Congratulations, shoju!
I just spent the weekend with an old friend who had bariatric surgery last winter in order to accomplish what you have done. He has lost 105 pounds now and has still got 50 to go. He is getting there but it has been a difficult journey. Good for you for doing it without that aid.
On the smoking cessation quest, please keep trying. I was able to quit with the help of my children's gentle nagging and unconventional use of the nicotine patch.* I hoped I was leading the way so my husband could follow suit. He did not. His autopsy results made it painfully clear that it was tobacco that really killed him, although the listed cause was pneumonia.** So do your best to cut back if you can't quit outright. Every l'il bit will help!
*I wore the patch for a whole year, ignoring the prescribed six week regimen. I reckoned that since much of tobacco addiction is also series of ingrained 'cigarette with' moments, I had to get through a whole year's worth of times/places/events where I normally smoked.
** Not intended as scare tactics, just as a reminder that every decision has consequences.
Edited for additional clarity
I just spent the weekend with an old friend who had bariatric surgery last winter in order to accomplish what you have done. He has lost 105 pounds now and has still got 50 to go. He is getting there but it has been a difficult journey. Good for you for doing it without that aid.
On the smoking cessation quest, please keep trying. I was able to quit with the help of my children's gentle nagging and unconventional use of the nicotine patch.* I hoped I was leading the way so my husband could follow suit. He did not. His autopsy results made it painfully clear that it was tobacco that really killed him, although the listed cause was pneumonia.** So do your best to cut back if you can't quit outright. Every l'il bit will help!
*I wore the patch for a whole year, ignoring the prescribed six week regimen. I reckoned that since much of tobacco addiction is also series of ingrained 'cigarette with' moments, I had to get through a whole year's worth of times/places/events where I normally smoked.
** Not intended as scare tactics, just as a reminder that every decision has consequences.
Edited for additional clarity
And you may call it righteousness
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake