Fastwes

I have always been into bikes. It's what I do lol, but I will be 33 this December and Iv been smoking since I was 18. I am good on the bike but I know I would be a hell of a lot better if I didn't smoke. I'm trying to quit again.
I know it's taboo to be a smoked and a cyclist but I know others are probably in the same situation after all it's a cruddy addition.
Anyone else smoke, or broke the habbit?

RDB

I'm nearly 69 and smoked since I was 16. On September 25 2013 Tuesday morning, I woke up and said I'm not going to smoke today. It is now August 1 2015 and I haven't touched one. I didn't use any patches, pills, gum, or any of these new vapor cigarettes. I just quit. You can do it. Just keep telling yourself I really want to quit. Get a calendar and mark off the days ie day 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 etc. Don't say to yourself, "well maybe I can have just one because you'll only be fooling yourself.

You know the Nike saying JUST DO IT!!!!!!!! Your lungs will love you(and so will your Doctor).

bikepro

Quit today!

BobbyG

I quit after 3 tries in 1984. No patches, no gum. What they don't tell you is to expect some mild depression, and a lot of phlem. Change your routine so you don't fall back on ritual smoking. My third (and successful) attempt at quitting began the first night of a four-day weekend visiting a girl at a college the next state over. I pulled back the bed covers to fetch a cigarette and she said, "Stop! If you get up to get those cigarettes, you might as well get dressed and leave, because, you're not getting back in my bed." I refer to this as the "Lysistrata" method (Google it) and I doubt it would have worked after I hit 50. The upside is after a couple of years the urge to smoke left me completely. The girl left me after a couple of months.

AlmostTrick

I smoked for about 10 or 12 years, quit about 26 years ago. I too didn't use any products or gimmicks. It was difficult. It sucked. It took a few try's. I was mega grouchy and slept a lot for several weeks. I honestly felt like without cigarettes, there was little reason to live! Pretty sad when you think about it.

When I look back at how much I've saved my body and finances, it was extremely well worth it! I'm so glad I no longer smoke.

quicktrigger

Buddy quit after 25 years..... he runs marathons now.

QT

Squashednuts

Smoked since 15, not only tobacco, & stopped everything 7 years ago.
Felt the benefit, in terms of exercise, immediately, well within a few months.
My breath also smells better which is good for others

ddeand 

I quit in 1984 - cold turkey. My only advice is to be very, very conscious of your food intake as well as other addictive substitutes. If possible, ride more and varied rides - that might help stave off the potential for the mild depression that can come when you lose a "loved one". Good luck!

wedgeSG

I smoked for over 30 years. Was never a two pack a day guy, never anything more than "lights". I did go through a pack a day most days though. I tried soooo many ways to quit. Pills, gum, patches, cold turkey. Nothing seemed to work. (In my opinion, Chantix should be banned BTW) The key element was missing for me, simply, the real desire to stop smoking. I never noticed a real problem other than friends and family urging me to quit. Honestly their concern annoyed me, and only served to make me smoke more. When I got back into cycling a couple of years ago it gave me the desire to quit, really quit, maybe for the first time. Huffing up a minor grade forced me to see the error of my ways. I knew the past attempts had failed and doubted they would have much effect even with a new mindset....so how to go about getting my wind back?
Naysayers can protest all they want but Vaping worked for me. I got a small starter kit, and in three days, over the space of a weekend, I went from a pack of 20+ cigarettes a day down to 3. By the following week, the desire was gone to light up. YMMV. I didn't believe most of the stories they tell you about quitting. I could see the money thing of course, every smoker has done the dollar math at some time or another. But the hype is for real too... food Will taste better, your clothes and living areas won't smell, you Will notice stale smoke on others, and you'll have money on you for some reason. To me the greatest thing is the new found peace of mind. "where are my smokes" "did i leave one burning somewhere" "do i have enough on hand or do i need to make a run to a store" on and on and on dwelling on not being without them. Vaping will allow you to ween off of nicotine if you want. When your tastebuds come back, you may find yourself liking flavors of sweets or others that are nicotine free. My nicotine content is still going down and Im enjoying tastes I never dreamed of in a "smoke". I've been quit for almost three years now.
I breathe better, (it will take some time), I no longer wake with a five minute long smokers cough. The wife responds to me more. My car interior is fresher and ash free. And best of all, I've got spare cash to buy bike stuff. I've refurbished two older bikes, and finishing up a third right now. All due to moving away from what was not really any real help at all.
Regardless of how you proceed, know that you are over half way to being there. Recognizing and wanting to quit, for yourself, not at others request, is the first step of success. Stay after it, the benefits you will see will make you wonder why you ever started, and why it took so long to not quit sooner.

