This option would work for me. Perhaps I should do this instead of Noom? (But I loved Noom.)
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I hate to introduce this, but it is a fact. I smoked two packs a day into my late 20âs but quit cold turkey the day my mother (a chain smoker of Kool unfiltered menthols) was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. She lived another 7 months. Neither my sister or I ever smoked again. There are people out there barely living with terrible side effects from smoking. Or actively dying. Get to know one. Help them through the final stages. I seriously doubt you will keep smoking. Yes, it took a long time to get over the nicotine addiction - but it does pass - to the point where the smell of cigarette smoke makes you nauseous. Too, when my lungs finally figured out they werenât going to be filled with tar and carbon and all that junk every few hours and started clearing themselves, the sight of what I was coughing up 3-4 times a day was more than enough positive reinforcement! Think of it as âjust an addiction.â The cure for all addictions is âstop doing it.â Then it is no longer an addiction, no longer owning you, no longer ruining your health and finances (and social life?). You will survive the withdrawal. (And I agree with you about Noom!)
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Make a list of all the reasons you want to quit smoking. All of them. Then divide them into âPositiveâ and âNegativeâ reasons.
Positive reasonsâthings you will gain from quitting, things you want to do, things you would rather do than smoke.
Negative reasonsâthings you hate about smoking, risks to your life, the expense, what youâve lost.
Throw away the negative list. Youâve already known about all that and it never stopped you before.
As you consider that next cigarette, think about what you would rather have, and whether that cigarette is getting you closer or farther away from it.
Also, set aside your cigarette budget, with a goal of what to do with it. Cigarettes are $10/pack? $70/week? $300month? $3640/year? What do you want at that price?
Maybe a $140 dinner night every couple weeks with the spouse? An $1800 vacation a couple times a year? A new car at $300/month?
What do you want?
What are you doing?
Howâs it working?
Whatâs the plan?
Each cigarette takes you farther away from what you want. Whatâs the plan to get you back to what you want?
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A real story from a non smoker !
Judy Yocum Ruffino
How I quit smoking after 15 years with no cravings and no helps, in one day.
I read âYou Can Stopâ. Instead of making a list of all the helps you can have ( because of course you will suffer and need all the help you can get), the book makes a long list of what happens to you when you quit. I focused on those, ie., my clothes and I no longer smell bad, my curtain will no longer be yellow, same for teeth and bad breath. (Speaks to vanity first.) Secondly, I will feel better, I will have more energy and be able to do a lot of interesting and new things. People will like me better, and more respect for me.
All the details on how I will become short of breath and probably succumb to various and sundry illnesses and disorders down the road didnât work for me. I didnât like thinking about those things. Instead, I wanted to think about the nice things that could happen to me tomorrow.
And that is precisely what happened to me. What was the catalyst?
KISS. Keep it simple stupid. Donât overthink this.
I was in a doctorâs office at Kaiser Permanente, Hayward, CA.
I told him I was having headaches and didnât want to rely on medication. I would tell myself, â I donât have a headacheâ. He educated me by saying, âThat wonât work. The brain is like a computer in that it canât accept a negative.â (I didnât even have a computer so how would I know.)
On the way home I stopped for a cup of coffee and my usual cigarette. As I looked at the pack of Marlboroâs, I decided to try a positive statement. (Just for fun.) I settled on, âI feel good without this cigarette.â So then what happenedâŚâŚ.
Something happened and I donât know what it was. I finished my coffee and drove home without the cigarette. I didnât keep repeating that statement. I just let it be. No additive words, just the simple âI feel good without that cigarette.â There were no cravings but whenever I would even think about a cigarette, I would KISS, and repeat the statement. No elaborations. For whatever reason, I would just go do something, forgetting cigarettes.
There was one other thing I remembered from the book and that was, âOne will hurtâ. KISS. As long I didnât have âoneâ, I was officially a non- smoker. In one day! That was 38 years ago.
So then what happenedâŚâŚ Something happened and I donât know what it was.
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The fiscal reason for kicking the habit would be enough for me. My relative whoâs trying to quit is living in poverty, yet she still finds money for this habit. 
So sad.
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Most smokers are on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.
So how can those people afford it ?
The physical addiction to nicotine is strong enough that they make sacrifices that make no sense to nonsmokers.
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I smoked for 20ish years. I stopped 18 years ago. I decided to stop so I did.
Please note what I said. I decided to stop so I did. Worth repeating, I decided to stop so I did.
I didnât âtry to quitâ or âtry to give upâ or any such nonsense, I stopped. And Iâm here to tell you itâs easy. Seriously, Been there, done that. IT IS EASY.
All you have to do is decide to stop. Remove the negative âtrying to give upâ or âtrying to quitâ and do it. You donât âtry to get upâ every morning and struggle for 2 hours before falling back in the sack. You donât try to book a dental appointment and say Iâll try to be there. You decide and you do these things. Same decision. About now, some readers are calling bs in this post and Iâm fine with that.
Nicotine is less addictive than caffeine. Fact.
Tobacco companies are more than happy to use how hard it is âto give upâ. Itâs making them billions. They are selling an excuse as to why its so impossible to stop.
On the flip side of that very same coin we have the âwe will sell you gum, patches, vapes, whateverâ, and all of them telling how hard it is while they pocket your money. None of them wants you to stop so they all rattle the too hard chain.
It really is this simple
I stopped doing that
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Sacrifices like basic necessities, food, shelter, medicine ?
Maybe some, but NOT all.
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I make no sacrifices, I donât need toâŚIâm not on the low end!
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Some people can just up and quit cold turkey, some cannot.
Iâm doing it my way and itâs working, I will have this addiction done and over very soon.
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We know you will! Youâve got this. 
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Thank You, 
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If the Congress would pass a ban on nicotine sales then that would be the end of it. I understand the problem would be landowners not being able to grow tobacco but imagine if they planted crops for food instead ? That would solve 2 problems in this country.
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Weâd swiftly have a big black market for this product. I think weâve been unsuccessful as a country in the efforts to ban alcohol and other drugs. Probably wouldnât be any more successful banning nicotine products.
One thing I am certain of at my advanced (ahem) age: We all have unique biochemical and historical factors, and for some those factors make addiction more powerful than for others. What works for some wonât work for all.
I salute anyone who works on harm reduction first, and if that leads to kicking an addiction, itâs all good. Itâs a journey, and I appreciate the tips to those just starting down the road.
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I tried being a chain smoker, but I couldnât keep the damn things lit.
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I donât know about this statement. Weâve come a long way in a short time with major pharmacies like CVS banning the sale of cigarettes and nicotine products I last few years and now the FDA heâs written a bill to go before the Congress banning Menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products because itâs the biggest seller in the marketplace. I think thatâs thatâs a huge step forward.
I havenât heard of banning alcohol since prohibition.
Drugs ? Within 2 years the whole country will be buying legal Cannabis. You canât get around that as physicians and lawmakers are advocating it and investing in it.
There are so many addicting things in life but the big ones that can kill you are a priority and I salute those that are successful in that quest for a healthier life 
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I wish your friend and relative good luck with kicking it! My trick/tip was to alway have a baggie of fresh carrots, cut julienne-style. Every time I wanted a cig, I would munch on a carrot!
I quit cold-turkey using this method.
Another tipâŚquit on your birthday as a gift to yourself. I did that & got myself primed for it one month prior, so I allowed myself time to let it sink in, and started to cut down as well.
You are a good person to them to ask for tips!!
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