Month: April 2011

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Weight Loss Exercise

Best Ways to Quit Smoking


Best Ways to Quit Smoking

Best Ways to Quit Smoking

Best ways to quit smoking are what lots of people are looking for when quitting. There are many ways to quit smoking but regardless of your reasons you will need to either quit by tapering off or quiting cold turkey.

There is of course a good strategy for both of these methods of quiting smoking. And I would like to flesh out these two methods to quit smoking and then I will let you decide which is best with my bit of ideas.

Best Ways to Quit Smoking

So If you want to know the best ways to quit smoking and want to try tapering off to quit smoking here is how to do it. First take a day and answer a few questions. When do you smoke? How many cigarrettes do you smoke in the morning? In the afternoon? In the evening? When do you have a real urge to smoke? Now that you have this list you need a plan. You want to start your first day with a victory so you will plan the first day cutting down by not feeling guilty about smoking but instead smoking when you really need it. Make a goal of how many smokes you will have that first day and then you can go to bed on that first night knowing that you did well.

Every day after this you wnat a goal and you will start to need a way to cope with not smoking during the days and nights that you really have a nic fit and an urge to smoke. Eventually you will be down to just 5 cigarettes or so a day and one day you will have to make that leap to being a non smoker.

Best Ways to Quit Smoking – Cold Turkey

The other of the best ways to quit smoking is to just quit cold turkey. To quit cold turkey you need to do the same as above. You will start with one day where you just smoke as usual and write down when you smoke and why. What are your triggers and when are you times that you really struggle and feel the stress of needing to smoke.

Once you have figured this out you set a date and get rid of all of those smoking paraphernalia. You need to get rid of all cigarettes, ashtrays, lighters, actually anything that reminds you of smoking or makes you more comfortable to smoke. Also it is important to stay away from smoking situations like bars, smoking restaurants and in those smoking spots that we all see and look for when we look for a place to smoke.

On that first day without tabacco, cigarettes and nicotine expect to have conflicting emotions about your decision to quit. Quitting is hard but if you give yourself the chance you will be able to quit smoking easily enough and after just a few weeks you will have the confidence to not think of yourself as a smoker anymore and then you will really be a non-smoker.

If you want to know a product or two I have also written a page on the best way to stop smoking as well with some things that will make the struggle easier.

So what is the best way to quit smoking? I have tried a few times and was always unsuccessful but finally I stopped smoking by going cold turkey and have now been quit for 12 years. Realistically, as you may have figured out the best ways to quit smoking are really to quit the best and most convenient way for your lifestyle.

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General Weight Loss Tips

Do it Anyway

This poem by Mother Teresa has been on my mind lately…

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

I read this a few weeks ago and thought it was profound. It’s not directly related to weight loss, but I think we all worry too much about what other people think. We know people who will dissect every word and every action- do them anyway. I love that. Do it anyway. Take care of yourself regardless of what anyone may think. Find your own path.

Yesterday was another good day of food and exercise. I feel good that I’m building a little army of good days behind me. They will stand behind me on the days when I want to eat my weight in pizza. I will say that I’m glad I started this post PMS. It’s not a particularly unstressful time either, it’s just less of a struggle.

I realized this week that the hardest thing about eating less and counting calories is me. I had to get over my stubbornness, my unwillingness to admit that I needed to do this to lose weight. I had to arrive, yet again, to this conclusion on my own.

I’m eating anywhere from 1,200-1,700 calories a day and I’m not hungry- I thought I would be. I’m not deprived. I’m not unsatisfied. I’m not just eating salads and carrots-I’m eating what I truly want to eat. I’m full on less. And I think it’s important for me to remember this. That I can get by on less and I’ll be better for it.

Last night I really wanted to eat out. Even after having lunch out with a friend. I tried to use the excuse of chicken still being frozen. I kept going back and forth mentally and I knew, deep down, that if I ate out again I would go over my calories for the day. It’s so much easier to eat more quality food at home with less calories. When I’m in a restaurant I often find it too hard to stop eating the giant portions put in front of me.

And now on to yesterday’s food:

Quiche again. I ate about half of what you see here. And 6 oz. or so of orange juice. 363 Calories

Lamb burger from Natasha’s here in Floyd. So good! It felt pretty light to me, and was of course, very flavorful. I ate all of the burger and about half of the crisps. 650 calories

Chicken on mixed greens with cucumber, feta, bacon and vinaigrette dressing. About 400 calories.

Not pictured:

1 serving cashews- 160 calories

Glucosamine chews- 70 calories

Total calories: 1,643

Exercise: 45 minutes of Insanity Workout (400-500 calories)

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Mental Notes

I woke up yesterday and enjoyed a small slice of leftover quiche with a glass of orange juice. A total of 395 calories. For a mid-morning snack I had an orange juice frozen pop (Josh wanted me to mention that he made these all by himself- a tricky method of pouring orange juice in a popsicle mold) at 55 calories For lunch I had a whole wheat flat bread panini with three slices of center cut bacon, 1/2 oz. cheddar cheese, tomato and mixed greens stuffed inside. This was incredible! So satisfying and only 395 calories. Snack: 1 serving nut and rice crackers with one wedge of laughing cow cheese: 165 calories 1/2 serving cashews- 80 calories Bowl of Indian lentils (and chickpeas) with onion and a cup of rice- about 550-600 calories Another orange pop: 55 calories Glucosamine chews: 70 calories

Total calories for the day: 1,765

I’ve been making some mental notes this week for myself, for future reference.

– I’m still eating what I enjoy and love to eat. I’m full and satisfied with my choices. I’m not stuffed, uncomfortable or bloated- I’m just full.

– Do it anyway. I feel my mental crazies picking up and I hear myself thinking “what if I continue to eat like this and stop losing weight?” Obviously I have no clue as to how the body loses weight.  I’m reminding myself of this: I’m eating significantly less food which will result in weight loss, trust in the process and do it anyway. I guess deep down I’m afraid I will get to a point where I weigh a lot less and in order to maintain that weight I have to eat much less than I am now. That is a very long bridge from now and I will deal with it when I get there. I’m finding that this fear of hunger, future hunger is sabotaging. As crazy as it seems (after typing it out) I’ve noticed a pattern of thoughts where I think “I can never eat this little, forget it” and before I even give myself a chance I give up. I give up out of fear of what doesn’t exist. I’m acknowledging this and continuing.

– Getting by on less. I think the biggest part of losing weight for those of us who have been overeating or binging for so long is letting it go. Letting go of too much, letting go of stuffing, letting go of mindless eating. I think that is why Atkins is so appealing, you can eat as much meat and vegetables as you want. There is a safety net. I’m finding slowly (very slowly) that the desire to overeat is less appealing than the desire to feel healthy and comfortable. One feels good for about 10 minutes, and leaves me feeling like crap. The other causes about 10 minutes of being uncomfortable (putting the fork down) and hours, if not a lifetime of feeling much better.

– The scale is moving. Even after four days, I’m seeing results that I wasn’t seeing with exercise alone. This is very encouraging. I keep telling myself: you’re doing what you need to do to reach your goals. And I am, and I’m allowing myself to trust in that.

************ We’re headed off to DC tomorrow morning for a weekend extravaganza with the blog girls. Lots of food, sight seeing and other nutty things. I will still take photos of my food while I’m gone, eat what I enjoy, yet remain mindful of not over-stuffing myself.

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