JustinHoot99
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Daily exercise log for everyone :)
JustinHoot99 replied to Frezflops's topic in Exercising & Healthy Living
Start date 9/24 start wt 179.0. Goal is to be under 174.0 for 3 days in a row by 11/1. Current - 9/30 - wt 175.8. Exercise - Strength w/o. 15 horizontal lat pulls 15 weighted situps 15 stone throws (Pick up 20lb rock, jump and press to throw high and out, repeat) 15 log flips 15 brake rotor clean and press . Eating Breakfast - 2 strips bacon, banana Lunch - Wrap w/ chicken, bacon, spinach, tomatos. And grapes Dinner - Culvers shimp basket. Snacks - 1 soda, Bowl of ice cream. Wt dropped in to the 175's this morning. But eating a little heavier today (culvers + ice cream) so probably back into 176's tomorrow. That's OK, I expect noise in the data and only look at the trends. Exercise was a nice full body workout. Plenty of full range of movement strength movements. I love working out in the woods. -
No idea on the sudden cravings. It could be something you wouldn't even recognize as a trigger such as a smell or sound that reminded your subconscious of an enjoyable time you had where you were smoking. Even a dream that you can not remember. It would be nice if we could always associate the craving w/ a trigger, but not going to happen. The important thing is you focused on the quit and took action. Got on here, asked questions. It goes to show that once an addict, always an addict. Some addicts are active users, some are in control. But the addiction pathways in the brain are always there. If they weren't we could smoke a few and it wouldn't be a big deal. Congrats on 10 months of not smoking.
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@Boo I'm in IL but I've got a lot of friends who go to the Ocoee and Gauley. I hate long drives which is why I haven't gone. Take me home would make an excellent camp fire/beer drinking song. It's a great song.
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I'm an 80's hair band guy all the way. I have a thing where I have to play this song everytime I go whitewater kayaking. It has to be timed so that the song is just finishing up as I pull up in my car to start unloading my equipment. (Excuse the video, bit on the non 'woke" side.)
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I'm sure you already know the first 3 days have both the psychological and the physical withdraw cravings, then the physical withdraw symptoms are gone after 3 days. But I believe that not only do the first 3 days of nicotene withdraw vary from person to person, but also quit to quit. I did not trust myself to get through the first 3 days again (my 7th serious attempt to quit in 40yrs). I live several miles from a store that sells my brand, so I asked my wife to hide both sets of my car keys for 3 days (working from home right now). This killed my access to cigarettes unless I wanted to try a different brand which I did not. I had maybe 10% of the physical withdraw symptoms I had in the past. Because I simply had no access, it was like my mind just didn't think about it that much. I think alot of what we perceive as physical symptoms is just the mind exaggerating the affects of the physical symptoms. It would be kind of like the difference in when a man gets a cold vs a woman gets a cold. I get a cold and instantly think I'm no longer capable of even reaching the TV remote. My wife gets a cold and seldom even lies down. Some of the symptoms are in the mind. Congrats on quitting again and hang in there.
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This article is about how nicotene addicts try to change the law of addiction which leads to the demise of their quit. Caring for Our Recovery by John R Polito The recovered alcoholic, the heroin addict, the nicotine addict, deep down each knows the "Law of Addiction." They've heard it over and over again. Just one sip, one tiny fix, or one little puff of nicotine, just once, that's all it takes and the addict is back! They know that either immediately or in a short period of time they'll once again be slaves to their old level of drug use or greater. We know the Law of Addiction so why do we break it? There are three primary factors associated with relapse: (1) rewriting the law of addiction; (2) an excuse; and (3) a vague memory. It doesn't matter if it happens within two hours, two days, two weeks, two months, two years, or twenty, the factors remain the same and apply to all of us. Rewriting the law is easy and you don't need a pencil, paper or computer to do it. Amending the Law of Addition "Just one puff" and then "do not pass go, do not collect $200, but go directly to the addict's prison and surrender your freedom for good." It isn't that the recovering nicotine addict doesn't know or believe the law of addiction because we do. It's just that we begin to believe that we're the exception. We convince ourselves that we're stronger and smarter than those who discovered the law, and wiser than all addicts who came before us.We amend the law. We put ourselves above it. "Just one, it'll be ok, I can handle it, I'm stronger than the others, a little reward, it's been a while, I've earned it." I'm sorry. As soon as such thoughts begin infecting the mind they tend to start feeding on themselves and in all likelihood, your body's period of healing and freedom is over. Your dreams and hard work are all being thrown into a dirty toilet that one puff of nicotine is about to flush. Instead of saying that you can handle "just one," a truthful statement would have been "I can handle them all, give them all back to me, my entire addiction, all the ashtrays, the coughs, the stink, the endless stream of 4,000 plus deadly chemicals that come with each puff (including up to 81 known cancer-causing agents), the constant gradual destruction of every cell in my lungs and the gradual clogging and hardening of every blood vessel in my body, the 50/50 chance of killing myself 13-14 years early, all the money it will cost me to stay enslaved for years and years to come (together with massive future price increases designed to get me to quit), the growing social pressures that will make me feel even more like an outcast, I want it all back, all of it!" It's far easier for the junkie mind to create a one puff or one cigarette exception to the "law" than admit the truth. A one pack a day addiction is 7,300 cigarettes a year. Don't picture smoking just one. Instead, picture yourself sticking at least a year's supply into your mouth all at once. Try fitting them all into your mouth