Go,go,go…
congratulations…2 Mel’s, and this cake 
for my friend Oliverjava, do not worry is without sugar … congratulations Angie.
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You’re doing great, I’ve had a few drinking dreams too. You have to find strength from them, waking up and realising you haven’t relapsed is such a relief. Stay strong x
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How are you ladies doing on your goals? Fantastically I assume? 
I will join with a small goal. I am great at cardio but hate doing strength training. My muscle tone is well… 
. So I want to do a beginner squat challenge during June.
I have been doing some of the stretches and a few test squats to get ready. To make it 30 days for June I will do the last day 3 times.
http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-28-day-squat-challenge-youll-want-to-start-now/
I will also do a home made plank challenge: 6 days at 60 seconds, 6 @ 90, 6 @ 120, 6 @ 150, and 6 @ 180 seconds.
OK let’s keep being fantastic!
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Awesome! Glad you joined us.
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How is it going? I missed 3 days but moved around rest days or doubled up to get back on track. I feel a difference in my running and can see some small abs improvement.
Tomorrow the plank goes up to 120 seconds. 
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Start of the 4th week. The plank goes up to 150 seconds. Yikes. I have been really struggling to do 120.
I am super sore from tons of exercise in the last 3 days. I might have to modify this last week to make it manageable.
Two days ago I did an abs workout. I expected it to be a breeze because of planking all month but it was only a bit easier. Then I started to realize that at least some strength training is going to have to be a long term thing like my commitment to cardio. Looking forward to doing something similar next month. Maybe a tiny bit harder, maybe not. The main thing will be to keep doing it.
Overall I have been enjoying this challenge as it gave me a focus point and my abs are starting to show some improvement.
How are you guys are doing on your goals?
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Honestly, not good. Back to smoking. Was having a really hard time where it was jeopardizing my sobriety so I gave in to the cigarettes 
Hey mels how is the quit smoking going?. Encourage you guys to do it. So difficult but completely worth it. I am getting close to my 300 days since my last cigarette. The first month was the worst but it does get easier after some time.
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Yeah. You gotta do what you need to do. I bet you learned a lot about your nicotine habit though.
OK I admit I love coming up with plans. I am kind of OCD with numbers so here is an idea I came up with. If you feel like restarting this is a really gentle kind of plan I would try if I was quitting smoking from a half pack or more per day. I did something similar many years ago. There was no vaping then but it took me a whole year to taper down my smoking.
Month 1: Replace smoking halfway with vaping
Take extra vapes as necessary but track them against the goal amounts
Day 1 - 3: 10 Cigarettes, 0 vapes
Day 4 - 6: 9 Cigarettes, 1 vape
Day 7 - 9: 8 Cigarettes, 2 vapes
Day 10 - 13: 7 Cigarettes, 3 vapes
Day 14 - 17: 6 Cigarettes, 4 vapes
Day 20 - 30: 5 Cigarettes, 5 vapes
Month 2: Replace smoking totally with vaping
Take extra vapes as necessary but track them against the goal amounts
Day 1 - 10: 5 Cigarettes, 5 vapes
Day 13 - 17: 4 Cigarettes, 6 vapes
Day 18 - 21: 3 Cigarettes, 7 vapes
Day 22 - 24: 2 Cigarettes, 8 vapes
Day 25 - 30: 1 Cigarettes, 9 vapes
Month 3 - Vaping
Take extra vapes as necessary but track them against the goal amounts.
Smoke up to 5 cigarettes total this month. Take 1 or 2 in times of high stress.
Day 1 - 30: 10 vapes
Month 4 - Same but aiming for no cigs at all?
Possibly same as month 3, possibly no cigs at all. Let’s see how it’s going first.
Month 5 - 6 - Reduce vaping
TBD Depending on readiness
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A roadside ice cream also sounds necessary to me! Sounds fantastic. I love the open road and a coffee in my cup holder!
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Holy sh#$ @LeilaBird this is brilliant. Starting July 1st (so it’s easier to keep track) I’ll try this. Do e cigs count as vaping? I can’t buy one of those expensive do-ma-flitchies but those cheap throw-aways are an option.
I did learn a lot. The cold turkey withdrawals are brutal. 3 days my ass…more like a month of headaches and walking around like a zombie. Also, I smoke a lot when stressed or drink too much coffee.
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It helped the divide my quit smoking into thirds. For some reason the number 3 becomes
At 3 days the nicotine is gone so that is the physical addiction
At 3 weeks the mental addiction is the strongest
At 3 months was the most crucial point to prevent relapse
So heres what i did.
0-3 months no smoking and used 6mg vape very frequently.
3-6 months reduced to 3 mg vape
After 6 months i was going to reduce to 1.5 mg then 0mg but really just wanted to be quit with it so after a few weeks at 1.5i mg dissasembled the vape machine and put it up and away.
Now I am here at 9 months and so im ready to begin my quit with alcohol without feeling the need for smoking as a crutch. Everybody’s quit may vary and if I could i would recommend cold turkey but its not always doable. Find something that works best for you.
Some things that kicked my ass along the way was going out and being around smokers. You have to guard your quit. 2 people from my chat group actually died from smoking related illnesses during my quit those things really put things into perspective. Having someone to reachout to helped the most through the most crucial times especially dropping nic levels and those 3 day, 3 weeks, and 3 months trials that seem to get a lot of quiters.
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Yay for restarting! Keep quitting until it sticks.
My plan is just one outline. I would suggest coming up with something that keeps the withdrawals at bay but that works for you.
I don’t know if ecigs are the same as vaping. I suggested vaping because I know a few ex-smokers who successfully switched to vaping and by all reports it is significantly less harmful. I see some people posting on here lately that they use nicotine lozenges. That sounds promising as well.
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I’m sorry it was so hard. I know you’ll do it eventually. It took me many failed attempts.
Reading your post, @Melrm, i wondered if part of the problem is that there’s no AA for nicotine. You’re obviously someone for whom AA is very useful. Could you try to set up a similar in person support group for struggling smokers in your area? Ultimately, of course, it’s up to you; but ither people can help.
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I quit 17 years ago, and i had to be hypnotized for it to work for me… it cost a total of $45. and a great desire. It was one of those groups you see in the paper. Never picked up again. All though I don’t think quoting to many habits at once is wise. So be very careful. I will pray for you
.
I can second that hypnosis can be helpful. I am not particularily good at getting hypnotised but I would use a hypno app from the play store with binaural rhythms to help me at night. It did reduce my sleeplessness and cravings and kind of retrained my brain somehow to avoid smoking.
The app is called quit smoking and i have several for things like anxiety, bad habits, sleeping etc. So if i am struggling in one area I will use that particular app before bed. I agree quiting too much at once is aweful and can lead to relapse but if you make progress at it, reevaluate and step down once every three months, you should be alright.
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@Quit4myDaughter, @Melrm Also meditations audio in your head set at night as you fall asleep, that was one of the things that was recommend. They say that hearing positive motivation about stopping, such as I am a strong person, I deserve to stop, I don’t need cigarette, cigarettes are nasty, cigarettes will kill me, as you are going to sleep will assets you better in quitting…
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Mine had this walk through audio where you would go into an elevator and once at the basement floor you would encounter your old smoking friends and walk through the curtain of smoke. Actually I walked by a lit cigarette on the ground yesterday thinking about that portion of the hypnosis and laughed to myself. 
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My grandfather was able to quit smoking with a laser treatment … it can be effective … or just suggestion … a hug.