has anybody read alan carr's 'how to quit smoking' and if so what were the effects ?

I like the sound of Lara's friend Rory.

If I live to ninety I'm taking up smoking again. It's a little promise I've made to myself and the thought of it makes me happy. I wonder what Alan Carr would have to say about that.

my sister, my best friend and his dad (who had tried to quit before, smoked his way through a bout of cancer, finally got hold of the book) didn't cheat like i did, quit cold turkey and have not resumed their habit. hell, it's worth a shot, isn't it?

there's another thread about smoking which deals with the book in much more detail. can't find it right now, though.

good luck allen

This book did it for me, for fucking real. I was telling my mom about it, saying, "I haven't smoked since Jan. 4 and I'm not going to anymore ever again. Good for me!" And today in the mail I got some DVR she recorded labeled "Oprah's Quit Smoking" with a Post-it note that said "I hope this will help you quit." :) I love my mom.

for the confused:
Allen Carr
The Easy Way to Stop Smoking

I'm pretty sure there was another thread about this somewhere, that I already commented on, but whatever.

Didn't really work for me, anyway. I just wasn't convinced by a lot of his arguments. This is kind of a pointless post so I'll stop now, I can't really remember what most of it was about, it was about 10 years ago I read it. But coincidentally I bought some nicotine lozenges today (they taste fine, surprisingly), if I could just give up spliffs I reckon they'd work :(

???? Do you put tobacco in them?

Yeah, I live in Europe

I suppose it would be easy enough not to, but I always get through more weed if I do that, and it's sparse enough as it is at the moment.

I was telling my mom about it, saying, "I haven't smoked since Jan. 4 and I'm not going to anymore ever again.

that's my quitting anniversary! 3 years, with exactly one slip-up, not including cigars and bud.

My mum read it two years ago and has had one cigarette since which made her vom. She'd been smoking for 35 years and had so many failed attempts in the past.

I'm so proud

yep I found it helped. I still have the odd one while smashed though. (this is from 20-a-day & I probably only get that drunk once every coupla months)

ok i gotta get this book. i need to give up smoking, but i don't want to which, i think, is my biggest problem.

I read the abbreviated version of this book and it worked for like a month. I should get the reg one and just read that. I need to quit.

???? Do you put tobacco in them?

Yeah, I live in Europe

Abbott - I was completely confused by this when I first met L but in England (and I guess elsewhere in Europe too) they do put tobacco in their joints. My non cigarette smoking friends here hate it when he skins up because they hate the taste but he swears it makes joints smoother and that everything lasts longer.

Didn't work for me :-(

oh THAT Alan Carr.

Here I was expecting a book full of fag and sucking jokes.

I smoked for 22 years, at least a pack a day, and after four serious but failed attempts to quit, I read Alan Carr's book and finally managed it. Haven't had a single drag since, and won't ever (unless I'm given a few weeks to live with some terminal illness so it no longer matters). I vaguely remember something in that book about how smokers rationalise smoking by saying they're coping with stress, whereas Carr asserts that the constant cycle of craving and satisfying said cravings, over and over, is actually more stressful than not smoking at all. Whatever it was, I know that book was the only thing (apart from will power) that helped me to quit.

ok i went ahead an ordered a super cheap copy of this i found online. i'm just worried that i won't have the willpower because i still LOVE smoking. but cost of health insurance in the US + bf's fear of me getting lung cancer means i gotta quit.

quitting fags means quitting booze and tea ;_; one can't be enjoyed without the other

i never read it despite kickin this off, but quit that same month anyway.
don't miss em. best of luck quitting kids, it was easier than i thought it would be.

I enjoy booze and tea, and I am not a smoker.

exactly. but i enjoy fags with my booze and tea, which is a habit that will be hard to break. having a cup of tea or a glass of wine will remind my brain that i usually smoke while having those things.

Rubyredd, switch to coffee for a while, or something you don't normally associate with a cig (green tea?). After a few weeks, or whatever interval feels right, it'll be safe(r) to go back. I drink more alcohol now than when I smoked (whole 'nother story there!), but I seem to remember giving it a bit of a rest when I was going through the fierce withdrawal.

that's good advice. i'm know i'm gonna get fat, since i know i'm going to end up putting food in my mouth in place of a cigarette.

