I made it the full 72 hours - Squee!

It takes 72 hours to get nicotine out of your system. It wasn't that bad. It wasn't that good, either. But it wasn't complete and utter hell.

So, now it's supposed to slowly get better and better. I can't wait 'cause I'm tired of feeling like crap.

Anyhoo, working out like a lunatic seems to help with the mood swings, cravings, and brain fog. Today, day three and supposedly the hardest of all days, I logged in an hour and 45 minutes of moderate cardio (my HR was around 155-165 so around 70 per cent max) and also did my lower body weight training.

I don't have a solution for the whole "I gained 10 pounds in three days and I look like I'm five months pregnant because my belly is distended" thing that I have going on, though. Oh, well, that should subside soon, too (I hope - damn, I don't have any pants that fit! Hell, I don't think they even MAKE pants to fit, aside from those maternity things with the stretchy waist).

So, in short, cold turkey isn't THAT bad.

Quitting Smoking

Tomorrow, I am quitting smoking. I've been thinking a lot about this, talking to folks who have quit, thinking back on the first time I quit for a year (and went back) and perusing the nine million stop smoking sites on the internet.

We've really created this mythos around quitting smoking and talk about how hard and shitty it is and how terrible you will feel. I've seen a lot of comparisons to quitting heroin. Sorry folks, but quitting smoking will not result in some Trainspottingesque withdrawl moment where you're going to hallucinate about a dead baby crawling across the ceiling. It's not gonna be that bad. Millions of people have done it and made it out alive. They go to work, drive their kids to hockey, go grocery shopping, and do laundry all while managing withdrawl just fine.

So, I'm going for mind over matter here. Smoking is gross. I don't like it. I don't like the taste. It smells bad. I don't want to smoke so I'm not going to smoke anymore. And I'm only going to feel wonky and messed up for three days and IT ISN'T GOING TO BE THAT BAD. I'm going to deal with it just fine. After three days I'll be feeling fine and after that, it's all just the emotional addiction and waiting out cravings.

I think once you get into that mindset that it is impossible to quit or that it is so hard it requires a feat of superhuman strength to accomplish, you're setting yourself up for failure. It becomes easier to give up than it does to quit. So, why build it into some kind of freaky monster?

Quitting smoking is going to be relatively painless. My body will adapt quickly and I will begin feeling better very quickly.

So there!