Training & Nutrition - Anyone used to smoke?

And if so, once you quit, how big of a difference did you notice?

I guess this is me looking for more motivation to quit myself.

Nevertheless.

A LOT. I switched to ecigs about six months ago after 13 years of smoking 1/2 - 1 packs a day.

I thought I was "fine," as I ride and run a least 3 - 4 times a week (March - November). Quitting was the best thing I've every done for my body and training.

Agreed. Even though my lungs will never be the same again. I smoked about the same and quit in mid 2007. There IS a big difference, not only in terms of performance on the bike, but quality of life in general.

I think you really have to want to quit or you will not succeed. I smoked for 25 years and half hearted tried to quit for a number of years, but really wasn't ready. Once I made the conscious decision to quit I just quit, no patch, ecig, hypnosis-nothing. I am now on my 7th year and feel absolutly fantastic physically. I haven't had a nagging cough, I don't get winded, I don't stink to high heaven and when I get sick it doesn't seem to last as long. I can't tell you how glad I am that I quit and now lead a healthy life, but wish I'd of done it earlier in my life. Good luck :thumb:

I smoked a pack and a half of Marlboro Reds every day for twenty three years. I can honestly say quitting was the best thing I have ever done for myself. If I had known how much better I would feel as a non-smoker I would have tried to quit many years sooner.

My doctor suggested wellbutrin as a way to relieve cravings and reduce the reward of nicotine. It worked great for me but I was under prepared for the behavioral component of quitting. In other words, I didn't realize how much I used smoking as a relaxation technique or how conditioned I was to light up automatically at certain times of the day or in response to stress or other stimulus.

I, like many others, initially substituted candy for the butts. I gained a few pounds but with my renewed lung capacity found that simple physical exertion was no longer impossible but was actually enjoyable. The pounds came off, my lungs don't wheeze any more and my wife is no longer repulsed by my stink ( except after a bike ride).

There is life after cigarettes! Quitting isn't always easy and there is no shame in multiple attempts, just keep trying different things until you find what works for you. Failure only comes when we stop trying.

I smoke about a pack a day, and have tried quitting about 5 half hearted times. I went about a day at the best, and I totally got the habitual thing mileslong was talking about. It seems EVERYTHING I ever do is in some way correlated to smoking. But after the one day I quit, I noticed my commute was SOOO much easier, and that came in handy because there are so many hills where I live.

I just need to try harder I guess.

I quit a 40+ year habit about 5 years ago gradually over a few months of working my way down from store bought smokes to hand made and eventually to none. Sometimes I still want one, but I never actually do it. The hardest part was having to face the problem alone, which eventually what every smoker has to do. I won't elaborate on the benefits because others will, but primarily it's all about survival, so just persevere and keep working away at it until it's gone. You'll be glad you did.

I smoked during two periods of my life. The first was when I was in the military, and I continued to smoke once I was set free. When I returned to California I began doing a lot of rock climbing and mountaineering in addition to cycling and I would often take a break on a climb to have a cigarette while waiting for my climbing partners. One day I realized that if I was out climbing then while I was still smoking, that I would be even better if I quit. I remember the day I quit. I was 2/3 the way up a climb in Joshua Tree when I finished my cigarette and then crush the remainder of the pack and dropped it to the base. Didn't smoke again for 25 years and my health improved dramatically.

I started again when my wife died of lung cancer after years of smoking cloves. I missed her so badly and hated life so much that I just wanted to die as quickly as possible. Six years later I had come to terms with her passing and I quit one afternoon while having lunch at Mandalay Bay. I saw a guy at the bar pull out an empty pack of Marlboro with a disgusted look on his face and I tossed him mine. When he went to pass it back I found myself respondind "No thanks, I just quit", and my health improved dramatically.

I will never smoke again. Quitting is not about a long drawn out process, its about deciding not to smoke any more.

