Day 533: Imperfectly Polished

"Often we can achieve an even better

 result when we stumble yet are willing

 to start over, when we don't give up

 after a mistake, when something doesn't

 come easily but we throw ourselves into

 trying, when we're not afraid to appear

 less than perfectly polished ." 

~Sharon Salzberg~

It's Day 533 of Nutrisystem. The day did not start off the way I planned. Alarm went off at 6:30 and I hit the snooze ... or so I thought. Next thing I knew it was 7:04 ! For a split second I thought about not even trying to get up and get a workout in before work, but I chased that away and got my lazy self out of bed at 7:05. I managed to feed the cats (#1 priority), log into the company network (#2 priority) and get the workout in (#3 priority) with 3 minutes to spare. That was long enough to brew a cup of coffee and get my breakfast ready before I settled down to work. It would have been so easy to just skip the workout but I wasn't willing to give up. I'm tired of starting and stopping and backsliding. I really want to achieve consistency so that meant sucking it up and getting it done. I need to work on not using the snooze button. If the alarm goes off at 6:30 I need to get up at 6:30. I may end up having to resort to drastic measures, which means moving the alarm out of reach. When this journey started I had no real plan. I wanted to lose the weight. I wanted to get fit. I wanted to get out of debt. Signing up for Nutrisystem was the first step but it's not like that was all it took. You have to put in some time and effort to make it work for you in the long term. You have to try a variety of their foods and tweak your selections to meet your calorie goals and your tastes. You have to find snacks that fall within the guidelines and that you like. You have to drink enough water. You have to eat tons of veggies. These were all difficult challenges for me. I settled on protein bars for snacks because they satisfy my sweet tooth and they go good with coffee ! I started roasting veggies because plain steamed veggies or raw carrots got boring. I started adding lemon and lime crystals to my water to make it more interesting. Some people add sugar free drink mixes but I try to stay away from artificial sweeteners as much as possible. Even after all this time I still sometimes struggle to get 64 ounces of water in every day. When it came to exercise, I had a brand new treadmill sitting there waiting for me. A little over a month after starting Nutrisystem I decided it was time to address the exercise goal. That was not easy either. I still weighed nearly 300 pounds and just a few minutes on the treadmill was exhausting. I finally settled on one particular workout and repeated it every day for over 2 months. Then I moved up to a harder one and did that one every day for another 2+ months. Then I started doing entire series and I started challenging myself. I was afraid of incline for a long time but I've gone back and completed many workouts that were once "too hard". That inspires me to keep challenging myself ! I've had some disappointments too. I thought I could complete a running series but then quickly realized I didn't have the right treadmill for that nor did I really have the physical ability. I can jog for a minute here and there but that's about it. I had to accept that and focus on what I can do. In the midst of all this the uncertainty with my job led to many sleepless nights and never-ending anxiety. Working on my financial goals eased my mind as I watched credit card balances disappear. I still worry about my job but it's not a constant source of anxiety since I'm taking steps to improve my financial life. If and when the day comes I will be ready to go on to something else without worrying about losing my home or being unable to pay my bills. These 533 days have seen a whole lot of ups and downs and that is pretty much life ! I may fall a lot but I always get back up.

Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 160 calorie cherry cheese roll and a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit creme brulee yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate 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 1.4 ounce 190 calorie Great Value peanut butter dark chocolate protein bar. Dinner was a 5 ounce 210 calorie broccoli & cheese stuffed chicken breast with roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.2 ounce 140 calorie lemon zest cake. Total calories for the day are 1185 and I got 64 ounces of water in.

First workout of the day was a 31 minute hike in the Grand Canyon. There was no incline and the pace was a steady 2.6 mph, so it was a good pre-breakfast workout. My lunchtime workout was a 28 minute walk along the beach in Costa Rica. No incline but it was 1:1 intervals, 3 minutes at 3.2 mph with 3 minutes of recovery at 2.4 mph. It was a relaxing way to spend part of my lunch hour ! After work I completed a 35 minute hike in Lake Tahoe. This was the big one for today. Lots of 8-10% incline and more 1:1 intervals, this time 1 minute at 3.2 mph and 1 minute recoveries at 2.8 mph. I definitely got my sweat on ! I logged 94 minutes, 4.2 miles and 487 calories. It as supposed to be my day off from the Total Gym but about 6:40 I decided to go for it and put in my usual 40 minutes ! You might wonder why anyone would do that on their "night off". Well, I had a couple reasons. #1 is that I'll be be out for a while tomorrow and my day will be off kilter, so I won't feel bad if I skip the TG. #2 reason was it's Friday night and I wanted an adult beverage ! That meant going over my calories and I wasn't going to do that without a little sacrifice. So I put in the 40 minutes and enjoyed a Moscow Mule. Calories are unknown and irrelevant. These have been sitting in my fridge for quite some time but it was delicious !

Today was another gorgeous day ! Temps were well into the 80's and we had      blue skies and sunshine all day. I worked out on the front porch, had dinner out there and sat out there until it got dark. Tomorrow is another bridal gown adventure and a stop at the grocery store since I only have one head of lettuce left ! I don't really need much else. No casino trip because I'm still putting all my extra $$$ towards my last credit card. On that note I'm heading for a shower and bed !