This time, last year, I was a flight attendant for a very major airline, I was overweight, smoking like a chimney, and living in the Middle East. I was preparing to come back to New Zealand, and essentially start all over again.

Finally, I have made the changes I wanted to make a year ago. I stopped smoking one month ago. I have started eating fruit voluntarily, and putting a whole lot more veges on my plate. I dusted off my gym membership I set up last September, headed over to the local branch of my gym, and signed up there. I go at least three times a week. I work out in some capacity at least five times a week. I’m carrying 15 kilograms of spare… um, myself?! The weight is not necessarily a problem but it is how it looks that is not nice. I don’t mind how much I weigh, but it is frustrating that I cannot fit my favourite blazers and tops because the sleeves are too tight, or my jeans keep getting tighter.

Now, the ultimate challenge – a marathon! Next April is the Rotorua Marathon. One of my friends has run it already, and is doing it again this year. Now, to be able to run for longer than a kilometer! At the moment I’m working toward the Quarter Marathon in Auckland in October.

To see the changes in me is amazing to me. I have no idea where this has all come from! I’m wondering how long this enthusiasm will go on for (I wanted to work out again as soon as I got home from the gym!) and I hope that it will continue, because it’s feeling mighty good right now!

In smoking, eating like crap, and never working out, I disrespected my body. The feeling of feeling BETTER is fantastic, even if I still want to smoke every now and then.

I posted up on the Quitline blogs this little gem today:

You know what’s really cool? Seeing all of these people signing up and starting their smoke free journey! It takes three weeks to form new habits… so check in with yourself after three weeks and see if you still have the same old cravings as before. Try incorporating something else into your daily routine… whether it be a walk around the block (with the free time you have NOT smoking) or eating a really healthy yummy breakfast (my current one is coffee/tea and small bowl of All bran with milk before the gym and after the gym, peanut butter on toast, a banana, and another coffee). Maybe crank out the coffee plunger and start making awesome strong plunger coffee in the morning, to give you a kickstart! Or you can use the time you’d spend smoking, sleeping in a bit more… Once you don’t have it, you wonder how you used to get anything done, and how you got so good at shaping your life around a habit!

I just feel like I’ve made some better, happier, and healthier decisions for me, and I want to share with everyone I know.

And now… back to study!

Happy hump day!