I really believe there is no 'try' involved if you want to give up smoking (or any other habit). You have to actually DECIDE to do it. Once you have really made the decision, giving up is easy. If you have not really made the decision, you have a very very slim chance of succeeding.

Me? I'm trying to convince myself to DECIDE to do what I half-heartedly planned last year - since New Year seems as good a time as any to do it. That is, improve my diet and exercise and thereby lose some wait. 70 pounds (30Kg) would be great.

In late 2005 I lost 50 pounds (about 22 Kg) in a couple of months with a concerted effort, which almost took me down to a healthy weight range. And I didn't even exercise hardly at all. But in the end my motivation and decision at the time was mostly about someone else rather than about my own health, and that motivation was removed, so I fell back into old habits and in a year or so, gradually put the weight back on.