The first 3 weeks were hard, and there was one time that I was in the pub and got really desperate for a cigarette that I nearly bought some or at least borrowed one from a friend. Thankfully I didn’t which made me stronger that I had managed to cope. The next time in the pub it didn’t really bother me as much…it got to the stage where the smell of smoke is more disgusting than appealing.

So all in all doing well. I have also noticed, which you do when you stop smoking and deny when you do smoke, is how bad smokers smell. Their clothes and breath…and to think that’s what I used to smell like.

I challenged myself last night when we went to the pub. This is probably the worst place to go if you have stopped smoking to go to your local pub where there are people drinking and smoking. I always associate having a drink with having a cigarette…the two just go hand in hand as it were.

Anyway surprisingly I was fine and both myself and my wife didn’t feel like we really needed a cigarette, which was really good. It’s also quite a boost when you tell people that you have stopped smoking and they automatically give you some support. What I found last time when I gave up smoking about 8 years ago was that you become a real anti smoker and are the first one to preach to smokers about what a disgusting habit it is.

I also bought the Allen Carr, quiting smoking book, but didn’t get a chance to read it as one of my friends who works in the next door office building saw it and borrowed it to see if he could quit. So we shall see if it works because I don’t need it now, I am just very interested in what sort of thing he says in the book.

It is Day 12 today and so far so good…. sort of. I’d forgotton how hard giving up smoking can be at times. Generally I am finding it OK, but there are certain times of the day that I have the craving for a cigarette.

I must admit that I did crack momentarily at the weekend, but I was in Germany and had just watched England get knocked out of the World Cup Quarter finals. But after a couple of cigarettes late at night that was enough for me to realise that I didn’t want to carry on the next day.

The main problem for me is the time when I am at work and need to have a break from my computer. Before I would go outside with one of the lads who also smoke and have a cigarette. This would enable me to think of what I needed to do next and to clear my head a bit. Almost allow me to organise the next part of my day. My life at the moment is a bit stressful as well since I am having my kitchen ripped out and replaced so my house is a bit upside down. But I am proud that it’s Day 12 and I have only lapsed momentarily. It will get easier I know it.

One of the Diet Trials readers, has just mentioned to me that to help stop smoking the Allen Carr book works. Even though I have stopped I am tempted to buy it all the same. My sister in law went to one of his seminars to support a friend who wanted to give up and ended up giving up herself the next day. Powerful stuff.

A few weeks ago I started to go to the gym to help me get some exercise to try to lose some weight but also in an attempt to get healthier, then on Friday, I stopped smoking!

So this is Day 5 without a cigarette and so far I am doing ok. I can’t say that it’s easy, nor can I say that it’s something that I really wanted to do. But having given up smoking before I know you always feel this way in the first few weeks. I had smoked for most og my adult life, then 7 years ago stopped before my wife and I decided to have kids. I only started again a couple of years ago as I found that when I was going to conferences that the crowd was very heavily into to smoking and after a few beers you get the urge. I would then smoke at conferences but not at home, until I make the mistake of coming home once with a few packets of cigarettes I had left over. So that ended up with my wife starting smoking again.

It has been on my mind for a while now to stop smoking especially when the kids are asking why we smoke and then they go off and pretend to smoke candy cigarettes. Not good when this sort of thing happens, plus there are all the health implications involved with smoking. Also I have to pay double the amount of life insurance against my mortgage value because I smoke!

I have not found it too bad so far apart from the fact that I seem to be doing the usual thing of substituting cigarettes for food…. it started off with mints and now I seem to be eating much more. I will have to get this under control very soon but my trip on Thursday to the World Cup will delay this for a few days, but once I get back from Germany I will sort the eating out.