Used to smoke for a decade... Chain smoking 2-3 packs a day. My lung capacity became pathetic... from holding breath under water for 3 minutes to something like 40 seconds... my car stank... my office stank... I stank... I was out of energy... Couldn't go half an hour without a cig...
Three years ago, when the price of a pack went around $4 mark, it suddenly hit me. I was spending $300-400 a month just on cigarette while killing myself. I just looked at the full pack I just opened up and went... NO.
I did go through couple of weeks of coughing, sneezing, spitting things out of my throat. About a month and half of transformation of my body took place. Mind is powerful thing really as I noticed once I decided not to smoke none of withdrawal symptoms mattered to me. And yes, it is not a long drawn out process, reducing number of cigarette a day, etc won't do it.
About a year later while cleaning garage, I found a carton of Cig stashed away. Just picked it up, casually tossed it to trashcan.
One of my close friend still smokes. Thing is, I want to tell him to stop... but I know it's his decision he need to make unfortunately. All I can do is pray for him.

I smoked 1-2 packs a day from age 15-23. I found it rather difficult to perform any physical activity and finally quit when I could barely lift a bag of trash at work.
Then I became fat and moved to Denver and finally started to recover when I picked up cycling.

To those who have quit and restarted several times: take heart. The more often you're quit and restarted, the more likely you are to quit for good. So keep trying. You're not a bad person or a weak person. Quitting tobacco is harder than quitting smack. Look at it this way: every time you've quit you've hurt. You've picked it back up, knowing you'll hurt again the next time you quit. That's actually braver, in a way. Why not just hurt once more? The bad part is only three days, then it's just the psychological part, the associations, etc. They go away more slowly, but they do go away.

You know you're killing yourself. You can fool yourself while you're young, but then it becomes obvious. The sooner you stop, the more of yourself you save.

I smoked 1/2 to a pack/day for 30 years. Quit 8 or 9 years ago. I've been lucky because I quit on my first attempt and it hasn't bothered me, to speak of, since I quit.
No matter what method you try you must make up your mind that you will quit no matter what. I used the patch. The instructions said to stop using the patch if it irritated your skin. Well, it irritated my skin, but it was helping with the withdrawl symptoms so I kept on using it. At the end of twelve weeks my trunk literally looked like a checkerboard from the red squares left by the patch.
I gained 30 lbs which I have since taken off through cycling. My downfall was chips. I always had three bags opened at a time; one at home, one at work, and one in the car. I couldn't stop eating them.
Now as I look back I don't see how I could have been so stupid as to smoke in the first place. It controls your life. You are always looking for ways to sneak off for a smoke. You organize your entire life around smoking.
Phlem was an issue for two or three YEARS. Maybe longer. It has finally quit. I feel good. I ride centuries. I ride singletrack on my mtb. Quit smoking. You will love it.

seriously, all of these posts have been super inspirational. I'm working it out in my head to stop being so ambivalent and to finally do it.

I'm aiming for a century in May, that's really hard from what I've heard. 4200 foot elevation gain from what I read, or something like that. I'm 140 lbs, 5'11 and 21 years old. I'm built for climbing but get out of breath waaaaay to fast.
I've never done a century, and I won't let myself fail.
I need to quit.

Thanks for all your help.

Pack and a half for 30 years. I had to have my vocal chords scraped twice and the doc told me that if I didn't quit I'd get cancer. I quit cold turkey. That was in 1995. BTW, I was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx 6 months later but b/c I was in very good shape with six months of hard exercise I was given extensive radiation and a hemi-larygenctomy.

I'm 69 now and ride 12-15,000 Km year.

Sex will be better. Seriously. Food will taste better. You might even see better, I did.

Sounds crazy, but when you stop killing yourself, your bod works a little better.

Haha, it's that crazy logic. You lie to yourself in a way. I mean seriously, "I'm killing myself, I'm an idiot."

Agreed. Even though my lungs will never be the same again. I smoked about the same and quit in mid 2007. There IS a big difference, not only in terms of performance on the bike, but quality of life in general.

When I quit in 1984, they told us that it takes 10 years the nicotine to leave your system and for the effects to become reverse. Seems to me that would be true unless a serious smoking-related disease has taken hold.

How big a difference?

A huge difference. After smoking for 25 years I was unable to even walk up a couple flights of stairs without getting winded. I finally quit about 2 years ago. Like many others, I put on a few pounds over the following year or so. About seven months ago I made some serious changes in eating habits. I also spent a great deal of time studying the body's energy systems, nutrition, training and adaptation. I started working out seriously and bought a road bike a month or so later. I am nearing the end of my second round of P90X and ride about a hundred miles a week. I am in better shape now than I was in high school and college. Your body will start healing as soon as you put you them down. I am still astounded every day how different my life is now. I am training hard and hope to be strong enough to try some racing later this year. If I can help you in any way, let me know. Good luck. Yes it can be done and yes it's worth the trouble.

