3 days so far...

[HKsig]

Without a cigarette and it gets harder.

Oh how long before I'm free of Mr Nicotine's grips?

I'm thinking of the benefits of stopping smoking, breathing easier and no more coughing fits.

Mr. Nic is whispering in my ear, C'mon, one more puff. Just one more puff.

ARRGGHH. Leave me alone!

[Beiruty]

it will soon fade. Keep yourself busy. No stress.

[Glockster]

Without a cigarette and it gets harder.

Oh how long before I'm free of Mr Nicotine's grips?

I'm thinking of the benefits of stopping smoking, breathing easier and no more coughing fits.

Mr. Nic is whispering in my ear, C'mon, one more puff. Just one more puff.

ARRGGHH. Leave me alone!

Good for you -- hang in there!

[RPBrown]

The initial craving will subside in about a week, however, try hard to stay away from smokers even after that as the smell will give you the urge again.
I quit in 06 after 40+ years of 3-4 packs a day. Laid them down and walked away. Had a tough time but it was worth it. Even now though, occasionally I will smell someone smoking one and it smells good. Most of the time it stinks so bad but every now and then makes me want one for a millisecond.

[FCH]

HKsig -- keep plugging along. It is worth it. I quit in 1992. Did my own 'one day at a time' program. I laid the package on the fireplace mantel. Every time I had a craving, I promised myself to wait just one more day. My wife says I actually went around the house making growling sounds. After a while, the smoke from others will really start to stink. Then you have made it!

You can do it and it is well worth it.

[Teamless]

Congratulations!

It is quite difficult.
I quit March 22, 2007 (yes, it was so memorable, I remember the date!)
Took me about 2 weeks to lose the anxiety of not smoking.

However, every day after I quit, I took as an accomplishment, and I told myself, if I had just 1 drag of a cigarette, I would lose all of the time I had already fought through, and I simply was not going to do that, as this was too hard to have to do AGAIN!

I also know my addictive personality, 1 hit of 1 cig, and I would be back to 2-3 packs per day.

Last thing to think of, after about 6 months of not smoking, (both my wife and I smoked and quite within 3 weeks of each other), our bank account was considerably bigger!
I think smokes are about $5/pack now, give or take, and with my wife and I, at lets say 4 packs a day (total), thats $20/day x 365 days per year, thats over $7,000 of smokes! WOWSERS!

Every couple months, I will have a dream that I had a smoke, and I wake up so mad at myself, thinking of how good I have done.

Keep up the good work!
if you need any support, just make a post, we will all prop you up!

[Richbirdhunter]

Physically It takes your body about 7 days to get over nicotine. Mentally that depends on you.

[WildBill]

Without a cigarette and it gets harder.

Oh how long before I'm free of Mr Nicotine's grips?

I'm thinking of the benefits of stopping smoking, breathing easier and no more coughing fits.

Mr. Nic is whispering in my ear, C'mon, one more puff. Just one more puff.

ARRGGHH. Leave me alone!

As they say, "one day at a time".

[Pariah3j]

While I fell back off the band wagon after I started a new stressful job a while back, I have to say the 'one more day' approach worked but the way I did it was a '10 more minutes'... I played a game with myself. When I had the craving, I would wait 10 minutes... Next time it went up to waiting 20... so on and so forth, eventually I was at something like 2 hour waits between cravings, and usually they were gone by time the time limit was up. This allowed me to cut back my smoking habit until I reached the point where I could quit cold turkey.

I agree that the smell of smokers once you quit, most will stink to high heaven.(Of course I've always found the smell of certain cig brands repugnant even while smoking) and then certain tobacco will smell heavenly. I've always suspected it was my brand of cigs that did it for me, Camels always smelt so good while everything else just made my stomach turn.

[HKsig]

I'm still hanging in. Damn it's rough.

[bortaz]

Like everyone else said...day by day. I quit cold turkey after 26 years of loving my cigs. It was a difficult process, but I'm so glad I did it. It was a Valentine's Day gift to my wife 9 years ago.

[rotor]

As a previous 3 pack a day smoker I commend you for quitting. I haven't smoked in over 40 years and what I did immediately after I quit was to take up jogging until I was exhausted. The chemicals released by the body and the wonders of being able to jog broke me from what is probably the worst addicting chemical, nicotine. The other thing is to put a thought into your mind of the first time you ever smoked and how absolutely terrible you felt. I got nauseated -sick that first time. Keep that in your mind. It also helped when my daughter said "don't kiss me, you smell".
You can do this and no substitutes allowed- no patches, chews or e-cigs. This is a new day and a new life for you.

[The Annoyed Man]

Here's how I quit 35 years ago....

You only have to quit for 5-10 minutes at a time. Nicotine fits aren't continuous, they come and they go. When they come, they last 5-10 minutes. I figured even I can not smoke for just 5-10 minutes. Eventually it got easier and easier.

[Nuts]

I was a 30 year smoker and I tried for 2 years and couldn't stop until I found an ecig. That was 3 years ago and I've only had 3 cigs sense. I still vape but at a 0% nic level for the simple reason that I like it. Right now I'm vaping donut ejuice with my morning coffee. No nic and no cal.