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!