Day 103: Good Thoughts

“If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” ~Roald Dahl~

Ironic to come across this quote today ! Roald Dahl wrote the book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, on which the film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was based. He also co-authored the screenplay for the film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, which I was watching last night. These are 2 of my favorite movies ! He’s right about good thoughts. These days I can’t help smiling. If negativity tries to creep in I recognize it faster and beat it back. I have no room in my life for that. Look in the mirror and see how different you look with a smile on your face ! I try to do that every day.

Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 160 calorie cherry cheese roll with vanilla caramel cream coffee. My 2nd cup was triple chocolate. I’ve said this before but it bears repeating – I am still amazed I can tolerate black coffee. I used to say I could never do it but I could, I can and I do !! I see people post in the Nutrisystem group every day that they “can’t” drink their coffee black. Every time I see it I am reminded that you can do whatever you put your mind to, so you won’t hear me saying “I can’t” very much ! You might hear me say “I can’t do it right now” and I’m ok with that. My morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4.25 ounce turkey pot pie melt with raw carrots. I had hesitated to order this melt because I wasn’t sure I’d like it. Now it’s one of my favorites ! My afternoon snack was a 180 calorie Sargento Balanced Breaks. Dinner was an 8.5 ounce 250 calorie chicken and vegetable stir-fry. I mixed in some riced broccoli. I’m liking the riced veggies ! My evening snack is going to be a 1.8 ounce 150 calorie chocolate cupcake. My calories are only at 1062 today because I didn’t have my breakfast Power Fuel again today. I need to make sure I have that tomorrow because I think I need to stay closer to 1200 calories. Today I was able to get most of my 64 ounces of water in while I was at work so I’ve actually exceeded that goal for maybe the first time !

With the reduction from 1400 to 1200 calories I thought I might be hungry, but I actually feel less hungry. I appreciate the protein shake at mid-morning more now because that carries me through to lunch. Last week I was eating fruit and yogurt every day and I feel like that was making me hungry. Prior to starting Nutrisystem I had noticed that when I consumed a lot of carbs or sugar I would get hungry again pretty quickly and it became a never ending cycle of eat, get hungry, eat more, get hungrier. Now I’m wondering if the sugars in fruit and perhaps in the yogurt were conspiring to make me feel hungry. That’s not to say I won’t eat it anymore, because I need to use up what I have before it spoils, but I won’t be eating it every day.

It was a brisk 34 degrees when I got up but there was a beautiful sunrise over Oneida Lake this morning ! I love looking out my office window and seeing blue skies and sunshine, it makes my day so much more pleasant ! We did make it up into the low 50’s but then the sun disappeared. The long range forecast says temps are going to be in the 60’s for a while so that makes me happy !

Despite being a bit tired I managed to make it through my workout tonight. I can definitely see progress when it comes to my endurance as it’s not quite so hard to push through it. I don’t think I’m ready to move on to a more challenging workout yet though. The current one still requires a good bit of effort so I’ll likely stick with it for a couple more weeks. The nice thing about it is I’ve learned a little bit about the culture in Morocco. iFit has a lot of workouts in various countries so I’m expanding my knowledge of the world while I get fit.

Today I said goodbye to a couple more colleagues, some who are leaving the company and some who are moving to Florida. Each departure is sad but I hope whatever comes next for each of them turns out to be a blessing. I work with some pretty amazing people. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who have complimented me on my weight loss. Some of them I don’t even know very well. I’m not one to seek praise but it feels good to know that the changes are starting to show. Some days I look in the mirror and see nothing but the negatives. I continue to tell myself it took a lot of years to get to this point so it’s going to take a good long time to get where I want to be. I’ve been overweight as long as I can remember so it will be an adjustment once I no longer wear that label. I will still be me but people will see someone different. When I doubt myself I take inspiration from people of my age group who are in the best shape of their life. It can be done and I can do it !