Post for everyone who QUIT evil fags

StickyMcGinty

remembering wrote: »

any tips on how to stop eating more though as i dont want to put on lots of weight as i've lost weight recently. im in the gym, eating lots of fruit/mints/chewing gum etc but still hungry even though im not..

great site by the way..

Try to keep drinking cranberry juice, orange juice and water. I'm actually eating less this week after quitting monday.

Couple of people on this site recommended peeling an orange when you get a craving, great advice. say I've drank 4 litres of cranberry & orange juice and about a dozen oranges and apples this week!

Alsom dont worry about putting on weight for the first while. Seemingly you'd have to put on an extra 8 stone for the health risks to be the same as they were when you were smoking.

Your appetite will balance out, stay strong!!

remembering

StickyMcGinty wrote: »

Try to keep drinking cranberry juice, orange juice and water. I'm actually eating less this week after quitting monday.

Couple of people on this site recommended peeling an orange when you get a craving, great advice. say I've drank 4 litres of cranberry & orange juice and about a dozen oranges and apples this week!

Alsom dont worry about putting on weight for the first while. Seemingly you'd have to put on an extra 8 stone for the health risks to be the same as they were when you were smoking.

Your appetite will balance out, stay strong!!

thanks a million, bought oranges yesterday alright, think i will be having a lot of early nights!!!! was off them before for 8 months so fingers crossed i dont slip up this time!!

best of luck to everyone. im suffering today

username123

Day 14 almost over and alls well in my non smoking world.

Have a dental appointment next week - something Id been avoiding but the complaining tooth is forcing me to go. I look forward to getting a cleaning and it staying clean and not nicotine stained!!!
I also look forward to not having a cigarette after the appointment - trying to smoke it through numb lips and it going all over the place!

YumDeiseMum

username123 wrote: »

Day 14 almost over and alls well in my non smoking world.

Ditto, day 14 here too, am doing so much better than I ever thought I would. Have managed to have a few drinks without even thinking about smoking and am only using the patches every other day.

Well done us

username123

YumDeiseMum wrote: »

Well done us

Well done us!!!

I havent noticed improved taste, smell or cardio action yet though - maybe my taste/smell werent that badly affected and it takes longer than 2 weeks for improved cardio?

Im a bit disappointed re taste cos I do love food and cooking and was hoping that life would suddenly seem like the Chocolate Room in Willy Wonkas factory

On the plus side, my purse seems to have way more money in it, I am not always paranoid about being smelly, my breath 'feels' better, my teeth have whitened remarkably on their own, and its less stressful to live without ALWAYS thinking about when and where you can get out for a fag.

egan2020

Does anyone know if you can buy the Nicorette inhaler over the counter and on it's own - i.e. without having to buy cartridges. I'm on Day 6 and I got up this morning and can't find the inhaler :eek: Most likely explanation is the dog got it.

If I have to buy the cartridges i will, but I'd only used about 8 out of 42 so still have loads left and I planned on stopping the inhaler once the cartridges were gone.

dolliemix

just popping in to say well done everyone!

i used a thread like this to help me when i gave up smoking new years day 2010 ....... and it worked!

keep up the good work

spider77

So two weeks down and cold turkey going good. I chew mints anytime I get an urge but it seems like I am getting there slowly. Its amazing how much you start to notice people smoking once you quit. I went for a jog again tonight and passed people walking and smoking thinking 'ah that used to be me feeling all guilty for smoking while out walking with joggers passing me'. I signed up for a 10K in April just to keep the motivation going.

Hope everyone has a good week ahead......

username123

Day 16.

Only a couple of days ago I posted that I hadnt noticed an improvement in taste or smell.

Yesterday morning I once again (3 times in the space of 3 days) opened a tin of beans and thought they smelled 'funny' - this time I got my husband in to have a smell and he said 'thats how beans always smell!!'.

It was then I realised - I do have an improved sense of smell - and I dont like beans as much as I did

I also had 2 challenges that I was waiting to get over.
1: I had a couple of small glasses of wine at home last night. Did not get any craving at all. That surprised me.

