Day 290: Grit

"Grit is that "extra something" that separates the most successful people from the rest. It's the passion, perseverance, and stamina that we must channel in order to stick with our dreams until they become a reality." ~Travis Bradberry~

Grit. I think I have that. I don't know that I've always had it but today I feel like it's helping me achieve my weight loss goals. When I started this journey 290 days ago it was the biggest leap of faith I've ever taken. It was also the costliest. I've seen so many stories of failure on the Nutrisystem group I belong to - many people declare the program is not for them and give up. Many go off searching for pharmaceutical solutions to lose the weight or jump to another program. There is no magic pill - if there were there would be no more obesity !  There are also other programs and they aren't magic either. You have to find what is going to work for you. Many want to eat the same foods and still lose weight ! What ?!?!?! You can't sit on the couch either - exercise is so important for both mind and body ! I think in some cases the individual just wasn't ready to commit to the changes required to be successful. Until you are ready you will not be successful. On that fateful day last December I was ready, but still  - venturing into uncharted territory with a $400 gamble was pretty scary. The journey has not been without it's bumps and I had to put in a lot more effort than I expected but over time it's leveled out. I had to invest in myself and figure out what I needed to do in order to maximize my success. This is nothing anyone else could have done for me. Some people expect Nutrisystem to lay out every single facet of what you need to do. That's just not realistic. I looked at the program as framework, the structure I needed to get the weight off. It was up to ME to build on that framework and craft a program that worked best for me. Was it easy ? No - some days it was really hard. But I worked at it every day and stayed flexible, tweaking things here and there until I knew it was working for me. I know I will have to continue to work at this every single day. I also decided there would be no "I can't" in my vocabulary, when it came to what I was eating. I embraced black coffee after years of drinking an XL Dunkin' with 5 sugar and 5 cream every day. This after I had always declared "one thing I can't give up is my coffee". I didn't give up the coffee - I gave up the 320 calories in it ! I embraced cauliflower, despite the fact that I've always hated it. These days I look forward to stirring some riced cauliflower into a Nutrisystem entree. I don't eat it plain since it's pretty flavorless and the things we use to jazz it up (cheese, salt, butter) are not an option. I also embraced putting cucumber in my salad. I actually look forward to slicing a hunk of it into a salad now, after years of picking them out ! So I had to be flexible and I had to change - because this is first and foremost a lifestyle change. You can't lose the weight and then go back to your old eating habits. There are still plenty of things I won't eat but I've eaten every food item Nutrisystem sent me. My first couple of shipments contained foods I didn't particularly care for but I sucked it up and ate them. I threw away so much food once I decided to give this a try and I swore then I would never waste food again. I still try new Nutrisystem items here and there but I order all frozen foods now and like them much better. I'm passionate about Nutrisystem because it's working so well for me. I'm persevering because I'm seeing the results of my hard work. I'm even seeing my stamina increase when it comes to exercise. Seeing the results and feeling so much better keeps me committed and motivated. 

Breakfast was a 4.4 ounce 180 calorie turkey sausage and egg muffin with brown sugar crumble coffee. Second cup was triple chocolate with my power fuel, a 5.3 ounce Light & Fit toasted coconut vanilla yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 3.8 ounce pepperoni pizza melt with a chef salad. Dressing added 40 calories. I had lunch really late so I didn't have an afternoon snack. Dinner was a 7.5 ounce 230 calorie chicken marsala served over riced cauliflower. Evening snack was a cup of maple pecan coffee with a 1.8 ounce 150 calorie chocolate cupcake. Total calories for the day are 1055 and I got 64 ounces of water in.

This morning I woke up thinking about what workouts I would do on the treadmill today. Who is this person ???? Clearly I've tweaked my exercise program to a point that I'm motivated and it's working for me. I also experienced some serious vertigo when I sat up in bed. I had to sit on the side of the bed for a bit and was still unsteady when I finally stood up. It probably didn't help that I hadn't eaten in over 15 hours ! Anyhow, I was fine after a few minutes and felt fine all day. I was going to put up the Christmas lights on the front porch today but I couldn't find them. Now I'm wondering if I really bought them last year or did I dream it !!! I did get 2 workouts in today. Before lunch I completed workout #10 of the Grand Canyon series. The pace for this 21 minute workout was 3 mph most of the way and the incline was manageable. After dinner I tackled a Costa Rica workout I've been avoiding. I felt like I was going to fly  off the back of the treadmill at times, but I did it ! This one was about 33 minutes long and consisted of 12 one minute intervals at 3.4 mph, with only 1 minute in between at 2.6 mph to recover. About 15 minutes in the trainer kind of forgot this was intervals and left us at 3.4 mph for like 3 minutes on a 5 or 6 incline ! That was definitely a challenge but I made it through the entire workout. It was pretty interesting since he was walking through a lush green coffee plantation ! I'm pretty happy that I got through this workout !

Tomorrow is a work at home day so I'm up a little later than usual. However, I've about run out of energy so I'm headed for a shower and bed. This was another great weekend so I'm recharged and ready for whatever this week might bring !