sgt.barney

Sit anydamnedwhere you please, or stand if you like ... but know ... *know* that there is no "demon". Deflecting blame to imaginary entities is not a path to success. There is you. Only you. You. You choose to smoke. Not some mythical demon, right? BTW you don't need any of the other crap, either. It only serves to distract and keep the taste of the drug going. You don't need it. Easy Pesy.

I miss Cris.[1] Easy Peasy FOOTNOTES: [1] rare first-person Sarge sighting [2] [2] Cristobal earned it.

Sarge just died a little inside reading that. Holy fook, that hurt. Easy Peasy

Freedom suffers another blow ... Easy Peasy

This has nothing to do with your quit. You are done with all that. You are a nonsmoker. Non smokers get sick and cough shit up, too, right? All the time. You indicate asthma and an inhaler... start there in discussion with your Doc. Easy Peasy

Pics ... or it didn't happen. (Sarge wants to see heads changed out) :) Easy Peast

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is another favorite phrase. It's on Sarge's shaving soap mug. Easy Peasy

Indeed they are Easy Peasy

Sarge dies green, one single bottle of the Hard Apple Cider from his own Backyard Orchard for this occasion every year. It was delicious. Cheers!

Sarge lost 36 pounds in the first 6 months of his quit without even trying. Go figure. Who knew training for 26.2 would make eating like a pig and weight loss go together, right? > maybe it's the running That's the only thing Sarge attributed his to. Once you go over 30 miles a week, it's damned near impossible to keep weight on. If you make it up to 50 or 60+ miles a week, it's all the damned icecream and donuts you want, and *still* losing 2 or 3 pounds a week. Without trying. Quitting doesn't have to mean weight gain, folks ... and if you're interested in losing (or even maintaining and NOT gaining) weight - MyFitnessPal.com is the place to do it. Sarge set out to lose the rest, and lost him some more for a total of 60 (SIXTY!! YIKES !!!,) pounds there (and got washboard abs, too - BONUS!) You don't have to gain weight as part of quitting if you don't want to, folks. Weight loss is as easy as quitting. Calories in, calories out. A little hunger-discomfort for a while, embrace the suckage for a few months and you're golden. Easy Peasy

Easy Peasy

That is *every damned bit* as bad as buying smokes. You are nicotine free at the moment. Why would you ruin that and set yourself back on the road to addiction? Why? Easy Peasy

One doesn't "lose" a quit. That fosters a passive, not-my-fault "Oopsies! Lost it!" lack of accountability. One consciously, actively, and with full knowledge and awareness, throws away and abandons a perfectly good quit. One ruins a good thing. On purpose. Don't do that. Easy Peasy

Sarge always wondered why do it the hard way - Why quit twice? (Cigarettes, then Vape?) Do it the easy way. Only quit once. Easy Peasy

Grow your own food ... so ya don't starve. Seriously - you spend about 1/6th the time and effort growing as you do working at a job to pay for the inferior food-like-substances you are currently consuming. 1 hour in the garden is 6 hours you don't have to go to work, or can spend those 6 hours wages on something that's not poisoning you and will just be pooped out and flushed tomorrow... right? ;) Easy Peasy

Who here is familiar with the story of The Elephant and The Magic Feather? HINT: You don't need The Feather. You never did. You could *always* fly without it. Easy Peasy

Carbs don't matter (unless you've got blood glucose issues) Net calories. Nothing more, nothing less. Easy Peasy

What he said ^^^ ** It's just a rumor. The truth is much simpler: you can relapse any-damned-time you want, right? It's a choice, and it doesn't accidentally happen at 5 years (or any other arbitrary time period.) It's done ON PURPOSE, at the time of your choosing. You have the *choice*, right? Choose not to, and you won't. Ever. Easy Peasy

Some of us stick around 'cause we're bored. Just sayin' ... ;) Easy Peasy

> All the training would be for nothing! Naaaah ... Sarge trained for 8 months and ran his first two Full Marathons as a full-time, pack-and-a-half a day smoker. Shit got waaaaay better after quitting, though. Keep training and logging miles. The more miles you log, the less likely you are to smoke. Easy Peasy

Easy Peasy

GreenLover was there in Sarge's first days (at The Other Place). She later revealed herself as Beth, and reminded Sarge soooooo much of his Grandma on Mom's side. Still does. For what it's worth, GreenLover - you made it. All the way to the end as a non-smoker. A true Lifer. You made it. Sarge salutes you and is honored to present your final promotion. Sergeant Major GreenLover Beth, It was a privilege to have known you and my life is better for having done so.

Mistakes You Made: (0) You smoked. Nothing more. Nothing less. Don't make it out to be something it isn’t. Keep it simple. You smoked. > Ambivalent about ticker. Sarge refuses The Ticker. He counted by hand, every day, to force himself to think about it daily... up through day 400-something when it had long since no longer mattered. The only thing that matters is : do not smoke. Ticker is uniportant. Quit is ALL important. Easy Peasy

The Sarge would argue that you haven't quit yet. Not once. But he's got high hopes for this time. Welcome aboard. Easy Peasy