New here and would like to ask....

[lconnelly]

How do I pick a quit date? I am starting my "seperating from the craving exercises" tomorrow. I intend to keep track of how many I smoke and why for three days, with the intention of cutting back right away so when I reach my quit date, it will be easier to give them up. And, is my quit date the day I stop smoling cigarettes and start using either gum or lozenges (haven't decided which I'll use yet), or is it the day that I am actually free of the 'replacement therapy' too? I want to be free of cigarettes by June 22nd,  so maybe a month before would be good? 

[hattie]

Hi there

You pick your quit date on the page where you track your smokes.

The day you quit smoking is the day you quit smoking whether you use gum or the patch or whatever... you are not smoking any longer.

I used the gum and only needed it about 3 weeks. I used the 4 mg for about a week and a half; then started using the 2 mg gum and used it for about another week and a half.

Each day, I needed less and less of the nicotine. I only chewed the gum when I felt myself wanting a smoke and couldn't shake it off. Even the slightest want of a smoke and I popped a piece of gum in.

Again, after the first week the need for the nicotine kept getting less and less.

After I quit the nicotine gum, I did keep regular sugar-free chewing gum around just to give me something when I got a pang.

It worked for me and I'm at 86 days!

Go for it... you'll do great!

[lconnelly]

Thanks for the advice! I am actually leaning toward using the gum! Your words are very encouraging!