Good News

Three pounds.  I'm  take some time today gonna toot my own horn, but I am just so proud of myself.  Down to 203 pounds.  A long way to go, but I am not going to complain.  It's really a great start.  I was kind of nervous before I got on the scale.  On the past diets I have been on, if I didn't lose anything, I would become so discouraged that I would just say the heck with it and go on a big splurge, never looking back.  This time is different, though.  This time I am fighting for my health.   

Motivation is the key.  I know what I have to do.  I stopped smoking to feel better, and I really did for awhile...until all the food I substituted for the cigarettes began taking its toll.  Sure, in the first few days or even weeks of my quit, the food helped me not to smoke...and at that point, you do what you must not to smoke.  But, after the first couple weeks, when the cravings abate some, one is supposed to ease up on the food, but I didn't.  I just kept on eating whatever I wanted, and it was not all healthy food either....chips, cake, candy and recently those darned cadbury eggs. Ballooned up from 145 pounds to 206 in about a year and a half.    

But, I don't want to scare anyone out there from stopping smoking, and now I am afraid that I might be.   You don't have to gain all that weight.  I have an addictive personality and tend to get addicted fast.  Food became my new addiction.  Do stop smoking. That is one of the best decision I ever made in my life....after all those years.  I started smoking when I was in high school  because I wanted to fit in...and in those days, it was cool to smoke.  Why, we could even smoke on school property, and were provided with smoke breaks.  No one knew back then how bad it was for you.  I was 14 years old when I started and stopped at age 62.  That is a whole lot of years.
  

I know how it is, and, believe me,  I don't mean for this to turn into a lecture.  That is not what my blog is about.  When I was in the throes of my addiction, no one could tell me anything.  We always think that we are immortal, that it will never happen to us, but then it does, or to someone we love.  When I came home from work that day and found hubby struggling to find enough breath to get a sentence out, I knew that it was time to quit.  Of course, it took me three months longer than him, but eventually I did it, and today I am proud to say I am smokefree for:

One year, nine months, one week, two days, 16 hours, 32 minutes and 36 seconds. 9730 cigarettes not smoked, saving $4,767.86. Life saved: 4 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 50 minutes.  (My stats this morning)

So, as I always say, if I can do it, you can.  Think about it.  You'll never regret your decision.