I quitted smoking, day 15.

Well, over two weeks. Good for me! Everything is easier from now on, not that it has been hard for me this time, but it's still hard for my wife.

I start lack a pace I set on myself on writing this blog and from now on it isn't that hard or different being without smoking. Since it's the first two weeks that are the hardest part in quitting smoking. If you managed this far, it's a very good start for healthier rest of the life. I'll focus on not getting fat and keeping from smoking from now on, on this blog.

So far I haven't got any fatter but it's only two weeks since I quitted.

It's nice outside and I should go and enjoy it more now that I don't smoke and I feel much better. Cheers!

I quitted smoking, day 14.

Friday went great. Didn't have any cravings and I am on my two week maker. So far I hadn't have any cravings for cigarette and that's good. I as I have read over the internet and I know for experience first two weeks are the hardest part. I do keep wondering about my stuffed nose, it comes and goes. I haven't had a proper flu yet, for this flu season and and I am wondering that do I get sick now that my lungs are healing and not covered with tar, which makes all kind of viruses and bacters to easier to attack as lungs are recovering from years of abuse. Couple last time when I had longer pause on smoking after week or two I got flu and I have assicociated with my paused smoking as lungs starts to heal itself.

Haven't really searched the net, if there is a correlation between quitting smoking and flu. Go figure.

I quitted smoking, day 13.

Friday, 13th! Well my 13th day without smoking. And today is a housewarming party but I am not going as I don't really want to get drunk, and second of all I don't want to tease my non-smoking habit. I feel fine, except that stuffed nose still bothering me and mucus still coming from my lungs.

It has been good run for now and I am getting use to this feeling again that I don't have to smoke at every time there is a pause or still moment. Mostly I have replace it with playing with my smartphone but I did that already when I was waiting for a bus and had a smoke. It's just the same, except not smoking.

Plans for weekend is to go to garage and do something to my car.

I quitted smoking, day 12.

Well. I Almost missed a post. Busy day and tomorrow is a housewarming party and I am in between not going and going. I know it's a challenge since it's easier to slip off when you are tipsy and I really don't want that kind of lure right now. I have been non-smoking now almost two weeks and it has gone well. Too well in matter of fact. Risk is high since I started smoking in first place when I was drunk.

I quitted smoking, day 11.

It has been now a bit over week and I am feeling fine. I have noticed that even though my nose is still a bit stuffed I can breath more easier and I have read that, after two or three weeks without smoking, my lungs may start to feel clear, and I'll start breathing easier. Also blood circulation in my gums and teeth are now similar to that of a non-user. That may explain why I have a tiny bleed in gums as they are healing now.

No more candy or sweet cravings and I have keep my eating under control. Yes, I do have extra bit occasionally but the point is not to make it too hard for myself. And it's better to have once in while a bit of treat for yourself and have more calories in a day than you consume, so that your body doesn't think that you aren't getting food enough and go in to save mode and try to halt your fat burning known as plateau, where your metabolism decreases. It doesn't stop it completely but slow it down. Your body tries to save your energy by adapting to lower intake by decreasing your metabolic rate.

I quitted smoking, day 10.

10th day without smoke. Today I have felt that I have grown a craving for a sweets. I can't stop thinking about candy and sweets. I must resist if I want to reduce my weight to under 90 kg by next summer. I scaled my weight and it was around 95 kg, so nothing has changed yet. But it will be. I know it. Few years back when we quitted for 1 and half I noticed that I gained few kg in a month, because I had sense of smell and taste again. And I guess I subsidued cigarette cravings with candy.

I have to buy a running shoes so that I could start a new exercise hobby, although time of the year isn't quite right for start jogging.... I do need to do something before I bloat too much and after that it just gets too hard to start losing weight and everything feels inadequate.

Must resist.

I quitted smoking, day 9.

Second Monday after I quitted smoking. I feel great and energetic. Although not drinking may have affected more than quitting smoking. Anyway, point is that it's Monday and I'm in a good mood. I haven't had not a single irritable thought or act since I quitted. Good for me. To some it ain't that easy and I can relate since its hard for my wife to quit and she feels bad when she goes for smoke as she is more addicted to it than I am. She said that after couple of weeks when her work load gives in a bit she will quit. Her job description has changes since we last time had a pause from smoking and I can understand that it might be too much quit smoking and having a stressful job at hand. She has reduced daily smoking amount which is good.

