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Hell Week Surprise


I was scared of Hell Week. I prepared myself as best I could. I took the week off. I stocked up on junk food, thinking I'd probably just eat my way through my first week.

 

I expected to be gorging on cookies, chips, chocolate - anything and everything that was probably not great for me in abnormally large doses. As long as it kept me from smoking, I was ok with it, figuring I could always ramp up my workouts when I was ready.

 

I was right about one thing. I ate. Though eating is probably a gross understatement of what I did. :lol: I ate constantly.

 

But, what really took me by surprise was, I didn't eat cookies, or chips or chocolate. I had absolutely no desire to touch any of it. I wanted tangerines. And snow peas. And sugar snap peas. And tuna. And chicken soup. Not one or two here or there either. Oh no! I ate three bags of tangerines that week. Three! Two bags of snow peas, three of sugar snap peas, SIX CANS OF TUNA! And bowl after bowl of chicken soup. I thought I would explode. :wacko: But I couldn't stop!! I generally eat a pretty healthy diet, but it's a far more balanced and moderate approach. This was so weird. But I figured my body must have some kind of a need for this stuff, so I went with it. Much of what I ate had a high Vitamin C content or other antioxidants. I also take a cranberry supplement with vitamins c and e, and I kept up with that.

 

At least I wasn't smoking, right?

 

I developed an aversion to my beloved coffee and drank cup after cup of green tea.

 

I drank so much water, I was sure I'd drown. Every time I had a craving, I would grab another handful of sugar snap peas. The crunch of these was somehow super satisfying. I watched a lot of Netflix. I read these forums and I ate.

 

My strongest cravings were near the end of Day 2. I came so close to going to the store to buy a pack. But, honestly, I was feeling way too full and, as a result, lazy, to bother going! I held on and I ate. I figured if I could just make it though three days. Just three. If I couldn't manage past that, I would get a pack.

 

On Day 4, I woke up and I didn't really want a smoke upon waking. Which was so strange to me. I think that was the moment that I really committed to my quit and realized that there could be life after smoking. Also, I really didn't want to go through the first three days again. I wanted to see what came next.

 

From that point on, there were some strong cravings for a cigarette. But none as strong as in the first three days. And they weren't constant. They felt more like "I could really go for some cake" type of thoughts. And, as long as I kept myself distracted, they went away.

 

By day 10, my food cravings went back to normal. I'm back to liking coffee, but I'm down to only one cup a day. Not my usual 5 or 6! I still drink green tea and a variety of different herbal teas, as well as a lot of water. I'm back to eating a normal, for me, diet that includes a wide variety of vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains. Also, chocolate. And cookies. And, while I still love tangerines and peas, I no longer eat double my body weight in them daily. :D Progress.

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Doreensfree

Posted

Good to see you are doing a blog..i wish I had...

It would be great to look back..and see how far I have come..

Well done..I look forward to getting to know you ..x

  • Like 1
Reciprocity

Posted

Everything you said sounds exactly right - the way most of us feel in the early part of our quit. That first week is something I know I never want to go through again. That thought alone kept me on the straight and narrow for the rest of the first month. I still don't consider myself having this thing completely licked but it is a lot easier now than it was early on. Just keep your guard up along the way and you'll be fine :)

  • Like 1
PixelSketch

Posted

Good to see you are doing a blog..i wish I had... It would be great to look back..and see how far I have come.. Well done..I look forward to getting to know you ..x

I want to have it as a reminder, so that if I ever waver, I can look back and see what I went through and how I don't want to go through it again! I look forward to getting to know you too. :)

PixelSketch

Posted

Everything you said sounds exactly right - the way most of us feel in the early part of our quit. That first week is something I know I never want to go through again. That thought alone kept me on the straight and narrow for the rest of the first month. I still don't consider myself having this thing completely licked but it is a lot easier now than it was early on. Just keep your guard up along the way and you'll be fine :)

It's so weird - it almost feels like your body's been hijacked for a week or so. You just have to hang on and ride it out. The rest is just keeping your guard up, but it's never anything like the first week. Which is a good thing!!

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Reciprocity

Posted

I don't know about you but my first month seemed like a year in normal time. After that, time passed as normal more or less but that first month was never ending lol :)

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Nancy

Posted

I remember at least one other quitter who ate tons of citrus...good for you for keeping your quit!

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PixelSketch

Posted

I don't know about you but my first month seemed like a year in normal time. After that, time passed as normal more or less but that first month was never ending lol :)

Truth. Why does that happen?? For me, it was the first 10 days. I felt like I was living in a giant blob of molasses. Everything took forever and it was all in slo-mo. Also, I felt like I was watching a movie of my life, rather than actually being in my life, if that makes any sense. It was almost like there was a dirty, foggy window between me and life. It's like, I think it was SNL, a long time ago, did a parody of an Elizabeth Taylor perfume commercial. And they kept adding more and more vaseline onto the camera lens as they went along to make her look younger, but she kept looking more and more blurry and fuzzy. LOL That's what I felt like. My life kept getting fuzzy and unfocussed. Nothing felt real.

PixelSketch

Posted

I remember at least one other quitter who ate tons of citrus...good for you for keeping your quit!

Thank you Nancy! :) I guess I needed the extra Vitamin C. I'm glad that stage is over. I like citrus, but there's only so much of it I want to eat per day!

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