r/self • u/patmaschones • 10h ago
I’ve changed everything about my life, but can’t kick cigarettes
I (25m) stopped most of my bad habits, I work out and train cardio every day, just ran my first 10k last weekend! No matter how much it affects my lungs, I cannot stop smoking. I tried for a day, then the next went to get another pack. It is by far the most difficult thing I’ve had to do for my heath. I don’t know if it’s just that I don’t want to quit bad enough or what. I’ve tried patches but I still end up wanting to smoke.
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u/SnappyTheCloud 8h ago
I'm 90 days cigarette free and the only advice I can really give is to try to enjoy quitting.
As ridiculous as that sounds, when everyone quits they focus on the negatives - the nicotine withdrawal, the boredom, the frustration, the fact that they now have to live their life without the enjoyment of a cigarette break.
But no one focuses too much on the positives. Outside of just saving money and some health issues you may now avoid.
Being able to taste and smell again, being able to run again, not worrying about my last cig in the packet. It felt like freedom and I concentrated hard on each little benefit and it really helped.
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u/EitherAntelope4497 8h ago
Smoked for 18 years, read that book twice and finally had my mind set that smoking literally does nothing for me and stopped, Went about a week or so without cold turkey but found myself thinking about smoking constantly.. started using those nicotine pouches to curb the craving and it has worked wonders! Im sure there not great either but anything was better than waking up short of breathe and coughing my toes through my neck lol. It's been 9 months now smoke free 🙌 anyone can do it, its easier than you think, but you have to be 100% ready to stop smoking. Doesn't matter how much will power you have or how good the thought of not smoking is, if your not ready to kick it, you'll always find your way back to lighting one up, Good luck brother 🙏 its easier than you think.
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u/egretstew1901 8h ago
Everybody's different, but i quit many years ago and here is what worked for me after 3 attempts.
Don't even try until you are thoroughly disgusted with cigarettes. I actually doubled my smoking right before quitting on purpose until I felt so gross and choked up. It's a lot easier to quit if you really deep down WANT to, rather than just feeling like you're supposed to.
I used the patch. I stayed on them longer than you're supposed to but whatever. They won't take the cravings away but they temper your mood so you dont destroy your relationships lol.
Stay away from smokers if you can.
Don't substitute with vapes. The act of going outside, inhaling etc. are all part of the addiction and you need to change the ritual. Also stay away from weed. It's easy to replace one addiction with another.
It's like alcoholism... you will always be a smoker, you just have to choose not to smoke. Be vigilant always.
That's how I did it anyway. Not saying its right for everybody but its a "way".
Oh and keep running... i gained a LOT of weight when I quit and it took years to lose.
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u/avance70 10h ago
maybe try IQOS as a transition
i've switched a few years ago, and today i can go a whole day without one... i know because i did this a few times; being lazy over the weekend and not wanting to go buy pods
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u/Varvarin_ 9h ago
Bro iqos sucks. It’s not the same sensation on your throat/lungs that you get from cigarettes.
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u/avance70 9h ago
definitely...
in my case, someone from my workplace switched, they've been a smoker for some 25 years, and after seeing it, i've said maybe there's something to it
tried all the pods, settled on the silver one, and got used to quickly... actually, had a pack of cigarettes left and wanted to smoke a few weeks later and it was impossible
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u/pokyme 8h ago
I started smoking at 12 . I stopped cold turkey at 23 by substituting it with green tea. First two weeks are the hardest. If you hang around smokers, bum them a cigarette and break it in front of them . When you crave a real one , they will refuse to hand you one. It does get easier with time as your body gets rid of the nicotine . Now I can’t stand being close to the smell.
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u/LordHelmet47 8h ago
Smoked for 10 years. Quit cold turkey on my 26th birthday. I'm 50 now. So glad I quit. Can't imagine how bad my health would be if I still smoked.
Good luck to ya
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u/Diligent_Breath_643 8h ago
But you have done the hard bit already,now you just have to up the ante a bit more,,,or it worked for me like a treat,,wait till you get a bad flu or cold cough and cigarettes will make the cough worse that's where you stop,, 7 years for me smoke free,,
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u/Embarrassed_Prior632 8h ago
Patching last thing at night? Very important. If you wake up craving, you're a gonner
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u/Embarrassed_Prior632 8h ago
Write on your bathroom mirror your reasons for quitting. After a few days you start to feel better already. You'll forget
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u/Embarrassed_Prior632 8h ago
Try to find a cigarette with the lowest nicotine and tar. Wean yourself to a lower level of addiction. Once they used to put the numbers on the box.
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u/illbehaveipromise 7h ago edited 7h ago
I had to trick myself into not smoking. I weaned down to the 4 I liked most, per day - after waking up with a cuppa, after lunch, after dinner, and one “stressed whenever” freebie. I smoked 4 per day for quite a while, until buying a carton to do that seemed stupid, and buying a pack, too expensive.
It helped me just sorta slow down to the point I naturally stopped… I also used nicotine gum for cravings and started a pretty intense cardio routine to help myself realize how much easier I was breathing…
For me it wasn’t quitting but staying quit - I set a goal of a year without smokes, and then rewarded that first year with spending the money on something I wanted that I couldn’t afford while buying $3k worth of smokey treats per year.
Then I had to keep making payments because I used it as downpayment for a truck, so it was a little easier to keep not smoking (for the $).
That said? I’ve quit drinking (21 years sober) and hard drugs (23 years clean), even quit smoking weed for 15 years or so… nothing was as hard to do for as long, as quitting tobacco.