And if so, once you quit, how big of a difference did you notice?

I guess this is me looking for more motivation to quit myself.

Nevertheless.

I did 5 packs/day. I frequently had more than one cigarette going at once. I quit in the fall of 1974 and now I don't even want to be in a room or a car that a smoker has set foot in, let alone smoked in.

Don in Austin

Well, I tried the sunflower seed plan, but I just ate them until my cheeks were raw.
Does anyone else have any coping mechanisms that worked for them?

I smoked for about 18 years. By the end i was a 2 pack a day Marlboro Red man - more if I was drinking & doin' coke (which was pretty common at that point in my life).

in '99 I watched my dad die from living a basic American lifestyle for men of his generation. I.E. drank too much, smoked to much, ate a lot of fried foods and never exercised. I quit a few days after his lifestyle choices killed him.

Without shame I can say that I used every tool at my disposal. I wanted to quit no matter what. One of the best tools I used, and people always say this is weird - but it worked, was that if I started wanting a cigarette I had to drop and do 25 push ups. If I still wanted one, I had to do 25 more. And so on until it just wasnt worth wanting a cigarette. It had the added benefit of getting me in better shape as I quit smoking.

The hardest part was the hand to mouth habit I had. I substituted lollipops for cigarettes for the fist month or two.

ETA, I definitely don't miss having to kick start my lungs in the morning!

After numerous failures, E cigs finally got me over the hump. I have some pretty concrete ideas as to why this is which which I'd be happy to share privately if you'd like. I don't want to go "on record" here and come across sounding like an advocate for them or their safety. I was just at the point the I was willing to try something, even something potentially risky, as I was quite certain that continuing with the Marlboros would certainly kill me and continue to ruin my quality of living.

I was gonna be so pissed if SlimRider started this thread...

Well, I tried the sunflower seed plan, but I just ate them until my cheeks were raw.
Does anyone else have any coping mechanisms that worked for them?

I chewed on unsweetened Baker's cooking chocolate.

Don in Austin

Man, that unsweeted chocolate is soooo gross!
I ate that on accident once. Never again!

But, that being said, I can see how that would work.

Man, that unsweeted chocolate is soooo gross!
I ate that on accident once. Never again!

But, that being said, I can see how that would work.

Not half as gross as a cigar. I actually like the flavor, and it sends chills up your cheekbones.

Don in Austin

I smoked for 9 years. Folks couldn't imagine seeing me without a cigarette.I quit once after waking up and seeing an ad for a hynotherapy session for quitting. I told my girlfreind that I was going to attend the class quit smoking. She laughed out loud at me then humored me and wished me good luck. I quit for 5 years then began dipping and chewing leaf like a dummy. That allowed the monkey to climb back and I would be in social situations where spitting juice wasn't really acceptable but smoking was. I grabbed the odd smoke to get past the nic-fit. Then once I found an ulcer inside my lip I never put any more dip/leaf in my mouth and became a full on smoker again. I hated it, the mess, the smell, the addiction; it was gross. I decided to go on the patch and after it burning my arm for 2 days I declared myself smoke free.

It was a tough 2 weeks for everyone I knew as I chainsawed my way through the nicotine addition but it was worth it. It has been 12 years since I quit. I still get a fleeting urge that quickly passes every now and then. It is that one moment when someone lights up using a Zippo, that first whiff... then nasty, gag! Never again.

If one truley wants to quit they can. They just have to want it enough.

I smoked 2 packs of Camels a day, from the time I was 14 to 24. On the last day I smoked, I popped a cigarette into my mouth before I even got out of bed to pee. I started coughing. I didn't stop until 10 hours later. I had tried to quit several times before, but this times I realized I was going to die from it. That was 39 years ago.

Thanks for sharing these stories, y'all!

