ninja dave

Today is Kick Butts Day. It's a day when thousands of youth across the nation take on Big Tobacco to stop kids from even starting to smoke. This is the 13th year of the event.

I can tell you that when I first started smoking I was a Freshman in high School. My stepdad was a chain smoker. I used to say, "He uses one match a day for his first one then lights the next one off of the last one." That is what it was like.

It was easy to grab a few smokes and hide out in the garage or backyard to enjoy them. I can tell you that at first, no one knew I was smoking. I was only doing it because I wanted to rebel. I was always the nice kid who would never smoke, drink, get tattoos, or piercing and guess what, I did all four. I did not like that people "knew me" and would assume things about me so I did the opposite to prove a point.

And then I was addicted.

I smoked pretty much regularly from then until August 28th, 2006. That was the day I decided to quit for good.

I used the patch and although I have been smoke free since then, I do not think it was the patch that did it. It was a culmination of things. I know that my toes and feet are in jeopardy just because of diabetes but smoking only makes the blood flow to my piggies worse. That was probably the number one reason. My family and wanting to be there for them for a long time was another major factor. And my future family. I want to see and hold my grandkids one day. I do not want to be just a memory.

The patch just took the edge off.

Some people would call my reason for quitting selfish in which I would reply "absolutely." If it was not something totally about me then I could I really quit and not blame someone else. If my wife begged me to quit then I would have done it for her and probably directed anger towards her because of it. If I quit for my kids then I could justify weekends in Vegas smoking or smoking at work just not at home.

And I tried that before. I tried quitting for my family and that did not work. You have to quit for yourself and know that it will benefit your family. That way no one except the addiction is to blame.

I spent a year gaining weight but staying smoke free. After I spent a year without cigarettes I joined Weight Watchers to lose what I gained. I have lost 40 pounds so far and am not going to quit until I get to my goal weight.

My suggestion to you is this, take one thing at a time. To try and lose weight, exercise more, test your blood glucose 10 times a day, and quit smoking you are setting yourself up to fail.

One thing at a time. Make sure it sticks, then move on to the next.

Good luck!