Day 1 of No Smoking Was A Bust

We woke up yesterday morning with maintenance at our door first thing with a plumbing problem. Overnight, the water main in our driveway broke causing us not to get out to my appt or being able to get our son on the bus for school. Everything was going haywire and we smoked. 

The good thing is we smoked substantially less than normal, about half what we would have had we not been wanting to quit. Today, day 2, is ok. We're still smoking but still not like we would have usually. We also bought some ecigs, to help us when we feel like we need a hit and have definitely agreed that when those ecigs are gone, we are done. I'm not giving up, we WILL do this.

The Newest and Perhaps Biggest Change Starts TODAY!

Today, both my husband and I will quit smoking. I have been smoking regularly for 11 years now, and him for 30 years. We will be quitting cold turkey.

Tomorrow, I will wake up, put our covers, pillows, pillowcases in the washer. I will go to the store and grab some Febreeze and carpet freshener. I'll come home and spray everything, vacuum everything, and spray out the van even though we've only had it for 2 days. There will no longer be any smoking anywhere.

Once they day is over with, I will wash our jackets and be officially smoke free. We NEED to do this and I can't wait to start!

C25K Is Out For Me! :(

So I tried to do the C25K and while my legs could take it, my lungs literally can't. I have been a smoker for so long, it has taken it's toll. I really do hate it, so in the coming months, I am going to quit smoking. I can't put it off any longer, I HAVE to quit smoking.

So for now, I have came up with my own routine for exercise. Starting this week, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays will be my calisthenics days where I will do 10 minutes of sit ups (or crunches whichever I feel like that day),  5 minutes of push ups, and 5 minutes of squats (no weight). On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I will walk for no less than 30 minutes with a day of rest on Sunday.

I have continued to use MyFitnessPal with very few days of cheating and I am very proud of myself. I've officially been keeping track for 50 days today and I feel so much better just knowing that I'm sticking to it. My support network is what I think helps the most :)

C25K

This week I've decided to start doing the Couch to 5K program. For those who do not know, it is a program designed to get you running about 3 miles in 30 minutes. It's a 9 week program 3 days a week. This is the template for it:

Week	Workout 1	Workout 2	Workout 3
1	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
2	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
3	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
4	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
5	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.
6	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 22 minutes) with no walking.
7	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
8	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).
9	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).	The final workout! Congratulations! Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).

I attempted Week 1 Day 1 yesterday. I could not make it the full time. I almost made it 10 minutes but I am not letting that discourage me. It's for my health and betterment of my life overall. Today is break day, but tomorrow, I will get back out there and try it again. 

First Goal Met!

Tools Of This Journey

I'm going to use this post to share the tools that I am using to help me lose the weight. So far, they have been working too!

First thing, and the biggest thing, is I use MyFitnessPal to help keep track of my calories in and out. It will give you a calorie limit based on your weight and how much you want to use (or even gain). It also tells you how many calories you should burn per day or week. I like it best because if I start craving something, I can look at it, then figure out how much exercise I need to do to be able to eat what I crave. It has helped me cut down on soda, as I was drinking 2+ 2 liters a day!!

The second thing, WALKING! I started walking around my neighborhood the week I started using MyFitnessPal and now, I'm able to walk further faster. I hadn't walked that much since I was a teen, no joke! 

Now to keep track of what I am losing (pounds and inches), I bought a scale from Walmart. It is rated up to 400 lbs and came with a FREE digital measuring tape! I was so excited about that. I however told myself that I'd measure every 2 weeks and weigh myself once a month. I'm not doing so good on that. I've been weighing myself every 2 days and sticking to the measuring LOL! However, my weight has been steadily going down, and I know that I won't get discouraged because I literally CANNOT afford too. If I want to be around for my kids (which I totally do), I have to keep at it.

The last resource I've been using is the internet in general. I've found blogs with healthy versions of delicious snacks that are otherwise fat and calorie laden! I haven't tried many yet but I will, like cupcakes with applesauce instead of sugar! I would have never thought of that!

Why I Started This Journey

Me, 4 months ago at my son's Bday Party

I started this journey after enrolling my son in a new school. His new classroom was upstairs and I took a tour with the counselor before leaving him there, which meant "I" had to go up the stairs too. Upon reaching the top, I could NOT breathe at all but I kept going so as not to let on. It was then and there that I knew I had to do something about my weight. I think knew I could not go on like this.

When I started out almost 4 weeks ago, I weighed 315. I had weighed 315 lbs for a few years now. For my height, the high end I should weigh is 164 lbs so that is we're I'm aiming for. I started using MyFitnessPal to count my calories. I love that it takes your weight and goals and tells you how much you should be eating and exercising. Their food database is enormous too which helps a lot.

For exercise, I started walking around my neighborhood. I feel I'm doing really good on that front. I hope to have many more blog posts tracking my success and in turn, many followers who feel inspired!