Been trying quit for over a week now and failed miserably every time. I'll go maybe 4-5 hrs before i cave in and wander out to buy more.
My reasons for quitting? I wanna be around long enough to see my kids grow up, I dont like getting back from a ride and coughing till Im blue in the face and because of diabetes, the doc says if I dont quit, its a question of when, not if I eventually have a stroke. I dont really like the idea of becoming a vegetable at some point.
So Thursday morning, Im off to the docs to see about getting something to help. Trying to quit cold turkey requires more will power than I have. :)

Been trying quit for over a week now and failed miserably every time. I'll go maybe 4-5 hrs before i cave in and wander out to buy more.
My reasons for quitting? I wanna be around long enough to see my kids grow up, I dont like getting back from a ride and coughing till Im blue in the face and because of diabetes, the doc says if I dont quit, its a question of when, not if I eventually have a stroke. I dont really like the idea of becoming a vegetable at some point.
So Thursday morning, Im off to the docs to see about getting something to help. Trying to quit cold turkey requires more will power than I have. :)

That happened to me, numerous times. What got me over the fence was COMPLETELY convincing myself that 1) I COULD do it and 2) I would NEVER smoke again. Once you do this, quitting is automatic (not painless, although not as bad as you think and not as long)

Once I knew it would happen I picked a long weekend (Labor Day 2005), got up Sat morning and made sure all the smokes were flushed, had a long drink of water and got on the bike. Repeat 2 or so times until exhausted, then sleep. Repeat on Sunday and Monday, using nicotine gum when truly edgy. By Wed or so, I felt pretty decent. One hard part is breaking the habits - smoking while drinking alcohol or coffee, smoking while driving and on work breaks. Find substitutes - sing in the car (your voice will be improving), walk on breaks, enjoy the true taste of coffee or beer, untainted by smoke.

No smokes for me for going on 7 years, and I actually despise the odor of smokers on the street.

It can be done, its been done by millions.

Been trying quit for over a week now and failed miserably every time. I'll go maybe 4-5 hrs before i cave in and wander out to buy more.
My reasons for quitting? I wanna be around long enough to see my kids grow up, I dont like getting back from a ride and coughing till Im blue in the face and because of diabetes, the doc says if I dont quit, its a question of when, not if I eventually have a stroke. I dont really like the idea of becoming a vegetable at some point.
So Thursday morning, Im off to the docs to see about getting something to help. Trying to quit cold turkey requires more will power than I have. :)

Some may differ, but I don't think I could have done it without the patch.
Just the thought of the harm a single cigarette would do to my body keeps me from considering it. And to think I used to do that 10-20 times per day.

I used the first two stages of the patch. It helped me quite a bit.

you already know the answer to this, as you know you know. it's night and day, unleash the beast life is too short. I ride with a guy that is all muscle and bone and he's a smoker, just can't get enough O2 to the fibers to keep em going when it gets rough. oh yeah used to smoke a pack a day, camels, pall malls, luckys, rolled my own for a while then as I got in better shape I noticed the effects too much. after I quit it felt like I was supercharged, it took some time but power at LT nearly doubled.

Been to see the smoking cessation councelor this morning and got my patches and inhalators, just had my last (hopefully) smoke, here goes :)

Quitting cold turkey's the best way. Counseling, patches, lozenges,etc don't work. You need to totally forget about it.

Quitting cold turkey's the best way. Counseling, patches, lozenges,etc don't work. You need to totally forget about it.

Everyones different :)
Starting day no.2. Havent caved in so far.

Good for you! The first 72 hours is the worst. After that it is more about getting past the physical triggers and hand-to mouth tendancies.

Take a deep breath and remove yourself from the area when you feel the urge, it will pass. After a few days your sense of smell will begin to improve which will give you another set of incentives for quitting. Food will taste better too!

Your doing great! Good luck, you can do it!!

Used to smoke a pack a day for about 7 years. When I couldn't get up one flight of stairs at the age of 23 without being out of breath. I decided right then and there to quit. I went cold Turkey that same day and I've never smoked since.

It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but well worth it.

Quitting cold turkey's the best way. Counseling, patches, lozenges,etc don't work. You need to totally forget about it.

Not in every case. Quitting cold turkey for me never worked. The patch did.

I was a pack/1.5 pack a day smoker for 10 years (started with a couple of cigs a day at age 12 and started a pack+ at 18-22). I never had energy to do anything, never worked out and ate like ****.. until one day I was slowly walking up the flight of stairs in my house to my room and was WINDED by the time I got to the top (like 2 posts above me). After that, I made the mental decision to quit smoking, got on Chantix for 4 weeks and used gum for the subsequent 6 months to control sudden urges.

