Day 503: Create Your World

"It's alright to do things the way you

 want. There is no map to life, no

 blueprints to survival. You can create

 your world day by day if you have

 clear vision and an unwillingness to

 give up." 

~John O'Callaghan~ 

It's Day 503 of Nutrisystem and Day 66 of Quarantine, NY On Pause or Shelter In Place ... whatever you want to call it. I can definitely relate to today's quote. I've pretty much always done things the way I want and and that didn't always work out for the best ! So yes, there is no map to life and no blueprint for survival. I fumbled my way through a lot of my life, did the best I could with what I had and I survived a lot. I never had a clear vision until I decided it was time to address my weight. I was always unwilling to give up, sometimes to a fault, but until now that unwillingness wasn't used to do good things for myself. In order to survive I had to be unwilling to give up. I spent a lot of years in survival mode. So now that I have a clear vision I am creating my world day by day, a better world than I've ever known in my adult life. A world where I don't have to be ashamed about the way I look. A world where I don't have to worry about all the health issues associated with my weight. A world where I can feel like I belong and that I matter. I tend to downplay the absolute joy I feel because I am sensitive to those who are struggling. I know from personal experience that when you're struggling day to day it's very, very hard to see the happiness other people are experiencing. You want to be happy so bad and you wonder why your life is so bad while "everyone else" is happy. "Everyone else" has a picture perfect home. "Everyone else" has a significant other that worships them. "Everyone else" has beautiful perfect children. "Everyone else" is having a wonderful life while yours sucks. I still remember having those feelings so I do my best to moderate what I share and temper it by saying none of it has been easy. I don't have a picture perfect home. I don't have a significant other. I don't have children. What I do have is a family who loves me, friends who encourage me and a job that I love. I also have a pretty nice car and that brings me a lot of happiness ! For me, that is enough. I have what I need and I'm going to continue working on myself, creating my world one day at a time !

Breakfast was a 2 ounce 180 calorie cinnamon roll. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit creme brulee 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 peanut, almond and dark chocolate protein bar. Dinner was a 4 ounce 180 calorie artichoke & spinach stuffed chicken breast with roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.1 ounce 130 calorie cream filled chocolate cupcake. Total calories for the day are 1175 and I got 64 ounces of water in. 

Although I didn't get up as early as I'd have like to I was able to squeeze in a quick workout before work. It was another in the "mindfulness" series with Dr Shauna Shapiro. As I've said, I don't really buy into the psychobabble she pushes but the New Zealand scenery was nice and she has a lovely speaking voice. The 22 minute walk had a programmed speed of 2.5 mph and no incline so I added 3% incline and boosted the speed to 3 mph for the duration. My lunchtime workout was #16 of 24 in the Alps incline series with iFit trainer John Peel. The first half of this 25 minute hike had some 5 and 10% incline while the second half was a constant 10% incline. In between the 2 segments there was about 3 minutes with no incline so I was able to recover a little before the big incline push ! Speed ranged from 1.5 to 3.2 mph because it was intervals. I almost didn't get an evening workout because iFit was having troubles at 5 pm. After about 10 minutes I gave up on it, threw my dinner in the air fryer and hopped on the Total Gym. I spent about 20 minutes working my arms and then had dinner. By then iFit was back up and I got a third workout in. It was a 27 minute hike in New Zealand with Graham McTavish and Jed Brophy. The programmed speed was 2.8 mph and I boosted it to 3 mph for the duration. There was no incline. I logged 74 minutes, 3.5 miles and 463 calories.

Today was another gorgeous day. After lunch I settled on the front porch to work. I had to retreat about 4:30 because the sun made it impossible to see my laptop screen and it was too warm with the sun beating on the windows. I'm looking forward to sprucing up the porch next week so that it's a nicer space to work in this summer !

Tomorrow I'll be having a root canal and I'm hoping it doesn't derail my entire day. If it does, so be it, but I hope it doesn't. The facial swelling was gone when I woke up this morning so that is a good sign. The gums are still swollen but that should change after the root canal and a few more days of antibiotics. I haven't had a lot of pain so that has been quite a blessing. Tomorrow might be a different story .. lol ! I have plenty to occupy me if I do decide to spend the day on the couch.

Although it's still early and I don't have to get up quite as early I'm going to call it a night. I'm ready for a shower and my bed. I'm actually hoping to be up early enough tomorrow to get a workout in before the dentist. We shall see !