Cutting Down to Stop

Hi Joe, ok hope you're right, gonna fish out Alan Carrs book again and make a date to stop, OMG I'm panicking already but it has to be done...I'm fed up of being the only smoker and going outside on my own and panicking when I realise the local tabac is shut and it is only 7pm...fed up of my OH (ex-smoker)moaning at me, fed up of not having much money, and if the body goes into shock at least I'll be going out as a non-smoker haha!! Funny thing is that my Doc here knows I smoke and has never told me to stop???

Hi Sheila, Glad you got through the surgery and you are are here to add to the SFN melting pot. Yes Ireland was the first country to ban smoking and if you remember, typically, they invented a new word at the time. It is "smurting", a combination of smoking and flirting. Can about when people discovered that you could do a good chat up outside the bar in the smoking area when before the ban you couldn't get near the target him/her.

Anyway Good luck when you decide to make another break from the weed. If I can help let me know. Delighted to have an excuse to travel down to you guys in the south.

Hi Marianne, I guess you are replying to Maria's comment "Also as I have been smoking since 12 I am worried my body might go into shock!! Several people I know in the age range 40-70 who have stopped have been dead within 1 year!!!"

I have never heard of this either. I do know however that as soon as the last cigarette is extinguished the body starts to repair immediately and no exaggeration. It is easy to imagine that after many many years of putting stuff into your system that suddenly stopping doing it might lead to a reaction but in my mind it can only be a good reaction. More oxygen, less carbon monoxide, better sleep etc.

Hi Maria and John, It is true that many smokers who stop put on weight but you will find that this is because they substitute by eating instead of smoking. Often with sweet "reward" type snacks between meals and biscuits etc after a meal when they would usually have had a cigarette. This is only one reason why substituting is not a good idea. Another reason for weight gain is that our metabolism quickly slows to where it should be if we were non smokers and snacking and overeating during this time balancing out time will guarantee weight gain . The truth is that nicotine does not keep your weight down otherwise it would say so in tobacco marketing. Tobacco companies know that a huge number of smokers are in the same mind as you and fear putting on weight and just love it when they can get thin models and actresses are seen smoking. It is the main reason why young girls take up smoking - to keep their weight down.

Anecdotal evidence only but I have very rarely had successful clients tell me that they had put on more than 3 lbs and many stories of actually losing weigh because they have more energy to burn off extra cals. Another thought, if smoking kept your weight down there would be no overweight smokers. Hope that helps remove some of the fear.

Possibly their time was up anyways, smoking or not?

cant say much for the dead in a year bit, but the weight part is in theory easy to deal with, if when you give up smoking you put weight on don't worry about it and then when you are over the cravings etc. just cut down on the amount you eat and increase your exercise a little and the weight will come off. It is a strange but true fact that if you burn more calories than you put in you will loose weight. I know there are exceptions but they are very rare.

OK one of the obstacles with me I think is weight increase....how did everyone get on??? Did you lose the weight after a while or has it stayed??? Also as I have been smoking since 12 I am worried my body might go into shock!! Several people I know in the age range 40-70 who have stopped have been dead within 1 year!!! All these discussions are definately helping !!!!

After many years of smoking I quit for good on December 31, 1997 at 22 :00 after unsuccessfully trying to quit on several previous occasions. My downfall every time was that my than husband also smoked. Sharing a house with someone else that smokes, even though he did it outside, the smell on the clothes and breath that a smoker does not realize he has, never made me forget my urge and therefore I failed every time.

During the later part of 1997 I decided to separate from him (not because of his smoking) and after having a miserable time for the rest of that year I figured that one more miserable feeling would not make that much of a difference.

Surprisingly, quitting was easier than I thought it would be, or my other troubles were just more overwhelming than the urge to pick up a cigarette, I don’t know.

I remember feeling very proud of myself as each day passed without me having reached for a cigarette. My selfesteem, which had been very low, started to pick up and when I got past the « bad » third month I felt like I could do anything.

I applied for and got a great job with a major airline, traveled a lot and after a few years ended up living in France with a new Partner.

