Day 506: Where You Haven't Planted

"Striving for success without hard work

 is like trying to harvest where you

 haven't planted." 

~David Bly~

It's Day 506 of Nutrisystem. I've decided to stop counting the days of "NY on Pause" since we are in the reopening phase. With any luck we'll move to Phase 2 on Friday 5/29 and retail stores will be able to open. I miss Boscov's ! Casino's are opening on June 10 which is confusing since they fall into Phase 4 and shouldn't be opening before 6/26. Restaurants can't even open before 6/12 (Phase 3) so I still suspect there are some political $henanigan$ afoot ! Masks are going to be required no matter where you go and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I will also most likely be working from home full time for the rest of the year, and possibly permanently. I'm good with that although I will miss my colleagues !

Today's quote is another good one for me. I have been guilty of sitting around "wishing" for things instead of getting off my butt and working for them ! The irony is that if you're not working hard for what you want then you're really not "striving" for anything. I've talked about this before but it's something I think about a lot. I used to sit around wishing I wasn't fat but I didn't do anything about it. Newsflash: you can't lose weight by wishing. I used to wish for a lot but I never put any effort towards getting what I wanted, so who was really to blame when I didn't get it ? No, the world was not against me. I can remember being so defeated and wondering what I did to "deserve this". The question I should have asked is what did I do to prevent, stop or change it ? In most cases the answer would have been "nothing". One bad decision after another became one self-fulfilling prophecy after another. It was easy to blame everyone but myself, even though all the bad decisions started with me ! Over the past 506 days I've analyzed the past 23 years and swept most of the bad memories away so I can focus on all of the good things in my life. I keep some key reminders in the back of my mind to keep me from making the same mistakes in the future but my focus is 100% on losing those last 20 pounds. It's also on paying off that last credit card. All the money I would have spent in casino's the past 2+ months has gone towards that ! I'm also working hard on my fitness. I haven't lost sight of those 3 goals, which is unusual for me. For once in my life I haven't given up on myself, so I have a lot to harvest !

Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 160 calorie cherry cheese roll. Power fuel was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit key lime 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 protein bar. Dinner was a 4 ounce 180 calorie artichoke & spinach stuffed chicken breast with some freshly roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.2 ounce 140 calorie lemon zest cake. Total calories for the day are 1165 and I got 64 ounces of water in.

Craving a second cup of coffee, I booted myself off the couch around 11:30 this morning and hit the treadmill. I was feeling sluggish and tired and wasn't sure I could even get through a workout, but quitting was not an option. First workout of the day was a walk through a redwood forest in New Zealand with iFit guide Graham McTavish. It was pretty cool because the entire 28 minute walk was on wood & rope suspension bridges in the forest ! The pace was 2.8 mph and there was no incline so I set the speed at 3 mph with 3% incline for the duration. I actually felt great afterwards, as I usually do, so I'm glad I motivated myself off the couch. Second workout of the day was #18 of 24 in the Alps incline series with iFit trainer John Peel. Just about the whole 24 minute hike was at max incline (10%) and the pace ranged from 1.9 to 3 mph. Before dinner I got a 3rd treadmill workout in. It was another in the "mindfulness" series with Dr. Shauna Shapiro. Today she was talking about Body Positivity while we walked the White Sands Trail in Utah. I didn't pay much attention to what she was talking about and just focused on the workout. Like my first workout today I set the pace at 3 mph with 3% incline for the duration of this 21 minute walk. I logged 73 minutes, 3.4 miles and 513 calories. I did not use the Total Gym. By the time I had dinner it was 8:30 and I was just wore out.

No hip pain last night so I slept much better ! Woke up around 8:30 and rolled out of bed before 9. Abby came upstairs to loudly remind me her breakfast was late .. lol ! After my morning workout I sat out on the front porch to enjoy my morning shake. The front of my house faces West so the sun doesn't become an issue until late afternoon. There was a beautiful breeze and it was so peaceful ! I actually sat out there to have my lunch and after lunch I finally enjoyed that second cup of coffee ! I actually spent most of the day sitting on the porch in between workouts. 

I started taking antibiotics on Tuesday and my gums are more swollen than they were before the root canal, which was on Thursday. I don't have any pain and my face isn't swollen so I'm not panicking about it, but I am concerned. It was a brutal procedure and hopefully this is just a reaction to that. I do plan to call the dentist on Tuesday if it's not any better, since I'll be done with the antibiotics and don't want the infection to come roaring back. Of course I did some online reading and it can take 2 weeks for swelling to go down after an infection and root canal but I still want to check in.

Since it's just about midnight it's high time I grab a shower and head for bed ! Today was a wonderful first day of vacation !