Day 67: Never Give Up On A Dream

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” ~Earl Nightingale~

There’s a lot of truth in that statement. No matter what the goal is we all want to reach it sooner. That is just human nature. My quest to lose weight is going to be a long one and I knew that from the start. That doesn’t mean I don’t want it to happen faster, because I do. What it means is I have realistic expectations for probably the first time in my life. I’m also putting in the effort required to reach my goal. Too often I set lofty unreachable goals and then gave up because it was too hard or it took too long to get there. In reality I just wasn’t willing to put in the effort required. I’ve done that 100 times in my life. This is day 67 on Nutrisystem and I guarantee I’ll still be here on Day 365 inching closer to my goal. When I started Nutrisystem I planned to be on it for at least a year. I knew the weight wasn’t going to disappear overnight. A photo taken on 12/25/18 was the motivation to start this journey so I plan to make sure the same photo is taken on 12/25/19 so I can see the difference. I know that is over 9 months away but I think of that photo often. I also look at that photo often. It’s painful but it keeps me motivated. I know I would lose sight of the goal if I didn’t keep reminding myself why I’m here. I actually revisit my goal weight periodically too. I already moved it 20 pounds lower and I’m considering moving it down another 10 because that will bring my BMI into the “normal” range. Although I have that in mind I’m not going to change it until I get to 199 or less. I don’t mind moving the goal father away but now is not the time. Right now I’m focused on getting to the 50 pound mark. That’s a reasonable and highly reachable goal considering I’ve lost almost 38 pounds. Mini goals along the way are important since the main goal for me is so far away.

Breakfast today was a 2.1 ounce 180 calorie cinnamon roll with vanilla caramel crème coffee. 2nd cup was a Paul Newman Organics sample that came with my Keurig. I am still amazed I can tolerate black coffee. Breakfast Power Fuel was the usual 100 calorie string cheese. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4 ounce 200 calorie broccoli and cheese melt with some raw carrots. My lunch Power Fuel was some fat free yogurt with granola. The granola takes the place of the Smart Carb I didn’t have with my am snack. My afternoon snack was 2 wedges of Laughing Cow cheese (100 calories) with some crackers (100 calories). I got 32 ounces of water in by 4 pm but I didn’t start on the next 32 until I got home since I had a few stops to make on the way home. Dinner tonight was a 10 ounce 270 calorie sweet and sour chicken. My evening snack is going to be a 1.8 ounce 150 calorie chocolate cupcake. That puts me at about 1300 calories for the day, which is pretty good.

Although it was dark the morning commute was fine as the winter weather was well north of me. Roads were clean and dry and temps were over freezing for a change ! I didn’t have as much trouble getting up as I expected. I was actually awake when the alarm went off even though I went to sleep later than usual. I had a movie on the DVR when I fell asleep and I woke up at some point while it was still playing and whatever was going on in the movie actually scared me ! What’s funny about this is the movie was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ! Not exactly a scary movie but I guess it was disturbing to my half awake brain !

After many years of being a couch potato I’m still a little surprised I’ve turned my focus to exercise. It has moved up to a top priority and when I have other things to do I have to figure out how to do them and still have time to exercise. Today was a good example. I needed to get gas, I needed to do a little grocery shopping AND it is garbage night ! I didn’t think I could do everything and get a workout in, but I did ! The old me already procrastinated the weekend away – I could have done all of this over the weekend - so I didn’t let the old me make excuses not to work out tonight. I actually did those 2 errands, fed the cats, gathered the trash and put that out, fed myself, worked out and then got everything ready for tomorrow’s breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks - all by 8 pm. I’ll be heading up for a shower soon and then it’s off to bed.

Weather looks to be good for the rest of the week so that is a relief ! I can’t wait for the white stuff to be gone so I can get some grass growing in my yard. I’m thinking about planting some jasmine because I just love the scent of it. I’m also thinking of getting some large pots and putting flowers on the back patio. Come on Spring !