I was speaking to another member of the community who is really struggling with their smoking addiction. There were so many questions that even with having been a smoker my whole life (I did quit for a period in there and started again) I just couldn't answer the questions. I knew there were medical reasons and answers I just didn't know them. I started to do some research and found this great article that explains so much. At the end of the article there are some more links for how to plan to quit and then do it.

I hope it is helpful to you. If you have any questions please let me know. If I don't know the answer, I will try and find it for you.

So for now, take a deep breath and have faith in yourself that you can do this!! It is a serious addiction, but you can make the choice to break it and yes, there is help.

Here is the link to the article:

What Is A Smoking Addiction?

Great article Carolynn.

As a recent ex-smoker myself I used this site throughout my quit. It is About.com's section on quitting smoking. It has articles and discussions on every aspect you can imagine and approaches quitting both physically and psychologically.

Quit Smoking | Quit Smoking Support | Smoking Cessation

It saved me from relapsing!

I smoke too, I have quit several times, but am finding if I try top quit my binging gets really bad, I am looking into help on this but right now I am just trying to conquer binging and I know tis isn't the best attitude but the smoking will not make me fat (I know, just kill me) but the binging will make me fat NOW and kill me too.

I will definitely read the article, I really want to be wholly healthy.

Thanks carolynn!

Tea -
Yes, controlling food during a quit for smoking can be a real CHALLENGE. The problem is cigarettes are an oral fixation. I went nuts and did all my addictions at once at the start of the process - it was a ROUGH January. Here are some tricks I used to keep me from binging on food while putting down my pack of Marlboros:
1) Water, water, and then some more water. I sipped ice cold water all day long, even while I was driving. Of course I had to pee constantly, and I think trying to find a bathroom took my mind off smoking most of the time.
2) Gum, large wads of cinnamon gum. For some reason cinnamon gum seemed to help both curb my apetite and kill my cravings for cigarettes. It's a strong taste that got rid of anything! Plus, nothing truly tastes great after chewing a piece.
3) Physical activity. I literally ran up and down 8 flights of stairs twice every time I felt a craving for smoking or food. Then I would be too tired to really care to eat or smoke!
4) Plain old fashioned grin and bear it! I figured those first few days would suck pretty hard, and so I looked at it all as an adventure. I welcomed the pain as part of the process and something I would be proud of.

Tackle what you can. I think addressing one addiction at a time is a very sane way to do things.
Good luck!

Brett

Hey thanks Brett! Those are some great suggestions! Wow your brave doing them all at once! I figured I would knock them out one at a time :S I may combust otherwise lol.

People around me were lucky they were still alive.... yeah, it was bad. But I'm one of those people who will just want to get everything over with all at once. And I knew quitting smoking could be a disaster for me if I gained weight. I would have gotten super depressed about it and started back up.

But the bonus was it made the eating and working out seem easier! I was bucking the nicotine cravings and they were worse than pain from hunger or exercise. So the rest seemed mild!

Cigarettes are supposedly worse than heroin as far as addictions go. I don't know for sure, but I suspect nicotine is the single most addictive substance on the planet. But as humans we are more powerful and fully capable of letting go without too much of a hitch.

You'll quit when it is the right time for you! :-)

So yea I'm an ex-smoker of 5 weeks now. It's about filling voids. The void created by me stoping smoking after 17 years was huge. The only thing bigger was my aggressive workout schedual that gave me 0 time to worry about my nicotine addiction. The first two weeks being the toughest and I solved that with wads of gum, it got disgusting the way I would chomp on it at the end there.

5 Weeks later I'm FREE I feel no desire to ever smoke another cigarette again all I can see is my fitness goals of running that marathon in Denver and I know if I pickup a cigarette I have failed. No way not going to happen. Good luck on kicking the habbit, cold turkey is the only way to quit but you need to fill that void!

Thank you for posting this information! I had quit smoking for 5 years, and last year picked it back up after suffering a handful of set backs in my life. I hate that I do this, but it's a crutch I know I have to shed myself of. I've done it before & I can do it again, it's just getting in the right mindset to do so. I know that I can get the help & support I need here, and am greatful to have found this forum!
Kim

Kim
You can do it! I quit many times over my life, and this time seems more conclusive because I am working out so much I don't want to even imagine smoking again. Get all the help you can. I love the About.com forum, and I also think the Alen Carr book called HOW TO STOP SMOKING THE EASY WAY is a great tool. And let us know how it is going! Acually post if you can when you quit and hold yourself accountable. I find the very act of proclaiming it to other people holds a ton of power. I used to try to keep my quit a secret, and that never worked.

Thanks Brett!

