Help a smoker quit!!! Counterproductive!

I have been working out for about 4 years with a few short breaks here and there of 1-2 months and I would start over. I am an ectomorph and have seen some improvement over the years but no where near the size I'd like to be. The thing that prohibits me, I'm sure it is the fact that I have smoked for 18 years. I hate the fact that I smoke and have tried to quit and failed time after time. I love working out and challenging myself each day but it seems like I am defeating the purpose if I can't quit smoking. I am a lot stronger than I was when I first started (bench max - 95 pounds then, 245 now) but no real size. I am cut very well but between a high metabolism and probably poor to fair eating habits my weight (207 last checked) can drop 10 pounds in 30 days if I don't work out. Any advice? Any supplements that will help me kick this habit. I feel terrible when I don't work out both mentally and physically and I get depressed when I am working out and still smoking.

While I feel for you, there's no supplement that is going to help with this problem.

It's going to come from:

1) You just making the change
2) Having a support group who is in the same boat and close by to assist when necessary

Pills, powders and such won't do much for you considering the whole aspect of quitting smoking is such a mentally challenging trial. The purpose of such support groups is to help you collectively gain strength mentally until you can quit and not start up again on your own.

Once you are ready to actually make that change in your life, you will know, and you will seek out others to help you or you'll cold turkey the habit totally. Now that is hard and usually people who cold turkey were told by a DR to quit or face some serious consequences.

In your position, you could look to the Patch as well as a smoker's group. Maybe in a year or so, you'd be able to kick the habit.

Marc C. David - NGA CPT
Author of NoBull Bodybuilding
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

No supplements, but talk to your doctor, the antidepressent Wellbutrin can help. It's sold under the name Zyban for that purpose.

Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances there is. My mother finally quit smoking after 45 years when she had an asthma attack left her barely able to breathe for about 20 minutes. Cancer didn't do it, but that did, she was so scared she hasn't smoked since.

"Eat Less, Exericise More"

Where's MY book deal?

Yeah, I have probably heard those same words 100 times if I have heard them once. I know there isn't a miracle pill but I was just reaching out there hoping, ya know...

Everytime I read or someone tells me that it's going to be up to me to accept that challenge and meet it head on and don't look back, it makes me wonder if I am going to fail again which leads to me thinking well why bother working out if you aren't going to quit smoking. But somehow I end up back in the gym 5:30 A.M. 4 mornings out of a week. I think I am as addicted to working out as I am to smoking cigarettes.

Is there a natural way to cleanse my cardio vascular system?

That's just it. I would never want it to take a physical trauma for me to quit. I'm more so a closet smoker (nicotine only for the record) and don't like for people to see me smoking because other than that I'd say I look pretty healthy just not as built as I know I could be.

There have been 4 or 5 week staunches where I didn't smoke and it was almost like I could feel my muscles filling with fluid and getting tight after the first week with no cigs. Do you think there is something to good circulation and vascular structure that relates to muscle growth and developement?

Your system will cleanse itself if you stop adding smoke to it, there's no "magic cleansing supplement" that can compensate for smoking.

I wish there was an easy answer. Accroding to Ray Charles, quitting smoking was harder than giving up heroin. But he did do it, and so can you.

"Eat Less, Exericise More"

Where's MY book deal?

Thanks for the encouragement. I will give it another try here soon maybe an increase in cardio would help as well. Can I do that and not have to worry about losing muscle?

I used to smoke for a year and I quit like a month ago. Really what got to me was a girl saying how nasty it is. Then every time I enhaled I could like feel it messing me up. Which made it easy for me to stop it. By smoking I used to get high and smoke blunts. I did it like 4 times a week then its kept going down like 3 the next then 2 to 1 time a week. I have to admit I do it still but its like twice a week which is a blunt getting high I stoped completly.

We should live our lives as though Christ was coming this afternoon. - Jimmy Carter

Just don't smoke while on the treadmill.

"Eat Less, Exericise More"

Where's MY book deal?

Have you tried the patches? they do work for some. And, here's a radical treatment: I know a few people who quit after hypnosis. The thought of smoking became repugnant after that suggestion was implanted into their phyche. One way to wean yourself off of cigarettes is to gradually cut the number you smoke each hour, then each day, then each month, then nevermore. I know it's tough, but It's a choice no one can make for you. Just the fact you are asking for suggestions is a great step. Good Hunting!

Scott "Old Navy" Hults, NFPT-CPT; NGA-CPT FAME, NGA & IDFA Natural Master Pro Bodybuilder FAME, NGA & OCB Contest Judge [image]http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6610/shlogo2hor8tk.jpg[/image]

ORIGINAL: Powerhaus

No supplements, but talk to your doctor, the antidepressent Wellbutrin can help. It's sold under the name Zyban for that purpose.

Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances there is. My mother finally quit smoking after 45 years when she had an asthma attack left her barely able to breathe for about 20 minutes. Cancer didn't do it, but that did, she was so scared she hasn't smoked since.

