134 hours, smoke-free

I think "smoke-free" works on a lot of different levels.
For the past 6 days, I've been free from:
- the smell of cigarettes
- the taste of cigarettes
- spending $8.25 per pack on cigarettes
- standing out in the FREEZING cold, alone, just to smoke a cigarette as fast as I can
- the obsessive question of "when's my next break? who will come with me? where should i go?"

It actually hasn't been that bad! Who would have thought that quitting smoking is not the end of the world? I get on my knees every morning and ask for the desire to smoke to be removed. The difference between quitting smoking and quitting drinking, however, is that I really only ever needed to ask for the desire to drink to be removed once a day. With smoking, sometimes it feels like I need to strengthen my resolve 100 times a day. I have to ask, beg, the universe to take my obsession with cigarettes away. But hey, it works. And seriously, I can go like, two whole hours without thinking about smoking. Two or THREE even. And that isn't even counting sleeping. I'm sleeping better (sort of), by the way, and I haven't gained any (visible) weight yet - I haven't weighed myself since I haven't been home in a while.

I'm still walking/running/gym-ing every day, at least 30 minutes of heavy cardio, plus some lifting and a some calisthenics. I'm also watching what I eat.  For example, today I had fat-free plain greek yogurt (140 calories/8 oz) with a half cup of blueberries (35 calories) and a tablespoon of honey (64 calories), for a  239 calorie breakfast. Then I had a 270 calorie lunch (SmartOnes frozen meal - don't judge me, it's finals season, and I'm lazy). I've had a few carrots in between those meals, which is my main between-meal snack. For dinner I'll probably have more of my homemade low calorie tomato soup, which was great. I added some cashews to the mix when I blended all the ingredients together for some protein and creaminess without actually adding any cream. It was delicious, and hearty. I eat it with a side of spinach and a rice cake as a bread replacement. For desert I have a square of dark chocolate. mmmm antioxidants. Overall, a really low-calorie, healthy way to eat.

Let's keep in mind that I only plan on sticking to this diet until I've gone a few months (ahhh can't think that far ahead!!!!) without smoking.

Signing off, smoke free for another ten whole minutes
julie