Smoking, Diabetes and Road Cycling....

LeicesterLad

Im 24, been smoking since i was 16 (idiot). Last summer i took up road cycling because i couldn't be arsed with Football anymore, and prefer to get out on my own to keep fit. Started as just a bit of cycling for fitness, but now im addicted, want to do the sportive circuit, and next year start a bit of racing, but i know the smoking is slowing me down!

I feel like a complete numpty getting back after a 50 miler, feeling great and then sparking up, i may as well have not bothered with the bike ride. In the past ive tried to quit on patches, will-power, the Alan Carr book...only the book had slight success (gave up for 3 months), Im going away for a week this coming weekend, and i want to make it my last out and out smoking week, take a week off, sit on the beech, smoke and drink, and then when i get home, i want to get seriously fit.

Im also a type one diabetic, so the riding is gruelling enough, even with my 10 mile commute and an average 25-30 mile ride at the weekend (not a lot i know) but the constant monitoring of my blood glucose means i rarely push myself to the limit in case i have a serious bout of hypoglycemia 25 miles into my route...

Basically, i need some advice on the best method of quitting smoking, from those who have been there and done it, and some general tips for controlling the diabetes whilst out on a ride (i dont have a pump, and am not looking to get one, i am insulin dependant via injection)...

Cheers.

Gav

plowmar

The only way I did it after 19 years of smoking up to 40 a day was to have a good reason. My daughter was born and I wasn't going to risk her health.

A bit drastic for you perhaps but the motivation remains the same.

An old assist is to put your ciggy money in a jar or B'Soc account and see how quickly you can buy your dream bike plus not give this govt'. any more money than you need to.

I'm also a type 1 but take sufficient gells with me with a few extra just in case.

Good luck with your endeavours.

Anonymous

I gave up using patches, they worked so well it was just as hard to give up the patches.

To be honest though (as you know) there is no easy way. I just kept telling myself it will get better and I only have to give up once, as long as I don't start again. It only takes on ciggie to get you hooked again, then all that hard work has gone to waste.

My motivation was also my children, not really health wise as I always went out side to smoke. More I wanted to set them a a good example and when the oldest started asking "why Daddy smokes?" I knew it was time to quite.

Surfr

I quit soon after starting cycling again. I'd been smoking 20 a day for 15 years but after arriving back at the finish line after my first time trial and sparking up, I felt a right fool. I continued to smoke for a couple of months then after getting married I promised the wife I'd give up. I stopped dead a week later and have not touched one since, although I did have a few tokes of a cigar at my friends wedding last summer. I've been off them for 3 years now.

I found the first 2 weeks the hardest, and of those 2 weeks, the first 48 hours were the worst. After the initial 2 weeks it was easier by the day. I rejoiced in the returning sense of smell, the improved ability to breathe, the less coughing. In my head I became very anti-smoking. This I think helped me more than anything. I hated getting a whiff of someone stinking of fag smoke or walking past a pub door with someone puffing away. I held my breath passing people smoking in the street. In my head I'd turned 180 degrees and hated everything smoking related. I became a little self-righteous but it was helping me steer clear.

3 years on and my 10 mile PB has improved by some 10 minutes, I can do effortless centuries, I'm competing at the front in cat 3/4 races, enjoying cyclocross racing, mtb enduros and even found I can run 10k without actually training as a runner. I should add that I lost about 3 stone in weight along the way too, but this was more due to enjoying the cycling so much that I was just working the fat off more, rather than severe dieting.

3 years on and I'm a different (better) person in my mind.

Good luck, and don't give in again! You were well past the hard part by getting to 3 months last time.

GiantMike

as a non-smoker, small drinker and somebody that has never taken drugs...

.....I think that addictions are hard to break because each action is small. Another cigarette or another drink, on its own, makes little difference, however the cumulative effect is damaging. Because each decision to smoke or drink is therefore small, it's easy to have another one because the consequence of a single cigarette is so small.

