Day 380: Dreams

"Keep your health, weight loss, and fitness dreams alive. Understand to lose weight and get in shape requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all your dreams of reaching and maintaining your ideal body weight are possible when you believe." ~Felicity Luckey~

Dreams. I can't really say I ever "dreamed" about not being fat. Yes, I wanted to be thin but I don't think I ever believed it would happen. In 1996 I quit smoking, got treatment for depression and started using a treadmill and eating better. I lost about 50 pounds and was down to 180 by 1997. From 1997 to 2014 a series of poor choices devastated my life in so many different ways and I stopped caring about myself. Food became my only friend and my weight ballooned. From 2014 to 2017 I stayed stuck in that pit of hopelessness. It took the fire to wake me up. I started the climb out of that pit and thought I'd never look back, yet I slipped right back into my poor eating habits when I moved back into my home. Seems I ate when I was sad and I ate when I was happy ! Then Christmas 2018 rolled around and I got a look at how big I was. You already know the devastation I felt and the decisions I made. Getting back to my 1997 weight was really my first goal, because I still remember how good life felt back then. I was successful with a treadmill back then and it's why I opted to start this weight loss journey with one. Thinking about that is a grim reminder of how easy it is to pile the weight back on. I gained over 120 pounds in that 22 year period. Getting back to my 1997 weight is symbolic for me. In my mind I'm turning the clock back, erasing all the bad memories and starting fresh. So getting to 180 is a short term goal for more than just the fact it will mark a loss of 124 pounds. Dreams ? I have them now.

Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 180 calorie cinnamon roll with cinnamon roll coffee. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie vanilla shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 3.7 ounce 200 calorie grilled chicken sandwich with a chef salad. Dressing added 30 calories. I didn't get around to my afternoon snack. Dinner was a 9.5 ounce 260 calorie roasted turkey medallions with mashed potatoes and gravy. Since I had some excess calories I had some of my stuffing with it. I also had brussel sprouts. Truly enjoyed this dinner ! Evening snack was a 2.1 ounce 130 calorie strawberry shortcake cupcake. Total calories are 1035 but I'm rounding up to 1200 because of the stuffing. I also got 64 ounces of water in.

It was a balmy 3 degrees when I got up this morning ! By 1 pm we were up to 16 and the snow was zeroing in on my area. Watching the radar was like watching a slow train wreck so I booted myself off the couch and got on the treadmill for the first workout of the day. I completed #12 of 12 in India with Jonnie Gale but I'm doing them out of order so I'm not done with the series. A lot of the workouts were 20 minutes so I slotted them in during lunch on work at home days. I expect to complete the series on January 30th. Today's 35 minute workout was six 3 minute intervals at 3.2 mph with 90 second recoveries at 2.7 mph. After the last 3.2 mph stretch speed dropped to 2.5 mph for a nice 7 minute cool down. After my workout I relaxed with my shake and watched The Mummy for the 8,174,592nd time. Then it was time to get serious about the Total Gym. I put the DVD in, watched the run through of the 18 exercises and then tried to do them while following along with the DVD. Well, it was not quite as easy as it looks ! I have to get the hang of installing and removing the accessories and unhooking and reattaching the pulley to the glideboard. I also had to find an incline I could handle. I had it on 4 and quickly realized I need to start at 3 for the exercises that use your arms, because I have no strength yet. I did move it up to 6 for the squats and was able to manage that. I'm also tentative and pretty clumsy getting on and off the glideboard because I don't want have to have any mishaps. I did all 18 exercises but I didn't do the 15 repetitions on each because the DVD went too fast. They were halfway through by the time I was positioned correctly .. lol ! I will get better each day and my current plan is to try and use the Total Gym on work at home days and on the weekend if I'm home. That means 3-5 days a week. I was actually quite pleased because I was actually able to do every single exercise. With time I'll have the routine down and won't need the DVD so I'll be able to go at my own pace. Before dinner I did workout #2 on the treadmill. It was #11 of 14 in the Scottish Highlands with Graham McTavish. This 25 minute walk was a nice way to end the day. The pace was 2.8 to 3 mph, inclines were low, the scenery was beautiful and I really enjoy the stories Graham tells. I will definitely repeat this series. I logged 2.9 miles, 60 minutes and 309 calories.

I finally had dinner around 8:30 and was thinking about spending a little more time on the Total Gym afterwards .. then I realized my abdominal muscles were a little sore. I'm happy about that because it means the Total Gym is going to help me get in shape, but I opted to not push myself too hard and called it a day. It felt good to put on my jammies and relax with a cup of coffee and my evening snack.

We got a few inches of snow in my area and it snowed lightly most of the day. It was only in the teens all day but it's warmed up into the 20's now and tomorrow it should be in the low 30's. We may get freezing rain and that's not good because temps are dipping back to the single digits tomorrow night, which means everything will freeze again. I'll have to go out and clear the snow away from the side door and the garage door before it freezes solid !

I just realized I completely forgot to weigh myself this morning so I'll have to do that tomorrow ! Right now I'm heading for a shower and my nice warm bed !