I decided to fix two problems at the same time: smoking and the habit of eating more than I should. I have chosen these two options because they are interdependent. I could lose weight and continue smoking. However, I would still have to stop doing it later, and it would influence my weight. Thus, I chose to deal with these issues simultaneously.
During these twelve weeks, I plan to achieve two goals. Firstly, I would attain a healthy weight. Secondly, I would quit smoking.
I will lose 6 pounds during these weeks. By the end of this program, I will consume no more than 1500 calories per day. I will smoke at least one cigarette less per day each week. By the end of the twelfth week, I will quit smoking.
Week 1. This week was the real nightmare for me. I could not imagine that changing something would be so difficult. Although I decided not to limit myself much in the beginning, emotionally, it was like getting ready for a parachute jump. I tried to get rid of the habit of snacking. I had a snack only once during this week. Thus, the number of my daily meals reduced to 3, but I kept eating everything I wanted. The week was too tough to start dealing with smoking, so I postponed it until the next week.
Week 2. Getting used to eating only 3 times per day was more difficult than I had thought. During this week, I started buying cigarettes that contained less nicotine. However, I became uncertain that it would help. I noticed that had I tried to replace snacks with smoke breaks. Taking into account that the cigarettes became lighter, I wanted to smoke more times, but I restrained myself to 15 times per day and did not exceed this limit.
Week 3. This week, I set another limit for smoke breaks – 14 times per day. I did everything as I had planned. I was rather relieved when I noticed that having a snack ceased to be one of my concerns, so I proceeded to the next point of my plan and set the exact time for my meals. I ate at 7 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m. However, I did not consider minutes because I spent my days in a different way.
Week 4. I kept eating at particular times during the entire week. Unfortunately, I faced a problem: meeting with friends. On Saturday, two friends of mine asked me to join them in a caf?. Of course, I agreed, but I had to see them eating cakes without the possibility to taste one as well. I was upset and a little nervous, but I was also proud of myself that I did not do it at 8 p.m. I limited my smoke breaks to 13 times every day.
Week 5. This week, I reduced the size of the portions of the food I had consumed. I did not restrain the variety of foods, but one portion should be 200 grams or less. It was not easy at all. On Wednesday, I failed to stick to my plan and had a snack at 2 p.m. Luckily, I discovered that I was ashamed by such a deed. I successfully managed to smoke 12 times every day.
Week 6. At the beginning of this week, I replaced my usual breakfast with yoghurt. Unfortunately, it was not as successful as I had planned. I ate yoghurt on Monday and Tuesday, but next day, I ate a sandwich with cheese and some salad. On Thursday, I ate yoghurt again, but on Friday, I ate an omelet. During the weekend, I made myself eat yoghurt again. This week I mostly smoked 11 times per day, but on Friday, I failed to stick to the plan and had 1 smoke break more than usually.
Week 7. Eating yoghurt for breakfast became a little easier. This week, I managed to do it for five days. However, I had an unplanned snack on Thursday at 3 p.m. I became hungry, but instead of eating a piece of bread with ham, I ate a banana. I also reduced the amount of sugar I put in tea and coffee. I used to put 2 spoons in tea and 3 – in coffee. Now, I put 1 spoon in green tea, 2 spoons in black tea, and 2 spoons in coffee. I smoked 10 times each day during the entire week.
Week 8. I succeeded in replacing my usual breakfast with yoghurt during the whole week. Moreover, I had no extra snacks. I also reduced the consumption of sugar again. I began to put only one spoon in coffee. I was surprised, but it tasted better that way. I also stopped adding milk to my coffee, and I stopped ordering cappuccino in the caf?s. On Saturday, my friends visited me in the afternoon and brought some pizza. It was the time of my meal, so I had eaten 3 slices. As for smoking, I managed to reduce the number of cigarettes to 9.
Week 9. The habit of smoking became weaker, and I chose to take extreme measures. Instead of depriving myself of 1 more cigarette every day, I deprived myself of 2. Everything went well. During the entire week, I ate yoghurts for breakfast as I had planned. I decided not to cut my meals for now to get used to smoking less. On Friday, I had a chance to watch how my friends eat at 8 p.m. again. This time the view was not so frustrating. I just ordered pineapple juice.
Week 10. I conducted a little experiment and replaced my usual dinners on Tuesday and Thursday with 2 boiled eggs. Eating yogurt was more useful than I thought because it lead to the surprising but very pleasant result: I began to have more energy. On Saturday, I even went jogging. For this deed, I decided to treat myself a little and had some cappuccino. I started to have 6 smoke breaks per day. By the way, jogging also helped not to want to smoke.
Week 11. This week, I began to count the number of consumed calories. It was the time when I realized that eating pizza or sandwiches was not an option. Thus, I ate 2 sandwiches only once this week. On other days, I ate salads, eggs, fruits, and soup. As for smoking, I put on a nicotine patch. It helped me to start having only 3 smoke breaks during a day: 1 in the morning and 2 in the evening, 1 of which before going to sleep.
Week 12. On Monday and Tuesday, I smoked only 2 times per day. On Wednesday, I smoked only once, and during the remaining days of the week, I managed not to have smoke breaks at all! Now I only hope that this habit will not come back. As for the meals, I also succeeded: I counted calories and consumed no more than 1500 per day. It was not difficult, taking into account that I ate yoghurt, porridge, soup, vegetables, and fruits, and I stopped eating fried food.
In general, I faced many challenges during these weeks. For example, I had never thought that I would envy someone who ate a cake. The experience was weird, but interesting and extremely useful. I realize that losing weight will become more difficult every year, so I am glad that I have learnt how to do it and began dealing with it. I chose the strategy of refusing unhealthy food step-by-step because otherwise, I would not manage to do it. I have let myself get used to the new diet, although it was not so easy. Nevertheless, I have turned it into a lifestyle.
Although there were moments when I thought that the purpose of this project was to torture me, I loved it when I saw the results. I managed to achieve all of my goals and objectives. Now I am not a smoker, and I have lost as many pounds as I had planned. I will continue consuming this number of calories not to gain weight again.
Rebeca Thomson is a talented person and a professional freelance writer at essayelites.com. She likes to create new thoughts and depict them on the paper.