Hi Joe, unfortunately no I never threw it away....thanks for your kind words about the will power, you are so right in that half of me wants to stop and half wants to carry on...I have taken on board what everyone has said and I feel that the time is coming for that big decision...luckily or unluckily I have had no medical emergencies to make me stop but I think the time is coming....

I tried several times to give up, did it once for two years then had a fag on an appalling family holiday and was back to 30 a day within a month. I only ever smoked Silk Cut, hard to find in France, and when we moved here would have to go into Bordeaux once a week to buy a carton. That really brought home how much I was smoking, how much time it took, how much it cost.

I decided I wanted to stop. I went on smoking while thinking about how much it smelt, what I could spend that money on, how tired it made me feel, completely psyched myself up until one day I threw a packet away and stopped. It was such a relief. Every time I would have smoked I'd think that's so much added to the pot, now I can buy a magazine, now I can buy a pair of shoes...

Funnily enough one of the hardest things to cope with was not being exhausted all the time. Being tired was such a habit that I found myself sitting down for a rest and then realising that I didn't need one. Oh and the effect on your libido too. Not a good idea to give up if your partner is away for some time...

Dear Joe,

I gave up smoking the cold-turkey method at midnight on 31 December 1991. That makes it 20 years, wow! That doesn't mean I have been a saint. The first week was excrutiating, especially for my work colleagues. I counted every hour and talked about it non-stop. The second week was equally difficult as situations arose in social contexts which meant I had to deal with the problem. I was no longer a smoker but wanted to be in the gang. I wanted to sneak off for 15minutes to the designated cupboard provided in the office. I wanted to have a cigarette in one hand and a glass in the other at the bar.

After several months a night out with the girls at the bowling alley proved too much of a temptation. I begged a cigarette from a friend and she watched with astonishment as I went green when I inhaled. But since my friend was watching I had to finish it. I regretted smoking it but put the experience under my belt and moved on.

The cravings do eventually ease off. The need to smoke diminishes as you find other things to do with your time and money. I joined the gym and went to circuit training drills four times a week. At the weekends I decided to earn extra money by taking work in the nightclub in town. I also paid off all my debts, went on holiday and got promoted at work. What a year of achievements!

Last year under intense stress of divorce proceedings I did drag long and slow on a cigarette. It was like I had never given up. But my desires to be a non-smoker are stronger than to smoke. We all have choices in life, we just have to make the decision and make the commitment to be able to succeed. It's not about luck, but about self-belief. If you really want to stop smoking, you can and you will.

My main motivation was my partner stopping, and hating the smell on my clothes, even when I only smoked outside... I expect that added to my chances, but nevertheless, couldn't have done it without champix.

Hi Guy, Two years and I bet you are feeling better for it. Like you, I started at 13. The youngest starter at on of my seminars was 5 when he started in a boarding school during the war years. Thanks for pointing out the dangers of Champix it is really nasty stuff that can cause serious side effects. And considering it is only doubles your chances of stopping I question whether it should be available. Btw doubling your chance of success is based on a very low starter of only 3%. Glad you nailed it.

Hi Maria, Here we are "tomorrow morning" and how are you doing? Did you throw away your half smoked. Daft thing is my first smoke in the morning was always my favourite, although it often tasted foul and made me dizzy.. I found it easy not to smoke on "Morning One" when I accepted that I was only enjoying ending the craving caused by the last cigarette.

Don't accept the lie that it takes willpower. I believe that it is not lack of willpower but conflict of will. Part of you wants to stop and part of you wants to smoke. The willpower side of you that wants a cigarette wins. Nothing wrong with your willpower, you just need to remove the perceived benefits of smoking. Thats easy. Good luck.

Hi Cecile, Great that you stopped.

Allen wrote the thicker version, The Only Way to Stop Smoking as a follow up to the Easy Way but most people find that the follow up wandered off smoking too much and focussed on addictions. I was fortunate that I went to a seminar because,like Deb's husband I don't think I would have done it with a book.

