D-Day was Feb 28/Mar 01, 2010

[Greg5280]

Day 16 - Celebrate the small successes and fight one battle at a time

Yesterday was hard. If one reads this board and mines it for every scrap of information available, it should be no surprise that at two weeks the nic bitch comes back and comes back hard.

For me, that was Day 15. The craves, all less than five minutes, came early and came often. I posted roll call, which ensured that I was quit for the day. And then I spent almost all day here, in a fog, reading, participating, and reminding myself that I am quit and gave my word for the day.

A couple of sessions of chat, some well timed PMs, and the positive energy from this board got me through this. I also ate like there was no tomorrow.

Thankfully, I have exercised almost every day of my new life without nicotine. Conditioning drills and calisthenics are ugly and hard, but (i) exercise helps with the craves and (ii) I need to burn some calories to offset the increased caloric intake I have had recently.

I need to focus on the quit and deal with the food issue later when my quit is stronger.

My successes -

1. I made it through the worst cravings I have had to date
2. Sixteen days in, my weight has held steady.

Well done.

It is very nice to see when people read the infomation on the site. For me knowing what was coming helped a lot.

Great work Allec... Keep fighting !!

[Ready]

Day 16 - Celebrate the small successes and fight one battle at a time

Yesterday was hard. If one reads this board and mines it for every scrap of information available, it should be no surprise that at two weeks the nic bitch comes back and comes back hard.

For me, that was Day 15. The craves, all less than five minutes, came early and came often. I posted roll call, which ensured that I was quit for the day. And then I spent almost all day here, in a fog, reading, participating, and reminding myself that I am quit and gave my word for the day.

A couple of sessions of chat, some well timed PMs, and the positive energy from this board got me through this. I also ate like there was no tomorrow.

Thankfully, I have exercised almost every day of my new life without nicotine. Conditioning drills and calisthenics are ugly and hard, but (i) exercise helps with the craves and (ii) I need to burn some calories to offset the increased caloric intake I have had recently.

I need to focus on the quit and deal with the food issue later when my quit is stronger.

My successes -

1. I made it through the worst cravings I have had to date
2. Sixteen days in, my weight has held steady.

Well done.

[allec]

Day 16 - Celebrate the small successes and fight one battle at a time

Yesterday was hard. If one reads this board and mines it for every scrap of information available, it should be no surprise that at two weeks the nic bitch comes back and comes back hard.

For me, that was Day 15. The craves, all less than five minutes, came early and came often. I posted roll call, which ensured that I was quit for the day. And then I spent almost all day here, in a fog, reading, participating, and reminding myself that I am quit and gave my word for the day.

A couple of sessions of chat, some well timed PMs, and the positive energy from this board got me through this. I also ate like there was no tomorrow.

Thankfully, I have exercised almost every day of my new life without nicotine. Conditioning drills and calisthenics are ugly and hard, but (i) exercise helps with the craves and (ii) I need to burn some calories to offset the increased caloric intake I have had recently.

I need to focus on the quit and deal with the food issue later when my quit is stronger.

My successes -

1. I made it through the worst cravings I have had to date
2. Sixteen days in, my weight has held steady.

[Smokeyg]

Moderators or veterans - I have studied this community for the past few days. I would like to know if there is anyone who caved after (i) reaching out to fellow quitters in a time of need - especially the caving incident, (ii) posting roll call daily, and (iii) having a plan and being accountable. I suspect not...

I would give Builderchad (who was a member of August 2008) points i and ii but not point iii. He justified his cave by saying that he was drinking too much and he would continue abusing alcohol unless he chose dip as a replacement. This was a known issue prior to his cave. I talked to him on the phone about it a few days before he caved and he was pretty torn. In his mind, his plan and his priorities shifted away from quitting nicotine onto quitting alcohol. I actually told him to do what he thought was best but that reintroducing nicotine wouldn't make anything better. I used to think that what I said gave him an opening to cave - like I wasn't holding him accountable any longer or I was giving him my blessing to cave. Now I know different.

He had a plan to cave and was no longer accountable to himself. Never put your quit in anyone else's hands - the nic bitch will speak through them. That person will be uncaring / overbearing / egotistical / non-empathetic in your eyes. The nic-bitch will be the only one who understands you and cares about your well-being. You are in control of you. Use this site to build your quit toolbox. Nicotine will never solve your problems, but it will definitely create new ones.

