My Nutrisystem Journey

“A Clear Vision, Backed By Definite Plans, Gives You A Tremendous Feeling Of Confidence And Personal Power.” - Brian Tracy My mind is quiet today so I don’t have much in the way of philosophical ramblings to share. I liked this quote from Brian Tracy because I feel like I finally have a clear vision. I’ve made some definite plans and I feel confident in my ability to succeed. Nutrisystem has become a way of life and my commitment hasn’t wavered. Maybe that contributes to my inner peace. After the stressful commute last night the blue skies and sunshine we had today were a welcome change ! It was still cold – 4 when I left for work – but any day without snow is a good day right now ! Roads between Mexico and Parish had a bit of snow on them but were in much better shape than last night ! The highway was in perfect shape so I got to work in no time. Most mornings I wake up before the alarm and today it was so nice to lay in bed and listen to my street and driveway being plowed !...

“Choice determines direction … Decision determines destiny.” On this 5 degree morning I was treated to a beautiful sunrise as I passed over Oneida Lake on the way to work. That blazing ball of fire was just above the horizon as I went over the bridge. It’s cloudy so the sun was only there for a moment. It would have made a spectacular photo but they frown on stopping on highway bridges .. LOL ! Even before I got on the highway I could see a brilliant pink sky over the tree line. It was incredibly beautiful too but remember the old rhyme .. red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. So that beautiful sky was a warning of things to come. Snow moved in and the drive home was not so beautiful ! My 40 minute commute took 105 minutes but I made it home safe. Regardless, considering yesterday’s note theme was shining bright I’d like to think the beautiful morning was an affirmation of my resolve to shine bright no matter what. Today I was thinking ab...

“Don’t let someone dim your light simply because it’s shining in their eyes.” This quote isn’t attributed to anyone in particular but they’re words to live by. I know from personal experience how hard it is to be happy for people when they’re leading an amazing life … that you wish you had too. Some people will snipe behind your back, others will force a smile and say how wonderful and some will just say nothing. I was the one who smiled or just didn’t say anything. I’m not really one to snipe behind someone’s back. In the social media world we currently live in we now see even more of people’s lives. I can remember seeing pictures of someone’s beautiful house .. or car .. or vacation .. or family or just “things” they had and being wistful. Wishing I had something I was proud of. So when the tide of my life changed I might have been the one someone envied when I shared the things that were making me happy. I think about that when I share things but I’ve come to realize it’s not wro...

One look out the window this morning and today became a vacation day. With the wind and snow you couldn’t see a thing. Schools were closed and there was a travel advisory issued to keep people off the roads. I’m glad I was home as the power went out around noon and stayed out for over 2 hours. Without the electric heater the laundry room temp dropped into the 50’s so I brought the cats into the house with me. The main part of the house dropped down to 65 before the power and heat came back on. I’ve been letting the cats in the house when I’m home but they just walk around, visit me for a minute and then go back to the laundry room - so I guess they’re happy there. Breakfast today was a 2.8 ounce 160 calorie package of pancakes with peanut butter, which adds about 95 calories. I also had some triple chocolate coffee and a hazelnut coffee. My morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, which counts as an 80 calorie Smart Car...

I woke up very early this morning in a soaked nightgown - apparently I had a fever and it broke ! The moment I woke I knew that I felt better. It was still dark out so I put on a clean nightgown and went back to sleep. All I’m dealing with now is coughing and that will probably linger for a few days. My sore throat is gone along with much of the sinus congestion so I expect to be back to 100% very soon ! Day 52 on Nutrisystem ! Although I sometimes think about the foods I used to eat on a regular basis, I can’t say that I am really “craving” anything. The foods I’m eating on Nutrisystem are good and that is half the battle. Breakfast today was a 3.6 ounce 150 calorie canadian style turkey bacon, egg and cheese muffin. I had french vanilla coffee with it. A little later I had 2 string cheese (100 calories) for my morning PowerFuel. I never had my morning snack so I skipped right to lunch, which was a repeat of yesterday - a 4 ounce 220 calorie chicken fajita melt with salsa. You’re ...

