Day 171: Victories

"Winning does not always mean coming in first. Real victory is in arriving at the finish line with no regrets, because you know you've gone all out."    ~Apolo Ohno~

Victory came to mind this morning because "Dark Victory" was on TCM when I got up. The best thing about this movie is all the stars that were in it ! Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart and Ronald Reagan. I've always hated the fact that the movie didn't have a happy ending, but I guess that's a true representation of life. I haven't had many happy endings in my life but right now I feel like I'm heading towards one. Every pound I lose is a little victory. Every day that I exercise is another. Every day that I feel better is a win. These little things keep me pushing towards the ultimate victory, which will be reaching my goal weight. I'm definitely going all out on this one !

Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 180 calorie cinnamon roll with french vanilla coffee. Second cup was toasted marshmallow mocha. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 3.7 ounce 200 calorie grilled chicken sandwich with a large chef salad. I dressed the sandwich with buffalo sauce and zero calorie ranch dressing. I don't like the ranch but I can tolerate it with the buffalo sauce, so I'm using it up that way. My afternoon snack was a chunk of raw milk dill & garlic cheddar cheese (called Dilly Girl !) and some pretzels (110 calories). I got the cheese during a visit to Muranda Cheese a couple of weeks ago. Near as I can figure one ounce of the cheese is 100 calories and the piece I bought is 0.31 pounds, which is about 5 ounces. So I had about 1/5 of what I bought. Let me tell you, their cheese is absolutely delicious !! The other variety I bought is called SOB Cheddar.  That stands for scallion, onion and bacon ! Dinner was a 9.5 ounce 260 calorie roasted turkey medallions with mashed potatoes and gravy. I also had the last bowl of the veggies I roasted last week. Evening snack was a 3.5 ounce 130 calorie ice cream sandwich. That puts my calories for the day at 1135. With salad dressing, a spoon of romano cheese on my veggies and any excess from the cheese I'll just go with 1200 for today. I'm ok with that since I burned almost half of that off with my workouts today !

Woke up at 8 today after another great night's sleep. It was a beautiful sunny day so I was motivated to get some things done early on. I portioned out cottage cheese and carrots for my lunches this week and bagged up some k-cups for my morning coffee this week. After my second cup of coffee it was time to break out the vacuum cleaner and get some housework done. Losing weight means I have a lot more energy to get through these mundane tasks ! Not all that long ago I'd have to take a couple of breaks while vacuuming the downstairs. These days I can do the entire job without a break. I also used to wait until all of the laundry was done and then lug it all upstairs in one trip. Now I run it upstairs after each load to put things away. I also moved 10 pairs of jeans from the closet in my room to the closet in the spare room. I plan to drop them off at a donation center next week since they're all in good shape. I also tackled cleaning out the pantry, which has been needing doing since I moved back in over a year ago. Finally threw away some of the junk, organized the shelves and swept the floor. It looks a whole like nicer, that is for sure. I can actually walk in there and see what I have ! I used to store food there but nowadays it just has cans of tomatoes and non-food supplies. Last task was gathering up the garbage so I don't have to run around and do it tomorrow night. 

I also got a workout done in between my morning snack and lunch and another before dinner to change things up a little. Needless to say I am pleasantly tired and expect to sleep great tonight !
Only 5 working days until vacation ! It's a bittersweet countdown because it's also the countdown to the closure of my office. It will be odd going back on July 8, because only the management team will be there. 

This was a wonderful, productive and relaxing weekend. It's really what I needed in order to face the week ahead. Time now for a hot shower and some tv or a game or two before dreamland in my comfy bed !