Quit smoking

[Late]

I'm sure we had a thread. Perhaps it was on the old forums.

Anyways...
Tomorrow will be five weeks since my last cig. Feeling rather proud of that.

[Late]

I've tried to quit numerous times over the last twenty years or so, and have lasted for over six months on a couple of occasions, but I always buckle in the end and go back to the smokes. That's usually when something really stressful happens (major family illness) and my first reaction is to get down to the corner shop for some cigs and a lighter.
The last 3 years or so, though, I've not been getting any joy in my attempts to quit. Tried cold turkey, which has worked for me before, but no luck. Tried the inhalator things, which worked fine the one time I tried them before, but didn't work for me. Didn't bother trying the gum (nasty stuff) or the patches (don't help with the craving, but do give me a nasty rash).
So I got one of them e-cigarette things I've heard a bit about, lately - and it's doing a great job for me.
I hear the success rate is comparable to other methods - I guess some quitting methods/aids work better for some folk, and it's down to the individual - but I've not had a single cigarette since around 9pm on Saturday 22nd March, and I've not really missed them much.

Naturally, I'm still addicted to nicotine. This thing has kept me on the nicotine but switched me from cigs (definitely harmful and ridiculously expensive) to vapour (long term health effects not conclusively known, but probably safe, and relatively cheap).
At some point in the future I might try weaning off the e-cig, but for now I'm in no rush. I'm happy to keep using it indefinitely.

[jman]

Well done fella... you're over the hard part which is the first 2-3 weeks.

I've quit twice before.. once for 2 years, the other time lasted for 6 months.

First time I used gum and patches, 2nd time I used the inhaler, gum and patches - the inhaler was bloody awful but I persevered with it.

I've been meaning to give up again this year, but just keep putting it off.. takes a bit of time to get ready for it - plus I really don't want to put weight on after I lost quite a lot last year which I put on after giving up smoking last time around.. the weight gain for me comes part and parcel of giving up smoking.  My mate gave up about a year and half ago and has ballooned (probably about 3 stone) since then.

I bought a disposable e-cig a few months back but I didn't particularly enjoy it and don't believe it will help me in the long term if I'm still addicted to nicotine.  Cold turkey with gum and patches will sort me out.. everyone is different though.  If I'm being honest, I wont be giving up until September after me hollibobs.

[Late]

Cheers bud.

The wife had been nagging me to try these e-cig things for a while, ever since a shop selling them opened up a couple of doors down from where she works. (As in, it's an e-cig shop and sells nothing else. Surprised to see a niche shop like that open on my highstreet, where everyone else seems to be going out of business.)
I wasn't keen, as it seems like a gimmick - especially as you see there's all these different flavours - but relented in the end mainly due to the ridiculous cost of smoking these days.

I was on tobacco flavoured vape for a few weeks but am now (much to my embarrassment) on blueberry flavour.
Tastes like blue wkd.
Or probably like blueberries. I wouldn't know - I don't do fruit. But I do like a blue wkd. (Yeah, it's a bit girly, and I'm a bit old for alcopops, but I like them!)

I usually put quite a bit of weight on when I quit, but I think that's mainly me keeping my fingers and mouth occupied. I didn't put on any on the inhalators a few years back, and I've not put any on on the vapes, this time.
Good thing, too. I'm ordinarily about 15-16 stone (I don't look fat, as I'm about 6'3", and carry it well) but I don't look so canny when I put a couple of stone on on top of that.

I'm now spending about £10 a week - which is fantastic compared to real cigs. I was on Regal Kings, smoking about 30-35 a day, so that was working out at about £100 a week.
If I can keep it up I should be saving over £4500 a year by quitting.

[jman]

I smoked Lucky Strike back in the day, they were awesome.. sometimes changing to B&H - but I found B&H to be a bit too strong and when the prices hiked up I decided to go cheap and started on JPS - but they gave me a horrible cough.. and so I switched to Mayfair instead and that's typically the only brand I smoke now - although I'll switch up to Marlboro/Marlboro Lights from time to time.