After a restless night I finally pushed myself out of bed around 9:30. I had thought about just staying in bed all day but I think you need to get up and move around as much as you possibly can. Making the bed, feeding the cats and getting my breakfast about exhausted the energy I had so it was a relief to settle on the couch surrounded by tissues, cold medicines, lip balm, a big jug of ice water, my laptop, my cell phone and my tablet. All the necessities, you know ! I took some Advil Cold & Sinus before I got up so I felt a little better. I’m not coughing too much so I haven’t needed to take any cough medicine or cough drops. My throat is not quite so sore today so that is a good sign ! Colds are always worse at night so I think that is why I felt so awful last night. I was pretty good until around 2:30 today and it was clear the Advil had worn off, so I took another dose. I’ll take my 3rd dose when I go to bed. Breakfast today was a 2.5 ounce 160 calorie package of buttermilk...

This note will be short and uninspired as I’m sick. Yep, my “head cold” has turned into a full blown mess .. sinus congestion, runny eyes and nose, sore throat and now I’m coughing so it’s moved into my lungs. I stopped at Walmart on the way home and picked up more tissues, more Advil Cold & Sinus and more cough drops. I already have plenty of cough syrup so I am fully armed to fight this battle. I plan to spend the next 2 days doing nothing but resting. I haven’t had any signs of a fever so at this point I’m not too worried. A cold is not the end of the world .. it’s just inconvenient and annoying ! By the time I got home tonight, fed the cats and fed myself I was exhausted. Sitting down on the couch was a massive relief and I can’t wait to take a nice hot steamy shower and go to bed. When you eat a cherry cheese roll for breakfast it’s a little hard to believe you’re on a “diet” ! But that’s what I had again today. 2.1 ounce 160 calorie decadence with some hazelnut coffee ! ...

“There’s a lot that is good in your life – don’t take it for granted. Don’t get so focused on the struggles that you miss the gift of today.” ~Joel Osteen~ Have you ever listened to Joel Osteen speak ? He is very charismatic and much of what he says makes complete sense. I wouldn’t say I’m religious and I’ll never be one of those people sending money to televangelists but I do believe there is a higher power at work. It righted the course of my life, which until recently was on a crash course to disaster. There is so much good in my life now. I really can’t think of anything “bad” right now other than the uncertainty in my professional life, which I’m really not stressing about. The way I see it every day that I wake up is a good day ! This morning I read about the overnight accident involving our SU basketball coach, Jim Boeheim. I’d say a couple of families have had a much worse day than the rest of us. I can’t even imagine what they are going through. I don’t know why it is ...

“Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” This quote listed no author but it is so true. I hid all of the battles in my life for years and with them behind me I am less likely to judge people today, because I know we are all fighting something. It might be a relationship issue .. a professional issue .. a family issue .. a financial issue ... or maybe all of them ! It doesn’t really matter what it is but if we were each a little bit kinder or a bit more understanding the world would be a better place. Today I am battling my weight and trying not to worry about the status of my job. I can control my weight but I have less control when it comes to my job, so I’m putting my energy into what I can control - my weight. Whatever else happens will be what was intended. I’m rather upset that this stupid cold came along just as I was getting exercise integrated into my daily routine. To get past it I’ve reminded myself this is temporary. There are others ...

“Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.” ~ Kara Goucher ~ Kara spoke from her own experiences, battling through injuries on several occasions to become an acclaimed long distance runner. This is a fitting quote for today because I’m battling a cold. I had hoped to power through it and get in some treadmill time but it’s just not going to happen. I barely had enough energy to feed the cats, feed myself and put away all of the frozen food that was delivered from Nutrisystem today. When I tell you I couldn’t fit even an ice cube in that freezer now, I am not exaggerating !! Needless to say I will be eating ALL frozen items for a while. Breakfast today was a 2.1 ounce 180 calorie cinnamon roll. They are SO good ! I had french vanilla coffee with it. I had 2 string cheese (100 calories) for my breakfast PowerFuel with a 2nd cup of coffee, vanilla caramel creme this time. Morning snack was a vanilla ...

