As someone that experiences the whole process of smoking cessation on herself I’ve formulates some rules that help me avoid temptations.

The most important thing is the environment. If all your friends smoke it is much harder for you to stop and I don’t mean group pressure. The fact is that for the rest of your lives there would remain some memory of the smoking in the brain. Smelling the smell of cigarettes or breathing the smoke of people around you can result in an uncontainable urge to smoke.

I should know I’ve been there. So do yourself a favor and avoid the company of other smokers as they are probably not going to make your life easier by refraining from smoking next to you, on the contrary usually when one person in a group decided to quite the other would just feel threatened and reticule him. his motives or just would “happen to smoke more around him”.

Just remember it is not just about you.

Off course you have to sustain the drive to smoke which is going to be particularly strong especially at the first two weeks, every familiar situation in which you used to smoke will hit you again and again.

The good news are that if you remind yourself that all this craving is a passing phenomenon it would pass sooner rather than later.

 

Ten days of silence, just meditating ,no cigarettes, no distraction just sitting and observing. I know many people that stop smoking after the course, for me personally it was the Vipasana but there are other courses that are held as a retreat. If you haven’t figured out yet why a Vipassana course is the perfect thing for you just think about the help that relaxing your mind and changing some habits can do. If you are used to be constantly on the move, constantly doing things, your mind running wild then the answer is simple. In order to stop smoking you’ll have to change, become more focused, more relaxed, less thrown of your center by every little things. All the mediation retreats would give you these tools in addition to actually not smoking for several days. Think of it as withdrawal. Of course you are going to have to face heavy emotional issues but at the end you’ll be lighter and cleaner. Many people don’t feel the need to light that first cigarette after the course. So if you are the brave type attack the addiction heads on.

If you are still smoking and or if you stop smoking only recently you have to be aware of the damages that products intended for burning fat and exercises can cause you. Many products that act as stimulants can increase your heart rate significantly even when you’re not active and can bring you on the verge of a heart attack when you exercise. Even very healthy active people should be very careful with this products! They are not bad but after years of smoking and bad eating your heart works hard enough in the training alone and the additions can lead to danger. I would recommend having your heart checked before you start using any natural or synthetic stimulant. The same thing you need to do in order to go to the gym.

If you need more reasons to stop smoking this post that I decided to bring from here can give you ones, it was originally posted by heather121212 on the link.

Effects of smoking and drinking are dangerous to everyone. Not just bodybuilders, but smoking and drinking does not help a bodybuilder improve their inside or out. The habits both have severe and very dangerous consequences. Bodybuilding is about improving your body, improving how you want to look, and feeling confident and great about yourself. Smoking and drinking will just take you longer to reach your goals or worse, you may not even be able to reach your goals. Harmful Effects Of Smoking Tobacco contains more than 4,000 different chemicals that react with your body in several ways. The most harmful of the chemicals are nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar. Effects Of Nicotine Nicotine is a drug. People don’t realize that it is that harmful but it is. It is addictive like many drugs and gets absorbed into the bloodstream. Seven to eight seconds later the brain can feel the reaction. It has been noticed that nicotine may sometimes alter a person’s personality depending on how long they have been smoking , the amount of puffs inhaled, and how deeply they were inhaled. Dangerous Side affects: Increase in heart rate Increase in hormone production Increase in blood pressure Constriction of small blood vessels on skin Changes in blood composition Changes in metabolism Effects Of Carbon Monoxide Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas. Up to 15% of a smoker’s blood is carbon monoxide being carried to different parts on the body instead of oxygen. Oxygen is needed especially for body tissues and cells to work properly. When the supply of oxygen is reduced for a very long period of time it causes problems in growth , repair, and absorption of important nutrients such as protein. We all know that growth , repair, and absorption is something every bodybuilder needs. Carbon monoxide is dangerous because it affects the “electrical” activity in the heart. Carbon monoxide also combines with other changes in the blood associated with smoking and diet ( may encourage fatty deposits to form on the walls of the arteries in the heart. This drug leads to heart problems and disease, arteries being blocked, and dangerous circulation problems. Female’s who smoke have the risks of effects I have listed above but also the risk of putting the fetus in danger . It can cause the reduction of oxygen being carried to the fetus. Effects of tar When inhaled 70% of the tar in every cigarette smoked is deposited in the lungs. Tar damages the lungs causing the biocides to narrow, coughing, and increase in bronchiole mucus, and damage to small hairs which protect lungs from diet and infection. Risks Of Smoking: Premature aging 83% of lung patients were smoker related 90% of bronchitis and emphysema patience were smoker related 17% of coronary heart disease (CHD) were smoker related Smokers have a greater risk of illness and premature death compared to nonsmokers Smoking doubles the risk of CHD Smoking Related Diseases: Coronary heart disease Effects on fertility Tobacco amblyopic (defected vision) Atherosclerosis (build up of fatty deposits and loss of elasticity in artery walls Gangrene Cancer (lung, mouth, throat, nose, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, bladder, stomach, leukemia, lymphoid, kidney) Recurrent infections in airway Damage and loss of efficiency in lungs Chronic bronchitis and emphysema Peptic ulcers Female Bodybuilders and Smoking Lung cancer has been expected to overtake breast cancer as the leading cancer in women. Men and women bodybuilders have the same risks of developing CHD, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other smoking related diseases. Female bodybuilders have a higher risk of: Abortion and other serious problems during pregnancy Low birth weight babies Menopause developing two to four years early heart attacks and strokes Increase risk of osteoporosis (which is horrible for a bodybuilder) Passive Smoking If you don’t smoke you are not out of harms way yet. Passive smoking is breathing in another persons cigarette smoke off the end of the cigarette. It is just as dangerous as inhaling from the cigarette. It can cause bodybuilders to have irritation to the eyes, nose, throat, increase acute respiratory illness, headaches, dizziness, sickness, coughing, wheezing, asthma, allergies, increased risk of CHD, and reduced levels of capacity of lung functions. Benefits For Quitting: Breathing improves Improved ability to cope with sudden exertion Loss of smokers cough and reduction of phlegm Sense of taste and smell improves Natural decline in lung efficiency slows down to a rate similar to nonsmokers Reduced risk of smoke related diseases

I believe that wherever you are, you are subject to high taxes on cigarettes or to strict regulation as to where you can or can’t smoke and a lot of pressure from friends and family to stop smoking, well unless you are in your twenties. If feels that not smoking is a reasonable decision not just because of the health risks but also because it is more and more difficult to enjoy this habit in a state of ignorant bliss. Reality comes knocking on your door and one has to think with every puff from the cigarette about all the context. The actual habit is much easier to drop if we are constantly aware that we are liked less when we smoke, that our health is compromised, that our budget is burdened a little too much and that the fun part is decreasing. I suppose some people would identify with this bloger saying that if the government depends on the taxes that smokers pay, the patriotic act is to smoke and finance “important government activities”. Most of us however would see it as just another reason to stop smoking and avoid being caught in the political game. For those of you that are interested here is diagram to show taxes in European countries