Day 7: Fat Boy Slim

Nothing to report - everything going ok. Looking forward to tomorrow when I will have reached the milestone of one week. I am surprised that I have not yet started a hacking cough as the lungs start to clean out the debris. It could be positive and mean that my lungs are actually in quite good shape. Or could mean the tar is caked on so hard that it is staying there. Gotta be positive!

I did however decide that I should start to keep an eye on my weight sooner rather than later. I need to get some more scales though because my existing ones say I weigh 13 1/2 stone. Ha ha! Can't be right can it? If this continues I may have to take up smoking to battle my weight problem.

Why do people put on weight when they give up smoking? Partly because people rediscover their appetite, partly because people need to be doing something to take their mind of smoking, partly because 'bad' food offers reward for the hardship of nicotine withdrawal and partly because smoking actually burns energy or calories by the physical act of smoking and processing the harmful chemicals.

I shall ensure that by the end of this blog (31 days), I will have lost half a stone and be 12 stone something!

Day 5: One Puff And You’ll Soon Be In My Grasp

The first of three tempting moments occurred today. They only last 10 minutes each but whilst they are happening it can be a difficult time. Some people throw away all smoking paraphernalia to rid the house of temptation, whilst others leave a cigarette or two hanging around to torture themselves and demonstrate their ability to transcend the physical world and take the fight to a more cerebral arena. I just forgot that I had a cigarette sat on the kitchen window sill.

Self: I reckon I could have a couple of puffs on that, just enough to take the edge off.

Self: Go ahead - if you want to have just wasted the last 5 days.

Self: Just one draw then, you deserve to have a few endorphins racing around your head.

Self: Virtue is its own reward - No!

Self: I need one for my sanity. Look, I'm turning into a sanctimonious old git.

Lucy (aged 4): Can I have my bubbles Daddy?

Self: Be strong!

Lucy: Can I have my bubbles Daddy?

The conversation went on for five minutes or so (I must stress this was in my head and not out loud) and by the time I had convinced myself that I should stick to my commitment, endorphins or not, Lucy had grabbed a chair pulled it over to the sink, grabbed her bubbles off the window sill and casually knocked the last remaining cigarette into the sink.

Problem solved.

Day 3: Calm Down, Calm Down.

The first example of irritability. By now the nicotine is completely out of my system and my body wants to know why and, more importantly, when the next delivery is due. My wife is a smoker but she is not giving up yet: we did not think we could both keep sane if we quit together. I am doing the first shift, and after 2 to 3 weeks she is going to give up.

Today we were discussing where we were going to take the children at the weekend. I could feel the frustration burning up inside me as we differed on some minor detail. Rather than start a full blown row, I went and sat in the garden. Putting pins into a small plastic doll saw my anxiety levels drop and put a wry smile on my face. It then occurred to me that I had not even felt the need to reach for a cigarette.

Day 1: A Couple of Slices of Cold Turkey Please

The hardest cigarette to give up for me is the first one. This was not so bad today and my early resolve was triumphant. Off to work without my nicotine fix. The last time I made a half serious effort to give up was a couple of years ago and I tried the Nicorette Lozenges. At the time I thought they were very good because they did take away the urge for a cigarette, but if you sucked them too hard they made you feel ill. This time I have gone for the power of the mind, which worked for me the last time I gave up (1991). That lasted 9 months and then, out of nowhere, Christmas came along! 1 party, 1 cigarette, 1 downhill spiral.

Cold Hard Facts

Anyone who has ever given up or tried to give up smoking knows why they succeeded or failed. If it is the right time for you it can be a fairly painless process, but if it is not the right time then it can be hell, and very demoralising when you fail.

Everyone knows someone who smoked '60 a day for 40 years' and then gave up overnight, or someone who is a social smoker yet cannot give up. Giving up smoking is not an exact science and there are a multitude of scenarios that cover the very broad spectrum of nicotine withdrawal. Look at the size of the market for gimmicks, gizmo's and godsends that aim to cure the addiction, and the level of help that is available.

Every situation is different, and I believe that this time I have found the key that will make giving up smoking as painless as it can be, for me at least. It may be less interesting than watching a man fall apart as he battles against the evil weed, but in a months time I will pass on the magic cure that I believe will confirm my status as a non smoker today!

In The Beginning

In the beginning there were Woodbine non-filters, Vanguard (anyone remember them?) and Navy Blue-Liners. I had my first cigarette at 11, and probably started regularly at 14 or so. That was at school and it was incredible how we managed to make 100 or so roll ups from an 1/8 of Old Holborn. It was also incredible how we managed to smoke all but the last 4 or 5 millimeters. This was a skill fashioned partly out of schoolboy ingenuity and partly by the constraints of a limited budget. That was 25 years and 182,500 cigarettes ago. Or, in todays money, £40,000!

My name is Karl Lewis, and I am a smoker.