Milestones, of which there have been 2

On Tuesday, I celebrated yet another milestone. It has now been 2 years since I quit smoking.

I've not yet been a former smoker as long as I was a non-smoker. I still have 18 years to pass that milestone, but I have confidence now that I will make it. I hear that there will still be urges, that you can never let your guard down, and I'm sure that's true. However, I honestly can't tell you the last time I had a cigarette. The smell of it puts me off, and makes me wonder how I abided it for so long.

There is one thing I do know. Not one cigarette, ever again. I know that if I smoke even one cigarette, I will go right back to smoking again.

If you've never smoked in your life, good for you. Don't start.

If you're a smoker, please, quit. Now. Today. Stub it out, throw out your pack, and go buy the gum, or the patches, or see your doctor for a prescription. Yes, it's a tough row to hoe, but it is absolutely worth it. I think of all the time I missed with my kids because I just had to step outside for a quick one. You can tell yourself that it calms you down, or settles your nerves, or whatever other little lie you want to in order to justify the habit but trust me, it is a lie. The first 6 months were a close approximation to hell, but it has been so much better these past 18.

If you're a former smoker, congratulations. I'm proud to be in that club with you, and look forward to sharing membership for a long, long time.

Quit stats

One year, four months, three weeks, and one day. 10186 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,037.35. Life saved: 5 weeks, 8 hours, 50 minutes, according to SilkQuit

My how time flies

About a year ago, I posted that I was betraying my new home state.

According to a quit meter that I am using, it has been one year, two days, 8 hours, 22 minutes and 7 seconds since I smoked my last cigarette.  Based on an average of 1 pack (20 cigarettes) a day, I have not smoked 7346 cigarettes in that time, saving $1,469.39 (based on a price of $4 a pack).  Also, according to its calculations, I have saved 3 weeks, 4 days, 12 hours, 10 minutes of my life.

At the same time, I committed to getting to the gym regularly and trying to get into better shape, generally speaking.  I haven't been as successful there.  I'm still hovering around 190 pounds, and my target weight is 170.  Sure I could make excuses, but those don't ever do any good, do they?

So, goal for the next year?  Drop 20 to 25 pounds.  We'll see how that goes.

How long is a day?

It's been 8 months.  8 months and a few spare days.

June 5th of 2010 was the last day I smoked a cigarette.

8 months and 3 days.

The physical addiction is by far long gone.  My body no longer needs nicotine.

Apparently, my brain and my body are like the Democrats and the Republicans.  They don't really talk to each other.  And when they do, it's in overblown hyperbole.  To listen to my brain, I have not yet quit smoking.  Despite the fact that I haven't had any nicotine in 8 months, my brain here in the last week or so has tried telling my body that ZOMG IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!!! YOU MUST HAVE NICOTINE NOW!!!!!!

Needless to say, this has made for a stressful moment or two.  The good news is, brawn has held out over brains, for now.  I'm thinking it might be time to invest in more chewing gum.

Quitting smoking sucks.

The alternative sucks worse.

I need to do pushups or something.

Month Six

Six months ago, on June 5th, I quit smoking.  As I said in my original post, it's hard.  It must be the hardest thing I've ever tried to do.  This is not the longest that I've succeeded in quitting.  I made it 7 months on a previous attempt.  But I've learned some of the pitfalls, and I now know some of the signs.

So far, I've been able to avoid some of the temptations that brought me low before.  It's still hard, very, very, very hard.  There are days when a whiff of cigarette smoke makes me cough and almost physically sick.  There are other days when it seems a breath of fresh air, and I'll try and follow the smoke trail until I realize what I'm doing.

But, I have succeeded so far in that I have not bought a nicotine product, and I have not lit, chewed, dipped or otherwise consumed any since I finished my transdermal patches.

I must say I'm a bit disappointed in that things have not been going as well as I'd hoped they would on the gym front.  I haven't ballooned up like the Michelin Man, but I haven't lost the weight that I wanted to either.  I guess maintaining the status quo has to count as something of a win there.