2: A woman was smoking outside Spar this morning so I went and loitered next to her. I genuinely didnt know how Id feel about smelling someones smoke as it was my first time to encounter someone smoking, I was slightly fearful that Id snatch the fag from her hand, and run off to furiously smoke it, but I can report that I had no such feelings - I just felt 'oh someone smoking'. I didnt get a brilliant smell of it as the smoke was carrying the wrong way - but enough.

So I think I will survive both drinking and in company with other smokers (both of which would be rare enough events in my life anyway but I was afraid they were danger zones).

Just realised today that I havent felt dizzy in a week or so now, so looks like my brain is accustomed to all this extra oxygen

Keep the faith folks!

readyletsgo

Well that was a long weekend for me!

A smoking friend of mine on Thursday was having a bad day so went for a drink with him, he had a few smokes, but I got through it with no bother.

Then Friday evening, went out again, this time with non-smoking friend, was fine didnt think of it at all.

Then sat night was in Whealans for the night, around the smoking area, anyone who know Whealans knows the smoking area is pretty epic and packed all the time. Got through that and a house party till 6am lol.

Feeling good! Although I do feel like I am cheating a little with the NiQuitin tabs. Think after this week I will quit them too, they cant be helping too much at this stage. Will go for my run again tonight. Helps with clearing my chest I think.

Well done everyone and keep up the amazing work!!!!

F-Stop

readyletsgo wrote: »

Feeling good! Although I do feel like I am cheating a little with the NiQuitin tabs.

Well done on getting through what sounds like an epic weekend. You can't 'cheat' at quitting smoking. Tabs, patches, gum, inhalers, medication are all just adjuncts to help you quit - you still have to do the hard part.

On day 30 myself using champix. I found an app that keeps track of how many I'd have smoked and how much I've saved to be a great incentive when I was getting cravings. I was smoking 30 a day, so I would have smoked 887 and have saved €403 since stopping a month ago. Crazy.

readyletsgo

F-Stop wrote: »

Well done on getting through what sounds like an epic weekend. You can't 'cheat' at quitting smoking. Tabs, patches, gum, inhalers, medication are all just adjuncts to help you quit - you still have to do the hard part.

On day 30 myself using champix. I found an app that keeps track of how many I'd have smoked and how much I've saved to be a great incentive when I was getting cravings. I was smoking 30 a day, so I would have smoked 887 and have saved €403 since stopping a month ago. Crazy.

Thanks for the kind words F-stop!

Can I ask you how you are getting on with the Champix? I have heard both good and bad things about it. Also, whats the name of that app you got?

Also, jaysus :eek: 887 smokes and €403 in a month! Thats unreal!!

I would have smoked about 180 since I gave up last week to today, also would have spent €81.90, I dont have that money in my pocket at all for some reason lol, but still!

F-Stop

readyletsgo wrote: »

Thanks for the kind words F-stop!

Can I ask you how you are getting on with the Champix? I have heard both good and bad things about it. Also, whats the name of that app you got?

Also, jaysus :eek: 887 smokes and €403 in a month! Thats unreal!!

I would have smoked about 180 since I gave up last week to today, also would have spent €81.90, I dont have that money in my pocket at all for some reason lol, but still!

I know some people don't like the reaction they have to Champix. I have no trouble with it, if I take it before I eat something I do get a sick feeling for a while, and get that even after breakfast some times. That and crazy vivid dreams (not necessarily interesting dreams, but very vivid - emptying the dishwasher in HD kind of thing) are the only side effects I've got. I kept smoking while taking it until I got to the point where I wasn't interested in smoking and they started to taste like inhaling coal fumes. I've 6 weeks left to go and the only 'cravings' I get are purley habitual or psychological and pass fairly easliy. The only other thing was I lost interest in coffee for a little while, though I'm drinking it again now but less than before. The app helps too, it's called Quitit. I just picked the first one I came across but I'm sure there are a few that do the same thing.

