Day 133: Productivity

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” ~Paul J. Meyer~

At first I wasn’t sure about this quote, but then I stopped and really thought about it. I haven’t felt very productive for the last couple of days, which happens sometimes. Some of the more difficult work items I needed to care for had been sitting for a couple of days. So this morning I started at the beginning and just started chipping away at them. By lunch time (12 pm) I had taken care of every single one and moved on to some new tasks. I couldn’t tell you why I didn’t address them yesterday .. or Tuesday .. or Monday. Sometimes I just have to be in a different frame of mind and the things that seemed hard are somehow not quite so hard anymore. I look at my weight loss journey the same way. Some days it is really hard to be on Nutrisystem. Some days I just want to bake up some chicken fingers and pour a bowl of ranch dressing. Some days I want to dig into that pint of Haagen Dazs. Fortunately these urges are really just fleeting thoughts that come and go. That’s where commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and a focused effort come in. I’m committed to succeeding with Nutrisystem. I’ve done it for 133 days now, so why would I sabotage myself with the foods that got me here ? I spend a lot of time thinking about what foods to order each month, so that I have items on hand that will satisfy me and keep cravings from popping up. Nutrisystem desserts and snacks are really good ! So I don’t need that pint of Haagen Dazs. Breakfast items are amazing too. Lunch is kind of so-so since I eat mostly the “melts” and they’re a little more bready than I would like. Dinner has a fairly good variety so I’m pretty happy there. I’ve always liked veggies so I don’t mind having more of them. Drinking enough water was by far the biggest challenge for me. I have never been one to drink a lot of water so I’ve had to put a lot of effort into it. More and more I’ve seen how important it is to drink lots of water if you want to lose weight. Being that I’m taking in a lot of processed foods I’m getting a fair amount of sodium. 180 mg in this morning’s cinnamon roll and 460 in the lunch melt. 600 in my dinner. 180 in my evening snack. These aren’t massive amounts, but the water helps counteract its effects. I’ve realized that part of the reason I struggle with water is the 2 cups of coffee I have in the morning. I really don’t get thirsty after that so I don’t even think about drinking the water until afternoon. Today I didn’t finish the first 32 ounces until almost 3 pm but I made an effort to work a little harder on the 2^nd 32 ounces ! So in the end I decided today’s quote is appropriate for both my work life and my home life. There are always going to be hard days at work and hard days at home. As time ticks down it gets harder to go to the office, because in a few short weeks most of the wonderful people I’ve worked with for so many years will be gone. I’ve connected with a few on social media but there are many I will likely never see or speak to again. I’m kind of sad about that.

Breakfast today was a 180 calorie cinnamon roll with caramel vanilla cream coffee. 2^nd cup was French vanilla. Morning snack was a 155 calorie vanilla shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4 ounce 230 calorie meatball parmesan melt with raw carrots. Afternoon snack was a 180 calorie Sargento Balanced Breaks. Having a higher calorie breakfast item with a higher calorie lunch item shorted me a little bit on calories, so I didn’t have my breakfast Power Fuel. I have 453 calories left for dinner and an evening snack. Dinner was a 260 calorie 9.5 ounce roasted turkey medallions with mashed potatoes and gravy. One of my favs ! Evening snack was another fav - a 2.2 ounce 140 calorie lemon zest cake. So my calories for the day are 1147. 

Weather today was quite nicer than yesterday ! We made it up into the 60's and had clouds and sun all day. This after some evening showers last night ! I opened the sun roof on my car when I left work but the sun promptly disappeared ! Scary to hear about the stretch of severe weather the midwest is about to experience. This has been one crazy year for weather so far !

I'm 4 for 4 with my workout this week !  I am going to try a little bit more challenging program this weekend because I pretty much know the current one by heart. It still challenges me but I'm getting a little bored with the content. I really think the iFit subscription was a good investment ! Just mindlessly walking on the treadmill was excruciatingly boring and watching tv didn't really make the experience any more pleasant. For me, iFit is perfect. The trainers are very engaging and the locations are places I'll likely never go, so it's nice to see a little bit of the world. It really makes the time fly by.

Tomorrow is Friday .. finally ! I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home. But first ... a hot shower and my warm cozy bed !!