Day 101: Make It Happen

“Devote yourself to an idea. Go make it happen. Struggle on it. Overcome your fears. Smile. Don’t you forget: this is your dream!”

When I started Nutrisystem I decided the results of the first 3 months would determine whether or not I continue with the program. Since I’m delighted with the results, finding the program easy to follow and enjoying the food, I see no reason to stop anytime soon. I’m not wishing the time away but I’m looking forward to seeing where I am when day 365 rolls around ! I love today’s quote because the new top I bought (in a size I haven’t worn in 20 years) has “make it happen” printed on it ! I am making it happen ! I buy most of my clothes at the Avenue store or their online shop and their clothes start at size 14. Being unable to shop there would be a dream come true I think. I don’t know if it will happen but it’s a reasonable stretch goal to work towards.

I lost another 1.5 pounds this week for a total of 45.5 gone. I also hit a milestone with Nutrisystem, one that means my calories have been reduced from 1400 to 1200, because I don’t have quite as much weight to lose now. So my reward for doing well is less calories - no food rewards on this program ! Make no mistake - I still have a LOT of weight to lose but once you get to a certain point they drop your calories. I was tempted not to weigh myself today because of yesterday’s adventures, but I’m glad I did ! If I hadn’t I’d have been “over-eating” for a week. I’m planning to reduce my goal weight a little lower somewhere down the road and I’m glad I didn’t do it already, because that would have delayed the transition to 1200 calories. The reduction basically means no Smart Carb with my morning snack and no Power Fuel with lunch. So my program now will be a Nutrisystem entree and Power Fuel for breakfast, a Power Fuel for the morning snack (shake), a Nutrisystem entree for lunch, a Power Fuel and a Smart Carb for my afternoon snack, a Nutrisystem entree for dinner and a Nutristem snack in the evening. I thought I was going to have to pay closer attention to the calories on the Nutrisystem entrees to ensure I don’t have 2 high calories items on the same day but it turns out most of what I have are on the lower end of the calorie scale. I think the highest calorie dinner entree is the meatloaf sandwich at 290 calories but I only have a couple on hand and won’t order any more. On the bright side, I don’t have to worry about packing quite so much food each day. I’m not too worried about this change because some days I was eating just because I was “supposed” to. If I get hungry I’m going to have to fall back on vegetable choices, which is ok too. This is great timing because when the weather gets milder I’m more inclined to embrace eating salad. My older sister shared a great idea for using “zoodles” (spiralized zucchini) that I’d like to try too. She sautes them with garlic, onions and peppers and a little salt and pepper then adds some diced chicken. Since I don’t like to cook during the week that’ll be something I try on the weekend. To use this as a free vegetable choice I’d have to leave out the chicken, which is fine because I really don’t eat a lot of meat. What is ironic here is that I had planned to buy a bunch of small containers to pre-pack my Power Fuel and Smart Carb choices for the week. I’m glad I didn’t do that because I really don’t need them now. I was also planning to buy a bunch of frozen fruit to add some variety to my Smart Carb but now that I only have one a day I have more than enough fruit on hand. I have a lot of crackers and cheese on hand so I’ll alternate that Power Fuel/Smart Carb combo with the Sargento Balanced Breaks I’ve been having. Needless to say, about all I’ll need at the grocery store for a while is vegetables ! I will also have to rethink what I’m going to eat on Easter in order to scale back the calories.

Breakfast was a 3.8 ounce 90 calorie turkey ham and cheese omelet. You add a smart carb to this so I had a small dish of peaches. Coffee was Green Mountain Breakfast Blend and a cup of hazelnut. I didn’t have the morning Power Fuel and it’s a good thing I didn’t ! Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. I also had some raw carrots because I was bagging them for the week ahead. I skipped the Smart Carb here. Lunch was a 1.8 ounce 200 calorie cup of three cheese chicken. You add water to this so the cooked weight is around 8 ounces. I also had an 80 calorie stick of Sargento colby jack cheese for my last lunchtime Power Fuel ! My afternoon snack was a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (80 calories), a Vlasic Tabasco pickle and some pretzels (110 calories). Dinner was my leftover Shrimp Fra Diavolo. Let me just tell you .. it was just as good today as it was yesterday ! I guesstimated that at 300 calories. I also had some green beans with it. My evening snack was a 90 calorie orange cream frozen ice cream bar. I love the ice cream bars ! So my calories for the day are at 1138. So even if my dinner was closer to 400 calories I’m still within my new 1200 calorie range.

Being off plan yesterday was pretty scary, so I’m glad I had already decided not to “flex” my meals unless it was absolutely necessary. Waiting in line at Wendy’s and looking at the calories in their products (calories are on the menu board now) was pretty eye opening when you’re eating lunch entree’s that are around 200 calories ! Navigating the menu at Pino Bianco was scary because they have no calorie information on the menu. Nutrisystem dinner entrees are less than 300 calories and I’m sure nothing on the menu was less than 300 calories. What I came away with after both experiences is that frequent visits to fast food or other restaurants can quickly pack on the pounds unless you are careful. I was never careful before - I ordered what sounded good, with no thought to it being good for me and I certainly never looked at calories ! Considering my fit and trim sister ordered the same meal at Wendy’s, I felt pretty good about my choice !

I’m sad to see another great weekend coming to a close. The weather yesterday was so much nicer than today and it was such a fun day. Today was gloomy and rainy all day and temps barely made it to 50 degrees. It was a good day to stay in and do laundry and tidy up the house. I was able to get 2 workouts in too, since I did not workout Friday or Saturday. The incline workout is getting easier ! Towards the end of the 2nd workout my back was a little tired so I guess my back muscles are kind of weak. Right now I am good kind of tired so I’m looking forward to a hot shower and my warm cozy bed. Even though I didn’t go to sleep until nearly midnight I was awake before 7 so I should have no trouble sleeping tonight !