I have stopped SMOKING!

“Hey... that photo reminds me of the legendary Night Kruller --

”

“Gonna try to go without next time I go to Nashville, but the harder I try to quit the less I think I'll ever be able to.”

Bison
8:35:12 AM
2/01/05

Its all in your head Bison....you can do anything you set your mind to. :)”

“well took $7.00 that it would have cost me to buy a pack of smokes and bought myself lunch
gen tso's chicken

yummy!”

“"Its all in your head Bison....you can do anything you set your mind to. :)"

embear
10:21:19 AM
2/01/05

It would really help if I could replace the smoking with something.... say some kind of physical activity... ;)”

“silly bison, i swaer i heard nigal or bit volunteer to help us smokers stop.
wonder what they mean”

“Hmmm......”

“who is talking about cutting down? you either quit or you don't!!! simple as that! if you "cut down" (lmao anyway) you'll end up smoking more later on!! been there done that! bunch a bull!”

“"gen tso's chicken"

Great, now I want it for lunch and don't have a place close to get it. Thanks! :-)

The week I quit I went to Costco's and bought one of those 3-gallon sized bins of cheeze puff balls. Ate the whole darn thing in one week. Then I moved on to sunflower seeds. I found eating them shell and all helped with the physical part and wasn't as fattening as a whole !@#$ tub of cheeze balls.”

“Tech -

I went to the Costco the other day and got a five pound bag of Jolly Ranchers.”

“LOL, gotta love the warehouse stores. Especially when you are quitting smoking.”

“Bison --

I have heard it said that smoking is an oral fixation.

You'll need to find something else.



Buckle your seat belt Embear . . .”

“Lee you are right about that.
I bought sweet tarts and have been sucking on them all day. that is how I stopped last time by chewing on gum.
I bought bread sticks but they did not last till lunch :(”

“Uh, no complaints about that........”

“THEN there was the time when a local lesbian Ob-Gyn retired...

A friend called up and said, "Hey, I heard Dr. ______ quit doing crack..."

"Professionally," I replied.”

“I'm not addicted to sex. define a sex addict.

Its all in your head Bison....you can do anything you set your mind to. :)”
embear
11:21:19 AM
2/01/05

Pain is in your head also. You wouldn't respond with an "OW!" after someone drives a scalpel blade under your toenails if those damn nerve signals didn't reach the Brain”

“Geeez, I hate when that happens.”

“Good on ya! I quit as soon as I hit Bahrain. The first two weeks wse kind of rough, but now it's been two months and the smell alone makes me gag.”

“How hard or easy it is to smoke really all depends on your reasons. All the willpower in the world won't help you if you're not "ready". Once a smoker always a smoker... kinda like being an alcoholic. I smoked for years... then quit for 9 years... all the while though I was quitting for all the reasons everyone here has already mentioned... health, family, wind, etc. etc. etc... All that time though I still kept saying "I never had a cig I didn't like" ... so I wasn't REALLY ready.

As soon as I found out my wife was cheating and I started going through the divorce I had one cig and the next day I was back to over a pack a day!

Then I met my present wife. She never said to quit but I was hacking all the time and one night I got drunk and just OD'd on cigs to the point I could hardly breathe. I hacked flem all night and was totally disgusted with myself.

Right then and there I said to myself if I make it through this night of misery I was going to quit. I was sooooo "ready". Just the smell of cigs were gross to me and literally made me sick to my stomach.

That next day I had none and it was pretty EASY... and then the day after that and that. The first 3 were probably the hardest & I was so "ready", they weren't really that hard either! Someone gave me a great tip that I think really helped.

That is: the URGE really only lasts for a few minutes. Find something to do or occupy your mind with for that few minutes (preferably something physical), and the urge will subside. Then you'll go another hour or two till it comes again. Just get through that few minutes again and you'll have another hour or two smoke free. As time goes on (and it doesn't take long) there is more and more time between urges, and they're shorter and shorter, till there are none!

Remember though, you can't just "cut down" ... it's all or nothing! Don't give in... you can last that few minutes.

Well needless to say, I'm now smoke free for over 10 years and I know I'll never have another. Feel great, run 5-7 miles every other day no problem, run up a local "mountain" trail 3.3miles w/1200' elevation gain in 45 minutes then back down 1.7 miles in less than 20 minutes.