You have to think of the longer term and cumulative consequences. What about some reverse peer pressure? Start a thread and everyday you don't have a cigarette tell us and revel in the smug afterglow from the approval of your peers.

Failing that, try the combined sex/exercise/smoking conundrum. Each time you have a cigarette you have to have sex or a w@nk within 5 minutes and then do 30 press-ups. You'd be amazed how much fitter you'll be if you have a 20-a-day habit.

LeicesterLad

Failing that, try the combined sex/exercise/smoking conundrum. Each time you have a cigarette you have to have sex or a w@nk within 5 minutes and then do 30 press-ups. You'd be amazed how much fitter you'll be if you have a 20-a-day habit.

Ill have to give that one a go!

Some good suggestions in here, Nice to see people that have done it, makes it seem a little less impossible for me! Keep 'em coming!

GiantMike

LeicesterLad wrote:

Failing that, try the combined sex/exercise/smoking conundrum. Each time you have a cigarette you have to have sex or a w@nk within 5 minutes and then do 30 press-ups. You'd be amazed how much fitter you'll be if you have a 20-a-day habit.

Ill have to give that one a go!

Keep 'em coming!

Zoomer37

LeicesterLad - Go into your local book store and pic up a copy of Allen Carr's 'Easy way to stop smoking'

Read it and you will stop smoking.

LeicesterLad

Zoomer37 wrote:

LeicesterLad - Go into your local book store and pic up a copy of Allen Carr's 'Easy way to stop smoking'

Read it and you will stop smoking.

that's the one i tried and quit for 3 months, started up again and tried to re-read it but it just wasnt the same Apparently theres an Allen Carr DVD now, so perhaps that might be worth a go!

Too old for this

I went to see the doctor and asked for the tablets, with these you carry on smoking while taking them, then all of a sudden bang the fags taste like sh1t. I haven't touched one in almost 2 years and that's from 40 a day. Just got to convince the missus to stop now.

Good luck & don't weaken is the secret.

CarlosDSanchez

Used to have a 20 - 30 a day habit from about the age of 19, gave up the 20 a day habit at 30, but still used to smoke on and off until my daughter was born. Haven't touched them since. Gave up using will power alone, you just really have to want to give up. If you really want it you can beat the craving and the little voice that says "just one won't hurt" or "just be a social smoker...." Also started cycle comuting at the same time as quiting so as that got easier over the weeks I had more of an incentive not to start smoking again and make the cycling harder.

Wife quit by using little minty nicotine tablets and even though she's quit for a good 4 or 5 years now she still occasionaly has some of those!! Better than starting up again though.

Dgh

My wife gave up by not giving up. What I mean is, she didn't decide that she was giving up. She didn't have the trauma of thinking that her last fag was her last one ever. She just said to me, I'm not smoking for a bit, don't talk about it, don;t throw the ashtrays away, just let me get on with it. A few months later, she said that we could get rid of the ashtrays and the fags that she'd left lying around just in case. For years afterwards, she didn't consider herself an ex-smoker, just someone who wasn't smoking for a bit. But now, 10 years later, she hasn't had another fag.

ozzy1000_0

LeicesterLad wrote:

Im 24, been smoking since i was 16 (idiot). Last summer i took up road cycling because i couldn't be arsed with Football anymore, and prefer to get out on my own to keep fit. Started as just a bit of cycling for fitness, but now im addicted, want to do the sportive circuit, and next year start a bit of racing, but i know the smoking is slowing me down!

I feel like a complete numpty getting back after a 50 miler, feeling great and then sparking up, i may as well have not bothered with the bike ride. In the past ive tried to quit on patches, will-power, the Alan Carr book...only the book had slight success (gave up for 3 months), Im going away for a week this coming weekend, and i want to make it my last out and out smoking week, take a week off, sit on the beech, smoke and drink, and then when i get home, i want to get seriously fit.

