New Non-Smokers Thread -

[Brook]

This seemed like the most appropriate place to get this going on

I know there's a couple of other new non-smokers (again. LOL) lurking around on the board and I thought it might be helpful for the masses if we put ourselves out there and talked about where we came from with it, what we've tried and what's worked/working for us.

I refuse to say "I quit smoking." or "I gave up smoking" because it implies that I'm sacrificing something - and by being a non-smoker I GAIN EVERYTHING AND LOSE NOTHING.

A 'lil background for me.

I started induction and became a non-smoker on the same day back in May 2002. I never slacked, never backslid. I reached my weight goal and remained a non-smoker for almost 3 years.

Since March of this year the proverbial ship hit the sand in several areas of my life and I stopped taking care of me for a little while. As a result, I started smoking again and put on almost 15lbs.

I became a non-smoker again on Monday, August 15th (and reinducted) and I'm finding it as easy this time as I did the first time, thanks again to Mr. Allen Carr. Really - I feel like I've been set free again.

I must have "quit" smoking 1000 times before I found what works for me. Patches, gum, medication, cutting down only to find I couldn't give up those last few smokes, cold turkey, inhalers. I'm pretty sure I've done it all. I'd start off gang busters with the best of intentions and spend the first week or two being so miserable that I didn't even like being around me, let alone my poor family and friends!! I remember one time my mom actually stood in the door way and threw cigarettes at me telling me to smoke so I wouldn't be such a b!tch! (Gee- thanks mom. LOL LOL).

A friend of mine on the other side of the pond sent me a book titled Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking, and she dared me to read it. Seriously. She asked me to read it and I told her no, but then she dared me and bet me a lipstick (LOL, what can I say? I'm a junkie) and it was ON!

It's a 220 page book and I swear, it took me a month and a half to read it the first time. I'd start reading it, get mad & put it down and come back to it a day or two later, get frustrated with it again, put it down, and come back again. Once I'd worked my through it once, I picked it up Sunday May 3rd 2002 - read it cover to cover that afternoon and didn't touch a cigarette again for almost 3 years. - And I never felt deprived or like I was missing anything.

For me and I think the majority of smokers - scare tactics don't work. We already know it's garbage for our health. We know it'll kill us or at least make us a helluva lot more prone to several diseases that surely will.

This is why I liked Allen Carr. He gave me credit for knowing that it was killing me and didn't go into the whole health risks issue. He addressed it for what it was - nicotine addiction and brain washing. I felt like he talked to me as though I was an intelligent, strong person instead of some weak willed pathetic excuse for an addictive person. LOL

He says things like :

I will tell you not to try cutting down or using substitutes like sweets or chewing gum (particularly anything containing nicotine). The reason why I am so dogmatic is that I know my subject. I do not deny that there are many people who have succeeded in stopping by using such ruses, but they have succeeded in spite of, not because of them. There are people who can make love standing on a hammock, but it's not the easiest way.

Admit it. It's funny and attention grabbing!

Some say cigarettes are very enjoyable. They aren't. They are filthy, disgusting objects. Ask any smoker who thinks he smokes only because he enjoys a cigarette if, when he hasn't got his own brand and can only obtain a brand he finds distasteful, he stops smoking. Smokers would rather smoke old rop than not smoke at all. Enjoyment has nothing to do with it. I enjoy lobster but I never got to the stage where I had to have twenty lobsters hanging round my neck. With other things in life, we enjoy them while we are doing them but we don't sit feeling deprived when we are not.

Some say, "It is something to dow tih my hands!" So, why light it?
"It is oral satisfaction." So, why light it?
"It is the feeling of the smoke going into my lungs." An awful feeling- it is called suffocation.

See what I mean?

He challenged me in a way that no other method/way ever had and it works for me.

So, here I am again - on Day 3, and I will keep updating my signature to make myself accountable to the masses here - but I really don't feel like I need to. I've learned that stopping smoking is easy - it's making sure you don't start again that can be tricky. I won't be falling into that trap again. I'm all done.

So - what's worked for you? What are you trying? Are you thinking about giving it a shot? Are you ready to look for a solution? Where are you at in the whole thing and how do you feel about it?!

Me?

I'm FREE!!!!

~Brook

[Brook]

*edited* oops..double posted. Darn puter. LOL

[Laurenfra]

Thanks for posting Brook. I made a stickie but it got missed.Let find the others.

[urbangoddess]

Well, here i am. I would have been on Day 5, but I cheated, cheated, cheated. I just can't seem to give up that last one cigarette a day. And I'm not buying them, just borrowing from hubby or friends. Sigh....
I had quit for 9 years, never ever thought I'd go back to the cancer sticks.
But as Brook put it, the proverbial ship hit the sand, and I found myself grasping for any coping mechanism I could — cigarettes and sugar. I put on ten lbs. in only a month and a half and am back on induction now.

Before when I quit, it was cold turkey. That doesn't seem to be working for me now. I keep telling myself that "just one" won't hurt. That it's as good as I can do for now. I'm a junkie, to be sure!

I smoked the last cigaretee in my possession this morning, and I am not going to "borrow" anymore. Wish me luck!!

[Laurenfra]

Great job folks, even if you have not quit that last "one" your admitting it. Good luck all

[Brook]

Urbangoddess? How are you doing?
rybread? - I hear ya. They're an easy thing to turn back to, which is really odd when you think about it and how great you feel when you don't do it!

I'm starting on Day 6 here and truthfully, I feel absolutely wonderful! My cough is all but gone, my sense of smell and taste are back in force. When I get out of the shower, I make sure I dip into one of the spiffy smelling lotions I have and it's so cool to still smell like that lotion hours later!

Tomorrow I'll be buying myself some WhiteStrips with the $$ that I've saved myself. I have really naturally white teeth, but the last 5 months of smoking has been really hard on them. *I* can see a difference, so I'll be whitening these bad-boys back up and showing off my renewed pearly whites in my next comparison picture

I'll also be buying myself another bottle of perfume. I've put off replacing my favorite perfume just because I couldn't justify spending the money on this beautiful scent only to turn it into a smoke-covered beautiful scent. Hurray! I've missed my perfume!!

I've only had a couple of very mild pangs, really. Tonight after I had dinner with my family I got hit, but I swear it didn't last more than a couple of seconds.

It really does feel amazing to be back in control of this!

~Brook

[shrinky]

Oooooh... I want to join this thread, but I'm going on holiday in about an hour. Totally with you Brook on Allen Carr -- it's the only thing that works. I've packed my copy and am going to re-read it on the beach tomorrow (last time I did it, I read it all the way through in one go, which worked really well for me). Anyway -- congratulations, and I'm with you in spirit. By the time I come back, I'll be a happy non-smoker too.

[Brook]

WOOHOOO, Shrinky!!!! Can't wait to hear from you.

Have a fantastic holiday and we'll see ya when you get back!

~Brook

[Yoly1001]

I wouldn't consider myself a heavy smoker, in fact whenever I do smoke it has always been in a social situation. I went to a party tonite and I made up my mind that I would not drink or smoke.

Well I did great with the no drinking but I am ashamed to say that I smoked 5 of the cancer sticks. I feel so bad about this, I know I am poisoning my body and still I did it.

I am resolving right now never to pick up another one again, I want to catch this now before it becomes a habit. I used to smoke a lot more when I was single and lived in my apartment, now I only do it when I go out but I am making my mind up right now! No more smoking.

[Laurenfra]

Yoly, for you sweetie it is a habit not an addiction. You need to put them down before they become an addiction. Were here for you