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Share your quitting journey

urges/habits

Onna
Member
6 17 262

I have made it one month and two days nicotine free. Days are easier than they  were that first week. (N.O.P.E. for me as I never want to experience hell week again).

I'm finding that I get "urges" rather than cravings ... But it's easier to overcome /ignore them. And it's only if we go to places we used to go (but have not been since we quit smoking)

Really weird... I can see the "ties" I guess.. that the addiction to nicotine had and the habits with it.

I think I understand the "two sets of seasons" post more now. Years and years of smoking were tied into a lot of habits/routine.

I understand that it will be a lifelong battle to never give into Nicorderm.

I did not think that I would make it this far and am grateful for every non smoking minute!

One thing I have noticed though is that I am extremely hungry.. all the time. I have not gained any weight (in fact I lost a couple pounds. Yay grapes and dark chocolate) but this is a concern of mine.

I seem to be switching the smoking habit to an eating habit. Food just taste so much yummier!

New goal: excercise more eat less sugar.

17 Comments
karenjones
Member

One month and two day s is a great accomplishment.  You are doing well. Keep up the good work!

Barbscloud
Member

Big congrats and nice to meet you.  So true about the old associations with smoking.  Each time we experience one without smoking we're a winner.  

JonesCarpeDiem

Congratulations!

those urges are memory connections

not driven by nicotine

JonesCarpeDiem

/blogs/Pete-Howells-blog/2008/05/11/how-to-stop-smoking-without-weight-gain 

This link is not a how to but an understanding of why we want to eat more.

We got dopamine from smoking

We get dopamine from food.

We try to replace the dopamine from smoking with dopamine from eating.

elvan
Member

Congratulations on a month and two days,  you are doing GREAT!  The memory associated urges will eventually just become memories.  

Ellen

YoungAtHeart
Member

...and you can get dopamine from EXERCISE!

BINGO!

DonnaMarie
Member

"I did not think that I would make it this far and am grateful for every non smoking minute!"

You did this. Give yourself some of that gratitude! It's the best gift ever, isn't it?

As for the eating, I'm at a point where I'm just now starting to think about what I'm eating and maintaining the mindfulness with food that I do with not smoking. I'm using the exact same tricks and strategies to not overeat. I'm only on the third day of that, so will have to see if I've got it in the bag. I don't want to get too cocky or over confident, you know? 

My urges are few now. They smack me upside the head and I, like you, feel like they're more related to some prior habitual smoking time. I'm slowly adding back activities which I know for sure triggered smoking. I don't want to do too much at once, but I also don't want to give up those pieces of my life that I enjoyed. I want to enjoy them now without the cigarettes. 

So happy that you've made it so far and am confident that you're going to continue being a quitter. Bravo to you!

quitter2.jpg

Donna

Day 65

Barbara145
Member

You are doing great.  It gets so much easier but it takes a while.  I no longer have a "life long battle."  I am so over cigarettes.  It has been over 5 years since I quit.

Onna
Member

Thank you for this information. It is very helpful!

AnnetteMM
Member

HUGE accomplishment! FYI when I started seeing "urges" instead of cravings it seemed like they were just memories of smoking. Like, I just finished the dishes and I used to have a smoke then. NOPE, don't do that anymore

Animals12
Member

Wow congrats!! That's wonderful. I can't wait till I can say be I'm a month free.  

sweetplt
Member

This is super...Congratulations ... ~ Gotcha in my Thoughts Colleen

beazel
Member

Good for you - you're doing great!!

One day at a time...............

indingrl
Member

CONGRATS 32 NON SMOKER DAYS!!! Yahooooooo and GOOD JOB!!!

Onna
Member

Hang in there and don't give up. It really does get easier! You can get here too!

Barbscloud
Member

Are numerous explanations why people gain weight from quitting.  

- nicotine decreases your appetite

- metabolism slows down

- tend to craze sweets after quitting

- food may smell and taste better

- brain confuses craving for nicotine for hunger

CommunityAdmin
Community Manager
Community Manager

As a reminder email notifications were turned off overnight as part of the data migration. This is just a post to alert some of those who might have missed some comments that occurred while the email notifications were turned off.

Mark
EX Community Manager