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Preparation: Prepare for the Big Day

by Anonymous

Toronto, Ontario
Canada

I had smoked between 1/2 -1 pack a day for 13 years and had tried to quit 3 times before. My husband smoked for 14 years 1 pack a day and had tried to quit once before. About five years ago I decided that I needed to make some serious life style changes in order to maintain my health and be a good role model for my daughters. My husband, then my fiancΘe, decided he wanted to marry me not bury me. So we embarked on a journey together to give up our addictions. I know this site is for smoking, but as tobacco is an addictive drug, more often than not people who smoke also use alcohol and sometimes other drugs that can be addicting. we were never alcoholics but we decided that the first thing we would give up was alcohol. This would make it easier to quit smoking, as we always smoked a lot more when we were drinking. Then we started preparing and building up our bodies with a well balanced nutritional plan. A year before we quit we started smoking out side only, so our kids wouldn't have to suffer and in the winter it helped us cut down. On July 1st ' 97. we set our quit date which was Sept.15th 1997. During the 3 months before we quit we did some mental exercises, like writing out all the benefits we would have. We did a lot of work on why we smoked. about 2 months before our quit date, every time we took a drag off of our cigarette we would picture something that really disgusted us. For my husband it was cottage cheese, for me it was picturing the black sludge that was squeezed out of a handful of cigarettes on one of those stop smoking commercials. Doing this every time we inhaled really helped us cut down unconsciously to the point that by the time our quit date came it really grossed us out to smoke. My husband went to the doctor and got the patch. I decided to go with the nutritional route and adjusted my program accordingly to cope with cravings and withdrawal. We got rid of all our reminders, like ashtrays and other smoking related stuff. After two days on the patch my husband was horrible to be around and complaining about shooting pains down his arms. My husband noticed that I was dealing with it a lot better than he was and decided to throw the patch away. He changed his nutritional program to deal with the withdrawal. We did find out that not all supplements are created equal. If you are thinking about a nutritional approach, I'd be happy to share with you what we did to make sure what we were taking was really going to work. Since then we have been smoke free, and a lot healthier and happier. My husband only gained 20 pounds in the first year, but after his body adjusted he was only up 10 pounds. It looks good on him as he was pretty thin when he smoked, as I was. I gained 40 pounds then lost ten, but I am pretty muscular so I don't look fat. I would rather be a little heavier and have a healthy heart and healthy lungs, that thin and sick. Besides now that I know that no matter what happens I will never smoke again, I can start a nutritional program for weight loss. Just for your information, you would have to gain 75 pounds to equal the risk of smoking. My husband and I just recently started a Smoking Cessation group in the Toronto area. I hope this helps anyone who is ready to quit smoking.