7 Months!

[SheenaL]

Hey ya'll! It's that time of the month again! I love seeing the count go upwards and not backwards. 7 months. Man o man, I sure hope it is a smooth sailing month for me especially after the rough time I had in my 6 month milestone. My pants are getting loose, but my face is still puffy and I look and feel bloated. Oh well, I will just steer clear of taking pictures and wear loose fitting clothes for a little while longer. Problem solved. It may sound vain of me to worry about the appearance of things, but after 18 years of smoking and being skinny as a twig, it's so weird seeing weight on me. I'm embracing it, but I am also afraid it will stay on me if I allow it to. I have noticed my appetite is fluctuating more now than a few months ago. I used to have to eat often. Now I am able to get away with eating twice a day. Been eating salads a lot too and lemon water and tea. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and dodging those cigarettes. Here's to another day, hour, minute, and second of being nicotine free. God bless!

[CocoaXChange Valued Contributor]

Most of us gain weight, much of it eventually goes away. Even if it all doesn't we all look better not smoking in the long term.

[RoisinO1 Administrator 3 Years Smoke Free]

Hey SheenaL - the months are flying by for you

The bloating and puffiness could be as a result of vitamins or minerals lacking in your diet, asparagus, ginger, lemon, cucumber and green tea can help this,

Wishing you continued strength and success, you really are doing fantastic,

[Exsmo in reply to RoisinO1]

Really like your natural remedy advice Roison. Would love to see more of these!

[laura6 1 Year Smoke Free]

Well done you should be so proud of yourself. Thats one of my problems the weight gain. But Im gonna tackle that when I feel stronger in my quit. Why do you think 6 months was hard ? Im trying to pre empt any sticky patches.

[SheenaL Valued Contributor in reply to laura6]

Hey there! I am really proud of myself especially since I never thought I'd be able to quit longer than a day before. The problem I had in my 6 months was unexpected cravings. I was doing fine before then, having maybe one or two cravings a month that really bothered me to the point of having to deep breath and revert my attention to something else.

Everyone is different in their quit, and you may not have any issues at all in your 6 months, but Roison posted an article about certain months being harder than others and low and behold, the 3rd, 6th and I believe one year marks are oddly more difficult than the rest.

When I get in those slumps I get on here and start reading everyone's posts. It takes my mind off things and then I get back on track. The only thing I would suggest is to try and stay away from any unnecessary stressors. I am a student and have other personal issues going on, along with being around smokers daily so it's a given that I'll have a few cravings here and there especially since my reasons for smoking were to alleviate stress. So I just steer clear from any reason to go backwards just until I'm more comfortable in my quit.

Good luck to you and congrats on your one month! That's a huge deal! Every day we don't smoke is surely a success!

[RoisinO1 Administrator 3 Years Smoke Free in reply to SheenaL]

Excellent reply SheenaL

Below are the posts Sheena was talking about laura6 if not already read:

healthunlocked.com/nosmokin...

healthunlocked.com/nosmokin...

[Exsmo in reply to SheenaL]

Comgrats on 7months! Must be awesome. I agree it does help w stress. Oddly enough i thought id be more stressed w/out smoking. Another help i saw was HALT. Ask yourself are you hungry angry lonely or tired when ypu feel a craving. Then deal woth the feeling causing crave. I thought that was good.

[Hidden]

Good for you and exellent job on 6 months 👍

I did gain almost 2 size bigger pants and my face also bigger but I know I exceed calories the first months and my metabolism is readjusting

..As a matter of fact I started drinking green tea as Roisin mentioned ..I drink it in the morning instead of coffee ..yes I quit caffeine because it was making me very anxie ..after I quit smoking coffe was not the same .

I I’m also starting again with probiotics. ..we ex smokers need to repair our digestive sistem

I’m working on loosing weight but at the same time just like you I’m accepting and embracing changes due to smoke quit .

Congrats 👍

[SheenaL Valued Contributor in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your post! I should look into probiotics. Thanks for the tip!