Life without the patch (Day 189)

Day 189 - I have made it past the 6 month mark and I am feeling great.  I have had a lot of congestion lately and I am not sure if I am getting a cold or if this is caused by my lungs clearing.  Either way I still feel great.  I believe once you get to this level, it takes less will power to stay not smoking because you have changed your routine by know and you just don't have the thoughts of cigarettes.  I have more of my smell senses back and I know when someone has smoked because I can smell it and it smells bad.  I can't believe I smelled like that, but I know I did when I was a smoker.  When you are a smoker, it is a way of life, it consumes your time and make you feel less energized.  One thing to keep in mind when you quite smoking is that weight gain is going to be a part of quitting.  Be prepared, but as long as you have a plan to exercise, you will be fine.  My wife and I quite 6 months ago as a part of becoming more healthier and we knew coming into this that we were going to have some weight gain.  Part two of us becoming healthier is to begin exercising and eating healthier.  This will begin in about 3 more months.  I myself would not try to quit smoking and eating healthier at the same time this will make you fail one or the other.  If you already eat healthy, then this will not be an issue for you.  Just realize that your system will want to compensate something in place of not smoking and usually this is food.  Weight gain is acceptable as long as you don't let it get to far and you have it on your personal road map to step two of being healthier like my wife and I and you make a goal to exercise and begin within a time frame.  I will keep recording our progress in this blog so all with know what steps we took to lose the weight and continue to be non-smokers.