When is your quit date?

[Mona]

How do you determine your quit date?  I have always thought that the quit date is the date you smoke your last cigarette, even if you put it out at 11:59 p.m.  I notice that a lot of people use the next day as their quit date and it makes me curious.  So, what date do you use and why?

[Sazerac]

I know seconds and minutes and hours really count in the beginning !  

You have quit the moment you put out your last smoke.

 

I counted my first full day as my first day but,  my last smoke was late the night before.

This just felt comfortable and more convenient to me.

 

 

 

[Ankush]

@Damona I use the next day, simply because starting from the next day, there will be no more cigarettes. Irrespective of the time on a given day the last cigarette is smoked, that day is still a smoked day. Simply put, for me, the first day from when there is no smoking is the quit day.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Ankush

[Doreensfree]

I smoked my last cancer stick ,just before bed...so counted day 1 from the morning ...

[Mona]

Edited September 13, 2019 by Damona

[Sazerac]

How are you feeling ?

[jillar]

My quit date started the minute I put out my last cigarette. 

[Mona]

9 minutes ago, Sazerac said:

How are you feeling ?

As long as I force myself to relax, not too bad really.

[Mee]

I also started the first day I did not have a cigarette.  That was the day after my last smoke.

 

[Martian5]

My start date was the first day without a cigarette!!

[Boo]

5 hours ago, Damona said:

How do you determine your quit date?  I have always thought that the quit date is the date you smoke your last cigarette, even if you put it out at 11:59 p.m.  I notice that a lot of people use the next day as their quit date and it makes me curious.  So, what date do you use and why?

 

My quit date is March 9, 2016.  On March 8, 2016 I performed a ritual of sorts.  Went out on the back porch at 11:50 p.m. and smoked one.  At 11:58 I lit another and just before the clock hit midnight, I took one long last drag.  I guess it made sense to me at the time, but in hindsight it seems ridiculous.

 

My advice to anyone just starting the process would be: don't do what I did.  Don't get caught up in minutiae and don't perform cigarette based rituals right before quitting.  If you want to start counting the second you ash out the last one, do that.  If starting the count at the beginning of your first full-day without a cigarette feels better to you, do that.

 

Just remember not to put anything in your mouth and set it on fire.  Everything else is a minor detail.

[Reciprocity]

I have always used the day I put out my last cigarette as my quit date. It was approx. 8:00 AM on a Sunday morning - my wake-up smoke. Put it out and never had another one. So to me, the day I made that conscious decision to smoke one then not smoke anymore is my actual quit date. As others have said though, in the grand scheme of things, it matters not the actual date you quit. It just matters that you DID quit and remain quit  

[johnny5]

I put my last cigarette out at about 11:58 or 11:59 AM on a Sunday morning.  I decided a couple of days prior that I would smoke my last cigarette right before noon that day. 

 

I count that day (November 16) as my quit day but I can see the argument for saying I should have counted my first full day smoke free as my quit day.

 

It is a personal preference as long as you never take another puff.

Edited August 2, 2019 by johnny5

[Diane R]

Well for me I started taking Chantix. I didn’t pick a start date, I just let the Chantix start to work about 3 week after I started it I smoked 2  drags of a cigarette and put it out. I haven’t had one since. But I still thinking about smoking all the time. I tell myself out loud I don’t smoke! Now I’m to the point where I forget to take my Chantix. It does get easier with time. I will say I was keeping myself in withdrawals for the first few weeks. The only downside to the Chantix for me. You are going cold turkey so you won’t have that. But this is where this forum helps someone told me I was keeping myself in withdrawal. And I was sick for 3 weeks. So I just put that stick out and didn’t look back. Stay close to the forum. Everyone here is so  supportive. It really can make all the difference. One day at a time. 

[Wayne045]

When I quit I smoked my last cigarette right after eating lunch around midday .  I didn’t start counting until the next day though, but I guess if I want to pad my “total days quit” number, that half day (0.5) could be rounded up to include one more day.  

 

To be honest I’m not certain that the day in my ticker is THE date.  When I had made it a month without smoking and knew this was THE quit, I tried to nail down the date.  I knew it was the Memorial Day weekend just not sure if it was a Saturday or Sunday, so I’ll cal mine (current days) +/- 1.5

 

Seriously though just don’t smoke anymore.  When you reach one year and more, does it really matter in the grand scheme of things.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Wayne045

[Mona]

Quite a variety of answers.  Thanks everyone!  It's something I was curious about and enjoyed reading the replies.  Whatever works for each individual...it's all good.  I tend to do the ritual like Boo mentioned.  I'm not satisfied unless I get a good long drag for my last puff which seems so silly to the rational portion of my brain.

[catlover]

I smoked my last cigarette January 31st at about 11 pm. I had smoked quite heavy that day just to get rid of the pack I wanted to start a fresh day without smoking, hence 1st feb was my preferred quit day.

[Sazerac]

4 hours ago, Damona said:

 I'm not satisfied unless I get a good long drag for my last puff which seems so silly to the rational portion of my brain.

 

It is just Addiction which is never, ever rational.

[Cbdave]

G’day 

I had a cig on the Friday night 9th oct 2015, nothing surprising about that, can’t remember what time.

I was on the champix and my day, was to be that next week.

i got up next morning and that’s when the magic happened. I got up and didn’t smoke. Not One. Was it the champix... who cares

0830 came around and I knew this was the day!

Hunted up all my cigs the ashtrays the butts the lot. Drowned them in the kitchen sink. Dumped the mess in the bin And took my sweetheart out to a movie.

She took 4 days to figure out I wasn’t smoking. 

I keep going toward. It will be 4 years this October 10 at 0830. Couldn’t care less about that last cig. This was that moment that I quit. I refused to go back.

EVER

 

 

[greenlight]

My quit date is 20th June 2012 even though I smoked that day. I quit suddenly in the middle of the day (around 3.30pm) without making any kind of a plan prior to that. So that is the day that I quit.