponser. A sponser is someone who has been thru the 12 steps and has had recovery from nicotine addiction. They are sorta a mentor.

There are also smoking cessation programs typically offered thru the local hospital. A lot of the time, one's health insurance will cover at least part of the program. And smoking cessation programs may involve group counseling and behavior modification. Perhaps stress management techniques are talked about. And actually hospitals may offer a weight management program (may be in a group setting but that can be so much more helpful than one to one) too which may be partially covered by one's health insurance.

Answer 2

You quit for 3 months? That's not sad, that's amazing! Most people can't even get to the one week mark!

The first thing to keep in mind is that if you can quit for 3 months, you can quit forever. By that point, your body has no physical addiction to nicotine anymore, and anything else is simply in your head. You may need a patch or gum or something, but cold turkey is definately the only approach. Cutting back gets you down to a couple and then that number increases, it's just how it works.

There's a couple key things. First and foremost, keep your time occupied! If you sit around doing nothing but thinking about having that cigarette, what do you suppose you'll do? Makes sense right?

Second, keep away from smokers! I still have friends that smoke, sure, but when I first quit, you bet your *** you wouldn't see me around them if they were smoking.

Biggest thing for me was throughout my days just taking a minute to notice when I didn't feel like having a cigarette, and how awesome that was! At first it wasn't often. I mean maybe a few minutes here or there, but then I just couldn't get past wanting one. But I started noticing more and more "Wow! It's been 3 hours since I wanted one!" and that gave me more and more power.

Last, notice the times when it's convenient not to be a smoker! Your buddies and you go to a movie, and oh look at that, they have to wait for you to smoke and get all annoyed, but not anymore!

I also put my daily cigarette money in a box and didn't touch it for a few months. Then my real reward for quitting was blowing 500 bucks on whatever the heck I felt like!

Just remember, you CAN do it. And after a week, the nicotine is gone, then it's just a battle between you and yourself. Then you can remember that it will only ruin your life, that there is definitively nothing good about smoking. Nothing.

Answer 3

You've really got to make the decision to quit, and then just do it - no trying, just do it and don't stop doing it.

But there's not much point in tossing your cigs, if you don't fix the underlying reason you smoke. So why do you smoke? Lonely, bored, fidgety, low confidence or self-esteem, caught up in peer pressure, or what?

Once you've quit for 48-72 hours, the nicotine is out of your blood and the rest of your addiction is in your head. The good news is that there are heaps of things you can do to replace your habit - and solve your underlying problems. Healthy snacks and things to do with your hands instead of putting a cig in your mouth, new activities to fill in your old smoking time, etc.

Have a look here: http://www.quitguide.com If you join up for the newsletter, you get a free guide to making friends without a cigarette in your hands, and the rest of the site is full of information to make quitting a breeze.

Answer 4

I've seen people have the most success when they use the gum for 9 - 12 months, and use Xanax for the first few weeks of the gum. In fact, every person I know who did it this way never went back to smoking.

Answer 5

excellent suggestions above, but when it comes down to it, you have to want it badly enough to just do it. I quit for four years once and went back to it, and I am gearing up shortly to quit again, I have heard that most smokers quit after seven or even eight times, so the key is to not give up. Keep trying.