Anarchist's Journey

[Anarchist]

Day 25 & 26 : Quit Attempts Again

 

11 AM seems to be my breaking point over and over again. I'm able to hold myself only till that point. I've failed at around that same time 3 times in the last 5 days. I'm not giving up this thing. I'm trying again tomorrow. I will be wary of the 11 O clock weakness tomorrow. I've to be extra cautious.

 

I find myself falling short in work because of the smoking habit. I'm not able to focus on work for more than half an hour without feeling the need to go smoke. Since I develop pretty complex programs as part of my work, "continuity" is a very important thing. Taking these smoking breaks in-between work is like going two steps up and one step back down repeatedly. This is very serious to me. I used to be a shamelessly proud fellow when it comes to my work. But now I don't even care. When a craving comes, nothing else matters. I'm actually avoiding long meetings because I won't be able to take breaks to smoke.

 

I did a simple calculation today. I smoke about 18 cigarettes a day right now. Each smoke break is about 10 minutes. That's 180 minutes gone per day just from smoking - 3 hours! That's a bloody huge waste of time. 3 hours a day! Never thought of that.

 

I must quit.

 

.. And by the way - no ritual last cigarette this time. I'm just quitting.

[pink]

Ahh I see you're still in the grips of your smoking battle! I smoked when I was much younger, then gave up when I got pregnant and afterwards I was an evening smoker - my body clock kicked in at 6pm every day, wanting my first smoke, but throughout the day I didn't crave at all. So I guess it's a lot of habit and what your body gets used to.Then I quit for 10 years, but I started smoking again when I turned 30 and quickly progressed to 30 a day, which my kids hated so I promised I wouldn't smoke for more than a year. It was hard to give up though. It took a couple of attempts that time and I tried cutting down, but in the end had to go cold turkey and it took about 2 weeks for me to stop craving. Six months later I smoked on one evening out and craved like mad for about a month, but the feeling passed again after that. I don't think there's a right way or wrong way to quit - you could try smoking half a cigarette instead of cutting down numbers at first, or stick with the cold turkey plan. For this I found it better to have a packet in the house that I could have if I chose to, whereas if I didn't have them near me I would walk to the shop - strange. Anyway, sorry for the long answer, just wanted to show my support on this issue  

[Anarchist]

Day 27 - 32 : Extra Prep
 
Finally did a pull up! In fact I can do two now. And that's enough for starting the 7 week program. The prep program is officially over. I'm starting the actual workouts tomorrow. It's 3 workouts per week so totally 21 workouts. I haven't updated this thread properly this week either. I'm also getting back to updating this thread everyday from tomorrow. I'll post the week's measurements later in the evening.

Update : Measurements
 

End of Week  |   0 |   1 |W|   3 |X|   5 |   6 |   7 |   8 |   9 |  10 |  11 |  12 |             |     |     |e|     |t|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |Weight (kgs) |  83 |  83 |e|  81 |r|  81 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |Waist (cms)  | 104 | 104 |k|  99 |a|  99 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |Pull Ups     |   0 |   0 | |   0 |P|   2 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |Squats       |  35 |  40 |O|  45 |r|  49 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |Push Ups     |  12 |  17 |f|  19 |e|  20 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |Plank (secs) |  31 |  40 |f|  54 |p|  60 |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |

No drop in waist size. Weight reduced little bit. The needle was above 81 last time and this time it's below 81. But overall clearly shows I've been slacking in my workouts. Yet, this weeks goal was to do a pull up. And I'm happy I was able to do 2 pull-ups by the end of prep.

 

I've written down the 3 workouts for this week. And have looked up tips on how to do them too. I've slacked and postponed workouts since the 3rd week. But now prep's over. I've to get serious again from tomorrow. Regular updates and proper workouts.

[Anarchist]

Day 33 : Level 1

 

I did the first workout of level 1 of the program. It's seemingly quite similar to the prep workouts. But was noticeably much more difficult. But let loose on diet. I had a big bowl of chicken n prawn noodles and a side of pepper chicken. Actually this much food was normal to me but now, It's actually hard for me to eat this much. I'm not worried much about the quantity of food. But the noodles were really really oily.

[Anarchist]

Day 34 : Rest Day

 

Still feeling achy from yesterday's workokut. It's around 35 hours after that workout but still..

 

I thought of doing jump ropes today but then decided against it. I don't want to risk getting too tired and sleeping late tomorrow morning. I might miss the workout. And I don't really like to workout later in the day. Before sleeping today I've to look up some videos for tomorrow's workouts. Thanks for those videos, I don't have any doubts about my workouts. YouTube is a gem!

[wideeyed]

Just keep it up!

[Anarchist]

Day 35 - 43 : Slack

 

Too bad I've been slacking for a week now. I've missed 3 workouts and didn't perform last weeks' measurements either. First thing that comes to mind when I wake up is to go and smoke. I wish I had that kind of motivation towards working out.

 

Anyways, time is not going to come back. I have to get back on schedule from tomorrow. I also have to accommodate the missed workouts somehow. It has to be 21 workouts before 80 days. Only 2 are up. 19 more to go.

[Anarchist]

Gone totally out of hand !

[wideeyed]

So pick yourself up, brush yourself off, simplify the goals a little, and star anew.

We are human.

I have not smoked an actual cigarette in five weeks and five days. Tomorrow, I go to the zero nicotine cartridge for my electronic cigarette. I have not gotten on the scale for six weeks. My food and fitness goals? Didn't do so well. Revamping, trying again.

Downsize your goals, and use the boards for support. It is hard when you feel like everyone is making great strides and being successful, but if you follow people, you will see that we all struggle with stuff sometimes.

You CAN do this.

[Anarchist]

Okay.. Screwed up the plan. 

 

But the thing is I'm actually impressed that I followed it through for about 40 days. I've never kept up with any sort of plan for this long. I really believe I can go through and do this thing if I just put a bit more effort and motivation into it. I'm gonna take the same program again. This time, I'm cutting short the preparation period to only a week. I'm starting again from Monday.

 

Also, I'm gonna try quitting smoking again tomorrow. It's easier for me to stay quit when I'm not at work. I just have to tackle tomorrow and then it's Saturday and Sunday. I've to deal with just one day for now - Friday.

 

So it's a plan. Tomorrow

1. Don't Smoke

2. Take measurements in the morning.

[LittleMissSunshine]

Every day is a new day, and a good chance to start again. You can do it!