Day 328: More
"The more you thank life, the more life gives you to be thankful for."
I said this week was going to be all about being thankful and I am truly thankful for today. Thankful for all that have, thankful for my health and thankful for my family. Today I spent the day with my mom and every minute with her is precious. We've had our differences over the years and neither of us is perfect but I wouldn't trade her for anything. In 2017 she was not at the Thanksgiving table, for the first time in my life, due to her heart problems. That was a jolt, because you don't want to think about the chair that will one day be empty. We didn't know what the future held for her but thankfully she is fine today. I have more to be thankful for every day that I walk this earth.
Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 160 calorie cherry cheese roll with maple pecan coffee. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt. I was out for the remainder of the day. I combined my morning snack and lunch and had a western omelet made with egg whites. The omelet should have had ham in it but all I found was a couple of postage stamp size paper thin slices, so I basically had egg whites with peppers and onions. I had a few of my mom's home fries and one slice of whole wheat toast with butter. We also had dinner out and I had an 8 ounce sirloin steak with green beans and broccoli. It appears the steak was 560 calories. My evening snack was a 3.5 ounce 130 calorie ice cream sandwich. Nutrisystem calories are 370, which left 830 for everything else. We already know 560 was the steak .. so was the omelet, home fries and toast more than 270 calories ? Possibly. Three egg whites is 51 calories. One slice of whole wheat bread is 69 calories. The peppers and onions do not count. Was the butter, home fries, cooking fats and ham shreds over 150 calories ? I don't think so. Even if they were a bit more, my calorie range is up to 1260 so those items could total 210 and I'd be okay. So calorie wise I'm fine, although the day was heavy on protein AND I don't plan on eating out twice in one day very often ! I did get 64 ounces of water in, not to mention endless cups of coffee at breakfast and 2 cups of tea and a glass of water with dinner. I do have the evening munchies so I'm snacking on raw carrots, which are allowed in unlimited quantities ! One thing I should note: when I ate that steak and when I had my evening snack, I felt I would be over my calories for the day and I was okay with that. As it turns out, I probably wasn't over and if I actually was it wasn't by much. I know I'm not going to be perfect every day but I'm also not going to let myself stray very often. I did give my dinner some thought and I did a post game analysis when I got home. Nutrisystem "flex" dinner is supposed to be 2 Power Fuels (160-240 calories) and a Smart Carb (80-120 calories). Afternoon snack is 1 of each, so I had 3 power fuels (up to 360 calories) and 2 smart carbs (up to 240 calories) to work with. Nutrisystem is NOT about calorie counting. The carb options at Ruby Tuesday were all potatoes and I really just wanted vegetables, so I opted to basically have 4 power fuels for dinner instead of 3 and skip the carbs. NONE of this makes eating an 8 ounce sirloin steak in one sitting a healthy choice. I know that. Fortunately I don't go out for steak very often so when I do I'm going to enjoy it. Anybody that reads my daily menu knows there is very little beef on the menu ! Anyhow, my point is I can't just look at calories and think whatever I eat "off plan" is okay based on the calorie count. I still have to work on making healthy choices or I will fail miserably when I try to leave Nutrisystem's prepared meals behind. I just can't bring myself to order the 6 ounce sirloin instead of the 8 .. I still worry I won't be full with the 6. So even after 11 months I can see I still have plenty of work to do on my old habits.
As I mentioned, I spent the day with my mom. I took her this morning to get her hair done and how can you just go back home when you're looking all pretty ? So we stopped at the local diner for breakfast. There wasn't a soul in there (go figure!) so the coffee was flowing and our food arrived hot and delicious. After breakfast it was time to make pies ! Mom had already baked the crusts so we just had to cook some chocolate pudding and some banana pudding. I wanted to dive into that pot of hot bubbly chocolate pudding ! Once the pies were done we finalized some online shopping mom wants me to do for her later this week. Then we tackled a few other things on her "to do" list. Out in the backyard in search of Christmas decorations in the shed I got talking to her neighbor, who has a new 10 week old rottweiler puppy, Hank ! Talked to the proud dad for a bit and got some puppy smooches to round out the day ! With the "to do's" done we just relaxed for a bit and then headed out for an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday. There wasn't a soul there either so dinner was just as enjoyable as breakfast was. A few people trickled in later but it was pretty dead.
