Day 481: Your Best Effort

"If you have a positive attitude and

 constantly strive to give your best

 effort, eventually you will overcome

 your immediate problems and find you

 are ready for greater challenges."

 ~Pat Riley~ 

Day 481 of Nutrisystem and Day 44 of quarantine. Having a positive attitude has definitely been a challenge recently but I still take time every day to think about all of the blessings in my life instead of letting negativity drag me down. While I worry about the damage this virus is doing to our country, all I can do is abide by the guidelines and hope for the best. I pretty much ignore 99% of the media coverage because you can't differentiate between fact or fiction. I keep an eye on the local statistics our health departments publish and that's about it. Does that mean I don't care about what is happening ? Not at all. It just means I'm focusing on the things I can control. I find it makes for a much calmer mind. I've always strived to give my best effort but I wasn't always successful. I guess trying and failing is better than not trying at all. I've overcome a lot and I'm ready for greater challenges but COVID-19 wasn't really the challenge I was thinking of ! I don't think our world will ever be the same. I don't even think we know what our "new normal" will be and our greatest challenge may lie ahead. So right now all I can do is stay home, stick with Nutrisystem and take advantage of all the extra time I have to exercise !

Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 160 calorie cherry cheese roll. 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 3.8 ounce 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt with a chef salad. Dressing added 30 calories. Afternoon snack was a 1.42 ounce 200 calorie Nature Valley salted caramel nut bar. Dinner was a 5 ounce 210 calorie broccoli & cheese stuffed chicken breast with a bowl of roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.1 ounce 130 calorie strawberry shortcake cupcake. Total calories for the day are 1185 and I got 64 ounces of water in.

After a halfway decent nights sleep I was wide awake at 6 am today. I gave up trying to get back to sleep around 6:20 and decided I was going to get up, put the trash out and get on the treadmill ... and I actually did ! First workout of the day was #10 in the Grand Canyon series with iFit trainer John Peel. What better way to start the day than with a nice walk in Arizona !?!?? This workout was about 21 minutes at a steady 3 mph pace and the incline was never more than 6%. I was done by 7:30 and was able to relax with my 2nd cup of coffee before the work day started. My lunchtime workout was #11 in the Grand Canyon series. This 20 minute hike was 1 minute intervals at 3 mph with 1 minute recoveries at 2.6 mph. There was a good bit of max incline in the last 7-8 minutes so speeds were slightly slower. Still, it made me work hard ! Quite unintentionally today was all John Peel because after work I repeated a 33 minute Times Square walk with him ! I did this one back on 3-24 and the pace was 2.8 mph until the 12 minute mark, when it increased to 3 mph until the end. No incline here so it was a good endurance walk. I logged 74 minutes, 3.5 miles and 412 calories. After dinner I spent about 40 minutes on the Total Gym. Needless to say, I am tired and looking forward to bedtime !

I think the weather has a lot to do with my sleep cycle because this morning brought blue skies and sunshine. On dark rainy days the last thing I want to do it get out of bed ! It was about 34 degrees when I got up and there was frost everywhere, which was actually kind of pretty ! I seemed to wake up with unlimited energy today and I'd like to have that happen a lot more often ! I reset my alarm for 6 am going forward because I really enjoyed the quick workout this morning. It was such a great way to start the day ! I wasn't as productive at work but I made it through a complicated project and that was the goal for the day. Tomorrow promises to be busy but I prefer it that way ! 

Today was the first lawn mowing of the year and until it gets mowed I never realize how much grass is out there ! The yard looks great and I plan to get out there this weekend to take some measurements for the little bit of landscaping I want to do. I was waffling a little about tackling the landscaping, because as always I don't have confidence in my physical abilities. That's a holdover from my 300 pound days ! After washing the car this past weekend I realized I can do a lot more than I thought so I'm more motivated to get something done out there !

On that note, I'm heading for a shower and bed !