Stop Smoking Before ....

My article on gaining weight when quitting smoking that I wrote has really struck a nerve with a lot of people and for that I am glad.
I myself smoked for over 10 years and have now been a non smoker for 7 years. I thought maybe telling my story would help some people over the hump and help them quit.
I started smoking when I was 18 or 19 years old. I was drinking on the weekends and sometimes would have a cigarette while drinking. This eventually led to having cigarettes the day after I had been out for the night and this eventually led to an almost a pack a day habit. I smoked for a lot of years knowing how unhealthy a habit it was and at the same time I was playing tennis and weightlifting a lot. You can imagine the conflict I would feel going to the gym and being winded afterwards and then lighting up a cigarette. Also I often had trouble falling asleep at night worried about one day getting lung cancer and dying from it, I even thought that maybe the next day was the day I would get cancer. I always tried to keep myself at some level of fitness but in my late 20's my level of fitness dropped off.
I tried to quit smoking many times. I tried cutting down on my smoking, I tried going cold turkey and I even tried using nicotine patches but the trouble with trying to quit smoking is the habit coupled with the nicotine addiction. I would have a cigarette before a fell asleep and then my first cigarette of the day would be first thing in the morning when I woke up so suiting was very difficult and I always feel for anyone trying to quit as I know what kind of a lifestyle change that it takes to quit smoking.
Eventually I met the woman that would become my wife and she was not a smoker. We were together for a year and during this time I tried again to quit smoking with the nicotine patch and it only lasted a week and I found myself hiding my smoking from everyone and I remember the disappointment that my girlfriend felt when she could smell on my breath that I had started smoking again.
We moved to Calgary from Vancouver not long after my last quitting smoking attempt and the change was a real lifestyle change for both of us. I still smoked but now I had to endure a Calgary winter of Smoking outside and in February of the year after we moved to Calgary I quit smoking cold turkey and this time it took.
It has been seven years now since I quit smoking and I must say that I almost never have the urge to smoke unless I am in a bar and everyone around me is smoking. I never think about smoking at all in fact. Sometimes at work or in public or with my family I will get into a conversation about smoking and I always make it quite clear that I used to smoke for a long time, I now hate the habit, and I understand just how hard it is to quit smoking. I always feel the pain for people when they tell me that they have just quit smoking because I really remember how much trouble I had quitting smoking.
If there are any words of wisdom that I can offer to anyone thinking of quitting smoking here they are:
The carbon monoxide leaves your body within 24 hours of quitting so you know that just one day later that you will already be healthier. Even if you don't feel it yet.
You will get the shakes off and on for a week after quitting smoking; try to really shock your schedule. Never sit down for very long periods of time so that these can take hold.
Drink lots of water and eats lots of crunchy fruit. Not only are these good for you but they will also keep your hands and mouth busy so that you are not thinking about a cigarette in your hand and in your mouth.
Try to go for walks in the morning when you get up and after dinner. These are the most common times that a nic fit will take hold and you want to preempt them by moving and getting distracted by these common cigarette times.
Lastly get a support network and allow yourself to fail. If you do at one time have a cigarette for sure you should be mad and disappointed in yourself but move on and get through the rest of the day not smoking and work on the next day. I really believe that it takes at least a couple of weeks for the evil nicotine to stop pushing you for another cigarette but eventually you can beat it.

Bill Nadraszky run several websites including a very popular fitness weblog at http://www.nadraszky.com/fitness

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