I don't know how I escaped but apart from a few Gauloises or Sobranie Black Russian behind the bike shed I never really took it up. I had asthma as a child so that was a good reason but the pressure to smoke was huge. I used not to find smoking by others a problem but my attitude has changed. Now when people come for a meal I find the constant sorties for an outside drag are very boring at least, and there's nothing sadder than seeing a crowd of lonely people outside a pub, restaurant or office in terrible weather. Giving up must be hell but surely "you're worth it". Interesting point about the breast cancer as I lost my wife to that and I didn't know there was a link. I wondered if there was a long term connection to the pill that great society changer of the sixties. My late wife thought it was a painful blow from a tennis ball that kicked it off, but we shall never know. That David Cox is doing such research is wonderful.

I had NO problem giving up my smoking habit! When I was 43 I had a heart attack whilst working on a landrover, during a smoke break, was driven to hospital by my friend & treated, had another during the night after which my relatives were advised to visit, was transferred from Dover to St Thomas in London where I spent a week in intensive care where I was well looked after. Unfortunately the damage was too severe for a bypass operation so I just do everything half-hearted!. I was told that my smoking was to blame & that if I stopped for a week my body would no longer crave the nicotine & as I had already spent a week without I felt it silly to start again. When I was transferred to the cardiac ward I was disgusted by those who, having just had a bypass, would go outside so they could have a cigarette! They might just as well punch the surgeons & nurses on the nose!

I am not anti smoking & still enjoy a whiff of a cigarette, but I will never smoke again.

Hi everyone, and best wishes to those who are trying to quit, and congratulations to those who have. I gave up in 2005 - I had to! I had a dreadful headache, which persisted for several days. Finally went to the "vet", who couldn't find out the problem, but said my blood pressure was so high, his instrument couldn't measure it. He admitted me to hospital immediately. To make a long story painful, I had suffered a burst brain aneurysm (aneurysms are hereditary, I'm told). I also had high blood pressure of which I was unaware (they call it the "silent killer"). Hospitalised, brain surgery - no chance of a smoke! My husband had quit smoking six months before, by using the cutting down method. He got down from about 30 to 2, and then just stopped. When he brought me home from hospital a week after surgery, I wanted a cig but somewhere in my anaesthic-befuddled brain, I found the common sense to not do it. I succeeded and was still off the dreaded weed 3 years later, when my mother was hospitalised with stomach pains. Days later, they told us she had bowel cancer, and had no more than 6 months. Stunned and shocked, my brother (who smokes), my sister and our other halves, went to the local pub. Ireland was, I think, the first country to ban smoking in all public places, and the ban was well in force by then. So, when my brother wanted a cigarette, I went outside with him. Without thinking, he offered me one, and without thinking, I took one. Aside from all the other aspects of smoking, I think smokers (reformed or otherwise) always think a cigarette helps in times of stress. So I've been back on them for 2 years now, and desperately want to quit. I don't particularly want to go through brain surgery again though! So I'm really glad Joe started this discussion, as it has really made me think long and hard, not only about quitting, but how and when.

Hi Joe

Glad that you are one of the lucky ones too.

In the middle of 1976 I had a period of unemployment which drastically reduced the money available for smoking - so for about three months I was smoking less than 20 and sometimes much less than 20. Then I found a job in a kitchen in the September, where for three months I simply did not have time to smoke more than 8 cigarettes a day. Actually smoking during this period occasionally made me heave!

on 12th December 1976, I started work in a sales office with one smoker and one non smoker.

My New years resolution was to give up smoking - my colleague did the same. The smoke free office was much appreciated by my non smoking colleague.

if you went back to 1972 you would find that I was a club level long distance runner. I went back to training 10 sessions a week and by 1982 I was able to finish the London Marathon in 2 hours 37 minutes.

so the motivation was

1. My desire to become an athlete again

2. My desire not to lose face with my colleagues over the public New Years resolution.

3. The health benefits

By rejoining the Athletics club, I had far more friends who did not smoke and I was old enough to ignore peer pressure from other friends to smoke as well.

All in all a set of happy coincidences

OMG I feel so ashamed to be still smoking...how weak am I... Thanks everyone for all the tips..