A true relationship with our Lord and Savior would tremendously help you on this unrelenting battle you face. True peace only comes through the Word. I pray that you conquer this addiction and the hold it has over you. May you continue to fight the fight. Stay strong sir.

How's it going? You still nicotine free? Have you taken an axe to anything?

Still going strong. Day 284 or something like that. The stress did seem to become more manageable but then my next disaster struck... I got fat. I've been a skinny dude my whole life; even up into my early 30s I was in the 150-160 range most of the time which is pretty thin considering I'm 6'-1". Was still at a reasonable weight of around 180-185 up until I quit smoking. I'm on the cusp (if not already) of breaking 200lbs for the first time in my life. Decided a few weeks ago that enough is enough so I'm exercising, dieting and getting more active. Not foolish enough to fall for any weight loss gimmicks or trends so I'm following the science. Calories in vs calories out + exercise = weight loss. To be clear, it's not so much the weight that bothers me as the stagnate lifestyle and lack of energy. I'm sick of being out of shape. Just like with quitting smoking, this isn't some half assed new year's resolution type of "attempt"; this is a fundamental lifestyle change that I'm making and fully committing to. I started playing disc golf again (I still got it), and I've been doing some of the home improvements I've wanted to do for awhile so it's already paying dividends. Built a raised bed last night and filled it with a yard and a half of dirt by hand so that was some exercise while also increasing the value of our home. I'll stop ranting now. Anyways, thanks for the support.

Glad you are still hanging in their. I'm 6' 3" and weighed around 165 for most of my adult life. But I smoked. After I stopped smoking I also put on weight. I have leveled out at 190 which is not bad for my height. At 67 years old, I do eat and drink less than I did when I was younger. Maybe that's helping me keep my weight in line.

Stick with it. I smoked for 40 years. Quit 13 years ago and gained 40lbs. I had a heart attack 3 years ago and decided to be healthier. Currently I’ve lost 37lbs and maintain a pretty steady 175.

Forgot to stop in and mention that I hit 1 year a few weeks back. I think I've reached escape velocity.

I failed after 5 days going make another run at it after Thanksgiving but I'm stretching a pack to 2 days

Nicotine free at 13+ years.

Still fighting an addiction to sugar-free cough drops, but a supply in the center console keeps me from going in to a convenience store and saying:
Marlboro Silver 100's please.

PCP says my lungs are clear, that is my goal.

Well I'm fat again. Going to try a different approach. Goal get down to 200 lbs.

I am sorry you're struggling. I have been able to keep the 128.2 pounds I've evicted and although I still have 19.8 pounds to my goal, I'm almost to my waist goal (I'm at 34 inches want to be at 32 inches) and my chest is 44 inches, but wanted it to be 46 inches, so working on that...It's not an easy thing to lose weight. Main thing that has helped me is watching my macros more than anything. I get 33% of my calories from fats, 33% from proteins, and 33% from carbs (vegetables, not processed carbs). It's the food I've always eaten, minus pastas and breads. The high protein/low carb thing didn't work for me, but essentially I'm doing a Mediterranean diet, but didn't know that's what it was. I was just watching my macros. It's worked for me and I'm eating more food (volume wise) than ever.

I do wish you well and feel free to reach out if you need to vent.

Dude that's freaking awesome!

Thanks! Also got my weight under control. Lost about 35-38lbs in a couple months. Almost all of it came from my beer gut. I cut my drinking down by about 90% which was a huge source of empty calories. I'm naturally a thin person so losing the weight was fairly easy.

My old ankle injury from football was hindering my exercising (squats were impossible with any real weight) so I just got that fixed last week. Gonna be another several months of recovery and rehab but I'm gonna hit it hard. I'm approaching 40 and I've decided that I don't want to be a decrepit old person. I want to be an active and in-shape old person. My goal is to get to the point that I can run a mile every day (which was impossible for me as a smoker) and when I get there, I'm going to do it every day for the rest of my life. I'm the kind of person that needs and thrives under a routine so as long as I can get it established, maintaining it shouldn't be a problem.

Quitting smoking is the single best thing I've ever done in my life (don't tell my wife I said that). Words cannot express how much better I feel.

Do whatever it takes. Failure is not an option.

I was only able to be successful with help from a prescription, the generic brand of Chantix. I know it gets a bad rap for the side effects and they shouldn't be taken lightly; but I would implore anyone, which includes you, to figure out how to get through the side effects to facilitate quitting. I was only on it for a couple months.

Oh, forgot to mention... My orthopedic doc said she probably wouldn't have done my ankle surgery if I was still a smoker. Said smoking destroys the body's healing potential which was enlightening.

You just made your life and future much better.
Congratulations young man.