I am glad that my quitting has some effect on her and her smoking hasn't got me craving for a smoke. That's the hardest part quitting when the other is still smoking and you are not. My father quitted smonking after doctors said that he has vein thrombosis after mini stroke. He hasn't smoked since. My mom smoked too. Few days later my dad said that in this house hold either nobody smokes or everybody smokes. And my mom quitted too. Both have been non-smokers evere since. 

I quitted smoking, day 8

Woohoo! I made a week without smoking! Hooray for me! Wife was at party and I drove her to there and also picked up her at middle of night and as she was leaving she had her last smoke before we drove home. It smell awful as she sat next to me. There is good thing about this, that as smoking smells so horrible it don't give me any ideas of smoking myself one cigarette. I repells me from smoking which is of course a good thing. Now I just wish my wife could have that same inner strenght to quit smoking. I know that I won't be so easy as my cold turkey quitting smoking, but she knows how to handle that, since last time in spring when we quitted, which turned out to be a bit longer pause, she used chewing tobacco. Nicorette aerosol and nicotine chewing gums are bad choices as one is expensive and other gives her jaws a too much stress and that leads to headaches.

I quitted smoking, day 7

I didn't drink as I had to much to do and had to drive a car later in the night too. That went well then. Tonight I am also driving so I won't be drinking and less tease to smoke. I think I might get over smoking while drinking as time passes by. Since I don't have a physical addiction to it, it ain't that bad to resist it while drinking. Of course I am going to miss that small and fast "high" when you smoke your first cigarette when you drink alcohol. After all it ain't that much of a "high" and it won't enchance drinking at all after that first smoke.

Mucus still coming and but not so much as in the begining. I am not irretable at all. I have noticed that now that my sense of smell is getting better I can smell my wifes smoking about hour later. Even if she has brushed her teeth. I don't remember that I had this good sense of smell earlier in my life at all. Has my sense of smell getting better due aging?

I quitted smoking, day 6

Friday. If I should drink do I fall for smoking, again? I guess safe bet would be not drink, but after all I am not in the mood of drinking, now that I feel more energetic when I haven't been smoking.

I should have measured my blood pressure before I quitted smoking so I could have a reference point how much smoking affected my blood pressure. Well for now it's a bit too late as it take few days to see affects. And before you start saying that your blood pressure will drop around 15-60 minutes after last smoke, while it is true, it's still elevated compared to not smoking at all. 

So benefits so far:

• sense of smell and taste is better
• better periferic blood flow
• no stuffed nose, better breathing
• blood pressure has dropped
• sleep quality is better and feel more energetic in the morning
• more money to spend on my car

And all this in less than week after I quitted smoking.  Let's see what this evening has stored for me...

I quitted smoking, day 5

Day begun quite good and I didn't have any problems with candy or cravings. I am getting used to this feeling when I wake up in the morning and I don't have to go to balcony to have days first smoke. I also feel more energetic.

My blood pressure is now normal, or it should be but I do have a bit elevated blood pressure so I can't really tell if my blood pressure is normal or in my normal.

And I noticed I don't have that cold feelings in my finger tips anymore, so my blood circulation has improved and I do sleep much better now.

So far I haven't had any good challenge for cold turkey quitting. Tomorrow is Friday and that gives it a bit of challenge. 

I quitted smoking, day 4

I noticed that my lungs has start to clear out mucus and other smoking debris, which means that my lungs are starting to heal. I read from various sites that starts within 2-7 days after your last cigarette. For me it took 4 days. Breathing has become more easier now, althought it wasn't that bad in my own opinion at the time when I smoked, but I noticed it's a bit better, mostly due that my stuffed nose is gone away now.

Not a single craving for a cigarette. None after I quitted smoking. That's good and reason why I can quit so easily. I am was not addicted physically. Hardest part is coming on this weekend. If I drink, do I have urge to smoke cigarette? Probably I have a craving for it if I drink. Should I consider not to drink? Maybe, but at least now I don't feel like drinking on weekend. I have so much more energy to do things, thanks to not smoking for four days.

Also I did scale my weight and it was two months ago and I weighted 94,7 kg, today I scaled at 95,1 kg.  So far that I haven't gained any weight, that 0,4 kg goes day-to-day variation. Challenge is to keep it under that, now that my smell and taste senses are back.