because, in truth, that's exactly where they'll be going, year after year after year. "To thine own self be true." You deserve the truth - you paid the price - you earned it. The Perfect Excuse The excuse can be anything. Usually, the addict waits for that great excuse to come along, but some get tired of waiting and any old excuse will do. Even joy! A reunion with an old smoking buddy, a few drinks with friends, a wedding, graduation, or even a baby's birth and a free nicotine laden cigar, or trying a harmless looking new nicotine delivery device like the 27 flavors of suckers, the straw, lozenges, candy or even nicotine water or soda, why not! But joyful or even stupid nicotine relapse is harder to explain to yourself and those you love. The smart nicotine addict waits for the great excuse, the one that we know we can sell to ourselves and others. As sick as it may sound, the easiest to sell and the best of all is the death of a loved one. Although everyone we love is destined to die and it'll happen sooner or later, for the reformed addict it's the perfect excuse for relapse. I mean, who can blame us for ingesting highly addictive drugs into our bodies upon our mother's death. Anyone who does would have to be extremely insensitive or totally heartless! Right? Losing a job, the end of a relationship, serious illness, disease or financial problems are all great excuses too - it's drug time again! The addict is back! Lost Memories But an excuse doesn't work alone. It needs help. Failing memories of "why" we were willing to put ourselves through the anxieties and emotions of physical withdrawal, and weeks and weeks of psychological adjustment in order to break free, breathe fatal life into any excuse. Most of us failed to keep a detailed record of why we commenced recovery or what it was like. Instead, we are forced to rely upon our memory to accurately and vividly preserve the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But now, the memory in which we placed all our trust has failed us. It isn't that your memory is bad, faulty or doing anything wrong. In fact, it's working as it should to preserve in as much detail as possible the joyful events of life, while forgetting, as quickly as possible, all the pain and anguish that we've felt, including our disdain for the addict's life we lived. To have our brains do otherwise would make life inside our minds unbearable. If women were forced to remember the true agony and intense pain of childbirth, most would have just one. We are each blessed with the gift to forget. So how does the reformed nicotine addict who failed to keep accurate records of their journey revive their passion for freedom and recall liberty's price? If we forget the past, are we destined to repeat it? Not necessarily. It doesn't have to be. But just as any loving relationship needs nourishment to flourish, we can never take our recovery for granted or the flame will eventually die and the fire will go out. We have to want to protect this glory until the day we die.We have to turn that "want" into action. If we do, we win. If not, our fate may be up in the air with serious risk of relapse followed by crippling disease or even a very early grave. Whether it's daily, weekly or monthly, our recovery needs care. If you don't have a detailed log to regularly review when faced with adversity, upon each anniversary of your quit, or at each birthday, do your best to create one now. Talk to those still smoking and ask for help in revitalizing your memories. Encourage them to be as truthful as possible. Although they may look like they're enjoying their addiction to smoking nicotine, the primary joy they get is in keeping their body's blood serum nicotine level within the comfort zone, so as to avoid the onset of the anxieties and craves of early withdrawal. Show them your pen and paper and invite them to help you create your list. You may even cause a spark in them. Be kind and sincere. It wasn't long ago that those were our shoes. Also, try envisioning the first week. What was it like? Can you still feel the powerful craves as your body begged and cried to be fed? Can you still feel the pain? Do you see yourself not being able to concentrate, having difficulty sleeping, feeling depressed, angry, irritable, frustrated, restless, with tremendous anxiety, a foggy mind, sweating palms, rapidly cycling emotions, irrational thinking, emotional outbursts or even the shakes? Do you remember these things? Do you remember the price you paid for freedom? Do you remember why you were willing to pay it? If you have access to a computer, you won't need a smoker's help or even to recall the early days of your own journey. You can go on-line to scores of smoking cessation support groups and find thousands of battles being fought, hear tons of cries and watch hundreds struggling for survival as they cling to the promise of the rich sense of inner calmness, quiet and comfort that lies beyond.Visit as often as possible. Make a few posts to those in need. The most important thing you can tell them is the truth about why you are there. Tell them how comfortable and complacent you've become. It's what they yearn to hear! Many smoked their entire adult life and have a difficult time believing that withdrawal isn't permanent. Fear of the unknown is frightening. Help them and in doing so help yourself. If you find yourself attempting to rewrite the law of addiction, stop, think, remember, read, revisit, revive and give to others, but most importantly, be honest with you. Terrible and emotional events will happen in each of our lives - such is life. Adding full-blown nicotine relapse to any situation won't fix, correct or undo your underlying concern. In your mind, plan for disaster today. How will you cope and keep your healing alive should the person you love most in this world suddenly die? What will you do? Remember, we've only traded places with our chemical dependency and the key to the cell is one puff of nicotine. As long as we stay on this side of the bars, we are the jailers and our dependency the prisoner. We only have two choices. We can complete this temporary period of adjustment and enjoy comfortable probation for life or we can smoke nicotine, relapse, and intentionally inflict cruel and unusual punishment upon these innocent bodies for the remainder of their life, together with inviting a 50/50 chance that you'll be putting yourself to death. If the first choice sounds better - comfortable lifetime probation - then we each need only follow one simple rule - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!
