Day 58: New Mindset / New Lifestyle

“It’s not just about losing the weight; it’s about losing the lifestyle and mindset that got you there.” ~Steve Maraboli~

I draw a lot of inspiration from Steve Maraboli these days. It’s so true that just losing weight is not the answer. If you don’t change your mindset and your lifestyle that weight you lose will find you again ! I’ve seen numerous real life examples (including my own) and I’ve read about many in the Nutrisystem group on Facebook. I don’t want to be one of those who keep coming back to Nutrisystem because they went back to their old habits and regained the weight. Even after I’ve reached my goal I will continue eating using the guidelines of the program. I may allow myself a splurge here and there but I plan to be vigilant about watching my weight to ensure it doesn’t start creeping back up. That may be a long way off but I feel like I need to think in those terms now in order to have a smooth transition when the time comes. One lesson I’ve learned is that it’s never a good idea to use food as a “reward”. One quote I read said “stop rewarding yourself with food, you’re not a dog”. This is so true and I never thought about it that way !! I can’t tell you how many times food was a reward in my life. It was also a comfort so I’ve also had to learn that you don’t use food as comfort either. That doesn’t mean you can’t eat mom’s chicken soup when you’re sick. It means you don’t sit down with a pint of Haagen Dazs and a bag of chips because you had a bad day. It’s easy to say that now since much of the angst in my life is gone but I’ve had some stresses in the past 2 months and I didn’t resort to food in order to cope. So that’s a win. Reading the posts on the FB group I see that many others are emotional eaters and they repeatedly sabotage their own efforts even after starting Nutrisystem. Many are looking for advice to avoid this and I’ve found that even though I’m doing better I have no advice to offer. I couldn’t tell you how or why I’ve stopped the emotional eating. I just have. I think it’s mostly the mindset and perhaps strong will, so how do you tell someone to change their mindset or pull up their big girl panties ? You really can’t. We have to find our own way. We have to build our own strength. We have to realize we are worth the effort. We have to do it on our own, for ourselves. Encourage us and support us but don’t try to tell us what we “should” do. Speaking only for myself, telling me what to do just makes me more resistant. That doesn’t mean you can’t share what works for you. I welcome that ! Just don’t expect me to adopt your habits. I made the decision to give Nutrisystem a try and it’s working for me. I didn’t need anybody to tell me I need to lose weight .. only an idiot couldn’t figure that out on their own. I wouldn’t have listened to anyone who tried to tell me “how” to lose weight and no one did. Again, it’s pretty simple to figure out you eat less, eat healthier and exercise more. So I knew I needed to lose weight. I knew how to lose weight. What took the longest was finding the motivation to actually do it. That meant shedding the seeds of doubt that had been planted in my mind years ago by those careless comments about it being difficult to lose weight “at my age”. I think I just used it as an excuse for an awfully long time. I was like “why bother” instead of “she is wrong and I will prove it”. So in the end it was all about the mindset - nothing else. Once I changed my mindset the rest came more easily.

Breakfast today was a 1.3 ounce 130 calorie packet of apple cinnamon oatmeal prepared with 1/2 cup skim milk. I find the oatmeal is too sweet for my taste so I’ve removed it from future orders. Since it’s the weekend I got a little creative with my breakfast PowerFuel - I whisked an egg in a bowl and cubed one wedge of Laughing Cow cheese into it. One minute in the microwave and I had a mini omelet that was delicious ! If I had some sauteed peppers and onions it would have been even better ! I’m thinking I could easily make these ahead and freeze if I wanted to have one during the week. According to the egg carton the egg was 60 calories and the wedge of cheese was 30 so those 90 calories fit neatly into the PowerFuel category (80-120 calories and at least 5 grams of protein). I had some Green Mountain Breakfast Blend coffee with it. After a second cup of coffee (french vanilla) and a trip to the post office I had my morning snack of a 155 calorie vanilla shake with peanut butter powder and a 90 calorie veggie cake. Since it’s the weekend I opted to have a 1.8 ounce 200 calorie trail mix bar and some raw carrots for lunch. I only have 2 lunch bars left and then I’m done with them. I’ve eliminated the lunch bars and most of the breakfast bars from future orders. My afternoon snack was 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (Power Fuel), a Vlasic Tabasco pickle (0 calories) and some pretzels (Smart Carb). Dinner was a new entree, 8 ounce 240 calorie Santa Fe style chicken which comes in a pouch. I had it over broccoli and it was ok. I don’t care for most of the non-frozen lunch and dinner entrees so I’ve eliminated them from my next Nutrisystem order. I still have 15 dinners and 13 lunches to eat so I’ll be alternating between shelf stable and frozen until they’re gone. I’m paying a lot of money for the Nutrisystem plan and changing to mostly frozen doesn’t change my monthly price. It seems like the frozen entrees have less sodium too. All of the breakfast items are pretty good but I’ve eliminated some of the sweeter items such as oatmeal along with the cold cereals. Since I prefer a sweet snack in the evening I’ve eliminated most of the savory items from my next order and quite a few of my snacks are frozen only because they’re so good ! I’m at about 1060 calories for the day so I have plenty left for a decadent snack at bedtime. I forgot to weigh myself this morning so I’m going to do that tomorrow before I have breakfast !

Since I’ve been sick not much has gotten done in the house for the past 2 weeks so I started off the morning upstairs. Sheets on the bed were changed and all the laundry was carted downstairs for washing. Part 2 of my day was actually getting the laundry done and cleaning up the house in general. When you live alone it doesn’t take long to do unless you’re a slob .. which I used to be .. but it’s amazing how quickly clutter can grow on counters and tables ! The house does stay cleaner without cats and dogs running wild so that is a plus. I loved each and every one of my dogs and while I miss having one I do not miss the mess. I loved all of my cats too but wow they were destructive and messy. Even though I’m down to just the 2 cats they do not have the run of the house because I can’t trust them. On weekends I let them run around the house and they usually explore for a little while and them go back to the laundry room, so I guess they are content there. In the summer I will let them out on the front porch to sun themselves and enjoy some fresh air. At this point I’m exhausted and the treadmill is not going to happen tonight. I’d say I burned off just as many calories doing 6 loads of laundry and cleaning up the house - probably more since I’ve been up and down the stairs so many times today ! I can see why some people have 2nd floor laundry rooms !

All in all I’ve had a wonderful day. I’m happy to have accomplished so much around the house. I am still coughing some but most of the stuffiness is gone so that is a relief ! I will give the treadmill a try tomorrow early in the day. Since all my housework is done the whole day is open ! We have some light snow falling now and tomorrow is supposed to bring a few inches of the white stuff so I won’t be going anywhere until Monday morning !