Both times I quit (haha), I did it cold turkey. I never understood the physical "pains" people went through, because there aren't any. I think it's all in your head. I quit with Allen Carr's book "Easy way to quit smoking" the first time, the second time was when I moved to the U.S. and I already knew how smokers are treated here and was not interested in being a social outkast ;-)

Also, of course, for all the obvious reasons like health, etc.

As for the weight gain.... I am not going to lie to you: the first time, I gained about 30 lbs. in 3 months, and it took me 2 years to take it off again -- in the end, unfortunately, only by starting to smoke again. It sounds crazy, but all the dieting and exercise did nothing, but once I was back on track with my two packs/day, the weight just came bouncing off within months.

The second time I "quit" (I have to put this in parentheses, because I still smoke occasionally when I drink alcohol), I "only" put on 20 lbs., of which I have lost 10 in the last 2 years. I've done WW, working out 6 days a week, now doing lc with little to no success as you can tell from my stats....

and the thing that bothers me most is that I just KNOW I would lose all I want and more if I went back to smoking. In fact, while I was smoking I could eat an entire pizza in the evening all by myself, had roughly 2 litres of REGULAR coke almost every day, AND GAINED NOTHING.

Oops, I guess this was more of a promo to continue smoking... not intentionally, really.

But I suggest quitting without patches or gum or anything like that, because you stay addicted that way. Funnily enough, you have to be just as drastic with the nicotine as you are with sugar/carbs/etc. on Atkins. No cheats.

Good luck!!!!