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Good for you and keep up the good work. As a smoker I can appreciate what you are doing and each craving you get. I admire you!
Thank you. It's been somewhat easy...getting a little harder as the time goes on...but thank you. Smokers and ex smokers are truly the only ones who really get this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlotteborn
Three Wolves - YOU CAN DO THIS!
I quit 5 years ago! Just realized that it had been 5 years when I read your thread. I was a very heavy (2+ pack a day) smoker for 30+ years. I put the cigarettes down in 2007 and haven't had one since. I quit - cold turkey. No patches, no gum, no meds, etc. Not to say that was the right way but it was the right way for me.
Just want you to know that you can do it. For me, I just 'didn't pick up another cigarette'. Sounds easy but it is hard. I know all about the cravings...
It is hard for me to believe that now I can go days, maybe weeks, without even thinking about a cigarette! It is also such a great feeling to not be ruled by cigarettes (do I need to go get cigs or can I get thru the night, where can I smoke, etc.)
Sending you huge 'support vibes'!!!
Thanks! You know, I think I went an hour today not thinking of a cigarette...at home, I mean. And good job to you for quitting. You are SO right about being ruled by them: "Let's see, I have 5 left, it's 3 hours till bedtime...do I need to go to the store or not? What if something happens that I find interesting and I stay up later...what if..Oh, man, just change out of your pajamas and get to the store...ugh, I don't want to, I want to stay home...but if I don't go now, the store will be closed....UGH!!"
Yes, I know it all too well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleDolphin
That's most excellent! Another way to look at it is you handed over 19 perfectly disgusting, cancer-causing cigarettes, rather than 19 perfectly "good" cigarettes...
It's all in the message we tell ourselves.
I call cigarettes the evil weed....they have no benefits, and only cause misery.
I'm trying to think of them that way. It's hard at times. I'm just put in my mind how I was after that run. I'm really annoyed about that run.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lubby
How old are you and how long have you been smoking? Good luck to you. My mom is still chewing nicorette 20 years later. I guess that's better than cigarettes. Did you smoke 1 or 2 packs a day? Before my dad quit he smoked 2 / 1/2 packs a day non filtered.
Been smoking quite awhile. I smoked about a pack a day, some days more, some days less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SabresFanInSA
One thing I will say you have to get used to is the extra time you suddenly have in your life.
For example, in the car you smoked while you drove. Now that you dont smoke, what do you do while you drive? Waiting always equaled "Im gonna smoke a cig while I wait for...............". First thing in the morning you smoke with your coffee. Now what do you do while you have your morning coffee. I find my patience a little shorter than it was because I actually have to wait for things when before I could just smoke to kill time.
You aren't even kidding. I can't even believe how slow time goes now. Last night, I mean, ok time change and all that but still, at 3pm, I thought it was 7pm. At 6pm, I thought for sure it was 10pm. Life goes S-L-O-W when you don't have a cigarette to pass the time. You are so, so right about that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
Pardon me. Sorry if the answer sounded rude. It slipped by me that you were the original poster and female. I thought I was replying to an observer.
No worries. I suppose you are right, younger can probably bounce back faster than older. I'm not either one of those ages, I'm older than one, younger than the other...we'll say in the middle somewhere. I also don't want to be one of those ladies who has that smoke voice later in life so that's an added incentive. You know, like Marge Simpson's sisters?
Quote:
Originally Posted by suzy_q2010
Not only that, you likely have a longer life to enjoy!
Well, theoretically. I mean, we could go at any time....but yes our "life expectancy" is longer.
Welp, I did have a few more puffs today, total of 6 if you count the 2 I did this morning to psyche myself up for driving in the car without smoking.
I think now since Thursday, I have smoked the equivalent of one whole cigarette with the combined amount of these puffs. Some may say that's not good enough...I say it's fabulous because....
Total amount of cigarettes I have NOT smoked: 100
Edit: Wow...seeing that number is starting to put it in perspective. A hundred smokes? A hundred? In five days? Holy carp! I would have smoked at least 100....OY! That's disgusting.
