The First Six Smoke-Free Months
There is no better teacher than the voice of experience, and when it comes to quitting tobacco, members of the About.com Smoking Cessation forum have valuable insights to share. An important resource for the new quitter, their stories are full of practical tips about what works when we quit smoking and the benefits we might expect to enjoy.
The personal quit stories I've selected to share here focus on the first six months of smoking cessation. While the journey to quit smoking is a personal one, many of us face similar challenges early on. Learning how others have managed sets us up to overcome the issues we might encounter successfully.
Settle in and do some reading -- these real life success stories are sure to inspire, and if you're still smoking, motivate you to embark on your own journey to freedom from nicotine addiction.
Reader Contributions:
Image © Stockxpert
Quit Smoking Monday Messages
Minimize Holiday Weight Gain
Most people will gain a small amount of weight when they quit smoking. Due to temporary changes in metabolism, we can expect an upward shift on the scale of 5 to 10 pounds. Within a few months, quit-related weight will come back off again as long as eating habits haven't changed. For most of us though, using food as a replacement for smoking is tempting, and something we must to learn to manage as we move through smoking cessation.
The holidays present a special challenge, with all of the rich treats that go along with the season. If your quit program is new, take some time to set your priorities clearly in your mind before getting swept up in holiday celebrations that could put you at risk.
Don't Try to Lose Weight, But Don't Gain Either
Think maintenance as you go through the holidays, and use the 80/20 rule. If 80 percent of the meals and snacks you eat on a given day are healthy and in the right portions, you can allow yourself a few treats with the other 20 percent without throwing your diet out of whack.
The following articles from About.com Guides will help you come up with a plan of action to help you avoid gaining weight as you enjoy the holiday season.
Safeguard your quit program by thinking ahead. Remember, the key here is to manage your holidays smoke-free. Have a plan in place ahead of time and you'll be able to enjoy yourself and stay on track
Photo © BigStockPhoto
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Take The Quit Smoking Monday Pledge
Healthy Monday encourages us to think of every Monday as a day that we can begin work anew on goals that we have for ourselves. If you're still smoking, put your cigarettes down and get started on your quit program today.
We all have the ability to quit smoking successfully, and we all deserve a life that is free of addiction. Honor your life by choosing Monday as the day to start and reinforce your quit program.
You can quit smoking ... and we're here to help you, one simple Monday at a time.
Image © healthymonday.org
Holiday Depression and Smoking
Surviving the Holiday Blues Smoke Free
If you get the holiday blues, you're not alone. Many of us experience unhappy emotions and associations this time of year, and those feelings may in turn trigger the urge to smoke.
While this may not be your favorite time of year, learning how to survive the holidays with your quit program intact will reward you a sense of strength, accomplishment and control over the challenges that life can sometimes place in our path.
Related:
Photo: © Stockxpert
What are TSNAs?
Tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines (TSNAs) are known to be some of the most potent carcinogens present in smokeless tobacco, snuff and tobacco smoke.
Related:
The One Million Member Promise
Speck, the 14 year old son of famous rocker John Melloncamp made a deal with his dad: He'd create a Facebook Group and get one million people to join it...and dad would quit smoking.
A four pack a day smoker until suffering a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 42, John Melloncamp told Rolling Stone in an interview about it at the time: "It's nobody else's fault. It's my fault. I'm a smoking machine. Hell, sometimes I wake up 10, 15 times a night to smoke a cigarette. The moral of my story is that 80 cigarettes a day and a cholesterol level of 300 is like a loaded gun."
Following his heart attack, Melloncamp cut back on smoking and improved his diet. In the years since, he's made numerous attempts to quit, but hasn't yet found the right motivation to make it stick.
We all have the ability to quit smoking, and a right to live our lives free of addiction. I admire and support Speck's desire to do something to help his dad quit smoking, though I know that the road to successful cessation must come from a serious desire within for every smoker. I hope that John is ready to make that commitment a reality in his life. He'll never regret quitting...or making his son's wish to save his dad's life come true.
Photo by Scott Gries / Getty Images
Quit Smoking Resources:
Quit Smoking Monday Messages
Confident, Empowered and Thinner!
Weight gain often goes hand-in-hand with smoking cessation, and it puts quitters at risk of relapse -- the feelings of discomfort over clothes getting tighter outweighing the need to free ourselves of nicotine addiction.