Im also a type one diabetic, so the riding is gruelling enough, even with my 10 mile commute and an average 25-30 mile ride at the weekend (not a lot i know) but the constant monitoring of my blood glucose means i rarely push myself to the limit in case i have a serious bout of hypoglycemia 25 miles into my route...

Basically, i need some advice on the best method of quitting smoking, from those who have been there and done it, and some general tips for controlling the diabetes whilst out on a ride (i dont have a pump, and am not looking to get one, i am insulin dependant via injection)...

Cheers.

Gav

I've recently given up having been on and off fags for years.
I reckon you should try to paint as less of a big thing in you head (if that makes sense) whilst you're think about rewarding-punishment its going to be hard. people say things to themselves like "i deserve just one because I've been so good" or, "i've been trying so hard lately, i'm just going to relax and treat myself for a week or so then come back to it"... whilst your thinking of it like this; fags=reward, no fags=difficult, hard punishment.... then obviously its going to be hard.... try and not think about the bigger picture, don't think long term, don't think about a life time without smoking, because as a smoker this is all going to be really intimidating and not be good for your confidence... just stop smoking and then micro manage the cravings when they come. chuck the fags away, fluch them down the loo, then when you feel like buying them or asking someone for one, write down your thoughts and ask yourself if its a balanced valid way of thinking, or un-balanced junkie talk? if the cravings are really bad, remove yourself from the situation.... this might mean avoiding pubs or associated palces for the first couple of weeks...

also try going to more time trails, or sign up for a terrifyingly long sportive, do somthing that means you have to train properly and seriously for abit otherwise you risk humiliation, "nessesity is the mother of invention" and all that...

johncp

The diabetes hasn't been addressed by many.... Try this site http://www.runsweet.com/index.html and Powerbar have what looks like a good overview here http://www.powerbar.com/articles/372/pa ... betes.aspx of how to exercise with Type 1 diabetes

LeicesterLad

Johncp wrote:

The diabetes hasn't been addressed by many.... Try this site http://www.runsweet.com/index.html and Powerbar have what looks like a good overview here http://www.powerbar.com/articles/372/pa ... betes.aspx of how to exercise with Type 1 diabetes

That is invaluable to me Johncp! Thanks very much for those links!

Velonutter

11 Years ago I was on 2oz of Old Holborn a day!!! :shock:

Decided to give up just for the challenge, got extra strong patches had a hard first week and then it got easier, have never touched one since or tempted.

Set your self a busy period and avoid the things that allow you to relax, everytime you want one, go somewhere you can't smoke like on your bike or to relatives.

I'm a type 2 diabetic and I avoid gels like the plague, I always make sure I take a couple of bananas on rides of 75 miles+ plus a go bar, nutrgrain bar and something I have found really good is Clif Shot Bloks, they really work well if I need a boost, prior to a ride I eat porridge and when riding everyday I keep good carbs going into my body.

HTH

HamishD

CHAMPIX - see your doctor. It really does work.

Diabetes may complicate things though . . .

lifeform

The human brain is a funny old bit of kit - and I think you might need a tangible reason or event to pack it in, so as to turn 'I need to quit' into 'I want to quit'.

I smoked for 16 years - 20 JPS a day :shock: - then one day decided to pack it in. A fortnight on the patches and I'd given up. Worked down to the lower strength patches for a week or two and that was that... for about a year. During those twelve months I became the world's worst ex-smoker - the smell/smoke of other smokers didn't bother me in the slightest, bu I did have to tell everyone how great it was.

Every now and then I'd get the urge to have a fag. It wasn't a craving, it was more 'really fancy one' like you would a cold pint on a hot Saturday afternoon. I succumbed to temptation in the end - very pressurised day job, having a bad day, popped in the shops for a drink, came out with 10 Silk Cut Silver. I remember thinking to myself that as soon as the ruddy thing touched my lips I was a smoker again. That was two years ago.

