To be perfectly honest I smoked for 12 years, I smoked a pack a day. Even though its hard you are better off quitting cold turkey, I wont lie I had cravings for it seemed a year. It did get easier after the first 2 weeks.. Just think of how much longer you can live if you quit.. Its the best gift you could give yourself... HAPPY HOLIDAYS

It depends on how you look at things.
Sure you can keep smoking and you may well be thinner, but will it really matter if you have to struggle with every breath?
It's is pretty well known that your metabolism may slow down a bit when you quit smoking, so you will have to be a bit more diligent with your exercise and diet but I would say that having functioning lungs is preferable to a small waistline.

I am a non-smoker ... now, after smoking over 40 years. I decided that I wanted to be able to breathe a bit longer and made up my mind to quit.

I won't say it was easy, but what is the alternative? Gasping for breath because my lungs are crap from smoking?

I quit with a couple months of Zyban. It was a bit of a struggle but I fought it, for my health. Sure, I put on a few lbs, but man, it feels great to breathe better now.

I did not eat more to take the place of the smoking, and I am exercising more now, so I would say that my gain is more to do with my metabolism.

I chose Zyban because it's not a crutch with nicotine. It worked just fine for me, and I have been smoke free over a year, since last April 1st.

Many people are have incredible good luck with Chantix. It really does work.

i think i am gonna talk to my doctor about putting me on medication to quit smoking.
i heard wellbutrin, the antidepressant works as well? cause i am already on that....
thanks for your replies.

Yes! Zyban is Wellbutrin!
I know it works because it worked for me, but others say it was not good enough for them. I think they just did not really want to quit that bad.
Even more people say that Chantix is incredible and works for those who can't quit on the Wellbutrin.

When you talk to your dr, ask about both. Neither has nicotine, and Chantix is specifically for quitting smoking.

My addiction was all in my head I think. It was not physical for me.

At first, I never even tried because I thought I could not do it, that I had smoked for too long.

Then I thought well, for my tx to have a better chance of working, I need to quit, so I tried.

I thought OK I'll try and give it my all, but I held no expectations, I did not think I could do it and that's why I picked April 1st as my quit date.

If I was not successful, I could say that I was a fool to even try LOL.

So, I tried and thought, well, so far so good, but I am still taking the Zyban!
Then my new fear was that if I stopped taking it, I would start smoking again! I even asked my dr how long most people take it and he said that some take it for as long as a year if they feel the need.

I started the pills March 21st and continued to smoke.
I stopped smoking on April 1st.
I continued the Zyban for a few months.
I stopped the Zyban in June, I think.
I held my breath and took it one day at a time.
And it worked.

I did make it hard on myself too.
I always had smokes on me and to this day, I carry a small bic lighter.
I felt like it was smarter to keep some smokes on me because I would not panic and run out to buy some.
Instead, I could feel safe that I had some and if I really really needed one, I had one.
Oddly, I never wanted one, but felt secure that I had some. It was my safety net.

And now I am free!
It feels fabulous too.

The way I quit smokking after 35 years was to use the ppatchess BUT I would wear one big patch the firts week. Ad then a seond big patche the next week. The the same for the mediium and little pastch. I quit. I also cut some straws the length of the ciggereette and put them in a cig package. Tthen hen i ad to hhaave a smoke i woolud pi[ull out a sstraw and use it just like a ciggerette. I haavvent smoked in 4 years.

I started smoking when I got to college, I was always busy and never had time to eat so I would smoke instead and for a while it curbed my appetite. After a while though it stopped working and I was just stuck eating and smoking not good at all. Now im going to be a god mother and I need to quit smoking for the baby sake. Im just scared I will start eating even more its a really sticky situation. I heard that the patch works really well. They have that new drug out you can get from your doctor I have friends who have done that and they have stopped smoking without cravings now for 3 months.