Day 387: Smile
"One day it just clicks. You realize what's important and what isn't. You learn to care less about what other people think of you and more about what you think of yourself. You realize how far you've come and you remember when you thought things were such a mess that you would never recover. And you smile. You smile because you are truly proud of yourself and the person you've fought to become."
This is where I am today. I feel like I can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. I made a bad decision in 1997 and the cascade of chaos and more bad decisions that followed has finally faded away. I've always said I believe things happen for a reason and this is no different. Some good things came out of it so I choose to believe I had to walk through the fire to get to them. I think it makes me appreciate what I have more than I might have if they came easily. I can see what's important in life and what's not worth my time. I definitely worry less about what other people think of me and for maybe the first time in my life I'm happy with myself. I say things happen for a reason and I look at the fire as an example of that. Who would ever think a fire could change your life for the better ? I know it's not the case for everyone, but for me it was a catalyst of positive change. It started the process of erasing the effects of the prior 20 years and gave me the opportunity to put it all behind me and start fresh. I definitely smile when I look around my home. I smile when I look in the mirror. I smile after a good workout too ! I can't take credit for all the good that has happened in my life in the past couple of years, but I can take credit for the weight loss and becoming more physically fit. That is all hard work I'm putting in and yes, I'm proud of where I am today. It hasn't been easy and I've had stumbles, but I've never stopped trying.
Breakfast was a 2 ounce 170 calorie double chocolate muffin with butter toffee coffee. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit tiramisu yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 1.8 ounce three cheese chicken. You add water to this item so the cooked weight was closer to 7 ounces. I had a chef salad with it so dressing added 30 calories. Afternoon snack was 1/2 of an almond, cranberry & oat granola bar (90 calories) and 1 ounce of cheese (110 calories). This left 365 calories for dinner and an evening snack. Dinner was an 8 ounce 210 calorie home style beef and vegetables (sort of like a beef stew) that I served over steamed green beans. Evening snack was a 3.5 ounce 130 calorie ice cream sandwich. Total calories for the day are 1175 and I got 64 ounces of water in.
Today was weigh-in day ! I lost 2.8 pounds over the past 2 weeks so I'm down to 181. That's a total of 123 pounds gone forever ! 31 pounds to my goal and those size 14 jeans will be making their debut any day now !
Woke up to a mix of freezing rain and sleet today and when I looked outside I could see everything was coated with a layer of this slushy mess. The scanner was busy with lots of accidents, including a rollover on 81 near Central Square, so I was glad I didn't need to go anywhere. There's now a winter storm warning until Monday morning so I may not be going anywhere tomorrow either. I'd like to get to Walmart tomorrow so we'll see what the morning brings.
First workout of the day was #13 of 14 in the Scottish Highlands with Graham McTavish. Pretty much the entire 26 minute workout was at max incline (10%) but the pace was only 2 mph so it was manageable. After I completed the workout I got on the Total Gym and did a couple of exercises there. After work I decided to go outside and clean up the slushy snow that was left in the driveway. It rained on and off all day and it rained the entire time I was outside. I cleared the front steps and cleaned up the entire driveway and it looks great now. My driveway was in horrible shape for years so now that I have a new one I like to keep it clean. Yep, I stood out there in the rain and admired my work. It only took me a little over 30 minutes but it was no easy job. Anybody who shovels snow knows how heavy the wet stuff is, especially when it's been raining. This ended up standing in as my second workout of the day because I was just too tired to get on the treadmill again this evening. I'm satisfied with the amount of exercise I got today.
I'm already starting to notice the benefits of the Total Gym. When I changed out of my exercise gear tonight I was able to lift up my left leg and remove my sock. This is something I haven't been able to do for a long time and just trying caused intense pain in my left hip. It was still painful tonight but the difference is I was able to do it ! It's the rotation of the leg that causes the pain so I've been told the issue is my hip flexor muscles. Basically I sat on my butt for so long the muscles shortened up ! Doing several different types of squats on the Total Gym is helping me stretch the muscles.
Time for a shower and bed !
Breakfast was a 2 ounce 170 calorie double chocolate muffin with butter toffee coffee. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit tiramisu yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 1.8 ounce three cheese chicken. You add water to this item so the cooked weight was closer to 7 ounces. I had a chef salad with it so dressing added 30 calories. Afternoon snack was 1/2 of an almond, cranberry & oat granola bar (90 calories) and 1 ounce of cheese (110 calories). This left 365 calories for dinner and an evening snack. Dinner was an 8 ounce 210 calorie home style beef and vegetables (sort of like a beef stew) that I served over steamed green beans. Evening snack was a 3.5 ounce 130 calorie ice cream sandwich. Total calories for the day are 1175 and I got 64 ounces of water in.
Today was weigh-in day ! I lost 2.8 pounds over the past 2 weeks so I'm down to 181. That's a total of 123 pounds gone forever ! 31 pounds to my goal and those size 14 jeans will be making their debut any day now !
Woke up to a mix of freezing rain and sleet today and when I looked outside I could see everything was coated with a layer of this slushy mess. The scanner was busy with lots of accidents, including a rollover on 81 near Central Square, so I was glad I didn't need to go anywhere. There's now a winter storm warning until Monday morning so I may not be going anywhere tomorrow either. I'd like to get to Walmart tomorrow so we'll see what the morning brings.
First workout of the day was #13 of 14 in the Scottish Highlands with Graham McTavish. Pretty much the entire 26 minute workout was at max incline (10%) but the pace was only 2 mph so it was manageable. After I completed the workout I got on the Total Gym and did a couple of exercises there. After work I decided to go outside and clean up the slushy snow that was left in the driveway. It rained on and off all day and it rained the entire time I was outside. I cleared the front steps and cleaned up the entire driveway and it looks great now. My driveway was in horrible shape for years so now that I have a new one I like to keep it clean. Yep, I stood out there in the rain and admired my work. It only took me a little over 30 minutes but it was no easy job. Anybody who shovels snow knows how heavy the wet stuff is, especially when it's been raining. This ended up standing in as my second workout of the day because I was just too tired to get on the treadmill again this evening. I'm satisfied with the amount of exercise I got today.
I'm already starting to notice the benefits of the Total Gym. When I changed out of my exercise gear tonight I was able to lift up my left leg and remove my sock. This is something I haven't been able to do for a long time and just trying caused intense pain in my left hip. It was still painful tonight but the difference is I was able to do it ! It's the rotation of the leg that causes the pain so I've been told the issue is my hip flexor muscles. Basically I sat on my butt for so long the muscles shortened up ! Doing several different types of squats on the Total Gym is helping me stretch the muscles.
Time for a shower and bed !
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