TWIS......I quit smoking (again!) last year on November 19, 2011. At 9PM that evening I had my last cigarette and my anniversary is coming up. Honestly, I still miss them, I dream about them, I want them.....but, I do feel better, my husband is thrilled that I quit, and I smell better, food tastes better (weight gain sucks though - careful with that giant bag of candy....I mean it), I sleep better, etc. I went through two courses of Chantix, used their coupon and our insurance helped out too. It really, really made a difference - I smoked since I was 18 - 36 years of cigarette smoking. I could never have done it on my own. Also, my Dad who had smoked for over 60 years died of lung cancer in 2007. How stupid was I, smoking while I watched my own father die of the very thing I was doing...my sister has copd now, and yep, she still chain smokes. I never had the smoker cough that some get, and I actually liked smoking, but I made a promise to my husband that I would quit when the stress of his unemployment and our moving to a new house in a new state was over...and by God I kept my word. So, once again, I know you can do this, I believe in you, I know you got the holy hell scared out of you, and I wish you every ounce of luck possible that you beat this thing and stay strong. Years ago I went through a stop-smoking course from the Lung Association (?) and they told us that the actual physical craving for nicotine is over within 72 hours of the last puff - physically, you are out of the craving stage at that point (according to them!). The MENTAL stuff is what kicks in after that, and that is the hardest to overcome. Supposedly, nicotine is as addictive as heroin and as hard a habit to break. Never having experience heroin I can't verify that, but nicotine withdrawal will kick your but. I was cranky and miserable for a while after I finished the second course of Chantix - but I got over it. Keep busy and get rid of the smell in your house, your car, etc. Stay away from things that remind you of it for a while. It does get easier, but you have to stay strong and motivated. I am sending you a link to check out the Chantix - you do have to get a prescription - but there is a coupon and insurance will cover it. Good luck, and I'm here if you need me. I mean it. I am proud of you and I want you to live a long, long time. Here is the link: Quitting Smoking | CHANTIX®(varenicline) Safety Info
Thanks, CFoulke for the information about the drug. I do appreciate it. I'm just not going to do it because I hate taking pills for anything and I don't really trust a lot of the drugs out there. Heck, I'll wait till I can't stand it any longer before I will take an Ibuprofen. I'm sure it works great for many people but it's not for me.
So today, I decided to get off my arse. (After reading about all the weight gain from others, I started to freak out, especially after I got done with a huge cheeseburger and home fries...hell no, not fast food, I'm talking the REAL stuff from a truck stop/gas station yesterday. It's a well known truck stop here and I had never eaten there so thought, "I'm going to give it a try because I saw snowflakes on the way home and I want to order some food just in case..."
Well, we didn't get snow, aside from the flakes and dang! DANG was that food good. OMG, it was so good. That's how you make a flippin' cheeseburger. McD's should just hang their heads in shame and close up shop.)
Anyway...the POINT was, while I enjoyed every savory last bite of that cheeseburger and fries until I was ready to burst, it did hang over my head, "FAT!!! You are going to get FAT FAT FAT!!!"
Um...no!
So today, I got up off of my lazy backside, threw the hoodlums, (dogs), outside and got my Wii Fit Plus all set up. I had one before I moved but it was so dang hot in Miami. I worked outside all day long, when I got home, the very last thing I ever wanted to do was sweat some MORE so I never really did my Wii Fit. Anyway, the cats ate one of the cords and I just didn't feel like dealing with it so I left it behind. Someone got a free Wii, who cares.
When I moved up here, I bought another one, (in black, sweet), and got a new Wii Fit, (this time it was the plus, sweet again!), and vowed that once I got myself a full time, good paying job and got myself situated, I would start to use it.
Economy, location and being, "from away", has made it difficult to fulfill that simple little dream. There was a point I had 4 part time jobs leaving me zero time to myself other than shoving food under the pets' faces and flopping on the bed to sleep before starting all over again the next day.
Then, the last few months, it's been all about, "No, seriously, can I have a damn full time, well paying job already? Enough is enough!" And, I just got offered another one today. LOL!!! OY! So now I have two full time jobs to consider.
Long story short...both of these jobs I can't smoke at and one of these jobs it's prudent that I don't smoke and that I actually get my lazy behind in gear and back in shape.
So I opened up the Wii Fit Plus for the first time since I bought it OVER a year ago. And I got to moving. Well, first, I did Yoga.
Can I just say one thing about Yoga? The tree? WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE SMOKING?! I'm supposed to stand on some little board and do "the tree" in Yoga without falling over? Do I LOOK like a gymnast? Or ballerina? No? Guess what!
Anyway, did the yoga stuff first which, holy carp am I out of shape. Some was torture and some felt really, really, really good to stretch but yah, I am not as flexible as I used to be. Woah.
Then I did aerobics. Did the fun stuff, had a blast, then decided to do a run. Well, running in place is not the same thing as actual running, I know this but I tried to make it as close to actual running as possible.
I did a practice run where we had to keep pace with the Mii in front of us and that was pointless because he was sloooooow. Later, I decided to do the Free Run.
This required I run in place for 10 minutes and it would track how far we got. Well, I haven't smoked, (with exception of puffs here and there), since Thursday morning so maybe my lungs are starting to improve a teensy bit?
I decided to see how long it would take me to do half a mile. Because I was running in place, I made sure to lift my knees higher to make it as painful as real running. I did manage to do the half mile in 3 minutes...which, meh, but! I did not collapse from lack of oxygen, either. Course, I was also inside, not out in the cold fricken air breathing in ice crystals.
I continued for the 10 minutes and towards the end of it, I wanted to do 1.5 miles so I really started to pick up my pace. I could tell that if I had been outside in cold air, I would have gone through what I went through on Thursday morning after three minutes...but this time I didn't reach that feeling, (rather, starting of that feeling), until 8 minutes of high knee running in place. If some cold air had been thrown in, yah, it would have been very painful.
But! That's a five minute difference! Even if we take a minute off because running in place is not like real running, high knees or not, that's still a four minute difference so clearly something is improving!