Still on the Silk Cut fresh-airs - which is even more daft, £7 a day and I'm not even doing a good job of killing myself. On the basis that I can go for longer periods without a smoke than I used to - all day, as opposed to only an hour or so - then I'm going back up the quacks for more patches... although I keep putting it off.

So, the plan is to pack in on the 6th July. Which is a two fold event - it's the day after my daughter's 10th birthday and it's the day I'm going to go and get my SPDs, Shoes, and Lycra.

Emotional reason, practical reason.

Then, hopefully, I'll remember the other bits like being able to smell things, having loads of spare change about my person, etc etc.

The challenge, it seems, is remaining an ex-smoker.

danowat

Velonutter wrote:

I'm a type 2 diabetic and I avoid gels like the plague,

Out of curiosity why?

I am type 2 also, and have used gels for years previous with my running, and now with my cycling, granted I only use them when racing, but they certainly do the job.

keef66

My mum smoked for most of her life. We tried repeatedly to get her to give up but without success.

Then she had a heart attack. Recuperating in hospital when asked if she was a smoker she said "no", meaning to say "not any more".

True to her word she never touched another cigarette. Trouble was, by then her lungs and circulatory system were buggered. The next heart attack killed her.

Possibly as a consequence of witnessing her demise I've never been tempted to smoke.

I may be wrong, but I suspect the combination of smoking and diabetes is particularly high risk for circulatory / cardiac damage. You're stuck with the diabetes, but you can do something about the fags.

If you want to know what a heart attack feels like, lay on the floor and have someone stand on your left arm while placing a fridge-freezer on your chest.

ride_whenever

HamishD wrote:

CHAMPIX - see your doctor. It really does work.

Diabetes may complicate things though . . .

This... works a treat. As you can do something active to stop smoking. You just need to get up and take the pill...

Ginjafro

LeicesterLad wrote

. In the past ive tried to quit on patches, will-power, the Alan Carr book...only the book had slight success (gave up for 3 months)

I smoked (alsorts !) in the past and Alan Carr's book got me off. Mind you it took me two attempts after a few succesful months the first time then lapsing and reading the book a second time and never smoked a damn thing for over 8 years now. So, READ IT AGAIN...

Also, Alan was about attitude, not will power, nor giving up (which implies sacrifice). He was all about having the right attitude to STOP being so destructive, ie wrecking our hearts, lungs and circulation. You might also find reading up on Eric Bearne's Transactional Analysis (TA) Therapy may help with attitude and achievement. To be honest TA could probably help all of us in all areas of our lives !

red dragon

I am not going to tell you that smoking is bad, you know that already. I ignored advice given to me over the years. I had a heart attack where smoking was a big factor. I would not want to go through that again. There is a price to pay sooner or later, plus think of all the money you can spend on cycling. Strange though although four years fag free I do have the odd dream where I still smoke. give it a try, sooner or later you will do it.

SteveR_100Milers

I gave up after 3 attempts by using patches, my achilles heel was the pub. I could give up with willpower alone sober, but after a couple of beers my willpower collapsed. I found the patches eliminated the desire and made me forget about smoking. That was 8 years ago now, and like many I absolutely detest the smell of cigarettes, and is the one thing I truly regret doing in my life.

Good luck with the diabetes, I am not, but my teenage son is type 1 - wish I could get him into cycling or similar.

dm38

I would definately recommend nicotine replacement therapy - the initial reaction most people have is to raise their eyebrows or 'but I gave up cold turkey' etc but nrt is a clean form of nicotine delivery and it's the smoke and tar that causes the harm.

The NHS stop smoking services are quite good and could probably offer support/nrt on prescription which will reduce the cost etc - your GP/practice nurse/receptionist should be able to give you some advice about local services in your area or just google it.