I got home about 7 pm and got right on the treadmill. Since I felt like I had "enjoyed" myself a bit too much today I searched for a challenging workout. I ended up choosing the final workout in the Lake Tahoe series with John Peel. It's a Level 2 workout with a 292 calorie burn. iFit said I completed this workout on 10/24 but it didn't seem familiar. It definitely challenged me and was a fitting "punishment" for that delicious steak ! I looked back on this blog to 10/24, to see if I wrote about the workout. I did !! Here is what I said back then: >>>"I don't know what I was thinking, but tonight's workout was quite a challenge after a long day. It was the last of the 12 part Lake Tahoe series (and I haven't done all of the first 11) so naturally it was the most challenging. Lots of incline and 1 minute intervals at 3.2 or 3.3 mph, followed by 1 minute recoveries at 2.6 or 2.8 mph. The last 6 minutes was a steady 3 mph and throughout the workout incline varied but there was a lot of 6 and 8%. I can handle the mid-range incline pretty well but about 30 minutes in I was near my breaking point on an 8% stretch. My back was starting to hurt so I put my hands on the side bars. Right at that moment the incline dropped back down to zero so the hands came off and I made it through to the end with just that one quick touch. I worked up quite a sweat and an appetite .. plus I'm #9 on the leader board for my age group on that workout !"<<< Today I found this workout to be challenging but I never felt like I needed to hold on so my endurance is clearly better. I liked the mix of intervals and steady state. I don't often do 40 minute workouts but I will do this one again because I'd like to repeat the Tahoe series in order once I'm done with the Alps. Anyhow, I feel like I redeemed myself a little with this workout tonight. 40 minutes, 292 calories and 1.92 miles.
Although I'm recording it, I sat down to watch Lawrence of Arabia on TCM after my workout. This movie totally needs to be watched in widescreen so I'm thankful to TCM for broadcasting this version. I'm also thankful for my 65 inch tv, compliments of my homeowner's insurance ! I've said it 100 times, but so much of what I have is only because of the fire and it feels odd to be thankful for something that could have been so tragic. I'm thankful for the circumstances that led to my home renovations and new furnishings.
Tomorrow will be another challenging food day. I already have a plan in place and I'm going to do my best to adhere to it. Overindulging in turkey is definitely healthier than beef, but there will be plenty of other calorie bombs available at the table. I do plan on having some wine and some dessert and although I will not analyze calories I will document everything I eat. My plate will be heavy on salad and veggies. I'll be home on Friday and Sunday so I plan to get 2 workouts in each day while eating 100% on plan. Saturday is another food challenge, our annual list party at my niece's house. We exchange Christmas lists and everybody starts their shopping, usually via Amazon ! Pizza is being served so I will likely bring some veggies and a salad to fill me up. I know the holidays will be rough going but there are plenty of days in between to eat right and exercise, so I am confident I can navigate them without doing too much damage. I still believe I can smash my goal of 186 pounds by January 4th. Guess what ? If I don't I will have no one to blame but myself and I'll be the only one disappointed. I own it !
I'm about ready for a shower and bed. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving !
Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 160 calorie cherry cheese roll with maple pecan coffee. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt. I was out for the remainder of the day. I combined my morning snack and lunch and had a western omelet made with egg whites. The omelet should have had ham in it but all I found was a couple of postage stamp size paper thin slices, so I basically had egg whites with peppers and onions. I had a few of my mom's home fries and one slice of whole wheat toast with butter. We also had dinner out and I had an 8 ounce sirloin steak with green beans and broccoli. It appears the steak was 560 calories. My evening snack was a 3.5 ounce 130 calorie ice cream sandwich. Nutrisystem calories are 370, which left 830 for everything else. We already know 560 was the steak .. so was the omelet, home fries and toast more than 270 calories ? Possibly. Three egg whites is 51 calories. One slice of whole wheat bread is 69 calories. The peppers and onions do not count. Was the butter, home fries, cooking fats and ham shreds over 150 calories ? I don't think so. Even if they were a bit more, my calorie range is up to 1260 so those items could total 210 and I'd be okay. So calorie wise I'm fine, although the day was heavy on protein AND I don't plan on eating out twice in one day very often ! I did get 64 ounces of water in, not to mention endless cups of coffee at breakfast and 2 cups of tea and a glass of water with dinner. I do have the evening munchies so I'm snacking on raw carrots, which are allowed in unlimited quantities ! One thing I should note: when I ate that steak and when I had my evening snack, I felt I would be over my calories for the day and I was okay with that. As it turns out, I probably wasn't over and if I actually was it wasn't by much. I know I'm not going to be perfect every day but I'm also not going to let myself stray very often. I did give my dinner some thought and I did a post game analysis when I got home. Nutrisystem "flex" dinner is supposed to be 2 Power Fuels (160-240 calories) and a Smart Carb (80-120 calories). Afternoon snack is 1 of each, so I had 3 power fuels (up to 360 calories) and 2 smart carbs (up to 240 calories) to work with. Nutrisystem is NOT about calorie counting. The carb options at Ruby Tuesday were all potatoes and I really just wanted vegetables, so I opted to basically have 4 power fuels for dinner instead of 3 and skip the carbs. NONE of this makes eating an 8 ounce sirloin steak in one sitting a healthy choice. I know that. Fortunately I don't go out for steak very often so when I do I'm going to enjoy it. Anybody that reads my daily menu knows there is very little beef on the menu ! Anyhow, my point is I can't just look at calories and think whatever I eat "off plan" is okay based on the calorie count. I still have to work on making healthy choices or I will fail miserably when I try to leave Nutrisystem's prepared meals behind. I just can't bring myself to order the 6 ounce sirloin instead of the 8 .. I still worry I won't be full with the 6. So even after 11 months I can see I still have plenty of work to do on my old habits.