Yeah, it's embarrassing seeing how much I was spending on my precious drug addiction (which it was to me at the time - I found lots of ways to justify it). I don't really notice having any more money, but definitely not going to the ATM as much, nor spending the extra few quid on sweets and gum that I used to when buying smokes.

Best of luck with quitting.

iamthe43

Well, I'm still off them.

A couple of things i have noticed in the past seven days.

1-I AM CONSTANTLY CRAVING CIGARETTES!!!!
2-Although i crave them, i don’t want them
3-My sense of smell hasn't improved yet
4-Nor has my sense of taste
5-I am moody(to say the least)
6-I have so much energy its not even funny (i am driving my girlfriend up the walls!!!)
7-Life is tolerable without cigarettes
8-My boss has been very short with me since I quit (i think he may be secretly jealous)
9-I have saved an un-impressive £33.60 and smoked 140 less cigarettes(roll ups)
10-I am nuts without my cigarettes. But I am happy

readyletsgo

iamthe43 wrote: »

Well, I'm still off them.

A couple of things i have noticed in the past seven days.

1-I AM CONSTANTLY CRAVING CIGARETTES!!!!
2-Although i crave them, i don’t want them
3-My sense of smell hasn't improved yet
4-Nor has my sense of taste
5-I am moody(to say the least)
6-I have so much energy its not even funny (i am driving my girlfriend up the walls!!!)
7-Life is tolerable without cigarettes
8-My boss has been very short with me since I quit (i think he may be secretly jealous)
9-I have saved an un-impressive £33.60 and smoked 140 less cigarettes(roll ups)
10-I am nuts without my cigarettes. But I am happy

I understand all your points there iamthe43, but it seems you are very focused on the fact you are not smoking anymore. I'm dont want to come accross as a preachy bugger, but, trick is not to think about it, at all! Maybe try taking up a hobby of some sort in the evening for a half hour or something, anything at all, takes your mind off it for a while each day, helps a lot.

Otherwise, well done! 7days! Both of us in the same boat! We can do it dude!!!!!

username123

iamthe43 wrote: »

9-I have saved an un-impressive £33.60 and smoked 140 less cigarettes(roll ups)

Nothing unimpressive about that, it all adds up. At that level in 20 years time you will have saved 35 grand. Not bad.

iamthe43

Touché readyletsgo…
You are indeed correct. I do constantly think about them, but I do try not to.
I have taken up yoga in the evenings. This helps. A lot.
I have tried running as well, however my lungs aren’t up to it yet. Maybe in a week or two.

F-Stop

username123 wrote: »

Nothing unimpressive about that, it all adds up. At that level in 20 years time you will have saved 35 grand. Not bad.

Yeah, even in a year it's €1750. Not bad at all.

iamthe43, during the second week off them all I could think about was cigarettes and smoking them. I got really pissed off, and was a pain in the backside to be around for a few days. I genuinely thought I would never be able to not smoke - that I just needed to face that and go back to smoking or I would never be happy again. And almost overnight something switched. I found it much easier to go without them and started to 'get' that not smoking was a good thing for me and started to feel happy about it. I guess it was getting past the physical addiction that caused the change, but it was really weird the way it was so sudden. Good luck and keep at it.

Marty McFly

Im starting to ger a bit jealous of everyone in here im off the smokes ten weeks and 3 days now and have no intention of going back on them, but everyone here talking about improved sense of smell and taste I still havent noticed the differance nor has my chest really been clearing up, maybe excercise would help speed it along?

username123

luvbulmers01 wrote: »

Im starting to ger a bit jealous of everyone in here im off the smokes ten weeks and 3 days now and have no intention of going back on them, but everyone here talking about improved sense of smell and taste I still havent noticed the differance nor has my chest really been clearing up, maybe excercise would help speed it along?

Maybe your chest didnt need to clear up? Mine didnt clear out either, I never got a cough or anything. Im Day 17 now and I would have thought if my chest was going to start clearing out it would have by now?

