Anonymous wrote:It will wane with time. 1 year? 2 years? My analog is smoking cigarettes. It’s gross! It smells horrible! How could anyone enjoy smoking or being fat?

Except when you quit smoking, it’s like a romantic breakup. Suddenly you see happy smokers / happy couples everywhere seemingly flaunting their happiness at you. There are wistful thoughts about “the good times” and physical habits to break like texting him or the extra walk around the block before you come back from lunch. Even when the most visceral cravings are gone, the memory of it pops in your mind at the oddest times. I thought I’d never stop thinking about smoking - but eventually I did. By 1 year, I’d have a fleeting thought once a week? Every few weeks? By 2 years, it was every few months. 12 years now and I don’t think about cigarettes unless I catch a whiff of smoke and even then it’s like glancing at a photo of an ex boyfriend and feeling nothing - like “oh hey, remember that!” and moving on.

I went on a strict diet years ago and I remember missing eating a really big meal once in a while - not the feeling of being stuffed. More the feeling of not counting or weighing anything and just being in the moment and eating what I wanted. It was similar to that wistful feeling when I had quit smoking and was over the initial jitters, but it was still fresh in my memory.