Still winning

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Attaboy!! A half year smoke free, freedom loving, reduced sized Bandit :) You are all kinds of amazing and inspirational, and how you keep your humour so well preserved is beyond me!! Massive congrats Stu!! Your quit is great and of course the point, but, your support on the board is also great, you are good peoples!! On a personal note thank you for carrying me at times. You my friend are a fabulous quit buddy and thanks for letting me help you sometimes too. You make me think, smile and laugh through this quit and I am eternally greatful. Your La B quitting inspired me to hold on around my smokers at times and just keep hoping too - it worked - we both have non smoking families now :) You rock!! Happy 6 months free :good3:

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I'm with you NOPE!

Sorry I was chilling with no computer on :( How fab are you though!!! Totally spot on decision, protect the quit at ALL costs. Treat it like an infant baby, at first it needs constant vigilance and then it grows some independence and gets easier to work with :) So proud of you!! And happy for you. Every time you acknowledge a trigger or crave and deal with it you teach the addiction part of your brain that you're done now. Makes me smile to see all these turning corner updates, love it!! :)

Ah subbed the c for the dot, thought you meant holiday hot, not f a duck it's chilly today init. I don't feel bad about this faux pas, you were talking about putting ice in tea?! I got real confused! Then you've gone and bought earl gray tea? That like tea for "wannabe's", it's not even real tea in a way, it's kinda tea that had a paris trip and now thinks it's trendy. Because I care I'll try again. PG Tips, or rich months Yorkshire Tea. I'm gonna trust Sue on the irish brand of Lyons as I've heard of that. No comment on football, I watch anything with talented teams but prefer motor racing and rugby to be honest. On a seperate note green tea is just suspicious. I mean I drink it because I'm british and someone said you should, I even bought one flavoured with lemon in case it tasted alright - it's not really ok - but it is good for you - so one cup a day. Driving - well we started it, and you changed it, enough said :)

That dizzy feeling could also be your blood sugars resettling, make sure you get some natural sugar, either from fruit juice (not sure fruit tea does the same) or maybe some actual fruit. Otherwise the dizziness turns to tiredness too and makes you moody :) Way to go for quitting though!!! Brilliant work. How your lungs feel today is the worst they will ever feel, by day 3 and day 4 they feel lighter. Within a couple of weeks no more coughing. The body heals itself so quickly really :) Doing great hun, how's today for you?

Am I seeing right, you type in your favourites and they suggest newer books for you? That would be amazing!!

Aine, Massive congrats on reaching 5 months, what an amazing achievement!!! Some of your "real" posts helped me in the early days to read and know it was ok to feel that. So on a personal note, thank you. So pleased for your non smoking family from mine :) xx

45 mins mix of yoga, arms and bum, added weights in to arm routine the whole way through today (have been doing half with half without). As a by product, I also found a toy we had lost under the sofa, so an additional win :)

goodreads? like books?

assuming you meant 16 Ava... 15 :)

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You are doing it!!!! It always feels really big and amazing you are actually not smoking I think :) You're right to feel excited too. Some of this may feel mentally hard but remember it's only mental, not actual physical pain, and it ALWAYS passes! Always! Keep busy where you can, like Rez said, distracting yourself can really pass some time without you noticing as much. Great news you got water too. Maybe get something to chew or sweets or something to actually do in case you feel like you need to actually do something. I'm really excited for you. Every hour now you are healing your body and even now, it is already trying to repair itself!! These statistics are taken from whyquit and really inspired me to go hour by hour early days: Within ... 20 minutes Your blood pressure, pulse rate and the temperature of your hands and feet have returned to normal. 8 hours Remaining nicotine in your bloodstream has fallen to 6.25% of normal peak daily levels, a 93.75% reduction. 12 hours Your blood oxygen level has increased to normal. Carbon monoxide levels have dropped to normal. 24 hours Anxieties have peaked in intensity and within two weeks should return to near pre-cessation levels. 48 hours Damaged nerve endings have started to regrow and your sense of smell and taste are beginning to return to normal. Cessation anger and irritability will have peaked. 72 hours Your entire body will test 100% nicotine-free and over 90% of all nicotine metabolites (the chemicals it breaks down into) will now have passed from your body via your urine. Symptoms of chemical withdrawal have peaked in intensity, including restlessness. The number of cue induced crave episodes experienced during any quitting day have peaked for the "average" ex-user. Lung bronchial tubes leading to air sacs (alveoli) are beginning to relax in recovering smokers. Breathing is becoming easier and your lung's functional abilities are starting to increase.

haha, us islanders only see those temps if we go abroad - by which time we've found the pool with the swim up bar and tea is history (despite that we probably packed a few teabags in our suitcase for the mornings) ;)

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Wow 1 hour quit and you can already do the quote thing - that took me months lol. Congrats on your hour!! Post as you go if we can help. It really does help to keep talking sometimes and these guys have some good ideas.

happy 6 months Julie :) Utterly fabulous and massive congrats. x

Present and accounted for, loads achieved already before the day gets too hot in sunny england NOPE, why would I? :)

Hey, how's it going? Just wondered how you were actually doing, if it feels ok, or not, just a check in. xx

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Hi Vic and welcome!! Great decision to not smoke anymore :) Great news you've set the time. Can we help you with what you will do instead when you would smoke? Maybe you could sip water, get some fruit juice too and sip that or you may feel really tired. Where are you from? whyquit.com is also brilliant to read when you first quit. Lots of information there and pinned at the top of the boards on forums here. Welcome in :)

I am genuinely pleased for you chick. Also brilliant at showing that improvements are available where people say "it's too late now because I have this or that". Way to go Colleen!! xx

Hi Tom, I think it's great you've posted now. We can help you prepare some stuff too. Bakon said about fruit juice. That's a biggie. Those blood sugars jump around a lot and it can make you feel like your craving when it's actually messed up internal levels as your body tries to clean itself, heal and reset. Also helpful to have a plan on what you are going to do instead, like when you would smoke. For instance, first morning coffee, maybe log on here rather then pick up a smoke, or wander round the garden etc. In essence the quicker you re-train your brain, the easier it is...so a plan when those "triggers" hit is good news! 3 kids is a great motivator!! There will be awesome unexpected benefits for the children and from them too. I get more hugs from my eldest now as I don't smell!! I never knew I did smell that bad :( But we play a whole game without me trying to sneak away for a smoke, we have more money to do more things and eat more ice creams :) It really is great now. Smoking is only ever a fleeting thought. Try to hold onto that if a day feels tricky or plain hard. Good days always come behind a bad one. A crave is nothing to be worried or afraid of, it causes no physical pain and it passes - unlike smoking which can cause some real damage! whyquit.com is a brilliant site to read up on as well. I read for the early days and it really helped to put some clarity around the term addiction and help me want to not smoke even more. Allen Carr is a well read book round here too. How are you planning to quit tom? Are you just going cold turkey, or gum, or patches?? It sometimes helps to know. Welcome!!

That bottle bird feeder trick is genius!! Cats and pidgeons kept jumping on my pretty wrought iron one and broke it :( The path will look fab too, how clever is that tool. 3 digit weather sounds a bit grim to even a sun worshipper like me. How do you get anything done??