Quit over 3 weeks!

[sick and tired]

I am new to this forum. I am almost 30 yrs old and have smoked off and on for over 17 yrs. I have tried quitting about 7 times. The longest time was a little under 6 months. Every time I have quit, I find an excuse to smoke again and it is usually when something stressful happens. Last time I started again because of the stress of a family member's heart attack. I used to smoke just under half a pack per day. It soon increased to over a pack a day. It seemed like each time I started to smoke again that I smoked double of what I did before.
I decided over 3 weeks ago that I had had enough. I was not going to smoke again. My AH is sober over 1 month now and I feel like I can support his sobriety by quitting an addiction of my own. I also decided that I needed to take better care of myself and not focus all my time and energy on his problems.
I have had some pretty tough withdrawal symptoms including night sweats, irritability, jitters, and times I really want to jump out of my own skin. The worst time for me is when I am stressed, but I pray to God alot for strength and I keep busy and when I can't keep busy, I sleep. So far it is working. I just tell myself "Today I will not buy cigarettes and I don't need to smoke."
I also remind myself how good it feels to not smell like smoke. I am scared of gaining weight because when I quit before I would gain a few extra pounds, but this time I am trying to workout and walk more and soon I am going to sign up for karate and kickboxing, so I know I can stay in shape if I am willing to work for it. I hope I can inspire others to do the same. God bless all of you.

[margo]

Congratulaions S&T! Quitting smoking is really tough and you should feel really proud of yourself for making it this far. I quit earlier this year and started again due to huge stressors, but will be quitting again on October 22. There's some good tips on staying quit in the Nicotine Power Post thread at the top of this forum that you might find helpful. Try not to stress over the weight gain - it's common at first when quitting, but the added pounds are so much less of a health risk than the smoking. Most people become more active and health oriented once they've quit and the extra pounds tend to come off without too much trouble. The karate and kickboxing sound like fun!