4+ years later, I've recently ran my first 1/2 marathon, completed a century, have 8% BF (and a killer 6 pack!).. but most importantly, I'm healthy and no longer worry about dying at the age of 40 (I'm 26 now).

Everyones different :)
Starting day no.2. Havent caved in so far.

Keep at it! Anytime you have a cessation, chew some nicorette and go for a ride.

I quit April 30, 2005 at 10:00 AM.

I remember because that's when I decided I needed to go to the hospital because I couldn't catch my breath. By the time I told my wife I was having problems breathing, it was all I could do to stand up. A chest X-ray revealed a collapsed lung and I spent 5 days in the hospital with a chest tube sticking out of my rib cage.

It'll be two weeks tomorrow since I had a smoke and I'm already feeling better. The smell of tobacco is no longer stinking out my home and I no longer cough my ass off after a ride. Im still using the patches but no longer feel the need for the inhaler thingy. Got a long way to go but there's no turning back now. I am a Non-Smoker and damn proud of it :)

I was gonna be so pissed if SlimRider started this thread...
LOL :lol:

I quit in 1998. I had a counselor who gave me a great tip: change your routines, if you drive to work take a different route, you will find when you take the same way every day you will light up at the same place every time. When you go a different way you won't be doing that. It's all habit, helped me a lot by changing things up.

I'm not sure I can add anything much but I will give it a go.

I started when I was 18, finished when I was 46. Along the way, I smoked every variety of tobacco from light filters to Camels, from Sobranis to pipes. I had a heart attack at age 42 and the only conclusion was smoking caused the tiny clot. I was lucky, and stopped smoking after that. I started cycling after that incident, but then I took up smoking again a couple of years later (stupid is as stupid does) until finally, I felt the same chest pains as for my heart attack as I rode my bike to a supermarket.

I used Nicorette chewing gum to overcome the urges, and the motivational forces psychologically were with me this time. Among them were the obvious, that my life really was at risk and my bicycling enjoyment was lacking.

But two others were keys to my success.

The first was that the whole smoking thing was costing me an absolute fortune. After giving up, I could pay off all my debts, buy bikes and gear, and start travelling overseas. This came at a time when I was free of car ownership, and was reducing my alcohol consumption as well. That $15 a day habit translated into over $5000 a year.

The other was that I figured out that the people making huge profits out of my smoking -- the cigarette companies, and the Federal Government through its heavy excise on tobacco products here in Australia -- really couldn't care less if I lived or died. I imagined big fat businessmen and politicians in their counting houses, counting out my money. I was paying them to kill me. It was a very useful motivator, too, to virtually give up alcohol, and I still resent putting fuel into the vehicle I now own for the same reasons; now I am looking very carefully at who gets my money when buying food.

Yes, I agree absolutely with others' notion that a person has to want to give up smoking. Half-hearted attempts don't work, but they do help when the final decision is made. Sometimes, a major medical encounter will be the greatest motivator as it was ultimately for me (although it never ceases to amaze me now how so many sick people will sit outside a hospital, in the cold, to have a smoke).

Oh, and if I ever need more motivation to stay off cigarettes, Machka would divorce me in an instant if I took it up again. It makes me think how tolerant some of my previous non-smoking partners have been, putting up with me puffing away. That's something I feel quite badly about.

^+1000

It'll be two weeks tomorrow since I had a smoke and I'm already feeling better. The smell of tobacco is no longer stinking out my home and I no longer cough my ass off after a ride. Im still using the patches but no longer feel the need for the inhaler thingy. Got a long way to go but there's no turning back now. I am a Non-Smoker and damn proud of it :)

Dude.. this is awesome.

Damn. All of these stories are super awesome. Unfortunately I'm still at the half hearted attempt stage. I don't know. I'm training to race, and going up hills, and I'm just getting faster up these hills, and not getting out of breath as fast because of creating technique.

I know I'm paying the fat cats, and the CEO's of evil corporations. I know that they are profiting off my weakness and death wishes. I don't know. I'm trying to find that magic thing to help me quit, because I want to, but it seems that having me be my only motivational influence, as my girlfriend still smokes, whom I live with and have a couple kids with, the temptation is always there. I don't really want to use another chemical in the form of a pill or patch, but I kind of think it has to come to that.