But 30-35 a day.. fuck me mate.. I can get through 20 on a good night out easily but I feel so rough the next day.. typically I smoke between 8-10 a day - have done for about the past 15 years.. (bar the 2.5 years I gave up for).  Definitely helps when your partner doesn't smoke when giving up, unfortunately my missus is a bit of a social smoker, and whilst she may stop smoking at home at the same time as me, she will have a cheeky cig from time to time, but she smokes menthols which I hate so its not that bad.... although saying that she has started buying those "fresh click" ones where you can click the end to activate the menthol.. if you don't click them, they just taste like normal cigs.

£4500 is a lot of money to be spending on smokes a year, I used to just put the same money I would of spent in a jar and after a month - go out and spend it on something I wanted - good way to keep it going.

[Dragontao]

Well done Late.

I'm lucky, I never started in the first place.

[harv]

Of course you can quit smoking, you've done it loads of times before

Best of luck with it mate!

[Late]

Thanks lads.

[jman]

Still going strong on this late ?

I'm quitting from today.. had my last fag at around 10pm last night lol.. I've gone a whole 11 hours so far.. woohoo!

Using gum + patches... I find the patches help reduce the cravings a lot.. the gum is just there for something to do... I've got a few disposable e-cigs knocking about at home with a bit left in them.. will use them on nights out... luckily got nothing major planned until February though.

[Late]

Nice one mate! Keep it up.

Yeah, I'm still on the e-cig. Coming up on a year now. Well proud of that.

There was one day about three/four months ago when it ran out of power, I didn't have a spare battery, and I wouldn't be home for about six hours so I bought a pack of ten smokes. Was reluctant to do so as I knew there was a good chance I'd end up switching to them permanently, but as soon as I got home I binned the remaining few cigs and was pleased to get back on the e-cig. I found cigarettes to be an okay source of nicotine but they taste awful compared to my blueberry smokes!
Those few cigs are the only ones I've smoked since March last year.

I treated myself to a few new flavours on Christmas Eve. Cherry (nice, but not as nice as Blueberry), Chocolate (bloody awful - seemed okay when I tried it in the shop but horrible when I got home and smoked it properly), and Banana (lush - might be my new favourite).

[jman]

Nice.. that's good going.

There's some guy at work that smokes his e-cig all the time.   Don't think I want to be a permanent e-cig smoker (the goal is to quit completely), but I had a go on one of mine yesterday and it definitely feels like you get a bigger nicotine hit than the patches and gum - and you can feel that hit more when you stop smoking real ciggys.. so I'm using them for the bad cravings I have been getting.. usually 2 or 3 a day at the moment and will use them for nights out too... hopefully the bad cravings will reduce in the next few weeks cos they are making me tetchy.  Sense of smell has greatly improved already, can actually smell the smokers at work now lol.

So bloody hungry.. have been good though, resisted the urge to snack more.. I think when my body gets used to reduced nicotine intake and back to a normal diet (was a bit bad before and over the Christmas period).. the hunger pangs should go aswell... but could take some time 

[Late]

The improved sense of smell is a down side if the wife is prone to burning dinner...

[jman]

Hehe..

Downloaded a Quit Smoking app.. QuitNow I think it was called.. does all the calculations on how much you've saved, etc etc... be interesting to see what your stats are like a year on late lol.

So far, 3 days, 13 hours, 23 minutes, 46 ciggys not smoked, saved £17.25 and 4hrs and 37 mins of my life lol.  Quite a good motivator really.. today is being a bit of a bitch with the cravings though.... cant wait to get through the first week.

[Late]

No app, but I reckon I've spent around £410 on e-cigs since quitting (23 March I think) and would've spent around £4380 on cigs, so £3970 saved so far.

Unfortunately I don't have £4k sat in my bank account as a result, but my credit card isn't as bad as it would've been had I not quit.

[jman]

22.5 days gone now.
316 ciggys not smoked
£118.50 saved

Finding it tough at the weekends mainly because I don't have work to concentrate me for most of the day.. I used to love a ciggy on a sunday morning with a cuppa tea before the missus got up..

Also making a concerted effort to not pile on the pounds and lost 6.6 pounds so far this year.  Looking forward to some better weather and earlier mornings so I can get out on my bike and get going on that again this year.  Got a 60 miler in May I got to get in training for.