Yesterday, I smoked my last cigarette in the morning & then told my two year old that I was quitting! LOL I know he didn't get it, but it made me feel good because he came over and wrapped his arms around my legs & kissed me. So October 7,2009 is my official start date! After I read the article on About.com and I smoked, for some odd reason they just didn't taste the same and I was turned off by them. Everytime I took a drag, I thought about those 48 chemicals that I was willingly taking into my body, and that was enough to turn my stomache!!!! The About.com article is a good read for anyone who is really serious about taking that step to quit!

Thanks for the support and I will keep you posted!
Kim

Kim -
One of the strongest things is to quit for someone else. Your two year old is your WHY. Don't you want him to grow up with a healthy mom who doesn't smell like smoke?

Drink water, chew gum, do whatever you need to, and be very kind to yourself. The first 3-4 days are tougher than anything that comes later. If you can get through them you have won a major battle! We're here for you!

Thanks Brett! Well, almost a week now and I haven't smoked at all. Today was rough though, had horrible cravings for a smoke, but didn't give in! Been chewing gum & keeping my hands busy to try and distract myself. What is it that they say, it takes 3 weeks to change a bad habit right???
Kim

I must share that i was a light smoker for 10 years prior to the TCom conference. I was so ashamed that I didn't even tell Jenny. We were both struggling from all the excitement and then the slight crash from this weekend. Jenny went back to eating sugar and carbs for a day, and I couldn't comfort her. So I decided to confess that I was a smoker to let her know she wasn't alone in her addiction and that I had quit just prior to the conference. Now we are moving in love again. And I thought she would so disapprove of me that I was able to hide it for two years of our marriage. Now I'm done with it and she is not judging me, but loving me. And I pray it helps Jenny, so that we can go forward in our journey to share...

Chas

Hey Chas!
It's amazing what we do to ourselves sometimes in secret. Smoking is something many people hide. I know people always told me "You don't look like a smoker!" or "You smell good!" I never understood why I did it, and what I found was it became my time to get away from the world and think and relax. I would go somewhere quiet, light up, and do deep breathing of some truly bad air. So now I find other ways to do that - sit quietly and deep breathe, maybe go and gaze out a window.

I'm proud of you for admitting it and resolving to quit. Go Chas! Get rid of that secret vice! And amazing that it helped Jenny with hers. Your smoking is definitely less healthy than her addiction, but the problem is sugary carbs are literally everywhere and acceptabe to do in public at your desk or just about anywhere you can imagine. Her road may be tougher in some ways. But together YES YOU CAN! :-)

That's awesome Brett. Jenny and I just talked about your response and I shed a tear. It is very freeing to know that people will not disrespect you because you had a bad habit... even more that they will encourage you. Now I can tell others, let them know I'm succeeding, and encourage them!

You deserve your special honors!

Chas and Jenny

Oh, of course I will encourage and respect you Chas. I smoked for over twenty years myself, and I wasn't exactly hiding it! But deep down we all have our struggles, our bad habits, what we need to change and bring out in to the light. The important thing is just to get help and support when you need it, and hold on to each other.

Thanks for the compliment, but I think you and Jenny deserve special honors too! Heck, the whole community deserves it well ahead of me. :-) There are so many incredible people here... I see about 17,000 champions running around. And you are certainly up there!

Good for you Chas!! Hang in there it's tough, but you will be so much better in the long run & your wallet will be a little heavier for not wasting the cash on smokes! LOL

I myself had a very stressful day & all I kept thinking about was stopping on my way to pick up my little guy and get a pack of smokes, but I pulled it together & didn't fall prey to the temptation!

Proud of myself!!!!
Kim

KIM! That is major that you did not give in. I am proud of you too! I know how hard that is...

I had gone into a tailspin due to stress from a work promotion (a real CURSE in disguise) and did not deal with it well. Charles was helpless in trying to support me and ended up sharing about his cigarette addiction. He said, "I completely understand...been there, done that...."

The good news is that our unconditional love and acceptance for each other got me through the tough time and gave me a new perspective on my recovery. It's not about the number on the scale or how I look--it's about letting go and being free from my addictions, letting go, having faith, and being real.

I am so ripe to my eating disorder/food addiction during times of fear and need to be constantly vigilant--just like an alcoholic who MUST see alcohol as poison.

Thank you all for listening, understanding, and allowing me to be transparent and honest. Bill is not lying when he said, "... the end of this 18 weeks is really just the beginning for me. That's the Universal Truth of Transformation."

Love Jenny

One of my past respected mentors was a long time smoker and "learned to stop" by using the Smokenders system, still available at www.smokenders.com . It's basically a behavior modification method wherein one smokes as they normally do for a week or two but keep track of when you smoke and the circumstances, keeping notes (in a notepad that conveniently fits into a cigarette pack). Once noted, the tming of smoke breaks is altered, for instance before meals instead of after meals, etc. They also go into the elements of stress and other trigger situations as they apply to the smoker's life.

Another succesful quitter, a teacher in my former high school, took the simple step of doubling the time interval between each cigarette. At the time he was speaking to our health class he was looking forward eight years until his next cigarette!