 
That is how I was able to quit smoking after 2 packs a day and 22 years of smoking. Worked really well for me, but you still have to want to quit for it to work. WILL POWER! Think of how such a stupid habit controls your life! Smoking controls everything you do everyday.

wellbutrin, didnt work for me, nothing really has, I have cut back alot though, by doin things like, not allowin myself to smoke in my car and such things, drinking has also been hard for me to drink, I drank everyday for 1 1/2 years, now I cut it down to just friday and saturdays, and instead of drinkin a 12 pack, ill try to have only 6 a nite, Its tough, once yer addicted to summtin, takes alot of will power and some help from above. I probally only smoke bout 3-5 cigs a day now, but when I drank its a pack a nite, I hope to quit all that sh*t soon, Im tierd of it having me by the balls

I was able to quit after 20+ years of smoking using the nicotrol inhaler http://www.nicotrol.com.  I was able to use the inhaler as much as I needed it when I needed it the most and not use it when I didn't.  A large part of quitting is the desire to quit and just as much of it is wanting to remain a quitter.

JR hit it on the head, you have to want to quit and have the will power.
 
I started smoking at 18 (3-1/2 packs of Pall Mall (reds)) for 16 years. There were times when playing ball I would get a base hit, run to first and then have to have someone run for me. Wow! I quit smoking 09/04/72 at 11:30am. I remember opening a brand new pack (0.47 cents then) had a cigarette and when I put the thing out, I said to myself "That's It" and carried that pack of 19 cigarettes for 3 months before I threw them away, they were hard as a rock. Haven't had a cigarette since and that's 33 years ago.
So, if you want to do it, do it. 
 
Peace

My friend said this is what worked for him: "Don't say , I'm going to quit, or I'm quitting.  say I already quit"  Think about the disgusting taste each time you draw a cigarette, it is discouraging... well it worked for him.

Lats make it short and simple
 
EAT A PACK OF SIGS!!!!

You think girls look at what you lift...or what you lift it with?

Age: 17
Height: 5'9''
Weight: 180lbs

I tried to quit smoking 3 to 4 times a year for 15yrs, and finally made it by doing the following two items without fail.
1. Take your last full ashtray and put it in a small jar. Fill it half full of water, put the lid on tightly and shake well.
Keep this Jar in your back porch, and everytime you feel like a smoke go to the jar and take a big inhale through your nose.
2. Imeadiately go drink two large glasses of water.

The first item will let you have an idea of what you are putting in your lungs, and the second gives you a filling feeling like you did inhale a cigarette.
Good luck,
Archangel

I quit 5 years ago I went cold turkey it was hard but it is doable I wish you the best

At the end of the day, it takes strength. I gave up because i'm driven and it got in the way of my goals in life. You've got to be strong and determined.

I've tried to quit a thousand times in the last 8 years.  I actually quit for good 2 months ago.  I can say that with certainty because my mindset is different.  Every other time I quit, I wasn't fully committed.  I knew it sounded like a good idea, but I didn't have the willingness to go without "no matter what."  I promised my kids I would quit, and that was enough to give me that willingness.  For the 1st time, I don't "want" a cigarette.  I'd rather suffer than break a promise to them, but I don't feel like I'm denying myself. 
 
My suggestion to you would be to find out what's important to you, and quit for that.  Good Luck!  I know it's not easy.
 
Also, the Nicotine gum has helped take the edge off so I don't kick the dog as often.

ORIGINAL: metabomaster

I have been working out for about 4 years with a few short breaks here and there of 1-2 months and I would start over. I am an ectomorph and have seen some improvement over the years but no where near the size I'd like to be. The thing that prohibits me, I'm sure it is the fact that I have smoked for 18 years. I hate the fact that I smoke and have tried to quit and failed time after time. I love working out and challenging myself each day but it seems like I am defeating the purpose if I can't quit smoking. I am a lot stronger than I was when I first started (bench max - 95 pounds then, 245 now) but no real size. I am cut very well but between a high metabolism and probably poor to fair eating habits my weight (207 last checked) can drop 10 pounds in 30 days if I don't work out. Any advice? Any supplements that will help me kick this habit. I feel terrible when I don't work out both mentally and physically and I get depressed when I am working out and still smoking.

 
I know how you feel. I've been smoking for over 20 years. Just before I started bodybuilding, I was over 40 per day. Then, I decided to cut 10% each week because otherwise, your brain will do anything to get you back to smoking. Currently, I'm at 22 cigs per day, and from tomorrow on, I'm on 20. Try it that way. It's difficult for me, but manageable. Just go for it - it's worth your effort!