Jeremy_S

You can quit man, YOU just have to decide to. I smoked from 16-30, couple of packs a day. I was a runner at the time and although I wasn't blazing fast I could cover a 5k in the mid 17's with whiskey on my breath haha. When I turned 30 almost 8 years ago, I just decided I didn't want to smoke anymore and quit. It sucked a bit but I did it and so can you. Friend of mine at work came out ten days ago with me, he's 47 and has smoked 30+ years and just decided he was done. Woke up Thursday morning and said no more, got on the plane and we flew out here to nowheresville and he's now on day 10 with no smoking. We work in a pretty high stress environment and if he can quit like that, I know you can.

Just do it, wait for all the crud to start coming up when you cough a few weeks after, and then watch how much better you feel.

bmcer

Do whatever it takes, but do it NOW! Don't do what I did, i.e., repeated, half-hearted, lame a$$ halfway attempts for about 3 years. After 25+ years of a 1 to 2 pack a day habit, I knew I wanted to quit. I just didn't realize how badly I NEEDED to quit. Then came a major heart attack. Two stents latter, I threw out every cigarette in the house and quit cold turkey. No, it was not fun, but it beat the alternatives.

That was six years and a whole list of lifestyle changes ago, and I'm a much healthier and happier person today. For me, fear was a great motivator. And make no mistake. Smoke and you either die early or end up being some sort of cripple. It's not a matter of "if". It's only a matter of when.

So do it. Do whatever it takes. Do it now, before you've irreparably damaged yourself. Your luck will not last forever, but the consequences of continued tobacco abuse will.

JanMM

Showing results for quitters


I got in maybe 3 pack years of smoking from about age 18-23. Took about two years to completely quit - last cigarette was at age 25 in 1975.
Smoking is a powerful addiction - I occasionally have the idea cross my mind that smoking a cigarette would be pleasant.
Forget e-cigs, too. No one knows exactly how dangerous they are but to think that they are harmless is foolish.

debit

Seconding the comment above about wanting to quit. I smoked a pack a day for years and tried to stop a few times because someone else wanted me to: it didn't work. But one day I realized that smoking made me feel like garbage. I had headaches, I was tired, I couldn't do anything without feeling weak and out of breath. When I realized that having a cigarette had stopped feeling like a reward or a treat, and that it actually tasted bad...that was when I knew I was ready.

The physical cravings won't last long. Mine were gone in a couple days, but yes, I used gum to help for those first few. The mental ones are a little harder, especially if you have a routine that you associate with smoking. It took years for me to stop reaching for my purse when I got in my car. Weirdly enough, I took up cycling to help me get over any temptation to start smoking again. It worked.

TheManShow

Cigarettes are an addiction, if you really want to quit you will. If you are only talking about quiting, and not 110% comitted to quiting you will not.

BAD NEWS IS:

Lungs do not fully heal after you quit.

But you will lower your risk of Heart Disease, Lung Disesases, and after going threw nicotine withdrawal you should feel better.

jfowler85

That's a misnomer - some parts like cilia heal just fine within a matter of days, other parts like alveoli do not.

Wolfhaven

I never smoked but chewed Red Man leaf tobacco for almost 30 years. Decided I needed to quit and just stopped. Threw whatever I had away. Wasn't easy but I found that the biggest battle is in the store. Don't buy anymore. Resist the urge to just buy a pack. Then on your way back to your car do a mini happy dance and celebrate because you just won an important battle. You can't smoke/chew if you don't have any. Someone offers you one, say no and give yourself a high five. I could handle the cravings since I didn't really have a choice when my back pocket was empty.

rumrunn6

they look better than they taste, and they are starting to look less appealing.