My first day on this site and thirteen days until my quit date!

[stephsafighter71]

I have tried to quit smoking a few times before. Now I am unemployed and can't afford to smoke. I stumbled upon this site today (early this morning) and have been on it ever since. I am excited and geared to quit on my quit date. Reading the blogs and having my own is also going to be a great tool! One big concern was weight gain. By reading other blogs , I can see I'm not the only one. I'm very over weight and trying to work on myself all at once. I know "they" say not too, but I am 42 years old and cannot wait another minute! Good luck to everyone!

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

The most important thing you can do to start is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your mind and body. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. Here is a link to a free PDF version of it:

http://media.wix.com/ugd/74fa87_2010cc5496521431188f905b7234a829.pdf

As well, read the sections on this site, do the tracking and separation exercises, and read the blogs, responses and pages of folks you think might be helpful. You might also want to visit quitsmokingonline.com, and whyquit.com.

After you have completed the readings, it will be time to make your quit plan, including what quit aid , if any, you will use, and the crave busters you think will work for you. Then you can approach your quit day with a plan in place. 

Sorry - but you state you are already overweight  - so why rush to take care of a lifetime of bad habits in one fell swoop?  You can certainly work your quit by using your mind instead of your mouth to overcome cravings - but unless you are a SUPER self disciplined person - trying to tackle weight AND smoking might be too much.  You can certainly work at both - like going to the gym ad not using sugary foods as crave busters, though!

We are glad you are here!  Be sure to ask quesions when you have them and for support when you need it!

Nancy

[stephsafighter71]

Nancy, thank you so so much for your advice and helpful info! I have been working on my weight for a while now. I have been going to a weight doctor for three months. I have been wanting to quit smoking for ever, and accidently stumbled on this site. Maybe it's a sign that there's no time like the present to quit! I have been reading every thing I see on this site and I'm going to check out the ones you recommended next! Thanks again "youngatheart"!

[JonesCarpeDiem]

try to eat 200 less calories to compensate for the lack of nicotine

[Strudel]

Welcome to the site - you have come to the right place! Be sure to do the reading Nancy gave you. I loved Carr's book and the free course at http://quitsmokingonline.com/ is great! Stay close here - the support plus the reading did it for me! I smoked for 40 years and I quit - so, trust me, you can too! 

[crazybabi3-2]

I am also overweight by quite a bit however right now I am focusing more on my quit and willl work on any extra weight gain soon. I try for a healthy snack if I turn to food I do chew a lot of gum though. Stay positive you can do this.