The only difference Ive noticed in taste/smell is that I keep thinking beans are gone off!!

mud

It took a good couple of months before my chest starting clearing properly guys. Although everyone is different

Well done. Keep it up!

Boom_Bap

luvbulmers01 wrote: »

Im starting to ger a bit jealous of everyone in here im off the smokes ten weeks and 3 days now and have no intention of going back on them, but everyone here talking about improved sense of smell and taste I still havent noticed the differance nor has my chest really been clearing up, maybe excercise would help speed it along?

Excercise also helps you realise how much smoking was holding you back! It also helps forget about smoking.

username123 wrote: »

Maybe your chest didnt need to clear up? Mine didnt clear out either, I never got a cough or anything. Im Day 17 now and I would have thought if my chest was going to start clearing out it would have by now?

The only difference Ive noticed in taste/smell is that I keep thinking beans are gone off!!

I can smell sour milk everywhere now, it's weird. Havent noticed any problem with beans.

username123

Boom_Bap wrote: »

I can smell sour milk everywhere now, it's weird. Havent noticed any problem with beans.

Thats bizarre! My bean problem extends to baked beans, kidney beans AND butter beans - Ive opened tins of all 3 and thought they were off. Its a shame because I like beans!!

I have always exercised despite being a smoker, so was looking forward to turning into a superhero It hasnt happened yet, although I did break my personal swim record yesterday, but Im not sure it was non smoking related, Id been working towards it anyway.

iamthe43

username123 wrote: »

My bean problem...

Love it!

username123

iamthe43 wrote: »

Love it!

Its a serious non smoking related issue I used to love a 3 bean salad!

largepants

username123 wrote: »

Its a serious non smoking related issue I used to love a 3 bean salad!

You're now a has-bean smoker!!:) Sorry I'll get my jacket.

Hope everyone is faring out well. I seem to be getting grand at the moment. Odd craving but generally I'm more than happy to have quit. I chew a bit of gum when I get a craving and it seems to do the job. I'm hoping to start doing a bit of training starting from this weekend. Going to try and emulate all the budding John Treacys on these boards and aim for the couch to 5k initially.

Keep it going folks. I'm on day 15 and have been out drinking twice. I have to admit the first time was tough but the second time was much much easier. Hang on in there people. It'll be all worth it in the end.

Lapin

Off them 7 weeks now.

Or is it 8 weeks ?

I've stopped counting as I no longer care or even think about them.

For those of you just quitting, stick with it.

It really is worth it !!!

username123

largepants wrote: »

You're now a has-bean smoker!!:) Sorry I'll get my jacket.

lol!!! Brilliant!!!

My bean issue has extended Im afraid, last night I thought my mashed spuds were off and my peas!!! Maybe this is how ex smokers put on weight - they realise that veg is all musty and they eat cakes instead (sweet things taste fine!).

Im hoping its just temporary veg aversion!!

Day 18 and after an extremely stressful day yesterday where I never even considered smoking - Im doing fine!

readyletsgo

Day 10.

Woke up in terrible form this morning. Wanted a smoke real bad. Walked to work and it seems ALL of Dublin are smokers today! Totally not going to break, dont want to, have come so far, but that was a 'surprise, out of no where craving' to me! Got into work, had a coffee and felt much better, got my bananas and mixed nuts in for break and now looking forward to starting my week 2 of the couch to 5k thingy tonight!

@Username123: Since I stopped smoking I have been eating more veg and fish (albeit, tesco sweet chilli salmon, nom!) and re-discovered liver 2 days ago too! I dont think my taste is back at all just yet but I feel I am getting my body ready for that day, be it tomorrow or a year from now! Does veg have a musty taste?(lol)


Keep it up everyone!!!

username123

readyletsgo wrote: »

Does veg have a musty taste?(lol)

I feel traumatised by it, beans, peas and mashed potatoes have been a bit musty/off. My husband has smelled and tasted them all and said that they are all fine (he is a non smoker). Fresh veg seems fine.

Sorry to hear you had such a big crave this morning, you do get the odd mad one alright. I havent really noticed one in a few days now.

Stay strong!