A compliment ?

[nsd_user663_5920]

I've been reading how some quitters notice they have clearer, fresher, younger, smoother, glowing skin after some amount of days/weeks.

Not me......

I'd been trying to convince myself that maybe I was one of the lucky (ex) smokers who had relatively good skin..... looked '10 years years any way and would be refused a make over?? ........... anyway..... tonight my OH who claims that I "don't do compliments", informs me that my skin looks healthier. I was so chuffed................ I rarely wear make-up and do occasionally use a face scrub and moisturise most nights........ (the routine of make up bores me quite frankly and au natural look is quicker) .... back to his 'noticing'....

I'd been looking for beneficial signs of having quit for 45 days and really were not seeing any or feeling any.... I honestly don't feel any benefit to my sense of smell or taste, my lungs are not clearing themselves of any evidence of having smoked for 30 years...... (quick but dismissed thought of roll-ups being healthier than tailor made, so start up again)....

I am beginning to feel cheated of any benefits......... none financially, very little anyway.

And then comes my OH saying it's almost noticeable that I'm looking fresher, have a healthy amount of red about my complexion (it may be the wine, so I quickly hide the empty bottle) and feel rather pleased and ask what made him suddenly, or slowly have it dawn on him, that I looked different tonight?

He'd just watched Celebrity, Get Me Out and Jimmy (ex snooker player) looked really grey and shallow and this apparently made OH think how I didn't. And then made him look again, closer still at me, and see I looked better than I had.

And he has the cheek to say I don't do compliments

[nsd_user663_5666]

Just when you think you have us figured out we go and do something like this huh??

[nsd_user663_5920]

lol - yes, men! such a mystery

[nsd_user663_5401]

Hey Pol, loving your OH bless him. I have a theory though on our lack of benefits.

My skin was looking worse recently than when I smoked which was annoying and as you know I have always exercised like a demon and giving up smoking has not help that, in fact I have found it harder and the fact I seem to be miserable all the time! These 3 things are really making this quit hard.

HOWEVER!! I realised that since I've given up smoking I eat junk, loads of sugar and refined carbs which I've never done before. I have always looked after my skin (moisturise, cleanse, steam) and have a facial or two every month, however I've not bothered and lost interest in myself recently.

I think the reason I don't see any benefits is due to my new addictions, junk food, refined carbs = bad skin, lack of energy, water retention, raging hormones!! 1 stone weight gain = harder training sessions. lethargic etc

IMO - People who have not done hard exercise, or maybe never been strict with their lifestyle and diet have probably seen more benefits to the quit than us because they have not got these 'new addictions'. I think I will see the benefits when I kick my sugar habit and get my lifestyle back on track.

Was that all just too deep for a Wednesday morning!!!

[nsd_user663_5920]

Was that all just too deep for a Wednesday morning!!!

Haha, No, not at all. Wednesday is probably my best day, It's half way through the week and the day I least resent.

I think you've hit on some pretty valid points there and combined with winter and the natural inclination to eat more and for me, be indoors more. I can see where your coming from here.

Less junk, better self care and more fresh air for me too

My coffee intake went ridiculously high for the first 3 weeks or so which made me get decaff and go black. Have reduced the coffee now so getting there bit by bit.

xx

[nsd_user663_5598]

I know exactly what you mean Christine!

I would spend ages after a bath moisturising, foot cream, waxing, plucking, pedicures, facials.... you name it I did it...when I was smoking. I can hardly be arsed now!

Foodwise I haven't a clue what has happened...I've found myself in the evening driving to the garage for chocolate, even stuffing my face with the grandchildrens coco pops :eek: any crap I can find really!

It's almost as if we have a self destruct button that has to be used one way or another!!!!

Oh well...rough wobbly bits for a while won't kill us!

[nsd_user663_5401]

Can I recommend (for the ladies) a facial steamer, £10.00 argos and you will notice a difference in your skin. My problem at the moment is I just can't be bothered to plug the damn thing in!!

Anyway I have cut down the red wine (obviously not actually on here), cut out the sweets and I'm now low carbing and I follow Neris and India's Idiot-proof Diet: From Pig to Twig (from Amazon) with good results. Anyway I will let you know if I start to feel the benefits.

[nsd_user663_5034]

:D:D:D:D....oops cant use anymore smilies

That made me laugh.....life sucks sometimes ....heh????????

[nsd_user663_3755]

QUOTE=Christine42;149899]Can I recommend (for the ladies) a facial steamer, £10.00 argos and you will notice a difference in your skin. My problem at the moment is I just can't be bothered to plug the damn thing in!!

Anyway I have cut down the red wine (obviously not actually on here), cut out the sweets and I'm now low carbing and I follow Neris and India's Idiot-proof Diet: From Pig to Twig (from Amazon) with good results. Anyway I will let you know if I start to feel the benefits.

