There are many reasons to delay a smoking cessation program or goal, but often they are not very good ones. Though there are some side effects to quitting you should be aware of, getting the habit out of your life can be transformational. Smoking becomes part of who you are and abandoning that can be pretty scary, but embracing the new you should take the focus. You can begin by setting small goals for yourself in addition to quitting to help shape your post-cigarette life.
Maintain Healthy Weight
Approximately 10 percent of smokers who quit gain a large amount of weight---defined as 30 lbs. or more---according to the Weight-control Information Network (WIN), a service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Many of the rest gain up to ten pounds. Nicotine is a stimulant. Each cigarette smoked causes the body to burn calories just a little bit faster. That effect is eliminated post-cessation, and coupled with a compulsive need to do something with the hands, like snacking, weight gain is a distinct possibility. A sub-objective when you quit should be to maintain a consistent weight by setting up a healthy meal plan in advance of your quit date and sticking to it.
Exercise
There was always time in the day to smoke those 20, 30, 40 or more cigarettes during your smoking life. As a non-smoker, one of your objectives should be to replace that time with healthy activity. A pack-and-a-half a day smoker spends, at an average of 5 minutes per cigarette, or 150 minutes per day smoking. That doesn't include the time it takes to walk out to an acceptable smoking area during work hours or trips to the store to buy more cigarettes. Convert that time to a healthy pursuit like exercise. It will help with the possible weight-gain side effect and it can reduce some of the withdrawal symptoms you may be feeling, according to the WIN.
Milestones
No milestone should go uncelebrated. Quitting is hard. Making it even one day deserves notice. Set up points in your smoking cessation program to celebrate milestones like 30 days without a cigarette, and so on. If some of the more subtle benefits of smoking cessation are important to you---like whiter teeth and clothes that don't stink, for example---make a new wardrobe the reward for reaching 30 days without a cigarette or a proper teeth whitening procedure at the dentist after 60 days.
Savings
Sometimes, the actual cost of smoking is a motivating factor to quit. Increasing state and federal taxes on cigarettes make the habit expensive, prohibitively so for some people. Try setting up savings plan as a sub-objective to quitting. Calculate the amount you spend each week on cigarettes and then put that money in an account or a pickle jar each week that you make it without smoking. After one year, the money can fund a vacation, pay down that pesky credit card debt or help you to start an investment plan. A two-pack-a-day smoker spends over $3,500 annually at 2010 prices.