You can lose the ten pounds later if you eat too much, but you can't really lose the potential lung cancer if you smoke.

Srsly RR this is a very good and well-reasoned book. I hope you will like it.

Everyone who is trying to quit smoking should start being mindful of their breathing. It's the deep breaths you take when you smoke that are de-stressing, not the smoking itself.

Cigs are expensive in the U.S., too, like $5 a pack! I just saved so much money by quitting.

me too. thanks abbott. xpost

$5?!? a pack of marlboro 20s is like a $13 (i think - i'm smoking tobacco now, since it's less than half the price)

omg 5 is so cheap. i just got a pack from one of those machines tonight! 5 bucks. in brooklyn it's 7.50 dude!!

Well, then you'll save even more money RR!

Yeah, a pack-a-day smoker will save somewhere between $2500 and $3000 a year (hedging due to poor math skillz... also, it's quite common and easy to substitute a different addiction -- if so, make sure it's something cheap and healthy like marathon running, ha ha)! And yeah, watch the weight, that part is true, but Abbott is OTM (as is Rozymuzak re: the deep breaths).

Oh, and that above post reminded me, your thinking can become muddled, although unlike in my obvious case, this ought to pass.

a pack a day just sounds so gross to me right now. i mean i average 2 a day and that feels gross enuf. i can't believe my grandparents used to smoke MORE than a pack a day. it's like you might as well just choke urself.

I was getting free packs of cigarettes when I decided to quit!

i used to regularly smoke more than a packet a day. barely being able to sing has been what got me to quit for three years the first time and again on new years' after six months off the wagon

that's the thing, the voice, that gets you

Experiencing my first wtf-is-happening-with-my-singing moment made me drop it, cold turkey.

mhmm. although smoking has also given me this mariah-like-quality to my voice that i kind of like so it's weird.

I took up smoking in December. My lungs = Hiroshima ca. 1945

CURTIS GIVE UP NOW WHILE IT'S STILL WAY EASY TO

Alan Carr once smoked five packs a day. One hundred of the little fuckers. I mean, I know he got cancer, but jesus, how did he ever find a way to quit? He must have pretty much chain-smoked all his waking hours.

i've had over 60 in a day on a couple of occasions.. basically chain smoking constantly over the course of 6 to 8 hours (with booze of course). worst hangover ever.

When I was delivering pizzas, I was lighting one up when I got in the car, lighting one up on the way back to the store. I could go through two packs during a shift, and then (for some reason) still want to smoke when I got home.

I'm at less than a pack a day now. I bought the Carr book about two years ago and started reading it, but never finished. I still have my spot bookmarked, though.

i never been a super ultra heavy smoker, at my worse i was probably smoking 20-25 a day, but on average around 15. now i'm one of those oh-so-classy ladies who 'roll their own'. i probably average a 30g of tobacco p/week.

Yes. I flipped through it at Spoonbill & Sugartown in a non-smoking period. It 80% filled me with schadenfreuden, and 10% made me want to light up.

What I learned, eventually, was that Cinnamon Surge is the best flavor of Nicorette.

They're bringing the Easyway program to the Nintendo DS!

Dammit, I just bought the book (at full retail) yesterday!

I regard Easyway as some sort of powerful magical talisman that must be treated with respect. Like, I keep a copy around if one day I should decide it's time, but I'm terrified to even thumb through it, lest I accidentally stop smoking.

I've started smoking again after a couple of years quitting. Just admitting it to myself now that I'm really smoking, really.

Did the typical stupid thing of "I've quit so long I can have one when I go for drinks" which turned into "I can have a pack in the fridge for when friends come over" to - this morning - "I can have one with my morning coffee" - and I'm just sitting here thinking about how nice to will be to have one when I get home.

So I realize I have to stop now, and be firm about it.

I've done cold turkey a few times now - always managed to stop for months at a time, even 2 years twice, but have always eventually started up again.

Do you guys think Easyway will help? I know I can stop - I just need to make it final.

get an e-cig! they helped me quit 'real' smoking when i didnt even intend to