Quitting smoking and losing weight....

For the past month, I have been on a personal "health crusade" of sorts. Quit smoking, started running and lifting weights regularly and watching what I eat. I don't really know what triggered this renewed health consciousness, it just sort of happened.

It's been 25 days (as of this blog entry) since I last smoked a cigarette. Strangely enough, quitting wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, or as others claim. A long weekend of solitude without any cigarettes inadvertently gave me a reason not to smoke for three days. On the fourth day, just thought to myself, "I lasted this long, why not quit for good?" That was more than three weeks ago...and I still haven't given in. There are still some temptations to light up, but it feels like I'm just after the ritual of lighting up and holding a cigarette...not actually a desire for nicotine. Perhaps it's because I have been smoking only for the past three years...and my preference for light and ultra-light cigarettes during that period, which made my quitting uneventful. Hmmm...good for me...:-)

Started running twice a week...about 5 kilometers worth per session. Before you think I'm making that up, more than two-thirds of that distance was covered by walking...and the remaining third made up in short sprints...before I lose my breath...:-) In order to extend my fitness routine to ordinary working days, I went as far as purchase a pedometer...a device which measures how many steps I make in a day, and extract from that my average walking speed, average number of steps in a day, average distance in a day, and average calories burned up walking, among others. Pretty useless sounding figures I suppose, but eventually I learned that per day I was averaging about a 10,000 steps, a walking distance of about 5 km, a speed of about 3.25 km/h and around 600 calories burnt. I wonder how much weight I'll lose if I keep this up....

For two weeks now I have been lifting weights regularly as well. At first my arms hurt like hell...but it seems that I am starting to get used to it. Strangely enough, it does seem as if my arms are building up muscle mass. Even more strange, my muscles seem to be building up faster than I'm losing abdominal fat. Is that even possible? Maybe it's just an illusion...:-)

For all that effort I've already lost five pounds. Now I have to lose around twenty more to reach my ideal weight. I sure hope I can keep this up....

Comments

Cristina G. said…
hey ronald, Ü did u really lose weight? hehe. i didnt notice when i brought over the kris kringle.
healthy lifestyle -- that's good and i hope u can keep that up.Ü
see u at our xmas party. but b4 then , do drop by my site. Ü
December 11, 2004 2:21 AM
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