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Good for you ! But that's just proof that you did it, not that it's a question of will power. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. Comparing nicotine with heroin is just ... quite correct. Let's keep things in perspective as you say (so do your homework).
this is one of the subjects where all the truths may be true... i'm doing well on my 3rd day, early afternoon i really had the urge so i ended up eating a lot (again)...
I started when I was 15 or 16, smoking a few a day. My first 8-hour a day indoor job was when I was 28, tackling tough math and engineering problems. Sitting, staring at the ceiling, trying to come up with the next step, I would reach for a cigarette. Soon I was up to a pack a day. It made me feel bad, so I quit. It was easy.
But my new young wife smoked. On Saturday morning over a second cup of coffee I would reach for one of hers. Soon I would be back buying them and smoking them. I asked her to quit. Nobly, she did it for me.
Years later we were driving down the street. "Do you know what day it is?" she asked.
"Oh, Hell!" I thought. "What have I done now?" Then aloud, "No, sorry, I don't know what day it is."
"It's been ten years since I had a cigarette."
"..and you still want one."
"Yes. I still want one."
I bought her a bouquet of roses and took her to a nice restaurant.
i really had the urge so i ended up eating a lot (again)...
Something like that happened to me a few years ago when I quit for a few months, and I really got fat(ter) all the snacking cos I had nothing to do with my hands and then unfortunately I started to smoke again,,,,,,,,,,and then I thought ,," OH no , now I am Fat AND smoke ,,..!!! at least I was slimmer before.... I think when your body gets used to a new way of life you can loose it again...// try snacking fruit or something that has less calories , stay away from the biscuits, stay away ,,, stay awayyy..
So long as you can still reach your guitar your not too fat........!!!
this is one of the subjects where all the truths may be true... i'm doing well on my 3rd day, early afternoon i really had the urge so i ended up eating a lot (again)...
Try the book I recommended. It just teaches you how to manage your desires. It doesn't bang on about filthy dirty habit and all that old crap. I think we all know that already.
Just how to cope and live with desire without satisfying it.
Put down the cigarettes, and don't light another one. Some number of days later you'll one day find you aren't thinking about a cigarette, and it'll be done.
Same thing about losing weight, cut down the food, up the exercise. Suffer the hunger and you'll lose weight.
First of all, RNJ - that was a great story, thanks for that. :)
I think it's fascinating how some people have the power to just quit (like Jeff above me and MSA above him) while the rest of us are still savouring that 'last delicious ci with a cup of coffee' feeling.
I'm down to 3-4 a day, but more if I drink. :)
Keep up the good fight, Jimi_Hendrix, you're doing it for all of us. :)
thought I'd come back to this thread again, just to mention that I have been off them now for 3 weeks , I have a twinge now and then but all in all it's not so bad, I made a good start so far anyway..........
hought I'd come back to this thread again, just to mention that I have been off them now for 3 weeks , I have a twinge now and then but all in all it's not so bad, I made a good start so far anyway..........
Good work man.
I'm on week eight or nine now and had noticed a bit of weight gain so I went on some diet called the South Beach Diet. On the first week of the diet it's a miracle it didn't end up in prison for murder. Not sure if it was the lack of carbs or the lack of sugar but I turned into a raging monster. Way worse then the nicotine withdrawal.
Yeah I did expect to get fatter, but strangely enough I seem to have lost a bit of weight , I just looked up your South beach stuff just in case..
At the moment I am eating fruit, especially pears, instead of punching people when I want to smoke..... Also I have devoted a lot of my ex-smoking time to practicing tremolo ( which I am notoriously bad at) and this helps take my mind off it as I have to concentrate a lot to try and make it sound like anything decent.... Still got a long way to go though, both with tremolo and non-smoking
Week 9 for you eh? do you still get those moments...? or are they dying away now?
The easiest way to fail to lose weight is to go on a diet like that. In a nutshell, carbs are good, they fuel the metabolism which burns fat. The problem is that most people don't exercise. IF you want to lose weight, you need to learn about nutrition, and exercise, and adjust your eating around your exercise. If you do that, then you can eat a lot, and still lose weight.
If you try a "diet", you're 99.9% guaranteed to fail. At least that is, after you get sick of what the diet makes you eat. Most people go on a diet, BUT then get hungry all the time, they suffer, and they lose weight. Then they get sick of suffering, the diet fails and poof they're fat again.
