Day 393: Keep It Fresh

"We have to keep evolving as people 

and keep it fresh. Life has its twists 

and turns, and being comfortable in

 your skin and loving yourself is the 

best way to get through life."         

             
~Jesse Garza~

Being 13 months into Nutrisystem, I was thinking about ways to keep it fresh, hence the quote. My biggest fear is getting bored and slipping back into old habits. I'm not bored yet. Despite last night's awful dinner I still enjoy the Nutrisystem foods. I completely love all of the breakfast choices because I've taken the time to try a lot of different things and then settled on my favorites. Right now my favorites are the cinnamon rolls, cherry cheese rolls, waffles, pancakes and the baked banana & chocolate oatmeal. I throw in a bagel or a breakfast sandwich here and there but they're not really my favorites. My favorite lunches are the grilled chicken sandwich and the melts. My favorite melts are the spinach & cheese pretzel, the pepperoni and the four cheese. My favorite dinners are the roast turkey, the 3 different kinds of chicken breast, chicken marsala and chicken fettuccine alfredo. My favorite evening snacks are the 4 or 5 different cupcakes, the lemon zest cake, the butterscotch cake and the ice cream sandwiches. I also really like the s'mores pie. The tiramisu is another favorite but sadly, it has been discontinued. As you can see my "favorites" tend to be limited to around 5 items per meal, which mirrors the way I used to eat before Nutrisystem. I actually probably have more variety now. So the food is definitely not boring and Nutrisystem has been adding a lot of new items, so that helps keep it fresh. Using the treadmill every day was getting a little boring but adding the Total Gym has breathed new life into my exercise program. iFit has also been adding lots of new programs so that combined with Total Gym has given me new motivation. All of this is key to reaching my goal weight and then maintaining.

Breakfast was a 2.8 ounce 150 calorie package of homestyle pancakes with sugar free syrup. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie creme brulee yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was an 8.2 ounce 200 calorie beef burrito bowl that I served over some of my salad, sort of like a taco salad. It lacked flavor so if I do that again I'll throw some salsa in. Dressing added 30 calories. Afternoon snack was some veggie crackers (90 calories) and 1 ounce of cheese (110 calories). Dinner was a 7.5 ounce 230 calorie chicken marsala served over riced cauliflower. Evening snack was a 1.8 ounce 140 calorie chocolate cupcake. Total calories for the day are 1185 and I got 64 ounces of water in.

Since today was a work at home day I was able to get a workout in during my lunch. It was a 22 minute studio incline workout. The speed was a consistent 2.4 mph but the incline was 10 during the pushes and 5 during the recoveries. It was pyramid inclines so the time frame of each interval varied. I didn't think it was going to be much of a challenge but it definitely got my heart rate up. I'm not really a fan of studio workouts. After work I completed another cultural walk in Istanbul with Salih Batkin. It was almost 45 minutes at a steady pace of 2.4 mph. There was very little incline and it was typically only 1 or 2. I'm enjoying this glimpse of Turkey and the time really flew ! I think Istanbul would be an amazing place to visit but I doubt I'll ever get there. I logged 2.7 miles, 66.5 minutes and 351 calories so it was a good day ! After dinner I hopped on the Total Gym and spent about 45 minutes doing various exercises. My legs were definitely a little tired when I got done !

Looks like I will be working from home the entire month of February and I could not be happier about that ! I'm going to be receiving some training for a new responsibility starting next week and I'm excited about that. I'm really hoping it will add some longevity to my job ! If nothing else it will make me more marketable, so it's a win-win any way you look at it. So in keeping with today's theme this will freshen up my job a little too !!! It gets boring sometimes so I'm glad to have a new challenge.

Tomorrow is my big shopping day ! The goal is to find a nice dress I can wear to the car show next week. It'll be the first time I've dressed up since 2017 and I'm excited about that too. This morning I tried on all the stuff you'd wear under a dress and found that it's all way too big, so that's on the list for tomorrow too. I have a wedding coming up too so I may be able to wear it for that too. Date isn't set yet, so we'll see !

Time for a shower and bed !