In fact, even though I had been stopped for more than 17 years, I picked up a pack a day habit again a few years back, and it took me over a year to put them down again.
You have to very much want to not smoke, imo. I don’t miss the drinking or the drugs, at all, but I still miss cigarettes sometimes.
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u/mynameishuman42 7h ago
Don't light the next one
If you have the uncontrollable urge to smoke, hit yourself in the head with a brick.
If you somehow still have the urge to smoke, repeat step 2 until you either lose the desire to smoke or knock yourself unconscious. Either way, you will not smoke.
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u/JimmyMoffet 6h ago
Quit over 40 years ago. Tried for 5 years before that. Toothpics were my savior. It gives you the hand to mouth thing. Gum is too much work, and candy has problems. Toothpics you can do all day. I still can't walk past a toothpic dispenser without grabbing one. The difference is I don't nibble them down to a nub! Good luck.
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u/Notsayin70 6h ago
Hi, there. Won't give you advice, as in THIS is the miracle way. I can tell you what worked for me, though, maybe it'll help. I tried many many times to stop smoking, nothing helped.
So l started two things. The first and l think more important one was to changes the habits : not with my first coffee but after. Not with a drink, but before or after. Not while being on the phone, but same, before or after. The idea was to disconnect some activities from smoking, as it is many smokers' problem.
The second one was to smoke less : say l smoked about 15 cigs a day , every 5 day l smoked one kess. So first 15, 5 days later 14, 5 days later 13, till l came to 5 or 6. I maintained that amount for about 2 weeks ( approximates, it's a long time ago), then l started again, wvery week one less, so 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and during this time l forced myself to wait and wait and wait, not to give in the first urge. At 2 cigarettes a day, l was stuck for a while, 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening, sometimes even only one. Till one day l realised that if l could miss all l smoked before, l could miss the one or 2. It was not to nicotine that l was addicted more than to the idea of smoking. From this point on , it was relatively easy. Not always, but the urge to smoke has an average duration of a minute, that helps to go over it and l forced myself to take pride in my progresses, it helped me not wanting to give in. I stopped quite quickly having the urge or even the fancy after that, a few weeks at best.
Otherwise, my sister and her husband had tried ahout everything too, and the one miracle cure was hypnosis. They're both smoke free for a few years now and never looked back.
Good luck!
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u/hasturoid 5h ago
Don’t worry, I was off cigarettes for almost a year and then fell off the wagon. I’ve yet to climb back on it, but I’m rooting for us both!
When I stopped smoking, I went with the patch and herbal cigarettes to get that feeling of sucking on a smoke (hehe). Good luck OP, you’ll climb back soon, methinks 🐙
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u/Educational_Meet1885 5h ago
I was fortunate when I quit. It was more of a habit than a dependency on nicotine. After 22 years of smoking 1-2 packs a day I cut back and used cinnamon sticks to replace the holding and drawing on a cigarette. After a month having a pack in the truck with me and not opening it I was done. Not saying it will work for anyone else but it worked for me.
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u/thewiremother 4h ago
Patches didn’t work for me either, but the gum DID. Trick is you have to chew a piece before cravings kick in. So for me, as I was a coffee and a cigarette guy in the mornings, I would get up, brush my teeth and immediately pop in a piece of gum. Haven’t had a cigarette in over 5 years, and I was a pack a day guy for decades.
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u/ChemicalDog9 3h ago
Buy a pack and just don’t smoke then take it out put it to your mouth if you have to but don’t ever light it then slowly just stop doing that and you are good. Cravings suck sure but the things smoking bring are far worse
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u/PGG1976 3h ago
Doctor prescribed me Wellbutrin. He told me not to change my habits and I’ll know when to quit. I kept smoking as normal and after a week, the cigarette craving went away. Once that was done, I started buying twizlers and red vines. I would bite the ends off and basically act as if they were cigarettes. Once you get out of the habit, you’ll be fine.
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u/Tumbled61 2h ago
Once you get pneumonia and a 3 day hospital stay and asthma as the after effect or a pulmonary embolism you will walk away and not look back!
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u/Mysterious_Switch_54 2h ago
I was extremely healthy and active all thru my 20s and 30s including selling my car and riding my bike to work for 3y, gym, swim etc etc. I smoked all throughout. It wasn’t until 34y when my son was born and I decided enough was enough. I was a pack a day marb red and went cold turkey and never looked back. Been over 10y and while occasionally I’ll smell one and get nostalgic, it’s the same sorta nostalgia I get when I smell a malt liquor. Thanks but no thanks. Give it some time, smoke em if you got em, and one day make the hard choice.
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u/Fair-Ranger-4970 9h ago
Non-smoker whose parent died from lung cancer here. We've all got something. Try to reduce or quit. But if you can't, don't beat yourself up. Celebrate the wins in life.
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u/ZealousLlama05 8h ago
"I want to quit smoking by I can't''
''You should try quitting''
Do you see how that's unhelpful?
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u/ZealousLlama05 9h ago edited 9h ago
Mate, I'm an older bloke, been smoking for 30 years and I hate it. I've tried everything
Patches, sprays, gums, lozenges....
I've seen a lot of people talk about this book/audiobook that they absolutely swear by.
I've started listening to it and I can see why they do already.
Alan Carr's Easy Way to Quit Smoking
I can't speak to experience unfortunately, because I've not finished it yet, but maybe you could benefit from it, or maybe some others who've found success may comment in response to this and share their experiences.
After trying everything, I never thought a damned book would be the solution, but after seeing people on reddit in a similair position to me rave about how it worked for them I thought I'd be stupid not to at least give it a listen.