Well, I'm 9 weeks today off the cigs, yay! On top of that, my cessation councillor 'signed me off' the smoking session course last week - mission accomplished .... :) Weird - it feels like I've passed a driving test or an exam. I feel like a sense of achievement at getting through the course, to be honest.
Me and Champix finally parted company around 5-6 weeks in - I just hated taking the evening pill as I never got over it making me feel nauseous, and given I'd forgotten to take one sometimes, I figured I really didn't need them (not that it had anything to do with the Champix knocking me off the booze at all, no no no). Some people have some trouble coming off them when they finish the course and I didn't want to be one of them. Perfectly valid reasons for stopping taking them, I'd say.
So whilst I'm in 'will power mode', I decided that I'm not going to let this stopping smoking lark affect my weight.Here's a bit of BS. Did you know that smoking cigarettes burns up around 200 calories a day? Well there you go. So not only is my metabolism slower now, meaning that every morsel I put down my throat has the potential to glue itself to my insides like Lard, but I'm eating the equivalent of a small McD's fries every day by just quitting the smokes! May as well be hung for a sheep than a lamb .... So I started the 5:2 diet a few weeks ago, where you eat normally for 5 days and fast for 2 days. Doing all right so far, I guess. At least the scales are starting to point in the down position, yippee! Dropped over half a stone in the last 4 weeks or so, and I'm feeling pretty good! The fasting takes some getting used to though. I recently finished a 36 hour fast. You can imagine that I was feeling a tad peckish during this time. It shouldn't have therefore been down to me to feed the cat. Don't be silly, I didn't .... but I gotta admit that as soon as I opened the cat's Felix, the smell was fantastic (with my newly acquired Ninja smell buds), and I've got to be totally honest, a tiny flash went through my brain, before logic and reasoning kicked in.
I don't know whether it's the diet, stopping smoking or a combo of both, but this week, I just got the urge to walk around the block! OMG, you say! 'Ged' and 'walk' are not normal words that you'd associate together. And so I decided to go out in the wind and rain for a walk around the block (yeah, I think I'm losing it). I decided to call at the shop for some cat food whilst I was passing (for the cat; not me, you understand). Perhaps I should have bought sachets rather than tins 'cause I had to walk home with them, in the thinnest weakest plastic bag I've held ... I don't know what it is; I don't live in Beirut or anything, but I felt a bit vulnerable walking the streets, even though it was broad daylight. I guess I'm just so used to being in the protective bubble of my motor. On reflection, perhaps I chose wisely with the tins - a more effective weapon than slapping someone with a floppy sachet ...
I paid 79p for the Pro version of Runtastic so I can see how many calories I'm burning. It's good to know that the walking is offsetting towards the weekend drinking calories ;-)
I do hope I don't turn into one of those power walkers doing the daft moves. I find that pretty amusing to watch, so I don't want to be entertainment for the passing traffic.
Oh, and before I go, one last moan. I wish I lived in a more scenic area, so there's something to look at rather than noseying into peoples' front living rooms. Well, they should have blinds or nets up, shouldn't they?
With our much changeable UK weather, I don't intend completely dumping the car on the school runs either. I'm off now to plot a more scenic route.