“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” ~Theodore Roosevelt~ I’m sure most everyone has come to a point in their life when they doubted their ability to continue. I know I have many times but each time I found the strength to go on. Life is nothing but a series of challenges and in most cases you have the ability to overcome them. Some challenges are insurmountable or feel like they’re insurmountable, but you have to at least try. When I was diagnosed with leukemia the thought of dying never entered my mind. Maybe that was naïve as I was pretty sick for a while and had a couple of close calls. I know I’m lucky to be here today, cancer free for nearly 9 years. Some people are not so fortunate. On many occasions I felt like it was hopeless to even try losing weight because I had no confidence in my ability to stick with it and conquer this beast once and for all. I don’t know why it’s different now. Maybe it truly is bec...

“When I look back on my life, I see pain, mistakes and heartache. When I look in the mirror, I see strength, learned lessons and pride in MYSELF.” No idea who wrote this quote but it fits the day. I had thought about checking my weight again today but I’ve decided not to look back. It’s a new day and a new week and we’ll see what the scale says next week. I’ve lost over 25 pounds and I’m proud of that. Any week that I don’t gain weight will be a good week because it means I’m moving in the right direction. Woke up to blue skies and sunshine but it was only 11 degrees. Definitely a 2 cup of coffee morning ! Breakfast today was a 1.3 ounce 130 calorie packet of of apple cinnamon oatmeal. It’s prepared with 1/2 cup skim milk so that adds 45 calories. The oatmeal is good but a little too sweet for my taste. My PowerFuel with breakfast was a hard boiled egg. Also had those 2 cups of coffee - one french vanilla and one vanilla caramel creme. Yesterday I received my shipment of shelf sta...

“The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Don’t give up ! “ ~ Robert Tew ~ So the scale says I lost 1.4 pounds this week. I would be lying if I didn’t say I am disappointed. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up. I think it’s only natural to want this process to go faster but weight that I gained over the course of 20 years is not going to fall off overnight. This will be a good motivator on those days I don’t feel like exercising, because regular exercise needs to be part of my life. So I will give myself credit for losing those 1.4 pounds and remind myself that Nutrisystem is designed to help you lose 1-2 pounds per week and that is happening. I guess if this was easy it wouldn’t be very rewarding. You can’t expect to have everything in life handed to you. You have to work for what you want and weight loss is no different. I have to put in the work in order to achieve my goals. This concept is not new. Very little in life has ever been handed to me...

“Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.” ~Lyndon B. Johnson~ Wise words from LBJ. I find the “one step at a time” approach works best for me in almost every aspect of my life. If I try to focus on too many things at once I get overwhelmed and it paralyzes me. As I’ve said before, the fire forced me to deal with a lot I hadn’t wanted to face, but I think I was able to do that only because my home was in someone else’s hands for 9 months and the house I got back was completely redone. For the first time in my adult life I felt like someone else was taking care of me. For those 9 months I only had to worry about myself – not a house that was falling down around me. I’m not sure where I’d be today if not for that fire. How many people can look at a fire as something that changed their life for the better ? I’m still pretty sure Tigger caused the fire but I also think there was some Divine Intervention. I personally think it saved my life and I...

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” ~ Oscar Wilde ~ I spent most of my adult life searching for love and when I found what I thought was love it turned out not to be the case. During that search I allowed myself to be used on so many occasions. It’s hard to look back and realize how stupid I was so I don’t do it often. The past is the past and I can’t change it ... so my focus is looking at what is in front of me and making sure I don’t make the same mistakes again. All of my time with Alex was not bad and he was not all bad. I spent Valentine’s Day 2010 in the hospital and he brought me a huge shopping bag of chocolate and a stuffed heart that I hung on my IV pole. It was the best Valentine’s Day I ever had and I ate every single piece of that chocolate ! Working on my weight is something I need to do for me. Instead of worrying about the money I’m spending I decided *I* am worth every cent. I had already decided to stop spending money in the casinos when I...