As I mentioned, I spent the day with my mom. I took her this morning to get her hair done and how can you just go back home when you're looking all pretty ? So we stopped at the local diner for breakfast. There wasn't a soul in there (go figure!) so the coffee was flowing and our food arrived hot and delicious. After breakfast it was time to make pies ! Mom had already baked the crusts so we just had to cook some chocolate pudding and some banana pudding. I wanted to dive into that pot of hot bubbly chocolate pudding ! Once the pies were done we finalized some online shopping mom wants me to do for her later this week. Then we tackled a few other things on her "to do" list. Out in the backyard in search of Christmas decorations in the shed I got talking to her neighbor, who has a new 10 week old rottweiler puppy, Hank ! Talked to the proud dad for a bit and got some puppy smooches to round out the day ! With the "to do's" done we just relaxed for a bit and then headed out for an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday. There wasn't a soul there either so dinner was just as enjoyable as breakfast was. A few people trickled in later but it was pretty dead.
I got home about 7 pm and got right on the treadmill. Since I felt like I had "enjoyed" myself a bit too much today I searched for a challenging workout. I ended up choosing the final workout in the Lake Tahoe series with John Peel. It's a Level 2 workout with a 292 calorie burn. iFit said I completed this workout on 10/24 but it didn't seem familiar. It definitely challenged me and was a fitting "punishment" for that delicious steak ! I looked back on this blog to 10/24, to see if I wrote about the workout. I did !! Here is what I said back then: >>>"I don't know what I was thinking, but tonight's workout was quite a challenge after a long day. It was the last of the 12 part Lake Tahoe series (and I haven't done all of the first 11) so naturally it was the most challenging. Lots of incline and 1 minute intervals at 3.2 or 3.3 mph, followed by 1 minute recoveries at 2.6 or 2.8 mph. The last 6 minutes was a steady 3 mph and throughout the workout incline varied but there was a lot of 6 and 8%. I can handle the mid-range incline pretty well but about 30 minutes in I was near my breaking point on an 8% stretch. My back was starting to hurt so I put my hands on the side bars. Right at that moment the incline dropped back down to zero so the hands came off and I made it through to the end with just that one quick touch. I worked up quite a sweat and an appetite .. plus I'm #9 on the leader board for my age group on that workout !"<<< Today I found this workout to be challenging but I never felt like I needed to hold on so my endurance is clearly better. I liked the mix of intervals and steady state. I don't often do 40 minute workouts but I will do this one again because I'd like to repeat the Tahoe series in order once I'm done with the Alps. Anyhow, I feel like I redeemed myself a little with this workout tonight. 40 minutes, 292 calories and 1.92 miles.
Although I'm recording it, I sat down to watch Lawrence of Arabia on TCM after my workout. This movie totally needs to be watched in widescreen so I'm thankful to TCM for broadcasting this version. I'm also thankful for my 65 inch tv, compliments of my homeowner's insurance ! I've said it 100 times, but so much of what I have is only because of the fire and it feels odd to be thankful for something that could have been so tragic. I'm thankful for the circumstances that led to my home renovations and new furnishings.
Tomorrow will be another challenging food day. I already have a plan in place and I'm going to do my best to adhere to it. Overindulging in turkey is definitely healthier than beef, but there will be plenty of other calorie bombs available at the table. I do plan on having some wine and some dessert and although I will not analyze calories I will document everything I eat. My plate will be heavy on salad and veggies. I'll be home on Friday and Sunday so I plan to get 2 workouts in each day while eating 100% on plan. Saturday is another food challenge, our annual list party at my niece's house. We exchange Christmas lists and everybody starts their shopping, usually via Amazon ! Pizza is being served so I will likely bring some veggies and a salad to fill me up. I know the holidays will be rough going but there are plenty of days in between to eat right and exercise, so I am confident I can navigate them without doing too much damage. I still believe I can smash my goal of 186 pounds by January 4th. Guess what ? If I don't I will have no one to blame but myself and I'll be the only one disappointed. I own it !
I'm about ready for a shower and bed. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving !
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