Member Advice on Giving Up Smoking

I have now been a non-smoker for one month and so far so good as they say! I have not used Nicotine replacement or anything else and my main motivation for giving up smoking is to be healthier in general and for increased fertility.

In order to give up I began to record the amount of cigarettes I was smoking and then every 3 or 4 days I cut this amount down by 1 so that over 5 or 6 weeks I went from smoking 10 a day to 0 a day and the first day I didn't have a cigarette wasn't too hard at all as I was already prepared for what was going to happen.

I had been sure to read up on things online beforehand and I knew what I was going to be letting myself in for and what the cravings would be like etc.

I have snacked a little since I gave up smoking but in this first month (reportedly the hardest) I have not put on any extra weight so I am very happy overall with the progress that I have made and getting fatter was one of my main concerns!

I have now noticed the amount of money that I am saving and this means that I've got a little bit extra for my shopping budget and things like that which is really important to me at a time when I don't have a job or much money in general.

I do find that my fitness has improved a little already and I'm not getting out of breath anywhere near as much as I was before, also, my blood pressure has improved a fair bit already so overall my whole health is improving just from making what I now deem to be a fairly small change.

I cannot actually say that I've struggled at all and already I've realised just how horrible cigarettes smell and when down the pub with a friend recently I was shocked at just how bad she smelt and how bad she looked when smoking a cigarette.

My top tip for anybody who wants to give up smoking really is just to prepare yourself and I found that having a goal (health being the main thing I wanted to improve) that it gave me encouragement every time I made it through an hour, then a day, then a week etc and now I really feel that I'll never go back to smoking! The main test was having an alcoholic drink recently (just the one as I don't drink at all these days) and I didn't want a cigarette at all so perhaps you could say that I'm cured now!

I am rating giving up smoking 5/5 as I think that's it a fantastic thing for anybody to do as it helps to improve your health, wealth & life expectancy and that's just fantastic and, to be honest, when you give up you'll realise just how bad you stank before!

Summary: I have struggled occasionally but I've made it through thus far!