And because not smoking made exercise easier I lost 40 pounds rather than gain weight, which a lot of people do when they quit because they replace smoking with eating.

So keep it up and if you need moral support write me... I'll be glad to help!

Capt. Jim

PS: the TreadClimber is an AWESOME machine! I have one and use it when weather is bad or I'm stuck in the house babysitting the kids on days my wife works. Great workout... gets your heart going in as little as 3 minutes and the motion is NOTHING like running on an inclined treadmill. It's much more like hiking up a mountain. You're not running you're walking, and when you get it up around 3 - 4 mph you're walking real fast! Definately keep it on as high an incline as you can... MUCH better of a workout. Have fun!
last edited: 2/01/05 1:16:12 PM”

“See, I tried putting the urge out of my mind but that does not work, I can occupy myself for fifteen minutes or even longer and the urge is still there, I hold off for hours and the urge to have one just builds never goes away, and getting stronger. I have never once had the urge go away without having a cigarette.”

“I guess it just goes to show what works for one may not work for another... but any tips & encouragement mapleleaf can get from anyone is good. Maybe just one of them may work for her (or someone else looking to quit).

Peace Out...
Capt. Jim”

“thank you jim for the info on the machine!
looking forward to using it :0”

“



last edited: 2/01/05 1:39:36 PM”

“actually bearmagnet, that's not a bad idea.

before I quit I ordered my cigs over the net for I think $11 a carton. If I remember correctly they came from russia (marlboro) anyway, they tasted different, nasty actually, at least for me. I quit after I smoked the last of my 10 cartons.”

“Mmmmmm, makhorka....”

“Has Mapes restarted yet? ;-)”

“no!”

“mmmm I can smell the coffee this morning and breath the fresh air baby!

4 days clean!

last night was a tester. half way into the late night meeting I was so peeved, I said to myself "self, we are going to buy a pack right after this meeting"
but by the time it was over, things smoothed out and i forgot about wanting smoke :)


mmmmmmm Blow Pop lollypops pop my corn”

“Day 77”

“WoooohOOO Maple!! Keep it up Chickie!”

“It hurts.... I need one, I need one now, Give me the cigarettes.... Whhhhhhaaaaaaa!”

“Don't do it, be strong!
Suck on a lollipop or something.
The first couple of days are the hardest. After that, it's cake.”

“Try chewing on whole sunflower seeds (salted or flavored). Also find the strongest sugar-free mint you can and suck on them. Those two things really helped me.

Plus I ate a ton the first 2 weeks.”

“It'll taste real crappy!”

“No It'd taste good, don't remind me, I'm still fightin' usin' the lozenges, they help but I still really want a cigarette.”

“wow bison. awesome!! hey...I have smoked as much as you did before and I made it, so I am sure you will too.

it's all in your mind...”

“I'm on day 106 now.
I had one a while back. It tasted REAL BAD!! And I stunk for the rest of the day. 8*(

Not good.”

“Not going to make it.... Too Hard.... Must fight on... AWWWWW!

Did any of you see things when you quit? You know like midgets following you around smoking and laughing at you?

What? Why'd I ask? Oh no reason, just askin'”

“LMAO. I think I still see them. hahahahaha. You are nuts!!”

“You mean you hear the voices in your head, too? Wow, I thought it was just the 3 of me that heard them.”

“Good on ya Bison, me again soon I guess.”

“Yay! I will now have a smoke-free boyfriend!!!

You can do this Bison!!!”

“You're gonna have a smoke free chubby boyfriend because I can't seem to stop eating :(”

“I think I just went for about 2 minutes when I didn't think about having a cigarette... Progress...”

“At least being chubby wont kill ya. Unless all you eat is fast food. :P”

“Yeah, I know the voices in my head aren't real.
But, they sure have some good ideas.”

“it never quite goes away, but I'll guarantee it gets much much easier when the habbit of just lighting one up for a break or when bored goes, and that doesn't take long.”

“Good for you Bison. It gets easier as time passes. I quit back in Dec of 2002 (I think. I can't remember now) Every once in awhile I'll take a drag from a friend's ciggy but it tastes like crapola. Now I can't even stand to be in smoky bars. (BTW, tip: Stay out of smoking permitted bars. Try to go to only non-smoking establishments. No temptation there.)”

“Bison, did you get my email?”

“Yeah I got it today! Yeah! replyin' in a minute.”