Builderchad's Last Activity: Jan 25, 2010, 6:27 pm
Hmmm...I think I'll give ol' Chad a call this evening.

[allec]

Day 15.

Random observations -

1. Ever timed a crave? Try it out some time - I have found that they last less than 10 minutes usually; your mileage may vary.

2. I wonder if there is an insulin and nicotine connection. The reason I wonder is that I have killed a few craves with sweet foods.

3. Quitting changes the metabolism. I am not as wired as I was before, and my resting pulse is much, much lower.

4. Exercise - and I am talking intense exercise (conditioning drills) - also kills a crave.

5. A few years ago, I quit for over a year and gained 30 lbs. while already being overweight by about 20 lbs. Now 30 lbs isn't very healthy, but it is definitely healthier than dipping. I dropped 45 lbs, and have gained 15 back to be overweight by about 20 lbs again.

This time, I am weighing myself daily. I also decided to keep track of what I am eating, and I am exercising 6x a week.

Results - weight has held more or less steady. Once I exercise the same daily discipline towards eating that I have with nicotine the past 15 days, I will lose the extra weight.

I will prove that quitting nicotine does not have to mean becoming a lard ass.

6. New readers and visitors - read carefully. You can quit. The tools are here, and if used correctly, will give you success. Join the site, and head over to your quit group (add 100 days to today's date and the month that falls in is your group).

[allec]

Day 10.

Albert Einstein once said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

Let that soak in. For those of us who have quit in the past using the original or current incarnation of QSX AND have caved after a long time nicotine free, we need to think long and hard about what we are going to do differently this time to achieve a different result - a permanent quit.

There are at least three individuals in my June group including me who are doing this again.

Here is what I am going to to differently:

1. Post roll call or check in daily via text or pda - as long as it takes. I may need to do this for months, years, decades, or even the rest of my hopefully long life. Last time, I slacked off after about 6 months and paid the price in early 2006.
2. Acknowledge that I am an addict and never, ever, ever think that I have this addiction permanently beat. I thought I had this beat the last time. WRONG
3. Acknowledge that this addiction is bigger than me, will be bigger than me for a long time or for my lifetime. I cannot fight this alone. As such, I will leverage off of the collective strength of this group - both as a giver and recipient of the support that is here. I may need to do this for months, years, decades, or even the rest of my hopefully long life. Last time, I thought I could go it alone without any support from the outside. WRONG

4. I have a plan in place, which is as follows:

A. Check in daily.
B. If I wish to cave, make sure I talk to someone live, and preferably several people live, on this board to get permission.
C. If I wish to cave, look my son and wife in the eye and tell them that feeding a pointless addiction and probably dying of cancer is more important than their well being or mine.
D. If I wish to cave, I will publicly sign the "contract" and post it here for all to see.
E. Provide support to others.

Last time, I did not have a plan or any accountability.

So ask yourself, if you have unsuccessfully "tried" this before, what are you going to do differently to achieve a different result this time?

If you had strict accountability, would you have caved? How about a good plan? How about checking in daily? Would you have caved? I can honestly say I would not have caved and would be approaching 1,900 days.

Moderators or veterans - I have studied this community for the past few days. I would like to know if there is anyone who caved after (i) reaching out to fellow quitters in a time of need - especially the caving incident, (ii) posting roll call daily, and (iii) having a plan and being accountable. I suspect not...

[allec]

Required Reading

If you are at all on the fence about quitting or caving, give this a read and let it soak in.

[allec]

I tossed the can on Feb 28, and woke up on Monday, Mar 01, 2010 having quit. I am on Day 8.

Craves - check, but manageable.
Fog - check, but not as much as I expected.
Blood pressure - down.
Resting pulse - way down.
General overall feeling of well being - check, way up.
Rage - in check, and really not a factor since the way I react to situations is a choice.
Appetite - in check, watching what I put in my piehole since this is also a choice.

Weapons and information to do battle - armed, locked and loaded. Having scoured this site, there is not a single situation that someone on here has not encountered.

If you are lurking around and wondering if you should quit, what is holding you back? The tools are here, and in a matter of days or weeks, you will feel like new.