In the end, I worked out for 1 hour and 11 minutes. I'd say about 35 of those minutes was me actually moving around, aerobics style. The rest was yoga and following tutorials. I burned 340 calories according to the Wii...which is equivalent to a chocolate milk shake. (Probably only about half the burger I had yesterday.)
BUT, it's better than nothing. It is moving, it's getting flexibility back, I can also do strength training, I can continue working on running and building up my lung capacity so that in two weeks, when training starts, I won't fall over and flop around like a fish out of water.
AND, the bonus is, thus far, I haven't even had a puff today. I will, I know I will. But it's almost noon and not a single puff. That's pretty good.
Just wanted to wish you luck and congratulations on the job offer! I've never been a pack a day smoker, maybe half a pack at most...I actually do enjoy running and it's impossible if I smoke even one or two a day. My lungs burn, I can't get enough air, it's horrible. I never want to pick up the habit again, but I do miss it. Especially after a few drinks! Best of luck to you!!
Not much to say as I'm watching the election results. Went most of the day without wanting even a puff or two. Towards the end of the day, I did. Had about 6 or 7. Meh, not good. Discovered another trigger...that I wasn't aware of until AFTER...apparently drinking chocolate milk really makes me want to smoke. Weird!
Also to note: I'm getting really sick of lollipops, gum inside or not.
However, thus far, total cigarettes I have NOT smoked: 120.
Promised I'd keep this up to date so I will even though I'm aggravated beyond words for anything else....
The fact that I did not break down and smoke a pack and a half last night is a testament to my resolve. Because I could have EASILY done so I was so pissed off...I'm still pissed off.
Well...I didn't do the best today. I didn't do horribly, I just didn't do the best.
I tried to keep busy all day, I tried to sleep when I couldn't think of anything else to do...but still, I didn't do the best today.
I was supposed to hear back today to see if I passed all background/fingerprint/reference checks. I know for a fact that they have contacted some because those references have told me.
My intermittent gov job has me assigned for something next week which would fall on the second day of training if I get this job. I told them last week that I MAY not be able to do the assignment after all. They emailed today wanting to know if I can or not. They want to know by tomorrow morning so if not, they can assign it to someone else. Which...is totally fair.
Thing is, if I do not get this job for some strange reason, (and there is no reason I shouldn't pass all checks), I need that money.
So when I didn't hear anything today, plus how ticked off I am, I convinced myself that, "Whatever. If I don't get this job, I don't need to be in shape and healthy. Who cares! WHAT! EVER!"
And I stormed rebelliously toward a pack of smokes. I pulled one out, defiantly. "Who cares!", I snarled. And I lit one up. I did my two puffs. I did three puffs. I contemplated putting it out. I said, "No! What's the point?! If I don't get it, what is the damn point!?"
I was half way through it.
That's when I snapped out of it and said, "Just because you didn't hear today doesn't mean you won't hear tomorrow. Do you really want to have to deal with this? Yah, it is just 'one' cigarette but you're supposed to try to quit, because if you get this job, you need those lungs!"
And I put it out.
Admittedly, it was rather reluctantly but I did.
I'm getting to the ticked off stage so that anything that irritates or annoys me or just plain pisses me off, is heightened. It's like nuclear anger...it is so magnified. I went through this the first time I tried to stop. My God I was so fricken angry at everything! How DARE the bus make noise as it passes my house! That kind of thing. Stupid crap like that.
I'm still irritated and annoyed and I took a lot of it out on a small rug that lies underneath the washer and dryer that one of the cats decided to use as a litter box. I had tried the whole baking soda/vinegar thing but that home remedy is a fricken joke, it does NOT work. Let me tell you that right now, it doesn't work!
So I got my box cutters out and I slashed at that thing, cursing up a storm, yelling at it. It wasn't easy to cut this thing because it is under the washer/dryer and I had to get some of it that was behind the washer/dryer which is too heavy for me to move. I had to do some crazy bendy Gumby moves to get to it and that did NOT diminish any anger I was feeling.
I finally got it cut out around the base of the washer/dryer, (except one last section that I just....I just don't have the energy for that fight), and promptly deposited those disgusting pieces of cat peed on rug in to the trash outside.
Then I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed the ever loving snot out of the kitchen floor where the rug had just been. Still cursing at it. Still yelling at nothing or no one in particular, just getting it OUT of my system.
I was so exhausted by the end of it that I didn't do the Wii today. I think I expended more calories in the battle of the rug than I did yesterday running and doing Wii aerobics for over half an hour.
I really hope these people call tomorrow, I can't go through another day like this.
In other news, regardless of removing the cat peed on rug pieces, I have noticed that my house smells different. I have a strong sense anyway but I'm really smelling everything now. Is that even possible in less than a week? I smell the laundry soap more strongly than I did before, I smell my cooked dinner, like every fricken ingredient I put in there, I smell the candles that are unlit, the air fresheners, everything. It's a cornucopia of smells...none of which are smoke. It's kind of weird.
Anyway, despite my half cigarette setback:
Number of cigarettes I have NOT smoked: 140
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