Well, everyone gets free differently.

About six months into my quit journey with cigarettes I got drunk (by accident!) on rum...and ended up buying cigarettes and smoking almost the whole pack!!! Of course I had to start all over the next day. But my head was already into quitting. Smoking those last cigarettes was awful. I hated it. So in a way it served me to have that relapse.

Quitting drinking was in fits and starts. It took a long time to let go.

Becoming vegetarian took me a full two years. Now I would never go back.

Sometimes I do eat something highly caloric (generally not high fat) but 90% of the time I am on track. I don't relate to food as a reward. I love food and I love eating...but not addictively. It will probably take me a long time to lose weight because I am not really treating it like an addiction. It's a life change.

I think in our society people are very sensitive about addictions. Like someone may eat fast food but feel guilty about it...so if you bring up that fast food is garbage they will get defensive.

The less talk about our journey the better, I think. It is, after all, about progress, not perfection.


I am saying this to myself because I became obsessive about talking about my diet and why I was failing. I even had several appointments with a nutritionist. She said that even healthy food in excess will keep the weight on. So I am calorie counting which is a miserable business. I keep a food log.

Getting free is very hard work. The less we talk about it and keep our eye on our own personal goals...the better off we are. I am really giving this advice to myself...right here on your thread which I have hijacked! Sorry!