I quitted smoking, day 3

The Third day. So far everything is going well. Haven't had any urges to smoke, actually I started recent the smell of it. My wife still smokes and I am glad that she isn't chain smoking and she too wants to quit smoking. Every time we had stopped smoking it has been harder for her. As she came of the balcony where she was smoking, I could smell that foul smell across the room and wondered how anyone can stand that smell? It all comes down to sense of smell is coming back. When we smoke that cause our sense of smell to dull so that we don't really smell that foul smell. I started to wonder has it always been that way or has the tobacco companies engineered that so, that we don't smell that stench.

"72 hours
Your entire body will test 100% nicotine-free and over 90% of all nicotine metabolites (the chemicals it breaks down into) will now have passed from your body via your urine.  Symptoms of chemical withdrawal have peaked in intensity, including restlessness. The number of cue induced crave episodes experienced during any quitting day have peaked for the "average" ex-user. Lung bronchial tubes leading to air sacs (alveoli) are beginning to relax in recovering smokers. Breathing is becoming easier and your lung's functional abilities are starting to increase."

Basically this was it. Three days and I am free!!! Not quite. Althought I haven't had any crave for cigarette and find that those idle minutes that I use to light one up when I smoked are a bit dull or... too idle. I have started to use my phone a lot more, since I need to occupy my mind with something else. Isn't that a craving? No, as I don't want to smoke, I use to use this idle moment to smoke cause I needed to occupy my mind. That was there already, before I starter to smoke in the first place.

I quitted smoking, day 2.

So, Yesterday went well. Didn't crave for a smoke at all. One thing that I have noticed in the morning is that I didn't have stuffed nose. It was good morning to wake up. I didn't have any urges to go first to balcony to smoke days first cigarette.

"48 hours
Damaged nerve endings have started to regrow and your sense of smell and taste are beginning to return to normal. Cessation anger and irritability will have peaked."

I don't have anger or irritability problems at all, but I have started crave for candy and snack. This is going to be problem when you quit smoking. As your sense of smell comes back, you will start to crave for food, sncaks, candies, all kind of treats.

So far I have kept my mind busy and sweet tooth hasn't been a problem. I should have weighted myself to see how much I am going to gain in the first few weeks. Well one day doesn't make that much of difference, now does it?

I quitted smoking, day 1.

This use to be my personal "training" diary for 40+ year old man and now it's my I quitted smoking diary. Been smoking past 20 years now and I have paused smoking for few times. Now it's permanent. Till next time. Last time it lasted two and half months. Before that it lasted year and half. And I have paused from time to time but those lasted from few days to couple of weeks. So it wasn't that hard physically for me as I had been few days with out smoke. Usually those breaks came day-after. On hungover, which wasn't that bad for me either. No matter how hard I drank it really didn't physically make me sick, well sometimes yes, but once in two years or so. 

So, yesterday was fun, free booze and good company. I had almost full pack of cigarettes and I knew it won't last till next day or I might get high and dry before night is over. I knew that this time it was it. It has been said that few first days are the hardest and for me it never has been those few first days, it has been those days when have not been smoking for few weeks and you feel comfortable and you get that sweet smell in your nose and you start to crave for it. 

It's physcial and mental addiction. You have to fight your urges, usually mental is the hardest part.  Physical urgers are the easiest ones. Once you get past few weeks it gets easier to resist urges to smoke just one, few inhales, nothing more. Yeah, right. That's how it starts all over again. Mentally it is much harder. If it weren't, it wouldn't be addictive. To understand mental separation from smoking we have to understand addcition.:

addiction

əˈdɪkʃ(ə)n/

noun
    the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity.

synonyms:
    dependency, dependence, craving, habit, weakness, compulsion, fixation, enslavement; 




For me it has been social and wasting idle time. If I waited for a bus to arrive, I smoked. If I waited for a store to open, I smoked. If I had a long walk ahead, I smoked. Party at friends house and some one goes out for a smoke, I joined or instigated it. At the bar, at the picnic, after meal, I smoked. Worked too hard, needed a break? I smoked. There were countless reason to smoke. But I didn't had countless reason not to smoke. We all die anyway, if smoking reduces my life from those days when I am wearing diaper and can't remember my name, fine. I can live with that. It's not like I am going to live forever and be healthy because I didn't smoke. I didn't quit because I want to live longer and being healthier, I quitted because smoking smelled bad, cost a tons of money and I didn't have a physical addiction. I can't afford smoke on regular basis.

Back to life.

