Four Months of Not Smoking

I’ve now hit the four-month non-smoking mark. I am astounded. It has been far easier than I ever imagined. The only bumps in the road have been intense cravings for chocolate and sweets and my extreme irritability. I thought I’d be a sleepy, ditzy, non-smoking shrew and that hasn’t happened yet. Well, at least not the sleepy and ditzy parts.

One Approach to Quitting Smoking

The most basic key to successfully giving up cigarettes is to quit with a plan and with a good reason. Trying to quit because a loved one wants you or because you’re flying to Europe and will have to endure several hours of not smoking is just not good enough. It’s trite but true: you have to want to quit. And having a plan is essential so you’re prepared when you come across those inevitable bumps in the road. Don’t give yourself an out for failure. There are no valid excuses for giving up on quitting. Life being what it is, there will never be the perfect time to quit. Shit happens and you have to be prepared to deal with it without cigarettes.

What’s for dessert?

Having lost 30 lbs. last year, I didn’t want them back. From what I read online, a certain amount of weight gain is inevitable when you quit smoking. Apparently, smoking is worth about 200 calories of metabolism. So when you quit, even though your brain strongly suggests replacing the cigarettes with lots of chocolate and junk food, your body is actually demanding healthier foods in smaller quantities.My weight loss started unintentionally. When I realized my husband might actually dump me, I lost my appetite. Not wanting to eat in a stressful situation was a first for me. Like many people, I’m a nervous eater who seeks out food for comfort. I guess since the trauma of my marriage ending was the worst I’d been through, my stomach reacted accordingly. The idea of eating just didn’t appeal to me. When I did eat, it wasn’t much. This lack of appetite lasted three or four months. By then I had lost maybe 20 lbs. For my mental health, I had upped my workouts so between reducing my caloric intake and burning more calories, another 10 lbs. came off. I started buying new clothes that fit and decided to stay where I was weight-wise, give or take five lbs. My weight has been stable for the past nine or so months.

How I Quit Smoking

On January 2, I quit smoking at 7:30 in the morning. As a smoker of 32 years, quitting has been a thousand times easier than I ever imagined it would be. And the reason it’s been so easy is Chantix (Varenicline) — the prescription drug from Pfizer. I started taking the pills a week before my target quit date, as directed. Some time around the fifth day, smoking a cigarette was becoming an odd experience. The smoke had somehow gotten “neutralized” and I was not getting the satisfaction from a smoke like I used to. On top of that, the smoke itself tasted funny — not bad but not good, either. What was going on? Well, apparently, it was the Chantix at work.

Smoking or chain-smoking?

You know how they say smoking kills? And how every cigarette pack comes with a dire FDA warning about lung cancer or some other morbid health topic smokers don’t want to know about ? And how it’s been common knowledge for years that smoking shortens your life expectancy? And how smokers can no longer smoke in most indoor places and even many outdoor ones? And how the price of a pack of cigarettes has gotten insanely high in recent years? And how badly a person who just stepped out to smoke stinks when they come back inside? And how smokers are now the worst of society’s pariahs? So what kind of idiot would continue to smoke in this day and age? Me, until 78 days ago. And frankly, I quit for the shallowest of reasons.