I don't know much about training and diabetes but giving up smoking is probably one of the most effective changes you can make in terms of improving your health as it does exacerbate diabetes/create an insulin spike as well as adding to the increased risk of other things that diabetics are more at risk of like nerve damage, heart disease, blood clots etc.

ozzy1000_0

have you tried "intelecigs"?? they're pricey but nothing compared to a fag habit these days.... its an electric vapourisor that looks and smokes like a ciggy, it even gives you stream instead of smoke so you get that tightness in the throat so it feels real. you can buy different strength nicotine mixutres so you can wean your self off...

I think they're really cool, a friend of mine smokes his everywhere, because is only steam and nicotine you can walk around tescos smoking and everyone looks strangely at you

the trouble is you're just replacing one addiction with a slightly differnt one.. at least intellicigs don't have all the cancer causing gubbins....

best to just cold turkey it, but these are fun and halfway there if you can't handle it....

carrock

LeicesterLad wrote:

Im 24, been smoking since i was 16 (idiot). Last summer i took up road cycling because i couldn't be arsed with Football anymore, and prefer to get out on my own to keep fit. Started as just a bit of cycling for fitness, but now im addicted, want to do the sportive circuit, and next year start a bit of racing, but i know the smoking is slowing me down!

I feel like a complete numpty getting back after a 50 miler, feeling great and then sparking up, i may as well have not bothered with the bike ride. In the past ive tried to quit on patches, will-power, the Alan Carr book...only the book had slight success (gave up for 3 months), Im going away for a week this coming weekend, and i want to make it my last out and out smoking week, take a week off, sit on the beech, smoke and drink, and then when i get home, i want to get seriously fit.

Im also a type one diabetic, so the riding is gruelling enough, even with my 10 mile commute and an average 25-30 mile ride at the weekend (not a lot i know) but the constant monitoring of my blood glucose means i rarely push myself to the limit in case i have a serious bout of hypoglycemia 25 miles into my route...

Basically, i need some advice on the best method of quitting smoking, from those who have been there and done it, and some general tips for controlling the diabetes whilst out on a ride (i dont have a pump, and am not looking to get one, i am insulin dependant via injection)...

Cheers.

Gav

Best method of stopping smoking is not stuffing them into your mouth and setting fire to them.......

Next

Diabetes

I am Type 1 diabetic. Riding with low blood sugar= dead legs, no energy, cant turn a wheel. Riding with high sugar- no energy, dead legs , cant turn a wheel

ALWAYS carry a big bag of jelly babies in your saddlepack. Alaways get your blood sugar to 6 or over BEFORE you cycle.

Try not to get it above 10mmol when cycling as you will lose energy

Try to keap heart rate below 70% as this will ensure you burn fat rather than glycogen ( which will lower your sugar...)

I find that having a breakfast of simple sugars and slow release carbs is ideal before cycling ( Frosted Wheats or Ready Brek with sugar on, or similar )

Look of Team Type 1 as they are a US cycling team with type 1 diabetics and they do OK. They'll never win a Grand tour, but they compete at national level.

To be honest, I'd be more worried about smoking than diabetes, although both together increase your risk of heart attack/stroke drastically

I don't know anyone with Type 1 diabetes who smokes- I DID but they died of a heart attack at 54

You can't (yet) give up being a diabetic.

But you CAN give up smoking.....


Good Luck

Velonutter

danowat wrote:

Velonutter wrote:

I'm a type 2 diabetic and I avoid gels like the plague,

Out of curiosity why?

I am type 2 also, and have used gels for years previous with my running, and now with my cycling, granted I only use them when racing, but they certainly do the job.

Sorry for the late reply, been away and just catching up.

I tend to get sugar spikes very easily that either make me feel incredibly sick or turn my legs and muscles to jelly, some years ago I noticed it when I was thirsty when out and trying to increase my endurance, I bought a Red Bull from a petrol station and barely managed to get home.

I tried a number of gels and the same thing happened, when I actually manage to have a meter with me to check I found my blood counts had gone through the roof to between 16 & 24!

I now try to trickle feed stuff in and it works for me, but that might not be the case with others.