My Nutrisystem Journey

“It’s important to do what’s best for you, whether people approve of it or not. This is your life. You know what’s good for you and remember, self-love takes strength.” I chose this quote today for a lot of reasons. Until 1997 my life was pretty unremarkable. Pretty boring. Pretty lonely. I wasn’t alone from 1997 to 2014 but I felt pretty isolated. They were not the best years of my life. Little by little any sense of self I had was destroyed. I put my faith in the wrong person and I’ve lived to regret that decision. I lived, but I wasn’t living, even after the source of my pain was gone. It took the fire in 2017 to start a chain of events that led me to where I am today. I guess you could say I’m pretty stubborn. I had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way. I will never stop being grateful for that fire and even being hit by a car 2 months later. It sounds crazy, I know, but it saved me. Since I wasn’t home I could have lost all 5 of my cats. I also could have lost all of ...

I choose to feel good about myself each day. Every morning I remind myself that I can make the choice to feel good. This is a great new habit for me to cultivate. ~Louise Hay~ Until I started losing weight I didn’t realize what a profound effect feeling good about the way you look could have on your overall sense of well-being. That doesn’t mean you have to be a size 2, it just means you have to be happy with what you see. I haven’t been happy about what I saw since 1997, so I avoided full length mirrors. Guess what ? That doesn’t help. You still know you’re fat and unhappy. I spent a lot of time with my head in the sand, ignoring everything that was wrong in my life instead of trying to change it. In hindsight I see that was not the best way to handle it, but who thinks clearly when your life is in shambles ? It’s so easy to analyze where I went wrong now. I can sit here all day and say “I should have done this” or “I should have done that” but it’s not going to change a...

"Never be ashamed of yourself. Be proud of who you are, and don't worry about how others see you." I think we all spend a little too much time worrying about how others see us. I know for years I was all about "appearances" and not wanting to be embarrassed. In spite of that I let my weight balloon out of control, so I guess I didn't really worry about how that would affect how others saw me. It's one thing to not care how others see you, worrying about it is different. I was ashamed of the way I looked and the way I was living but I felt powerless to change it. As a result, I just ignored it and kept eating. I coped by ignoring everything that was going on, hoping it would go away or resolve itself. Well, that didn't help and some how, some way I made it through the storm. The fire changed my life to the point I could finally focus on me. Talking about my experiences took away the shame. It took away the power those hidden memories had over...

"I believe that living out loud and not letting fear hold you back is the key to the fullest, most rewarding life possible." ~Robert Biswas-Diener~ I'm definitely living my life out loud these days. Sharing this blog is part of that. For so many years I lived a life that was a complete lie. No one knew just how awful my marriage was. No one knew what terrible shape my home was in. No one knew I was staggering under a mountain of debt. I worked very hard to keep all of that hidden. I lived with fear every single day. Fear that someone would find out just how bad things were. No one knew I ran home from work at 5 pm and spent the evening hiding in my bedroom eating sweets. I could not wait to feed my pets and my husband and then escape upstairs. I'd close my bedroom door, climb into bed and spend the evening with my computer and those sweets. They were my friends and they brought me comfort. With all that behind me I can't help but share the journey I...

"Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over, instead of craving control over what you don't." ~Steve Maraboli~ Control. It can be a double edged sword. For many years I felt like I had zero control over my life and it was spinning out of control. At the same time, I had no control over what I was eating. I ate for comfort and packed on the pounds. Chips, cookies, candy, fast food, take out food, pizza, ice cream, sugary drinks .. they were my friends. It was just an escape. I could have changed some of the things going on in my life but it would have required making some hard decisions that I wasn't willing to make at the time. Those decisions were taken out of my hands in 2014 but I continued to eat for comfort, stuck in the past. Change didn't come until the fire in 2017. Incredible change was on the way, but it wasn't because of anything I did. I do believe there was Divine Intervention and...

"Take pride in how far you have come and have faith in how far you can go." Today was a big day. It's been 23 years since I weighed less than 200 pounds. It took nearly 10 months and a lot of hard work, but today I finally have a weight that doesn't start with a 2 (or a 3!) !! Yes, the last time I saw a weight in the "100's" was 1996. I lost 1.8 pounds this week for a total loss of 105.2 pounds. I still want to lose another 50 pounds so I still have a ways to go. But today I'm going to celebrate this small victory and be proud of what I've accomplished. Onederland ... that magical Nutrisystem promised land ... the land where your healthy weight starts with a One ! Breakfast was a 2.5 ounce 160 calorie package of buttermilk waffles with maple pecan coffee. Breakfast power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit toasted coconut vanilla yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. After that...

"The act of discovering who we are will force us to accept that we can go further than we think." Today I was looking for a short workout to do during lunch and all of the options on my schedule had lots of incline. Grand Canyon #14 and #15 were staring me in the face, along with a slightly longer Alaska workout with a lot of incline. Everything else was much longer than 20 minutes so I had to choose between these 3. So I settled on Grand Canyon #14, which was almost 21 minutes and the entire workout was at max incline, which is 10% on my machine. The speed ranged from 1.8 to 2.2 mph so I felt like I could struggle through it for 20 minutes. Surprisingly enough, I didn't struggle and really didn't even break a sweat. The last couple minutes I actually boosted the speed to 2.4 mph for a strong finish ! I couldn't have sustained a speed of 2.4 for the whole workout but just a couple of weeks ago the thought of 20 minutes at max incline kept me from even try...

"There's nothing more powerful than a humble person with a warrior spirit who is driven by a bigger purpose." Humility was on my mind much of the day as I continue to receive compliments regarding my appearance. I appreciate this so much, because it's an acknowledgement of the hard work I've been putting in and it helps keep me motivated. In the face of that, I'm also working hard to stay humble. Suffice to say there is a new confidence in my step but there is so much more to a person than their appearance, so I try to keep that in mind. I'm still the same person, just a smaller, healthier and much happier version ! Losing weight doesn't make me better than anyone else. If I liked you before, I still do. If we didn't get along before, we probably still won't. It's a sad fact that it can change peoples perception of you but I'm still me. The old fat, unhappy and depressed me won't be sitting on the couch all win...

"Believe in yourself, push your limits, experience life, conquer your goals and be happy." Sounds pretty easy, doesn't it ? It should be, but the reality is I didn't believe in myself for many years. I never pushed my limits because I was in survival mode for so long. So I didn't experience life, I endured it. I didn't have any goals, so there were none to conquer. And I certainly wasn't happy for a long time. The good news is that has all changed ! I DO believe in myself. I AM pushing my limits. I AM experiencing life and enjoying every minute of it. I AM conquering goals and I AM happy ! When I started Nutrisystem I was hoping for a miracle. I was hoping   I'd finally be able to conquer my weight. That tiny spark of hope has turned into a flame that is burning bright. It's a fire that keeps me motivated and moving forward. When I made the decision to try Nutrisystem I didn't think about what life would be like once I lost the w...