I have lost 110 pounds in less than 9 months

Ringo1812 wrote: »

You are amazing! I really would like to know how you quit the smoking. Have tried everything out there. To do that and loose the weight. Actually your comments above about the exercising you do and did and work too. Wow I can now see that all of that took over the time we sit and smoke. That makes so much sense. I am going to use that in both my weight loss and the smoking. I love to hear about people that made it!!!

I am not going to lie to you. Quitting smoking was REALLY hard. Today marks 275 days smoke free. I just did it cold turkey. I have no secret other than to say this. I was wheezing, coughing crap up and certain I had already done irrevearsable damage to my lungs. I decided I was going to die from lung cancer at like 50 if I didn't stop. I figured I had already done enough damage that I very well may die from lung cancer but all I can control now at this point is to do my best for my lungs. So I run. And I run. And I run. And I run. Just ran 5-1/2 miles last night which is not my longest run but a distance I can now reach consistently. I kept thinking about targets to strive to get to with quitting smoking. It all starts with the first 24 hours. They say if you do something 3 times or for 3 straight days you develop a habit for that thing be it good or bad. I read that the toughest part about quitting is the first 7 days. If you can make it 7 days "they" say you got it beat. So I set mini goals. Let's get through 24 hours. Accomplished. Let's start a habit of NOT smoking by making it through 3 days. Accomplished. hen focused on getting through day 7 with the thought that I would reach another goal. Accomplished. To get through that first week I locked myself in a room and watched movies on my ipad. I went to work. Struggled through the day, went home and sat in the dark watching movies or HBO/Netflix series I'd never seen. I shut off my cell phone to not be "encouraged" by friends to come out and drink. I made it about ME to get through it.

Each day gets easier and easier but on occasion you hit a wall and have an extreme desire to smoke. It feels like an eternity but if you can stave off those cravings for 15 minutes they really do go away. It is similar with running. When I feel like I have run about as far as my body can go, it's the next few minutes that if I fight through it becomes easier. It is always darkest before the dawn. When you are at your lowest and about to give up that is the moment that you are also about to grow as an individual and come one giant step closer to your goal if you will only fight through it and sustain whatever it is that you are trying to accomplish. Heck, even 275 days smoke free, while I don't crave smoking for weeks at a time I will inexplicably at a random moment find myself craving a cigg. But it leaves me in less than 60 seconds now.

To put it simply? NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER STOP! WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR LIMIT PUSH ON AND DISCOVER A TRULY NATURAL HIGH THAT BEATS ANY OTHER HIGH YOU CAN CREATE WITH BOOZE OR WHATEVER. SET GOALS! TONS OF GOALS! IN THE LAST 9 MONTHS I ACCOMPLISHED ABOUT 200 GOALS. I call them mini goals. Feed off the success achieved upon accomplishing each mini goal because you are just that much closer to realizing your ultimate goal than your were yesterday. Find a motto and recite it. One that I used was, "I may not be there today but I am closer today than I was yesterday."