Day 2: One Foot in Front of The Other

Well, I survived the first day of Nutrisystem. For full disclosure, I was STARVING when bedtime rolled around and I knew I would not be able to sleep. So I had a 150 calorie cup of yogurt. It wasn’t part of the program but I was still about 160 under my calories for the day so I’m not worried. I don’t plan on this happening every day - yesterday I did not have any of the veggies they recommend so it’s no surprise I was hungry. Today I’ll be off to the grocery store to buy produce for the week. I suspect hunger won’t be a problem once I add the recommended 4 servings of veggies to my day.

During the week my meals will be a bit more structured and I’ll be eating dinner later AND going to bed earlier. So I don’t expect bedtime hunger to be a problem anyways.

Day 2 breakfast is a 2 ounce double chocolate muffin with 170 calories. It’s actually pretty good ! Next time I have a muffin I think I will microwave for a few seconds to give it a “just baked” feel. Coffee today is french vanilla and drinking it black is not the end of the world ! I have my 32 ounces of water standing by ready to go. My kidneys must be jumping for joy !

I started the morning stripping and remaking my bed. Whoa ... who is this person ?!?!? I typically can’t function until after coffee. Since I moved back into my house I’ve pretty much made my bed every day ... which I never used to do. I guess when you have something that makes you feel good you’re more inclined to take the best care of it. This is how I feel about my house now.

Yesterday I had the plumber here to resolve an issue with my tub drain upstairs. A couple weeks ago I noticed the drain was pretty sluggish so I used some liquid drain cleaner. BIG mistake in old galvanized pipes. I ended up with a completely blocked drain. $418 later and my drain is clean as a whistle and I purchased a natural enzymatic product for maintenance. Ordered a new cover for the drain this morning because the old one has nothing to attach to - the crossbars inside the drain crumbled from age and too many chemicals. It was nice to shower without water up to my ankles but the open drain kinda scares me. I guess I watched too many horror movies in my youth !

I guess I’ll have a second cup of coffee and then take myself to the grocery store. It’s another sunny day ! Love seeing blue skies and sunshine when I wake up !

LUNCH UPDATE: I never did have that second cup of coffee ! Lunch today was 2 servings of broccoli (about a cup) with salt free seasoning and a 200 calorie 1.8 ounce trail mix bar. I’m keeping the heartier lunch entrees to take to work. I’m on my 2nd bottle of water so I’m halfway there for the day ! The breakfast and lunch items may seem skimpy but each of these meals is followed by a snack AND the food for the first week is a bit different from the coming weeks. I did make that trip to the grocery store and picked up ready to microwave broccoli, green beans and brussel sprouts. I also bought raw carrots and celery hearts. I have bell peppers in the freezer and some onion so tomorrow I’m going to roast a pan of mixed veggies. Although they recommend 4 servings of veggies per day you are allowed to have them whenever you feel hungry, so raw carrots and celery will be a good snack to have on hand. I think this was the first time in my life I went to the store and the only food items I bought were vegetables and seasonings. I also picked up some hazelnut and french vanilla k-cups so I can have a little variety when I make my morning coffee at work during the week.

SNACK AND DINNER UPDATE: afternoon snack was a 100 calorie packet of pretzel bites. They weren’t super hard and had a bit of salt so I enjoyed them. Dinner was a 260 calorie Italian herb flatbread pizza and another portion of broccoli. I made the pizza in the microwave and was not impressed. Of course it’s not going to be as good as “real” pizza but I can’t see consuming 260 calories of something I dislike. I found the sauce to be overly sweet and the cheese didn’t melt. Microwaving also turned the crust into cardboard. To give it a fair try, I will use the oven for my next pizza selection. You can also add things like peppers & onions or other allowed veggies so that is also an option next time around as well. If I absolutely can’t stomach their sauce I will use a tablespoon or two of my own homemade tomato sauce. I also have the option to “customize” future orders and could always opt out of any pizza item I don’t like.

I have about 16 ounces of water to go and I’ll be at the 64 ounce goal. I’m happy that I got the 4 servings of veggies in today and I’m going to roast a pan of veggies tomorrow for my weekday lunches. I am at 851 calories for the day.

I guess the 1200 calories kicks in after week 1 is over, because in reading the guides I see that I add things called “PowerFuels” and “Smart Carbs” next week. There will be 3 meals and 3 snacks and you add a PowerFuel to your breakfast and both the morning and afternoon snacks. PowerFuels are things like 2 ounces of lean meat, nuts, low fat or fat free milk, yogurt, eggs, peanut butter or low sodium cheese. I’m excited about eggs because 3-4 egg whites = 1 PowerFuel ! Protein powder also falls into this category so a Nutrisystem shake is going to be a frequent PowerFuel for me ! Smart Carbs are things like fruit, corn, oatmeal, whole grain bread or pasta. Again portions are small and you add a Smart Carb to your afternoon snack. Sounds like you eat the most in the afternoon because you have a Nutrisystem snack with both a PowerFuel and a Smart Carb. So an afternoon snack could be a bar, a shake and some fruit !! I feel like this is too much food, but we’ll see how it goes. I suppose they want to limit you to the expected 1-2 pounds per week loss in order to keep you on the program as long as possible AND to make sure you really embrace the lifestyle change. 2 pounds a week would be 104 pounds in a year and I will gladly take that !!

Clearly I’m going to have to sit down and do some planning and take another trip to the grocery store as I don’t really have anything in the house in the PowerFuel category other than protein powder, milk and peanut butter. I have NONE of the Smart Carb suggestions in the house. I think during the week shakes will be my go to PowerFuel and fruit will be my Smart Carb.

Day 2 will be over soon and I feel pretty good. My digestive tract is doing it’s best to adapt to the probiotic shakes and the shock of vegetables twice in one day ! I’m not in any distress but there’s a symphony going on in my abdomen ! I imagine the rumbling and grumbling will take a few days to settle down. I can see why they recommend minimal activity during the first week, because you ‘re only getting the bare minimum of calories. 851 calories might be enough for someone who is already thin, but for someone like me it’s close to starvation. One pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream is about 1000 calories and I was known to eat an entire pint in one sitting ! So some days my “bedtime snack” was more calories than I am currently eating in an entire day. That’s just a little perspective. Next week I have Nutrisystem ice cream products to look forward to !