 I smoked for ten years and hated being a smoker.  I have been quit now for almost just over four months and am taking my health (and weight training) much more seriously.  I feel at least ten years younger and wonder now what the hell I was thinking when I took that first puff.  This site helped a real lot.  No nonsense, cold turkey, tough love.  I swear by it.  Good luck.  It's a long and difficult jounery, but the smartest thing you could ever do for yourself.
 
groups.msn.com/FreedomFromTobaccoQuitSmokingNow
 
I have remained nicotine free for 4 Months, 2 Weeks and 4 minutes (137 days). I have saved $924.76 by not smoking 3,699 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Week, 5 Days, 20 hours and 15 minutes of my life. 
The Beginning of the Rest of My Life began on: 6/24/2006 11:00 PM

"Here, more than elsewhere, I saw multitudes to every side of me; their howls were loud while, wheeling weights, they used their chests to push"

-The Fourth Circle of Dante's Hell

It's easy to say "Just stop."  Easier for some because for them the biochemical reactions in their body may not change as much as it does in others.  Nicotine is an unusual chemical.  It is both sedating and energizing at the same time.  If you took ten people, each smoking say 30 cigarettes a day, and made them stop, and then checked their brain chemistry for neurotransmitters, I'll bet that the fall in some neurotransmitters is greater than it is in the others.  So there are people who can truly say "just quit--cold turkey- do it," because they can.  However since each body reacts differently this does not translate to "I did it, so you can to."  This is because you are not they.  Perhaps their serotonin diped a bit, but yours plummets...and you feel that...the body (not "you") becoming far more desperate for that level to pump back up.  So ease up on yourself if you've tried and failed.

As some have said, there is Wellbutrin, the patch, gum, and other meds, some new, to remove the craving.  But--the body remembers, and add a bit of stress, and the desperation for another fix hits you hard.

There is a trick though.

Cold turkey, no meds/patch/gum: The recidivism rate at the end of one year is perhaps 95%.  That means that at the end of the year, 95 people are smoking again.

So add Wellbutrin, the patch, etc.  The recidivism rate at the end of the year drops to about 85%.  Not much of a gain for the massive bucks you pay for the patch--so where's the trick?

Add a support group... Amazingly with Wellbutrin or some other legitimate aid, and a support group that is consistently attended (but not forever) and the recivism rate drops to an amazing 45-55%.  This means that about half that try succeed. 

I don't think it works this way because others help you...I think it's the other way around-you help them.  Especially here, with strong willed folk, you would act the role model, it's your nature.  And you learn the nasty "get 'em puffing tricks," that friends (especially women/women friends) use to get you puffin agin, and you learn the other pratfalls, and how to avoid them.  You don't have to become friends with anyone in the group, or even like them.  But data indicates that half of the attendees in fact are smoke free at the end of the year.

And consider this...about 85% of smokers quit!  (About 10% smoke till they die, often of a heart attack, and about 5% smoke till they die of other causes.  But 85% quit after the proverbial brown stuff hits the fan--when it is largely too late, and they are frantically grasping for another year or two of life.  Call your local hospital, if they don't offer support groups, do some research...or start one....Do that and I'll personally guarantee that you'll be smoke free at the end of the year.

There is a drug called Rimonabant which is supposed to work for very obese people, it works by altering a chemical in your brain to make you not crave the substance... but later during research and studies, they have discovered, that it also helps you quit various addictions, it was meant for people with food addictions, ... it's not the only addiction it works on, it helps you battle cravings such as smoking, drugs, and alcoholism.

Google it, "innovative-research" still has it.

Might want to try Chantix. Helped my boss out a lot.

Current:

Age - 21 (22 in Feb)
Height - 6'3
Weight - 182lbs

Goal:

Age - 25
Height - 6'3
Weight - 220lbs

Supplements: GABA 750. Flintstones Gummy vitamins, because I'm hardcore like that!

Chantix!!!!

http://www.chantix.com

It worked for me.  I started on the prescription for one week, then didn't smoke after that first week on the drug.  I haven;t had one since (Christmas Eve) and don't want one.  Just being around someone who smokes makes me want to gag.

Read up on it, if there ever was a "miracle pill", this one is it.  It was only $30 on my insurance for the first month, but I have heard of people paying up to $110.  But that is what, a months worth of smokes?  I only used 3 weeks worth and haven't looked back.  My wife took it for two months, same deal with her now.

What is you life and health worth.......

Forgot to add, GOOD LUCK!!!!!

I've heard that the ashtray of ciggs in a jar with water works.

Having a strong support base is critical.  I had an emergency phone call I could make at anytime, whenever i felt like i was freaking out and wanted to smoke.  My friend would keep me on the phone for 15 minutes, we'd talk, and the craving would go away.  Also, replacing it helps.  I'd go outside with friends when they went to smoke, except I'd carry a pen with with and hold.  Nic fits are hard to fight but so is just breaking the habit of smoking. 

I was talking with a friend of mine, wouldn't it be funny if we took a few minutes out of the day to relieve stress in a healthy way (i.e. pushups)?  "boss? boss can I take my pushup break now?"  Haha I can just imagine what people would say.

The first few days is the hardest. I also got cravings 6 months out and a year out.  BE STRONGGGG

Good luck.  You can do it. Strong support groups. 

age: 24
height: 6'4"
weight: 217lbs
bf% 15
____________
currently attempting first bulk

Toothpicks helped me with the "oral fixation" part of quitting, but now I'm addicted to toothpicks!  But I guess they are healthier than the smokes......