If you exercise regularly, in a real way and get yourself fit. Increase muscle mass, get the cardiovascular system up to snuff. You can eat regularly through the day (5-6 times), and drop weight at the same time.
Regards, Jeff
quote:
Good work man.
I'm on week eight or nine now and had noticed a bit of weight gain so I went on some diet called the South Beach Diet. On the first week of the diet it's a miracle it didn't end up in prison for murder. Not sure if it was the lack of carbs or the lack of sugar but I turned into a raging monster. Way worse then the nicotine withdrawal.
Yes, I do plenty of exercise, cycling and jogging.
The diet thing was just a way of pulling things back into focus as I was using way too much sugar and a few too many bad carbs as well. After two weeks I'll be introducing (good) carbs again and getting back to normal.
I lost 3Kg in the first week, by the end of this week if I loose 1.5kg more I'll be at my usual weight.
Strangely enough, even when I was a heavy smoker, I still had better cardiovascular fitness than some of my non smoking riding mates.
I do a lot of cycling myself, try doing it with a heart rate monitor (they're cheap) figure out your various heart rates, and then work in targeted zones. Also doing intervals are a great way to really boost the calorie output, build strength and endurance. (i.e. pop the bike in high gear at a stop and with all your strength pedal up to as fast as you can go for 30 seconds, the shift to a lower gear and pedal at a low resistance for 60 seconds and recover, repeat, etc.). Doing intervals a couple times a week will improve your cycling a LOT faster than spending hours at a time just spinning along.
It does take time for your body to burn down fat, if you saw a big drop in a short time. Then you lost weight by the old fashioned starvation method. :) Which generally is an unhealthy way to lose weight, and if you start eating again it's likely to pop right back. However it can be done. It just wouldn't work for me. The only way I could get the weight off was cycling, and a bunch of other stuff such as weights, and calisthenics. Once I got the upper body involved in the plan then for me it all started working a lot better.
Dilemma ???what dilemma..? Go south ...take the guitar ....I already forgot the other option...oh yeah North , wherever that is ..
Well my lovely lady is from Santander on the north coast so we go there quite often. It took me a while to warm to it but when you explore the north of Spain it's wonderful. Unspoilt, quiet, green rolling landscapes.
actually , yes it is nice there , I been only a few times and to Asturias, and therabouts, and of course Galicia , where my wifes family comes from .. Anyway, ask your lovely lady if she knows this song ,,,,,
Cantabria querida,..te voy a cantar,...a canción que mi pecho.,...te va a dedicar...... aah no se mas que eso, pero bueno fue muchos años...
and then you can make a recording of her singing and put it here....
I quit on Saturday - I'm about to have a little girl and decided it was time to grow up, so I got a job, grew a beard, and quit smoking.
Honestly it was pretty easy once I decided it's final (I did however smoke a ton of weed during the first day so I wouldn't feel the withdrawal so much). Sometimes I feel like a cigarette again but I know it won't really make a difference so I keep going and the craving goes away.
I'm not sure if it's all in my head but I swear that everything suddenly smells a lot stronger and I feel better about myself - as in - I'm not doing anything bad to myself anymore (except a little dessert here and there).
Anyway I hope you're still not smoking, it's the right choice - why breathe in poison gas if you're not behind a bus?
i still do unfortunately, but i've settled for a much smaller dosage than before...i know this is still not ideal, but i'm happy with it...i hope i succeed in quitting some day...
I don't smoke myself, so I can't speak for it, but several colleagues who were die-hard smokers used it and quit. These guys had tried everything for years and no luck.
One of the guys who could never quit tried it to essentially show the first guy that this book is BS and won't work, however, he's quit using it and has been off cigarettes for about 5 months now (which for him is amazing, since in the past he could only stop for about 1 week). He still has a poker night every Thursday where all his buddies light up, and it doesn't bother him. He says in the book it explains that most of it is mental.
Again, not first-hand experience, but in case someone may find use in this.
Pity, you have to find what works for you .. I went and had a chat to my Doctor and this tablet stuff called champix seemed the best for me , I knew other things would fail almost straight away, Since the middle of Feb I have been off them , most of the time I do not think of them now, although from time to time I still get a twinge , but then what do you expect I knew I would have problems I just have to deal with it.. Go and see someone to get some advice , it may help to not be alone....... Good luck.