MeKnows

Quitting smoking is not easy, everyone who ever tried can agree. Everything you heard about the struggle, commitment, depression and gaining weight may be true if you don’t put enough effort in your fight. Another fact is that the longer you smoke the harder it is to stop. Don’t think about it anymore. The truth is you have to quit, no matter what. So get yourself together and read some tips that will help you win this battle and feel good about it.

Don’t plan. Telling yourself ‘I will stop at the beginning of the week’ or, ‘I will quit next year’ doesn’t make any sense. You know very well it is just putting things off and you probably won’t quit at all. You should also avoid your ‘last one’ or ‘last pack’ because there will be another one for sure. It is, however wise to prepare mentally for such a step. Take a piece of paper and write down all the disadvantages of smoking – avoid noting disadvantages of quitting, they are only temporary. Then write down all the advantages of being free from this habit – think of every little thing. Now try to imagine yourself in future, without cigarettes – think of all the situations when you need them the most. Imagine you are doing well without them. Can you feel how free you are? When you start seeing this picture clearly in your head it means you are ready to quit.

Stay safe for the first days. Unfortunately smoking is present in all kinds of social situations. When you go to your favorite bar or to a party at a friend’s house – you will always meet someone who smokes. It is more probable especially if most of you friends and acquaintances are smokers. You should avoid them at the beginning because you will be very prone to failure. Imagine you have been so strong the whole week, not smoking one cigarette. Then comes the Saturday night out with friends, a little bit of alcohol and all your trials can be ruined because you simply can’t stop yourself from smoking. It is not worth it. Try avoiding social situations in the first days, maybe weeks – depending on how confident you feel.
Always have something to do. Have you noticed how many times you reached out for a cigarette only to kill boredom? It was the first thing that came to your mind. And how little you smoked whenever you had a busy day? Now you have to make sure you are never bored. Go shopping after work, visit a friend or go to museum. When you have a day off, try to spend it on many different activities so you won’t have a chance to think about smoking.

Watch what you eat. When you quit smoking your metabolism changes, or I should say – comes back to normal. That is why we put on weight no matter what we do. If you don’t want this process to be so drastic you should be careful with the things you eat. If you eat less and pay attention to the amount of calories in your meals you will still gain a couple of kilos but they will be easy to lose. Choose lighter versions of your favorite products – buy delicious low carb bread to make your toasted sandwiches instead of white rolls, eat more vegetables instead of fat meat.

Go in for sports. First of all it will keep you busy, maybe you will find your passion here? Secondly it will help you lose weight you gain after quitting smoking. Start from easier sports like biking for example. For those who are not very fit fixed gear bikes are the best but those who already do other sports single speed bikes are better because riding them we use more muscles. No matter what you choose don’t expose yourself to injuries. Start slowly, especially if you are not very fit.

Quitting smoking is a very long and hard process but if you got to that point of this article it means are aware how serious is your problem and you are ready to deal with it. Always remember what is the main reason you want to quit. Also make sure to praise yourself for every small success. I keep my fingers for all who decided to take this step and I send all my support to them.