I like the sound of from pig to twig- I am a size 8 (that's not bragging btw, I am short with v small bones so it is pretty normal for my shape!), and am starting to feel my clothes getting tight, and my belly is a-bulging, oh no!!! I never ate sweets before but now I'm craving sugar- not good. But, I'm trying to reign it in as I don't want to be stressing about a fat belly on top of everything else!!

Ah, it's so much fun being a girl!!!! :rolleyes:[

[nsd_user663_5066]

You know... now i'm only on day 3... but... i have spots. Spots that werent there 3 days ago!!!! And i was one stunning smoker i'll have you know! I can see already this path will lead to a merely "average" lookin' non-smoker.

[nsd_user663_6165]

Don't talk to me about spots!:mad:

My forehead is currently attempting to grow another head. :eek: I'll be looking like Zaphod Beeblebrox before long. Not to mention a veritable eruption on my nose, chin & neck. I have the skin of a teenager, but not in a good way.

Add to that black rings under my eyes (from lack of sleep), and an extra 6lbs in weight (noticeable even on my 6ft frame) from all the junk I've been eating. Quite honestly I looked far better as a smoker.

The only aesthetic benefit is that I smell better. Great. I bet all the guys look at me and think "what a great smelling dog".

[nsd_user663_2040]

It is so unfair....I am sure we were promised better skin ladies, it is in all the literature...along with the better teeth.

So along with the spots since I stopped the Champix the gum disease has come back with a bang...so bad today I cannot eat anything solid...ok that may just help the diet.

So I will get white teeth, plastic according to the dentist, within the year GREAT.. :mad:

BUT, they will be straight and give my face a bit of a lift....

[nsd_user663_5920]

Oh dear, some aspects of quitting really are disheartening aren't they :mad:

It's not all it says on the tin it it?

Lorna, have your teeth/gums really suffered that much since quitting that your facing that?

[nsd_user663_5401]

It is so unfair....I am sure we were promised better skin ladies, it is in all the literature...along with the better teeth.

So along with the spots since I stopped the Champix the gum disease has come back with a bang...so bad today I cannot eat anything solid...ok that may just help the diet.

So I will get white teeth, plastic according to the dentist, within the year GREAT.. :mad:

BUT, they will be straight and give my face a bit of a lift....

I'm such an awful friend as I am so wrapped up with 'woe is me' I forgot about you xx. Anyway have you tried Corsodyl mouthwash as this helped me sooo much AND I've just purchased colgate Sensitive Enamel Protect tooth paste (greatest invention such red wine!). All my teeth problems have now gone, no pain, no bleeding gums and no sensitive teeth.

I sound like a bloody tooth paste salesman! Honestly anyone who is quitting needs to buy these two products.

[nsd_user663_5920]

I am so wrapped up with 'woe is me' I forgot about you

Christine, your a lovely friend here and your support and humour is at times, if not at all time, a valuable support and is massively enjoyed along with the all the booze your bring of course.

However, the 'woe is me' pity party (that we all have at times but don't want) would, but she won't accept it, go to Lorna

Lorna (big grin now 'coz humour is a must) you want to tell her

xx

[nsd_user663_2040]

Christine, your a lovely friend here and your support and humour is at times, if not at all time, a valuable support and is massively enjoyed along with the all the booze your bring of course.

However, the 'woe is me' pity party (that we all have at times but don't want) would, but she won't accept it, go to Lorna

Lorna (big grin now 'coz humour is a must) you want to tell her

xx

I will.....LOL.... but not today

[nsd_user663_4847]

Ok, before we all launch ourselves off the collective bridge!

6 months in, teeth improving, still have slight staining but haven't given up espresso's and red wine along with the fags, over all they are looking much better and my tongue no longer looks as though it has the contents of the hoover laying on it.

Zits I can report are calming down, have started using a strong scrubbing face rinse, plenty of cream too. Also had a flare up of psoriasis on the face from around month 4 - no doubt due to sweating and running.

Weight, I hear you again, starting to yo -yo the same 7lbs, so trying to make sure my diet is heavily veg based. To that end I'm making big batches of soups and freezing loads of spare portions. Also not able to run at the moment but can still manage to walk down the frigging biscuit aisle. Just not right.

All in all though, stopped before awful yellowing of the hair, deep smokers wrinkles. Don't have a hacking cough, don't smell like shite.

Being female can wear make up and staggeringly high heels so I feel better even if I look like sh8te.

It all comes good, I promise, spots are less frequent, skin does look clearer, don't think any of the quit problems will be with me at 9-12 mths.

I smoked for 20 years - 1 year isn't a bad exchange eh?

[nsd_user663_5920]

Thanks MAH

The bridge 'some' of us were more kind of 'walking across as opposed to looking down from' has now turned into a spring flowered meadow with lot's of sunshine that we're skipping across now

Pity Par-tiers we are not Not for tooooo long anyway

I read earlier in another post about your over doing the pearl barley.....I love veg soups and am often accused of to much barley too

Thanks for you other pointers though, all helps to put things back in perspective.

Pol