Summer is over and it's time to have a reality check. 94.7 kg. On my last post I was at 90.8 kg. So I gained 4 kg over summer. Which I did expect, although I expected a bit more. Back to eating less. Which I have already started. And off with soda.

Last year I weighted around 99 kg and by spring I hit 88 kg. So I would expect to hit low 80's by next spring.

Keep up the good work people!

Summer is here, but shape isn't.

Well, it's June and I'm back at 90,8 kg. Okay, I've been lazy and had been eating a bit more than I have last autumn and winter. It was expected that I gain few kilos back. But now I have started a new course. Bicycling to work and back. 10 km per direction. That's about 400 kcal per dirction. Around 800 kcal more daily energy consumption. In a week that makes 4000 kcl which translate roughly 0,5 kg per week in weight loss. As I have two months till summer vacation it means I could lose weight about 4-5 kg. So, I'll be updating more often with my progress in here. So till next week, let the sun shine and keep up the work!

Backfired...

Well I did achieve a goal, but that whole goal is turned upside down. I've gain 3 kg back. I've quit smoking which has lead to eating much more and I've needed and eating candy too. It has helped me from smoking and I am not stressed about it since now I got a plan to getting in shape. Cycling to work five days a week. That's about 25 km per day, 125 km per week. Quick research showed that's about 350 kcal per day, that I didn't do last winter. So if I managed to lose 10 kg in winter without extra exercise I think I can manage my little set back.

Goal achieved!

For a four days in a row my weight has been under 90 kg! 88.8-88.9 but under 90. Why is it important to have it in a row for a four days? Well, when you are losing weight your weight is going up and down, between days it could be few kilos either way. Depending on how much you have eaten, drink and exercised. It's quite safe to say now, after a four days, that my one goal has been achieved. I have lost 10 kg in a bit more than seven months. And this is by just eating less and watch what you eat. I haven't added any extra exercise to this formula. Seven months and 10 kg equals 1.4 kg per month, which is about 0.3 kg per week. Good and healthy lost per week. First I didn't even think about it at all. I just started eating less in my subconscious mind and didn't notice it after I have tighten my belt a few times. After that I started monitoring my behavior and tracking my weight in the morning. I haven't weighted this less in a two decades! I was going to write that about ten years ago, but now that I think it was exactly ten years ago, that when I lost my previous job in the spring I started exercising more because I was unemployed and didn't really wanted a job for a summer. So I had a lot of free time and back then I lost in a three month roughly 10 kg, but I never got below 90 kg for a few days longer. After that I started gaining weight back a little by little until I reached 99.9 kg. I might have weighted over that 100 kg at some point since I didn't really care about my weight and life was going too fast to think. Now my second goal is to reach below 80 kg. And that means by this rate that I should hit that mark by November. I might get there faster since it's spring time and weather is getting warmer and sunny, which can lead to longer dog walks. And I have thinking about taking on a running. Not in a heavy kind of way, but getting my breath and to clear my head. So, till next time!

Losing weight steadily.

It has been seven months since I started losing weight. At the end of August I weighted 99 kg. I didn't plan to lose weight back then, but after I noticed that I had to tighten my belt on my jeans I started scaling my weight. I do scaling in the morning after morning pee almost every day. There was a story about study that those people that scaled their weight more often than those how didn't scale that often, lose more weight. That's probably because those you try to lose weight do scale their weight more often. I haven't kept any written records about my weight loss but in seven months I have lost 9 kg! Over 1 kg per month. As I scaled in the morning I weighted 90.4 kg and a bit later I did take morning shit scale read 89.8 kg, so that dump was 0.6 kg. My weight has been around 91-92 kg for awhile now and last weekend I hit 90.5 kg and I knew that won't hold for a week. During this week I scaled every morning my weight and it was between 91-92 kg. But now it has been second time in a week that my weight has been below 91 kg which could mean I am breaking that 90 kg barrier for good shortly.

Shit face drunk...

Here we are. Nothing. We lose some, we gain some. Truth is that I don't care. Everything comes from yourself. You want it or not. You choose to lose it. How you will lose weight? It's up yours. I like to think it's my own. I am thirty years old. I don't give a shit. There aren't new news. I'm too old.

Christmas season.

So, Christmas is usually for me a season of food. All kind of foods to be eaten. This time of the year you don't usually lose weight but gain it. I have been hovering 93 kg for weeks now and didn't gain that much of weight during this Christmas season but didn't lose it either. Now that days are getting longer it's good to start moving more often and longer too. Maybe take the camera with me too.