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- 5
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Hope your day was free of smoke. What kinds of things are you doing to get through the first 3 days? Anything special or just toughing it out?
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It's a small thing, but important to me
JustinHoot99 replied to JustinHoot99's topic in Celebrations!
Thanks for all the support and feedback everyone. Can't wait to mark that new calendar sheet tomorrow. -
Daily exercise log for everyone :)
JustinHoot99 replied to Frezflops's topic in Exercising & Healthy Living
Start date 9/24 start wt 179.0. Goal is to be under 174.0 for 3 days in a row by 11/1. Current - 9/30 - wt 176.2. Exercise - Tonight was my light nite so just a 1/3 mi walk. . Eating Breakfast - 2 strips bacon, banana Lunch - Wrap w/ chicken, bacon, spinach, tomatos. And grapes Dinner - Grilled hamburger patty (no bun), large salad Snacks - 1 soda, 2 slices of cheese, pear. My diet will be pretty close to the same for the next 30 days. The dinner meat will change some and an occasional treat at nite, but should look fairly similar every day. -
I have some people I COULD talk to, but it's not the same as being here. Here I have people who either are about to, just starting, intermediate, and long term quitters. Lots of experience and they don't mind hearing me whine when I'm down, give advice when needed, and congratulate small victories on a daily basis.
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When I quit smoking on Sept 7, I printed a Sept calendar sheet so I could put a red X on something each day I didn't smoke. Today marks 23 days and is the last day of the month. Felt great to have to print out a new sheet for October. Not a month of not smoking yet, but just the action of having to change the calendar felt so good. And taped at the bottom of my calendar is a small sheet that says: "If you quit now... You'll end up right back where you first began. And when you first began, you were desperate to be right where you are now. Keep going." Those red X's remind me of all I would be giving up if I take even one puff.
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Daily exercise log for everyone :)
JustinHoot99 replied to Frezflops's topic in Exercising & Healthy Living
Start date 9/24 start wt 179.0. Goal is to be under 174.0 for 3 days in a row by 11/1. Current - 9/29 - wt 176.2. Exercise - Short but high intensity. 3circuits of push, core, pull. Push was 30 standard pushups, 10 diamond, and 10 spiderman. Core was 15 reps of weighted situps each circuit. Pull was 15 horizontal pulls each circuit. . Eating Breakfast - 2 strips bacon, banana Lunch - Wrap w/ chicken, bacon, spinach, tomatos. And grapes Dinner - Grilled hamburger patty (no bun), large salad Snacks - 1 soda, 2 slices of cheese. So my weigh in wt has droped from 179.0 to 176.2 in 4 days, but that's not really wt loss. I'm approaching what I call the empty belly wt. I'm eating less than I'm burning and no longer carrying 4 lbs of crap around in my belly. The drops in wt will become less frequent and smaller increments now. -
Daily exercise log for everyone :)
JustinHoot99 replied to Frezflops's topic in Exercising & Healthy Living
@Boo Great w/o. I like the emphasis on full body movements. -
I would post a meme, but you can't top the Chuck Norris one, so simply - Congrats
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Awesomely awesome milestone. You rock.
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@JustSomeGuy Keep up the fight. When I get the urge, I just ask myself If I really want one. And the answer is yes. If I could have just one every couple weeks, I would. But my experience and that of every other person who has quit says there is no such thing as just one. 1 would not stop my craves, nor 5, 10, or a whole pack. 1 cigarette would mean full loss of control of my addiction. And because 1 year is the soonest I've ever been able to mount another serious attempt at quitting, I know that 1 cigarette would cost me $4000 and require I smoke another 7000 cigarettes. That is my visualization. Telling myself that yes, I can smoke one, but I have to immediately pay $4000 for that cigarette and I see myself being handcuffed to a barrel w/ 7000 cigarettes. Then I remind myself that if I quit my quit now, I'll be right back where I first began. And when I first began, I was desparate to be right where I am now. By the time I run this through my mind, the craving has past. It might return 2min later, but I just do it again. You've been through this before and know how it goes. Find whatever works for you and stay in control. As Red Greene says "We're all in this together".