Learning to let go enough to love ourselves even when we gain a few quit-related pounds is a part of the recovery process for many of us, and is poignantly reflected in the following quit story from About.com Smoking Cessation support forum member, Dee.
Dee's account offers a unique perspective on the empowerment that cessation offers us, and the valuable lesson of keeping our priorities in place.
Thanks for your contribution, Dee. Your message will help more people than you know.
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Take The Quit Smoking Monday Pledge
Healthy Monday encourages us to think of for ourselves. If you're still smoking, put your cigarettes down and get started on your quit program today.
We all have the ability to quit smoking successfully, and we all deserve a life that is free of addiction. Honor your life by choosing Monday as the day to start and reinforce your quit program.
You can quit smoking ... and we're here to help you, one simple Monday at a time.
Image © healthymonday.org
Tobacco in the News
Chinese Smoking Deaths Seen Doubling in 10 Years -- Reuters
Smoking deaths in China, home to the world's largest smoking population, will double to two million a year by 2020 if the country does not do more to reduce tobacco use, health experts predict.
Water Pipes No Safer Than Cigarettes -- Healthday News
Water pipes are no safer than cigarettes for smoking tobacco, researchers say. A new study found that people who smoke tobacco with a water pipe inhale carbon monoxide and nicotine, which puts them at risk for heart disease and nicotine addiction.
Reynolds Offers Buyouts to Manufacturing Workers -- Associated Press
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of Camel cigarettes, said Friday it is offering buyouts to about 1,800 workers at its North Carolina factories to cut costs.
Around About.com -- Holiday Help
Most of us feel some degree of stress this time of year, and if you've recently quit smoking, it can be a lot to handle.
About.com has the resources to help you manage the holiday season more comfortably. Listed below are a few holiday help offerings form About.com Guides.
Happy Smoke-Free Holidays!
- Holiday Central - About.com
- Healthy Food Court Meals - About.com Weight Loss
- Stress Relief Secret Weapon: Holiday Shortcuts! - About.com Stress
- 10 Ways to Find Time to Walk During the Holidays - About.com Walking
Photo: Stockxpert
Reynolds, Inc. in the Quitting Business? Not Likely.
Big Tobacco giant, Reynolds American, Inc just sealed a deal to buy a Swedish company that manufactures nicotine replacement products designed to help people quit smoking.
As reported by the Associated Press, the acquisition will allow Reynolds to offer products that can "reduce the risks of diseases and death caused by tobacco use," CEO Susan M. Ivey said in a statement.
Could this mean that Reynolds is committed to helping stem the enormous flow of disease and death that tobacco products cause? Could they be driven by concern for the nearly 5 million lives that are lost on this planet every year because of tobacco use?
Not likely.
Products that reduce the risks is not the same thing as products that reduce dependence...or help people quit.
I think we can safely assume that Reynolds is actively pursuing new avenues to market smokeless tobacco products in light of the downturn in cigarette smoking.
With products like dissolvable tobacco and snus sold under Reynold's Camel brand, it's not hard to see where this is going....and it has nothing to do with protecting public health.
Maker of Camels Buys Cigarette Replacement Seller -- Associated Press
Related:
Quit Smoking Monday Messages
Your First Smoke-Free Holiday Season
As you work your way through your first smoke free holiday season, you may face a number of triggers to smoke that are associated with this time of year specifically. Simple things like holiday baking and trimming the tree might leave you feeling edgy the first time you do them smoke free.
Take heart -- recovery from nicotine addiction is a process of gradual release over time. The work it takes to navigate the season smoke free is a necessary step in clearing old associations out and making way for the new.
Keep your perspective in line with your intentions, and by the time the holidays roll around next year, smoking won't even register as a concern.
Photo © Stockxpert
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Take The Quit Smoking Monday Pledge
Healthy Monday encourages us to think of for ourselves. If you're still smoking, put your cigarettes down and get started on your quit program today.
We all have the ability to quit smoking successfully, and we all deserve a life that is free of addiction. Honor your life by choosing Monday as the day to start and reinforce your quit program.
You can quit smoking ... and we're here to help you, one simple Monday at a time.
Image © healthymonday.org