“Just believe in yourself; even if you don’t pretend that you do and, at some point, you will.” ~ Venus Williams ~ I love this quote because I have long been my own worst enemy and my biggest critic. I very rarely believed in myself or gave myself credit for anything, but I’m working on turning that around. I’ve thought a lot about my goals when it comes to exercise and I’ve realized I can’t really commit to exercising every single day. It’s just not going to happen right now and I’m putting all this pressure on myself about it. So I’m going to try for 3 to 5 days a week. I’m thinking Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday and Friday if I feel like it. I might feel different when the snow and cold weather are gone so I’ll reassess the goal then. Weekends will be no problem as I can exercise at any time of the day. Friday nights will be iffy because sometimes I am very tired by Friday. I will be happy if I can stick to 3 days a week so anything more than that will be a bonus. ...

“Baby steps count, as long as you are going forward. You add them all up, and one day you look back and you’ll be surprised where you might get to.” ~ Chris Gardner ~ This quote spoke to me today for several reasons. I took a vacation day today rather than deal with the impending snow storm. I just felt like I needed to not be on the roads today. Since I’m home I decided to let my 2 cats have access to the rest of the house. I’ve been keeping them in the laundry room since I moved back in because they were so destructive. That might sound mean but the laundry room is large and has everything they need, so they haven’t been suffering. I waited a long time to have a home I could be proud of and with everything being new I just couldn’t let them have free run. I had 5 cats when I moved back in and 2 of them were old and didn’t always use the litter box, so that played a big part in my decision. Since I only...

“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” ~Anthony Robbins~ I see my Nutrisystem experience as a long journey. There may be twists and turns in the road and I may rest along the way, but I will stay on the journey as long as required. This journey will never really end because once I reach my goal weight I’ll be working on maintaining. So I look at this as a lifelong road I will be traveling. It’s a road I should have started on long ago, but I’m here now and that is what matters. Today started out pretty rocky as I forgot my breakfast entrée. This is what I get for not checking my list ! It worked out – I had a 2.3 ounce 240 calorie cup of Powerful Oatmeal’s Maple & Brown Sugar flavored oatmeal. You add water so the cooked weight was probably 5 or 6 ounces. I had 4 of these hanging around in my desk so I lucked out ! This counted as 2 PF and a SC so it fit into Nutrisystem’s breakfast guidelines and works as a Flex breakfast...

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” ~ Albert Einstein ~ This was supposed to be yesterday’s topic but I couldn’t find the manual for my treadmill and couldn’t figure out how to work the darn thing ! Well, I found the manual today (in the pantry of all places!) and discovered I had no choice but to create an iFit account AND give them a credit card in order to “unlock” the treadmill !!!! NOT happy about this but I did it. It look me a long time to figure out I had to load the iFit app on my phone or tablet (I put it on both) in order to actually activate the treadmill. It did not tell you this in the manual or on the iFit website. I get 30 days of iFit free and I paid for another month in order to give myself 60 days to see if it’s something I want to continue. It’s only $15 a month so it didn’t break the bank. However, they should call it “ikill” because I tried what they call a “beginner” workout. I wa...

“I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions” ~ Augesten Burroughs ~ Today’s theme was going to be “keep moving” but my plan to conquer the treadmill did not come to fruition. I tried on the sports bras and leggings I bought online from Walmart. I rolled the protective mat underneath the treadmill. I even turned the treadmill on. But then I couldn’t find the directions on how to work it ... so I got frustrated and gave up. I waited until too late in the day so I was tired and when I’m tired patience is in short supply. It wants me to activate iFit and I’m not doing that because they charge you after the free 30 day trial and I am not playing that game. So I will read the instruction manual online and make another attempt tomorrow. This is what I get for buying something with so many bells and whistles ! I can’t imagine where the book is, as I put all of the paperwork for everything in the house in one drawer. I will...