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@OregonGirl How goes it?
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Justins Intro - Quit date Sept 7, 2021
JustinHoot99 replied to JustinHoot99's topic in Introductions & About Us
Thanks everyone. It really means a lot when you are trying to quit to know others are there for you, giving advice and cheering you on. -
Daily exercise log for everyone :)
JustinHoot99 replied to Frezflops's topic in Exercising & Healthy Living
Start date 9/24 start wt 179.0. Goal is to be under 174.0 for 3 days in a row by 11/1. Current - 9/28 - wt 177.0. Exercise - Low intensity nite. 1/2mi hike w/ 25pushups, 15 horizontal lat pulls, and 15 weighted situps. Eating Breakfast - 2 strips bacon, banana Lunch - Wrap w/ chicken, bacon, spinach, tomatos. And grapes Dinner - Grilled hamburger patty (no bun), large salad Snacks - 1 soda, 2 donut When I'm in wt loss mode, my diet becomes extremely mundane. Most meals won't change for days, but they are pretty healthy. My salads are romaine, spinach, mandarin orange, 5 grapes, 5 cherry tomatos, and cottage cheese. My dinners consist of whatever meat I grilled up over the weekend, plus the salad. Lunches will pretty much be the wrap which is chicken, bacon strip, romaine and spinach, tomato. If I don't lose wt on that amount, I will cut out the snack at night. -
Justins Intro - Quit date Sept 7, 2021
JustinHoot99 replied to JustinHoot99's topic in Introductions & About Us
Today marks 3 weeks of not smoking, the longest time period since age 20. I don't say being free, just being in control. It's all semantics, but from an addiction point of view, I'll never be free. Just in control. Still a great feeling. But I'm kind of nervous about the period ahead, especially months 2-4. Getting past 3 weeks was hard, but not as crazy as in the past. But I had a lot of shiny new toys to distract me during weeks 1-3: This web site w/ lots of information and people to talk to, My Mt Dew Code Red I started drinking when I quit, My calendar w/ all the red X's on the wall, My visualizations. I will still have these (except the code red which I've quit drinking), but they aren't as shiny and new anymore. Of course, I will still be on EX asking for support and giving what little I can. But from what I read, and have been experiencing now, the next couple months will require a lot of diligence in ignoring that voice in my head that would love to smoke. Each time I remind myself that one puff will cost me $4000 over the next year and require me to smoke 7000 more cigarettes before I could muster the courage to stop again. Smoking just 1 won't satisfy the craving, nor 2, nor 1 pack. Only continuously feeding the craving forever will satisfy it if I take just one puff. So I celebrate 3 wks of control (or freedom if you will), but continue knowing the struggle continues. My logic side knows the cravings will eventually become less frequent, but the junkie voice in my head keeps saying "no, we'll always be here so you might as give up now". I'll just stay diligent, stay on QT, and stay in control. -
Daily exercise log for everyone :)
JustinHoot99 replied to Frezflops's topic in Exercising & Healthy Living
@AceWhite What kind for riding you do? Stationary, road, mountain biking? I've always hated running, although 1 of my fitness goals was to work up to 1mi run. I accomplished that, if you can call the speed I go a run. Slow jog would be more accurate. I should probably get some actual running shoes, but I run on a rough trail so I need trail shoes. -
Daily exercise log for everyone :)
JustinHoot99 replied to Frezflops's topic in Exercising & Healthy Living
Start date 9/24 start wt 179.0. Goal is to be under 174.0 for 3 days in a row by 11/1. Current - 9/27 - wt 178.0. Exercise - HIIH w/ 9 core exercises. Eating Breakfast - 2 strips bacon, banana Lunch - Wrap w/ chicken, bacon, spinach, tomatos. And grapes Dinner - Grilled hamburger patty (no bun), large salad Snacks - 1 soda, 1 donut Getting the diet dialed in. Tonights exercise was to do a different core exercise at each of 9 baskets on the frisbee course. -
I am back...and in need of some help.
JustinHoot99 replied to JustSomeGuy's topic in Introductions & About Us
Definitely good that you are ready to quit again and came back for support. It ain't "almost 6 yrs", but 3 days is the start of a new "6 yrs" and then some. It often takes years to get to 3 days. -
Nicotine dependency recovery is all or nothing, it's one of life's few activities where being 99 percent successful results in 100 percent defeat. I borrowed all of the above.