Nicotine versus Creatine...

[navigator]

Hi All,

Okay, I admit it: I’m a smoker! I quit the nicotine habit about 6 months ago by smoking non-tobacco herbal smokes. Seemed to work like a charm until about a week ago ... fell off the wagon! Next day, I got back on the wagon, only to fall off again this morning.

Fortunately, HST is a wonderful motivation to get back on the wagon fast.

So now I’m thinking maybe the herbal smokes approach is not so good, after all. Maybe I ought to try Nicorette gum (the patch never really helped me in the past). Went online to find info, didn’t find much here at HST, but then I stumbled onto this guy ‘Dante’ at Avant Labs. Turns out, he’s a big fan of using nicotine as a weight-loss supplement. You gotta be kidding...

Okay, I’m posting my questions here because I only trust this HST forum. Here goes...

1) I read in the HST FAQ that caffeine does not interfere with the uptake of creatine. But what about nicotine? Will it interfere with my use of creatine?

2) When I switched from tobacco to herbal smokes, and went through the month of nicotine withdrawals, I didn’t really notice a pronounced improvement in my training performance or muscle gains. Makes me wonder: Does nicotine (in particular) interfere with muscle gains, or does all the other crap in smoke interfere with gains?

3) Anyone else here smoke? If so, has it (in your opinion) hampered your HST gains?

4) Anyone else here smoke and then successfully quit? If so, how? Did your gains skyrocket, after giving up all smoking?

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[Steve McDermott]

I quit smoking about 3 and a half years ago with the help of Zyban (Wellbutrin). It was really quite easy even after 15 years of moderate smoking. Look into it, it's worth it. I actually lost 55lbs after quitting. I just got really into fitness before I quit and just kept going after I quit. I did really notice that my stamina and CV ditness really benefitted (duh).

Dante is absolutely correct about nicotine. The drug itself, without the extra crap that comes with smoking is really not a bad drug at all. It can do many positive things as far as dieting goes. It supresses appetite, elevates ones mood, may increase leptin levels, aids in concentration etc. The problem is that it is so intertwined with smoking that the benefits are overlooked. And rightly so in most cases. After reading up some on nicotine and it's benefits as well as peoples experiences with it I am considering trying it on a two week on two week off system to avoid any dependence issues. Honestly though, when I quit, I found that it wasn't the nicotine that made it difficult. It was the habbit of smoking itself that was the hardest thing to give up. Things like driving and coffee and cocktails (things that go very well with smoking) were very powerful triggers of the habbit of having a cigarrette. The nicotine addiction seemed to go very quickly.

I haven't really hit a huge plateau in my weight loss yet, but it is comming. So, when it does, I will probably give the gum a try on a limited basis. If I notice anyreal benefit as others have, then I wll have to make a decision on it then.

I don't recall seeing anything about nicotine interfereing with creatine's absorbtion, but then there really wouldn't be much out there in that reagard.

Good luck with quitting, it's the best thing you will ever do for yourself when you do succeed.

 

[micmic]

Quote[/b] ]Honestly though, when I quit, I found that it wasn't the nicotine that made it difficult. It was the habbit of smoking itself that was the hardest thing to give up. Things like driving and coffee and cocktails (things that go very well with smoking) were very powerful triggers of the habbit of having a cigarrette. The nicotine addiction seemed to go very quickly.

I'll second that. When you understand that the most important thing is to change your mindset, everything is easier. Nicotine detoxification is really easy.

I quit 2.5 years ago without any aids, although I've been a rather heavy smoker. Just woke up a morning and said 'no more'. I have done the same thing twice in the past (one year each time) but I had actually planned to restart after the year

I just wanted to convince myself that I didn't depend on it... But this time it is for good.

From what I understand, when you quit you have to maintain a certain level of 'alert' for the rest of your life, because there will always be a chance to slip again. Your will to remain smoke-free must always be greater than your urge to smoke. I talk with people who have quit for 40 years and they tell me that from time to time they still feel like smoking... It does happen to me too, but rarely (maybe once every 2-3 months)

 

[Lars]

Me too...Quit smoking after ~15 years and found the habit was the worst. Tried weaning off, but it didn't work. Tried smoking 'light' cigarettes, but it didn't work. Only when I said 'enough is enough' and kicked it 100% did I manage to stay off, and it was surprisingly easy as soon as I did that.

Good luck quiting!

 

[imported_edziu]

The gum works better than the patch for a lot of people because it gives you something to do; unwrap the gum, chew on it -- it's a crutch habit while trying to get out of the old habit of getting out a cigarette and handling it. . .

It might help if you find a surrogate habit for a while. A friend of mine went for clove cigarrettes, which were worse for his lungs, but there was no nicotine addiction issue, so he was able to smoke them only in social situations where he was used to smoking SOMETHING while holding his drink, etc.

Around the house or driving, you might try carrying a toothpick or straw in your mouth.

Good luck!

 

[navigator]

Hi guys,

Many thanks for all your supportive words. I am back on the quit, now, and haven't really noticed any nicotine-related difficulties. Fortunately, it takes a bit more than a few smokes to reestablish the old habits.

You know, it is true that the behavior of smoking is far more difficult to give up than the nicotine part. When I switched to herbal smokes, I went through about 1.5 week period of intense nicotine withdrawal--very unpleasant!

But the psychological part of smoking has proven to be more of a problem in the long term.

Clove smokes can be very helpful, especially because they can block the smell of tobacco. The sweet smell of the cloves helped me to learn that tobacco smells terrible. And in fact, my lungs started to improve while on the cloves. Gotta be careful, though. Not all cloves are nicotine-free. Most clove available here in California have about 60% tobacco mixed in with the cloves--that's how I got hooked on tobacco back in the '80s.

If you're going to try the cloves as a quitting method, be sure to try Jambi as they are 100% tobacco free.

If cloves aren't your thing, a really good herbal smoke is ecstacy, they've really helped me get over the nicotine part of smoking. ecstacy smokes can found at Quit the Nicotine Habit

Cheers.

 

[Mutect]

Me too...Quit smoking after ~15 years and found the habit was the worst. Tried weaning off, but it didn't work. Tried smoking 'light' cigarettes, but it didn't work. Only when I said 'enough is enough' and kicked it 100% did I manage to stay off, and it was surprisingly easy as soon as I did that.

Good luck quiting!

congrats for your great afford about this tough things. i also wanna quite this bad habits but can't. you have really a strong mind. wish me good luck to quite this type of bad habits.