No kicking yourself in the butt! Good to see you got back on to ride! Good for you!

Keep it going.

Suggest that those who smoke, smoke outside and you do not follow.
I have had to do that for now.

Day 3 NO SMOKES!
 

Lady Pamela, You toot away! Can you believe it? I can! So strong and yep intention rocks on you!

Actually, I know I can do things very hard..But yes I am suprised I have made it 3 days..ha

Thanks for the support.

One of the reasons I do keep coming back after I mess up is your honesty, Incubus. I don't take offense at all for getting barked at for my lack of will power.

Excuses, seems I have a load of them. I could have not mentioned it and made me look good, that just isn't me. I am accountable for all my actions, especially the bad choices for my health. I certainly hope to be successful!

Thanks Dude!

Great job. You are an inspiration! Keep it up.

Thank you so much...And you can do it too..trust me if I can beat this...ANYONE CAN! ...lol

Way to go for keeping it going.

Barking only means you give a shit..and that you want to support and also be supported back.

It is great to have someone you feel you can depend on and also be honest with. No matter what...Ya all have been there for me..thanks so much!


Btw...day six and SMOKE FREE STILL...It is lessoning some with the turmoil..but so not a safe point yet.

And oh how life has challenged my quitting process..ha

.

Day six
 

Day 6....woooohooooo...the force is working it's magic. :tinfoil:

Tis true, I do give a shit. I am <that> ex smoker; a walking advert for what can happen to you if you don't give up in time and if asked I will evangelise about not smoking til the cows come home or they walk away, which ever comes first! :cheesy:

Lemme tell you I was somewhat manic for a while after first quitting. It took a few weeks/couple of months or so to calm down and finally *know* that this time I'd cracked it.

I'm anosmic and have a less than standard sense of taste so sadly I didn't get those benefits. However, I did notice how wonderful it was to wake up in the morning - no matter how much or what I'd drunk the night before - with a clean mouth. It was a revelation that is was smoking that made the difference.

Ok, so the weight thing is an issue for me too. I spent 20some years with eating disorders but even as I recovered from that I remained very slim. I was used to being around 100lbs all my adult life. I purposely didn't substitute my oral fixation with cigs for food, I was well prepared for that one. Then, double whammy happened, I got hit with full on (peri)man-0-pausal symptoms.
Hoody on-hoody off...jebus I'm going mad but it's great not to bleed every month shyte.
Well it appears that nicotine sorta helps speed up your metabolic system. This combined with the above hormonal stuff led to an exorable increase in weight which is the hardest thing I've found to deal with. It's relative because if I told you what I weigh you'd laugh but I have flesh that I've not had since I was a teenager.

However, I'd rather be a small winnebago with 48% lung function left than a racing bike with rapidly decreasing lung function.


May the force be with ya :tinfoil:




eta...Day 10

You all are doing so well! Addiction is terrible because it teaches us to lie to ourselves and to find ways to justify our behaviors. There is a professor at George Mason University, Dr. Robert Smith, and he has done research on nicotine and the adolescent brain of rats vs adult rats. He found that the adolescent rats were much more sensitive to the nicotine and developed many more receptor sites for the nicotine, whereas the adult rats had little change. I bet most of us, if not all of us, started smoking while still a teenager. Our brains are wired for addiction. Unfortunately, his study showed that we would also be wired for other addictions as well. So, this is one of the most difficult things to overcome.

We are all amazing individuals to be this serious about quitting and making it through these struggles. Dr. Smith said his wife smokes and he doesn't think she will ever quit because of how addictive smoking is. I think I recall him saying (but this was years ago) the only way to really quit an addiction is to substitute it for something else. I'm not sure I agree with him on it being the ONLY way, but I think it does make it easier if we substitute the smoking habit for a healthy habit.

It has been 2 weeks since I quit smoking and I have been nicotine free for one day. I was worried last night because after a LONG week at work, I drank a couple glasses of sangria. I was worried that would trigger me to smoke. My son's boyfriend smokes...so I know I could easily get one, but I didn't and I didn't even have the craving. I know I have to be really careful...drinking is a huge trigger for me...luckily I don't drink often!

Cake and ice cream later.
 

I think it depends on the person. For me, a brief period of time around non smokers was helpful. I was in enough angst while quitting, why make it more difficult by having the sweet smell of a ciggie nearby? It is interesting how different things work for different people.

Tis true different things work for us all Dapper and we all develop our own strategies. I was just saying what worked for me as I've seen the staying away from smokers suggestion more than once. I still kept the last of a pack of rolling tobacco and papers too. That worked for me. I knew I wasn't 'denying' myself as such but making a positive choice not to have that ciggie that I could easily have if I chose.

I've kept the last beer I bought too for exactly the above reason. It makes my resolve stronger somehow, knowing that I can have what I want if I really want to, except I choose not to. It's just the knowing that I can that gives me comfort somehow. Yeah, I know, I'm weird! :tinfoil:

smoke free day 10...smiles
 

That is great that you all can be around smokers and not smoke. I am not strong enough yet. My dad used to always tell me 'if you stay in a barber shop long enough, you're going to get a hair cut'. If I'm around smoking, eventually I'm gonna smoke. I have some will power, but also moments of weakness...should the smoker and my moment of waekness meet...I'll be smoking again. LOL
So...like I said to a friend...I can't date a smoker, even of she's smoking' hot :-). LOL

The biggest one for me is having a glass of wine. I did not smoke much, mostly at the end of the day, a few but i had developed a habit. I purposely did not drink because i knew I;d want to smoke. So after 2 weeks i had a glass and wine and had a smoke. :( but I only had one and the next day didn't have another.

well I probably should have said I gave that up to at the same time. lol I was not a happy camper. I am back drinking coffee but a very small amount. I never smoked during the day so that wasn't my problem. I think there are several levels of stopping- ending the habit and the addiction.

day 11
 

No I haven't done that in many years...And thank you so much...smiles
Its rewarding when I look back but during it..it still doesn't feel to great..ha go figure...lol

Thanks for the encouragement..Here for you and everyone else as well.

Keep going strong. And if by chance you fall..Climb back on!

I don't know how I didn't do it today. I was near smoking and I actually stayed in my car for awhile because I knew if I got out of the car and passed my son's boyfriend smoking, I would have asked for one. I don't know what it is about today, but it was rough...probably stress and I may be coming down with a cold :(...anyway, I didn't smoke, but it was hard as hell not to! :)

WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)