I'm a smoker. I never smoke indoors. Never have. I don't want others to suffer from my bad habit.

After having lost 130 pounds, I am scared stiff that I will gain weight when (if?) I quit.

A good friend once told me that it's better to die old and overweight, then young and thin.

I need to quit...

April
352/212/180
Down 130 pounds
32 to go...

This coming April 12 will be my 10 year anniversary quitting smoking. I was a 3 to 5 pack a day smoker! I gained quite a bit of weight but I am so much better off without that horrid habit. It's worth it believe me!

Rob
310/234.5/180

Me, a skeptic? I trust you have proof.

There is a lot to be afraid of when it comes to quitting smoking.

I quit in '98. I wanted to have a baby so I told DH to give me some time to quit first. I had a physical scheduled with my doctor so I got a prescription for the patch while I was there. I didn't fill it right away.

At the time I had a sick friend. A teacher/mentor of mine from high school was dying of a rare form of cancer. I went to visit him right up until he died. He asked me at one point if I still smoked and I said yes. He said "ah, you gotta quit that stuff, it'll kill you". Ironic, to say the least, to hear words like this from someone dying and someone who had never smoked. But I still didn't fill my precription.

Then I watched a TV show that was highlighting a new drug for cancer. They had taken a number of terminally ill patients and tried this drug on them. A number of them responded but one woman didn't. They basically told her, on television, that she was going to die. Let me tell you something, I got up off the couch, with tears streaming down my face, put on my coat and went to the drugstore to fill my prescription. That show was the catalyst I needed. I got the patch...but I did not start using it yet.

It took a few more weeks and finally I did it. I quit. It was April 11, 1998. I got pregnant 3 months later. During my pregnancy my beloved uncle was diagnosed with lung cancer. It was terminal. I visited him often in his last year or so. I can say that I am thrilled that he lived long enough to see my daughter and to celebrate her first birthday.

As I said above, there is a lot to be afraid of when quitting. There's the weight gain - I gained 50 pounds!! through my pregnancy. It is this weight gain and my inability to take it off that has brought me here. The biggest fear I had was not of failing but of succeeding. What would my life be like without my cigarettes? How could I go on if I didn't smoke? What would I do?

Ultimately, there was a much bigger fear that drove my decision to quit. I believe that everyone has their reasons for quitting. It's when the reasons for quitting become so much bigger than the fear of quitting that I think people are ready. And you need to be ready.

Sorry this is so long...oddly enough, I do still find it cathartic to talk about it.

Started Atkins 10/27/03
182/157/142

amen.

Jackie