Ex-smoker

Runningjunkie

Runningjunkie

New member
May 20 will be three years since I quit smoking :party: and I pointed that out to my husband last night. He told me that to celebrate, he was buying me a cheesecake (my WEAKNESS) to eat all by myself. Not at one sitting, but the whole thing would be mine. I guess I can ration it to one piece per day and not feel SO guilty. :Angel_anim:
Anyway, he said that the calories would be worth having me around for 10 more years. I am going to do a pretty good workout that day too, something I had a hard time doing when I smoked.
 
Congrats on the 3 years. This year I hit my 10 year mark. I totally forgot about it until after it passed.

Anyway, I would totally suggest that your hubby find another way to celebrate than with food and especially an entire cheesecake. While they are extremely good, they are also very high in calories and fat etc (unless you aren't watching out for this stuff).
 
Congratulations.
I have only quit for a little over 3 months and know how hard it is.

I feel cheesecake is the best use of cheese ever and is the perfect way to celebrate any and all of life's accomplishments.
My #1 dessert weakness but you can be sure when I get to a year I shall be having at least a piece to celebrate.
 
Hints from maleficent.

Cheesecake freezes very well...
enjoy one slice each... then with the remainder..
Cut it into slices, wrap it in wax paper, then in Cling wrap..

and put it in the freezer.

Defrost when you want to enjoy it again...

that way it's not tempting you -and you don't have to worry about it spoiling... and by slicing it in portions first... you can defrost exactly what you want.

And congrats on being smoke free...
 
Wonderful idea, Maleficent. As a matter of fact, that's what I did to the top tier of my wedding cake, and it is still in my freezer, waiting for that all important 1st anniversary. When it comes to cheesecake though, I will have to exercise A LOT of self-control, especially if he gets one from Starbucks like he had mentioned.
 
That's great! It's been a year and 3 months for me. I made a little running calculator (based on cost of a pack when I quit and how many cigarettes I averaged/day) that I started when I quit and it's telling me that (as of this writing) I have:

470.65 smoke-free days under my belt
13649 unsmoked cigarettes
$4099 not spent on cigarettes

Crazy, crazy stuff when you see numbers like that. Congrats!!
 
Darwinfish- those numbers are incrediable!! It has been 2 years this past February since I quit. Still crave after all this time though...lol
 
Darwinfish, that's amazing when you break down the costs like that. I can't imagine how much I have saved since I quit. I can honestly say that it has been refreshing to not have to worry about when I could smoke again or if the restaraunt was a non-smoking facility. There is a freedom associated with being smoke-free. You don't realize just how much your life revolves around those nasty things until you quit.
For you fellow ex-smokers, what was it that made you decide to quit for good? We all relapse a few times before finally stopping, so what made you do it once and for all?
For me, I was in the pool at the gym swimming laps. I finished one lap and could barely breathe, I was so out of breath. I was working out and running, but that pool kicked my butt. I decided right then and there that I was done with cigarettes. Best thing for me since I have had pneumonia several times, and collapsed both lungs in a car accident 12 years ago.
 
For me it was a couple reasons... getting ready to start a family, I didn't want to be a smoking dad. I didn't want to smoke around my kids or for them to see me smoking. Second was just the realization that I am going to have to do it sometime. The longer I wait the harder it will be and I think I needed to prove to myself that I could beat that. It became a competition between me and the cigarettes.

Before, I quit to save money. Failed. Several times. Why? Because I wasn't saving money. It would just go elsewhere. It's the worst reason to quit for me.

So my wife and I decided that the time had come to give up that part of our life. We both quit January 15, 2007. I had my last cigarette at 11:35pm. I remember it very well. From time to time I miss it, but the real cravings (the ones you fear when you are thinking of quitting) have long since subsided for both of us. It's more of a passing thought than it is an urge or craving.

I've stopped wheezing. I haven't been sick in ages. I have a much finer sense of taste and smell. It's been an amazing change. However, I also put on 20+ lbs doing it. And hence, here I am! :D
 
I hear ya about the wheezing and not getting sick. I can count on one hand the number of times I have been sick since I quit. I didn't gain much weight after I quit, I just chewed my way through a forest of toothpicks. I also have found that I need something in my mouth after I eat. For awhile it was Orbit gum, now it's strawberries and cream Creme Savers. I swear, I'm like a crack addict with those things! I have to have them in my desk at work or I seriously go into withdrawls...lol.
 
Why did I quit...

I honestly just got tired of it all. I smoked for 18 years or so- from the time is was 14 or 15- and just wanted to stop. Tired of going outside to smoke. Tired of people complaining that I smelled of smoke. Tired of buying cigarettes. Tired of pretty much everything associated with smoking.
They just passed a law in Illinois pretty much eliminating smoking everywhere except outside- and even that is restricted. I used that as an excuse to quit and had my last on 1/9/08.
I then used the fear of gaining weight- I was around 260 at the time and could not put on any more weight- as a reason to try to at least break even and maintain. There was so much I was suddenly able to do now that I could breathe that I got more and more involved in my own fitness.
And here I am today. A slightly less fat man who doesn't smoke and significantly more fit then he was 4 months ago.
 
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